Imperial Crown.

Chapter 352: Blood and Cursed Ring

Thanks to Qidian Dad [池鱼肥] for the 500 reward!

Thanks to qq reading dad [Autumn, Sorrow] for the 200 reward!

……

The news that Nancy had defeated the coalition of horse bandits and pirates quickly spread throughout the Nord province.

It's like a bolt from the blue.

Many nobles had intended to laugh at the joke, but now the smiles froze on their faces.

All the sarcastic remarks made before were slapped back like slaps in the face.

Xiao Peeler is one of them.

After receiving the message, he simply couldn't believe it. He read it over and over again, and finally threw the parchment on the table:
"How is this possible!?"

Just relying on the emptied Xuefeng County, Nancy, a 3rd-level magician - oh no, now we know that she is a 4th-level magician.

But what about level 4?

At most, there will be a 4th-level Viscount John and his 2000 troops.

Can the combat power of a single legion defeat the aggressive coalition of bandits and pirates?

What a joke!

This must be fake news released by Nancy just to reassure Raven.

"John, John, you are so old, and you cheated with them, don't you feel guilty?!"

"Someone, send some people to Eagle City. I want to see what's going on!"

It has to be said that Xiao Pi Pi's ability to train his subordinates is quite good. In just 5 or 6 days, he received detailed intelligence from the spies.

And his heart, which was hanging in the air, finally died.

The news that came back said that not only had the siege of Eagle City been relieved, but the reconstruction of Eagle Town and Shanjin Town was also in full swing.

Judging from the condition of the local people, they did not suffer any particularly heavy losses, and not even many people died.

The spies also heard many complaints from the local people:

Too many serfs were gathered at once, squeezing out many of their job opportunities.

If you inquire more carefully, it will be even more terrible.

This time, the Griffith family alone accepted at least 6 serfs, increasing the population of the territory by almost two-thirds!

Not to mention, there are thousands of heavy armor weapons of various types.

Not only is there no loss, but it seems that there is actually a lot of profit!

"Damn it!"

Little Peeler stood up and kicked the table to pieces. The ink bottle fell to the ground, and the flowing ink stained the carpet, making him feel even more unbalanced.

If I had known Nancy was so capable, I should have tried my best to marry her!

If it had been earlier, how could I, as a viscount, not be able to compete with a baron like Raven! ?

"Raven, just wait for me. Sooner or later, I will make you fall flat on your face!"

……

Raven also received news from Eagle City.

The details in it made Raven, who had been quite irritable recently, relax.

"Nancy, Nancy, I didn't expect you to have been promoted to level 4."

It should have happened in the past six months or so since I left.

Perhaps to protect his self-esteem, Nancy has not announced the news yet, wanting to wait until Raven breaks through to the fourth level.

"If you have such a wife, what more can a husband ask for?"

A smile spread across Raven's lips, and as the contents of the letter unfolded before his eyes, he couldn't suppress it anymore.

The harvest of subjects, armor and weapons is certainly gratifying, but the subjects need to digest them, and the heavy armor worn by the horse bandits is generally of poor quality and needs to be remade, so it cannot be immediately converted into benefits.

What really made Raven happy was the warhorse.

Although there are horse farms in the Nord Province, the production capacity is not high. Otherwise, even the two earl families, Slater and the original Fox, would only be able to maintain the size of the heavy cavalry between 1000 and 1500 people.

After this battle, although many horse bandits escaped and many war horses died in the battle, a large number of horses were still left behind.

You know, a horse thief is basically equipped with two war horses.

What's more, there are a large number of pack horses.

Moreover, this time, when it comes to dividing the spoils, oh no, dividing the profits from the war, no one except Viscount John can compete with the Griffith family for the dominant position.

Viscount John was very generous and only asked for some heavy armor, giving up all his share of horses.

Therefore, the number of horses acquired by the Griffith family is quite astonishing.

"12200 war horses and 31000 pack horses!"

This number is enough to arm all of Raven’s troops into cavalry!
Of course, the vest takes time to forge, and cavalry is not as simple as infantry riding horses.

But if these animals were deployed to the front line, it would mean that the mobility of the entire army would be greatly enhanced.

In comparison, the increased food consumption is not a significant cost.

Well... actually it counts.

If these large animals were moved to the front line, at least 25 pounds of additional food would be consumed every day - much more than the food required to feed so many troops now!
No wonder it is said that the cost of maintaining a cavalryman is 10 times that of an infantryman. Now Raven has realized this.

Horses are the real money-eating beasts!
Fortunately, this batch of war horses will take at least one month to be transported here, and a batch of food and fodder will also be transported along with them.

At least I don't have to worry about it now.

Raven focused his eyes on the ring that came with the letter.

"interesting……"

The material of this ring is extremely unique. It looks moist like the bloodstone I saw in my previous life, but it feels like metal.

