Rose Empire

"Forget about the lack of a last name," Charlotte waved her hand casually.

In this world, surnames are still considered a kind of honor and a family heritage. How can those untouchables who can't even remember their grandfather's name have the right to have a surname? This is not a unique idea of ​​the nobles, but a common understanding of the whole society. Even the slaves themselves feel that they are not qualified and do not need to have a surname.

In this case, Charlotte did not plan to issue an "Order to Use Surnames for Common People" to require common people and slaves to have a bunch of strange surnames like Shanxia, ​​Shanshang, Anus, and Nose Hair.

"Second, how should the property be counted? Most people probably wouldn't be willing to report their property truthfully, right?" Cecilia asked again.

After thinking for a moment, Charlotte said, "There is no need to count the property of slaves. Knights and civilians only need to count the number of doors and windows in their homes. Oh, southern knights, wait until they have built their new houses, then you can take people to count the number of doors and windows in their homes."

This is indeed a simple and efficient way to measure the amount of wealth, Cecilia's eyes flickered.

"Any questions?" Charlotte asked.

"And one last thing," Cecilia pointed at the last line of the parchment with a pen in her hand, "I am just an ordinary person. Can you help me judge whether a child has the qualifications to become a warlock?"

Charlotte smiled and said, "I don't have it, but someone might have it. Aren't we here to visit him now?"

Soon after Charlotte finished speaking, the carriage stopped in front of a church which was quite large but looked dilapidated.

“I thought we were just here to pray to God,” Cecilia said.

"Prayer is also one of the purposes." Charlotte said as she looked at the vegetable garden next to the church door and the chickens and ducks that were still digging for food in the vegetable garden, with a strange expression on her face.

Because of the red moon last night, there were a little more people coming to the church to pray today. But soon after Charlotte, Cecilia, and Renee got off the carriage, the chief priest, Fado, wearing a half-worn priest robe, hurried out to greet them.

"I didn't expect the Viscount to come in person. The church is a little chaotic. I'm really sorry." Fado wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I'll have people drive all these civilians and slaves away right away."

"No need," Charlotte stopped Fado's plan and smiled, "Mr. Fado must have known that I had just arrived in Lanwan when I encountered the red moon last night. I felt uneasy and worried that there were evil spirits at work, so I came here to pray to the Lord. These people probably have the same concerns as me, and as a lord, I should not hinder their devout worship of my Lord. Mr. Fado just needs to prepare a small prayer room for me."

"Your Excellency the Viscount is truly a kind lord. No problem, please follow me." Fado praised and hurriedly led Charlotte to the depths of the church.

When passing by the chapel, Charlotte saw a familiar figure - Beatrice Duran, the wife of Marion Duran, who was forcibly brought to the Viscount of Lanwan by Charlotte.

Charlotte stopped and pointed at Beatrice Duran, who was praying with her eyes closed in the crowd, and asked, "Do you remember her?"

"Oh, that seems to be the wife of a knight." Fado did have some impression of Beatrice, "She is very devout to the Lord and often comes to worship."

"Come here often?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Yes, she comes almost every one or two days. Do you need to call her to talk to you?" asked Fado.

"No," Charlotte shook her head, "Let's go."

Fado led Charlotte forward and finally arrived at the only independent prayer room deep in the church.

Charlotte looked at the dust on the bench in the prayer room, on the statue of Ig, and on the prayer book, and then looked at Fado.

Fado blushed immediately, and quickly called a priest apprentice over, scolding him and asking him to wipe off the dust.

After the priest apprentice wiped the dust off the stool, Charlotte said, "Okay, let's leave it at that. As long as your heart is pious, the Lord God will not care about these insignificant dust."

"Yes, yes," said the apprentice priest, "you can pray without the idols."

Cecilia and Renee were speechless. What kind of people are in this church?

Charlotte looked at the burly pastor apprentice who looked more like a peasant than a priest, and she could understand the situation. She had heard that because of corruption in the church, the church often withheld funds, and some churches in poor areas laid off staff, ate empty salaries, and then recruited pastor apprentices who did not understand church scriptures or even could not read at all to solve the problem of insufficient manpower.

Along the way, Charlotte didn't see any other official priest in a priest's robe. The people who led the civilians and slaves in prayer were all priest apprentices. It seemed that Fado was just getting paid for nothing.

However, even with the empty salary, Fado still seems to have to make a living by raising chickens and growing vegetables.

