Imperial Crown

As a lord, Raven has many important things to do every day, such as...

Uh, for example, holding a cup of coffee, moving a chair, and sitting in the secret room painting dark blue.

In addition to buying and selling things and communicating with other mages, the Deep Blue Platform also provides a forum-like section where many magicians share their experiences, stories, or exchange experiences on magic use, potion refining, and enchanting techniques.

Raven's knowledge greatly increased.

For example, there was a post that Raven had just read before.

A certain fourth-level magician was approached by his sexy magic apprentice with an invisibility potion. Then, on the balcony of the mage tower, in broad daylight, the two of them drank the potion and experimented with the sound of the invisibility potion in public. The effect of obscuration and mood swings on the effectiveness of invisibility potions.

In this regard, Raven could only sigh, these magicians are really good at playing!

There are many similar gossips, in addition to some internal employment and reward information.

For example, recruiting experimental assistants, recruiting a court magician on behalf of a certain lord, and purchasing materials produced by specific monsters.

It's not that Raven is lazy. Although Denise has left now, with the recovery of old Gordon, the construction of Eagle Town is back on track, and he does not need to spend too much energy.

Due to the earlier preparation time, the construction of Eagle Town has begun to take shape. In addition to the Wallace Hotel, other buildings have been completed and opened to the public, including pubs, casinos, public relations clubs, etc.

Taking a sip of coffee, Raven murmured to himself: "Speaking of which, do you want to find a chance to go out for a walk?"

After thinking for a while, Raven got up and walked to the door of the secret room. As soon as he pushed the door open a crack, he heard the chirping of cicadas.

When I hear the cicada chirping, I think of the sun. When I think of the sun, Raven feels hot all over and my scalp feels itchy.

Forget it, let’s continue with the dark blue and enjoy the coolness of the temperature control array!

However, not everyone will choose the same way to relieve the heat as Raven. In this era, most people's pastime is drinking.

And the pub is the best gathering place.

At this moment, on the street corner not far from the Wallace Hotel, a tavern was open for business.

Compared with innovative and luxurious hotels, this pub called "Pride of the Lion" is much simpler. The front door is a classic oak sign, two oak doors open opposite each other, and there are several layers of wine piled on the wall next to the door. The barrel looks like a good place to drink.

Entering along the door, there is a long row of counters. Behind the counter is a large wine cabinet. There are all kinds of wines of various grades and styles. The most eye-catching one is of course the Tears of Angels.

The windows are closed and the curtains are drawn. Under the operation of the temperature control array, the air in the tavern is cool. And for the sake of beauty, there is a burning fireplace in the corner, and a bard is sitting on a high stool in front of the stove. .

His name was Rocco, and he looked to be around thirty years old. His face was thickly smeared with makeup, but traces of wind and sun damage could still be seen on his exposed fingers and wrists.

On her feet are a pair of green leather shoes, purple bloomers, her upper body is an exaggerated costume decorated with pink lace, and on her head is a white wide-brimmed felt hat, with a signature pheasant feather on the top.

Rocco played the lute in his hand and sang a ballad. The long jazz-like tune made the entire tavern peaceful and peaceful.

"Hey, stop singing!" The gray dwarf Suohe shouted loudly: "We are here to relax, but your singing makes us want to cry. Let's change it!"

With that said, he threw a silver coin to Rocco.

Rocco took off his hat, caught the silver coin with great precision, and said with a smile: "Okay, what do you want to listen to? I can play any kind of music, such as 'Come to see you at three o'clock in the night'?"

"It's boring." Suohe said loudly: "Since you are a bard, you must have traveled to many places, so why don't you tell a story?"

Buzz.

Rocco fiddled with the strings twice and said with a smile: "Okay, let me tell you my own story."

"As you know, my name is Rocco, a bard."

"My life has not been a success."

"I was born in a small town in the province of Molinier. Although I have the status of a free man, my parents are dutiful farmers, stubborn and conservative."

"I longed for life in a big city and didn't want to live a life that could end at a glance, so when I was ten years old, I climbed into a caravan passing through my hometown and joined a traveling theater troupe through hard work."

"Of course I did some odd jobs at first. At that time, my dream was to be an acrobat, because the way they threw the throwing knives looked very cool, which was very consistent with a child's fantasy."

