Imperial Crown.

Chapter 402 Annexation
Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Book Friend 20250225100016790] for the 500 reward!

……

In the dark dungeon, the echoing footsteps stopped.

With a rattling sound, the chains fell to the ground and the prison door opened.

The two guards, one tall and one short, had cautious and flattering expressions on their faces, nodding and bowing, fearing that Raven would vent his anger on them.

Raven ignored the two of them and kicked "Little Peeler" in the back and kicked him into the cell.

His eyelids twitched, and Raven's expression became more solemn.

Even though he had experienced brutal wars, had personally taken hundreds of lives, and had seen tens of thousands of corpses, Simon's miserable condition still made Raven feel heavy-hearted, and his anger became increasingly difficult to suppress.

The two jailers looked at each other, and although they were afraid, they walked into the cell one after the other and silently untied Simon's chains.

Slowly raising his head, Simon saw the scene clearly through his long and messy hair. A little joy shone in his eyes, but when he saw the "little peeler" next to him, his heart tightened again.

Only punishment such as skinning is rarely done by human hands.

After several months of seeing each other day and night, Simon got to know Little Flay very well - his habits, his subconscious movements, his eyes and even the smell on his body, Simon would never forget them.

I can recognize it even if it turns into ashes.

Simon shouted at the top of his lungs:
"My Lord Baron, he is not a little skinner, this is a trap..."

"Run—"

The walls suddenly became hot and the fire element became particularly active.

……

In the forest.

The firelight shone brightly, casting the shadow of the real Little Peeler on the ground.

He pulled the reins and turned the horse's head.

A huge mushroom cloud rose above the Changzi Castle, and black and red flames engulfed the entire castle, as if a demon lord really stretched out his arms to pull the castle into the eternal abyss.

Six or seven seconds later, the sound of a loud explosion spread, and the vibration was so great that it shook the snow off the branches in the forest.

"My soldiers, my dear uncle Norfin, and my ancestors sleeping in the ground, I am really..."

Xiao Peeling deliberately suppressed his expression and tone, trying to show some sorrow, but the corners of his mouth that could not be raised were suppressed more and more:
“Hahahaha…hahahaha!!!”

"Raven!"

"A genius magician, a famous general of the empire, an earl who created miracles..."

"You finally died in my hands!"

Indeed, there will be a lot of trouble ahead. Recruiting people will cost money, and rebuilding Changzi Castle will also cost money. Together, it may cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

But this is nothing compared to the benefits that come with it.

With the death of Raven, the Griffith family was effectively wiped out, and the Slater earl family was the only one left in the entire Nord.

His Majesty the King will not allow the Slater family to dominate alone. Someone must take over Raven's position to provide a check and balance.

In terms of ability and loyalty, who could be more suitable than Xiao Flay?

Raven's territory will become his territory, and Raven's army will become his army...

Raven's woman will also become his woman!

When he thought of Denise's appearance, Little Peeler couldn't help licking his lips.

At this moment, Xiao Peeler, who was dreaming of a bright future, suddenly froze.

He found that many black spots appeared in the sky at some point.

1, 2, 3, 4...

There are a total of 19!
Little Peeler felt his scalp bursting, he pulled the reins, turned the horse's head and tried to escape!

Another 20 minutes away is a town. As long as I get there, in public, I won't lose everything!
The war horses raised their four hooves.

It has to be said that Little Flayed was indeed a well-educated nobleman. Even in the complex snow forest, he was still able to ride his warhorse at a high speed.

However, the shadow on the ground was getting bigger and bigger, and with the sound of flapping wings, a wind king fell from the sky and landed in front of the warhorse.

A fully grown Wind King was nearly three meters tall just standing on the ground, and looked even more ferocious under the flickering light of fire in the distance.

Faced with such a huge beast, the warhorse under Little Peeler ignored his master's orders and suddenly raised its front hooves, knocking Little Peeler directly to the ground!
One after another, wind kings and horned hippogryphs landed and surrounded Little Peeper tightly, even the fire in the distance was obscured.

