Rose Empire

"Hello……"

Martin Kramer went to the Senate for meetings as usual. Even though people kept greeting him along the way, Kramer still couldn't feel happy.

The only topic of the Ambratu Elders' Council these days is bickering, and they keep arguing about the issue of tariff compensation for Viscount Lanwan. Even a relatively young and strong elder like Martin Kramer feels exhausted.

The Lanwan Isthmus has been closed for almost half a month, and more and more caravans and goods are stuck in Ambratu. The longer the closure lasts, the greater the losses of these merchants. However, there is still no sign of opening the Lanwan Isthmus checkpoint to other people.

Although the neighbors across the street did not say anything, everyone can see it now. If the tariff demands are not met, the Viscount Lanwan will probably keep the Lanwan Isthmus closed.

These days, people have been lobbying Martin Kramer, hoping that he can push the Senate to agree to the issue of tariffs for the first five years before Ambratu pays compensation to Viscount Lanwan. Martin Kramer can only smile bitterly. He is naturally inclined to pay the tariffs, but the problem is that the oligarchs disagree.

I thought today would be another day of meaningless quarrels, but when I entered the Elders' Council, I found that the people today were a little different. Today's Elders' Council meeting not only invited some citizens to attend, but also a guest from the church.

The meeting began, and the elders took their seats. Martin Kramer whispered to his friend Jurgen Voller, "Judge Borodin? Why is he here?"

"Mr. Olivier invited us here," Jurgen Wöller replied.

Soon, Olivier Capino, the leader of the democratic faction in the Council of Elders, spoke loudly: "Judge Borodin, I'm sure you know that the Council of Elders in Ambratu has been discussing the topic of Viscount Lanwan's territory recently, but we know nothing about the new Viscount Lanwan. You just returned from visiting Viscount Lanwan's territory. Could you please tell us what impression you have of the Viscount Lanwan?"

"Of course," Borodin stood up and said loudly, "The new Viscount Lanwan comes from the famous Melefield family of the Oran Empire. Although I have only met Her Excellency Charlotte Melefield once, I have to say that she is indeed a generous and kind lord. She has the good qualities that a noble should have..."

Having received a huge bribe from Charlotte, Borodin was of course full of praise. Moreover, the purpose of Olivier Capino inviting him to the Senate today was to promote the Viscount Lanwan.

Borodin's flowery words made some people at the scene feel disgusted.

The oligarch elder Salius couldn't help but say sarcastically, "Sir Borodin, I can't imagine how generous the Viscountess has been to you to praise her so much."

Anyone with a bit of common sense could hear that this was a satire on Borodin for taking money to say nice things.

Borodin glared and said righteously: "Mr. Salius, I have never accepted any bribe from Viscount Lanwan. If you don't trust the character of a mendicant monk, I can swear to the Lord."

Charlotte wanted to offer a bribe, but was dissuaded by Hermann Green. Borodin also righteously rejected Viscount Lanwan's bribe. This happened in public and was seen by many people.

Therefore, Borodin felt no guilt at all when he said “I did not accept bribes”!

At the same time, Borodin was still feeling emotional in his heart that Melefield was indeed an old family and could bribe so beautifully. He, Borodin, not only gained a reputation for not accepting bribes, but also got a box of fuso.

Borodin's determined look made Zaryus feel guilty. Could it be that there are priests in the church who don't accept bribes? He thought awkwardly.

There was a burst of whispering among the citizens who were listening to the trial. The judge still had prestige in the eyes of ordinary citizens. What's more, Borodin even swore an oath to the God. Could it be that Viscount Lanwan was really a good person?

Martin Kramer already understood Olivier Capino's idea. The old man wanted to use Borodin's prestige to impress the Citizens' Assembly and promote the tariff negotiations between Ambratu and Viscount Lanwan. Watching the commotion of the citizens who were listening, Martin Kramer couldn't help but look forward to it. Could it really work this time?

"I think everyone still needs to consider Mr. Borodin's words correctly." The leader of the oligarchs, Antanas, spoke.

"Is Elder Antanas also questioning me?" Borodin asked again.

"Of course I can believe in the noble character of Lord Borodin, but I don't trust Lord Viscount Lanwan. The Viscount was able to treat Lord Borodin politely because you are highly respected, so he put on a hypocritical mask. But when she faces someone she thinks she can slaughter at will, she will reveal her greedy face..." Antanas was still trying to prevent the Council of Elders from passing the negotiation agenda, but his tone was obviously not as rampant as in the past few days, and he no longer threatened the democrats with the vote of the Citizens' Assembly.

