Rose Empire

These seven people are the administrative core of the entire empire. It is obvious at a glance that except for one priest, they are all nobles.

Sometimes, the emperor would summon all the nobles in the country to Platinum City to discuss important matters. This gathering was called the Imperial Conference.

Through the Imperial Conference and the Imperial Conference, the emperor and the nobles directly dominated the direction of the entire country. The three provinces and six ministries, the six departments and the thirteen departments did not exist at all. Perhaps the nobles would bring two scribes with them when they attended the meeting, but their role was only to record, which was completely different from the civil servants.

Perhaps for the Orlan Empire, the civil service system is completely unnecessary, because in their minds, the lands granted are equivalent to lower-level administrative units, and the lower-level nobles are equivalent to lower-level administrative chiefs. They don't care how many people or industries the lower-level nobles have in their territories. They just need the lower-level nobles to pay enough taxes regularly and to send people to help fight in wars.

However, Charlotte did not like this loose feudal system. She did not want to be confused and not know how many people she could control, nor did she want to have overly powerful vassals such as "two kings, two dukes and one marquis" in her territory who could disobey her at will. Therefore, Charlotte planned to implement a more advanced administrative system that could more effectively govern the territory.

But before that, Charlotte needed to find a group of civil servants who could carry out her wishes.

In fact, Charlotte has already collected a group of talents over the years. She brought them to the Viscount of Lanwan in the name of scribes, but those who are qualified, have the opportunity and time to study are basically nobles these days. Charlotte does not want to recruit nobles, and the children of nobles probably do not want to follow Charlotte to a broken place like Lanwan.

The talents among the common people are really a bit shabby. If they can recognize a few words, they can be copyists. If they know some rhetoric, they can be literary giants.

There are so few commoner girls like Cecilia who are so knowledgeable and talented that they can't be described as rare. I'm afraid there is only one such girl in the world.

Although Cecilia was relieved that Charlotte could still accept her, she tensed up nervously again when Charlotte suddenly hugged her.

Cecilia was tall, and when Charlotte stood in front of her, she could just lower her head and bury her face in Cecilia's chest.

Charlotte lowered her head and sniffed, then said, "It smells a bit, you didn't take a shower."

"I followed the convoy all the way, so I didn't have the chance to take a shower," Cecilia defended.

Charlotte licked a strand of hair from Cecilia's earlobe into her mouth and asked softly, "Shall we go wash together?"

Cecilia was silent for a while before she said, "You said you admired my talent..."

There was anger and shame in his tone.

"Of course I admire your talent, but that doesn't prevent me from liking your beauty, right?"

Charlotte answered matter-of-factly.

Cecilia finally couldn't help it: "You are a pervert, Charlotte!"

Charlotte never took abuse seriously, especially when it came from a beautiful girl. Perhaps because of the intimate contact that night in Platinum City, although Cecilia was still somewhat resistant this time, Charlotte persuaded her and finally achieved her goal of taking a bath together.

The bath lasted two hours, and the water flowed from the bathroom all the way down the stairs.

After taking a bath, Cecilia lay down directly on the big bed in the guest room prepared by the servants. The fatigue accumulated from days of traveling surged into her heart. At this time, someone wrapped in a bathrobe slipped into the guest room quietly.

"Stop making trouble and let me sleep for a while. I'm almost exhausted." Cecilia closed her eyes and said tiredly.

"I want to sleep too." Charlotte climbed onto the bed relentlessly.

"Really..." Cecilia chuckled helplessly and complained:

"When you confided your heart to me under the banyan tree, I really thought you were a good person."

When Charlotte first entered the Giant Banyan Academy, she had pursued Cecilia passionately. At that time, she wanted to trick Cecilia into taking a free senior worker and a bed warmer home, but she failed.

"I said so many sweet words to you, and you still rejected me. I wanted to knock you out and tie you up." Charlotte said as she lay on top of Cecilia, fiddling with her blonde hair with her fingers.

"How dare you do this in Giant Banyan Academy?" Cecilia didn't believe it.

Charlotte hesitated slightly. She really didn't dare to do that. The main reason was that the master of the academy, Simon Capriati, was too famous. Even a fool like Henry Holloway had to respect Simon Capriati in public. As a nominal student of Simon Capriati, Charlotte couldn't be worse than a fool.