The inscription "Don Quixote Griffith" inside is also quite ancient.

Raven sighed, "I didn't expect it to come back to me after all these twists and turns."

When talking about this ring, we have to talk about Donald.

In order to break the shackles of the blood curse, the prodigal uncle sold all the Griffith family's assets, including this ring that had been passed down from generation to generation in the Griffith family.

As a family heirloom, it can speed up the cultivation of bloody fighting spirit, and can even replace the materials used for breakthrough before advancing to the 5th level.

However, Bloody Eye made it into a prosthetic eye and put it into the eye socket, which is quite a clever idea.

tuk tuk tuk

Raven knocked on the table three times, and soon, Margaret came into the room.

But before Raven could ask, Margaret retreated even faster than when she came, with an uncontrollable tremor in her voice:
"Master! I really haven't had any bad thoughts recently! I didn't even do anything to that dark elf!"

"Let me go...please let me go!!"

"Oh, calm down, calm down." Raven was stunned for a moment: "I don't plan to do anything to you."

"Is there anything unusual about this ring?"

"Curse... It's a curse!" Margaret's voice trembled, and there was a sound of teeth clattering: "That is simply the embodiment of the curse, Master! This is an ominous evil thing!"

Upon hearing this, Raven used the Eye of Truth to focus his gaze on the ring, but still could not observe any clues.

But there was no possibility that Margaret could deceive him.

Weird!

"I know, you go down first."

Raven said.

After receiving Raven's order, Margaret left as if she was escaping without even saying goodbye.

"what is going on……"

Raven frowned, his thoughts starting to wander.

Is it true, as Margaret said, that only by touching this ring will the blood curse of the Griffith family be passed down from generation to generation?
But that's not right.

Although he had no impression of his parents in this life, he could tell from the simplest logic that no matter which side of them was the descendant of the Griffith family, they were the most distant branch that could not be further away.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have ended up throwing myself on the streets.

Therefore, Raven had no chance to touch the ring at all, but the blood curse wrapped around his body was real.

"Unless my ancestor wanted to end his own family lineage, he would not have left behind anything that could harm people."

And if you want to find out the function of this thing, it is also very simple -

Since it's a ring, just put it on. Raven slowly put the ring on his index finger.

Originally, the ring was a bit wide, but the moment it landed on the base of the finger, it suddenly stuck tightly to Raven's skin!

The next moment, Raven's eyes were suddenly filled with scarlet color, and the power of the curse entangled in him was clearly visible.

Rich energy spread across his knuckles, lighting up even the tiniest blood vessels in Raven's body. As the red light flashed, it was as if his entire body was burning!

It even triggered a resonance in the True Ancestor's blood core that had already been integrated into the pool of magic power!

Click, click, click...

The power originally hidden in the body was guided and concentrated in a special way, flowing into Raven's lower abdomen, and then ignited a cluster of scarlet flames there.

"Is this... the life seed of a Dou Qi user?"

As Raven guided his thoughts, a dark red light wrapped around his fingers.

"No, that's not right." Raven shook his head.

Although the manifestations are similar, both the essence and function are completely different from bloody fighting spirit.

It is more like the embodiment of the power of curse!

After putting away this power, Raven suddenly saw that the originally heavy ring gradually disappeared into his flesh and blood, leaving only a circle of dark red pattern in the shape of... at the base of his right index finger.

"Ring of Blood and Curse."

Somehow, Raven recognized its name and felt that it looked familiar.

Although the patterns are different, this form is very similar to the tattoo on the wrist of the captured dark elf Ernada.

"Perhaps Ernada knows something."

Just as he was about to give the order to have Ernada brought over, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Lei Wen straightened his body and said calmly.

A man in armor walked in.

He is tall, with strong and sturdy exposed knuckles and a long donkey-like face - standard features of an Eivor man.

This man's name is "Gangdu", a second-level storm knight, and a member of the 1st Independent Legion under Lancha.

"Sir!" Gangdu beat his chest with his hand and gave a very standard military salute: "Sir Lancha, please come and see me!"

Raven asked, "Where are the others? Why didn't they come?"

Gangdu said calmly: "There is a bit of trouble at the Independent Corps, and Lord Lancha is unable to spare the time, so you need to go there in person."

"Oh, I see." Raven stood up and walked out: "Is it because of that incident?"

"Yes, the whole independent army is in turmoil now. Some people are even..." Gangdu sighed and looked at Raven walking behind him, with a cold light in his eyes:
"We are going to start a rebellion!!"

Before he finished speaking, he shook his arm and a dagger slipped out from his sleeve and fell into his hand, wrapped in green storm fighting spirit. He turned around and stabbed at the back of Raven's head!
At this distance and speed, 10 out of 10 magicians would not be able to react.

