Imperial Crown.

Chapter 7 Baron Raven Ota Griffith
"So, these are all the property my dear uncle left me..."

In the Eagle Castle meeting room, Raven threw a shrunken money bag on the table. Three gold coins jumped out of it and were about to roll down the uneven tabletop, but Raven stopped them with a slap:

"Thirteen gold coins in total!?"

Old Gordon pushed his monocle awkwardly: "To be exact, it's thirteen gold coins, fifty silver coins and thirty-seven copper coins..."

Raven asked, "Why is it so little?"

"You also know that everything related to magic is very expensive." Old Gordon carefully considered his words: "Lord Donald is obsessed with studying 'magic' and has consumed all the family's gold coins. For this reason, he even rented out all the territories on the other side of the Jinsha River."

"Goldshine Town, Eagle Quarry, and Thousand Needle Pine Forest. These three pieces of land account for 90% of Eagle Territory's population and income."

Raven's eyebrows jumped and he asked, "Then...how much is the annual income from these three plots of land, and how long is the lease term?"

Speaking of this, Gordon let out a weak sigh, turned the notebook in his hand to a specific page, and pushed it in front of Raven along with the two contracts.

The latter looked at him with a frown on his face, and after a long time he let out a long sigh.

The most valuable is the Town of Shanjin. Although it has only two thousand subjects, due to its developed business, the tax paid every year is at least more than four hundred gold coins. In good years, it can even reach more than seven hundred!
The other two pieces of land, Eagle Mine and Thousand Needles, although not as good as Goldshire Town, have more than 2,000 subjects in total, and the annual profit is approximately between 320 and 470 gold coins.

However, Raven's uncle, Baron Donald, rented out the two places separately, the former to Viscount John of the Luke family, and the latter to Baron Angel of the Wharton family.

The lease is for fifty years!

There are still forty years left to go.

Although a total of 16,000 gold coins were exchanged, none of them fell into Raven's hands!

Donald! You are such a spendthrift!

Raven roared silently in his heart, then looked at Eric expressionlessly and asked, "How much is your annual salary?"

"Sixty gold coins, sir." Eric was confused.

For a first-level extraordinary person, this was a very reasonable price and did not exceed Raven's expectations.

On the contrary, it was old Gordon's ability that impressed Raven. With less than 500 acres of arable land, he was not only able to feed 800 serfs, but also had some savings on the basis of supporting a first-level extraordinary person.

All I can say is that Gordon is indeed good at managing money.

"That's five gold coins a month." Raven pushed the bag with ten gold coins left in front of Eric: "I'll pay you two months' salary in advance."

"Then, go to my room and move the box from under the bed."

With a click, another gold coin flew out of Raven's hand and fell into the purse. "This is considered a bonus."

A hint of joy appeared in Eric's eyes, he put away his purse and turned to leave.

Soon, Eric held the cash box with one hand and placed it on the table. Raven opened it reluctantly: "Mr. Gordon, let's talk about our next plan."

Old Gordon took out a note and spread it on the table, pushing the monocle and said, "In order to hold your succession ceremony and Lord Donald's memorial service, first of all, we need to spend 100 gold coins to redecorate the castle..."

"Can't we be a little more frugal?" Raven asked. "There won't be many guests coming anyway, so why not just renovate the lobby and a few guest rooms?"

Gordon said, "My Lord, this is the limit. Any lower would be an insult to the status of a baron. And the scope is strictly limited to the hall, guest rooms and bathrooms."

"Wait, bathroom?" Raven pulled the notebook over and frowned as he read the contents. "Why do we need to rebuild the bathroom and it will cost ten gold coins?!"

Gordon said seriously, "Sir, the bathroom will be the place where guests will go most often, so we can't be careless. And this is already trying to save costs. If there weren't some granite in stock, the cost would be even higher."

Raven had to admit that Gordon had a point. "Okay, so what's next?"

"Your dress." Gordon said, "This item will cost about 120 gold coins..."

"How much?" Raven sat up straight. "One hundred and twenty gold coins?"

"Uncle Donald's old suit, enough to make me three suits after some alterations!"

Gordon explained: "As a noble, your dress must be newly tailored, perfectly fit, and in line with your noble status. This dress needs to use gold and silver threads, as well as gold and silver ornaments blessed by the priests of the Lord of Light."

"In addition, there are emerald gems that represent your noble status. These are traditions accumulated over hundreds of years. If you don't do this, I'm afraid you won't be able to integrate into this circle."

Raven sighed helplessly.

Respect Luo Yi first and then respect others.

The proverbs from previous lives are still applicable in this time and space.

