Rose Empire

Feeling that he already knew the answer, Hermann Green bowed slowly to Charlotte and said, "It is absolutely wrong to handle this matter this way. However, according to military regulations and laws, Captain Falcon does not need to be punished, so Captain Falcon is indeed innocent."

Then Hermann Green bowed to the falcon again: "I apologize for my rudeness."

"No, no, you don't have to apologize..." Falcon waved his hands repeatedly.

Herman Green said goodbye to Charlotte in disappointment. Falcon wanted to leave with her, but was stopped by Charlotte.

"You can kill some of the Fierce Wolf Warriors, but you need to know the limit. You can't kill them all. I still need manpower to fight! Remember?" Charlotte warned.

"Yes!" Falcon responded quickly, "I'll remember it!"

Charlotte then waved her hand and let Falcon leave.

Falcon and Hermann Green left for a while, and then Cecilia came in with a letter in her hand.

"Who is this letter from?" Charlotte asked casually after taking the letter.

"Miss Anna's mother, Beatrice Touraine," Cecilia replied.

Charlotte was immediately refreshed. Beatrice Duran was arranged by her to be a spy in the Rose Hermitage. When Charlotte fled Platinum City, she left Beatrice to Sister Banasa, the mentor of the Rose Hermitage. For such a long time, Charlotte had not taken the initiative to contact Beatrice Duran, and did not even expect that this chess piece would work. Naturally, she did not expect to receive a letter from Beatrice Duran today.

Charlotte opened the letter and read it. Judging from the content, it was not written to Charlotte, but from Beatrice Touraine to her daughter Anna. It was full of trivial matters and a mother's concern for her daughter. The writing was poor and there were many spelling errors.

But Charlotte knew that this was a letter encrypted using a book code, and the row and column numbers of the wrong words could be calculated one by one according to a simple agreed formula.

These numbers represent the page, line and word of the book. The book that serves as the code book is the script "The Noble City" that Charlotte brought to Platinum City.

Charlotte took out a copy of "The Noble City" and quickly deciphered the secret letter.

Looking at the translation in her hand, Charlotte's heart trembled. The first thing that caught her eye were two simple words - the kingdom of God on earth.

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PS2: Thank you for your correction, the previous error has been corrected.

Volume 150: Chapter 137 Chapter The Origin of the Silver Star Hermitage

Because the code in the book was not convenient enough, Beatrice Duran wrote two pages of letter paper, and in the end only conveyed one sentence - "Someone in the church wants to establish the kingdom of God on earth."

The Kingdom of God on Earth is not a new term in this world.

It is recorded in the Canon that in ancient times, there was only one country on earth, which was ruled by seven wise men. These wise men were of noble blood, noble character, caring for the people, and devoutly believed in Yig. They would rather live a simple life, wear only linen clothes, and eat only vegetarian food, but they would build a magnificent statue for Yig. Yig was moved by the piety of the wise men, so he gave the country endless food and wealth, the trees always had delicious fruits, the rivers always flowed with honey, and the birds always sang the most pleasant songs... This country was called the "Kingdom of God on Earth".

From then on, the term "Kingdom of God on Earth" was used by people to describe a fantasy country where material wealth is extremely abundant and everyone can live happily and without worries.

When is this vocabulary most commonly used?

Of course it's time to rebel!

More than a thousand years ago, at the end of the Wimbledon Empire, when the people were living in poverty and the country was falling apart, many rebels raised the slogan of "establishing the kingdom of God on earth", including the current Orlan royal family, the ancestor of the Hollowen family.

Is there anyone in the church who wants to be emperor?

Charlotte had this idea, but soon felt that it was unlikely.

The church in this world has indeed never given up their intervention in secular power, but because of the existence of the true God, the authority of the pope is actually higher than that of the emperor. The former emperor of the Lesare Empire was forced to take off his crown and become a king, which is a clear proof. Therefore, the top leaders of the church that Charlotte has known generally regard the pope as their lifelong goal, rather than becoming an emperor.

