Imperial Crown.

Chapter 388 The First Dynasty, Ancient Nobles

An extra chapter to celebrate the 5000 reward from Qidian Dad [Divine Punishment]!

……

We didn't use a horse-drawn carriage on this trip.

The destination, the "King's Square", is at the end of King's Avenue.

"You are really amazing." After walking out of the door, Pilar glanced at the stall outside the Emerald Palace and gave Raven a thumbs up:

"You are the first noble I have ever seen who dares to set up a stall on King's Avenue!"

There was not only admiration in his words, but also a hint of ridicule.

Because even though it was already noon, the stall here was still deserted, with no one around.

There are not many products on it and the types are limited. In addition to the mirror Angel's Glory, there is the perfume Angel's Kiss and the soap Angel's Embrace.

In Pile's opinion, Raven would not only lose his reputation, but also lose all his capital!
"Someone has to be the first to do something." Raven didn't dwell on this point, but took out the invitation he had received earlier:

"I just came to the capital and I don't understand many things. Can you help me figure it out and decide whether I should go or not?"

When Pierre took the invitation and looked at it, he immediately smiled: "It turned out to be him."

"Although he is just a court earl, the Farrell family is very famous in the capital. They basically control 6% of the theater industry in the city. They are wealthy and often hold high-end cocktail parties."

"It can be said that whoever receives their invitation will truly enter the social circle of the high-end nobles in the capital."

"Farrell is just a spokesperson for the nobles. Otherwise, you would have been overwhelmed by invitations by now."

Raven nodded and asked, "Then, is there anything I must pay attention to?"

"Relax!" Pierre seemed to want to pat Raven's shoulder, but he was too short and couldn't reach it after jumping once, so he could only pat Raven's elbow:
"You are now a big star in the entire empire. As long as you don't strip yourself naked in public, or strip the ladies of some other families, nothing will happen to you."

"You are the star of this cocktail party. Everyone is waiting to get to know you!"

Raven rubbed his nose, feeling a little flattered.

Do I really have such a great influence?
In that case, if I put up a "War Hero" sign on my stall as a gimmick, would I be able to sell better?
As I was thinking about it, I heard Pierre loudly say, "Look, we are here."

"This is the King's Square!"

Raven looked up, his eyes suddenly fixed.

This was the first time he had seen an artificial square of such a scale.

It can be said that this square has surpassed the scale of 9% of the cities in the empire.

The overall shape is a huge disc, which looks like the sun is printed on the ground, and at the end is a staircase leading directly to the Royal Court.

The statue of Keynes I stands at the top of the stairs, overlooking the entire capital and even the entire empire!

For a moment, Raven was a little moved and wanted to replace the statue with his own.

As a true man, this is what you should do!

If you look back, you will see three obelisks standing in the center of this disc-like square.

The three obelisks are arranged in a triangle. The central one is pure black and 3 meters high, like a sharp sword piercing the sky.

The one on the left is about 25 meters high, bright yellow in color, and slightly smaller in scale.

The one on the right is only about 20 meters high, as white as clouds, and is also the smallest one.

"This place can be said to be a microcosm of the history of the empire." Pierre's eyes were filled with excitement and pride:

"There are three great dynasties in the history of the empire. This book records the heroes and families with outstanding achievements in each dynasty!"

The empire has been established for nearly a thousand years, and there have been interruptions during this period. The throne has not always been in the hands of the Keynes family, nor has the king always held all the power.

Before the Third Dynasty, which is the current stage, there was a long period of time when the empire was co-ruled by the nobles, which is known in history as the "Republican Period".

"Hey, isn't this Mr. Pillar?" A soft voice approached with light footsteps.

Raven turned around and saw a young nobleman who was about his own age. He was wearing a dark red satin dress with a gold thread on his chest and star-like gems dotted between his shoulders. He looked very wealthy.

What attracted the most attention was not his handsome face, but his protruding ears, which looked as if they had been rolled by a rolling pin and were so thin that light could penetrate them.

"Who is this?" Raven asked.

"Oh, thanks to the goddess of fate's big toe, I'm really lucky today." Pierre said, "Let me introduce you."

"This is the grandson of the Prime Minister of the Empire, the Duke of Hamilton, and the intended heir of the Gustav family, Mr. Jeffrey."

"Mr. Jeffrey, this is..."

"I know Baron Raven." Jeffrey interrupted Pillar and flicked Raven with his eyelids: "The empire's current war hero, the world-famous first general, has overshadowed Duke Ferdinand's reputation!"

"As expected, he is just like the legendary hero, arrogant and unsociable."

Raven frowned. He didn't know where Jeffrey's inexplicable hostility came from.