Fado drove the priest's apprentice away, then quickly took out the Holy Scriptures and began to pray to avoid making any more jokes.

Fado's prayer was of low standard. He just recited two passages from the Bible. He himself didn't even know what the red moon was about last night, so how could he help Charlotte solve her puzzlement?

After reading it, Fado said a lot of good things, such as my Lord Yige is kind, the Viscount is wise, and Lanwan will surely prosper.

After praying, Charlotte said she felt much more at ease.

Fado finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that he would embarrass himself in front of Charlotte. The young lady opposite him was from Platinum City. She might often go to respectable places like the Glowing Cathedral and must have heard many sermons that were better than his own.

"There is one more thing I would like to trouble the Chief Pastor with," Charlotte said again.

"It's my honor to serve you," Fado said quickly.

“I’ve always heard that the Church has the best method for testing extraordinary qualifications,” Charlotte said.

"Yes," Fado nodded, "We have a kind of oil. Just apply it on the forehead and observe the color change to judge the quality of the talent. The accuracy rate is about 60% to 70%. "

Sixty to seventy percent, Charlotte understood it as sixty-five percent.

The 65% accuracy rate may seem unreliable, but the gemstone detection method used by the Orlan Empire and the sacred tree detection method used by the neighboring Lesare Kingdom are generally recognized to have an accuracy rate of only about 60%. The church's 65% accuracy rate is enough to stand out from the crowd, all thanks to its peers.

"I would like to purchase the formula for this oil. Could you please provide me with some convenience, Chief Pastor?"

Although there was no one else in the prayer room, Charlotte lowered her voice.

"This..." Fado was a little embarrassed. "If you need oil, I can mix some for you, but the church does not allow the sale of this formula."

"I can offer five hundred fusos." Charlotte made the offer directly.

“Five hundred…” Fado swallowed, but still shook his head reluctantly, “It’s really forbidden.”

Charlotte smiled and said, "Mr. Fado, I originally wanted to buy it from Archbishop Contao, but the journey is long and the messenger takes too much time to go back and forth, so I came to you. If you are willing, I can pay one thousand francs."

Can Charlotte buy the formula from Kong Tao? Definitely not. The formula is a secret of the church, and ordinary priests cannot access it. Charlotte has tried many ways to buy the formula in Platinum City but failed, and it is even more impossible to get it from Kong Tao.

So Charlotte came to find Fado.

Fado's title was the chief pastor of the region, and his rank in the church system was not low, but his jurisdiction was too poor. However, Charlotte was not sure, after all, he was too poor to be seen as hiding treasures.

So, when Charlotte heard that Fado could indeed mix that kind of oil, she was actually quite excited.

Hearing Kong Tao's name, Fado's heart was relieved. He remembered the tattered "Church Scripture" in Charlotte's hand.

Yes, the Viscount is a friend of Archbishop Contao!

Friend of Archbishop Contao!

It shouldn't be considered a mistake for me to sell the secret to Archbishop Contao's friend, right?

Fado gradually convinced himself: "This, this secret recipe of the church cannot be sold to outsiders at will..."

"Mr. Fado really can't help me?" Charlotte sounded lost, as if she wanted to give up.

"No, no, you are a friend of Archbishop Contao, how can you be considered an outsider?" Fado waved his hands hastily, "I mean... Is this price acceptable?"

Charlotte laughed. "I'll give another five hundred francs, fifteen hundred!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord Viscount!" Fado rubbed his hands excitedly, "I'll go get the recipe right away."

Fado ran out in a hurry, leaving the three guests in this dusty room. After a while, he ran back and handed a piece of parchment to Charlotte.

The ink on the parchment was not dry yet, it must be a copy of the recipe that had just been written down.

Charlotte looked at the formula for a while and gradually frowned: "Why... why does this formula look like... holy anointing oil?"

Every spring, the church holds an anointing ceremony, calling on all believers to go to church and have the pastor apply a kind of ointment on their foreheads to symbolize God's blessing. This ointment is the holy anointing oil.

Fado gave Charlotte a thumbs up and said, "Your Excellency is truly knowledgeable. This is indeed the original version of the holy anointing oil invented by Saint Roman inspired by our Lord Iger."

Roman is a very famous Pope in the history of the church. He is hailed as a saint, so when believers mention him, they always respectfully call him "Saint Roman". It is said that he invented the holy anointing oil and devoted his life to promoting the anointing ceremony throughout the world, so that people, regardless of their status or wealth, can be bathed in God's grace.