“Although I have no talent, I still managed to please the acrobats in the group with my eloquence, and I learned how to throw a decent knife, and I was able to fill in for the acrobats when they were taking a break or when there weren’t many spectators. "

"I was seventeen years old that year, and it seemed that my dream was about to come true. But in the same year, my dream changed."

The sound of the strings quietly stopped, and Rocco suddenly sighed: "I fell in love with a girl, her name is..."

"Jasmine."

Continuing to pluck the strings, Rocco said slowly: "She was a very beautiful girl. She was only fifteen years old at the time. Because she didn't want to be married to an ugly and old businessman by her family, she escaped with our troupe's caravan. come out."

"She's a lovely girl...I mean, a young, gentle, understanding girl, it's hard not to like her."

"She would hand me a handkerchief and a glass of water with honey when I finished cleaning up the mess; she would giggle when I teased her, and even if the joke went too far, she wouldn't be angry for long. With some coaxing, you will become happy again.”

"No matter what worries me, I can talk to her. We sit in the carriage, on the roof, on the embankment by the river."

"Her feet would always swing back and forth, with a smile on her apple-like face. No matter what I said, she would listen quietly. Occasionally, if I took the opportunity to hold her hand, her face would really turn red like an apple."

"So my dream has changed. I want to be with her, marry her, have a few children, and live my whole life carefree..."

"But at that time, I was too timid and too poor to afford a girl's life. I originally thought that if I saved enough money - at least ten gold coins, I could buy a house and a few acres in the countryside. Tian, ​​and then go and confess to her.”

"Unfortunately, just six months later, she quietly left the troupe, taking away my heart and my dreams."

"I never wanted to throw throwing knives again, so I picked up the dusty lute in the troupe's warehouse and practiced every love song, hoping that one day when we meet again, I can tell her my heart."

"I tell this story in every new place I arrive, hoping that someone will hear the name 'Jasmine', and that I can see the 'her' I miss day and night again."

Having said this, Rocco sighed, his fingers kept moving, but he stopped talking.

Sohei finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted loudly: "Hey! Rocco! I told you we are here to relax, relax! How do you expect us to relax with stories like yours!?"

"We gray dwarves also have feelings, okay!?"

This time Bowell rarely agreed with him: "That is, we gray dwarves are also an intelligent race. Together with you humans, we overthrew the evil rule of the dragon. We are also cultured, knowledgeable, and emotional!"

"Your story makes the wine in our mouths taste bitter!"

Today is a rare holiday for the gray dwarves, so they organized a group to come to the tavern to relax. Seventeen gray dwarves were there, led by Sohei and Bowell. They immediately started making noises and banged the table loudly.

The bartender behind the counter gave Rocco an unkind look.

Feeling the dissatisfaction of everyone, Rocco hurriedly said: "Oh, distinguished gentlemen, my story is not finished yet!"

"Then tell me quickly!" Bowell threw a silver coin over: "I want to hear the happy ending!"

The other gray dwarves also threw copper coins: "Yes, we want to hear the happy ending!"

Rocco quickly took off his hat and waved it in the air to catch the thrown coin. It turned out that none was empty, showing a rather delicate skill. Soon the coins piled up into a sharp point in the hat.

"Actually, I met Jasmine again later." Rocco put the coins into his bag with a smile and continued: "It was a summer, a dusky afternoon, it had just rained, the troupe's performance ended, and I went to that town. Hanging out and hopefully having a drink.”

"The weather that day was sultry and the air was so humid that you could squeeze out water. The troupe's income was not good, and I was in a bad mood."

"So, I could only choose the lowest-end tavern and push the door open. Then I saw her - my Jasmine. She was standing behind the counter, as beautiful as before."

"My breathing stopped and my mind went frozen. I stepped forward and held her hand just like I did before."

"Her beautiful eyes stared at me, and her pink lips said something that I will never forget."

Rocco paused.

Suo Hei couldn't help but asked: "What happened next, what did she say!?"

"She said..." Rocco gently plucked the strings:

"Two silver coins at a time, ten coins for the night."

The air in the tavern suddenly froze, and the corner of Sohei's mouth lowered, then raised again, pointing at Rocco: "You kid——"

Bowell immediately held his belly and laughed, and even the gray dwarves all laughed.

