Rose Empire

Chapter 26 Population Census and Holy Chrism

Charlotte and Lilith, with Renee's help, quietly slipped back into the castle. It was already late into the night.

Lilith yawned, wanting to return to her room to sleep. Before parting, she pointed to her head and said to Charlotte, "Your spirit and stamina are too depleted. It's best to rest for a day before trying out your new powers."

"Got it, I'll be careful."

Charlotte said so, but after bathing and returning to bed in her nightgown, she couldn't resist pulling Renee to test her newly acquired extraordinary ability.

"What does Milady need me to do?" Renee asked cooperatively.

"Just look into my eyes," Charlotte said.

Renee obediently sat down opposite Charlotte and stared into Charlotte's eyes.

Charlotte simply gazed back at Renee, seemingly without any movement. However, after a moment, Renee suddenly shuddered, her cheeks flushed slightly, and then she chuckled and gently tapped Charlotte's forehead. "Milady, what are you thinking about?"

Charlotte's one-wing awakening was a power that could interfere with the thoughts of others. The obelisk's records called it "Mind-Bewilderment."

In Renee's view, this should be an extraordinary ability similar to hypnosis. But when she looked into Charlotte's eyes, Renee felt the desires in her heart being stirred up bit by bit. A thought of wanting to pin down the beauty in front of her and do some intimate things gradually arose.

Clearly, Charlotte was using Mind-Bewilderment directly as charm. Renee didn't know whether to say Charlotte had misunderstood it or to praise her Milady's quick thinking.

Being tapped on the forehead, Charlotte puffed up her cheeks unhappily. This kind of expression was almost impossible for Charlotte to show in front of outsiders.

"Renee didn't react at all, this effect is too weak, right?"

The obelisk's records of the ability's usage and actual effects were very brief. Charlotte could only explore on her own, but her first attempt hit a wall with Renee. The other party had obviously resisted the influence of Mind-Bewilderment effortlessly.

"Milady, you are too impatient," Renee laughed. "I am a three-wing sorceress, and my three-wing awakening is still Goi. It would be too difficult for your one-wing Mind-Bewilderment to shake me."

Goi in the dragon language has meanings such as "firm," "unwavering," and "loyal," and can greatly help sorcerers resist mental attacks.

"Moreover, any ability needs to be strengthened through constant training and practice. Milady just awakened today, don't be too demanding of yourself," Renee comforted.

Charlotte quickly shook off that sense of disappointment. After all, she was definitely not someone who would wallow in self-pity at the slightest setback.

"Actually, I think I'm not without a chance to charm you."

Charlotte told Renee her thoughts.

All the abilities of a dragon language swordsman are not passive skills, including Goi, which is used for mental amplification. This is also an ability that needs to be actively activated by the dragon language swordsman. It's just that Renee, through repeated training, has practiced Goi to the point where it can be activated like a conditioned reflex.

So, Charlotte's biggest mistake should have been telling Renee in advance that she was going to use her ability on her.

Mind-Bewilderment can be activated as long as both parties make eye contact. Charlotte felt that its concealment was very strong. If Renee was completely unprepared, she should have a chance of success.

"So, can Renee pretend not to know I'm going to charm you?" Charlotte said.

"How can I do that!" Renee said, laughing and crying.

Charlotte wanted to try a few more times, but suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.

"What's wrong, Milady?" Renee saw that Charlotte's expression was strange, and quickly supported her, asking with concern.

"Dizzy," Charlotte said.

"Miss Lilith told you to rest for a day, but you wouldn't listen," Renee said reproachfully, rubbing Charlotte's temples.

"Okay," Charlotte wrapped her arms around Renee's waist, and said coquettishly, "Renee, let's rest together."

"Isn't Milady sleepy?" Renee asked helplessly.

"Not sleepy, I'm very excited right now, I can't sleep at all," Charlotte said.

Renee couldn't refuse Charlotte, and in the end, had to stay overnight in Charlotte's room.

Being intimate with Renee was always the most comfortable thing for Charlotte. This might be partly due to their mutual understanding and tacit agreement, and partly because Renee was the only person she could trust without reservation. Compared to physical pleasure, communicating openly with Renee was even more relaxing for Charlotte. Under Renee's careful cooperation and comfort, Charlotte, who was originally mentally excited due to just awakening, actually fell into a sweet sleep before long.

The next day, the entire Lanwan Viscount territory was filled with an unusual atmosphere.

