Imperial Crown

(Additional chapter for the boss [Kanda Cangyu] who has subscribed to all the books.)

Lacus still felt her face burning until she ran back to the church.

Although she had always had a good impression of Raven, she had never thought that she would come to this point today, and it came so quickly and so suddenly.

She changed into the priest's robe, knelt in front of the statue of the Lord of Light, and chanted a prayer.

In the past, no matter what happened, this method could always calm her down quickly, but now this tried-and-true method has completely failed.

"Great Lord of Light, our beloved Raven..." Lacus frowned, confessed in a low voice, and stopped praying.

None of these methods worked, so she was going to sleep, maybe when she woke up the next day, everything would be over.

As a result, not long after she fell asleep, she was awakened by a "nightmare".

In the dream, she prayed to the Lord of Light as usual in the early morning, but when she looked up, the statue of the Lord of Light had turned into Raven's face.

This time, she couldn't fall asleep no matter what. She sat down at the desk, spread out a piece of parchment, thought for a while, and wrote down her confusion on it: "My respected and beloved teacher, my godfather, Priest Crouch."

"Recently, I encountered a strange thing. I doubt whether I am still qualified to serve the Lord of Light."

"I hope you can answer my doubts and show me a way out."

"It's like this..."

Just when Lux was still struggling, Raven was also thinking about it, but he was not in the castle at this time, but came to the box of the troupe's tent.

The bard Rocco, who did not take the initiative to reveal his identity, but was also the host, recognized Raven at a glance, so he immediately hinted to the leader to invite Raven into the box.

The drinks provided here are not high-end, but Raven is not picky. At this time, no matter what kind of wine it is, it is not as intoxicating as Lux.

This time he went a little over the line, but Raven did not regret it. Instead, he was a little moved and felt that he should have done it a long time ago.

At this moment, a cheering sound brought Raven back to his senses, and his eyes fell on the big tent.

The big tent is cylindrical in shape, and its layout is very similar to that of the arena, except that the area is smaller, so the roof can be covered.

Because it is a temporary platform, the sound insulation of the box is not good, so the cheering sound can be heard inside.

At this moment, more than a dozen actresses with very revealing clothes are walking out of it, no wonder the scene is so explosive.

Looking carefully, Raven was immediately happy.

The actresses were not dressed revealingly. Although the clothes that can be seen on their bodies are the sexy shapes of bikini swimsuits in later generations, their limbs and even their chests are actually wrapped in close-fitting flesh-colored silk shirts.

It’s just that the traveling theater can’t afford magic lamps, and the lights in the big tent are very dim. In such an environment, the white main clothes are also dotted with sequins, which attracts people’s attention. Combined with their bumpy and tight figures after long-term exercise, they naturally look cool.

The actresses of these troupes walked around the stage hand in hand for several laps, showing off their bodies, and then began the formal acrobatic performance.

There was even a plot.

At the beginning, a group of women gathered together, talking at once, accusing the youngest and most beautiful girl of being a witch.

The girl accused of being a witch huddled up, looking very innocent. Just when she successfully aroused people's sympathy, the music suddenly changed.

Her limbs began to twitch abnormally, her waist arched backwards, showing amazing flexibility, her head stretched out from between her legs, her eyes widened, and her limbs moved on the ground, looking really scary.

The women panicked and wanted to run away. At this moment, the actor who played the witch suddenly raised his hand, and a woman who was running screamed, and the whole person seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and flew towards the witch.

"She really has skills." Raven exclaimed.

He could see that this jump did not involve any supernatural power. It was purely because the running woman relied on her core strength to jump back, creating a feeling of being pulled over.

This made Raven more interested.

The plot continued, and after several women were "absorbed" by the witch, they seemed to be connected as one. Each of them made the same posture as the witch, and their movements were coordinated.

This was not new to Raven, who had seen many acrobatics, but it had a huge impact and attraction for these people who had hardly left the area within a radius of dozens of miles. For a while, there were constant screams and applause, and copper coins were thrown onto the stage from time to time.

After they performed for a while, several actresses rushed out from the backstage. Their clothes still looked very revealing, but they had pure white wings on their backs, which obviously represented the identity of "angels".

Strips of cloth were hung from the ceiling, and these "angels" coiled their arms on them and jumped high one after another. As the movements became more and more intense, they flew faster and higher, which was dazzling.

