Imperial Crown

The carriage arrived at the Chamber of Commerce, and Vesdon got off the carriage and entered the headquarters.

Both the guards and the businessmen who came to do business saluted him respectfully.

There was no time to pay attention to them. When he came upstairs, Vesdon opened the door and walked into the study.

Denise was hunched over the desk handling official duties. Before Vesdon could speak, she said, "Sit down first. If you have anything else to do, wait until I finish my work."

Weston sat down obediently.

Time passed by, and seeing that Denise had no intention of stopping, Vesdon finally couldn't bear it anymore: "Mother..."

"Mother!"

Denise stopped, put the pen aside, and said with a hint of helplessness: "You kid, you have no patience at all."

"If you continue to be patient, I will become a joke to the whole city!" Vesdon said dissatisfied: "My elder brother consecrated four knights in one go. Even old Gordon has a share, but not me!"

"I'm his younger brother!"

When Vesdon thought about it, Denise would be as surprised as he was when she heard the news.

However, Denise acted very indifferently: "Well, I heard about it."

Then he lowered his head and started writing.

"Mom!" Vesdon started his coquettish offensive and rushed to Denise's table: "What is more important than my knighthood?"

"If you ask me, you must have been away from the Eagle Territory for too long, and my brother was stunned by Fiona and forgot about you, so he gave old Gordon the title that should have been given to me!"

"You might as well find an excuse to go back and dress up nicely..."

Snap!

The quill was slammed on the table, ink splashed, Denise's chest heaved, and her eyes stared at Vesdon with anger.

What does he think of himself! ?

It is true that the relationship between her and Raven is complicated, but this does not mean that she has gained her current status by relying on her beauty.

The reason why she can serve as the president of Meng'en City Chamber of Commerce and secure this position is because she has this ability!

She united the merchants in the lower city of Men'en City, provided the Eagle Territory with a large amount of cost-effective raw materials, and opened up sales of the Angel series products. Now she can bring Raven at least 3,000 gold coins in revenue every month.

In addition, many nobles also have more relationships with the Griffith family because of her good dancing skills. Without this, Raven's business alliance would not develop so smoothly.

As a single woman, Denise paid great attention to her reputation. Even so, there were still rumors that she relied on her beauty to achieve success.

It’s okay to let others talk about it, but I didn’t expect that my own son would have the same idea!

Denise pressed her palms on the table, her knuckles turning white: "Vesdon, is this how you view your mother?"

Weisidong shuddered, knowing that he had said the wrong thing, and quickly admitted his mistake: "Mother, no, really not!"

"I just feel that I fought in the Bloody Highlands back then. After all, I should be considered a knight!"

"The ambition is good." Denise glanced at him coldly and asked coldly: "Then what do you think you want the knighthood for?"

"This, I..." Vesdon was speechless for a moment.

There was a trace of disappointment in Denise's eyes. She knew that apart from showing off in front of those businessmen, Vesdon had no excuse at all!

In fact, Raven had written to Denise about this issue long before he was officially canonized as a knight. When mentioning the specific candidates, he also explained clearly the reasons for not canonizing Vesdon.

As a member of the Griffith family, Weston will definitely have a political marriage in the future.

He does not have the blood of the Griffith family, which is a big flaw. It is difficult to marry a well-matched aristocratic lady.

Knights are like little kings in their own territory, able to get whatever they want.

However, Vesdon is a dandy. With Denise watching over him, he still knows how to restrain himself. Once he is canonized as a knight and returns to the fiefdom, God knows what will happen to him.

If you make someone else pregnant and give birth to an illegitimate child before getting married, it will really end the marriage.

And Denise also knew that it was impossible for Vesdon to inherit the baronetcy of the Griffith family, so marrying a powerful nobleman and becoming a link between the two families was his best way out.

Having the support of a strong wife family is much more important to Vesdon's future than a knighthood.

At this time, Vesdon finally found a suitable reason: "I am already 16 years old! When other nobles were as old as me, they had already started learning how to govern their territories and manage their subordinates. Do you want me to stay in school all the time? Go down?"

"I'm not one of those common people's children who rely on knowledge to improve their status!"

Upon hearing this, Denise took out a document from the drawer and threw it in front of Vesdon.

Vesdon asked: "Is this...?"

