Rose Empire

"This is Robert Kaye, and this is Heidi Stephanie." Simon Capriati introduced the two parties. "This lady is the daughter of the Duke of Green Plains, Viscount Lanwan, Charlotte Mellorfield."

The two young men were dressed simply, without any decorations, and obviously did not come from wealthy families. The young man named Robert Kaye held his head high, behaved cheerfully, and looked very confident, while the girl named Heidi Stephanie was very shy, lowering her head and shrinking her body, making her already thin body look even smaller.

"I want to recruit some talented people for my territory. Teacher Capriati recommended you to me. I wonder what talents you two have?"

Robert Kaye's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he quickly said, "I am good at reciting and writing, and I am also proficient in using five kinds of cursive characters. I can also keep accounts and do accounting."

"Hmm? But I don't lack a scribe or a manor steward." Charlotte said, tilting her head.

Robert Kaye was speechless.

"Fool," Simon Capriati scolded, "go back and show your work to Miss Charlotte."

"Oh."

Robert Kaye suddenly realized what was going on and hurried out again.

Charlotte looked at the shy girl named Heidi and asked with a smile, "What about this lady?"

"I, I..." Heidi's voice was soft and sticky, but the volume was a little low, "I practiced the Thousand Faces School..."

"Thousand Faces Faction?" Charlotte was a little surprised.

The Thousand Faces Faction is a faction known for its ability to disguise itself. This faction is very well-known, but not many people practice it. The reason why there are not many practitioners is not because the training conditions are harsh like the Shadow Warlocks, and the mortality rate is too high, but because its training methods are in the hands of a few organizations and individuals. These people tacitly choose to keep it secret, and the outside world does not even know which individuals and organizations have mastered the Thousand Faces Faction.

Oh, occasionally there will still be practitioners from the Thousand Faces Faction exposed.

For example, the assassin who assassinated the court lady who was pregnant with Emperor Leopold's child five years ago was, according to Jose Melefeld, a thousand-faced sorcerer disguised as a court dwarf. His true identity was a burly man nearly two meters tall.

However, such exposure will only make people lower their evaluation of the Thousand Faces Faction and make people more wary of the Thousand Faces Warlock.

Now, the girl in front of her actually said that she knew the practice methods of the Thousand Faces Faction, which made Charlotte both surprised and delighted.

"Mind letting me see the capabilities of the Thousand Faces Faction?" Charlotte asked curiously.

Hearing this, Heidi bit her lip, then held her breath and closed her eyes, and a lavender wing of light appeared behind her.

Charlotte stared at it carefully with wide eyes.

However, nothing happened.

When Charlotte was full of doubts and Heidi was so confused that her face turned red, the change finally happened. Heidi's hair gradually changed from flax to pink.

Right here?

Charlotte couldn't help feeling disappointed. Others could turn from a strong man into a dwarf, but the man in front of her could only dye her hair. However, Charlotte didn't show her emotions on her face.

However, Heidi on the opposite side seemed to see Charlotte's emotions, and she quickly said: "My own qualifications are not particularly good, so my strength is limited, but I know all the training methods of the Thousand Faces Faction, and I also know a lot of training experience, I can teach them all to you."

Charlotte looked at Heidi for a few more seconds and a smile appeared on her face. It seemed that although this girl was shy, she was not a fool like Linda.

"I need to explain that my territory is located in a remote area, southwest of the Green Plains Principality. It takes at least a month to get there by carriage. If you go with me, I'm afraid you may not be able to come back to visit your family once a year."

Heidi lowered her eyes and said, "No problem, because I have no relatives for a long time."

Charlotte didn't expect this answer.

Heidi glanced at Simon Capriati, and after receiving a nod from her teacher, she told the truth: "When I was thirteen, my mother was taken away by His Highness Henry Hollowen and never returned home. When my father learned about this, he went to His Highness to ask for my mother, and then he never came back."

"It's not easy for you to grow up in Platinum City after offending Henry Holloway," Charlotte commented.

Heidi smiled bitterly. "After my parents disappeared, my other relatives died one after another for various inexplicable reasons. I was the only one who was hidden in the Giant Banyan Academy for a few years by the teacher and survived by chance. My original last name was Gerard, but now I have changed it to Stephanie."

Charlotte nodded as if she felt the same way. Yes, Henry Holloway was indeed capable of doing such a shameless thing.