"Cough... cough!" Little Peeler sat up, his cheeks twitching constantly, and he tightly gripped the long sword at his waist.

Raven rolled down from the horned hippogryph that had initially stopped him.

Behind him, Simon, who was covered in bruises, was being helped down by Eric.

“Raven…!” Without asking how Raven escaped, Little Peeler loosened his grip on the hilt and said calmly:
"...Okay, I admit, you win!"

He stood up and brushed off the snow and dirt on his body:

"Tell me, what do you want? Territory, wealth, or population?"

"No matter what you want, I can give it to you. After this incident, I no longer have the energy to fight you."

"But I also have a condition..."

At this point, Little Flayed felt something was wrong, because apart from a glance at him when he just came down from the Wind King, Raven hadn't paid any attention to him since then, but was whispering something to his men.

Contempt was the attitude that Little Peeler could not tolerate the most. He walked up and wanted to talk to Raven, but after taking two steps, he was pushed back forcefully.

When he saw the face of the person who stopped him, Little Peeler frowned and sneered:
"Dalton, you really betrayed me."

"I didn't betray you, Master Little Peeler." Dalton touched his burnt ear and stared at Little Peeler with a resentful look:
"You betrayed me first... You betrayed us first!"

When the flames rose, Dalton was extremely desperate, but the hyena pulled him onto the hippogryph because they had fought side by side in the past, and gave him a life essence to help him repair and stabilize the injury on his cervical vertebra.

Although he cannot use his fighting spirit now and his hands and feet are still a little numb, he can still carry out his daily movements without any hindrance.

The explosion caused by the Little Flay not only burned down the Castle of the Firstborn, but also killed 706 soldiers and 103 servants inside.

Among them are not only Dalton’s friends, confidants, and subordinates, but also his son!

Little Peeler suddenly felt a little scared.

Under normal circumstances, he could have ignored Dalton's resentment.

But this is not his castle, but the wilderness.

Without the differences brought by the title, Dalton became a strong man at this moment.

"It's true that I didn't think it through." Little Peeler lowered his voice and said, "But Dalton, you have to understand that if Raven hadn't attacked, the Firstborn Castle would have been fine."

"I can compensate you for your loss, as long as you can give me a chance to let me go..."

Dalton deadpanned.

Footsteps sounded not far away, followed by the sharp, chattering voice of the gray dwarves: "My Lord Earl, I found it. It's full of buckets!"

Dalton stepped aside, a hint of vicious anticipation appearing on his face.

At this moment, Xiao Peeler's face turned pale.

He saw that the gray dwarf was holding an iron bucket in his arms. Inside the bucket were mice, weasels, and several almost stiff snakes that he had found from somewhere!
The claws of mice and weasels scratched the surface of the barrel, making a harsh scraping sound. This used to be the sound that Little Peeler loved to hear the most, but now it made him feel cold all over.

The hyena came forward, roughly pulled his arms away, and dragged him to a dead tree.

Little Peeler wanted to struggle, but he couldn't get rid of the hyena's power. His body was shaking, and his teeth were chattering, cutting his voice into pieces:

"Raven, Lord Raven! You can't do this!"

"I am a noble, I am a viscount of the empire, you can't use this kind of punishment for pariahs on me!"

The rope tied him tightly to the tree, making it difficult for him to breathe.

With a sizzling sound, the hyenas tore off his clothes, exposing his chest and abdomen to the freezing weather. The gray dwarf brought an iron bucket - a lot of the contents had already been poured out, but the chirping sounds of rodents could still be heard.

Seeing the gray dwarf getting closer and closer, Little Peeler felt his hair stand on end and his whole body was freezing cold:

"I'll give you everything. I'll give you everything. You've completely won this time. Okay?!"

"What exactly do you want!?"

Raven just winked at him, took the torch from Dalton, and said to Eric beside him:

"See, this is what I call 'childishness'."

"I always thought that he was the only one who could deal with others, and others couldn't use the same means to deal with him!"