Although he didn't like this so-called "tradition", Raven had no intention or ability to make an enemy of the entire aristocracy, so he had no choice but to follow the local customs: "I see, what else?"

Gordon pushed the monocle and said, "The remaining big part is the 'donation' that needs to be handed over to the examiner of the Noble Council. You know, this is to let Lord Donald 'rest in peace'. This amount will cost about 200 gold coins."

After saying that, he looked at Raven. To his surprise, Raven remained extremely calm about this expense and just waved his hand to approve it.

Because Raven's experience in this life told him that if there are things in this world that can be solved with money, it is best not to create complications.

Just think of it as buying a baronship for two hundred gold coins!
"The next expense..." Gordon had just started to speak when there was a knock on the door.

After getting Raven's permission, the guard Link came in. He handed over a document with both hands and said, "Sir, a knight riding a hippogryph just brought this letter to you and asked me to hand it to you personally."

Raven nodded and took it. "Go out."

After saying this, he grabbed the document in his hand and examined it carefully.

The document was in the form of a scroll, made of fine parchment, sealed with wax, and stamped with the words [N&C] in intricate and elegant cursive script.

After opening the document, Raven's eyes fell on it, his expression becoming increasingly gloomy, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Gordon and Eric didn't understand what was going on, but seeing Raven's expression they didn't dare to ask, so they could only stare at each other.

After all, Gordon was a very cultured old man, and it was very rude for him to stare into Eric's little eyes.

“Ha, good, very good!” Raven slammed the document on the table and laughed angrily: “The Noble Council… what the hell!”

He took another deep breath to calm himself down, then threw the scroll on the table: "Look for yourselves."

Gordon took the document in his hand and adjusted the focus of the monocle. Eric couldn't help but move behind him to read it.

Slowly, the former's hands began to tremble, and then the whole table began to shake - it was Eric's hands that were shaking.

The usually steady old Gordon's lips turned purple with anger: "Shameless! Too shameless, this is simply a blasphemy against the name of nobility!"

"Damn worm, rubbish!" Eric slammed the table. "I really want to pull this Winston over and stuff gold coins down his throat one by one!"

The wording in the document was not friendly, and could even be said to be deliberately provocative.

It first gives a full description of Raven's humble origin, using more than a dozen words and rhetorical methods, including but not limited to examples, parallelism, metaphors, etc., comparing Raven with rats, cockroaches, and bedbugs, and finally concludes that Raven is stronger than these creatures in some aspects.

Afterwards, he began to severely disparage the Eagle Territory, saying that in such a fragmented and poor remote place, only a lowly person like Raven would regard it as a treasure.

Finally, the nobleman named "Winston Ota Inger" gave an address as a gift, asking Raven to deliver 360 gold coins and family tree information to the Horned Eagle Knight in Shimmering Gold Town within three days, and Raven would inherit the title of baron.

"This is a blatant bribery!" The gentle old Gordon was furious: "Sir, these gold coins cannot be handed over. I will write a petition and send it to the Noble Council in the capital! I must seek justice!!"

Raven had calmed down. He could guess what Winston was thinking when he wrote the document. The members of the Noble Council were all nobles, but most of them were side branches without inheritance rights. After all, true nobles would not bother to meddle in such "common affairs".

Winston's middle name is "Ota", which means he is a genuine viscount or baron, and definitely not one with any fiefdom.

This kind of nobility is usually called "court nobility".

Of course, this is just the official term. In reality, people prefer to call them "landless nobles", "poor people living under someone else's roof", and "the king's useless lackeys".

A noble without a fiefdom is like a dog with a broken spine; no matter how high his title is, he has no status.

The content of this letter is so intense, most likely due to jealousy.

"Calm down, old Gordon." Raven said with a smile, "It's just the barking of a lost dog. The title is real."

Gordon was still a little unwilling: "But..."

"Mr. Gordon, I know what you're thinking." Raven held his old, dry arm. "As a member of the Griffith family and the lord of Eagle Territory, please believe me, my anger is no less than yours."

"But anger is useless. Before the formalities are completed, I am not even a noble. I am not even qualified to throw the gloves in his face and ask for a duel!"

"What we need to do now is to hold the baron title in our hands and manage the territory well. When we have a lot of gold coins, he will come to us for help one day!"

The operation of the Council of Nobles is entirely supported by donations from local nobles.

Gordon took a deep breath, "I understand, sir."

He sorted out the documents in his hand and tore off a few pages. "This way, the payment for the decoration and dress can be delayed a little, but there is still one payment that must be made."

"Public security."