Just as Charlotte was thinking hard about what the information Beatrice had sent back meant, Cecilia, who had been waiting by the side, couldn't help but ask again: "Deacon Vanessa of the Rose Hermitage is resting in the reception room. Do you need to see her?"

Most monastic orders have four levels of management: the chaplain, the priest, and the deacon. The chaplain is the highest management position in the monastery and is usually held by the most prestigious person, the mentor. However, some mentors in monastic orders do not like to participate in administrative management and will let others serve as chaplains.

The Rose Hermitage was a special case. Most of its members were noble ladies and ladies, and most of the priests and deacons were also these ladies and ladies. You couldn't expect these spoiled people to really practice asceticism, nor could you expect them to do hard work, so the Rose Hermitage had an additional position - deacon. The so-called deacon was naturally someone who did things.

After hearing Cecilia's words, Charlotte came back to her senses and nodded, "Of course I have to meet him."

The Rose Priory is currently Charlotte's most important window to understand the internal situation, and it is necessary to establish good relationships with everyone in the priory.

Cecilia followed the order and soon brought a beautiful lady in her thirties, who was wearing nun's clothes, into the study.

"It's an honor to meet you, Miss Melfield." Sister Vanessa gave Charlotte a church greeting.

Charlotte stood up and returned the greeting to Sister Vanessa, then smiled apologetically and said, "I worked late last night and was a little tired, so I got up late today. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"Your Excellency is diligent in government affairs, which is a virtue." Sister Vanessa said with a smile, "I remember that I also came to the Viscount of Lanwan three years ago. At that time, the Viscount's territory was very desolate, and it was so different from the prosperity I see today that I almost thought I came to the wrong place. This change must be attributed to your diligence and good governance."

"You're too kind." Charlotte smiled and invited Sister Vanessa to sit down, and asked Linda to bring tea and snacks.

After the two sat down face to face, Charlotte asked, "You came to Viscount Lanwan's territory to go to the Sokya Peninsula? The Sokya Peninsula has not been peaceful recently."

The Viscount of Lanwan has not yet attracted much attention from the church and monks, as evidenced by the fact that Pastor Fado is still raising chickens recently. Therefore, Charlotte guessed that Sister Vanessa was probably just passing by, and did not come to the Viscount of Lanwan on purpose.

Sure enough, Sister Vanessa shook her head and said, "I am not going to the Sokya Peninsula, but to the Kingdom of Lesare. Teacher Banasa has appointed me to lead a team to pick up a noble who wants to serve the Lord."

"Oh? May I ask which distinguished person it is?" Charlotte asked with interest.

"Of course, this is no secret," Sister Vanessa said readily.

Princess of the Kingdom of Lesare, youngest daughter of King Foss, Her Royal Highness Martina Tenhag. "

Charlotte raised her eyebrows in surprise: "The princess of the Kingdom of Lesare actually wants to follow Sister Banasa to practice?"

"Of course," Sister Vanessa couldn't help but reveal a look of pride, "If a noble girl like Her Royal Highness wants to convert to God, our Rose Hermitage and Master Banasa are definitely the best choices."

Charlotte nodded, then smiled and said, "Deacon Vanessa, Sister Banasa must have trusted you deeply since she entrusted you with such an important task."

"I am one of Master Banasa's first ten students. I have been serving her for twenty years. She knows me better than anyone else." Sister Vanessa said with a hint of pride.

"So you are a supernatural being?" Charlotte asked suddenly.

"Ah... yes." Sister Vanessa was a little surprised why Charlotte suddenly asked this, but she still answered.

"How many wings?" Charlotte asked again.

"My extraordinary aptitude is relatively poor. I have only practiced the Candy Faction, and I have only entered one wing so far." Speaking of this, Sister Vanessa covered her mouth and chuckled. Although her aptitude was not good, she did not feel embarrassed. Anyway, the noble ladies and ladies who practiced the extraordinary faction basically did so just for fun, to maintain their looks and to use it as a topic of conversation at tea parties. She thought that Miss Charlotte, who was born in a noble family, had the same idea.

