Rose Empire

When leaving Ambratu, a group of guards strictly checked the pedestrians entering and leaving the city. Charlotte's group of nearly a hundred people was naturally very eye-catching and was stopped. Charlotte thought that the war situation between the Aiye Alliance and the Delme Alliance was so serious that even Ambratu had to strengthen its vigilance, so she was a little worried that these slaves and goods might be detained.

As a result, the guards did not take any action. Only two priests dressed in Inquisition uniforms checked the convoy under the protection of the guards and then let the convoy leave.

As the sun passed midday, Charlotte and her party successfully arrived at the checkpoint located in the middle section of the Lanwan Isthmus.

"Please do me a favor. I will really go to the Kingdom of Lesare!"

"I've already said it, where you're going is none of my business."

"..."

Charlotte heard a familiar voice again. Not only was Jarrod Garcia's voice familiar, but even the voice of the man who wanted to go to the Kingdom of Lesare was a little familiar. The voice was not only hoarse, but also a little stuttering, so it left some impression on Charlotte.

Everything seemed to be a repeat of what happened two days ago.

The soldiers at the checkpoint moved away the barricades, opening a passage for Charlotte's convoy to pass through.

Charlotte lifted the curtain of the carriage out of curiosity, and saw that it was indeed the traveler wearing the clothes of the Kingdom of Lesare who was negotiating with Jarrod Garcia across the chevaux de frise.

He has been in this place with no village or shop for two days? This man is really determined, Charlotte thought to herself.

Seeing Charlotte lift the curtain on her own initiative, Jarrod Garcia bowed slightly in the direction of the carriage.

"Didn't you say that no one can pass? Then why can they pass!" The traveler pointed at the convoy and questioned angrily.

"None of your business." Jarrod Garcia's service attitude is still bad.

The traveler's face turned blue with anger, and he walked away, staring at Jarrod Garcia and saying, "I'll make you regret this!"

Jarrod Garcia snorted disdainfully, not taking it seriously at all. He waved his hand and asked a soldier who had been prepared to ride on his horse and head towards Ambratu.

It was almost evening when the convoy arrived at the castle of Viscount Lanwan.

When Charlotte returned to the castle, she saw Lilith sitting alone in the dining room, preparing to have dinner. The 1.3-meter-tall little girl sat in Charlotte's usual seat, with exquisite plates and a sumptuous meal in front of her, and a maid standing on each side to serve her. She looked very comfortable and enjoying herself.

"Tsk, why do you look like the owner of this castle?" Charlotte teased with a smile.

"I work so hard helping you look after the house, what's wrong with me eating some of your food?" Lilith said confidently.

Charlotte naturally had no intention of blaming Lilith. She reached out and snatched a piece of delicious-looking dessert from Lilith, and before the 1.3-meter-tall girl could jump into a rage, she stuffed a large roll of paper into her arms.

"This is……"

Lilith's attention was diverted as expected, and she took the paper in confusion.

Charlotte took a bite of the cake. "I found it in Ambratu. The locals worship it as an ancestor. Oh, no, they don't worship it. They allow donkeys to pee on it."

Lilith unfolded the paper and turned the pages one by one. Her face was first puzzled, then surprised, and finally solemn. Her slender fingers touched some of the lines on the rubbings: "Is this Luyang text?"

"Luyan script" is the general name given by Charlotte and Lilith to the ancient script they found in the Luyan ruins. It is a special script that combines phonetic and ideographic characters. It has a certain connection with the current phonetic script of the Oran Empire, but there are also great differences.

"I'm not sure, but it does look very similar. Especially here..." Charlotte pointed to a location on a rubbing and said, "I'm sure I've seen these words in the Luyang ruins, but unfortunately we don't know what they mean yet."

"If it is really Luyan script, then why would it appear in the city-state on the Sokya Peninsula?" Lilith pondered.

The Luyan ruins are located in the Dagis Basin in the middle of the Campe Mountains, while Ambratu is located further south at the southern end of the Campe Mountains. There is half a continent between them! The Oran Empire and the Sokya Peninsula evolved into two completely different ethnic groups and languages ​​just across a bay. Why did the Sokya people 100,000 years ago use the Luyan people's writing system, which was separated by countless mountains?

