Rose Empire

"Me?" Cecilia pointed at her nose in surprise.

"Yeah." Charlotte nodded.

“I’d better forget it,” Cecilia waved her hands and said with a wry smile, “My extraordinary aptitude is very poor…”

"Go if I tell you to." Charlotte frowned and interrupted Cecilia without question.

Cecilia bit her lip slightly and said nothing more.

PS: Thank you all for your monthly tickets and blade recommendation tickets.

PS2: PS2 wanted to say something, but forgot it~~~~QQ group Yiliubaeryi7716

Volume 49: Chapter 43 Chapter Anna's Enthronement and Tariff Negotiations

After the winter, the temperature in Lanwan area began to drop sharply.

However, Charlotte roughly estimated that although it was cold, it was still below ten degrees Celsius and above zero degrees Celsius. This temperature was not enough to affect the normal work of the construction workers. She could still let the people work ten hours a day and seven days a week.

Because of the frequent winds, the Viscount Lanwan Territory may be much colder at night, but the hut with mackerel skin interlayer has a good windproof and warming effect, which is enough to keep out the cold at night.

After they were well fed and clothed, some minor troubles occurred in the migrant workers' camp.

It is said that a witch was caught in a village, and the villagers built a bonfire in the camp, saying they wanted to burn her to death.

Cecilia was very surprised when she heard about it. Why did the legendary race of witches appear in her jurisdiction and be captured by a group of unarmed farmers? She hurried over to take a look, but she found that the person tied to the firewood and about to be burned to death was just a skinny old woman.

Cecilia rescued the old woman and then punished the village by making them work night shifts for several days in a row.

"What nonsense! They still insist that the old woman is a witch!"

On the top floor of Viscount Lanwan Castle, Cecilia couldn't help but complain to Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at Yalanben in front of her, smiled, and said, "Catching witches is a very common custom in rural Oran. The poorer the place, the more common it is. The more food is scarce during the New Year, the more willing the villagers are to catch witches. They believe that burning witches to death can bring a good harvest next year. These witches are usually elderly people or widowed women. Do you understand?"

“You mean…” Cecilia opened her mouth slightly.

"Old people cannot work, so burning them to death can save food." Charlotte continued, "After burning a widowed woman to death, not only can food be saved, but the villagers can also share her inheritance naturally, helping some people get through the difficult times."

"But they are already full..." Cecilia only said half of the sentence and interrupted the conversation with a sigh.

Cecilia also realized that the custom of "catching witches" had been given a more "upright" meaning by the villagers - begging for a good harvest, and it would not disappear immediately after the villagers had enough food. On the contrary, it was probably because Charlotte distributed land to the villagers, stimulating their enthusiasm for farming next year, that they thought of praying for a good harvest by burning the witch.

The starry light dissipated, and a gray wing of light appeared behind the girl kneeling in the middle of Yalanben. Anna Dulan opened her eyes, her pretty face full of surprise, and she stood up and trotted to Charlotte.

"Congratulations, Anna, you are now a transcendent." Charlotte said with a smile.

"Sir, I, I..."

Anna Duran was so excited that she was a little incoherent.

Charlotte didn't mind. She drew the dagger at her waist that symbolized her status as a viscount and said, "Since you have awakened, I should also fulfill my promise."

Anna knelt down in front of Charlotte. Charlotte placed the dagger on Anna's shoulder and said, "I, Viscount Charlotte Melefield of Lanwan, appoint Anna Dulan as my knight. You are the first knight I have appointed since I became Viscount. I hope you can offer your loyalty to me."

"I am willing to give you everything I have." Anna kissed Charlotte's fingers and said in an almost crazy tone.

After Charlotte crowned Anna, Lilith began to rearrange Yalanben.

Charlotte turned to Cecilia again and said, "It's your turn."

Cecilia took a deep breath. When she was studying at Jurong Academy, Cecilia had been tested several times. She knew that she did not have any extraordinary talent, but when the opportunity of a spiritual awakening ceremony was presented to her, she could not help but feel a little lucky.

However, the reality is cruel.