It seems that what Mr. Olivier did was indeed useful...

Just as Martin Kramer was admiring Olivier Capino's skills and considering whether he should speak up and lend a helping hand, another event occurred that completely broke the deadlock.

A guard from the Council of Elders pushed open the door of the meeting hall and hurried in.

"Elders, urgent news has just arrived," the guard said without waiting for the elders to ask, "the Sasseni people have overturned one of our wool cargo ships, and all twelve citizens on board have been detained by them."

"what?"

"Damn little Sasseni!"

The elders were caught off guard, and the citizens in the gallery were in an uproar; some even stood up, their faces pale.

"Quiet, elders and citizens, please calm down!" Olivier Capino shouted loudly. After repeating it several times, the meeting hall gradually quieted down.

Olivia Carpino then continued, "Perhaps, we should carefully consider the negotiations with Viscount Lanwan."

Antanas looked at those pale-faced citizens. He looked rough on the outside, but he was very careful. He immediately realized that the long-term blockade of the Lanwan Isthmus was finally beginning to affect the interests of ordinary citizens.

So, the leader of the oligarchs also nodded slightly, and said with seemingly great anger: "Yes, maybe we need to teach those bastards of Little Sasini a lesson first!"

PS: "When the Hero Turns into a Villain" is a fan fiction of Red Alert, with a dark protagonist. Those who like dark stories can try it.

PS2: Thank you for the reward from Sad Hunter, and thank you for your monthly votes and recommendations!

PS3：第37章终于重见天日啦！放烟花庆祝一下！咱已经在认真反思啦，感谢审核和编辑大大的指点。qun衣六巴2①77一6

Volume 48: Chapter 42 Chapter Position and Test Results

The excited reactions of the citizen representatives conveyed a very clear message to Antanas - the owner of the detained cargo ship was most likely these ordinary citizens. Even if they were not the ship owner, they must have had a stake in it.

In fact, the wealthy families in Ambratu who are familiar with the surrounding situation will actively avoid trading through the dangerous coastal waters of Minor Sassini. Generally speaking, only the middle and lower class citizens will seek wealth and fame at the risk of their lives and take the risk to try their luck along the coastal waters of Minor Sassini.

Of course, even the middle and lower class citizens would not take risks on a whim. The emergence of such risky behavior undoubtedly shows that even among ordinary citizens, many people are gradually becoming impatient with the blockade of the Lanwan Isthmus.

So in the next vote, Antanas, who had originally firmly refused to contact and negotiate with Viscount Lanwan, voted in favor.

People who are not familiar with Antanas may be surprised that this bearded, muscular man from the military can be so flexible.

However, the rest of the elders were basically used to it. They all knew that although Antanas' political image had always been tough and hawkish, this man was actually very slippery and very good at judging the situation. Once he found that continuing to stick to his original position would risk losing the support of the middle and lower classes, he would definitely change his position.

Antanas, the leader of the oligarchs, voted in favor, and naturally the other oligarch elders followed suit.

The next thing that needed to be discussed was who should be sent to negotiate with Viscount Lanwan. After Olivier Carpino raised this question, Martin Kramer, who had not had a chance to speak today, raised his hand and recommended himself.

"I have been to the Oran Empire and have some understanding of the Melefield family. I have also recently met a new friend named Harvey Shelvin. He is the illegitimate son of the Koxin royal family and the nephew of Rosie Melefield by blood. He is also the cousin of the current Viscount Charlotte Melefield of Lanwan. If we can ask him to act as an intermediary to help us negotiate with Viscount Lanwan, the negotiations should be much smoother." Martin Kramer said.

Everyone has heard of Mr. Harvey Shelvin, who spends his days spending money in Ambrato, and some have even met him in person.

"Will Mr. Shervin be willing to help us?" Olivier asked.

"Of course," Martin Kramer said confidently, "I have met with Mr. Sherwin several times, and I can guarantee that he has a very favorable impression of our city-state."

Now that the assurances had been given, the elders all agreed to elect Martin Kramer as the negotiating representative.

After the meeting, Martin Kramer immediately went to find Harvey Sherwin in the city. As expected, Harvey Sherwin readily agreed to be the middleman to facilitate the negotiations between Ambratu and Viscount Lanwan.

A man who has received favors from others is grateful, and a man who has received favors from others is grateful. Harvey Shelvin has received a lot of hospitality from Martin during this period, so it is natural for him to help out a little.