They kept throwing golden debris in the air, which fell on the witch, causing her body to twist more violently, and finally collapsed like mud, as if she had no bones at all.

At the same time, the angels also fell on both sides of the tent through the hanging silk ribbons and disappeared.

The next to appear were women dressed in warrior costumes. They lifted the witch and put her in a coffin. Then they showed their swords. To verify the sharpness, they even cut an apple in the air and stabbed it through the gap in the coffin.

The exclamations in the audience became louder.

This scene also exceeded Raven's expectations: "I didn't expect there would be magic."

Then, not surprisingly, after the warriors withdrew, the actress who played the witch came out of the coffin. This time, she did not bend over to show her flexible body, but turned her back to the audience, twisted her neck 180 degrees, and showed an evil smile.

It seemed that there was a second act.

The actors left the stage, and there was a long applause. More coins were thrown on the stage.

The troupe's performances will never be dull. The next project is about to start, but Raven has no interest in watching it anymore.

He left the box, asked someone, and came to the backstage of the actors.

At this time, the girls had just finished a performance and were sweating. They were changing clothes backstage, showing off their different figures. Perhaps they were used to traveling around, so they didn't react particularly violently.

Raven's purpose was not here, and he went directly to the head's lounge.

The head of the Dark Side of the Moon Troupe was a bald man in his fifties, with a fat body. He put a red hat on the table, wore a shabby red suit, and had two brown mustaches that looked particularly funny.

When he saw Raven coming, the head frowned and was about to scold him, but Rocco, who was leaning on a chair reading a book, slammed the book on the table, stood up and saluted, saying, "Baron Raven!"

The head was startled, and was glad that he didn't say anything bad, and quickly saluted.

"Sit down." Raven pulled a chair and sat under him. Although his posture was casual, neither the head nor Rocco dared to despise him, let alone sit down.

Raven didn't force it, and asked directly: "How much do you earn every month?"

The leader didn't understand what Raven meant, but he didn't dare to lie, and whispered: "It depends on the market and the local economic level. For example, here, after ten days of performances, including various projects, we can earn more than 40 gold coins."

"But like before in the mountain territory, we only earned less than 16 gold coins in the same ten days."

"Generally speaking, we can only perform one show a month, and it's rare to have more than one show."

Raven said: "Then I'll give you 50 gold coins a month, and you can do things for me."

The reason why Raven still wants to stay here after Lux left is to observe the level of this troupe.

The arena is currently in full swing, but if there is nothing new, everyone's novelty will soon pass.

At this time, let the traveling troupe join in and perform some inter-event performances, such as cheerleading, which can not only enrich the arena's projects, but also boost revenue and reduce the decline of gladiators' novelty.

Ingra has a rich family background, so he should be able to come up with some new plots.

Rocco has good eloquence, so he can partner with Ingra. It is easier for two hosts to create sparks than one person.

This is indeed good news. The leader swallowed his saliva: "Baron, we should not refuse your kindness, but..."

"The reason why we choose to wander is to make a living, but we also have some unavoidable difficulties."

"If we stay for a long time, it may cause you a lot of trouble."

Raven waved his hand nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter. As long as you stay in my territory and behave yourself, no one can do anything to you."

"If you do a good job, I can also issue him a free citizen identity certificate."

This sentence immediately made the leader and Rocco's eyes full of joy. In fact, many people in their troupe are serfs who escaped from villages and towns everywhere. They dare not stop because they are afraid of being recognized. Now with Raven's strong guarantee, they can't help but show their joy.

Raven knew this, and he was also sure that there would be no vicious bandits or people with low morals in the troupe, because a long-term troupe would definitely pick out these bad apples.

Given the good reputation Raven had created before, after getting Raven's guarantee, the head of the troupe nodded immediately: "Since you, Baron, like our tricks, we will definitely serve you wholeheartedly!"

"Well, then you will perform according to the plan." Raven thought for a while and said: "Then if you have time, report to Ingra at the arena immediately, and he will arrange your next performance."

The head of the troupe naturally agreed in a hurry.

Raven stood up and was about to leave when his eyes fell on the book on Rocco's desk. After a closer look, the cover clearly read "Imperial Kingship".

"What is this...?"

Rocco handed the book over: "Are you interested in this too? This book, Imperial Power, is a hot seller even though it's just a novel!"

