Imperial Crown.

Chapter 514 You! You are my benefactor!

"Eh?"

When Raven rode Drogon to Moonrock Keep, he couldn't help but utter a sound of surprise, for the keep's gates were wide open, and the spacious courtyard was filled with kneeling werewolves. Leading them was none other than Whitemoon, dressed in pure white.

"What's going on?" This scene caused Raven to lose the composure and calm he had shown when facing Sliver, and he asked in bewilderment. The great battle was not over yet, and he had arrived riding Drogon; it was impossible for anyone to have returned to Moonrock Keep before him. So why were Baiyue and the others kneeling on the ground? It was as if they already knew the outcome of the war and were waiting for Raven.

This made Raven, who was usually as cautious as a fox, a little hesitant and timid.

"The newly appointed chieftain of the werewolf clan, Bai Yue, along with his political officer Pan En and all the castle's stewards, scribes, guards, riding instructors, cooks, candlelight keeper, hunting officer, livestock steward, heralds officer, and others, cordon off the entire castle, to welcome Earl Raven!"

Pain, kneeling beside Bai Yue, roared hoarsely, veins bulging on his forehead, demonstrating the loudness and force of his voice, "The former chieftain of the werewolf clan, Sliffer, disregarded the alliance pact, broke his promise, and launched a night attack on Bloodstone Castle, incurring the wrath of the gods. He deserved to die!"

“Earl Raven, this is the letter that Sliver left behind before he stepped down as patriarch and passed on to White Moon. It has his signature, the viscount's seal, and the Nightthroat family's coat of arms.”

Raven lowered Drogon and gestured for Eric to bring him up.

Eric went over, examined it, and then handed it to Raven.

Raven took a look and, sure enough, it matched what Pain had said. He deliberately rubbed his thumb on it, but not a trace of ink came off. It was clear that it wasn't written on the spot, but rather had been written long ago, at least a few hours ago.

“This…” Raven was at a loss.

Although Raven has always prided himself on being ruthless, he's not yet so inhuman as to continue slaughtering an entire family if the other party has already surrendered.

Raven has his own moral standards and bottom line. For example, he would never do something like cannibalism, nor would he allow his men to do it.

"cough"

With things having come to this point, Raven had no choice but to get off Drogon, observe the situation, and take things one step at a time.

Raven slowly approached Bai Yue and looked at her kneeling on the ground, her delicate body trembling. He remained silent for a long time, a full half hour. After realizing that Bai Yue seemed to have truly submitted from the bottom of her heart, he had no choice but to walk over to Pan En and say, "Pan En, get up quickly."

Pain struggled to get up, but perhaps because he had been kneeling on the ground for too long, he couldn't get up the first time and fell down again with a whoosh. Raven had to use his cane to prop himself up on the ground, giving him a foothold, before he could get up.

“Paine,” Raven walked to Paine’s side, took his hand like an old friend, and led him to a corpse covered with a black sheet, smiling as he said, “Come, come, please…”

Raven deliberately stood in front of Bai Yue for half an hour just now, so that Link would get the matter done.

Pan stared blankly at the corpse in front of him, even a fool could guess that under the black cloth was Sliver's body! He had thought that Sliver would lose, that he would suffer a crushing defeat, but he really didn't expect that Sliver had only been gone for a few hours, and that Raven would personally bring back his body.

He might die at Raven's hands in a single encounter.

Raven, who appeared kind and polite with a smile, was actually a thoroughly disgusting hypocrite. He wanted to make him lift the black cloth and see Sliver's corpse with his own eyes, so as to completely break down his psychological defenses.

Pan waved his hand, pretending to be scared and timid.

"Aren't you curious about who's behind that black cloth?" Raven chuckled. "Perhaps... your benefactor."

"You!!" Pan threw off his hemp-colored robe and knelt down abruptly, shouting with a powerful voice, "You are my benefactor!!" His expression was sorrowful, and his voice was like a cuckoo crying blood. "Since falling into the hands of the orcs, I have lost my freedom! To be honest, Count, day and night, every hour, every minute, every second, Pan has longed to leave! It's just a pity that I am not an extraordinary hero and cannot leave the vast Nightthroat Province on foot! Every morning and evening, I kneel in my room in devout prayer, praying that a god would descend from the heavens and rescue me from the orcs' clutches! I never expected that the gods would hear my heart's cry, witness my sincerity, and finally send you here! Ever since I saw you last time, I have known that you are my benefactor! Only you can rescue me from the orcs' clutches! Pan is willing to leave now and follow you back to Bloodstone Castle! To return to the embrace of humanity!"

These words were spoken with such sincerity and emotion, and coupled with Paine's sobbing and weeping, they were all the more moving.

Bai Yue raised her head for the first time, and she finally understood the deeper meaning of Pan En's words, "It's my head!" However, at this moment, she even suspected that these were Pan En's true feelings, and not entirely a scheme.

"Oh?"