"Platinum City won't be peaceful for a few more days, and my Giant Banyan Academy probably won't be open for much longer. Heidi needs a place to stay, the farther away from Platinum City the better. I think your place is suitable." Simon Capriati said.

"No problem. Miss Heidi is very welcome to go with me to the Viscount Lanwan's territory." Charlotte said with a smile.

"It's my honor to serve you." Heidi bowed and felt relieved. She had been worried that a great noble like Charlotte would be unwilling to accept her because of the grudge between her and Henry Holloway.

In fact, Heidi's idea is completely unnecessary.

Given Charlotte's dislike for Henry Holloway, she would be happy to gather all the people in the Oran Empire who hated Henry Holloway and form an "anti-Henry Holloway alliance."

"Teacher, are you planning to close down Giant Banyan Academy and leave Platinum City?" Charlotte looked at Simon Capriati again and tried to persuade him, "Why don't you come with me to Viscount Lanwan's territory? I will definitely give you the best hospitality and make your stay more comfortable than in Platinum City."

Simon Capriati is definitely the world's top scholar. He has spent nearly a hundred years traveling to almost all countries in the Eagle Continent, collecting and organizing their knowledge in politics, philosophy, mathematics, literature, medicine, supernatural factions, etc. This huge project is still ongoing.

This knowledge is undoubtedly a huge wealth, and any monarch of the empire would be salivating, not to mention Charlotte's small viscounty. If Simon Capriati is willing to go to the Viscounty of Lanwan and spend a little more money for it, Charlotte feels that it will definitely not be a loss.

Unfortunately, Charlotte knew that someone like Simon Capriati could not be easily moved by some money.

Sure enough, Simon Capriati waved his hand and said, "I do plan to leave Platinum City, but I have been to Lan Bay a long time ago and I don't plan to go there again. If you and Cecilia can really make a career in Lan Bay in the future, I would be interested in going there again."

Charlotte sighed regretfully.

At this time, Robert Kaye finally came back with his work.

It was a thick black iron ring with a small cylindrical box and many other parts on it, even an...antenna?

Anyway, Charlotte felt that the upright metal wire was very similar to the antenna in her memory of her previous life.

"What is this?" Charlotte asked puzzled.

"If you have practiced the Royal Griffin Knights faction, then just put it on like this, and then press this position, and your eagle eye ability will be able to see farther and more clearly..." Robert Kay gestured with his hands, indicating that the ring should be worn around the neck like a collar, and the thin metal wire is not an antenna, but is to be inserted into the human spine.

Oh, it's an amplifier! Charlotte understood it simply and crudely, and she felt very interesting.

Because this ring is not a single man-made miracle, but a complex device composed of multiple man-made miracles spliced ​​together. Its complexity is the only one Charlotte has seen since her rebirth.

Regardless of whether this thing can really enhance Hawkeye's ability, the fact that Robert Kay could create such a complex device in an era when arithmetic operations were not popular shows that he is indeed a talent.

Charlotte only brought Renee with her this time, and there was no one around who could use Hawkeye. However, since Simon Capriati recommended this student, he probably wouldn't have lied. She played with the heavy ring and asked curiously, "How does it enhance Hawkeye's ability?"

Robert Kaye explained for Charlotte.

The knights of the Orlan Empire have a habit. During long and intense battles, they like to take mithril powder to boost their spirits. Of course, this practice is definitely harmful to the body, but it is indeed useful in war.

After hearing this story, Robert Kaye became very interested. After repeated experiments, he found that Mithril would vibrate slightly under certain stimulations and release a strange energy that could help knights recover quickly, improve their senses, and stay awake for a long time. However, based on this discovery, he designed this strange collar.

Robert Kaye's explanation was confusing. After listening for a long time, Charlotte could only come to one conclusion, that is, this guy himself didn't know how the collar worked.

Robert Kaye only knew that this phenomenon existed, and then he applied it, and found that it really worked.

Charlotte pondered for a long time, frowned, and asked a question: "Since Mithril can replenish the knight's physical energy under the stimulation of the ritual you designed, have you ever thought that the supernatural contained in the supernatural material and the miracle in the body of the supernatural are actually the same thing?"

Charlotte just asked casually. What she wanted to express was actually the meaning of energy conversion. The energy in the extraordinary material was converted into the energy in the extraordinary person's body, just like a person converts chemical energy into thermal energy.

However, Robert Kay opened his mouth slightly and did not speak for a long time.