But Raven was the 11th one.

The moment he turned around, he discovered that Raven had turned around earlier than him, with a faint flash of blood in his dark eyes.

At this point, there is no reason to stop!

"Go to hell!"

Gangdu roared, and the dagger in his hand stabbed towards Raven's throat like real wind!
As a veteran who has experienced many battles, this attack of his has six subsequent variations. No matter how Raven intercepts, he cannot stop this fatal blow!
But Raven moved.

He clenched his fist, which was suddenly covered with a layer of dark red blood light.

Under the blood light, there are faint scaly light patterns!
At the moment when the blood appeared, Gang felt as if his heart was grasped by a big hand and stopped beating!

Isn't Raven a magician? What's with this energy!?
Can a magician also cultivate fighting spirit?!
Then he saw the fist meet the dagger without any avoidance.

Flesh versus steel, both wrapped in fighting spirit, there is no doubt which side will win.

But all the experience that Gangdu had accumulated over the past decades collapsed at this moment.

The fighting spirit on the dagger dissipated instantly, and the steel blade curled up like mud.

The tip of the fist brushed past his fist without any hindrance, and then hit his head hard!
hum-

"what--"

A scream burst out of his throat, and his soul was pulled out of his body at this moment.

That's not a description.

Gangdu clearly saw his back, saw the red light coming from behind his head, and then felt a sharp pain.

His soul was torn into pieces by an invisible force!

"Speak!" Retracting his fist that was about to hit Gangdu in the face, Raven looked at the frozen Gangdu and asked sternly, "What's going on? Where's Lancha?"

However, Gangdu was unable to answer.

His lips trembled, his eyes rolled up, and suddenly his skin turned as red as blood!
puff--

Blood gushed out from Gangdu's skin, but it was not liquid. Instead, it turned into blood beads of various sizes, and then fell to the ground with a crackling sound.

Like a floor full of glass balls.

Looking at Gangdu again, he had turned into a dried corpse that had been left in the desert exposed to wind and sun for hundreds of years!
"I did this...?"

Raven looked at his fist.

Just now he really wanted to try out the power of this new energy, but he didn't expect it to be so cruel.

The power of the curse is so strong!
"When I die, will I look like this?"

He retracted the red light from his fist, and the blood beads on the ground burst open one by one, turning into blood and flowing into the floor again.

"My lord, are you okay?" Hyena heard the noise and rushed in from outside. Seeing Gang who looked like a mummy, he swallowed his saliva:

"This is……?"

"Take his body away." Raven didn't intend to explain: "Then call Lancha to me."

Seeing that Raven was unwilling to talk, the hyenas did not bother him any more and dragged Gangdu's body out.

About half an hour later, Lancha arrived at Raven's tent.

Looking at the blood seeping into the ground, his brows twitched wildly, but he still knelt on one knee:
"Sir! I was deceived by Gangdu and actually sent him to invite you. This crime is unforgivable. Please punish me!"

Raven was not surprised either.

Since Gangdu dared to assassinate me, the rebellion he mentioned was probably true.

After a brief silence, Raven asked, "Is the scale of the rebellion large?"

"...Led by Gangdu, there are 471 people in total." Lancha's expression was extremely ugly:

“At present, it has been controlled.”

On the one hand, Lancha really felt that he had failed in his duty as he could not even control his own subordinates.

On the other hand, Lancha is also worried about the future of those who betrayed him.

These people are all veterans of his family, and according to Raven's previous style of doing things, since they dared to betray him, there is only one way left for the future.

"...Is that so?" Raven nodded, stood up, walked to the edge of the tent, and looked out the window at something in the distance, leaving only his back to Lancha.
"Then take off their armor, cut off their thumbs, and let them go back."

"What?" Lancha didn't hear clearly, or he couldn't believe what he heard.

"Not just them, you can ask your men." Raven continued: "No matter who they are, they can leave together this time, but the prerequisite is that they cut off their thumbs."

"I'll only give them this one chance."

"If you rebel again next time, I will not let any of you, including the entire independent army, go."

Lancha was startled, and then a trace of joy surged on his face:
"Yes, my lord!"

“Thank you for your generosity!”

Raven laughed, with a hint of bitterness in his voice:
"No need to thank me, thank those guys instead."

Upon hearing this, Lancha also sighed, and his expression became extremely complicated.

He knew that Raven was not talking about Gondor and the rebels, but about another group of people, the ones Raven was looking at now.

It was they who blocked the Eagle Army for two full months, preventing them from making any progress until now.

"…Sir, tomorrow, I will personally go and persuade them to surrender."

"With your kindness today, you will surely succeed!"

Raven's voice did not reveal any emotion:
"It's good that you want to go, but..."

After a pause, Raven said:
"I hope it works."

……

(End of this chapter)