Imperial Crown

Eberron believed that no noble could resist the temptation of a fiefdom.

He looked into Raven's eyes expectantly, hoping to get a positive answer.

But Raven didn't seem surprised by this. He shook his head and smiled: "I thought that at least I could be given a viscount title, but I didn't expect that it would just be a fiefdom."

"Baron Raven! Don't be too greedy!" Eberron glared at Raven: "That is a real fiefdom!"

"Oh oh oh, don't get excited, I didn't say you don't want it." Raven rubbed his chin: "How big is this fiefdom...?"

Eberron said coldly: "No less than the Eagle Territory!"

"Where is it?" Raven asked again.

"I don't know!" Eberron was a little impatient when asked: "There are so many families destroyed now, who knows..."

At this point, Eberron suddenly noticed something was wrong: "Baron Raven, are you testing me?"

"Just a casual question." Raven's attitude seemed casual, but his tone was quite playful: "After all, since I have to wade through this muddy water, I have to know what kind of danger I am facing, right?"

Eberron looked relaxed: "...so you agree?"

"I have never refused." Raven's hand hung on the transfer order in front of him: "However, before that, I need the Slater family to explain to me."

"What is the current situation?"

The muscles on Eberron's face twitched. He had never been so passive before, whether facing Baron Angel or Viscount John.

As a special envoy, his mission is to mobilize more nobles to join the battlefield. This is of course to minimize the risks of participating in the war and maximize the benefits, without exposing any weakness of the Slater family.

But today is different from the past. Viscount John and the others have been away for more than a month. There are many things they want to hide, but they can no longer hide them.

"The situation is not very optimistic." Eberron took a sip of the wine in the glass. The cool and sweet Angel Tears calmed his originally irritable mood.

Even after drinking many famous wines, Eberron still had to admit that the quality of Angel's Tears was worth its price.

After sorting out his thoughts, Eberron said: "The Death Hand Order has many necromancers, and their skeleton soldiers can be continuously replenished, but our number of soldiers is limited after all."

"Eight days ago, the 'Dead Priest' of the Order of the Hand of Death and the fifth-level necromancer 'Sacheni' used magic to destroy a section of Meng'en City's wall. Although it was blocked in time, there were still many undead soldiers. It rushed into Men'en City and caused huge losses."

"Because it is uncertain to what extent the Order of the Death Hand has penetrated, Count Tyrone is unable to carry out large-scale mobilization for safety reasons."

"So, currently, the available troops in Meng'en City are less than three legions..."

Raven nodded slowly. Fifteen thousand people, guarding a city wall with a total length of nearly eight kilometers, and maintaining public security in the city were indeed a bit stretched.

"Where's the Iron Legion?"

"...Baron Raven, your thinking is really clear." Eberron smiled bitterly: "The Iron Legion set out five days ago, but it will take at least twenty days to reach Mon'en City."

No matter how powerful the Slater family is, they will eventually fall under the order of the empire. The Iron Legion is directly under the empire. Without royal orders, unauthorized movement is tantamount to treason.

Now that even the Iron Legion has been dispatched, it is enough to show that the pressure faced by the Slater family has probably reached a critical point.

Now that he has reached this point, Eberron no longer hides anything: "Malagar, Singed, Kumonassin... There are currently two viscounts and barons who have been affected by the Death Hand Order and have been completely destroyed. More than ten families.”

"In addition, there are many nobles who have fled their fiefdoms. Most of them are currently gathered in Meng City or Hovey City. More of them have been destroyed. Although it is impossible to count, it is roughly estimated that there are at least forty families. They The vacated fiefdoms are basically controlled by the Hand of Death."

Imperial nobles not only enjoy the power and benefits of their fiefdoms, but also have the responsibility to defend their territory. If they abandon their fiefdoms and flee alone in the face of war, they can temporarily save their lives. If they have connections and know how to operate, they may even retain their titles, but they will never get their fiefdoms back. .

The fiefdom was the root of the nobility, and even the fiefdom was abandoned, which is enough to show how desperate the situation was for these nobles.

Raven tapped his fingers on the table: "In other words, at least one-third of the Nord province is now completely under the control of Death's Hand?"

"...That's right." Eberron nodded with a heavy heart.

One-third was completely occupied, which meant that the parts bordering these lands were always under threat from the hand of death.

After all, most of the Nord province is in war at the moment. The Eagle Territory was not affected immediately because of its remote location. However, if the situation is allowed to worsen, it will be involved sooner or later.

"I hope the Slaters won't break their promise."

With that said, before Eberron could react, Raven's hand held the transfer order: "The Griffith family is willing to go to support Earl Tyrone."