He has never offended the Gustav family.

Arrogant and unsociable, this can be said to be the worst evaluation of a person in the aristocratic circle, which is basically equivalent to -

An incommunicative, self-righteous idiot.

But of course Raven would not let such a label be attached to his forehead, and smiled slightly and said:

"Mr. Jeffrey, you are joking. I don't know what caused you to misunderstand. If it is my behavior, then I apologize to you here!"

"But I want to make it clear that I have always respected Prime Minister Hamilton. The small contributions I have made are far less than what the Prime Minister has contributed to the empire over the years."

This gesture made Pile, who was worried about a conflict, breathe a sigh of relief.

Jeffrey's face darkened. He didn't expect Raven to respond so naturally, which made him even more angry.

The Gustav family has always been known as the "second family of the empire", which means it is the most influential family besides the royal family.

But the sudden rise of Raven changed the wind direction. Over the past year or so, most of the topics in the imperial capital revolved around Raven, which was enough reason for him to be unhappy.

Anthony has always been at odds with the Gustav family, and Raven emerged from under his command.

What's more, Raven had been in the city for a day and had not sent a visiting card to the Gustav family, which in his opinion was a disrespect.

"Humility in words is not humility, politeness in actions is the real politeness." Jeffrey was not going to let Raven go:
"Baron Raven, do you know where this place is?"

"King's Square." Raven said.

"Yes, King's Square!" Jeffrey opened his arms, as if he was chanting an aria:

"Do you know why it is named like that!?"

"Because of these three obelisks!"

"Each obelisk is engraved with the names of families that have made great contributions to the empire."

"It is these families that have protected the empire's past and created its present glory. They will also make the empire even greater in the future!"

Jeffrey paused for a moment, stared at Raven and said, "Only the families whose surnames are engraved on these obelisks are the real backbone of the empire. They cannot be compared with some guys who call themselves heroes!"

As he spoke, he strode towards the obelisk, a layer of light yellow fighting spirit emanating from his body and flowing into the earth.

Crack... Crack...

In the square, inside the disc, the bricks and stones rotated in a circle, and light surged from the ground and gathered on the three obelisks.

The obelisks on the left and right light up at the same time!

Bright yellow and white light bloomed, and shining characters flowed out from it like halos, then combined and spliced ​​together.

On each of the two obelisks, a line of names lit up:
Gustav.

"Did you see that?" Jeffrey turned to face Raven, his eyes filled with undisguised pride and contempt:

"My Gustav family has been passed down for 771 years. We have gone through the second and third dynasties, and have made outstanding contributions in both dynasties!"

"So, Gustav is the cornerstone of the empire!"

At this point, Jeffrey's expression restrained, and he said in a condescending tone: "Of course, I am not showing you these to boast about the honor of our Gustav family."

"I hope that young people like you, Baron Raven, can know what it means to be cautious and what true merit is, and not become proud and complacent just because you defeated a mere principality."

"Now, please pay your respects to this obelisk, even if it is just to express your gratitude to those predecessors who have sacrificed their lives for the empire!"

How bad!
Pile wished his teeth would break.

No matter what you say, it's not this or that, in the final analysis, aren't you just trying to show off the profound history and outstanding achievements of your Gustav family?

Moreover, as an heir from a big family, his words were so sarcastic and flawless.

The reason was impeccable - it allowed Revan to pay tribute to the ancestors of the Empire.

This would be nothing, but the problem is that if Raven really bowed now, it would be tantamount to surrendering to the Gustav family and to Jeffrey himself!

In this way, Raven's face and reputation will be swept to the ground, and all the reputation he has accumulated before will be used to make wedding clothes for the Gustav family!

But at this time, Pierre could not find any reason to refute.

He looked at Raven anxiously, but was suddenly stunned, because at this moment Raven's face was full of calmness, and then he suddenly took a step forward.

Ugh……

Pierre covered his face, it seemed that Raven had to give in.

A victorious smile appeared on Jeffrey's face.

But
Raven's knees didn't bend at all.

He walked step by step to Jeffrey and suddenly looked up:
"You said that what is engraved here is the cornerstone of the empire?"

Jeffrey was stunned. He instinctively realized that something was wrong, but at this moment he couldn't change his words:
"Of course!"

hum-

The ground suddenly shook!

In the very center, from the pitch-black obelisk, a beam of blood suddenly shot up into the sky!

That was the obelisk that was built 991 years ago when the empire was first established!
The obelisk was engraved with marks like those carved by knives and axes, and surnames emerged one by one.

Jeffrey was stunned.

Who is causing trouble?!
What exactly is going on?