Raven's interest was piqued, and he flipped through the book again and again: "It's made of parchment, and although the quality of the paper isn't great, it's so thick, it should cost at least thirty silver coins, right?"

"More than that, this book costs ninety-eight silver coins." Luo Ke and Yourong said honestly: "And this is only the first volume. There are six more volumes to come. I plan to save enough money and go there next time. Buy a copy when you visit Meng En City.”

Lei Wen weighed the book and casually opened two pages and looked at it: "Is this book really popular?"

"Really!" Rocco said: "Actually, it's not just me who likes to read it, the entire citizens of Men'en City also like to read it. It has been published twice before, and every time it is published, it will be sold out in a short period of time!"

"Then let me borrow this book first?" Raven asked.

Rocco's fingers trembled and his heart was bleeding, but he couldn't refuse: "Take it if you like it, no matter whether you want to borrow it or not!"

Picking up the book, Raven left a bag of fifty gold coins and returned to the castle, but instead of going to bed in a hurry, he came to the secret room.

Whether it is the popularity of the Arena or the success of the Dark Side of the Moon Troupe, they directly illustrate the lack of today's entertainment industry, and there is a lot of potential to be tapped.

He just took a quick glance at the "Empire Kingship".

Although this book is well written, has first-rate plot, wonderful story, and vivid characters...

But there is still a slight gap between it and the master-level online articles that Lei Wen has read.

Stories like this can sell like hot cakes in Men'en City. If I move the online articles of those great gods here, why can't I take off from the same place?

But now, what limits the spread of this story is its carrier-the parchment book.

The cost is second, and the most important thing is its production capacity.

Even if Raven invented printing, it would be difficult to supply parchment in large quantities. After all, these things are produced from sheep.

As for inventing papermaking, Raven believed that it could be done with the wisdom of gray dwarf craftsmen and the knowledge in his own mind, but at the same time, there was a huge problem.

Why are nobles noble?

Not just wealth passed down from generation to generation, but also a monopoly on knowledge.

It is precisely because of the high cost of books that freed people and serfs were limited in their access to knowledge and remained in a relatively ignorant state.

This may not be something the nobles do deliberately, but they must be happy to maintain the status quo.

If Raven invented the art of papermaking and made knowledge worthless, he would definitely be frantically targeted and suppressed by the noble group.

Half a step ahead is a sage, one step ahead is a madman.

What's more, it's an invention that digs out the roots of one's own class.

Raven has no intention of betraying his class, at least not yet, so he needs to choose another way.

So, he opened the Deep Blue Platform.

After a brief pause, Raven thought of the relevant information he had seen before, and quickly found the product he wanted.

Judging from the appearance, it is a spherical metal body the size of a watermelon. The surface is engraved with profound and mysterious magic array patterns, with seven-color brilliance pulsing through it.

Sixth-level magic guide, knowledge magic network.

This is also the core of the Deep Blue platform. Because of it, Deep Blue can ignore the gap in time and space and contact magicians all over the continent at the same time.

And its price is also extremely amazing, with 32 followed by five zeros.

Three million two hundred thousand gold coins!

The so-called magic guide is a magical creation that, once set up, can operate for a long time as long as sufficient energy is provided and does not even require maintenance by a magician, and it usually works within a large range.

Including temperature control arrays, magic lamps and magic elevators, they all fall into the category of magic devices.

The reason why Deep Blue dares to sell this kind of magic weapon on the platform is because of its first-mover advantage. The market for transactions between magicians has long been monopolized by Deep Blue, and no new platform can compete with it.

In fact, it is not that no magicians have tried, but in the end they all ended miserably.

"That's because I haven't come yet." Raven said with a confident smile, "If you do a certain treasure, I can do a certain thing!"

Build your own platform, use the novel to promote it, expand the audience to every literate family, and then use it to open up a broader market and earn more profits!

"Isn't it just 3.2 million gold coins? Sooner or later, I will buy it in my hands!"

Having said this, Raven closed the dark blue platform, took out a pen and paper and started writing.

After all, there must be manuscripts for serialization, otherwise people will lose all their hair if they add more chapters.

There are four big characters on it: Zhengzhengdang——

"Lord of Mysteries"!

The first sentence below is: It hurts! It hurts so much!

"Eh? Is that how it started?" Raven scratched his head:

"Forget it, they haven't read the original work anyway, it's just about right!"

…