However, Charlotte then asked with a smile: "I'm curious, didn't the teacher say anything when you left Platinum City this time?"

Cecilia did not answer immediately. She seemed to be thinking about something. After a long time, she finally revealed a big secret to Charlotte.

"In fact, it was the teacher who persuaded me to leave Platinum City this time." Cecilia said, "Not long after you left Platinum City, the teacher went to the palace to teach the emperor about the history of the continent as usual. As a result, he was locked up in the palace that night and was not released until two days later. After being released, the teacher quietly told me that the emperor suddenly fainted during class and woke up after two days of treatment. However, the teacher guessed that it was not the court physician who woke up the emperor, but the June Metamorphosis of the church."

After listening to this, Charlotte immediately sat up from Cecilia with a serious expression.

The Shedding of June is a miracle item owned by the church, and has long been kept in the Cathedral of Radiance in Platinum City. It is said that it was created artificially through a ritual using the remains of a devout God-favored Warlock. The effect of the miracle is to extend the life of a dying person for about six months, but the side effects are also great. People who use the Shedding of June will inevitably weaken day by day until they die, and there is almost no possibility of treatment.

Simon Capriati is well-informed and his judgment is highly credible.

That is to say, Emperor Leopold would die in six months.

Although she was mentally prepared for Emperor Leopold's illness, Charlotte based her estimate on the past two or three years. After all, rumors of the emperor's death had been circulated in Platinum City so many times, and yet the emperor remained alive and well.

Now the two or three years have suddenly been shortened to six months, which caught Charlotte off guard.

The situation may even be worse. Man-made miracles have a common disadvantage, which is that as the number of uses increases, the effect of the miracle will continue to wear out until it disappears completely.

In this world, the existence of God's Favored Warlocks is similar to the ancient dragons in myths and legends. Everyone knows their legends, but if you ask anyone about it, they will shake their heads and say they have never seen it with their own eyes. In view of this, the church probably has no chance of finding another God's Favored Warlock to create a second June Metamorphosis.

The June Sheath that the church had previously kept had long been recorded in historical documents. More than two hundred years ago, the previous Pope used the June Sheath once in order to prolong his life and choose a successor.

Once the June Metamorphosis has been used, its life-extending effect will inevitably be discounted. Whether it is 10% or 10% off, outsiders have no way of knowing.

But all in all, it was highly likely that Emperor Leopold would not live more than six months.

"Thank you, Cecilia, for bringing me such important news," Charlotte said sincerely.

In order to avoid shocking the empire, the emperor used the Six-Moon Shedding. The court officials with a little bit of sense would definitely ask to block the news. Cecilia is just a civilian girl. If she is caught in the dangerous vortex that is about to surge in Platinum City, she will definitely not have a chance to breathe for a moment. It is conceivable that Simon Capriati must have been unwilling to see his students die without a burial place, so he leaked a little bit of armor to Cecilia.

"I should have kept it a secret for the teacher." Cecilia sighed sadly.

Given Cecilia's love for Simon Capriati, Charlotte knew how much of a struggle she would have in making this choice.

So, Charlotte raised her hand and comforted her: "Don't worry, I swear I will never reveal this secret to anyone."

Cecilia rolled her eyes. "The oath of a cunning man is worthless like papyrus."

PS: This chapter has been revised to an all-age version. The original version can be read in the book club. @q@q@群一⑥8②伊7妻一⑥

Volume 28: Chapter 25 Chapter Awakening Ceremony

The sun is setting in the west, and the brilliant sunset glow heralds a sunny night.

Cecilia, who had been traveling for more than ten days, was still sleeping, but Charlotte did not linger in her boudoir. She followed a small convoy of two carriages and came to a cliff on the coast of Lan Bay.

"How did the inspection go?" Charlotte asked.

Lilith, who was not even as tall as the wheels, asked four servants to take down boxes of various sizes from the carriage, saying, "We have checked everything. The extraordinary materials are well prepared and of high quality. The blood is still fresh, and those merchants selling bottles did not cheat you. But do you choose tonight?"