"But," said Charlotte, in wonder, "I have been to anointings, and I have never seen the color of the holy oil change on anyone's head."

Speaking of this, Fado was a little embarrassed again. He explained hesitantly: "This... the holy anointing oil requires whale oil and some extraordinary materials, which is relatively expensive. Nowadays, all churches only use holy anointing oil made from lard in the anointing ceremony, which is cheaper. If you want to test your extraordinary qualifications, believers need to make additional offerings to the Lord..."

Charlotte couldn't help but look a little strange.

They say it is an offering to the gods, but in fact it is just giving extra money to the priests.

After learning the truth about the holy anointing oil and the anointing ceremony, Charlotte couldn't help but feel that Saint Roman was actually an ambitious Pope. With the holy anointing oil, as long as the anointing ceremony was spread throughout the world, the church would have the opportunity to discover a large number of extraordinary talents from all corners of the world and further strengthen the church.

Unfortunately, Roman died young, and after his death, the holy anointing oil he invented became a means for the church to make huge profits.

When St. Roman was alive, he insisted that all people could be anointed, regardless of their status.

After St. Roman's death, the church still claimed that everyone could be anointed, but believers needed to pay a little anointing money before the anointing ceremony to show their piety to God.

After paying the anointing fee, believers still use inferior lard to smear themselves.

The real holy anointing oil has long had nothing to do with the anointing ceremony. The church has also opened up a business to test the qualifications of believers, which requires an additional fee.

Of course, Charlotte didn't have the extra energy to sympathize with Saint Roman's death. She put away the parchment and motioned to Renee to take the money.

Renee quickly brought an exquisite little wooden box from the carriage.

Fado took the wooden box and felt its heavy weight, his hands shaking.

Charlotte looked at the excited Fado, then glanced at the dusty statue of Ig, and couldn't help but think of Lilith's ridicule this morning: "If God really cares about this world, why doesn't He strangle those guys in the church first?"

PS: I’m sorry for the late update. I was not satisfied with the original content, so I deleted it and rewrote it. Although the update is late, the number of words is still not small.

PS2: Thank you for the reward from "Dazzling DNA", and thank you for your monthly recommendation votes.

Volume 30: Chapter 27 Chapter It! Exists!

On the second day after returning from the church, Cecilia spent a day and a night to produce a fairly good population registration form according to Charlotte's requirements. Charlotte assigned all the twelve scribes she brought from the Green Plains Principality to Cecilia, and asked her to lead these people to complete the first census.

These twelve scribes were all the civil servants that Charlotte had gathered over the years who were willing to follow her to Lanwan. It was not easy to recruit people who were literate and understood basic management these days. Half of the people who had the conditions to receive education were nobles, and most of them were from the church. The rest were civilians.

In order to ensure that these precious civil servants would not be trampled to death by bandits and bullies in remote areas when they went to the countryside to conduct the census, Charlotte allocated two knights and twenty squires to assist the census team.

"Send these letters to the Earldom of Quakerforest."

Charlotte handed Jack Moore three letters sealed with wax and stamped with the Melefield family coat of arms.

The first of these three letters was to Monica Melfeld. In the letter, Charlotte chatted with her cousin about the natural scenery and ancient castle in the Viscountry of Lanwan, and discussed what flowers and plants should be planted after the garden outside the castle was renovated. Although they were all trivial matters, Monica liked to talk about these trivial things.

The second letter was given to Philip Melefield, Earl of Quick Forest. In the letter, Charlotte explained to Earl Quick Forest that the Viscount of Lanwan had been neglected for a long time, the fields were abandoned, and the knights were seriously short of staff and refused to obey the management. She said that she would rectify the order of the territory, so she needed to close the border for a period of time, which might affect the timber trade between Sokya Peninsula and Quick Forest. She hoped that Uncle Philip could understand.

The third letter was addressed to Countess Simone Melefield. Charlotte chatted with the Countess for most of the time, and only at the end of the letter did she mention that she needed to order a large amount of wood.

The relocation of the Southern Knight Territory is still ongoing, and some problems have arisen during the relocation process. The most troublesome one is the house.

The knights from the south also needed houses to live in when they moved to the north, and they had families to support, so they needed a lot of houses. Fortunately, even the houses of the knights were mostly made of wood, so it was not difficult to build them. At the beginning of the relocation, the knights from the south adopted the strategy of building new houses while relocating. They moved a group of people after a house was built, which was not a big problem.