"Yiyi..." Charlotte nodded. The pearl flower on her chest told her that Vanessa had no doubts or vigilance and was in a relaxed mood, so she was probably not lying.

When Charlotte raised her head again, her eyes had turned dark red, and she stared straight into Sister Vanessa's eyes.

Sister Vanessa looked at the dark red eyes. At first she was just wondering why Charlotte was staring at her like that. Then a feeling of dizziness came over her, and Vanessa felt her mind suddenly turned upside down, as if something was pouring in forcefully.

Before Vanessa could figure out what was going on, it was all over.

"Owner……"

Sister Vanessa knelt down in front of Charlotte, her eyes still a little confused and at a loss.

Charlotte let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead, feeling a little exhausted.

Just now, Charlotte used "Bewitching Mind" to sneak attack the unsuspecting Sister Vanessa, and forcibly changed the object of Sister Vanessa's faith from Ig to herself. There is undoubtedly a certain risk in doing this. The ability of "Bewitching Mind" has been greatly improved recently. Charlotte tested it on Sophia several times and confirmed that this ability can forcibly distort the thinking of a one-winged warlock, but the problem is that the little slave girl Sophia is very obedient to Charlotte. Charlotte cannot guarantee how good the distortion will be on other one-winged warlocks.

Fortunately, Charlotte had the help of the Miracle Pearl Flower. She could accurately grasp the opportunity when Sister Vanessa was not prepared and minimize the resistance brought by mental resistance. Now it seems that she has indeed successfully controlled Sister Vanessa.

"Get up and sit back in your chair," Charlotte said, pointing to the armchair Vanessa had just been sitting on.

"Yes." Vanessa responded, then sat back in her seat tremblingly, but her body was still tense, completely different from the relaxed posture she had before.

Charlotte frowned slightly when she saw this, feeling that she had done it a little "roughly" this time. If there were outsiders present, they would definitely be able to see at a glance that there was something wrong with Vanessa's condition.

Well, I really need more practice...

Charlotte thought to herself, then asked, "Do you know the Kingdom of God on Earth?"

"Yes," Vanessa nodded and said, "It is recorded in the Canon that it is the kingdom of the Seven Sages, a kingdom blessed by God."

"Do you know that there are people in the church who want to establish the kingdom of God on earth?" Charlotte asked again.

"This..." Vanessa's eyes were filled with confusion. "Many people in the church want to establish the Kingdom of God on earth..."

This answer was somewhat unexpected to Charlotte: "Huh? Why do you say that?"

"Some priests believe that the Kingdom of God on earth is a symbol of piety and beauty. When people are pious, God gives them beauty. This is the most ideal state for God and humans to get along with each other." Vanessa frowned and said, "But this is definitely wrong. How can devout faith be used as a bargaining chip?"

Charlotte suddenly realized that this idea was indeed in line with the thinking of the corrupt priests in the church today, but Vanessa's answer was not what Charlotte wanted. She pondered for a while and asked, "Have you heard Sister Banasa mention recently who wants to establish the kingdom of God on earth?"

Vanessa frowned and recalled for a long time, then suddenly raised a finger and said, "Master Charles Royce! Sister Banasa once said, 'Charles has gone crazy, and all he thinks about all day is the kingdom of God on earth.'"

"Charles Royce? Who is that? Is he famous?" Charlotte asked puzzledly.

"He is quite famous in the church and among monks, but not so famous in the secular world," Vanessa explained to Charlotte. "Brother Royce was once the favorite student of the previous pope. When the previous pope passed away, he was a strong contender for the new pope, but he gave up the race. In fact, after Charles Royce gave up the race for the pope, he was still qualified to serve as the regional archbishop of a region, but Charles Royce gave up all of these, withdrew from the church directly, and became an ascetic monk."

"Oh? Then since Charles Royce has gone to practice asceticism, why does he want to establish the kingdom of God on earth?" Charlotte was a little confused. He didn't sound like the corrupt priest she had imagined.