The ceremony was over, and Cecilia showed no sign of even forming a wing.

"You...you may not be suitable for the Royal Knights faction." Lilith tried to comfort Cecilia as tactfully as possible, "Maybe you can try the Candy faction?"

The Candy Faction, also known as the Miss Faction or the Queen Faction. It is said that more than a thousand years ago, there was a queen in the Wimbledon Empire who envied the advantages of the extraordinary people over ordinary people, but did not want to spend too much time and sweat on things that were not elegant enough, so she summoned talented people from all over the world to design a special extraordinary faction for her. This faction was called the "Queen Faction" at that time.

This faction can hardly provide any combat power. Its effects are mainly reflected in the ability to correct body shape, remove body odor, remove bad breath, make people's skin firm and elastic, prolong youth, maintain beauty, etc. It is widely favored by noble ladies and ladies, so it is also called the "Miss Faction".

And because of the queen's request - no need to sweat, this faction was ingeniously designed with a mechanism that allows eating candies to replace daily practice, so it was given the nickname "Candy Faction".

In addition to being able to eat candy instead of daily practice, the Candy Faction has another advantage, which is that the qualifications required for its initiation ceremony are lower than those of most factions.

But, it's just a little bit lower...

"Ms. Lilith, don't comfort me. I know how poor my qualifications are." Cecilia smiled helplessly. Perhaps because she had already anticipated the result, Cecilia was not that sad.

After calming down, Cecilia bowed slightly to Charlotte and Lilith to express her gratitude, then went downstairs to continue working on Charlotte's territory.

Lilith packed up the tools used in the awakening ceremony and the remaining extraordinary materials, and then said to Charlotte: "I'm leaving."

"Eh?" Charlotte covered her chest with her hands and said with a sad face, "Is Lilith going to abandon me?"

Lilith rolled her eyes and explained, "The rubbings you brought back last time had too little text on them. I can't be sure if the text on them is Lujan script or another similar script. I plan to go around the Sokya Peninsula and look for other evidence."

"Can you go by yourself?" Charlotte said doubtfully, "The Sokya Peninsula is not a peaceful place. How about you wait for me for a while, and I will take down Ambratu, and then go with you to visit the city-states on the Sokya Peninsula?"

Lilith waved her hand nonchalantly: "No need. When have you ever helped me with any adventure? I can go alone..."

Suddenly, the wings of light appeared behind Lilith, and an indescribable power spread out from Lilith...

Lilith's face turned pale, and she quickly raised her hands in surrender. She spoke rapidly like a string of cannonballs: "I'm just going there to scout ahead. If I find anything, I'll come back and inform Sherlock to go on the adventure together! I swear! I swear to that damn Iger!"

The wings of light dissipated, and everything seemed to turn into a breeze.

Lilith breathed a sigh of relief.

Charlotte was shocked. The power just now was so great, so great that it seemed unstoppable, so great that it should not appear on a one-winged sorcerer.

She turned around and saw that Leni beside her also had a frightened expression, and her fingers were even on the silver chain sword at her waist.

At that moment, Charlotte and Renee had countless thoughts in their minds, including killing Lilith, imprisoning Lilith...

Charlotte immediately realized that the power was to prevent Lilith from breaking the contract. If only Charlotte was affected, it would be fine, after all, Charlotte was the contracting party, but Renee was also affected by the spiritual contract. It was as if the spiritual contract would mobilize all the factors that could be mobilized to ensure that the defaulter would be punished.

This terrifying power really refreshed Charlotte's impression of the spiritual contract sorcerers. In the past, she always felt that the spiritual contract faction that Lilith practiced was like a joke.

"Well, as the captain of the adventure team, I will entrust Miss Lilith to go to the Sokya Peninsula to search for clues about the ancient civilization."

Charlotte smiled and said.

Although she admired Lilith's talent and wanted to keep her by her side, after knowing her for so many years, Charlotte knew that Lilith had her own pursuits.

As a friend, Lilith will give Charlotte a lot of help, but she will not become Charlotte's subject and regard Charlotte's dreams as her own.

