Imperial Crown.

Chapter 261 It’s not the same after all, young man’s journey

The gray dwarf Bowell was in a good mood today, or to be more precise, he was in a good mood in recent times.

After all, what could be more gratifying than selling a piece of merchandise worth around 550 gold coins for 120 gold coins?
What made him even happier was that those bleating fat sheep seemed to be addicted to being fooled and actually contacted him to ask him to customize another shield.

When he thought of the brilliant gold coins that were about to flow into his pocket, Bowell couldn't help but drink half a glass of Angel's Tears.

Normally, this is his weekly intake!
When he came out of the factory, the workers on both sides greeted him respectfully, and the guards at the door called him "Lord Bowell" all the time. It was these details that made him like life here more and more.

It can also help him forget the frustration caused by the poor performance of the jewelry business.

I don't know what's wrong with the nobles in the Nord Province. The jewelry made by Bowell has the dignified and majestic style of the gray dwarves, the natural elegance of the elves, and the rough and bold style of the Nord Province in winter. Why can't they sell any of it? ?

Arriving at the riverside which was the agreed location, Bowell sat on the river bank, looking at the sparkling river surface, which looked as charming as layers of gold.

After sitting by the river for a while, Bowell felt a little cold: "What's going on? Why aren't you coming yet?"

"It's here!" A loud shout rang out, and before Bowell could react to what was happening, the scenery in front of him suddenly turned upside down, and the ground was shrinking rapidly.

Looking up, Bowell's face changed. It turned out that a half-adult wind king was pulling his trouser leg and flying into the sky.

"Who, what do you want to do? Let me go!"

But the only response he got was a whistle, followed by a feeling of weightlessness.

The Wind King really let him go.

"what--"

A scream pierced the sky, and just as his face was about to make close contact with the ground, another Wind King flew over, lifted him upside down in the air, and then raised him up again.

Bowell's heart was trembling: "No way, you're coming again!?"

He was right in his judgment. It was indeed the same old trick that was repeated, and not once, but three times in a row!
After a total of four free falls, Bowell's head was filled with blood, his crotch was cold, and saliva was flowing from his lips.

In a trance, he saw the figures of three young men, and asked vaguely: "What... do you want to do?"

"We have already found out everything." Hoyaz stepped forward and said, "A black iron ore sword is worth at most 150 gold coins. You have cheated us of at least 400 gold coins. Give it up to us!"

"That doesn't make sense!" When the money was mentioned, Bowell immediately perked up: "One hand paid the money, the other hand delivered the goods. You are short-sighted, are you blaming me?"

"Shut up, shorty." Lennon walked forward with his fists clenched. "Haven't you suffered enough?"

“Don’t be so rude to our gray dwarf friend.” Banks pushed his gold-rimmed glasses forward and said, “Mr. Bowell, you may not know my brother.”

"His name is Lennon. He comes from a family of torturers. Before he entered the orphanage, he had killed six people. He is best at causing pain to others without harming their lives. I don't think you would want to spend the rest of your life bedridden because of a little material possession, right?"

"After all, the lifespan of the gray dwarves is much longer than ours!"

Lennon felt intimidated by what he said, as he did not come from a family of torturers.

Although he had a criminal record of extortion and breaking into houses, he had never committed murder. However, this did not prevent him from acting ferociously and rubbing his fists.

"Eat shit!" Bower screamed. "I'm not giving away my money!"

The negotiation offensive was ineffective, and Banks blushed: "Lennon, go ahead!"

Then Lennon walked up, pumping his fist.

Bang, snap, ah——

10 minute later.

Lennon was a little tired from the fight, and Bowell was also bruised and his face was covered in blood.

"Hand over our money!" Hoyaz said in a deep voice.

"Bah!" Bowell displayed a heroic level of tenacity: "Kill me if you can!"

"You want money, no money, you want life, one!!"

This attitude made the three teenagers feel helpless. After all, they were young and could not think of any other solution, and they could not really kill Bowell.

Seeing that it was getting dark, the three exchanged glances, and Hoyaz said, "I'll let you go today, but next time you must prepare the money, otherwise, I'll beat you every time I see you!"

After saying that, he turned around and left.

When they were far away, a whistle was heard, and Bowell's body relaxed. He fell to the ground with a thud, and stood up slowly after a long time: "These little bastards almost beat me to death!"

"My clothes are dirty and my pants are torn... Oh, what a huge loss!"

He walked back lamenting, and suddenly his eyes lit up as he discovered a pool of bird droppings left by the Wind King.

After looking around for a while, Bowell grabbed a few handfuls of cattails from the river, wrapped up the bird droppings and stuffed them into his pocket: "Hey, there's still some money to be made. I'll take it back and grow flowers!"

If Bowell had known foresight, he would not have made this choice, because this was the only decent piece of clothing he had.

And just one day later, the new castle located at the intersection of Liujing River and Jinsha River was officially completed, and all those who worked for the Griffith family were invited to observe.

When the other gray dwarf leader, Sohei, set off, Boveir was still washing his clothes.