"The property contract of the car rental company." Denise said calmly: "This car rental company has 168 carriages, 5 grooms, and 67 coachmen. The boss mortgaged it to the Chamber of Commerce and was unable to redeem it. Now it is managed by the Chamber of Commerce. At a loss."

Vesdon just wanted the title of knight, not to find a job for himself, so he hesitated immediately after hearing this.

But Denise deliberately wanted to put more pressure on him: "The number of people and property managed by this car rental company is no less than that of a knight."

"If you can turn it around within a year, I will agree to help you get a knighthood from Raven!"

Upon hearing these words, Weisidong's eyes suddenly lit up: "Okay, mother, please don't break your promise!"

After saying that, Vesdon picked up the paperwork, turned around and left.

Seeing him like this, Denise sighed in disappointment.

If Vesdon had asked her after getting the paperwork, who is the current manager of this car dealership, where is its geographical location, what are its advantages and disadvantages, and why it is losing money, Denise would still have some confidence in him. …

He lowered his head and continued to deal with official duties. He had a casual lunch at noon and took a short rest.

Just after three o'clock in the afternoon, Denise took a quick shower and was about to continue handling her affairs when she saw her personal maid, Angel, walking over in a panic. She couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"Madam." Angel whispered, "The ship arriving from Slaver's Bay is empty."

When Denise arrived at the pier, the big ship with three masts had already docked on the shore. The security forces formed a human wall, but they still could not resist the enthusiasm of the local residents to watch the excitement.

Separating the crowd and walking into the inner circle, the boss, Webber, who had once been stained with bloody harpoons, was talking to a priest. Seeing Denise's arrival, they all turned around and saluted.

After returning the gift, Denise got straight to the point: "How is the situation?"

"This ship has been cursed by the devil!" The priest's face was very ugly, and he drew the Holy Emblem of the Lord of Light on his chest: "It's terrible... it's terrible!"

Denise turned to Weber: "Is there really no one alive?"

"...To be precise, it has not been discovered yet." Weber's face was not good-looking: "This ship was discovered by my soldiers when they were patrolling the river. It was floating on the river at the time, and it did not respond to calls or flags."

"After the soldiers boarded the ship, they found that there was no one on the deck, and no one responded to their calls. At that time, they did not dare to investigate deeply, so they towed the ship back to the dock."

"Bishop Byron and I just went down and took a look, but we didn't find any trace of any living people."

After hearing this, Denise nodded silently and thought for a moment: "Then, please, please come down with me and have a look."

Fortunately for Weber, the expression of the bishop named Byron suddenly changed: "Mrs. Denise, you have such a precious identity, it is best not to take risks easily."

Denise said quietly: "If you don't want to go down, just pray for me here."

There are 47 crew members and 600 slaves. These are the property of the Chamber of Commerce. Denise cannot let them disappear without a trace.

While talking, Angel had already lit the torch, and Denise took it, opened the hatch on the deck and walked into the cabin.

Weber also lit a torch and turned to look at Byron: "Mr. Bishop, do you want to continue standing here?"

Surrounded by Weber's soldiers, there were many civilians watching. If Byron left like this, his reputation as a coward would spread, which would be a huge blow to Byron who still wanted to make progress.

Therefore, even if he was reluctant, he could only mutter a few words and follow.

In the dim cabin, Denise covered her nose gently, swept the torch high and low, and walked slowly.

Under the light of the torch, the dark cabin was illuminated bit by bit.

The wooden barrels used as tables and chairs are arranged in an orderly manner. There are traces of being smoked by torches on the pillars. Cables soaked and blackened by sweat are piled in the corner, still waiting for someone to hang them on the mast.

The water in the bucket was still clear, and the bag also contained large pieces of bread, potatoes, radishes, and a lot of bacon. There was plenty of food and water, and there was no need to abandon ship.

Continuing inside, the sailor's cabin is also full of the breath of life. Some beds and quilts are piled neatly, and some quilts are recessed into human shapes, as if they have just woken up.

In the restaurant, wooden tableware was placed on the table, with some rotten food residue still remaining on it; kitchen knives hung on the bulkhead, and there was a half-cut potato on the chopping board that had turned black due to oxidation.

There was no trace of a struggle.

Everything is normal, but there is only one person missing.

It was as if everyone on the ship had disappeared collectively at a certain moment!

