Imperial Crown.

Chapter 45 Angel's Kiss
In a blink of an eye, it was September 9nd, and 22 days had passed since Raven plunged into the workshop.

During this period, Raven didn't even return to Eagle Castle. When he took a break occasionally, he would just stay in the office in the workshop.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go back, nor that he was addicted to being a craftsman, it was really because he encountered a problem - alcohol.

To make alcohol, the wine needs to be distilled.

This requires that the temperature of the heat source be controlled between 80-100°C, otherwise only some solid impurities in the wine can be distilled away, and the alcohol concentration cannot be increased at all.

This is where the problem arises.

The alchemical equipment purchased by Raven could not control the fire at all. After all, there were no gas stoves in that era.

At first, Raven thought of taking only the first half of the distillation.

Alcohol has a much lower boiling point than water, so this can significantly increase the alcohol content of the distilled solution.

However, this method soon reached a bottleneck. When the alcohol concentration reached about 50%, no matter how much distillation was done, the water content could not be further reduced.

However, this concentration is far from meeting Raven's requirements.

It was Poirot who came up with a stupid idea: when it is about to boil, turn off the fire immediately, and then move the fire away after a while.

In order to verify the reliability of this plan and to keep it confidential, Raven had to take turns with Poirot in guarding the still.

In the morning light, in the workshop, Poirot, with bloodshot eyes, removed the stove from the flask for the last time: "Sir... it's done!"

Raven nodded. He took a sip of water, walked to the front of the stage, and took off the flask with Poirot. The strong smell of alcohol cheered him up: "Maybe it will work this time!"

Taking out a beaker with a scale, Raven poured 200 ml of freshly distilled liquid into it, picked up a piece of red-hot charcoal with tongs, placed it on top and shook it gently.

Sparks flew everywhere.

With a bang, bright yellow flames suddenly burned, and black burn marks immediately covered the wall of the cup.

When the flame went out, the beaker had turned completely black.

Raven walked forward, covered his hands with a thick cloth, grabbed the beaker and poured the liquid into a clean beaker.

As the dark brown liquid flowed into it, cold sweat ran down Poirot's face.

When the last drop of water fell into the beaker, Raven's lips curled up into a satisfied smile.

Become!

There is only about less than 20 ml of water in the beaker, and some of it is of course evaporated during the flame combustion process. But no matter how much it evaporates, to be able to burn to this extent, its concentration is at least over 75%.

"It's worth my time." Raven breathed a sigh of relief and patted Poirot on the shoulder. "Five gold coins as a reward. I mean what I said! If you have similar ideas in the future, I'll pay you as long as they're useful."

Poirot touched his chest excitedly: "Thank you for your generosity, sir!"

Raven smiled and said nothing, but took out the small glass bottle containing essential oil from the bottom shelf.

After 8 days, almost half of the essential oil inside has been stored, about 10 ml, and it has taken on a luxurious golden color.

Raven placed the funnel on top and carefully scooped a small amount of distilled alcohol into it. When it was almost full, he sealed the lid tightly and shook it gently.

"Poirot, go bottle the alcohol and remember to label it." Raven instructed: "Next time you distill it, seal it up and store it immediately."

Alcohol of this concentration will evaporate quickly if left for a little longer.

Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door, and Denise's voice came: "Raven, are you in there?"

"Wait a moment." Raven motioned Poirot to continue, then walked to the door and opened it.

Denise was startled by the sight.

Raven was wearing a dirty white coat, and his once smooth and shiny hair had become greasy and messy. Although his eyes were clear, there was an indelible sense of fatigue between his brows.

How does this look like a baron?

Thinking about the fact that Raven had been staying in this workshop for eight consecutive days, Denise became furious. Just as she was about to scold him, she saw Poirot who was busy.

The latter quickly put down what he was holding and saluted: "Mrs. Denise!"

The anger on Denise's face disappeared, and she said in a cold tone: "Keep doing your work, Raven, come out, I have something to talk to you about."

Walking out of the door, Raven took a deep breath of fresh air in the morning light: "Sorry, I really can't spare the time these days."

Hearing him say that, Denise's anger suddenly disappeared by half. Seeing his tired face, she couldn't even say a word of reprimand: "Raven, you are a baron after all, not a craftsman. No matter how busy you are here, you should show up at Eagle Castle."

"I know, I won't do that again." Raven shook his neck. "But it seems that Eagle Territory is running well now. It seems that nothing happened when I left for a few days."

"That's what you think." Denise glanced at him and said, "In your absence, many things have been piled up. Although no substantial losses have been caused, but..."

At this point, Denise couldn't continue. She looked at Raven helplessly: "Can you listen to me carefully? Do you have to cause irreparable damage before you repent?"

