Rose Empire

There were two three-winged swordsmen in that team of eighteen people.

Although Charlotte already had thirty knights, most of them were one-wing or two-wing warlocks. The only two three-wing swordsmen, Marion Duran, had died, and Hermann Green, was still on his way back.

Therefore, it is very necessary for Charlotte to actually get that 18-man team.

Charlotte glanced in the direction of Harvey Sherwin, the fat man with a big belly, who was whipping the groom because the expensive red wine was knocked over. Charlotte sneered disdainfully, finished her bread, clapped her hands, and said to Renee, "Call Robin Mancini to me."

Soon, Leni brought over a man with flowing blond hair, wearing exquisite leather armor and a sexy purple cloak.

Robin Mancini is also a two-wing swordsman.

The few knights Helen left for Charlotte were far from enough for Charlotte, so she had been trying every possible way to recruit talents for ten years, and finally she had this team that Wolf von der Lun admired. Robin Mancini was one of the talents discovered by Charlotte. He used to be a mercenary. He was captured by the Duke of Greenfield in a battle, and Charlotte picked him out from the prisoner-of-war camp.

"Miss, how can I help you?"

Robin Mancini made a stylish bow. Even though he had played for Charlotte for many years, this guy still had the casual and unrestrained demeanor of a mercenary.

"I have a task for you." Charlotte hooked her finger.

Robin Mancini came closer to Charlotte, and Charlotte lowered her voice and said a few words to Robin Mancini.

After listening to Charlotte's words, Robin Mancini lifted his golden belt and smiled proudly: "Don't worry about this matter, young lady. As a knight, eating, drinking and having fun are what I am best at."

Charlotte's eyes were full of disgust. She said, "How dare you say such a thing? If Herman Green hears it, he will challenge you, the guy who has ruined the honor of the knights, to a duel."

"Isn't Knight Herman here?" Robin Mancini didn't care at all about being mocked by Charlotte, and continued to laugh. "Of course I wouldn't say that in front of him."

Volume 14: Chapter 13 Chapter Earldom and Adventurers

Harvey Sherwin delayed the team for most of the morning because of his two barrels of red wine, and Charlotte did not urge him. Most of the people in the team were ordinary people. After five consecutive days of traveling, many people were very tired. Walking less in the morning was also a way for everyone to rest.

It was another boring day of traveling. As dusk approached, the team finally saw a large forest and the outline of a town. There were city walls, watchtowers, farmland, mills... Pedestrians and carriages were coming in and out of the city gate. It looked like a fairly large market town.

This is certainly not Charlotte's Viscount Lanwan's territory. Viscount Lanwan's territory cannot be so wealthy and orderly. This is the territory of Earl Quick Forest.

The current Earl of Quickforest is none other than Andre’s future father-in-law, Philip Mellerfeld.

This is also the reason why Charlotte did not urge Harvey Sherwin in the morning. She originally planned to spend the night in the Earldom of Quick Forest tonight, so as long as she arrived at this destination today, it didn't matter whether she arrived early or late.

The Earl's castle is close to the forest on the east side of the territory, and the buildings around the castle are almost all hidden by the trees.

Charlotte's good relationship with the family was very useful at this time. After reporting her identity, the castle guards did not even inform them and directly led Charlotte into the reception room to wait. Soon, the Earl's housekeeper also came. After greeting her respectfully, he took Charlotte directly to Monica Melfeld's boudoir, not treating Charlotte as an outsider at all.

"Charlotte, why are you here?"

Monica's eyes were full of surprise when she saw Charlotte.

"I missed Sister Monica, so I came to see you." Charlotte said.

"I miss you, too. I haven't received a reply to the letter I wrote to you last month." Monica didn't doubt Charlotte's words at all. She held Charlotte's hand and pulled her into her bedroom.

Monica received a standard education as a young lady, and lived in a remote territory like Quaker Forest. She seldom participated in social activities among nobles, so she developed a naive and romantic character.

Charlotte was a rare friend of Monica, who had been living in seclusion for a long time. Even when Charlotte went to Platinum City, the two kept in touch. Last month, Charlotte was busy preparing for the title of Viscount and evacuation of Platinum City, so she was unable to reply to Monica in time.

"Ding-ding-ding," Charlotte pulled out an envelope from behind her back, "I delivered the letter myself."

This was obviously just a make-up, but Monica happily took the envelope from Charlotte, sat by the window and opened it to read.