“How should I know? Maybe it’s just a coincidence?” Charlotte shrugged. “Many Ambratu people speak Oran.”

"Did the prosperous trade bring sporadic Luyan scripts to the Sokyan people?" Lilith guessed along the lines of Charlotte's thoughts.

"Very likely," said Charlotte.

Lilith stared at the rubbing in her hand and pondered for a long time. Suddenly, she jumped off the chair, left a sentence: "I want to study it carefully!" and ran back to her bedroom.

"Well, study it carefully."

Charlotte sat down in Lilith's seat, and naturally took over the sumptuous dinner that she had not eaten a single bite of.

At the same time, in a manor on the coast of the city-state of Ambratu.

Martin Kramer, the youngest elder of Ambratu, was discussing the household affairs of the past two days with his housekeeper.

"Is the Lanwan Isthmus still impassable?" Martin Kramer asked while feeding the parrot.

"Yes, the road in Viscount Lanwan's territory is still closed." said the butler.

Martin Kramer frowned and said, "It's been two days. How long will they close the road?"

"I don't know," the butler shook his head. "The other party just said that the Viscount Lanwan's territory needs to rectify the chaotic order, but he didn't say when the rectification will end."

Martin Kramer pondered for a moment and said, "If we give the checkpoint guard some benefits, will it allow us to pass through? After all, our cargo is not large."

Unlike most Sokya people who mainly trade in wood, wool and grain along the Lanwan Isthmus route, Martin Kramer mainly trades in pearls, followed by corals and a little grain. The Sokya Peninsula is rich in pearls of excellent quality, but there is no market for such pearls on the peninsula because they are not rare in coastal city-states and cannot be afforded by mountain city-states.

Only large countries like the Orlan Empire and the Kingdom of Lesare, where wealthy nobles gather, are the best customers of Sokya pearls.

As long as they can be sold, the profits of pearls and corals are generally not low. So Martin Kramer doesn't mind using a little bribery in exchange for the right to pass the checkpoint.

"The knight guarding the gate seems to be a difficult person to negotiate with. Bribery may not be feasible. Perhaps we should take a risk and bypass the Viscount Lanwan's territory by sea and go directly to the Principality of Green Plains."

The butler actually had some selfish motives in his words. He had been to Lanwan Isthmus several times in the past two days and was really disgusted by Jarrod Garcia's poor service attitude. So from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want his master to give that guy any benefits.

Martin Kramer shook his head and said, "If we want to bypass the Viscount of Lanwan directly from the sea, we must pass through the coast controlled by Little Sassini. Little Sassini will not allow any of our ships to pass through there."

Lesser Sassini was a city-state west of Ambratu, and like Ambratu, it belonged to the Aye Alliance, but the relationship between the two families was extremely bad.

Because the Sassini minor moved here only in the last one or two hundred years, they originally belonged to another large city-state called Sassini. Before the Sassini minor moved here, there was only one city-state along the entire Lan Bay, Ambratu. After the Sassini minor moved here, they not only shared the coastline of Lan Bay with Ambratu, but also blocked the Ambratu's coastal route out of Lan Bay from the sea to the east, which made the Ambratu very angry, and many wars broke out between the two city-states.

Just when Martin Kramer was at a loss, a servant hurried in.

"Lord Kramer, the herald from the Council of Elders is here to summon all the elders to a meeting." said the servant.

"Meeting? So late?" Martin Kramer was full of doubts, but he quickly changed his clothes and set off for the Elders' House. Before leaving, he did not forget to take his parrot with him.

This parrot is Martin Kramer's secret to winning the favor of citizens. Every time he speaks at a citizen assembly or other citizen gathering place, Martin Kramer lets this parrot stand on his shoulder. When Martin Kramer gets passionate in his speech, this specially trained parrot will often suddenly repeat the last few words of Martin Kramer's words, making all the citizens listening to the speech laugh.

This funny performance not only enabled Martin Kramer to be elected as an elder with a high vote at a young age, but also made him one of the few democratic elders who could be loved by the lower-class citizens.