The cold iron bucket was buckled around Little Peeler's waist and tied to the tree with an iron chain, tightly pressed against his skin. The rat's thin whiskers scratched his belly, making Little Peeler so frightened that he wanted to cry:

"I'll tell you everything. It was Anthony who ordered me to kidnap Simon this time!"

"In order to seduce Simon, I was..."

Raven walked up to him and placed the torch on the end of the barrel.

The iron barrel began to vibrate violently. It was the sound of the rats and weasels inside running desperately to escape.

"Ah!!!" Little Peeler screamed in horror.

He could feel his skin being torn by teeth and claws. The pain was not intense, but the fear that followed burst out like a flood!
His sanity was completely overwhelmed, and Xiaopi now had only one thought -

Say something quickly and make Raven stop!
"I spent a lot of money to contact people from your Eagle City. It's impossible that Simon was captured without a spy from within you..."

"Anthony actually made arrangements before he left Nord. He didn't just stand in court during the trial. He had been plotting against you long before you defeated Eivor..."

"The king had no good intentions in handing over the Bloody Highlands to you. The Bloody Highlands and Slaver's Bay are originally one and the same. If you face one, you must also face the other..."

One topic after another was thrown out, and Little Flayed hoped that some of the words would impress Raven, but Raven didn't even blink, just listened coldly, as if nothing could cause any fluctuations in his emotions.

Suddenly, Xiaopi's body stiffened.

He could clearly feel the muscles in his stomach being bitten open, and his internal organs lost their restraints at that moment. He felt a huge sense of emptiness, followed by extremely severe pain from his liver, gallbladder and internal organs!
Cold sweat instantly covered his face and his muscles completely stiffened. At this moment he realized that even when a person is in extreme pain, he cannot even scream out!

Dirty blood oozed out from the cracks in the mouth of the iron bucket, along with torn yellow and white pieces of flesh.

Blood gushed from his throat.

At this moment, the pain suddenly disappeared, as if everything before was an illusion.

Little Flay swallowed a mouthful of blood and stared at Raven. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't even hear the words he spoke clearly.

This is the body's instinctive way of protecting the brain when one is on the verge of death, but this can only block the pain but cannot restore his vitality and strength.

"And... and... there is..."

The last word turned into a long "huh" sound, which was purely the sound of air surging.

The head tilted to one side, and the little peeling boy's pupils began to dilate, completely losing their spirit.

Raven threw the torch at the feet of the little skin.

He knew something about the punishment, and in reality most victims died from fear rather than injury.

After all, the claws and teeth of mice are not sharp enough, and it is difficult to break through the layers of abdominal muscles in a short period of time.

But Little Peeler is an exception.

Until his death, he still held on to the thought that Raven might let him go, so he held on long enough to overcome the fear and truly died under this punishment.

Dalton took a deep breath and placed his hands across his chest, mourning for his innocent son's death.

Simon did not like the punishment, but he never took his eyes off the little skinner as he was being flayed.

There was no joy in his eyes. When Little Peeler tilted his head, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Taking off the space ring on Little Peeler's hand, Raven took a few steps back and raised his hand to shoot out a fireball.

Looking at the burning trees, Raven said:
"Let's go."

……

Late at night, Eagle City.

The square outside was still brightly lit and bustling with activity.

But the hall seemed quite quiet, with only low voices of discussion being heard.

Six hours had passed since the banquet was supposed to begin, and the Earl still hadn't shown up. It was hard not to speculate what had happened.

Some people said that the Earl might have discovered the trace of a high-level magical beast and led his team to hunt it.

Some people said that the Earl might have fallen in love with a young lady from a noble family on his way back, but the lady's family did not agree, so he made an appointment to elope, and now he is bringing people to pick up the bride.

Others said that before, His Majesty the King had not given the Earl any actual fiefdom, but now he had sent a special envoy to hand over the Fox family's territory to the Earl, and the Earl was now meeting with the special envoy.

Of course, the gossips were very quiet, and they kept changing over time. Soon, the non-existent woman that Raven went to pick up had turned into a man.

Only a few orphans, including Hoyaz, did not join in the chat.