The content of the correspondence between Charlotte and Monica was actually just some trivial and sporadic things. For example, Monica would talk about the flowers and plants she raised, and Charlotte would talk about the fashion trends in Platinum City. Sometimes Monica would also enclose her own poems in an envelope for Charlotte to review.

Monica likes to read and write poetry. Due to her experience and living environment, her poetry lacks profound thought and philosophy, but Charlotte still appreciates Monica's poetry. Because the mainstream of literary works in this world is either aristocratic literature, church literature, or randomly piled up gorgeous words, or long and repetitive admonitions and praises. In comparison, Monica's poems with girlish thoughts and romantic feelings are so fresh and meaningful.

Charlotte's letter only talked about her last visit to Giant Banyan Academy before leaving Platinum City, but Monica read it with great interest. After reading it, she carefully put the letter into a small iron box, which contained all the letters they had exchanged in the past.

"It seems that Charlotte is really studying hard in Platinum City."

Monica showed her sister's authority and rubbed Charlotte's head. Although she was only a few months older than Charlotte, Monica was tall and had the capital to do this.

As night fell, the Count and Lady of Quakerforest gave a banquet and entertained Charlotte warmly, especially the Countess, Simone Melefield.

Simona Melfeld was born into a wealthy merchant family. Although her family had a knighthood, compared to the top nobles of the empire like Melfeld, the knighthood was more like a joke. Therefore, Simona Melfeld was often excluded, intentionally or unintentionally, in the noble circles of the Green Plains Principality.

But Charlotte was different. Simone could feel that this child really didn't mind her background. She could talk to Simone with great interest even about common people. Therefore, Simone also liked this child very much.

Monica has three older brothers, and they all attended the banquet today. However, Simone moved all the best food in front of Charlotte and Monica, leaving the three of them with nothing but watching and drooling.

At night, Charlotte and Monica slept in the same bed. They huddled together in a quilt, heads touching, and chatted until late at night before finally falling asleep.

The next morning, Charlotte said goodbye to Monica who was reluctant to leave. However, Charlotte was not in a hurry to get the team on the road. She asked Jack Moore to find a butcher to buy some meat, and she and Renee went to the streets of the city together.

The streets of the Earldom were already quite busy in the early morning. Many lumberjacks wearing linen clothes and carrying axes were walking on the road. Their faces showed numbness, fatigue and malnutrition.

Although the Earl of Quick Forest is also located in a remote area, it is very wealthy. Quick Forest is the largest timber supplier in the Green Plains Principality and one of the top three timber suppliers in the Oran Empire. The huge profits from the sale of timber every year have made Philip Melfeld one of the richest people in the entire family.

However, what does this wealth have to do with the common people in the territory?

No.

To Charlotte, Philip and Simone Mellerfeld might be very kind elders, but to the people of the territory, they might be cruel.

In order to meet the empire's strong demand for timber and their own greed, the couple prepared more than 100 days of labor for the people every year, which was almost three times that of other noble territories. Labor could not bring any income to the civilians, and it would overdraw their physical strength and even their vitality. No one knew how many civilian bodies were buried in the lush Queke Forest.

Charlotte and Renee finally found a tavern after many twists and turns in the street. The tavern had a rather unique name, "Old Axe", but otherwise it was ordinary. The storefront was located in a remote street corner, with dirty muddy water underfoot. It looked like a place where poor civilians or lumberjacks would come to consume. It had nothing to do with aristocrats like Charlotte, but Charlotte pushed the door and walked in without hesitation.

It was probably because it was too early, the tavern was deserted and there were almost no customers. Charlotte walked to the front desk, and the waiter who was wiping the wine glass, Charlotte's aristocratic dress and the guards in armor and swords behind her, made her swallow uncontrollably.

"Excuse me, is Miss Lilith here?" Charlotte said.

The waiter was stunned and seemed not to have heard clearly, so Charlotte had to knock on the table and repeat the question.

"Oh, Lilith, Lilith is here," the waiter finally came to his senses and shouted in a voice that became shrill because of nervousness, "Lilith! Someone is looking for you! Lilith! Someone is looking for you..."

"Who's looking for me? An adult?"

After the waiter called out a few times, a small figure came skipping down from the second floor accompanied by brisk footsteps.

She was a little girl who was only about 1.3 meters tall, with a round face full of baby fat and messy flaxen short hair. She wore overalls that were severely rubbed at the knees and leather sandals. The most eye-catching thing was probably her big blue eyes, which flickered and were very lively.

When the little girl saw Charlotte, she leaned back as if frightened: "Oh! Why is it you!"

"Good morning, Lilith," Charlotte greeted with a smile.