That's right, in Harvey Sherwin's view, this was just a small favor. He was Rosie Mellorfield's confidant, and Charlotte was Rosie's daughter, so how could Charlotte not give him some face?

On the other side, Antanas was also on his way home. As he walked, he was thinking about how to deal with the next situation. The Democrats had the initiative in the negotiations, which was undoubtedly disadvantageous to him.

"Elder Antanas!"

Suddenly, a figure rushed out from a house on the side of the road and blocked Antanas' way.

"Elder Antanas, have you agreed to pay the so-called customs compensation to Viscount Lanwan?"

Antanas looked at the man in front of him. This was a young boy, about 1.6 meters tall, with a childish face and a thin body. It seemed that he had not had a good life, but since he could stop an elder in person like this, he was obviously a citizen.

It seems that because a large number of citizens attended the hearing, the decision of the Council of Elders spread throughout the city in no time...

"No," Antanas shook his head and defended himself, "I just agreed that the city-state should send a representative to negotiate with Viscount Lanwan."

However, the boy on the other side did not want to listen to Antanas's explanation. He angrily questioned: "Why did you agree to hand over the money in the city-state treasury to Viscount Lanwan! Where did you get the money? Didn't you say that there was no money in the city-state treasury?"

Antanas was a little confused by the question. Fortunately, John Rice, an elder from the oligarch faction, seemed to know the little boy. He stepped forward to explain for Antanas: "The child's father was seriously injured in the battle with the Delmer Alliance and has been bedridden for almost a year."

Antanas was silent for a moment. Since last year, Ambratu had stopped paying the various allowances to the citizens who responded to the call of the Aiye Alliance and were sent to the front to participate in the war. There was no other way. The war tax required by Feidi was too heavy. Ambratu had to divert the allowances of the citizens who participated in the war. Although Antanas was not a supporter of this matter, he did not oppose it.

"Pende, go back and take care of your father. The Council of Elders has more in-depth considerations on major issues in the city-state." John Rice tried to persuade the boy to leave.

Unexpectedly, the boy called "Pande" exploded.

"I don't have a father to take care of anymore!"

Tears welled up in the boy's eyes.

"My father committed suicide in order not to burden my mother and me! You guys keep saying that you don't have money to treat my father's injuries and pay his allowance, so why do you have money to bribe Viscount Lanwan now? Elder Antanas, is this how you represent our interests?"

Antanas frowned, and after a long while he said, "I am deeply sorry for what happened to you."

After saying this, he walked around Pande and left in a hurry.

This boy represents another class in the city. Although they have citizenship, their lives are extremely difficult and they belong to the lowest class of citizens. Although these people are also supporters and vote banks of Antanas, they are different from the middle and lower class citizens who have the spare capacity to raise funds to buy cargo ships and organize caravans.

If Antanas cannot satisfy the middle and lower class citizens, they may turn to support the Democrats, but if they are the lowest class citizens, even if Antanas does nothing, these people are unlikely to turn to vote for the Popular Party.

You know, it was the elders of the Democratic Party who actually decided to stop paying the citizen soldiers' allowances! Antanas just acquiesced to it.

So, in the face of Pande's accusation, Antanas just said a word of comfort, and other than that, he did not intend to do anything.

"Elder Antanas!"

Looking at Antanas's departing back, Pende was still shouting in grief and anger.

An old citizen who was chewing tobacco, dressed in tattered clothes, and missing an eye laughed and said to Pan De in a sarcastic tone: "Boy, stop shouting. Some people have become elders and are no longer the same as us. It's useless for you to shout."

The Viscount of Lanwan.

Charlotte's territory construction work is still proceeding in an orderly manner.

Cecilia encountered some difficulties at the beginning when she was disrupting and reorganizing the seven villages. The villagers of some villages banded together to resist this reorganization. Cecilia gritted her teeth and, following Charlotte's advice, directly hanged the leaders of the three villages that had banded together at the beginning.

Cecilia didn't want to kill anyone easily, but she knew Charlotte's suggestion was right. The weak performance of herself and the supervisors before had caused their prestige in the hearts of these villagers to plummet. At this time, Cecilia had to take some tough measures to re-establish her prestige.

Sure enough, after the leaders of the riot were hanged on the gallows, the work of reorganizing the village did not encounter any obstacles.

Afterwards, Cecilia announced another policy. She listed the work that needed to be completed every day into task objectives. After each citizen completed a task objective, he could receive a special counting chip from the supervisor. Ten counting chips in total could be exchanged for an acre of good farmland to the east of Elm Village.