"You can always trust the Earl's promise!" Seeing that Raven finally accepted the order, Eberron quickly asked: "When will the Baron prepare to set off?"

"I need some time to prepare and arrange in advance." Raven pondered for a moment: "One week, one week later, set off on time!"

Hearing this, Eberron let out a long sigh of relief.

This was the first good news he had heard in a while. A week seemed like a long time, but for the noble army of this era, it was short enough. Didn't you see that John and Angel had been preparing for more than half a month?

"Excuse me, how many soldiers do you plan to bring?" Eberron was very excited.

Raven thought carefully: "Well, about... thirty-five."

"Ah?" Eberron seemed to have a bucket of cold water poured on his head: "You... don't make such a joke."

Raven spread his hands and said innocently: "I'm not kidding, I only have so many soldiers under my command."

"This, this, no..." Eberron's lips trembled, and the word "shameless" was still not uttered.

Indeed, Raven said that he didn't have many soldiers left, but Eberron always thought that was a humble remark, and in addition to his personal soldiers, Raven had already left a lot of militia in Eagle Territory, and there were more than fifty patrolmen in the town of Shining Gold.

According to Eberron's judgment, in Raven's case, it would not be a problem to gather about fifty elites and at least three hundred serfs to form two detachments.

Who would have thought that he only wanted to bring so few people!

Eberron felt so wronged, just like a girl who was deceived by a sweet-talking young man and realized that she was cheated after sleeping with him!

But a promise is like a woman's first night. Once it is given, there is no reason to take it back.

Moreover, he was the one who communicated and reconciled between the Slater family and Raven in letting Raven send troops. If they really fell out, he would not be in a good situation in the Slater family!

"Then... I will wait for the good news that the Baron will send troops!"

Eberron left with an even more depressed expression than when he came.

"Congratulations, Baron, for cutting a piece of fat from the Slater family." Old Gordon said excitedly.

There was no contract left in this "transaction", not because of negligence, but because of the tacit understanding between the Griffith and Slater families.

It's okay to ask for a big mouth, but forcing a written agreement and a contract is shitting on the other party's neck, especially when the strength and status of the two parties are not equal.

The Slater family was able to offer such conditions, which meant that someone in the family was fanning the flames, and Hyde and Eberron were the most directly related people.

When everything is over, the two of them will be the ones who most hope to fulfill their promises, and will do their best to promote the realization of this promise.

"Now we just drag the meat onto the plate." Raven looked deep: "Whether we can really eat it depends on the next performance!"

"Go, start preparing supplies and food, and be sure to prepare enough, more rather than less."

"Yes, Baron!" Old Gordon took the order and retreated.

The news that Raven was about to go to war quickly spread throughout the Eagle Territory, making the people in the territory a little uneasy.

They didn't care how chaotic it was outside, but if Raven took too many people, their own safety would be difficult to be effectively guaranteed.

This is also a common problem of most serfs, freemen and even nobles in today's era. They don't feel pain unless the knife cuts their necks.

Even if the robbers are already standing outside their door.

In addition to ordinary people, merchants, freemen, as well as Fili, Denise, Baron Angel, and Viscount John's only son Jonathan, are all paying attention to Raven's movements, wanting to know how Raven will make decisions, who to keep and who to take away.

But there has been no definite news.

Raven is waiting, and busy at the same time.

During this time, he distributed the only four God-given potions in his hand, allowing Otto and Wade to awaken their fighting spirit.

In addition, the two newly promoted team leaders, Bobby and Boris, also successfully awakened after the reorganization.

Now, Raven has 45 elites and seven extraordinary people, which is outstanding among the barons.

On the fourth day before departure, Margaret finally recovered almost completely, at least there was no flaw in her skin.

Raven selected another death row prisoner who had made trouble before and asked Margaret to make a new substitute.

Margaret didn't like to become a man, but Raven's order made her unable to refuse.

When Raven told her that he was going to let her set off with the team as a civilian, Margaret reluctantly told Raven a fact:

If the undead creatures are all drug addicts, then the essence of corrupted souls is like a drug, which has a natural and irresistible fatal temptation to them.

So she suggested that Raven must not expose the existence of the essence of corrupted souls, otherwise it will definitely attract a huge number of undead.

This is not good news, because it means that if Raven wants to replenish magic power on the battlefield in the future, he is likely to become the target of the skeletons.

On the third day before departure, the monument at the gate of the castle was built.

On the second day before departure, Raven finally received news from the riverside workshop.

Volaf walked up to Raven with a box that was one and a half meters long in both hands:

"Baron, the sword you want is cast!"

...