Imperial Crown

The magic plants were planted step by step.

But a qualified businessman would not put all his eggs in one basket, and a qualified lord would not have only one way to make money.

Everything Raven did in the management of the territory was meaningful, such as the construction of Eagle Town.

The clean and spacious streets and well-designed buildings are not just for the sake of beauty.

For example, the Colosseum built on the northwest periphery of Eagle Town.

This is an oval building carefully designed by Raven in imitation of the ancient Roman Colosseum. The whole is built with bluestone, and the windows are very large, looking like arches.

The diameter is more than 160 meters, the roof is open-air, and the outer periphery is a more than ten-meter-high stand. The overall structure is similar to that of a gymnasium, with stone steps as benches, enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people watching at the same time.

In the center is an open space the size of a football field. There is no meadow on the ground, but it is also very solid and flat loess. There are four steel-cast fence gates on the four sides of the southeast, northwest, leading to the living area of ​​the Colosseum.

It has been a while since the official opening of the arena. The entrance ticket is not expensive, only five copper coins. This money is basically used for venue maintenance and staff salaries. Raven does not plan to make money from tickets.

The arena offers different programs at different times.

Knight duels are open during the day, and real bloody fights are open at night.

It is now afternoon, the sun is scorching the ground, and the twisted air is rising.

There are about a thousand people sitting in the stands, most of whom are nobles from the five northwestern counties, and their followers, retainers, and families.

Even in such hot weather, the nobles still maintain their proper decency. The women wear various sun hats, and the earrings and rings reflect strong light, as dazzling as stars.

The men are more old-fashioned. Even if their foreheads are covered with greasy sweat, they have to stand straight, and the reflection on their bodies is no less than that of the ladies. Not only the rings on their hands, but also the gold and silver threads inlaid on their clothes, and the dazzling gems on their chests that replace medals.

In the center of the venue stood a wooden railing that ran from east to west and ran through the entire venue. It was about one meter high. There was also a wooden frame in the corner, which was divided into four layers. At this time, there were three shields hanging on it.

They were the battle axe shield representing the Groli family, the trident shield representing the Kvoga family, and the eagle shield representing the Griffith family.

The first two were hung on the lowest layer, and the last one was hung on the second layer from the bottom to the top, one step away from the top.

On the high platform on the south side of the arena, the host Ingra shouted loudly: "Let us welcome the defender, the retainer of the Griffith family, Eric Dyson!!"

Due to the special structure of the venue, the sound on the high platform was enough to spread throughout the venue.

As the military music sounded, the fence on the west side of the arena rose, and Eric rode into the arena on the clawed yellow lightning. He was wearing heavy silver plate armor, holding a round shield in his left hand, and a wooden cone-headed lance with an extremely exaggerated shape in his right hand.

The lance is more than three meters long, with the handle alone being more than half a meter long. The lance is so big that it seems like a tornado is carved on it.

Ingra continued to shout: "Next, let us welcome the challenger, the head of the Groli family, the lord of the Teda Territory, the Baron of Seleva Ota Groli!!"

After saying this, he waited for a while, took a step back, and made sure that the sound would not be heard, and then cursed in a low voice: "These damn nobles!"

"Oh? What happened?" Raven walked out from behind him.

Ingra was startled: "Baron, I'm not talking about you! It's really these people, really, really..."

"Too pretentious?" Raven walked past him and leaned against the wall to examine the venue.

"You are so right!" Ingra was a little dissatisfied: "I explained it so passionately, but they didn't react at all, just like a group of dead people!"

Raven laughed: "This is also good, saving some energy, I still need you to liven up the atmosphere tonight."

Ingra grinned, feeling very happy to get Raven's recognition.

Raven ignored him and looked at the venue.

At this time, Baron Savon had already ridden out on a white warhorse.

Compared to Eric, his outfit was much more exaggerated, with a plate armor painted with gold paint, and the shoulder armor on his right shoulder was raised, as if carrying a nail hammer on it, and a long red tassel was floating on the helmet.

The shield on his left hand was a wide shield, and a siren's head was embossed on it, with a hideous face and snake hair, which was lifelike.

The cone-head lance in the right hand is the same shape as the one in Eric's hand, but the color is richer, black and gold are mixed, and the hand guard is made of pure gold.

Raven shook his head when he saw this - this is the current Keynes Empire, even the knight duel, which is supposed to be a test of martial arts, has become no longer simple.

This exaggerated style of armor and lance can neither kill the enemy nor make oneself a living target on the battlefield. Its only advantage is that it can attract the attention of noble girls and show the so-called masculine charm of knights.