"Of course not." Raven said with a smile, "I just found that you look good without makeup."

Denise's face flushed, her chest heaving and her brows furrowed. "Raven, I'm not kidding you."

"I'm not kidding you either." Raven opened his palm and handed the bottle filled with essential oil and alcohol mixture to Denise: "With this, you will definitely become the most attractive woman in the entire Mon'en City."

Denise was a little confused: "Is this also used to improve Angel's Tears?"

Raven did not answer, but said softly: "Stretch out your right hand."

Denise raised her wrist hesitantly, but Raven did not touch her as she expected. Instead, he opened the bottle, turned it upside down, put a little liquid on his fingertips, and smeared it on her wrist.

Denise felt a little cool and was startled: "This is..."

Raven raised his wrist to his nose and raised his eyebrows again.

Denise followed the same action, brought her wrist closer, and took a gentle sniff. Her eyes suddenly lit up, as if there were stars twinkling in them.

The rich scent of roses filled her nose, warm but not pungent, making Denise feel as if she was standing in a rose field.

"If it is sealed, it will almost never go bad." Raven leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I stayed here for eight days just for this. I named it 'Angel's Kiss'!"

"Angel's Kiss..." Denise said in a tone that sounded almost like chanting, "It's like the kiss left by an angel in a dream. It's invisible, but people can clearly taste it. What a good name."

“How much does it cost?”

Raven smiled dumbly, and his first reaction was to ask the price. Denise was indeed a qualified businessman: "2600 roses, all in this bottle."

“Hiss—” Even Denise was stunned by the number. “Not counting labor, it will cost 2.6 gold coins. Give it to me, Raven. I’m sure it will sell for a sky-high price.”

"Sure. I'm also planning to hold a 'press conference' in your name."

"Release...meeting?" Denise muttered this unfamiliar word: "What does it mean?"

Raven explained: "It means gathering the wealthy merchants and nobles of the Nord Province to Goldshire Town, and then promoting our products in front of them."

"Oh, it's just a cocktail party for purely commercial purposes." Denise understood and summarized Raven's words, and raised a new question: "But we can't sell luxury goods on a large scale if we can't increase the production volume."

"Hmm, so my purpose is not just to promote it." Raven said: "The real protagonist is still the Angel's Tears with a new packaging. This Angel's Kiss is just a supporting role."

"One of them?" Denise keenly caught the message in Raven's words: "What is the other one?" "What have you been using to wash your face in the past two days?" Raven asked.

Denise suddenly realized: "Oh, you mean the scented soap you had sent out?"

Raven nodded. "Yes, I named it, 'Angel's Embrace'."

"cost?"

"The leftovers from Angel's Tears and Angel's Kisses."

"Yield?"

"Based on a 200-gram piece, we can produce more than 3000 pieces per month."

Denise's eyes sparkled with the light of gold coins. "Then leave the rest to me. A piece of scented soap like Angel's Embrace should be sold for at least 2 silver coins. I think it should be made with a nice-looking mold."

"Well, no problem. I'll leave this matter to you." Raven said with a smile.

"Whether it's Angel's Tears, Angel's Kiss or Angel's Embrace, I can give you the sales rights completely." Raven said.

Denise looked delighted, but she didn't get carried away. She asked with a little caution, "What are the conditions?"

Raven raised his eyebrows and smiled: "The condition is that Fedro Business will be completely integrated into the Eagle Territory's system, and the profits will be added to the Eagle Territory's treasury. In addition, you will have the right to withdraw no more than 20% of the treasury's gold coins each year without my consent."

Raven needs a deeper community of interests.

As Eagle Territory develops, there will definitely be more and more things to encounter in the future, and Raven cannot take care of everything.

A person's energy is always limited, and he needs Denise to help him share the pressure of business affairs.

As a member of the Griffith family, Denise shares his success and failure, and has enough motivation to manage everything well.

Raven was also confident that with the balance of old Gordon, he would not completely let go, so it was impossible for Denise to cause any trouble.

Denise also thought of this. After weighing the pros and cons, she said, "I can promise you, but from now on I will actually serve as the financial officer of the Griffith family. Every income and expenditure will require my approval."

"No problem, but the final decision is still in my hands," Raven said.

Denise held out her hand. "Then I wish you a pleasant cooperation?"

Raven politely held her slippery fingertips: "Happy cooperation."

"Then I will go back to the castle first, Baron." Denise pulled her hand away without leaving a trace and said, "I hope my appointment letter can be issued as soon as possible."

Looking at her back, Raven shook his head and chuckled, then turned around and went back to the workshop.

At noon that day, Raven returned to Eagle Castle and immediately issued an order to recruit workers, requiring them to be dexterous and preferably have a cooking background.

After all, the closest thing to a chemist in this world, besides an alchemist, is a cook.