Walking on the streets of Ambrato, people would greet Martin Kramer from time to time: "Mr. Kramer." At the same time, they would also greet Martin Kramer's parrot with a smile: "Little Mr. Kramer."

Instead of feeling insulted, Martin Kramer was very happy about this because it proved his popularity among the people of Ambratu.

But after entering the Elders' Council, Martin Kramer immediately felt a serious atmosphere coming towards him, and his excited mood suddenly chilled.

"What's going on?" Martin Kramer sat down in his seat and whispered to his good friend, fellow Democratic elder Jurgen Wöller.

Jurgen Voller was about to explain to Martin Kramer when Olivier Capino, the leader of the Democratic Party who was in charge of presiding over the meeting, handed him a piece of exquisite purple-patterned letterhead and said, "Little Martin is here too. Take a look. Let's discuss this matter together today."

Viscount Lanwan respectfully informs the elders of the Ambratu Elders Council...

Was it actually a letter written to the Council of Elders by the neighbor next door?

Martin Kramer read it in one breath and felt increasingly heavy-hearted.

The letter only said one thing: Viscount Lanwan will collect customs duties from now on! Both new and old ones!

In fact, Martin Kramer was not opposed to Viscount Lanwan collecting a little toll from the bottom of his heart. First, their merchants used to secretly give some money to the southern knights when they passed through the territory of Lanwan. Second, Martin Kramer's business would still make money even if he paid some tariffs, which was better than having the road blocked all the time.

What really made Martin Kramer feel heavy was...

"No, I am firmly opposed to paying taxes to Viscount Lanwan!" A burly elder slammed the table and shouted in a rough voice.

Sure enough, there will be people in the Council of Elders who oppose it.

This strong-looking elder is Antanas, the leader of the oligarchs, who is known for his toughness.

"This is extortion! We have never paid any taxes for passing through the Isthmus of Lanwan in the past hundreds of years!" said Antanas.

"In fact, it was paid, about thirty or forty years ago." A democratic elder reminded Antanas. Compared with Antanas' loud voice, the voice of the democratic elder sounded a little weak.

Thirty or forty years ago, it was the time when Basilik’s father, the second Viscount Lanwan, was managing the Viscount Lanwan Territory.

The Oran Empire had never collected customs duties on the Lanwan Isthmus before. The reason was that this land did not belong to the Green Plains Principality. However, due to the Green Plains Principality, the imperial family had no control over this place and it was difficult to establish effective rule.

The period when Basilic Melfeld's father ruled the Viscountry of Lanwan was probably the only period in the history of the empire when Lanwan was effectively ruled. However, Basilic's father died just a few years after collecting taxes. After Basilic came to power, tariffs were abandoned again.

Because the tax collection period was too short, the people of Ambratu easily forgot about this period and mistakenly believed that the Viscountry of Lanwan had never collected tolls.

"So what if we've paid? We've been blackmailed once. Are we going to be blackmailed a second time?" Another elder of the oligarch faction, Salius, also retorted, slamming the table.

"Collecting customs duties is the power of Viscount Lanwan. How can this be considered extortion? Doesn't Ambrato also collect city gate taxes?"

Martin Kramer heard Jurgen Wöller speak beside him.

Sure enough, the elders of the Democratic Party generally did not mind paying a little tariff in exchange for the right of passage through the Isthmus of Lanzhou.

"How is this not extortion! This Viscount Lanwan also asked Ambratu to pay the tariffs for the past five years! If this isn't extortion, what is?" Antanas slammed the table again.

"Viscount Lanwan didn't say exactly how much the tariffs will be for five years. This kind of thing can be negotiated as long as the price is right..." Martin Kramer couldn't help but speak up.

"What are you talking about? We can't talk about this! If every Fuso in the Ambratu Treasury belongs to the citizens of Ambratu!" Antanas interrupted Martin Kramer, "You guys who are rich, have estates, and caravans want to use the citizens' money to bribe Viscount Lanwan and buy your own money-making trade routes. As long as I am still an elder, I will never allow this to happen!"

"Elder Antanas," Olivier Capino said with a frown, "it is very rude to interrupt another elder."