The preferences of nobles can always bring a lot of benefits.

Don't look at the fact that there are only more than a thousand people sitting here, and the ticket money is only more than fifty silver coins.

But nobles are nobles after all, and it is impossible for them to sit in the sun.

Since you have come to Eagle Town, you must taste the Angel's Tears, right?

It has to be a special commemorative edition for the Arena. Since it is a commemorative edition, it is reasonable to sell it for 8.88 gold coins, which was originally 2.88 gold coins. Moreover, it also provides free ice-cooling service.

Drinking alone will inevitably make your stomach empty, so you naturally have to eat something. The delicacies that match this kind of wine will certainly not be sold cheaply. A piece of bread costs 11 silver coins, and a piece of bacon costs 60 silver coins.

Every day, the food and beverage consumed by these nobles alone can bring Raven a net income of hundreds of gold coins. Although this amount is not available every day, and the knight duel is also affected by the season, but in the long run, there is still a net income of 1,600 to 1,700 gold coins a month.

When the Arena first opened, Raven came here several times, and then he was busy with other affairs. After all, he is not a little girl, and it is enough to watch a few games of two big men riding lances.

He came here today because he received a message.

Knight duel is a sport with a long history. Almost all nobles will build a duel venue in their territory, but no nobles will build such a grand venue.

According to the rules of knight duel, one point is accumulated for winning a duel. If a family wins four times in a row, it will reach the top. If a family reaches the top for ten consecutive days, it can hang its family shield forever in this arena.

This is a kind of honor.

According to the tacit understanding formed among nobles for hundreds of years, no matter who the nobles who built the arena send, other families will tacitly arrange people to let the host family hang the shield on the venue first.

According to Raven's expectation, this kind of activity will pass by casually.

But today, two unexpected guests came to the arena.

One of them is Baron Seleva who is in the venue, the lord who once asked Raven and Knight Conchi for help.

The other is Baron Wessacin, who once threatened Lady Doreen and was finally beaten by Eric.

Needless to say, the visitor is not kind.

"Avengers?" Raven's mouth curled up a mischievous smile.

The warm-up was over at this time. Baron Seleva circled the field, rode to the side of the audience, and asked his wife to tie a silk ribbon on the handle of his lance.

This is an ancient tradition. Before a man goes to war, his lover or wife cuts a strand of hair and ties it around his hand so that he can return victorious. Later, it evolved into a ceremony like today.

Baron Seleva is indeed very confident.

He is from a noble family and has received standard aristocratic education since childhood, including horsemanship. As a second-level knight, his strength and agility are not inferior to Eric.

According to the rules of knight duels, it is not allowed to use fighting spirit or combat skills.

It is still easy to capture Eric, who started as a soldier?

Seleva saw Raven on the platform, showed a sneer, tapped his eyebrows with his fingers, pointed at Raven, and put his thumb upside down, shook it, and then put down the mask.

His knights were humiliated in his own territory, but he, as the lord, could not retaliate. He had been angry for a long time. Today, he took this opportunity to disgust Raven and interrupt his family's winning streak!

You opened the arena yourself, you can't not allow people to win, right?

Raven certainly understood his thoughts, and with a slight twitch of his mouth, he looked at Eric, who nodded to Raven and knocked his chest hard.

As the saying goes, a sedan chair is carried by many people. Since others were all fighting for the Griffith family at the beginning, Raven would certainly let Eric hold back a little and not let him lose too badly.

Facing someone with impure intentions, Raven would naturally let Eric give his all.

The bell rang, Eric and Baron Seleva rode to the two ends of the venue, and stood on both sides of the fence, and then Ingra shouted: "Start!!!"

As soon as the voice fell, the military band in the corner beat dense drums.

The two men started their horses at the same time.

Under the trampling of horses' hooves, smoke and dust rolled, and the two men held their lances and launched a face-to-face charge!

The hundred-meter-long field gradually accelerated the war horses, and the sound of horses' hooves echoed clearly in the field. Everyone watched the scene in the field intently, holding their breath, for fear of disturbing the knights on the field!

The two horses were getting closer and closer!

The drums stopped abruptly.

Seliwa had seen several fights of Eric. He knew that Eric would choose to raise his lance when the two were four meters apart, and he was ready to take the initiative.

He did it. He raised his lance at a distance of five meters and aimed at Eric's shield. At this time, Eric began to move his arms.