It was November 11th, the first snow fell, and the last scaffolding on the castle was removed. Raven and his party came to the outside of the new castle in a mighty manner.

As we got closer, the outline of the castle became clearer and clearer. The wind whistled in our ears, blowing snow. We arrived under the 7-meter-high city wall across the river.

"Let go of the bridge, open the city gates—"

With the creaking sound of steel cables, the heavy suspension bridge, which was 15 meters long and 7 meters wide, slowly descended. Although the speed was extremely slow, it still made a loud bang when it landed, blowing away the snow by the river and revealing the vermilion gate inside.

The two gates slowly opened, revealing a flat street. Looking forward, one could see a row of towering stone steps, and above the steps was the castle itself.

It is built purely of granite, and is dark black in color, solemn and majestic.

The stone steps themselves are 5 meters high, and behind them is a wide platform. The new castle is built on this platform. It is a 7-story building, 42 meters high, majestic and magnificent. The tallest tower is 49 meters high. Looking up, it seems as if giants from ancient times are entrenched here, which makes people think of the heavy sound of horns!

Raven's horse hooves stepped on the suspension bridge and slowly drove into the city wall. He dismounted and stopped in front of the stairs, and walked inside hand in hand with Nancy.

"Like it?"

"Yeah!" Nancy nodded vigorously, smiling: "This is even more spectacular than Fox Castle."

She was not lying, because even the Fox family's castle only had six floors, and it was very old and looked quite worn.

This new castle is not only larger, but also younger, and looks as vibrant as Raven and the Griffith family.

Slowly walking up the steps, you can see the main entrance of the castle. The windows are not designed to be narrow like the traditional ones. Except for the 1st and 2nd floors, many windows are large and transparent. You can imagine that as long as you are in it, you can see the vast scenery.

But Eric turned around at this moment, looked at the towering city walls, and clenched his hand holding the sword at his waist slightly.

Outside the city wall, a natural water system is used as a moat. Even though it is the dry season now, the narrowest part is 10 meters and the widest part is 30 meters. If it is the flood season, this data can be increased by about 1 times, which is enough to give any army a headache.

Even if there is a way to solve the moat problem and reach the city, the city wall itself is enough to make people despair.

The 7-meter-high city wall is divided into 6 sections, forming a huge hexagram. The outer wall is slippery and has almost no gaps. Even the crossbow, known as the "siege chisel", finds it difficult to penetrate it.

In addition, there is a wide platform on the protrusion, which is large enough for the soldiers in the city to attack the enemies outside the city without any blind spots.

Such a sturdy castle has no shortage of water resources and as long as there are sufficient food reserves, it can last forever.

This is simply a perfect military fortress!

"Let's go." Poirot called out, and Eric came back to his senses.

As the group walked into the hall, there was an immediate exclamation. This place was so spacious that it looked like a square. Looking up, one could see the rooftops directly. Coupled with the softly lit magic lamps, it did not have the dark and cramped feeling of the Eagle Castle in the past.

At the end of the hall was a high platform with two steel thrones on it. In the center was Raven's seat, and the slightly lower one next to it belonged to the mistress of the house, Nancy.

Behind the platform hangs a huge oil painting depicting Raven's image, handmade by a master, which perfectly displays Raven's handsomeness.

On the left side is a 5-meter-wide staircase leading to the upper floors; on the right side is a light blue disc that is shining with light blue magical light.

"Magic elevator?" Nancy's eyes lit up: "This should be the only one in Nord Province right now, right?"

"Come and try it?" Raven asked.

Nancy nodded and walked over with Raven, but they were blocked by a soft barrier again. This was designed to prevent people from stepping into empty space. To remove it, they had to pull the rod on the wall.

Of course Raven wouldn't do that. He snapped his fingers, and the gentle barrier disappeared, taking Nancy with him and stepping into it.

There are two ways to operate this magic elevator. One is for the magician to drive it with magic power and stop whenever he wants. The second is to move the lever in the corner. The disadvantage is that you have to pull it every time you go up or down a level.

The magic elevator gradually rose, and Nancy's smile grew wider and wider until she reached the 7th floor. Standing on the edge of the railing and looking down at the dizzying height, she finally smiled: "This is what a noble should enjoy!"

Old Gordon arranged the servants' movements and accommodation, and called a group of soldiers to start transporting supplies to the warehouse.

If there was one thing about the new castle that made old Gordon most satisfied, it was the warehouse under the castle!

As a steward, he had had enough of the hardship in the Eagle Castle warehouse.

Due to years of disrepair in the early years, the warehouse of Eagle Castle was very humid. Not only was the stored food prone to spoilage, but the armor and weapons were also prone to rust and rot.

Later, Raven's arrival made the finances much more ample and solved some problems, at least not as serious as before, but new problems followed.

There are too many goods and the warehouse is too small.

Gold coins, jewelry, and food were almost all piled together, so that every time something was transported from the warehouse, old Gordon had to stare at it with wide eyes, fearing that something would be missing.

Now, the warehouse is not only large enough and extremely waterproof so it is not damp at all, but it can also be classified, with each type of item having its own dedicated warehouse.