"Is there any problem?" Charlotte asked again in confusion.

"This is a bit like the view of the warlock faction," Robert Kaye explained. "They believe that the extraordinary person itself is a living ritual, and the extraordinary person's body is the object of this ritual, and it is also the extraordinary material burned in the ritual."

"They believe that extraordinary materials are ordinary materials that have absorbed 'something' from this world to become extraordinary materials. So after being consumed by the ritual, the extraordinary materials will return to ordinary materials themselves. The reason why extraordinary people can live for more than a hundred or even two hundred years without being consumed by the ritual is because their efficiency in absorbing 'something' exceeds the speed at which they consume it. Therefore, when extraordinary people fight frequently for a long time, they will die of exhaustion. This is because the speed at which extraordinary people absorb 'something' can no longer keep up with the consumption of the ritual."

Robert Kaye paused for a moment before continuing, "However, the terracotta sorcerers have been identified as heretics by Archbishop Kong Tao and have all been expelled from Platinum City because this theory clearly violates the teachings of the Canon."

Charlotte nodded, understanding.

The church's canon explains that the initiation rituals, brilliant rituals, glorious rituals, and holy presence rituals of the extraordinary are actually all similar to sacrifices to communicate with the great Yig and obtain Yig's gifts. Therefore, the power of the extraordinary can only come from Yig.

Many supernatural factions disagree with this statement, but no one talks about it, only the warlocks speak out. "Living ritual", this concept greatly weakens the presence of God in the growth path of supernatural people.

Although the world was created by Yig, the church could easily argue that the 'something' the sorcerers were talking about was Yig's divine power, but the church, which was used to being overbearing, was too lazy to waste time talking to the sorcerers and directly labeled these people as heretics, demanding that they reflect on whether they were devout enough to God.

"Oh, so that's the case. What a pity! I would like to have some exchanges with those warlocks." Charlotte patted the collar on the palm of her left hand regretfully.

Robert Kaye became nervous and pointed at the small cylindrical box on the collar, saying, "Miss Melerfield, don't knock it. The most basic ritual is based on the slow burning of spark agate. This box is filled with spark agate powder, which can easily explode."

Charlotte froze in her tracks and carefully placed the collar on the table.

Spark agate is an extremely flammable and explosive material. After being ground into powder, it explodes with considerable power. Charlotte didn't understand what this guy was thinking. Why would he tie such a big bomb around someone's neck?

"You showed this to me because you wanted me to give this collar to any knight who was disloyal and then blow his head off?"

Charlotte asked with a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"No, it's not..." Robert Kaye blushed and explained, "It's just that I haven't found a suitable material to replace the spark agate."

Although he had some flaws, Robert Kaye was indeed a special talent. Charlotte also accepted him and repeated to Robert what she had said to Heidi, emphasizing the remoteness of the Viscount of Lanwan.

This time, Robert Kaye didn't even need to speak. Simon Capriati said, "Don't think about it. This guy blew up someone's house and burned half of the street while doing research. He needs to pay a lot of money. I filled some holes for him, but it's still far from enough. I asked him to go with you so that he could go out and hide from debt and work to pay it back. Just give him a little more salary. He has no right to consider whether it's remote or not."

Robert Kaye lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Burn down half the street?" Charlotte looked at the "bomb collar" in front of her again and couldn't help but sigh, "I don't find it strange at all."

PS: Thank you all for your votes and blades, sincere thanks~~

PS2: I recommend a new book, "Citrus-flavored Hogwarts", which, as the name suggests, is a Harry Potter fanfiction, and the heroine is Hermione.

Volume 81: Chapter 73 Chapter Cold Wind Rises

The collar amplifier, which Charlotte returned to Robert Kaye.

Because of its ability to pierce the spine and explode the neck, Charlotte was completely afraid to bring this thing back to be tested on the Three-Winged Knight with Eagle Eyes. If she killed Ryan Nasazzi or Jarrod Garcia, she would be in big trouble.

Robert Kaye went back to pack up his belongings. According to him, he still had a lot of experimental equipment and experimental data to take away, and he also had to say goodbye to his family and friends.

Heidi Stephanie's situation was simpler. She had no family and no private property. She just packed some clothes and a few books and followed Charlotte back to Count Philip's estate.

Sitting in the carriage, Charlotte stared at Heidi sitting across from her again and again - a petite girl less than 1.6 meters tall, with a cute face that was slightly chubby, and a soft voice. Well, she seemed to be a perfect match in every way...