To be honest, Raven was somewhat tempted. With his departure imminent, Eric was quite capable and had no problem with combat tactics, but he didn't understand internal affairs management, and Thor was a reckless fellow. Originally, the only ones he could rely on were Hu Xia and the conservative He Yaz.

However, if they could bring a slippery person like Pain under their wing, they would feel much more at ease after Raven left.

He was a mortal who was neither extraordinary nor a magician. Even if he had ulterior motives, he didn't have the guts. After all, whoever wanted to kill him could do so as easily as crushing a chick.

However, Raven remained calm and nodded lightly, "Let's get up first."

With that, he told everyone to get up and head towards Moonrock Fortress.

“Miss Baiyue, your father disregarded the alliance agreement and launched a night attack on my Bloodstone Castle. Now that he is dead, shouldn’t we renegotiate our contract? I hope you can learn from this experience and draw a bloody lesson.”

Upon entering the castle, Raven sat in the main seat and spoke without any politeness.

He had deliberately ignored and treated the little wolf girl Bai Yue coldly in the courtyard, and now he was reprimanding her mercilessly, hoping to provoke her and make her explode so that he could find an excuse to eliminate her.

Unfortunately, it's unclear whether Bai Yue truly didn't understand these things or was genuinely submissive; she seemed completely unaffected, nodding blankly and saying "Mmm-hmm."

Raven: ... "Paine, you can draft the contract." Raven suddenly said to Paine casually.

Pan En's heart stirred slightly. He understood that Raven had deliberately asked him to draft the contract, clearly intending to test him.

If the contents of this contract only benefited the werewolf clan, then needless to say, Raven would have him dragged out and beheaded on the spot. And he himself wouldn't be so foolish.

However, even if the terms of the contract are fair to both parties, it might still be difficult to satisfy Raven! After all, Raven has the situation under control, and if the conditions are all fair, it would be unfair to Raven! Doing so might not lead to Raven killing him, but it would also make it difficult to gain his trust in the future!

If he were to set the conditions of the contract too extreme for the werewolf clan, Raven would likely not only be dissatisfied but would also kill him immediately! After all, the werewolf clan had been kind to Pain, and if he turned around and became so ruthless after switching sides, how could Raven trust such a person?
So, what Raven made him draft wasn't some kind of alliance pact at all... it was clearly Pain's Death Diary, which he was writing for himself...

"Serving a ruler is indeed like serving a tiger..."

Pan En sighed inwardly. This was the officialdom! It was neither as dazzling and captivating as the clash of swords in a ring, nor as honorable and righteous as the fierce battles on the battlefield. The deceit and intrigue of politics, the backstabbing and scheming in officialdom, were all silently launched like poisoned darts amidst false laughter and applause. How many people ended up not even knowing how they died?

Outside Moonrock Fortress, snow fell heavily, and the weather was freezing cold. Sliver's body, still warm, lay alone in the courtyard, ignored by everyone, like a dead stray dog.

Inside Moon Rock Fortress, the fire blazed, oil was poured, and delicacies and fine wines were served, as if a grand victory banquet had been held. Music, dance, and songs filled the air... and of course, beautiful women were also present.

"Beautiful Miss Baiyue, please allow me to present this precious gift to express my sincerity and respect before signing the contract."

An hour or two later, Pain finally finished writing the contract, and Raven was very satisfied after reading it. What pleased him most was not that Pain had divided Sliver's treasury in two, letting Raven take half; nor that he had accidentally guessed Raven's bottom line of a 70/30 split; but rather that it contained a mark indicating something called "Runestone Ore".

Although this type of ore is not as famous as magic crystal ore, and its price is not high, its intrinsic value is by no means low.

Because runes, when carved with magical runes, can become [magic rune stones], also known as [magic talismans]. These are useful items that can store magical spells. However, they are one-time consumables!

During the previous martial arts tournament, in order to win the competition, Judea once tried to buy a gem at a high price, which was this kind of magic rune stone.

However, while runes are valuable, they require numerous mages to carve magical runes and high-level mages to individually store the magic. The process is extremely complex and time-consuming, so very few people buy them in large quantities. Some high-level mages might only buy one or two for their family members. After all, it's too time-consuming! Even the Magic Guild only buys a few hundred or a thousand runes a year.

Therefore, Sliver has accumulated a large number of runestones over the years, some even reaching the third or fourth tier, which are simply unsellable! While this is a pain point for others, it's not entirely a problem for Raven. Although Raven still can't refine divine potions and has to spend a lot of gold coins to buy them each time, without even obtaining the formula, Eagle City can indeed refine magic-forging potions! They even have the ethereal fruit produced by the Cloud Forest Kumquat after its ancestral reversion! All of this ensures the number of mages under Raven's command in the future! And the resources required to train a high-level mage are massive and incredibly expensive, so Raven can't possibly train that many! Take his aunt Denise, for example; her magical talent is only average, and she spends most of her time handling government affairs, so she doesn't have the time to cultivate. Especially after becoming a noble, she prefers to soak in hot springs and enjoy a spa treatment in her spare time. Who would be so bored as to torture themselves every day by enduring a tedious and boring cultivation process? Any noble with even a slight choice probably wouldn't be so engrossed in cultivation! Therefore, it wasn't worth Raven's significant investment in training her. The initial reason for making her a mage was twofold: firstly, to test the effects of the mystical fruit, and secondly, to ensure she had some self-defense capabilities—to prevent a repeat of the near-rape by Judah. ​​Thus, high-level mages could only be selected and trained selectively.