There was a hint of uneasiness in their eyes.

Father is not here, and neither are Eric, Hyena, Link and the others. This must be some secret mission going on, and it is a secret mission that requires force.

But unfortunately, they have no part in this mission.

Suddenly, the lights in the hall shook, a slightly cool wind blew, and the door opened.

Everyone's eyes fell on the door, and then they all stood up and saluted:

"My Lord Earl!" Under everyone's gaze, Raven walked into the hall with a warm smile on his face. Behind him, the 18 people who had followed him out before came in one after another.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." Raven said with a smile, "I was dealing with some personal matters."

"Fiona, the party continues!"

Music started playing in the corner, the side door opened, and a waiter came in pushing a six-layer cake.

"Everyone has been waiting for so long, so I won't waste any more words." Raven raised a glass of Angel's Tears: "Let us toast to the future of the Griffith family!"

Officials at all levels in the hall raised their glasses and shouted: "For the Griffith family!"

After drinking a glass of Angel's Tears, Raven took the bread knife from the waiter and was the first to cut a piece of the cake. Then the maids came forward, divided the cakes, and brought them to everyone.

Fili's second son Baido stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth, washed it down with wine, and came close to his father with a wink:
"Father, do you want to know what the Earl took us to do?"

"No." Fili showed his usual timid or cautious character:

"Always remember, if the Earl needs us to know something, we will know it naturally; if he doesn't need us to know something, then don't ask around."

Baiduo had no intention of saying anything, he just wanted to play a joke on his father, and after hearing this reply, he felt a little bored, pursed his lips, stood up, took the cake from the maid, and concentrated on dealing with it.

Next to him, Xue Feng's political officer, Kuman, simply patted his son, Henchidon's thigh, and silently pushed a plate of meat in front of his son.

Koulu, the political officer of Holo Territory, put the bacon into his mouth and chewed it gracefully, and asked softly: "No trouble, right?"

"No, don't worry." Magid also sat very straight: "In fact, in the real battle..."

"Okay, no need to say more." Koulu stopped his son from talking: "Some things, just know them in your heart; if you don't know whether you should say it or not, then you shouldn't say it."

"Yes, father." Magid stopped talking and silently poured wine for Kolu.

In the corner of the hall, the clerk Junasson's old face was almost blooming with a smile. He kept looking at Pip, and the pride on his face was clearly visible.

My Lord, only 18 people were brought out this time, including Pip.

what is this?
This is trust! There is no false trust at all!

After more than 8 years and almost 9 years in Xiongying Town, their family has finally gained a firm foothold.

From now on, it is not Junasun who takes care of Pip, but Pip, the son, who supports the family!
Soon, almost everyone put down their knives and forks, started to walk around with their glasses raised, and chatted with others.

Normally, at a banquet, there should be very little time for dining. If I hadn't waited too long and was really hungry, I wouldn't have spent a whole block of time eating.

Raven had already filled his stomach by now, and was walking around the hall with a glass of wine in his hand. Wherever he went, people would come up to him and toast him.

Officials at all levels in the territory were extremely sensible. After paying their respects to Raven and offering a few words of blessing, they would leave on their own accord and would never disturb the Earl any further.

Although the officers were strict in the army, they were more relaxed at the party. Some of them even dared to joke about the gossip they had previously spread about Raven.

Raven was not angry either. He knew that the officers were asking him to fight. The subtext was -

Next time this happens, you have to take us with you!

Hoyaz watched eagerly, wanting to go up and congratulate Raven, but his anxiety came back, and for a moment he felt a little worried.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that his father was not as gentle and kind as usual, but instead more fierce and majestic.

Finally, Raven approached their table.

"How is it? Are you getting impatient?" Raven said with a smile.

"No hurry, no hurry!" Hoyaz felt relieved and raised his glass:
"Father, I wish you good health and a long life!"

The orphans nearby also raised their glasses and said, "I wish my father good health and a long life!"

Elsewhere, Raven would just lightly touch his lips with the wine glass, but here, he raised the glass high and drank the wine in one gulp.