After a sound sleep, Raven woke up refreshed and began a very regular life.

After breakfast every morning, he held a routine meeting to handle all matters; in the morning, he practiced magic in the inner courtyard of Eagle Castle until lunch; after lunch, he inspected the barracks and workshops, and after returning, he began to practice horse riding and swordsmanship until dusk; after dinner, he locked himself in the study and studied the Elvish language for two hours, and then read the books brought back from Lux for two hours; he meditated before going to bed every night.

Among them, the practice of magic was somewhat novel at the beginning, but it became boring after a few days.

A magician cannot cast spells simply by possessing magic power and affinity for elements; spells, gestures and magic power routes are all essential.

Only when all three are in harmony can a spell be cast. Otherwise, all you will see is a person dancing and talking nonsense, but nothing happens.

Raven has been dancing like this a lot lately, and it looks like he's taking a test.

At the beginning, Raven failed to succeed even once after dozens of attempts. After a few days, the success rate gradually stabilized at 30%. If he wanted to improve it, he could only work hard.

Instead, he read the books that he thought would make him fall asleep: "Nothing But God", "The Way of the Mage", and "A Knight's Self-cultivation" with great interest.

In addition to some gossip within the circle, it also describes in detail the different practice methods of each profession.

The divine magician must pray devoutly to the Lord of Light. It is said that when one reaches level 7 or above, one can even see the figure of the Lord of Light while praying.

Mages use meditation as the main way to increase magic power, and can also increase meditation efficiency relatively quickly by consuming magic crystals. Generally speaking, this can increase the magician's magic growth rate by about 3% before level 17.

Knights or warriors are the most different ones. In addition to the daily need to strengthen their bodies, they also need to rely on external objects. They must consume minerals or plants with extraordinary energy that match their own attributes and absorb the energy in them. Only in this way can they improve their rank.

One point was also emphasized, that magic cores cannot be used as raw materials, because any knight or warrior who relies on magic cores for training will eventually go mad, a situation known as "beast transformation."

When seeing this, Raven couldn't help but think of Eric. He had served in Eagle Castle for more than ten years, and his accumulated salary should be at least 1000 gold coins if not 800. However, he is still at the first level. I don't know where all the money has gone.

Reading is half entertainment and half knowledge-enhancing, and it is a good leisure activity.

But if there is one thing Raven likes most, it is meditation.

Leaving the study and returning to the bedroom, Patty retreated with a gloomy look, and Raven began his meditation for today.

He took off all his clothes, sat cross-legged on the bed, crossed his hands in front of his lower abdomen, let them hang naturally, and gently closed his eyes.

Following the description on the scroll, Raven began to consciously regulate his breathing, making the rhythm slower and lighter until the rise and fall of his chest became barely noticeable.

There was darkness in front of his eyes at first, and then it became bright. Raven seemed to be in an endless starry sky, with colorful stars everywhere he looked.

Brown represents the earth, blue represents water, red represents fire, cyan represents storm, white represents light, black represents darkness. In addition, there are many wonderful light spots formed by the mixture of these colors.

Here, Raven has no form, just a ball of silver mist.

He drove himself with his mind and approached a star. Soon the star turned into a ball of light. As soon as it came into contact with Raven, it was sucked into the silver mist.

The ball of light gradually became smaller and eventually disappeared without a trace, and Raven's magic power also quietly increased a little.

Magic power itself has no attributes, but when a mage is meditating, he will usually only absorb elemental light balls with which he has a higher affinity. This has a higher absorption efficiency and can also slightly enhance the affinity of the corresponding elements.

But Raven is different. He is friendly to the four elements of earth, water, fire and wind. He absorbs each kind of light ball at about the same speed and does not need to be too picky. Therefore, his efficiency is much higher than that of ordinary mages.

Although there is no comparison, after rough calculations and a simple experiment, Raven confirmed that his magic power growth rate is about 1.6 times that of a wizard of the same level.

As the sound of chickens crowing came from outside the window, Raven ended his meditation and felt that his magic power had increased a little bit.

This feeling of reaping what you sow is why Raven likes meditation.

And it can also replace sleep.

After getting dressed with the help of Petty and having breakfast with everyone, Mosingam strode in before the meeting started:

"Reporting to the Baron, the deployed people have arrived in Shimmering Gold Town. We are short of manpower and hope to mobilize new soldiers to maintain order."

Old Gordon glanced at him with a hint of dissatisfaction: "It's just 600 people. Do you have to trouble the Baron for this?"

"No, it's not a matter of quantity..." Mosingan swallowed his saliva: "...I can't explain it clearly, Mr. Gordon, you will know when you see it with your own eyes."

"The Fox family is going too far!"

……

(End of this chapter)