"It's unlucky to see you so early in the morning." The girl named Lilith said with a dark face, not giving Charlotte face at all. "What are you doing here, young lady?"

"A good friend is coming to visit, won't you treat him well, Lilith?" Charlotte was not angry at all facing Lilith's sour face.

"Who is your good friend? I don't want to see you, a liar!" Lilith turned around and was about to go back to the second floor.

“Eh?” Charlotte blinked and raised her voice, “The last time you were knocked over by a pig, it was me… woo woo…”

"Wow!" Lilith jumped down the stairs and threw herself on Charlotte. Her face turned red. She covered Charlotte's mouth and screamed to cover it up.

Except for Renee, all the guards behind Charlotte were shocked by Lilith's sudden burst of amazing speed.

In order to prevent Charlotte from spreading the news that she was knocked over by the pig, Lilith finally invited Charlotte to the second floor. Lilith was a long-term resident of the Old Axe Tavern and had an exclusive room on the second floor of the tavern, but she only allowed Charlotte and Renee to go in and kept the other guards out.

Lilith's room didn't look like a little girl's room at all. Apart from the bed, there was only a desk, a bookshelf, and a workbench in the room. The walls were hung with various tools and weapons, and the bookshelf was filled with ancient books and stone slabs that exuded an old smell.

Logically speaking, adventurers should be a standard feature of the Western fantasy world, or even an overabundance of them. However, after nearly sixteen years in this world, Lilith is the only person Charlotte has ever met who truly considers herself an adventurer. Charlotte certainly doesn't think that this is just Lilith playing a child's game, because when Charlotte first met Lilith, she was already 1.3 meters tall, and Charlotte was only four years old that year.

Now, almost twelve years have passed, and Lilith's appearance has not changed at all, as if time has stopped for her.

Even her personality hasn't changed at all, Charlotte added silently in her heart as she watched Lilith kick off her sandals, stand on the bed, and try hard to look Charlotte in the eye.

"Tell me, what are you here for?" Lilith asked, staring at Charlotte.

"We are adventuring partners. Of course I'm here to go on an adventure with you." Charlotte put her hands behind her back, smiled and gave the standard answer of a hot-blooded comic protagonist.

"Hmph, who wants to go on adventures with you? You take all the good stuff away after every adventure. Don't even think about cheating me again!" Lilith clenched her little fists to express her anger, but combined with her childish appearance, she had almost no deterrent effect and even looked a little cute.

"But you gain a lot every time, just like the time at the Luyang Ruins..." Charlotte said.

"Shut up! How dare you mention the Lujan Ruins!" Lilith gritted her teeth, "You took away all the truly valuable relics. I only got some useless garbage! How dare you mention it!"

The garbage in Lilith's mouth is actually gold, silver and treasures, but Lilith does not like gold, silver and treasures. What she likes more are the stone tablets, parchment and various utensils with inscriptions that record history and ancient knowledge.

From this point of view, Charlotte felt that although Lilith regarded herself as an adventurer, she was actually more like an archaeologist.

However, Charlotte is also interested in knowledge and history, so the two have a considerable "conflict of interest" and often "divide the spoils unequally."

"So, you are really angry?" Charlotte sat on Lilith's bed without any hesitation.

"Of course I'm angry! Go away." Lilith pushed Charlotte.

"I wanted to invite you to go on an adventure with me this time."

"I've already said it! I won't take you on any more adventures! Do you want me to repeat it a few more times?"

"What should I do to make Lilith forgive me? Join my adventure team?" Charlotte asked pitifully, covering her chest with her hands.

Lilith remained unmoved. She had seen Charlotte's hypocritical behavior countless times. She smiled coldly, stretched out a little foot, and said, "Unless you kiss my toes."

This is undoubtedly a great insult to a nobleman.

However, Charlotte noticed the pale blue wings behind Lilith. The light it emitted was very dim and could be easily overlooked in the bright sunshine, but it undoubtedly appeared, which meant...

"Really?" Charlotte asked.

"Of course." Lilith answered without hesitation, "I'm not a liar like you."

Then, as Lilith stared in amazement, Charlotte held up Lilith's little feet and kissed her toes.

The mocking sneer instantly froze on Lilith's childish face.

The moment Charlotte's kiss fell, Lilith seemed to feel an invisible chain bound around her heart, and the other end of the chain was undoubtedly on Charlotte's body.

Lilith belatedly retracted her little feet, like a frightened little rabbit. When she realized what had happened, she finally jumped up in fright.

