Imperial Crown.

Chapter 526 Order of Marquis Conferment

Many thanks to Qidian user [Book Friend 101030190038125] for the 1000 reward!

……

"You~!!"

Serafino's cheeks flushed red, and he slammed his hands on the table, glaring fiercely at Egihad.

"What? I didn't name names, and some people have already broken down so quickly?"

Egihad gave a mocking smile.

"Enough!" Hamilton slammed his hand on the table. "How dare you argue like this in front of His Majesty the King?!" After reprimanding him, Hamilton glanced at Habs's face. Seeing that Habs's expression was normal, he slowly turned the ring on his hand and said, "Your Majesty, it was your family's ancestors from Keynes who followed the Lord of Light to defeat the orcs, which is why the Keynes Empire came into being! So, regardless of whether Raven's achievements were deliberately exaggerated, he did indeed fight against the orcs, and this merit cannot be erased, otherwise it will chill the hearts of the border nobles."

Hamilton was afraid that Habs was still holding a grudge against Raven for his past transgressions, and therefore issued some foolish orders.

The Gustav family, to which Hamilton belonged, was the undisputed second-largest family in the Keynesian Empire, after the Keynesian family and the now-declining Griffith family. Their historical foundation and family power far surpassed all the families in the two camps present! Therefore, Hamilton did not join either the so-called old-school or new-school aristocratic camp. However, these old-school nobles were truly detestable; whenever he disagreed with Habsburg, they would unhesitatingly and firmly support him! Over time, they not only completely divided him into the old-school aristocratic faction but also successfully made him a thorn in Habsburg's side! They shielded the old-school nobles from the storm and withstood the vast majority of the pressure!
So Hamilton later simply spoke less, and even when there were disagreements, he would usually find a secluded place to communicate with Habs afterwards. After all, Habs was still too young. At most, Habs is only 39 years old this year. 39 is 39, not even 40 yet. And Hamilton is already 78 years old this year.

Egihard was right about one thing: while these old-school nobles opposed Habsburg at every turn, their intentions were ultimately good, and they were families genuinely willing to shed blood and risk their lives for the Keynesian Empire. After all, their families had long been integrated with the empire, sharing its fate. Once the empire collapsed, their family's glory, wealth, and everything else would vanish overnight. Their opposition to Habsburg was simply a matter of self-preservation. After all, which new king, upon ascending the throne, wouldn't want to achieve something spectacular, to leave a lasting mark on history for posterity to admire? But this naturally threatened the foundations and interests of various old-school nobles. In reality, in politics, harmony between the top and second-in-command is never possible. History flows on, times change, humanity progresses, and civilization evolves… but human nature remains unchanged for centuries, millennia, and even millennia.

"The only two things in this world that cannot be looked at directly are the sun and the human heart."

Hamilton, his thoughts churning, suddenly recalled this famous quote and gave a cold glance at the modern nobleman sitting opposite him.

While Hamilton disliked the old-school nobles, he also held these new-school nobles in utter contempt. These people, besides their sycophancy, didn't seem to have much else to offer. Even if Raven had committed grave offenses, he had first quelled the Death Hand cult's rebellion in the Nord province, then attacked Eivor to relieve the empire's dire straits, and now he was deep in the orcish empire fighting the orcs! If one were to truly assess their merits, the combined achievements of all the new-school ducal families sitting in the council hall probably wouldn't equal those of Raven, a scoundrel who crawled out of the stinking ditch of Mon'en City! If Habs were to act recklessly, stripping Raven of his title and forcing him to his death in the orcish empire, what would the other nobles think? What would those nobles who had spent years fighting the orcs on the borders think? These consequences were something that Seraphim and his group of new-school nobles hadn't even considered! Perhaps they considered it, but they didn't really care. After all, their only value was to help Habs express his inner thoughts!
But Hamilton couldn't let Habs run rampant. So his words just now set the main tone for today's meeting, hoping Habs would take it to heart; otherwise, even as Prime Minister, there was nothing he could do.

"The Prime Minister is right."

Habs began, "Since everyone has differing opinions, let's follow the old rules and vote." "Those who think Raven should be punished, raise your hands."

Among the new faction—Serafino of the Queselan family, Wittus of the Irvine family, and Oculius of the Melodion family—naturally raised their hands hastily.

They were all well aware of Habs's dissatisfaction with Raven, and even Seraphine, as a trusted confidant, knew more or less about the relationship between Habs and Lux. But clearly, Lux ultimately made the wrong choice and chose that thug! This would inevitably intensify Habs's murderous intent towards Raven.