Servants gathered in groups of twos and threes, whispering to each other, their faces full of worry and fear. Castle guards patrolling passed by and dispersed them, but they couldn't help but glance at the sky. Even those respectable knights frowned and became much more taciturn.

It seemed that a virus called "anxiety" was spreading everywhere among the people.

In this kind of situation, a carriage drove out of the Lanwan Viscount's castle. Servants familiar with the castle immediately recognized it as the Lord's carriage.

"It's like this... name, age, gender, identity, occupation, property, whether literate, whether a sorcerer, whether they have the aptitude to become a sorcerer, these items must be included..."

In the carriage, Charlotte was assigning Cecilia her first task a population census.

Charlotte wanted to know how many people there were in her territory, how many were nobles, how many were commoners, how many were slaves, how many were capable of working, and how many could only eat...

Before Cecilia arrived, Charlotte had no idea who she could entrust with this kind of work to lead.

Usually, Charlotte would throw the miscellaneous tasks in the castle to Old Jack, but Old Jack was after all just a knight who knew how to wield a gun and sword. Asking him to run errands and catch thieves was fine, but letting him do this kind of purely desk-bound paperwork was a bit of a mismatch of skills.

However, Cecilia was different. She lived up to her reputation as a talented woman. Charlotte temporarily crammed some modern statistical knowledge into Cecilia, such as mode, average, median, histograms, line graphs, and stem-and-leaf plots. Cecilia, like a sponge, learned extremely quickly, and in a blink of an eye, she had digested and absorbed these new knowledge, and even vaguely realized what these new knowledge were for.

If it were a knight, Charlotte didn't know how much saliva she would have to waste to make him understand what "average" actually was. If she talked too much, people would also get impatient. However, Cecilia not only didn't feel impatient, but her eyes were bright and sparkling, as if she had discovered a new world.

Cecilia took a pen and paper and recorded the tasks Charlotte had assigned one by one. When Charlotte had finished speaking, she raised her own questions: "First, some people don't have surnames, such as many commoners and slaves."

For example, Cecilia did not have a surname.

"No surname is fine," Charlotte waved her hand casually.

In this world, surnames were still regarded as a kind of glory, a family tradition. Those commoners who couldn't even remember their grandfather's name, what qualifications did they have to possess a surname? This was not just a unique idea of the nobles, but a common understanding of the entire society. Even the slaves themselves would feel that they were not qualified and did not need to have any surnames.

Since this was the case, Charlotte did not intend to create some "Commoner Surname Mandatory Order" to make commoners and slaves come up with a bunch of strange surnames like "Underhill," "Mountaintop," "Anus," and "Nosehair."

"Second, how should the property item be counted? Most people probably wouldn't be willing to truthfully report their own property, right?" Cecilia asked again.

Charlotte thought for a moment and said, "Slaves don't need to count property. Knights and commoners, just count the number of doors and windows in their homes. Oh, Southern knights, wait until they have built their new houses before you take people to count the number of doors and windows in their homes."

This was indeed a simple and efficient way to measure the amount of property, Cecilia's eyes flashed slightly.

"Are there any other questions?" Charlotte asked.

"There is one last one," Cecilia's pen pointed to the last line of records on the parchment, "I am just an ordinary person, do you have a way to help me judge whether a child has the aptitude to become a sorcerer?"

Charlotte smiled slightly and said, "I don't, but someone might have it. Aren't we here to visit him now?"

Not long after Charlotte finished speaking, the carriage stopped in front of a church that occupied a large area, but the building was already quite dilapidated.

"I thought we were just here to pray to God," Cecilia said.

"Praying is also one of the purposes," Charlotte said, while looking at the vegetable garden opened up by the church door, and the chickens and ducks still pecking for food by the vegetable patch, her expression was a bit strange.

Because of last night's red moon, there were slightly more people coming to the church to pray today. But soon after Charlotte, Cecilia, and Renee got out of the carriage, Fado, the chief priest wearing a semi-old priest's robe, hurriedly ran out to greet them.

"I didn't expect Viscountess to come in person. The church is a bit messy, please forgive my discourtesy," Fado said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I will have these commoners and slaves driven away immediately."

"No need," Charlotte stopped Fado's intention, and smiled, "Mr. Fado must already know that I just arrived in Lanwan and encountered last night's red moon. I feel uneasy and worried that evil spirits are at work, so I came to pray to the Lord God. These people probably have the same worries as me. As the lord, I should not hinder their devout offerings to my Lord. Mr. Fado just needs to prepare a small prayer room for me."