The gray dwarf was short in stature, but his voice was surprisingly loud and sharp. For a moment, it was like poking a henhouse, and the entire bar hall was filled with sharp and demonic laughter.

From time to time, cups, spoons, forks, bitten pieces of barbecue flew towards Rocco, and even more coins were thrown away.

Rocco's figure swayed back and forth, avoiding the flying "hidden weapons", and caught all the coins. After everyone had stopped laughing, he blinked and added:

"I spent thirty silver coins."

The drinkers present were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter even more violent than before. Even the bartender fell on the table with laughter.

"Hey, Rocco." After he regained his breath, the bartender said loudly: "Your stories are more attractive than your singing voice. Do you want to be our resident poet? You will have a chance to meet the Baron!"

Rocco saluted the bartender and said, "I have heard of the Baron's reputation. If I could meet him in person, I would definitely be able to tell a great and touching story about him!"

"But I can only decline your kindness because I am not a wandering bard."

Sohei asked: "What you said before was not a story?"

"Stories are just stories, but there are always truths and lies." Rocco said with a smile: "For example, I did leave home at the age of ten to join a theater troupe, and I haven't left yet."

"I came here today just to make a frontline for the troupe."

A traveling troupe will have no fewer than 20 members, and will carry a lot of props, monsters, and supplies, usually requiring more than a dozen carriages.

Under this premise, once a location is chosen, it cannot be easily changed. If a town without money is chosen, the entire troupe will lose money, so it is reasonable to be cautious.

Bowell asked, "How did you observe this time?"

"Eagle Town is such a good place!" Rocco exclaimed sincerely, "I didn't expect the streets here to be so clean and the people to be so wealthy, especially the buildings on this street, which are even better than those in Mon'en City!"

Hearing this, Bowell and Sohei looked at each other and proudly puffed up their chests.

They contributed a lot to the construction of Eagle Town. During the construction process, they referred to and modified the design of the buildings, so it has its current appearance.

A gray dwarf asked: "Then, you will definitely come?"

"Of course!" Rocco weighed the purse on his waist: "Such a rich place, we will definitely not miss it."

"And I also believe that everyone will not be disappointed when the time comes. After all, we are a... comprehensive theater troupe."

Hearing this, all the drinkers' eyes lit up.

The comprehensive theater troupe will provide quite a lot of performances, including but not limited to acrobatics, magic, animal training, singing and dancing, etc.

In this era of lack of entertainment, these are all very popular performances.

Another feature of the comprehensive theater troupe is that the actresses in it are very beautiful, and...don't mind doing some part-time jobs.

They have been exercising for a long time and traveled all over the country, so they naturally have a completely different temperament and flavor from ordinary technicians.

The drinkers exchanged glances with each other and smiled tacitly.

The gray dwarf who had been chatting stood up and asked impatiently: "When will it arrive? My big bird is thirsty!"

This sentence immediately attracted the ridicule of a drinker: "Little dwarf, don't embarrass yourself. We are a serious theater troupe and will not accept children!"

"Hey! Do you look down on me!?" The gray dwarf jumped onto the table with a thud, untied his belt, and let his pants fall on the table: "Look at grandpa's murder weapon!"

A waitress saw this and screamed.

Bowell's gray-black face completely turned into the color of coal balls, and Sohei slapped the table and laughed.

The scene fell into chaos, some people screamed, some laughed, and some cursed.

As a wine bottle smashed the gray dwarf who was walking his bird off the table, a melee began.

Rocco took the opportunity to jump onto a table and shouted loudly: "Hey, gentlemen! Our "Dark Side of the Moon" will come to Eagle Town in half a month. I hope you will welcome us!!"

The bartender behind the table sighed deeply and covered his forehead. He was not very surprised about this - can a tavern without fighting be called a tavern?

Then he grabbed the collar of Bowell who wanted to escape.

Bowell shouted: "I'm going to stop the fight. What are you going to do?"

"Of course, I'm going to keep you to pay."

The process of this little farce was placed on Raven's desk that night, which made him smile after reading it, and at the same time he was a little looking forward to the fact that this troupe called "Dark Side of the Moon" could bring some new vitality to Eagle Town.

However, before the troupe arrived, an incident occurred that was expected but made Raven quite happy.

……