However, as more and more houses were built, the knights in the south gradually discovered an embarrassing problem - there was not enough wood. There were two main reasons for the lack of wood. First, the decision to relocate was too hasty, and the Viscount of Lanwan did not reserve wood in advance. Second, the Viscount of Lanwan only had the Kanpei Mountains in the north to produce wood, but the terrain of the Kanpei Mountains was steep, transportation was difficult, and the logging efficiency was low. The lack of raw materials naturally slowed down the speed of building houses downstream.

In addition to allowing the southern knights to speed up the construction of houses, Charlotte will immediately start territory construction after the southern knights complete their relocation, which also requires a lot of building materials, so ordering wood from Quick Forest is an inevitable choice.

"Yes." Old Jack took the three letters, carefully put them in a waterproof wooden tube, and quickly rode away.

Not long after Old Jack left, Knight Ryan Nasazzi came to report that Charlotte's carriage was ready.

Charlotte was going out again, but this time she was not traveling in a single carriage, but in four carriages together.

The accompanying personnel included the three-winged knight Ryan Nasaz as a guard, and the other ten knights that Charlotte brought from the Green Plains Principality. Eric Scamario, a local knight from Lanwan, served as a guide. In addition, there was Renee, who always stayed with Charlotte, as well as Beatrice Duran and Anna Duran.

The destination of Charlotte's trip was her neighbor, the city-state of Ambratu, located across the Lanwan Isthmus. On the one hand, Charlotte wanted to purchase some urgently needed supplies and personnel for the Viscount of Lanwan, and on the other hand, she wanted to investigate this neighbor whose social system was completely different from that of the Orlan Empire.

"As the host, I'm very sorry for neglecting you two during this period of time." Charlotte said to Beatrice Duran. She brought Duran and her daughter on this trip on the pretext of entertaining the surviving relatives of her subordinates.

"No, no, we don't feel neglected." Mrs. Dulan waved her hands quickly, and the smile on her face was inevitably a little stiff.

"The climate here is different from that in the Green Plains Principality. Are you used to it?" Charlotte asked gently, staring into Beatrice's eyes.

"Very used to it." Beatrice nodded.

Charlotte turned to Anna again and said with a smile, "Miss Anna, is there anything uncomfortable about your stay during this period?"

"It was a little inconvenient in the first few days, but I gradually got used to it." Compared with her mother, Anna spoke more frankly.

"There have been so many affairs in the territory recently that I haven't had time to ask you, Anna, to check your extraordinary qualifications. This is my negligence, but I will make it up to you when I come back from Ambrato." Charlotte said again.

Looking at Charlotte's brown eyes, Anna suddenly felt that the Viscountess was particularly gentle today. Her pretty face flushed slightly and she said, "It's okay. I understand that you are busy."

Charlotte nodded. The strength of the "bewitching mind" ability may be related to the subject's trust in oneself. Anna has a higher degree of trust in herself, so the effect of "bewitching mind" on her is obviously better.

Charlotte silently memorized her "experimental results" in her heart.

The carriage moved forward briskly, and when it passed through the narrow Lanwan Isthmus, it was out of the Viscount Lanwan's territory.

Lanwan Isthmus used to be a busy traffic artery, and today it was still bustling with people and cars. But in the past, Lanwan Isthmus was usually undefended, because the city-states on the Sokya Peninsula would hardly have nothing to do and provoke the huge Oran Empire. However, today there was an extra team of knights and knight attendants, as well as wooden camps, lookouts, fences, chevaux de frise and other facilities, just like a newly established checkpoint. This made the merchants smell something unusual.

Charlotte's convoy passed the checkpoint without any inspection. However, as soon as the convoy passed, the soldiers guarding the checkpoint moved four barricades across the middle of the road, blocking the already narrow checkpoint.

"What's going on? Why aren't people allowed to pass?" a businessman shouted.

"Stop making noise, stop making noise." The person in charge of the checkpoint, Miss Charlotte Mellerfield's well-known lackey, Knight Jarrod Garcia, who has already earned the name of "evil dog" in Viscount Lanwan, scratched his ears and said impatiently, "We in Viscount Lanwan need to rectify internal affairs and temporarily close the border. Didn't you see the notice over there?"

"But we still want to do timber business?" another businessman shouted.

"Then you can go back to business. I'm not asking you to change your career."

"If you don't let me go to Green Plains, how can I do business?"