Habs glanced at the situation in the room. "Three votes." "Raise your hand if you agree to award Raven."

In the old guard—Egihard of the Berenheim family, Ferdinand of the Van Doria family, and Gottfried of the Hainholz family all raised their hands.

"oops"

Habs chuckled, his expression unreadable. "This is a bit tricky. Three votes to three." He then turned to Hamilton beside him and asked, "Your Excellency, why don't you cast your vote as well?"

"I will obey His Majesty's will."

Hamilton said respectfully, then raised his hand, “I voted right for Raven.”

Habs nodded as if he had expected this. "In that case, it's four votes to three. Let's reward Raven then." "Hmm—" Habs pondered for a moment, then continued, "What reward does Your Excellency the Prime Minister think Raven should receive?"

"This..." Habs' expression remained unchanged, and Hamilton couldn't tell whether he was happy or angry. For a moment, he was also a little unsure of what to do. "We will do as His Majesty commands." However, in order to make Habs happier, Hamilton still offered his opinion, "That little bee is indeed arrogant and crazy. No matter how much His Majesty rewards him, it's like throwing meat buns to a dog—gone forever. How about rewarding him with some gold coins and military supplies, such as armor and weapons?"

At this point, Hamilton suddenly remembered something and hurriedly continued, "Oh right, there was an earthquake in Ganville a few years ago, followed by a skeletal dragon rampage. People there were fleeing frantically, causing turmoil in the surrounding provinces. Why not capture a group of them, reduce them to serfs, and send them to Raven? That way, we can save a lot of money on disaster relief."

Habs, who had been bored, suddenly straightened up upon hearing this, staring intently at Hamilton. This old man could be quite useful sometimes. "According to the Prime Minister, how much money can be saved?"

Hamilton smiled slightly. "That's a question for Chancellor of the Exchequer Gottfried to answer, Your Majesty."

Gottfried, the oldest among them, didn't speak but stroked his goatee. Everyone knew this was Gottfried's standard opening move before unleashing his "terrifying combat technique"—[Mental Calculation]. Everyone held their breath, even the three major families of the new faction. Over the past few years, they had to clean up Emperor Habsburg's mess by paying war reparations, fund the wounded and dead, and then provide aid to the earthquake-stricken province of Ganville. Which family hadn't been ripped off for nearly a million gold coins? Despite their seemingly powerful influence in the capital, they were all dirt poor, not to the point of needing to urinate blood, but certainly in dire straits.

“If we can give Raven 30 people, then we can save 40 to 50 gold coins.” Gottfried’s aged voice slowly rang out, but to everyone’s ears it was as beautiful as a musical performance. “If we can give Raven 50 people, then we can save at least 70 to 80 gold coins! In actual operation, it will probably be even more.”

"Good!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with joy, and they exclaimed in unison, "Brilliant!" 80 gold coins—that would be exactly 10 gold coins for everyone present!

Unexpectedly, Raven had such a clever use, and in an instant, the hostility of the new aristocracy towards Raven was reduced by half.

"From this perspective, Raven absolutely cannot be killed. I apologize to everyone for my recklessness just now." Serafinu's voice rang out excitedly, "Raven's attack on the Orc Empire was indeed a great achievement. In order to share His Majesty's burden, I am willing to offer ten thousand gold coins as His Majesty's reward for Raven."

"Damn it, what a piece of trash!" Fernandin roared inwardly. As the Minister of Military Affairs and also the frontline commander in the war against the Insa Empire, his family had contributed the most in reparations. Now that Serafinu had jumped out to give money again, it was no wonder he was furious.

As expected, the next moment, everyone expressed their willingness to contribute 10,000 gold coins to raise funds for Habs's reward to Raven.

"very good."

Habs was very satisfied with this result. This way, he not only didn't have to spend a penny on Raven's reward, but he also made a profit of tens of thousands. Therefore, many people couldn't understand why he promoted three new nobles; wasn't the effect obvious? "However, you are still narrow-minded. I didn't expect Raven to actually take root in the Orc Empire. To show the Empire's respect for him, I have decided to confer upon Raven the title of Marquis!" "However, considering Raven's health, he will not be allowed to come to the capital to receive the title." "The decree has already been written; you all just need to sign it. It will depart soon and be delivered to Raven in the Orc Empire."

"Huh??" Hamilton was startled. Not only him, but everyone present was shocked. It turned out that Habs had already planned this, and even intended to bestow a marquisate upon him.