Aren’t all the meritorious families of the First Dynasty either extinct or far away from the center of the empire?!

But when he looked around, he could only see a group of equally stunned passers-by and a look of astonishment on Baylor's face.

His eyes fell on Raven's calm face, and Jeffrey swallowed.

Could it be that Raven is... That shouldn't be the case. There should only be 23 surnames on the obelisk of the First Dynasty. Jeffrey knows all of them by heart, but Griffith is not on the list at all!

It's just a coincidence, just an abnormality.

Yes, it must be so!

This obelisk has been built for 991 years. Isn't it normal that some problems might occur?
Sure enough, as the surnames were lit up one by one, 23 surnames appeared clearly on the obelisk, but Griffith's was the only one missing.

hum-

Another buzzing sound was heard.

A blood-colored phantom came from Raven and pounced into the obelisk.

The blood flowed thickly, and a line of words exploded on the top of the obelisk so that the entire imperial capital could see:
Griffith
"This...this..." Jeffrey was completely stunned.

The Griffith family is actually a meritorious family at the beginning of the empire! ?

But, how is this possible!?

As he was surprised, Raven bowed deeply to the obelisk and then stood up, as a gesture of comfort to his ancestors.

Behind him, Pile, who witnessed all this, swallowed his saliva, with shock in his eyes.

At this moment, Raven's back seemed taller than an obelisk!

This time, Raven bowed not only to comfort his ancestors, but also to declare to the entire empire:

Griffith is back!

From this moment on, the Griffith family will no longer be a force that can no longer be ignored in the imperial political arena.

Raven looked at Jeffrey, who looked like a sand grouse that had encountered a wolf:
"I have already bowed."

"Mr. Jeffrey, shouldn't we also be grateful for the contributions of our ancestors?"

Jeffrey's face suddenly turned as red as a pig's liver.

Originally, he wanted to suppress Raven, but unexpectedly, it encouraged Raven's arrogance!

"Humph!"

With a wave of his hand, Jeffrey turned and left.

One of his attendants beside him seemed stunned by the shock of the previous scene:
"Master, you haven't saluted yet!"

Snapped--

Jeffrey slapped him in the face, but grimaced in pain as his palm hit the helmet:
"go!"

Jeffrey left.

Pilar came to Raven and said, "Well done, Raven. I didn't expect you to have this trick up your sleeve!"

Raven shrugged. "I was wondering about that myself. I just felt like I was being called by something, so I came here."

"Anyway, this is a good trick of yours!" Pierre smiled and narrowed his eyes:

"Come to think of it, you are the one who got into trouble today because of me. Jeffrey has always been at odds with me. If you hadn't been with me, you wouldn't have been targeted like this."

"Come on, I'll treat you today, let's go to the Crystal Palace."

"Ah?" Raven was stunned for a moment: "Crystal Palace?"

Piler said, "Yes, it was newly built a few years ago. It is the best entertainment venue in the entire capital."

"It was invested by your old acquaintance, Marquis Anthony!"

……

In the end, Raven, who couldn't resist Pillar, went with him to the Crystal Palace in the imperial capital to spend some money, but he didn't stay there for too long. When it got dark, he set off to return to the Emerald Hall.

"Eh? Did we take the wrong road?" Ballard, who got off the carriage first, rubbed his eyes.

That’s right, it’s the Emerald Palace.

But why is it suddenly so lively here?
There was a huge crowd of people surrounding the gate, three layers inside and three layers outside.

Weisdong found a chair and stood on it, shouting loudly: "Don't worry, don't worry! We still have the Angel's Kiss and Angel's Embrace!"

The crowd immediately exploded.

"We've already bought a lot of Angel's Kiss and Angel's Embrace. Now we want Angel's Glory!"

"Yes, where is the Angel's Glory? Take it out quickly!"

"Do you know who I'm here on behalf of? I'm representing Count Gongor!"

"The Earl is nothing. I'm here on behalf of the Heinholtz family. Do you understand the meritorious family?!"

Seeing that a scramble was about to take place, Weisdong said helplessly: "Everyone, it's not that I don't want to sell it, but the Angel's Glory is an extremely rare treasure, and the craftsmanship is too complicated. My brother is not here, so I have no right to sell it!"

"How about this, everyone come back tomorrow morning, and then there will definitely be goods, okay?!"

After hearing this, everyone sighed in frustration and regret, but since Visdon had said so, they had no choice but to accept it.

But he did not leave immediately. After all, Angel's Kiss and Angel's Embrace were also very popular.

Piler, who had walked around to the side door, was amazed: "Raven, what kind of magic did you use to make these people fight like this?"