Heidi felt uneasy when Charlotte looked at her. She always felt that Charlotte looked at her like a cat looking at a fish.

"Miss Heidi," Charlotte suddenly asked from the opposite side, "can you turn your hair white?"

Heidi breathed a sigh of relief; this was not a difficult request.

"Okay." Heidi nodded, then closed her eyes again and began to hold her breath.

Charlotte didn't understand whether holding breath was a "pre-casting" part of the Thousand Faces faction or a personal "operation habit" of Heidi? Heidi had to hold her breath for such a long time just to change her hair. If a strong man wanted to become a dwarf, wouldn't he be in danger of suffocating himself to death?

After a long time, Heidi finally had pale hair.

Charlotte looked at the result in front of her and couldn't help but frowned and shook her head: "I'm not talking about this kind of white hair, I'm talking about the kind of shiny white, longer and more flexible..."

Under Charlotte's guidance, Heidi continued to make fine adjustments to her hair. Charlotte discovered that Heidi's ability was not just about changing her hair, she could also change hair quality, length, curl and other factors.

However, this kind of frequent and complex fine-tuning was quite exhausting for Heidi, who was of average talent. When Charlotte finally nodded to indicate that it was okay, Heidi was already so tired that sweat broke out on her forehead.

Charlotte looked at Heidi's silky, crystal-clear, waterfall-like white hair and nodded with satisfaction.

Now, she also has a white-haired man under her command!

Although it is a "fake white hair", the quality is still good.

As they were talking, the carriage passed by a theater that Charlotte was somewhat familiar with. That was where Cecilia's father used to work as a copyist. It was precisely because of this relatively respectable job among the common people that Cecilia's parents could dream of training their little son to become an extraordinary person.

Charlotte suddenly had an idea and asked Renee to help Cecilia say hello to her parents.

Renee rolled her eyes at her young lady. She knew very well that it was impossible for her young lady to care about Cecilia's parents. Charlotte only cared about Cecilia's sister.

Cecilia's sister, Adela, also works in the theater, doing some cleaning work and occasionally performing supporting roles on stage.

Although she expressed contempt for her daughter's duplicity, Renee still followed Charlotte's advice and went to the theater to visit Cecilia's family. But after returning, Renee told Charlotte that Cecilia's parents and sister no longer worked in the theater.

Charlotte was a little confused, so she asked the driver to take a detour and visit Cecilia's house.

Charlotte had never been to Cecilia's house before. She just knew that Cecilia's house was next to a market in the southeast corner of Platinum City. Originally, Charlotte thought it would be difficult to find Cecilia's house. As a result, as soon as she arrived near the market, Charlotte saw a young woman who looked 70% similar to Cecilia. She was wearing a maid outfit and was walking with difficulty on the side of the road, holding a bundle of clothes that reached her chin.

That was undoubtedly Cecilia's sister Adela.

Renee went down and called Adela into the car.

"Miss Adela, long time no see." Miss Charlotte said.

"May, Miss Mellorfield." Adela was very reserved when she saw Charlotte again, or rather, she was always reserved in front of Charlotte.

Heidi was very curious about why Charlotte called such a commoner woman who obviously looked like a laundrywoman to get on the carriage, but Charlotte had no intention of explaining to her, so she didn't ask too much and could only watch from the side.

"I just passed by the theater. I wanted to visit Cecilia's parents and relatives, but I came to nothing." Charlotte said with a smile, "Why don't you work in the theater anymore?"

"Something happened..."

Adela lowered her head and explained to Charlotte some of the things that had happened in this small family in recent months.

After Cecilia left Platinum City, her parents were still unwilling to give up and wanted their youngest son to undergo another spiritual awakening ceremony. To this end, they worked several jobs at the same time and borrowed money from everywhere. The heavy pressure made Cecilia's father sick from overwork. He insisted on going to work despite his illness, but he made frequent mistakes and was fired by the theater owner.

Now Cecilia and Adela's father can only make a living by doing bookkeeping work for several shops in the market.

Adela originally relied on her father's connections to get a job as a handyman in the theater. After her father was fired, Adela also lost her job. Now she can only work as a laundry maid for rich families. The weather is cold now, and Adela's hands have a lot of chilblains, but she didn't complain much about her parents, and only showed some regret when she mentioned that she couldn't go on stage.

It seems that even though she can only play some insignificant supporting roles, Adela still likes acting.