Therefore, Charlotte was not surprised at all when Lilith suddenly wanted to leave Viscount Lanwan.

Cecilia came down from the top floor of the castle and met Charlotte's two little slave girls on the way.

When these two little slave girls were first bought, they had no names. Charlotte named the older one Nina and the younger one Sophia.

Nina is gentle and charming, while Sofia is lively and cute, and they each have their own strengths.

"teacher."

Sophia immediately shouted enthusiastically after seeing Cecilia.

Nina followed and called out softly, "Teacher."

The two calls of "teacher" made Cecilia blush.

Last night, when she was in bed with Charlotte, Charlotte insisted on sharing the two little slave girls she bought with Cecilia. Cecilia had to admit that the two little girls were really good in the boudoir, and Cecilia also enjoyed an unprecedented experience last night.

Then, early this morning, Charlotte left the two little girls with Cecilia to learn basic knowledge such as reading, writing and arithmetic.

We were still together last night, and today you have become someone else's teacher.

Although the two girls didn't seem to mind at all, Cecilia felt her ears burning at the thought.

"Teacher," Sophia saw that Cecilia was stunned and didn't respond, so she called again and asked, "Excuse me, is the master up there?"

The master Sophia was referring to was naturally Charlotte. Originally, the two little slave girls called Charlotte "Adult", but for some reason Charlotte insisted on asking them to call her "Master" instead, and also made them wear black lace collars.

Cecilia nodded and asked, "What do you want?"

Sophia thought about it, and probably felt that it was the same as reporting to Cecilia, so she said, "A carriage arrived outside the castle. Sir Jarrod Garcia said it was the master's cousin and a guest from Ambratu who wanted to see the master."

Cecilia immediately thought of Charlotte's plan and ordered, "Take the guests to the reception room first, and I will inform Miss Charlotte."

The two girls nodded and went downstairs to receive the guests.

Charlotte soon learned of the visitor's arrival.

In fact, Charlotte had already learned last night that the Ambratu Elders' Council had decided to negotiate with her, and she even knew why the other party wanted to negotiate with her. That was the news that Knight Robin Mancini sent back overnight.

The decision-making style of the Ambratu Elders' Council determines that there is no possibility for the other party to keep the intelligence confidential.

Charlotte did not delay and immediately changed into a reception dress and went to the castle's reception room.

Martin Kramer and Harvey Sherwin were waiting anxiously in the reception room.

The former was because of the scene he saw along the way after entering the Viscount of Lanwan from the Lanwan Isthmus. The Viscount of Lanwan had indeed undergone great changes. Martin Kramer originally wanted to visit several southern knights he had contacted before, but he found that all their residences had disappeared. This showed that the new Viscount of Lanwan was indeed different from the previous one, and Martin Kramer was inevitably a little uneasy.

The latter was because he was worried that his boasting would be exposed. Harvey Shelvin had been boasting about his influence in the Viscount Lanwan Territory all along the way, but he found that after entering the Viscount Lanwan Territory, no one paid any attention to him, even the knights in the 18-man knight team who had followed his lead ignored him, including the three-winged knight Jarrod Garcia, who was personally told by Madam Rossi to listen to her.

Harvey Sherwin had no idea how badly his act of abandoning all his virtual followers and going off to enjoy himself would affect his personal reputation.

Even with Rosie Melfield's support, the knights who were nominally the guards given by the Duke of Greenfield to his daughter did not want to follow a pig.

Since those knights are too lazy to pay attention to me, will Miss Charlotte still give me face?

Just as the two were feeling anxious, the door of the reception room was pushed open by a servant, and a beautiful girl in a blue velvet dress walked in.

Harvey Sherwin quickly stood up, bowed and said, "Miss Charlotte."

When Martin Kramer saw Harvey Sherwin's serious look, he guessed the identity of the visitor and immediately stood up and bowed.

"Knight Harvey Shelvin, it's been a long time." Charlotte said with a smile.

Knight Harvey Sherwin was a little embarrassed by Charlotte's words. According to Rosie, his original mission was to help Charlotte govern the Viscount of Lanwan, but he didn't do anything during this period. For a moment, Harvey Sherwin didn't know whether Charlotte was mocking him.