Just now, Charlotte suddenly told Lilith, who was having dinner with her, that she would perform a spiritual awakening ceremony tonight, catching Lilith off guard. Then, without waiting for Lilith to respond, they came to this cape.

"Are you sure tonight is the best time?" Charlotte asked.

"Of course," Lilith said confidently, "I have calculated it more than a dozen times with reference to the Complete Works of Continental Etiquette. Tonight is a very suitable time for the awakening ceremony, unless there is something wrong with the book."

Charlotte nodded in trust.

There should be nothing wrong with the book.

The Complete Works of Continental Etiquette is a large book on supernatural etiquette compiled by the official Orlan Empire. It contains more than 7,000 kinds of perfect etiquette popular on the Eagle Continent, supernatural materials used in more than 200,000 kinds of etiquette, and various theories about etiquette, including how to choose the appropriate time to hold various ceremonies.

This book has been popular in the Oran Empire for three or four hundred years and has trained millions of extraordinary people for the Oran Empire. If there were any errors in the methods recorded in it, they should have been discovered long ago.

"However, according to my calculations, there are two days next month that are very suitable for holding the Spiritual Awakening Ceremony. You can wait a little longer. There is no need to rush."

Lilith found it strange that Charlotte was suddenly so nervous.

"I have a feeling that something big will happen in the Oran Empire soon, and we don't have much time left." Charlotte said with a smile.

Lilith rolled her eyes at the guy and said, "If you don't want to talk about it, forget it. Let's get started."

The wooden boxes were opened one by one, and the contents were revealed. Some boxes contained some precious extraordinary materials, while others contained some small bottles as thick as fingers. Originally, these small bottles were toys in the hands of noble ladies, and they could preserve the precious perfumes almost forever without deteriorating, but now they probably didn't contain perfumes.

Charlotte took out the parchment that was copied from the obelisk in the Lujan ruins.

Lilith took the parchment and took a deep breath, her nervousness evident in her words: "I will ask you one last time. Since you were born, you have never called out His name once, right? This question may determine your life or death."

He, there is only one He in this world, and that is the God Lord Yig.

Twelve years ago, in an abandoned church in the Green Plains, a four-year-old girl stepped on the head of the collapsed Ig statue to pick half-ripe fruits from the tree. An adventurer who happened to pass by saw this scene and said casually: "If you don't want to be thrown into hell by this mean ghost and tortured for a thousand years after you die, then don't call his name from now on. Of course, it may be too late to tell you this."

The girl who stepped on Iger's head was Charlotte Melfield, and the adventurer was Lilith.

Blasphemers will be thrown into hell and roasted for a thousand years after death. This is a short story written in the Canon. In this story, a poor child often steals lamp oil from a church, and eventually after his death he is thrown into hell and roasted like a suckling pig for a thousand years. Although this is a parable to persuade people not to steal, considering that the church's property nominally belongs to the god Ige, Ige's severe punishment here does look as harsh as Grandet.

From Lilith, Charlotte learned some secrets she had never heard of before.

The Vatican's claim that the souls of those who believe in Yig will return to the kingdom of God after death is not entirely fabricated. Many necromancers have studied this and have long discovered that soon after a person dies, the soul of the deceased will be drawn away by a certain force, and the source of that force is Yig.

However, the Vatican is also lying.

The souls of many beings who do not believe in Yig will also return to Yig after death, such as the tribesmen of mixed races in the Campe Mountains. Many backward tribes have a vague understanding of the world, and their culture is still in the stage of primitive worship. They believe in mountains, rivers, plants, animals, and even their own (harmonious) reproductive organs, and have no idea who Yig is.

In order to show their disdain for outsiders, they would even curse at the soldiers of the Orlan Empire who believed in Yig: "I want to fuck Yig's asshole!"

However, even such people will be taken away by Yig's power after death.

Obviously, the theory preached by the church does not make sense here.

During one of her adventures, Lilith obtained a copy of a manuscript written by an archbishop who had died hundreds of years ago - the original manuscript was probably kept in the holy city of Moyes - and a sentence in the manuscript solved the mystery for Lilith.

“All who call upon His name are His Lamb and will eventually belong to His Kingdom.”

The archbishop wrote in his notes.