After the two tasks were successfully implemented, the people who were conscripted for labor suddenly showed unprecedented enthusiasm for work, and the originally deserted Elm Village changed almost every day.

The construction of the bazaar is on track, and Charlotte's other plan will also be launched simultaneously - to conduct comprehensive testing of extraordinary qualifications for children of appropriate age among the subjects.

The church's holy anointing oil is milky white when it is first prepared. Apply it to a person's forehead or wrist and wait for about ten minutes, and the holy anointing oil will turn blue. The better the extraordinary qualifications of the person being tested, the deeper the blue will be.

Charlotte felt that this property was very similar to pH test paper, so she imitated pH test paper and made a set of color cards, dividing the test results into nine grades from one to nine. Nine is the best and one is the worst.

About 900 children of school age participated in the test, and the results disappointed Charlotte. Charlotte originally planned to train children with qualifications above level 5, but there was no child with qualifications above level 7, only one boy in level 6, and only one girl in level 5.

Two people are too few...

Charlotte was forced to lower her standards and include the fourth gear, and finally collected two boys and three girls.

The church's classification of test results is more sloppy than Charlotte's. They usually only divide them into two types: qualified and unqualified. Of course, there is another type called "particularly well qualified", but there are too few application scenarios and it can be ignored most of the time.

The line between qualified and unqualified is roughly between grades 4 and 3 on Charlotte's color chart, so Charlotte can't lower the standards any further.

It is not impossible to train children below the fourth level. For example, Monica Melfeld, whose extraordinary talent is probably below the fourth level, still awakened with the amazing twelve awakening ceremonies. But for Charlotte, the cost of training talents in this way is too high. Even if she can train more children, it is meaningless.

"I feel so bad, Leni..."

Devastated, Charlotte buried her face in the maid's chest for comfort.

Among the noble children Charlotte had met, at least one-fifth claimed that they could meet the church's "qualified" standard. Even if half of them were exaggerating, that was at least one-tenth. As a result, the children in her territory did not even reach one percent of the "qualified" proportion!

"The chance of a supernatural being appearing among civilians is already very small. You should have expected this." Renee said, patting Charlotte on the back.

"I thought that might be because the common people didn't have the money to prepare for the initiation ceremony," Charlotte said in a muffled voice. "The research of the necromancy faction believes that human extraordinary qualifications are not greatly affected by bloodline."

"Maybe those necromancers made a mistake?" Leni was very dismissive of the necromancers' research results. In the eyes of the little maid, the bloodline of the nobility was nobler than that of the commoners, and her own lady's natural intelligence was proof of that.

"Forget it, let's study this problem later."

Charlotte rubbed her temples and cheered herself up a little. She also doubted whether there was something wrong with the research of the Undead faction. After all, they had been suppressed and even hunted down from all sides, and the research samples they could get should be very limited, so it was not surprising that there were mistakes.

"It seems that I need to contact those slave owners more often in the future and ask them to help me find more children with good qualifications."

"So what should we do with these five children?" Cecilia, who also felt a little disappointed, asked another important question.

"Let Jack Moore take care of the two boys first. Let Jack Moore teach them literacy, martial arts and etiquette," Charlotte said, remembering the two boys who were short and thin. "Give old Jack some money and ask him to give the two children more meat. I don't want two more dwarf knights in a few years."

"Well," Cecilia indicated that she had made a note of it, and then asked, "What about the three girls?"

After thinking for a moment, Charlotte said, "For girls, let them learn to read from you first, and with Celine..."

Charlotte paused, looked around, and asked curiously, "Where's Celine? Where did she go? Why can't I see her?"

"Miss Celine has joined the territory guard. It seems that it is her turn to patrol today. I just saw her on the road." Cecilia replied.

"She is my personal bodyguard. Why did she join the territory guard? Is she deliberately avoiding me?" Charlotte said dissatisfiedly.

Cecilia couldn't help but rolled her eyes. Was she avoiding you on purpose? Didn't you know it in your heart?

Cecilia also heard about what happened to Celine.

Seven whole days!

Which virgin girl could endure seven days?

"Send someone to notify Celine and tell her to be on duty in the castle from now on and teach the three girls martial arts." Charlotte ordered.

"Okay." Cecilia nodded.

"One more thing," Charlotte added, "Anna Duran will perform the awakening ceremony tomorrow. You can try it too."