Placing the empty cup on the table, Raven glanced at the orphans, finally landing on the face of one of them:
"You Min, don't you have anything to say to me?"

"Father, I'm not smart and I don't know what to say..." You Min scratched the back of his head.

"Ah..." Raven sighed.

He raised his right hand, and the magic power flowed quietly. With a clang, a long sword at his waist jumped out of the scabbard and fell into his hand.

There is a line of words engraved on the sword: "Dedicated to our dear father."

That was the "Father's Sword" that the orphans jointly built for Raven six years ago. In the past six years, Raven would wear it around his waist no matter when and where he was.

This sudden scene made the scene quickly quiet down, and everyone's eyes were focused on Raven.

You Min's face turned dry and yellow, and he widened his eyes: "Father——"

Whoosh.

An arc of light flashed across the sky.

You Min's head jumped high and landed on the table with a thud.

The corpse was still standing on the ground, with blood gushing out from its neck.

Fourier's knees softened and he knelt down: "Father, I was wrong, I shouldn't have..."

However, before his knees touched the ground, Raven swung his sword with lightning speed and chopped off his head.

Then there was another sword attack, and Bigo, who was retreating quietly, was not spared.

Shine——

Raven thrust the paternal sword into the long table, turned around, and left the hall without looking back.

There was silence in the hall.

Hoyaz looked at the three heads in horror, then looked at his companions.

Banks looked thoughtful with a frown on his face; Lennon seemed unable to accept what had happened and was staring at the sword on the table in a daze.

After this happened, the banquet could of course not continue.

Various speculations are quietly circulating under the surface.

But soon, all these speculations disappeared without a trace - as Simon reappeared in everyone's sight, the truth of the matter became clear.

Simon usually acts cautiously, and he disappeared while he was out on an investigation.

Only the orphans in the same flying squadron could know Simon's whereabouts clearly; and only they could make Simon let down his guard.

Afterwards, the large amount of gold coins found in the residences of Youmin, Fourier and Bigo further confirmed this speculation.

As various details came out, the complete story was no longer a secret.

It was the Little Flayed One who sent someone to contact these three people, gave them 200 gold coins, and said that there were mercenaries who admired Simon and hoped that they would help to create an "encounter".

"Damn, these three stupid as hell guys!" Lennon cursed when he learned the truth:

"Don't they have brains? They can get 200 gold coins just by arranging a meeting. How can such a good thing be possible in the world?!"

"So they didn't die unjustly." Banks, who was wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was quite calm:

"Father, it's not like we didn't give them a chance."

"I'm not saying they died unjustly, I'm saying, I'm saying..." Lennon ruffled his hair:
"Oh, anyway, father didn't take us with him on that mission, and he threw away the sword!"

"They three have done a good thing, and they want all of us to bear the consequences!"

"That's enough!" Hoyaz stood up and said, "Don't always think about yourself. Think about your father too, right?!"

Lennon stopped talking and his expression became more complicated.

Banks let out a long sigh.

My father would never express his feelings directly, nor would he publicly say how much he valued and cherished these orphans.

But the fact is, they were the first to tame the most precious Wind King; the salary of each of them was paid according to the standard of 10-man captain of the Eagle Army; and there were additional rewards for every attack.

It can be said that Raven spent the most effort and wealth on them.

But unfortunately, among the group of people whom he had cultivated so carefully and raised personally, a traitor appeared.

"The rift has already occurred. The death of those three people is far from enough to make up for it." Hoyaz said in a hoarse voice:
"A lot of things will change later, but we just need to grasp one point -

Let Father see our value and our reliability again!"

……

Simon’s return and the orphans’ betrayal are undoubtedly big events.

Soon, however, these two issues were no longer the mainstream of discussion.

An explosive piece of news spread throughout the entire Nordic province and became a hot topic of discussion among everyone from nobles to serfs.

The Castle of the Firstborn was burned down, and the Little Viscount Flayer was killed.

Before they could recover from the shock, even more explosive news spread.