Fortunately, Miss Charlotte seemed to have no ill intentions, and she even poured a cup of black tea for Harvey Sherwin herself.

Harvey Sherwin accepted the cup flattered.

When Martin Kramer saw this scene, he felt relieved. The better the relationship between Harvey Shelvin and Viscount Lanwan, the easier his mission this time would be.

"This is the elder of the Ambratu Elders' Council, Mr. Martin Kramer." Harvey Shelvin introduced Charlotte.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Kramer." Charlotte said politely.

"No, no, I should be honored by your noble surname," Martin Kramer said with a smile, "I have heard that the Viscount of Lanwan has changed its owner, but I didn't expect it to be such a beautiful lady."

"Haha, you're too kind." Charlotte chuckled with her hands covering her mouth.

After a few pleasantries, Charlotte said, "I guess it's just as I thought. Elder Kramer is here for tariffs this time, right?"

"That's right," Martin Kramer nodded and said, "Your Excellency the Viscount wants to collect tolls in your own territory, which is reasonable and legal. The merchants in our city-state are also willing to abide by your rules. But you want us to compensate you for all the tariffs in the five years before you were enthroned. Isn't that a bit unreasonable?"

"What's unreasonable?" Charlotte said confidently, "My viscount title was passed down to me by Viscount Basilik in his will, and the tariffs of Viscount Lanwan were set when Viscount Basilik's father was in power. You haven't paid a penny of tariffs for at least forty years. I only ask you to pay five years of tariffs. Is that too much?"

"This..." Martin Kramer was speechless. From a legal point of view, Charlotte's reasons seemed to be valid.

"But how should the tariffs for these five years be calculated? I guess your Lordship has no record of people and goods passing through the Lanwan Isthmus in the past five years, right?" Martin Kramer retorted from a different angle.

"It's very simple," Charlotte had obviously thought about this a long time ago. "In the next five years, I will have people count all the goods coming from Ambratu and their value. The tax rate set by the predecessor Viscount Lanwan is one tenth. At the end of each year, you just need to give me one tenth of the total value of the goods for that year in Fuso."

Martin Kramer's eyes lit up when he heard this plan. Because this plan did not require money immediately, it gave Ambratu a lot of room for maneuver. Ambratu could set up another checkpoint at the other end of the Lanwan Isthmus, collect taxes again, and hand over the checkpoint taxes to Charlotte at the end of the year. Ambratu's public treasury would not have to bear a heavy burden for this.

But after a little thought, Martin Kramer frowned again and said, "Your proposal doesn't sound that unacceptable, but a tax rate of one-tenth is still a bit high."

"But it won't be greater than the losses you have suffered from the blockade of the Lanwan Isthmus." Charlotte said.

Hearing this, Martin Kramer smiled bitterly. He spread his hands and said, "Your threats are undoubtedly effective for democratic elders like me. The blockade of the Lanwan Isthmus has caused me a lot of trouble. I personally tend to pay taxes to you. But you should know that in our city-state, the Citizens' Assembly has the final say, but most citizens cannot feel my troubles."

Charlotte suddenly showed a sly smile. She took a sip of black tea and said slowly, "So, Mr. Kramer, you should first try to make all the citizens of Ambratu feel your troubles, or even better... pain?"

Cecilia, who was sitting aside and silently recording the negotiation like an ordinary scribe, inexplicably felt that she saw the legendary devil's smile on Charlotte's face.

PS: A 5,000-word chapter has been updated! I failed to apply for recommendation. My book has failed so badly that the editor has given up~~~ Nan Zi Da Gun~~

PS2: I recommend a new book "My clones are all NPC heroines!" The author updates diligently and the setting is also very interesting.

Volume 50: Chapter 44 Chapter The Assassination Plan and the Failed Citizens' Assembly

"Let the citizens feel my troubles?"

Martin Kramer was somewhat puzzled by what Charlotte said.

"Mr. Martin Kramer, what is your business?" Charlotte asked.