Raven smiled and said, "Well... Actually, I didn't expect that either. But, it's all thanks to Mr. Jeffrey."

Pierre thought about it, then suddenly realized something and laughed out loud: "If Jeffrey knew about this, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to sleep well tonight!"

Pierre had his own business in the capital and knew the difficulties of doing business.

When unfamiliar goods arrive at a new place, the most difficult step is to establish a reputation and open up the situation.

Although Raven was a war hero of the Empire, that was after all a war, and had nothing to do with selling goods.

But today, the obelisk revealed the Griffith family's surname, and the situation was completely different.

This shows that the history of the Griffith family is as long as the empire.

Who knows, there might be a secret recipe that has been passed down for thousands of years?

Moreover, it is hard for anyone who has seen Angel's Glory not to be shocked by the clear light and shadow. In addition, the number of pieces is small, so it is not surprising that there is a scramble for them.

"Well, come to think of it, I still got a great advantage from you." Piler said with a smile: "Since the Angel's Glory is so in short supply, how about I return the one I got before to you?"

"That's not necessary." Raven keenly caught the intention of Pierre to get closer to him: "In fact, I still have a lot of Angel's Glory, I just deliberately controlled the shipment volume."

"Oh..." Pierre showed a knowing smile: "Then I would like to congratulate Baron Raven on his fortune in advance."

"Of course we should make money together." Raven said earnestly: "Since I entered the capital, it has always been you, Pierre, who has been helping me."

"How about this? I will sell you five Angel's Glories at a base price of 9999. Once I've sold them all, you can wait for a higher price. How do you think?"

"How can this be so embarrassing!" Pierre rubbed his hands:
"When do we pick up the goods?"

Bailer is a popular figure around His Majesty, and Raven tries to please him in order to get to know His Majesty the King more clearly.

Even if Pierre is tight-lipped, at least you can let Pierre say a few good words in front of Your Majesty!

This kind of person cannot be bought with money alone.

But making money with him is another matter.

It wasn't as if Pillar just ate without vomiting. After receiving the five Angel's Glory, he spent nearly two hours explaining to Raven in detail the key points that needed to be paid attention to at the cocktail party.

Only then did Raven realize how big the difference was between the rules in the royal capital and those in the local areas.

It also avoids the pitfalls that many nobles who first enter the royal capital will fall into.

For example, when kissing a woman's hand, do not bow, but pull the woman's hand directly to your lips; for example, when taking off your hat, be sure to touch your chest with your left hand and take off your hat with your right hand.

For example, in many places, only close people use the cheek kiss, but it is the etiquette to be used when meeting for the first time in the royal capital.

After seeing Pierre off, Raven was about to rush back to his room when Julia caught up with him:

"My Lord...I have something to say to you."

Raven did not refuse. He took Julia to his room and poured two glasses of wine: "Sit down."

Julia sat down awkwardly, her hands on her knees, and when Raven handed her the wine glass, she took it in her palms:
"Sir, I want to apologize to you."

"If I had been patient last night and not taught those guys a lesson, you wouldn't have to..."

Raven was startled at first, then he smiled: "You misunderstood. The people who came to trouble me today are from the Gustav family, not Queslan."

"Besides, this isn't a big deal for me. If my people were bullied outside and I didn't dare to fight back, that would be shameful!"

Julia nodded and sipped the red wine in her glass.

Raven sat on the chair: "Julia, I'm a little curious. You and Hoyaz are both from an orphanage, so why don't you call me 'father' like them?"

Julia blushed, drank the red wine in the glass, stood up again, and did not answer Raven's question. Instead, she stared into Raven's deep eyes and bit her lip and said:
"Sir, I know you are very upset after your wife's death."

"We feel the same way!"

"But... the dead cannot be resurrected, so we still have to look forward."

Hearing "The dead cannot be resurrected", Raven frowned:
"You... read my diary?"

Julia blinked. "Ah? You keep a diary, too?"

"Ahem!" Raven cleared his throat. "That's not important. I can understand what you said, but understanding is one thing, and being able to experience it is another."

"I have a sense of proportion."

"Let's go down. I'm a little tired too."

Julia obeyed and left, closing the door.

Raven picked up the bottle, looked at the dark night outside the window, tilted his head back and poured all the remaining wine down his throat, then fell on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Over the next few days, Raven traveled around the capital accompanied by Pile.

Angel's Glory is also selling steadily. Its price has now reached more than 33000 gold coins, and it is sold out every time it is released.

I can only say that people in the royal capital are really rich!
Until February 12th.

A cocktail party that included all the high-ranking nobles in the royal capital was officially held.

The eyes of the entire royal capital fell on Raven.

……

(End of this chapter)