"Absolutely not, absolutely not, Your Majesty!" Hamilton hurriedly looked at Egihard, who, receiving Hamilton's signal, jumped out and loudly retorted. Although he was the youngest among the old-school nobles, only in his sixties, his full head of white hair and beard made him look the oldest. He was called "White-haired Pug" by the new-school nobles.

Habs's face showed a hint of displeasure. "Why not?" "Before Raven even set off, you were clamoring in the main hall to increase Raven's budget and support his attack on the Orc Empire! You even asked me if I had forgotten the past humiliation and mission!" "Now that he has won, enhancing the prestige of my Keynes Empire! Yet you disagree with granting him a title! This is no good, that is no good, what exactly are you thinking?!"

"Uh..." Egihad was speechless for a moment after being scolded by Habs. "The ancestral rules stipulate that a nobleman who has been promoted in rank may not be promoted again within ten years." He could only resort to the ancestral rules to defend himself.

"Ancestral precepts! Ancestral precepts!!!" Habs suddenly roared in fury, "I am now in charge! I am the king! It's settled!" With that, he flung out a gold-edged decree of investiture, "Sign! Everyone, sign it in my presence today!"

His anger silenced everyone present, who rushed to sign their names.

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger.” Serafinu stood up and bowed again, saying, “I am willing to personally go to the Orc Empire to deliver Your Majesty’s favor to Raven.”

"No need," Habs said expressionlessly, putting away the investiture order. "I have other plans for this matter."

Serafino could only sit down awkwardly.

"Alright, this small matter is settled." Habs rubbed his temples. "Next, let's talk about the Kingdom of Podomichrie. I've heard that the Vansino royal family of Podomichrie has been quite restless lately, maintaining close ties with the Insa Empire. What are your thoughts, ministers?"

"This tiny, insignificant country is barking and howling; it's long overdue to teach them a lesson," Perandi scoffed. Back when Keynes went to war with Insa, King Sam Vanthnor of the Podomichrie Kingdom had been relentlessly criticizing the Keynesian Empire, accusing Keynes of colluding with the orcs and allowing them to attack their country. Perandi had long wanted to deal with this nation.

"Hey, we must be careful about the international repercussions and not start a war lightly."

Hamilton quickly interrupted, "Our loss to Insa has severely damaged our national prestige. Now, the Papal States and the Holy See have sided with Insa because of the Eivor incident, and our diplomacy is deteriorating. If another disaster occurs, the entire country's finances may go bankrupt. These beasts would love for the empire to split apart."

“Why not make the most of it?” Whittus from the new faction said, “Let Raven attack, and then we can sever ties with Raven afterwards.”

"It's not ready yet," Habs said calmly.

"How about...raising taxes?"

Gottfried said, his voice trembling.

"Tax increase?!"

Everyone turned to look at Gottfried.

“Yes, raise taxes.” Gottfried stroked his goatee. “The Kingdom of Podomichrie borders the Orc Empire. They earn tens of millions of gold coins a year just from trading orcish goods with us. If we raise taxes, their finances will collapse immediately!”

"Colorful!" "Colorful, colorful, colorful!"

Habs clapped his hands and said, "To make them suffer so much without losing a single soldier, this is simply a brilliant idea!" After saying that, Habs rarely praised, "Old ginger is indeed spicier."

"Hehe," a shy expression appeared on Gottfried's old face.

"That's settled then, meeting adjourned!" Habs was very satisfied with today's meeting, and with a flick of his wrist, he walked out of the meeting hall and headed towards the palace.

Everyone stood up and bowed respectfully to see them off.

After the king and the new faction members left, Perandi asked, "Your Excellency, who do you think His Majesty should send to deliver the investiture decree?" Although Raven was just a lowly scoundrel, the Angel series items were really good, and whoever went on this trip would surely make some money.

“I don’t know.” Hamilton shook his head. “I suppose it’s Seraphim and the others.”

Gottfried suddenly smiled mysteriously, "But I know why His Majesty bestowed a knighthood upon Raven. I have something good there; would you all like to see it?"

Egihard asked curiously, "What good stuff?"

“Don’t ask me that,” Gottfried said, looking at Hamilton. “I implore Your Excellency to come to my castle. I assure you, this item will not disappoint you.”

Hamilton was reluctant to get too close to either of these factions, but at this moment he couldn't help but become interested and nodded.

The four traveled together in a carriage towards Gottfried's castle.

Hamilton then saw a photographic crystal containing almost the same information that Habs had seen.

Hamilton was startled. "Where did you get this?"

Gottfried chuckled. "Never mind the prime minister. Now you understand why our Emperor has gone to such lengths to knight Raven, don't you?"

"I see," Hamilton nodded slightly.

……

(End of this chapter)