However, what surprised Seliwa was that Eric's movements were much faster than his, showing a speed and strength far beyond the previous two duels. Before he could react, the lance had already landed on his shield!

Bang——

The gun head shattered, and the special cavity structure made this blow burst out with a huge sound wave, which could be heard throughout the arena.

At the moment of the impact, Seleva's eyes went black and he lost consciousness. A strong sense of weightlessness came over him. With a low cry of surprise, the huge impact force threw him out and fell to the ground with a bang.

Someone immediately rushed up to help him up, took off his helmet, and cleaned the blood on his head with soft cloth and clean water.

At this time, Seleva barely regained consciousness, but he felt weak all over, his arms were shaking violently, and he couldn't even say a complete sentence!

Seleva wanted to shout, because Eric didn't beat him by skill, his victory was entirely due to his excellent physical fitness, faster and stronger!

He didn't accept it!

But a thought immediately rushed into his mind-Eric is so strong, could it be that he has reached the third level! ?

Ingra's voice sounded: "Congratulations, Eric Dyson of the Griffith family has won three consecutive victories!"

At the same time, on the shelf where the shield emblem was hung, someone had already moved the Griffith family's shield emblem up one level. Only one step away from completing the final climb to the top, hanging their own shield emblem forever in this arena.

"The next challenger is the head of the Kovoga family, the lord of Koga Territory, Baron Versacine Ota Kovoga!!"

Amid the sound of iron chains, the figure of Baron Versacine appeared in the field. The moment he saw his figure, Raven's pupils suddenly tightened, turned around and left, and walked towards the player preparation area.

Because the outfit on Versacim was not the exaggerated armor like Baron Seleva, but a lean full-body heavy armor, close-fitting design, simple and capable. Except for the lance within the regulations, the overall configuration was as if he was going to fight on the battlefield.

Most importantly, through the Eye of Truth, Raven saw his true strength - level three.

Although it may be not long since the promotion, the energy is not stable, but it is indeed the strength of level three.

If it was a battle on the battlefield, Eric might not be without the ability to fight, but this was in the arena. When the physical fitness of both sides was not much different, Eric's technical weaknesses would be infinitely magnified.

Versacim licked his lips. He had waited for this day for too long. At the beginning, Eric launched an attack in his castle, which brought him endless humiliation and made him deeply aware of the importance of strength.

Under the mixture of shame and anger, he had been staying at level two for a long time and rushed to level three desperately.

And today he came here to stop the Griffith family's winning streak in their home court.

Not only did he want to avenge Eric's arrow, he also wanted to continue fighting, and the first thing to be hung in this arena was the shield of his Kvoga family!

That would be a shadow that the Griffith family would never erase, a failure that would be passed down forever with this arena!

This feeling was as comfortable as exercising the right of first night to a civilian who was not used to it!

At this moment, Ingra's voice rang out: "Eric Dyson applied for withdrawal!"

"The Griffith family will replace him in the battle..."

Ingra swallowed his saliva, and then raised his voice: "Baron Raven Ota Griffith!!"

As soon as this sentence came out, it immediately caused discussions among the nobles present. They all knew that Raven was a mage, not a knight, so why did he appear in the arena now! ?

And the facts before their eyes made them believe it.

When the fence gate rose, Raven, dressed in armor, rode out and passed by Eric.

Eric's eyes were filled with surprise: "Baron, you..."

"Leave it to me." Raven said with a smile.

Eric swallowed his saliva and nodded heavily.

Raven's long black hair was tied into a ponytail and floated behind his shoulders, looking like a soft short cloak; his high eyebrows were delicate and firm, and his dark eyes reflected the light of obsidian under the sun.

Some young noble girls began to scream, looking at Raven with eager eyes, and more people were surprised by Raven's boldness.

He held a shield in his left hand and a standard wooden lance in his right hand. This was not surprising, but he was wearing a set of black leather armor!

Visasson's eyebrows twitched slightly, and his breathing began to become heavy.

You know, although the rules of knight duels only count as points when hitting the opponent's shield, armor is not dispensable.

Even in the current knight duels that tend to be entertainment and performance, fractures and internal injuries are not uncommon.

People always make mistakes. Even though the lance is made of wood, the huge impact force is real. If it really hits the body, without armor protection, it can also make a bloody hole!

"Baron Raven, this is the knight's arena." Wesacim stared at Raven: "It's not a club for you to play."

"This is the arena of my Griffith family." Raven stared into his eyes with a cold smile on his lips: "The last battle to the top should be carried out by me."

The eyes of the two met in mid-air, and they were about to rub out lightning.