Wouldn't this solve the problem for both low-level mages who carve magical runes and high-level mages who store magical spells?

This is an incredible opportunity!

Lei Wenle's heart was bursting with joy, as sweet as if he had just eaten a mouthful of industrial honey! Don't ask why he didn't eat real honey! Because real honey doesn't taste sweet at all! So much so that he was even thinking of giving Bai Yue a gift.

Unlike others, Raven's runestone mines were never in short supply; he didn't even have enough soldiers to feed himself! This suddenly reminded Raven of his naive fantasies when he first reclaimed Goldshire. Back then, he dreamed of having an entire legion of superhuman or mage soldiers, even naming them after the twelve constellations—Aquarius Legion, Cancer Legion, Taurus Legion… Looking back now, how naive he must have been to have such an idea! The idea was good, but reality was impossible! However, he was truly happy back then, waking up every day and simply thinking about how to get enough to eat! Unlike now, when he's so exhausted he can't even sleep soundly!
All of this became less distant and naive with the readily available runestones unearthed by Sliver! Hehe, at least forming an army where everyone possesses a magic runestone is still quite achievable! Even the most basic magical shield can allow one's own charging army to ignore the threat of enemy crossbow bolts! And on the battlefield, even the strength and length of weapons can be factors that determine life and death, let alone a magic runestone!

吧唧
He planted a hard kiss on Bai Yue's stiffly outstretched hand. The touch was soft, unlike the warm back of a human's hand, but it was incredibly soft, like sucking on a giant, pink cat's paw. He wanted to keep rubbing it, and there was never enough time! And it smelled so good! Bai Yue seemed completely unaccustomed to this kind of interaction, or perhaps it was the first time she had been kissed like this. Her whole body trembled as if she had been electrocuted, and she quickly pulled her arm back.

She didn't understand why Raven had suddenly become so enthusiastic. She had also read the contract; her father's secret stash hadn't been emptied, half of it remained, and the worthless runestones that couldn't be sold were only worth 70% to Raven! Furthermore, because Raven was about to take all the runestones, she immediately received a large sum of gold coins! A mere 30% profit was over a million gold coins! This almost exceeded her father's entire life's savings! This made Bai Yue feel even more deeply that her father's death was utterly undeserved! Just moments ago, she had been worried that Pan's actions might anger Raven, causing him to unleash a furious rampage and massacre the entire Moonrock Fortress.

There was no way around it; she had also read "How the Emperor Was Made" and knew how ruthless, cruel, cunning, and despicable Raven was... She had heard that during the attack on Eivor, he often transformed into a vampire at night, sucking human blood, eating human bones, piling up human heads, cutting off human fingers, and sucking human flesh...

And now, right in front of her, he's acting so capriciously... Bai Yue is truly terrified.

“These two bottles of Angel’s Kiss are collector’s editions; you can’t buy them anywhere else.” Raven chuckled as he took out two bottles of perfume with different scents and said, “Right now, I’m giving you these two bottles of Angel’s Kiss.”

"Uh, this..."

Bai Yue was clearly shocked and bewildered, unsure whether she should accept the offer, and could only subconsciously look to Pan En for help.

Pan En nodded almost imperceptibly.

Bai Yue finally accepted the gift, saying with little smile, "Thank you, Earl Raven." After all, her father was still lying dead outside, and she really couldn't smile. She had been kneeling in the snow for more than three hours. Ever since Raven arrived, she had been in a daze, looking exactly like a puppet on a circus.

Raven then signed the contract with Bai Yue.

“I warned your father long ago that there are some things he doesn’t need to worry about.” Raven shook his head. “But your father is really stubborn. No matter how I try to persuade him, he won’t listen. Now he has ended up like this, which is not what I wanted! I didn’t kill your father. You can check the wounds yourself later, or ask the werewolves who came back from outside. They can all testify to this.”

"Now, I'll say the same thing to you, hoping Chief Baiyue will heed my advice." Raven's tone was much gentler now, unlike his previous arrogant and aggressive manner.

Whether it was with Chuchulinga, Igni, or the White Moon before him, Raven signed ordinary parchment contracts, not magical ones. This was because Raven had a backup plan; it wasn't because he lacked the funds to gather the 80+ gold coins needed for the Divine Kingdom's Radiant Array and the approximately 500 million gold coins required to build the magical teleportation array! He simply couldn't afford a magical contract!

With magic crystal mines, eagle-yellow moss, dragons, and runestone mines... Master Raven... is rich, has tons of money.

In the not-too-distant future.

……

(End of this chapter)