"I'm not sure about that," Vanessa shook her head. "I heard that Brother Royce is a follower of Pope Saint Roman. I guess he was influenced by Saint Roman."

Saint Roman is the pope who invented the holy anointing oil.

However, Charlotte was even more confused after hearing this: "What does Saint Roman have to do with the Kingdom of God on Earth?"

"Saint Roman once visited the earthly kingdom of the Seven Sages in a dream."

Sister Vanessa said with a wink.

The legend of St. Roman's dream tour of the kingdom of God on earth was widely circulated. Everyone in the church thought it was a good story. St. Roman had personally witnessed God's gift to the devout, so the missionaries of the church often liked to tell this story to the believers during worship. If Charlotte had gone to church and listened to a sermon carefully, she would know this story.

"Is that even possible?" Charlotte murmured to herself, not at all ashamed of her ignorance.

After asking these questions, Charlotte did not let Sister Vanessa leave immediately, but kept her in Viscount Lanwan's residence for three days. During these three days, Charlotte had to cast "Confusion" on Sister Vanessa once a day to consolidate the distortion effect.

At the same time, during the next three days of contact, Charlotte also learned some gossip from Sister Vanessa. For example, Sister Banasa was not the old maid that the outside world thought she was. She had several lovers and a son, who now had a grandson. Another example was Princess Cassandra, the daughter of the late Emperor Leopold Hollowen, who actually had a lover who was several years younger than her husband, Duke Madachi Tone of Panma, and that lover was Arthur Lexman, the son of the Marquis of Blackstone Castle next door. Another example was Princess Martina Tenhag, who was about to join the Priory of the Rose. Rather than becoming a nun to practice Buddhism, she was more of a hostage that the Kingdom of Lesare regularly handed over to the church...

It is hard to say whether these gossips are of any use to Charlotte at the moment. She can only listen to them as entertainment news. Even though Arthur Leckman almost became her fiancé, Charlotte was not moved at all when she heard such news.

It wasn't until Vanessa uttered another word that Charlotte suddenly woke up.

"After Charles Royce left the church, he founded a monastery and served as a mentor and pastor. The monastery was not very famous and was called the Silver Star Monastery."

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PS2: Thank you for your correction on the monocotyledonous leaf. The previous error has been corrected.

Volume 151: Chapter 138 Chapter Austerity

Viscount Lanwan’s territory, Yushu Town.

Apo sat on the second floor of the tavern, slowly drinking his wine while watching the crowd gathered in front of the shop opposite.

In fact, the signboard of this tavern is called "Elm Tree Teahouse", which belongs to Viscount Lanwan. It sells tea, wine, and various meals. In Apo's opinion, isn't this just a tavern? Why is it given such a strange name as "Teahouse"?

If there is any difference between this teahouse and a tavern, it is probably that there are performances here. There is a simple stage in this teahouse, and there are two performances every morning and afternoon. Sometimes it is a comedy performance, sometimes it is a singing of a bard, and sometimes it is a clown's comedy...

These performances are actually very simple, and their main purpose is to make the diners laugh. They are not comparable to those in regular theaters. However, after watching them for a few days, Apo felt that most of the performances were quite interesting, especially the recently popular comedy "The Merchant of Ambratu".

The general plot of "The Merchant of Ambrato" is: A generous and kind merchant borrowed 3,000 dirhams from a mean and cunning moneylender, and ended up falling into a loan shark trap. The kind merchant failed to repay the debt in time because of a merchant shipwreck, and the mean and cunning moneylender demanded a piece of meat from the merchant as compensation...

Well, after this introduction, anyone who has a little knowledge of Shakespeare's works should have a sense of déjà vu.

That's right, The Merchant of Ambrato is a comedy that Charlotte plagiarized from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. The main plot of the play has not changed much, the heroine's wonderful defense in court has also been completely preserved, and the final ending is also a happy ending, the villain was punished, and the hero and heroine finally got married.