"Viscountess is truly a benevolent lord. No problem, please follow me." Fado praised in his mouth, and hurriedly led Charlotte to the depths of the church.

When passing through the main chapel, Charlotte saw a familiar figure Marion Duran's wife, Beatrice Duran, who was forcibly brought to the Lanwan Viscount territory by Charlotte.

Charlotte stopped and pointed to Beatrice Duran, who was praying with her eyes closed in the crowd, and asked, "Do you have an impression of her?"

"Oh, that seems to be a knight's wife," Fado did have some impression of Beatrice, "She is very devout to the Lord God and often comes to worship."

"Often comes?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Yes, almost every other day or two she comes once. Do you need me to call her over to talk to you?" Fado asked.

"No need," Charlotte shook her head, "Let's go."

Fado led Charlotte to continue forward, and finally arrived at the only independent prayer room in the depths of the church.

Charlotte glanced at the dust on the benches in the prayer room, on the statue of Ig, and on the prayer book, and then looked at Fado.

Fado's face flushed instantly, and he hurriedly called over a priest apprentice, scolding him to wipe away the dust.

After the priest apprentice wiped the dust off the bench, Charlotte said, "Okay, that's enough. As long as the heart is devout, the Lord God probably won't mind these insignificant dust."

"Right, right, right," the priest apprentice said, "Isn't it the same if there is no statue for prayer?"

Cecilia and Renee were both speechless, what kind of people are in this church!

Charlotte looked at the priest apprentice in front of her, who was burly and looked more like a farmer than a clergyman, and could understand the situation. She had long heard that because of church corruption and frequent deductions of funds, some poor churches would cut staff, draw salaries for nonexistent personnel, and then recruit some priest apprentices who did not understand church classics and were even illiterate to solve the problem of insufficient manpower.

Just along the way, Charlotte had not seen a second formal priest wearing a priest's robe. The people leading those commoners and slaves in prayer were all priest apprentices. It seemed that Fado was also drawing salaries for nonexistent personnel.

However, even if he was drawing salaries for nonexistent personnel, Fado still seemed to have to rely on raising chickens and growing vegetables to make a living.

Fado drove away the priest apprentice, and then hurriedly took out the "Canon" and began to pray, so as not to make any more jokes.

Fado's prayer was also nothing to write home about. He just read from the "Canon", reading two paragraphs. He himself didn't even know what was going on with last night's red moon, so how could he explain it to Charlotte?

After reading, Fado said a lot of good things such as Lord Ig is merciful, Viscountess is wise, and Lanwan will surely prosper.

After the prayer, Charlotte said that she felt much more at ease.

Fado finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid of making too much of a fool of himself in front of Charlotte. This young lady in front of him was from Platinum City, and might often go to decent places like the Radiant Grand Cathedral, and must have heard many sermons that were more skillful than his.

"There is one more thing, I would like to trouble the Chief Priest," Charlotte said again.

"It is my honor to serve you," Fado said quickly.

"I have always heard that the church has the best method for testing extraordinary aptitude," Charlotte said.

"Yes," Fado nodded, "We have an oil. As long as it is applied to the forehead, you can judge the aptitude by looking at the color change. The accuracy rate is about 60-70%."

Sixty to seventy percent, Charlotte understood it as sixty-five percent.

Sixty-five percent accuracy seemed very unreliable, but the gem detection method used by the Oran Empire, and the sacred tree detection method used by the neighboring Lesare Kingdom, were generally recognized by public opinion to have an accuracy rate of only about 60%. The church's 65% accuracy rate was enough to stand out from the crowd, entirely due to the contrast provided by its peers.

"I want to purchase the recipe for this oil. May I ask if Chief Priest can provide a little convenience?"

Although there were no outsiders in this prayer room, Charlotte still lowered her voice.

"This..." Fado was a little embarrassed, "If you need oil, I can prepare some for you, but the recipe is not allowed to be sold by the church."

"I can offer five hundred Florins," Charlotte directly offered a price.

"Five hundred..." Fado swallowed, but still reluctantly shook his head, "It's really strictly forbidden."

Charlotte smiled again and said, "Mr. Fado, I originally wanted to buy it from Archbishop Kong Tao, but the journey is far, and it takes too much time for the messenger to go back and forth, so I came to you. If you are willing, I can offer a thousand Florins."