Antanas chuckled and said sarcastically, "Olivier, don't think I don't know that you, an old man, are also making a fortune along the trade route of the Lanwan Isthmus. If you rich guys really want to pay the extortion money, you can pay it out of your own pockets. Otherwise, even if you force a resolution through the Senate and agree to the unreasonable demands of Viscount Lanwan, I will ask all citizens of the Citizens' Assembly to vote."

Hearing this, the faces of the democratic elders suddenly darkened. They were all well aware of Antanas' influence in the Citizens' Assembly. When all citizens voted together, Antanas' proposals had never been rejected once.

Volume 34: Chapter 31 Chapter Necromancer (I)

"Did you find it over there?"

"No."

While the Elders' Council of Ambratu was busy arguing, a group of priests in clerical robes were busy looking for something on the coast near Lan Bay outside the city of Ambratu.

If Charlotte were here, she would be able to recognize that the leader of this group of priests was the mendicant who appeared during the trial of Heath.

In fact, what Charlotte didn't know was that the mendicant monk Borodin was an inquisitor of the Philippine Inquisition. For a man like Heath who was just a free citizen of the city, a formal priest of any church could sentence him to death. There was no need for Borodin to travel thousands of miles in person. He participated in the trial just because he happened to pass by.

As an inquisitor of the Inquisition, Borodin had more evil, more rebellious and dangerous elements to deal with.

A group of pampered priests searched the coast for a long time in the night breeze, but they didn't find what they were looking for, and they couldn't help but feel resentful.

"The villagers nearby said they saw someone acting suspiciously here. Could it be that those fools deliberately made up a lie to deceive us for the reward?"

A priest couldn't help but complain.

Other priests could not help but join in and blame the ignorant and greedy villagers.

"Shut up!" Borodin shouted, "We have found the property abandoned by the devil, which proves that the villagers are not lying. How can you talk nonsense and complain just because of some fatigue!"

The priests immediately shut up and dared not complain anymore.

However, another person beside Borodin persuaded him: "Even if the villagers are not lying, we have not found the devil after searching for such a long time, which proves that the guy should have escaped. It is a waste of time for us to continue wasting time here. Why don't we go back and rest first, and we will continue to collect clues tomorrow."

Although this man was young and handsome, and dressed very similarly to Borodin, especially with his bare feet, he was obviously also a mendicant from the Inquisition.

This young man seemed to be trusted by Borodin. After he spoke, Borodin glanced at the small boat parked on the shore, gave up the idea of ​​searching on the sea again, nodded, and asked the priests to return to the city to rest.

However, in the dark sea in front of the priests, there was a man holding a piece of rotten wood, struggling and kicking in the surging waves.

This person was dressed in the clothes of the Kingdom of Lesare and had a gaunt face. He was the traveler who was so angry at Jarrod Garcia's bad service attitude that he kept saying "It's none of your business" and "It's none of my business" during the day that he walked away in anger and left with some harsh words.

The traveler originally just wanted to take advantage of the cover of night to swim from the sea and bypass the checkpoint set up by Charlotte in the middle section of the Lanwan Isthmus.

As a result, after nightfall, the wind started to blow on the sea surface of Lan Bay.

Whenever there is wind at sea, there will be big waves.

After a few waves hit him, the traveler didn't know where the current took him. At first, he swam a little away from the coast, so that he would not be seen by the patrolling soldiers on the shore and would not lose his way on the sea at night.

What now?

Where is the coast?

The traveler looked around and saw darkness all around. He tilted his head to listen carefully and heard the sound of waves everywhere. He could not tell where the coast was at all!

The traveler can only choose a direction which is roughly north and swim forward.

However, as time passed, the traveler felt that he might have been swimming for a year. He was almost exhausted, but still could not see the outline of the coast. A feeling of despair surged in his heart.

At this time, his legs kicking the water felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead. If he had not been holding on to a piece of rotten wood, he would have almost given up and let himself sink into the sea.

Am I really going to drown in the sea today?

He couldn't help thinking in his heart.

Fortunately, although the traveler could not find the direction, his feeling of the length of time was still correct.

With the dawn, the darkness was dispelled and everything around became clear again.

The traveler looked around and finally saw the coastline in the distance. Excited, he gathered his last bit of energy and swam towards the shore.