Walking to the innermost room and pushing open the door to the captain's cabin, the smell of corpses hit his face. Weber immediately pulled out his sword and protected Denise behind him.

The torch shined forward, and a corpse appeared in front of everyone. An Qi, who was following at the end, screamed suddenly, and the torch in his hand rolled to the ground.

Denise didn't blame her, because her face was also pale.

The corpse was sitting back in a chair, wearing a classic pea captain's suit.

It is not rotten, or rotten is hard to describe the current state of the body.

The neck was crooked, and the skin on the cheeks pulled out strands of flesh. The gray beard and hair flowed from the bones along with the shriveled flesh, sticking together with the clothes on the body, like a melted wax statue!

The brutal sight was a sign of good news - at least, they had seen a corpse, and corpses always hold clues.

Priest Byron recited the prayer of the Lord of Light in a low voice, and Weber stepped forward cautiously. However, perhaps it was the sound of footsteps that caused the vibration, and there was only a thud, and the body's head, which was not very secure, fell to the ground with a thud. Gululu rolled to the feet of Priest Byron.

He quickly jumped up and jumped to the side, shouting at the same time: "...Mr. Weber, please hurry up, the evil here is about to swallow me up!"

Byron is a third-level four-star magician, and his strength is not weak. But the problem is that, like most priests, he has almost no experience in fighting or fighting with others, and his courage is extremely small.

Weber ignored him, pried a notebook from the corpse and handed it to Denise.

The thick cowhide cover, which had been nitrated, originally carried the salty smell of the sea, but now was full of rotten smell, and it was stained with disgusting rotten skin.

This was a logbook, and many of the front parts had been soaked in corpse fluid and stuck together, and the words had become fuzzy and completely unreadable; only the last few pages could barely read the content.

"X month X day, 9th day of the return voyage.

Damn, someone is missing again! They must have been blown into the sea. I told them that there should be two people patrolling on the deck in the middle of the night. Is the name Storm Bay for nothing?

Some people said that they saw strange figures - ha, what a good excuse, I will fire all these idiot sailors when I go back!"

"X month X day, 13th day of the return voyage.

Something is wrong. Two more people disappeared last night, and there are only 37 sailors left under my command.

And when counting, six prisoners were found dead, and they all stunk. This is not a good sign. Is there a plague?

I ordered the bodies to be thrown into the sea. I hope no more people die. These are all bought with gold coins. "

"X month X day, the 16th day of the return voyage.

All the rats on this ship are gone, not even one! This is too abnormal!

Five more crew members are missing... Well, I also vaguely saw the ghosts they said, and damn, since there are no rats, what's the matter with the noises I hear every night! ?

I decided that in the next few days, all the sailors will spend the night on the deck - if there are fewer people, this ship will not be able to sail. "

"X month X day, the 20th day of the return voyage.

Every day there are slaves on the deck. Died miserably, looked like a dried corpse.

They shouted "curse" and "devil", started a riot, killed the sailors who were delivering food, and tried to rush out, but we blocked them again.

The boatswain died in the battle.

I had to order the door of the bottom cabin to be locked - anyway, it would take only seven or eight days to reach the shore, and with water, few people would starve to death.

Losing a few gold coins is better than dying. ”

”X month X day, the 22nd day of the return voyage.

... We all slept on the deck, but 6 people disappeared last night, including the navigator. ”

”X month X day, the 24th day of the return voyage.

Nabal confessed and admitted that he was the one who killed the navigator. He pushed him into the sea, saying that the navigator had deliberately led us into the curse, and he was the first to kill in order to protect himself.

He was really crazy!

Although he was pushed into the sea by me, that sentence planted the seeds of uneasiness in everyone's heart, and everyone was afraid of becoming someone else's prey.

I had no choice but to order everyone to return to their cabins.

I hope we can hold on until we reach the shore.

The cries and curses of those slaves are really disgusting!

If I can step on land again, I swear I will never get on the ship again!

There was a noise on the deck again, and the sound of grinding teeth, I want to see what it is. "

The content of the log ended here.

It is conceivable what happened next. The captain found the culprit and died himself.

But what made him the only body left on the ship?

The torches illuminated everyone's faces flickeringly.

At this moment, a rustling sound was heard, as if rats were moving between layers.

And there were no rats on the ship.

A shadow quietly emerged behind Byron.

…