However, Charlotte replaced the Jewish loan shark with a citizen of Ambratu, and the protagonist who was trapped in the loan shark trap was set as a free merchant of Ambratu, and the duke who served as a judge, upheld justice and severely punished the villain was replaced by Charlotte herself.

The story of "The Merchant of Ambratu" begins in the city-state era. The hero encounters a shipwreck and is forced to death by citizens who are forced to lend money at high interest rates. When his life is almost in danger, Viscount Lanwan happens to capture Ambratu without bloodshed. Then, the hero and heroine take the case to Viscount Lanwan, who is fair and strict. After the heroine's wonderful defense - the citizens who lend money at high interest rates can take a piece of the hero's flesh, but not a drop of blood - Viscount Lanwan denounces the villain's insidiousness and cunningness, and judges the hero and heroine to win the case.

Whenever Viscount Lanwan made a judgment in the drama, cheers would be heard in the teahouse.

Although Apo could see that "The Merchants of Ambratu" had the suspicion of discrediting the former citizens of the Ambratu city-state, he had to admit that the drama was indeed good to watch.

Nowadays, dramas in the world are either "aristocratic dramas" performed in theaters with long passages of chants and poetry, or "church dramas" performed in religious occasions to praise God's greatness and mercy. There are very few dramas like "The Merchant of Ambrato" that have down-to-earth story themes, twists and turns in the plot, simple and popular lines, and can be understood by peddlers and hawkers, and they can watch them with relish.

A-po has watched it three times, but still hasn't gotten tired of it. He had planned to watch it again today, but when he arrived at the teahouse, he discovered there was no comedy today, only a singing performance by a bard.

The bard also performed a new piece, singing about the heroic performance of Lanwan Knight Celine Adkins in the Battle of Dorucocha.

Apo was totally uninterested in this. The Lanwan Army did fight beautifully in the Battle of Dorukocha, but in Apo's opinion, the highlight of the battle lay in the chess player's continuous ambushes, rather than the brilliant performance of a single chess piece.

"Tsk, what a boast, he can beat ten people alone. I would like to compete with that Knight Celine if I have a chance." Sandro, who was sitting opposite Apo, drinking wine and listening to songs, could not help but say.

After Apo was removed from his position as elder, he left Little Sassini. Apart from a few old servants, the only people who left with him were two of his old subordinates, Sandro and Dean, who had followed him since the days of the Red Armor Mercenaries.

Apo's wife died a long time ago. He has a daughter, but when Apo was expelled from Little Sassini for the first time, his daughter publicly severed the father-daughter relationship with him. Last year, after Apo defeated the Ambratu militia and was elected as the elder of Little Sassini, his daughter took the initiative to find her father and wanted to restore the relationship with him. But Apo rejected his daughter.

Apo did not harbor any resentment towards his daughter, but he knew very well that with his own style of doing things, he would not be able to stay in the Elders' Council for long. Rather than causing trouble in the future and implicating his daughter, it would be better to keep a distance.

"Didn't you hear? That girl named Celine Adkins is only a teenager. How old are you? How can you have the nerve to challenge a little kid and bully the weak?" Apo said with a smile, putting down his wine glass.

"Captain, you don't have to worry about Sandro bullying the weak. What you should worry about is Sandro's old arms and legs. What if he challenges the girl to a duel and loses? What should we do to rescue him and pretend we don't know him at the same time?" Dean, who was sitting at the same table, also laughed and made fun of his old comrade.

"Dean, you actually said I'm old. I'm obviously younger than you!" Sandro blushed and said angrily.

At this time, the waiter of the teahouse brought up the appetizers ordered by the table, said: "Please enjoy your meal," and went downstairs.

"Please wait a moment," Apo quickly stopped the clerk, pointed at the crowd across the street, and asked, "There are so many people gathered at the exchange office today. Could it be that the exchange rate of the dirham has risen again?"

After Apo arrived at the Viscount of Lanwan, the first thing he had to do was naturally to exchange Dir for Fuso. After all, only Fuso was allowed to be traded here. So he came into contact with the gold exchange and learned the concept of "exchange rate".