Walking to the center of the venue, the two politely bumped their lances, and then rode their horses back to the two ends of the venue.

Wesacim's mouth curled up with an uncontrollable smile.

Of course he knew that Raven must have relied on something to come to fight him.

But so what? He is not Raven, who hangs the badge of a second-level magician on his chest and wants the whole world to know.

Can Raven know that he is already a third-level knight?

No matter what Raven had, it would be futile in the face of absolute power!

Although it was a pity that he could not defeat Eric personally, the pleasure of beating the master directly over a dog was much stronger!

He was going to ask the painter to record this scene, recording how he defeated Raven and trampled on the reputation of the Griffith family!

Wesacine slowly turned his horse's head, put down his armor, and covered up his smile of victory.

"Ready - start!!!"

Raven tightened the reins, urged the warhorse, and ran quickly along the railing.

This was the first time Raven appeared in the arena, but he didn't feel nervous. In comparison, the war on the bloody highlands was far more cruel than here.

His mentality began to become focused, and the noise in the stands gradually disappeared. Only the sound of the wind remained in his ears. As his concentration increased, even the sound of the wind disappeared at this moment.

Raven was not sure of winning.

That's why he had to do it himself. Whether he won or lost, he had to decide it himself!

The speed of the warhorse was getting faster and faster, and the smoke and dust rose, instantly obscuring the vision between the two. Raven narrowed his eyes slightly, covering up the silver light flowing from his pupils, and the Eye of Truth was fully activated!

At this moment, the flow of time quietly slowed down. In Raven's eyes, there was no secret in Visasi's body. The direction of his muscle movement, the direction of the flow of fighting spirit, and the details of the joint movement were all seen clearly.

The opportunity for war has arrived.

Both sides raised their lances almost at the same time, and the trajectory of their operation was almost the same.

This made Vesasiin so sad that he wanted to vomit blood. Raven's action was almost the same as his, which meant that when he hit Raven, Raven would also hit him!

A draw, this ending was unacceptable to Vesasiin.

Then, his action changed. He no longer aimed at Raven's shield, but locked Raven's warhorse with his lance.

Under such a speed, Raven, a weak mage, who was only wearing leather armor, would be dead or disabled if he fell off his horse!

This was indeed a violation, but there were always accidents in the arena.

Griffith relied on Raven alone to support him. He had no offspring yet. Once he fell, who would speak for him?

The nobles were very realistic!

At the same time, Eric, who returned to the spectator seat, also saw Vesasiin's intention. He stood up, his fighting spirit swelled, and he wanted to rush down immediately. He was already cursing, and the words he opened gushed out with his saliva.

But it was too late!

The lance in Raven's hand was still one meter away from Visasi's shield, and Visasi's lance was already close to Raven's mount's forehead!

At this critical moment, there was no despair in Raven's eyes.

With his legs clamped, the warhorse running at full speed under his crotch tilted its head slightly, but did not completely avoid it. The lance brushed the warhorse's eyes, and a stream of blood spurted out!

The huge pain made the warhorse kneel down with its two front hooves, and the lance in Raven's hand was handed out at this moment, and it slammed into Visasi's throat!

Bang——

The lance head exploded, and the armor on Visasi's throat broke and deformed, and then it was strangled into his skin. The whole person left the horse's back, turned 180 degrees in the air, and slapped the ground with a snap!

At this moment, Raven also kicked his legs and jumped up from the warhorse. While the warhorse fell to the ground and left a bloody mark, he stood firmly on the ground!

The scene was silent.

After Eric's heavy breathing, he excitedly shouted: "Long live Baron Raven!!!!"

At this time, Ingra finally reacted:

"Winner! Griffith family, Baron Raven Ota Griffith!! "

"Griffith family, here to the top!!!"

The shield on the shelf was lifted to the top layer. At the same time, the retainers of the Kvoga family rushed up and hurriedly stripped off the severely deformed armor of Versacim. His whole face and half of his chest were covered with sticky blood.

Versacim's larynx was broken, and it was a strong body to be able to save the spine.

The broken armor squeezed into the throat, opening a V-shaped bloody wound. Although it was not fatal, it was impossible to speak.

He pointed at Raven, his fingertips trembling, his eyes full of unwillingness and anger.

Obviously came to interrupt the Griffith family's winning streak, but now, he has become a stepping stone!

Raven did not look at him.

The defeated general is not worth a sneer.

He raised the broken lance high, looked around the field, took a deep breath, and shouted wildly:

"Griffith, invincible!"

...