In other words, there is no need to believe in Yig at all. Anyone who has called out Yig's name will be branded with Yig's mark, and their soul will belong to Yig after death.

Even if you're yelling "I want to fuck Ig's ass."

This statement obviously contradicts the canon compiled by the church, but it is more in line with the actual situation.

Charlotte also chose to believe what was said in the manuscript, so she never said the word "Ig" again since she was four years old - not because she was afraid of the torture after death, but just to prevent herself from wearing an invisible shackle.

However, Charlotte still glanced at Renee.

Renee understood what was going on and shook her head, indicating that she had indeed never heard Charlotte mention the name of God.

"I have never called His name." Charlotte said. As for before the age of four, even if Charlotte had a good memory, she could not remember whether she had said the word "Yig". She did not believe in Yig and rarely mentioned the Lord God, but maybe she had read out Yig's name when she was learning to speak with adults, or maybe not.

Who knows?

I have done my best, so I will leave some suspense to fate.

Lilith nodded, and without hesitation, she referred to the contents on the parchment and directed the four servants to begin drawing strange and ancient patterns on the ground.

The meaning of these patterns has long been unknown. Charlotte could only barely make out some ferocious beasts and some winged humanoid creatures.

Those humanoid creatures were quite similar to the angels that the priests talked about. The reason why Charlotte couldn't directly call them angels was that these humanoid creatures were tall and strong, with tiger-like bodies and strong waists, and even their every move revealed their ferocity and cruelty, which was far from the beautiful, elegant and graceful image of angels in today's religious paintings.

What made Charlotte more curious than those things were the ferocious beasts. Those ferocious beasts looked more cruel and brutal than the humanoid creatures. They fought with the humanoid creatures fearlessly, tearing off the humanoid creatures' limbs, biting their heads, and eating them.

If those majestic humanoid creatures were the angels that ancient peoples knew, then what were these hideous beasts? Demons?

Without more research data, Charlotte could only guess.

Moreover, although there are terms such as "devil" and "devil" in this world, they are almost all myths and legends, and no one has ever seen a real, living devil.

As for angels, the current Pope Hurrin II claimed that he had seen an angel, who descended on St. Moyes Cathedral, but Charlotte suspected that it was a marketing trick used by the Pope to sell his angel feathers.

The four servants could only provide some help in the rough details. When it came to drawing the pattern in detail, Lilith had to do it herself, picking up the soft squirrel hair brush and outlining it bit by bit.

These patterns have a special term in the "Complete Collection of Continental Rituals", called "Yalanben", which is also the ancient Wimbledon language, meaning "complex symbols and patterns arranged according to specific rules."

Arran is the cornerstone of human mastery of rituals. The more complex the Arran is, the higher the requirements for precision and the higher the test for the painter. Lilith is an experienced archaeologist - although she calls herself an adventurer - she can easily perform various common or unconventional rituals, but as she was painting, beads of sweat oozed from her forehead, and it was obvious that her physical strength and energy were rapidly depleted.

It was not until the sky was completely dark and only the moon emitting soft light remained in the sky that Lilith finally finished drawing all the patterns.

Lilith looked at the ten-square-meter Yalan book in front of her, clapped her hands, and wiped the sweat running down her cheeks. The Yalan books needed for the spiritual awakening rituals of common supernatural factions were only about one to two square meters. Some people with limited financial resources might even reduce the Yalan books further in order to save materials. In comparison, the Yalan book in front of her was ridiculously large.

"Okay, go in." Lilith waved her hand.

"Charlotte..." Renee whispered nervously.

"Don't worry, I've always had good luck." Charlotte smiled brightly at Renee, then walked to the center of Yalanben.

"Should I stand or sit?" Charlotte looked around and asked Lilith.

"You can even squat." Lilith replied casually.

"Then I'll just stand."

Charlotte said as she glanced at the delicate painting at her feet.

The servants all walked away, and Renee stood on a rock, cautious and alert.

Lilith pinched out two small bottles from the box and said, "Let's begin."

"Ah."

"I'll read a sentence and you repeat it."

"Okay." Charlotte nodded.

Lilith took out the bottle cap and began to chant. Charlotte followed Lilith and repeated what she chanted.