Gordon said: "Every year from January to July, the Bloody Highlands will usher in the rainy season. It will be muddy and difficult to travel, so bandits often pass through Eagle Mountain and come to plunder nearby."

"Although the territories we actually control at present are only Eagle Town and Eagle Fort, we cannot be careless in terms of defense. We must protect the safety of the... the people in the territory."

Gordon was talking about the subjects, but Raven knew that what he really wanted to say was the "lord", that is, he, the Baron who was still a mortal.

Raven asked, "So what do you think?"

"Go to Shining Gold Town and hire a team of mercenaries." Gordon said, "A standard mercenary team of twelve usually has one first-level extraordinary soldier. We don't need to prepare any equipment. If you hire them for a year, the price is about 110 gold coins."

Raven drummed his fingers on the wooden table and shook his head slowly, "No."

Raven was no stranger to mercenaries. In this world, mercenaries had never had a good reputation.

They are rude, disrespectful and violent, and often rely on their force to do whatever they want. They appear to be law-abiding, but once they are short of money, they can turn into robbers, murderers and kidnappers at any time.

But Raven now only has one extraordinary person, Eric, and lacks the military power to balance a mercenary team.

It is easy to ask God but difficult to send Him away.

If these people refuse to leave, it may even shake the foundation of Raven.

He expressed his concerns, and Gordon frowned. Eric had an idea, "Sir, I once served in the Iron Regiment, and I know some old friends who retired for various reasons. If you are willing to give them a place to stay, I can go to Mon'en City to help you recruit them!"

"No!" This proposal was immediately rejected by Old Gordon: "You are the only extraordinary person in the territory now, you must not leave!"

Raven secretly kept Eric's words in mind and agreed with Gordon's point of view: "Indeed, we can talk about this matter after our finances are slightly relieved."

Eric asked, "So...what should we do?"

"Train the troops!" Raven knocked on the table. "As a baron, you can have five knights and a private army of up to 500 people. Since we don't have any available forces, let's train ourselves!"

As he spoke, he looked at Old Gordon and asked, "How much food and weapons are left in the warehouse?"

Gordon immediately reported the numbers: "Your Excellency, there are currently 50,000 kilograms of coarse wheat flour, 1,300 kilograms of bacon and dried meat, and about 500 kilograms of cheese in the warehouse."

"As for weapons and equipment... I checked them the day before yesterday. There are only a dozen or so sets of worn-out leather armor and fifty or so rusted weapons left."

"I understand." He stood up and ordered: "Eric, take the gold coins to Goldshire Town immediately, find the Horned Eagle Knight, and then buy me enough leather armor and spears to arm fifty people in Goldshire Town!"

"As you command, my lord!" Eric stood up and banged his armor with his fists.

"Mr. Gordon, you should come with us." Raven said, "At present, Eagle Territory has a lot of work to do, and every penny must be spent wisely."

Old Gordon stood up and bowed: "I will follow your instructions."

Eric drove a carriage and slowly left with Gordon.

Raven stood by the window, looking at the two people walking away with a far-reaching gaze.

There is no doubt that what Donald left him was a mess.

Fragmented territory, stretched finances, and military force that is better than nothing.

But the purpose is equally clear.

Take back the land that originally belonged to Eagle Territory.

Earn more coins.

Build an army of your own!

Two days later, Eric and Gordon returned, along with two carriages of equipment and a document:
“Hereby Order:
After a fair, enlightened and undelayed review by the Council of Nobles, Raven Griffith is of pure blood, excellent character, and possesses the humility, integrity, mercy, bravery, justice, sacrifice, honor, and soul that a noble should have.

He is hereby allowed to inherit the baronial title of the Griffith family, to use the glorious middle name of "Ota", and to enjoy the right to inherit the undiminished 2,200 acres of fiefdom belonging to the Eagle Territory."

Gordon read it out loud, then, ignoring the dirt on the ground, he knelt on one knee and picked up the gold-embossed document.

Raven took it and pinned the emblem that came with it on his left chest.

Eric also knelt on one knee and lowered his head: "Congratulations, Lord Raven, on officially inheriting the title of Baron!"

Raven stood in the morning light, and in front of him were only two loyal retainers.

The scene was somewhat deserted, but Raven's heart was burning with excitement as never before.

From now on, he is Raven Ota Griffith.

Imperial Baron!

In the future, there will be more than just these two people crawling at his feet!
"Get up!" Raven helped the two of them up: "Our journey has just begun!"

"Eric, ring the bell!"

"Gather all the men in Eagle Town.

Training! "

……

(End of this chapter)