Could Charlotte buy the recipe from Kong Tao? Definitely not. That recipe was a church secret, and ordinary priests could not even access it. Charlotte had tried many avenues in Platinum City but had not been able to buy the recipe. Kong Tao would be even more impossible.

Therefore, Charlotte came to Fado.

Fado's title was regional chief priest, and his level in the church system was not low, but his jurisdiction was too poor. However, Charlotte was not too sure in her heart, after all, he was too poor to look like he was hiding any treasures.

So, when she heard that Fado could indeed prepare that kind of oil, Charlotte was actually quite delighted in her heart.

Hearing the name Kong Tao, Fado's heart also softened, and he remembered the tattered "Canon" in Charlotte's hand.

That's right, Viscountess is a friend of Archbishop Kong Tao!

A friend of Archbishop Kong Tao!

Selling the secret to a friend of Archbishop Kong Tao should not be considered a mistake, right?

Fado gradually convinced himself: "This, this secret recipe of the church, cannot be sold to outsiders casually..."

"Mr. Fado really can't help me?" Charlotte's tone was disappointed, as if she wanted to give up.

"No, no, you are a friend of Archbishop Kong Tao, how can you be considered an outsider?" Fado hurriedly waved his hand, "I mean... can this price be...?"

Charlotte smiled: "I am willing to add another five hundred Florins, fifteen hundred Florins!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, Viscountess!" Fado rubbed his hands, very excited, "I'll go get the recipe now."

Fado hurried out, leaving the three guests in this dusty room. After a while, he ran back again and handed a piece of parchment to Charlotte.

The ink on the parchment was not yet dry, it should be a newly copied recipe duplicate.

Charlotte held the recipe and looked at it for a while, gradually frowning: "This... why does this recipe look like... Holy Chrism?"

Every spring, the church holds a chrism anointing ceremony, calling on all believers to go to the church and have the priest apply a chrism to their foreheads, symbolizing God's blessing. This chrism is Holy Chrism.

Fado gave Charlotte a thumbs up and said, "Viscountess is truly knowledgeable and erudite. This is indeed the original version of Holy Chrism invented by Saint Roman under the inspiration of our Lord Ig."

Roman was a very well-known Pope in church history. He was revered as a saint, so believers would respectfully call him "Saint Roman" when mentioning him. It is said that he invented Holy Chrism and devoted his life to promoting the chrism anointing ceremony throughout the world, so that people, regardless of status or wealth, could bathe in God's grace.

"But," Charlotte said strangely, "I have also participated in the chrism anointing ceremony, but I have never seen Holy Chrism change color when applied to anyone's forehead."

Speaking of this, Fado was a little embarrassed again. He stammered and explained: "This... Holy Chrism requires whale oil and some extraordinary materials, which is relatively expensive. Nowadays, all churches only use Holy Chrism made of lard for the chrism anointing ceremony, which is cheaper. To test extraordinary aptitude, believers need to make additional offerings to the Lord God..."

Charlotte's expression couldn't help but become a little strange.

Saying it was an offering to the Lord God, in fact, it was just giving extra money to the priests.

After learning the truth about Holy Chrism and the chrism anointing ceremony, Charlotte couldn't help but feel that Saint Roman was actually an ambitious Pope. With Holy Chrism, as long as he promoted the chrism anointing ceremony throughout the world, the church would have the opportunity to discover a large number of extraordinary talents from all corners of the world and further strengthen the church.

Unfortunately, Roman did not live long and died early. After his death, the Holy Chrism he invented became a means for the church to make huge profits.

When Saint Roman was alive, he insisted that everyone could be anointed, regardless of rank or status.

After Saint Roman's death, the church still declared that everyone could be anointed, but believers needed to pay a little chrism anointing fee before the chrism anointing ceremony to show their devotion to God.

After paying the chrism anointing fee, the chrism that believers were smeared with was still the inferior lard.

The real Holy Chrism had long been unrelated to the chrism anointing ceremony. The church had separately opened up a business to test believers' aptitude, which required additional fees.

Of course, Charlotte did not have extra thoughts to sympathize with Saint Roman's policy failing after his death. She put away the parchment and signaled Renee to fetch the money.

Renee quickly brought a delicate small wooden box from the carriage.

Fado took the wooden box, feeling its heavy weight, his hands trembling.

Charlotte looked at the excited Fado, and then glanced at the dusty statue of Ig, and couldn't help but recall Lilith's teasing this morning: "If God really cares about this world, why doesn't He just strangle those guys in the church first?"

________________________________________

If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 30 advanced chapters available on Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/GirlsLove1