On the 11th day after the burning of the Firstborn Castle, Dalton, the personal guard of the Little Skinner, released a message through the Sky Eagle platform.

Dalton claimed that the death of Viscount Gunther, also known as the Little Flayed, was the work of the bloody Highland horse thieves, which was a provocation and revenge by the horse thieves against the Nordic province and the empire.

While reminding the nobles to strengthen their protection, Dalton took out a will that was said to be written by Little Flay himself.

The main content is to hand over the governance of the entire Binziman Territory to Earl Raven.

All rights, including but not limited to personnel, military and financial rights, were handed over to the Griffith family without reservation until the threat from the Bloody Heights was completely eliminated.

This statement can be said to be earth-shattering!
Simon, who had been missing for a long time, had just returned safely, and then Little Flay died tragically. And the Benzimas fell into Raven's hands. No one would believe that this was a pure coincidence.

"Did Raven really do this?" Hyde looked at the news on the Skyhawk platform with a gloomy expression.

"It was the Raven who provoked me first, so it's not out of line for Lord Raven to respond in this way," Jon said slowly.

"It's not a question of whether it's out of line or not. This is not Raven's style!" Hyde pinched the beard on his chin:

"My people went to investigate and reported that the entire Changzi Castle had been reduced to a complete ruin."

"According to local people, the fire lasted for eight days and burned down half of the city of Bengaluru!"

"If Raven wants to annex Little Skinner's territory, there is no need to go so far."

Jon guessed, "Maybe it's to establish their authority. After all, since the Griffith family has been promoted to earl, they have to teach those ignorant guys a lesson."

Hyde was still frowning, there were too many things that were difficult to explain.

In fact, the best way at the moment is to write a letter or simply meet with Raven to get things clear.

But we can't do that.

As a member of the Slater family, any action of Hyde may be over-interpreted by the outside world and regarded as some kind of political signal.

"Sir, the latest news." A knight walked into the room, bowed respectfully and said:

"Earl Raven has sent someone to officially take over Binziman Territory."

hiss……

Upon hearing the news, Hyde took a breath:
"Raven, what do you want to do?"

Even though everyone knew that it was Tinker Bell who was reckless and provoked Raven first; even though everyone was prepared for Raven to take over Tinker Bell's territory.

But Raven's movements were too fast!
The destruction of Fort Eldest was 19 days ago; it was only 8 days since Dalton released the news.

Raven didn't even refuse and took over the Binziman Territory!

This was bound to cause panic among the small and medium nobles around Raven.

After all, if Raven can annex Binziman Territory in this way today, he can annex them tomorrow.

If someone with ulterior motives stirs up trouble, Raven's reputation will suffer a severe blow!
But what happened next deviated from Hyde's idea.

There was no uproar, no fierce condemnation of Raven.

Apart from Lady Doreen, Viscount Broca, Baron Wessassin, Baron Kate and other nobles who publicly expressed their support for Raven's actions, no one else talked about this matter.

It's like it never happened.

Lord Tyrone also remained silent.

In addition to the silence, I was also sincerely surprised.

The destruction of the Firstborn Castle was Raven's way of establishing his authority, which Tyrone could understand.

However, the effect of this attempt to establish authority was so obvious that he had not expected it.

The nobles of the Nordic province did not have no opinions, but they did not dare to express them.

Just like what happened after the Fox family was destroyed.

He suspected that even if the Slater family adopted the same method, it might not be as effective as Raven's action this time.

As far as Earl Tyrone knew, several nobles who had conflicts with Raven during the Death Hand Cult War had secretly sent people to send Raven large gifts to "resolve" the misunderstanding.

It would be good if the matter could be revealed in this way.

only……

From the bottom of his heart, Tyrone didn't want to get involved and also wanted to give Raven face. Turning a blind eye to this was the most worry-free and labor-saving option.

But considering that Raven's reputation has now spread throughout the empire, the impact of this incident is bound to not be limited to the Nord Province.

How will the other nobles react?
The most important thing is, what will be the reaction of His Majesty the King?
……

(End of this chapter)