"Bastard! Liar! Shameless! Are you a pervert?" Lilith kicked Charlotte's arm, her big blue eyes filled with crystal tears.

Volume 15: Chapter 14 Chapter Arrogant Thoughts

Lilith is not only the only adventurer Charlotte knows, but also the only living spiritual bond warlock Charlotte has ever seen.

The Spirit Contract Warlock is very famous in the Orlan Empire, thanks to an ancient legend.

Legend has it that the predecessor of the Orlan Empire, the Wimbledon Empire, once gathered together almost all the spiritualists in the world.

One day, the last emperor of the Wimbledon Empire made a bet with a spiritual contract sorcerer - whether it would snow in the entire Wimbledon Empire that winter. The emperor thought it would not snow, while the spiritual contract sorcerer thought it would. The two agreed that if the emperor won, the spiritual contract sorcerer would serve the emperor for the rest of his life. If the spiritual contract sorcerer won, the emperor would need to pay the spiritual contract sorcerer a certain amount of food every day in the future. On the first day, it would be one grain of wheat, on the second day, it would be two grains of wheat, on the third day, it would be four grains of wheat, on the fourth day, it would be eight grains of wheat, and so on, until the spiritual contract sorcerer died.

Back then, the Wimbledon Empire was only slightly smaller than the current Orlan Empire, and the climate in many places was always mild, so it was almost impossible for snow to fall across the entire territory. However, that year, heavy snow fell across the entire Wimbledon Empire.

The Emperor of Wimbledon lost the bet and had to fulfill his promise.

At this time, the emperor realized that as time went by, even if he plundered all the food in the country, it would not be enough to pay the gambling debt he promised to the spiritual contract sorcerer.

Some officials advised the emperor not to fulfill the bet, otherwise the country would be destroyed. The emperor just said helplessly: "The contract signed with the spirit contract sorcerer cannot be violated." Then he continued to plunder the country's grain.

Eventually, the Wimbledon empire collapsed amid an unprecedented famine.

After the fall of the Wimbledon Empire, the Orlan Empire rose from its ruins.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Orlan Empire, necromancers and spirit-contracted sorcerers were listed as "unforgivables". A large-scale purge of spirit-contracted sorcerers in the country was carried out, and some of their practice materials and knowledge were destroyed. The relevant operations lasted for more than a hundred years.

One man destroyed a thousand-year-old empire, and the spiritualist left behind a horrifying legend.

Due to the lack of historical data and evidence, Charlotte did not know whether the legend had a certain degree of authenticity, but at the beginning of the founding of the Orlan Empire, an attempt was made to eliminate the spirit contract sorcerers with the whole country's strength. Although the relevant policies were gradually abolished after the death of the founding monarch, that period of history did cause great damage to the inheritance of the spirit contract sorcerers.

The complete faction of spiritual contract sorcerers in the Orlan Empire has almost ceased to exist, and the remaining cultivation methods are all incomplete, some are even fabricated and forged by later generations, and are full of errors and omissions.

The spiritual contract sorcerer's training method used by Lilith is said to be something she found out from the fragments of ancient books, but there are still quite a lot of problems. One of the most serious is that Lilith cannot completely determine independently whether she is "making a contract" with others.

Sometimes Lilith felt that she was clearly making a contract, but the extraordinary power of the spiritual contract warlock in her body did not move at all. Sometimes Lilith did not want to make a contract, but her extraordinary power took the initiative to turn her casual promise into an unbreakable oath.

Just like just now, Lilith's words "Unless you kiss my toes" were obviously a vent of anger, but the spiritual contract warlock's extraordinary power was activated on its own.

“It doesn’t work, ahhhh…”

Charlotte's convoy was back on the road, and Lilith, who had set out with them, threw herself on the floor of the carriage and rolled around.

Just as the saying goes, "A contract signed with a psychic warlock cannot be violated." The contract of a psychic warlock is two-way, and both the opponent and the psychic warlock himself will be bound by the contract.

In fact, Lilith has been Charlotte's friend for more than ten years. Although there are often "conflicts of interest" between the two parties, they have indeed experienced many life-and-death crises together. Charlotte has never thought of using a contract to bind Lilith. The previous contract was more of Charlotte's bad taste.

Seeing Lilith crying sadly, Charlotte thought of an idea. She and Renee announced the establishment of an adventure team, and Lilith announced that she would join. This should be considered as fulfilling the agreement.

However, it had no effect, and Lilith's contractual constraints remained.

The extraordinary power of the spiritual contract does not believe that Lilith has fulfilled the agreement.