This way, he doesn't have to recheck the entire warehouse list every time he picks up goods or stocks them!

However, not many people were involved in the transportation of supplies, and most of Raven's followers still hoped to have a good meal in the new castle.

This is also the tradition of the Nordic province. Regardless of wealth or status, after moving into a new home, one must cook and eat and drink together. This is how life feels.

So the original cook and current head chef Martha became busy.

The cooks under her were originally trembling with fear because Martha had been in a bad mood recently and would scold them at any time.

But today was strange. Even though someone accidentally broke the clay pot, Martha just smiled and asked her to wipe the carrot soup on the ground.

There is certainly a reason for this.

Originally, the kitchen of Eagle Castle could only accommodate 8 or 9 people working at the same time.

In order to cope with the huge number of guests at Raven's wedding, Martha not only had to coordinate the menu, but also set up a large number of temporary stoves outside the castle.

The wind, rain and sun would inevitably waste time and spoil the taste. The rats roaming around would always destroy the ingredients. Martha was so busy that she couldn't help but be irritable.

The kitchen is so spacious now, with 15 stoves alone. Martha is confident that with this kitchen, she can organize it in an orderly manner even for a state banquet!
As night began to fall, dishes were brought out to the hall. Outside, heavy snow fell, but inside, Raven and his cronies were drinking and singing.

This meal kept the servants and maids busy as they had no time to rest. They had almost no time to rest, but once they rested, they immediately felt the benefits of the new castle.

Especially Patty, as Raven's personal maid, she is entitled to an independent room in the new castle.

When she saw the room, she could hardly believe her eyes - the Baron's bedroom was only this big!

There is a soft bed with curtains, a blanket on the floor, the dressing table exudes a fresh pine scent, and the wardrobe is spacious and sturdy.

You can even let her run around barefoot.

What made her most happy was that she had her own bathroom in the room, and even a huge oak barrel for bathing.

Although there was no hot water in the room, on every floor, including the second floor where she lived now, if she walked a short distance, she could find a room with hot water at all times and could easily bring it back herself.

You know, at Eagle Castle, even if the Baron wants to take a bath, he has to notify the kitchen in advance to light the fire and boil water, and then bring it up from the 1st floor to the 5th floor.

As for the maids, they could only take turns using two moldy bathtubs. It would often take half an hour just to pour the water and prepare for a bath, and then they had to scoop out the water and throw it away.

It’s okay in winter, but in summer, I’ll be sweating right after taking a shower.

Now, many rooms in the new castle, including her bedroom, have sewer pipes. After taking a shower, all she has to do is pull out the plug at the bottom of the bathtub to let the sewage flow away and be discharged into the Crystal River.

This is still her room as a servant. I heard that above the 6th floor, including the Baron's room, there is a magic way to continuously provide hot water!
What would that look like?

Patty lay on the bed, her legs clamped around the quilt, thinking about the Baron's appearance, and for a moment she was a little dazed.

And Raven, the man she had been thinking about, had just finished taking a bath with Nancy and was standing in front of the window in a bathrobe.

"It's been more than three years..." Raven sighed.

He still remembered that just three years ago - now it was almost four years - he stood on the top floor of Eagle Castle, overlooking the territory, and vowed to take back everything that belonged to the Griffith family.

Now looking through the window, you can see the territory covered with snow, which includes not only the Eagle Territory, but also the Snow Maple Territory.

Not only did he accomplish that, he exceeded his goals.

Even in the corner of his vision, he could see Eagle Castle, but the castle that had seemed so majestic in Raven's eyes at that time now looked like a child that had not grown up.

Maybe this is life. No matter how hard you work, you always feel it’s not enough, not enough.

But when you look back one day, you will be surprised to find that you have achieved a goal that you can boast about.

But only you know how much you have gained and how much you have lost.

An indescribable complex emotion brewed in his chest. Raven subconsciously shook the wine glass slightly and murmured softly:

"It's not like the young boy traveling..."

"What are you talking to yourself about?" Nancy ran behind Raven, hugged his waist, and poked her little head out from Raven's side, half understanding.

"Nothing, just a little emotional." Raven said.

"You really should be grateful for that." Nancy smiled. "In just over three years, you have achieved such success and married such an excellent wife like me."

Raven also smiled and reached back to grab Nancy's waist, but Nancy dodged flexibly, allowing Raven to only grab a pink silk bathrobe.

"Humph! It's not that easy to catch me!" Nancy crawled back into the quilt, with her two white and slender legs dangling outside: "Speaking of which, what are you going to name this castle?"

Raven's eyes lingered on Nancy's legs for a moment, and he subconsciously said, "White Tiger..."

"What?" Nancy blinked. "White Tiger Castle?"

"No, it was a slip of the tongue." Raven coughed and said, "I was going to call it 'Eagle City'."

"A city will be built around it that is no less powerful than Mon'en City and Hovi City. By then, it will be the inner city!"

"Then I have to wait until you become a count." Nancy blinked and bit her lip. "I want our children to be able to witness that day with their own eyes."

……

(End of this chapter)