Rose Empire

Chapter 13 The Earl's Territory and the Adventurer

　　Harvey Sherwin delayed the convoy for most of the morning for his two barrels of red wine, and Charlotte did not hurry him. Most of the people in the convoy were ordinary folks, and after five consecutive days of travel, many were exhausted. Taking it easy in the morning was a way to let everyone rest a bit.

　　Another day of tedious travel passed, and as dusk approached, the convoy finally caught sight of a vast forest and the outline of a town. There were city walls, watchtowers, farmland, mills... At the city gate, pedestrians and carriages were coming and going, indicating a fairly large settlement.

　　This was, of course, not Charlotte's Lanwan Viscountcy, as Lanwan could not be so prosperous and orderly. This was the territory of the Earl of Quirk Forest.

　　The current Earl of Quirk Forest was none other than Andre's future father-in-law, Philip Mellerfield.

　　This was also why Charlotte did not rush Harvey Sherwin in the morning; she had planned to spend the night in the Earl of Quirk Forest's territory, so as long as they reached their destination today, it didn't matter if it was a bit late.

　　The Earl's castle was near the forest on the eastern side of the territory, with the surrounding buildings almost hidden among the trees.

　　Charlotte's good relations within the family came in handy at this moment. After announcing her identity, the castle guards did not even report her arrival but directly escorted her to the reception room to wait. Soon, the Earl's steward arrived, greeted her respectfully, and then took Charlotte directly to Monika Mellerfield's boudoir, treating her as no stranger at all.

　　"Charlotte, what brings you here?"

　　Monika was full of surprise at the sight of Charlotte.

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

　　"I missed you too. I never got a reply to the letter I wrote you last month," Monika said without a hint of doubt, taking Charlotte's hand and pulling her into her bedroom.

　　Monika had received a standard young lady's education since childhood and lived in the remote territory of Quirk Forest, rarely participating in noble social activities, which cultivated her naive and romantic character.

　　Charlotte was one of the few friends Monika had, and even during Charlotte's time in Platinum City, they kept in touch through letters. Last month, Charlotte was busy preparing for her investiture as a viscount and the withdrawal from Platinum City, so she couldn't reply to Monika in time.

　　"Ta-da," Charlotte produced an envelope from behind her, "I've brought the letter myself."

　　This was clearly a make-up, but Monika happily took the envelope from Charlotte's hands, sat by the window, and opened it to read.

　　The contents of their letters were actually trivial matters, such as Monika talking about the flowers and plants she grew, Charlotte mentioning the trends in Platinum City, and sometimes Monika would include poems she wrote for Charlotte to critique.

　　Monika loved reading and writing poetry. Due to her limited experience and living environment, her poems inevitably lacked depth and philosophical insight, but Charlotte still appreciated them. In a world where mainstream literature was either aristocratic, ecclesiastical, filled with ornate language, or lengthy admonitions and praises, Monika's poems, with their youthful concerns and romantic sentiments, were refreshingly elegant.

　　Charlotte's letter only mentioned the small matter of her last visit to the Giant Banyan Academy before leaving Platinum City, but Monika read it with great interest, carefully storing it in a small iron box after finishing, which contained all their previous correspondence.

　　"It seems Charlotte really did study diligently in Platinum City."

　　Monika, with the authority of an elder sister, ruffled Charlotte's hair. Although only a few months older, Monika's tall stature gave her the advantage to do so.

　　As night fell, the Earl of Quirk Forest and his wife warmly hosted Charlotte, especially the Countess, Simone Mellerfield.

　　Simone Mellerfield came from a merchant family. Although her family held a knighthood, compared to the Mellerfields, a top noble family of the empire, the knighthood seemed more like a joke. Thus, Simone often faced intentional or unintentional exclusion in the noble circles of the Green Plains Duchy.

　　But Charlotte was different. Simone could tell that this child genuinely didn't care about origins; she could chat with Simone about commoner topics with great interest. Therefore, Simone also particularly liked this child.

　　Monika had three older brothers, all of whom attended the banquet today. However, Simone moved all the best food in front of Charlotte and Monika, leaving the three brothers to watch and swallow their saliva.

　　That night, Charlotte slept in the same bed as Monika, the two huddled under a blanket, heads close together, chatting until late before finally falling asleep.

　　Early the next morning, Charlotte bid farewell to the reluctant Monika. However, Charlotte did not rush to set off with the convoy. She had Jack Moore go to the butcher to buy some meat, while she and Renee went to the streets of the town.

　　The streets of the Earl's territory were already quite busy in the early morning, with many lumberjacks in coarse clothes and carrying axes walking on the road, their faces only showing numbness, fatigue, and the pallor of malnutrition.

　　Although the Earl of Quirk Forest was located in a remote area, it was very wealthy. Quirk Forest was the largest timber supplier in the Green Plains Duchy and among the top three in the Orlan Empire. The huge profits from selling timber each year made Philip Mellerfield one of the wealthiest in the entire family.

　　However, what did this wealth have to do with the commoners in the territory?

　　Nothing.

　　For Charlotte, Philip Mellerfield and Simone Mellerfield might be very kind elders. But for the commoners, they could be considered brutal.

　　To meet the empire's voracious demand for timber and their own greedy desires, the couple imposed over a hundred days of corvée labor on the commoners each year, almost three times that of other noble territories. Corvée labor brought no income to the commoners, sapped their strength, and even their lives. No one knew how many commoners' bones were buried in the lush Quirk Forest.

　　Charlotte and Renee finally found a small tavern after winding through the streets. The tavern had a distinctive name, "Old Axe," but otherwise, it was unremarkable, located in a remote corner of the street, with dirty mud underfoot, a place where poor commoners or lumberjacks might frequent, seemingly unrelated to a noble like Charlotte. Yet, Charlotte pushed the door open without hesitation.

　　Perhaps because it was too early, the tavern was cold and almost empty. Charlotte walked to the counter, and the male attendant, seeing Charlotte's noble attire and the armored and sword-carrying guard behind her, couldn't help but swallow hard.

　　"Is Miss Lilis here?" Charlotte asked.

　　The attendant was dumbfounded, seemingly not hearing clearly, so Charlotte had to tap the counter and repeat the question.

　　"Oh, Lilis, Lilis is here," the attendant finally snapped out of it, his voice sharp with nervousness, shouting loudly, "Lilis! Someone's looking for you! Lilis! A noble is looking for you..."

　　"Who's looking for me? A noble?"

　　After the attendant shouted a few times, accompanied by light footsteps, a small figure came bouncing down from the second floor.

　　It was a little girl about 1.3 meters tall, with a chubby face and a mop of messy flaxen hair, wearing knee-worn overalls and leather sandals. The most striking feature was her large blue eyes, sparkling with intelligence.

　　The little girl leaned back as if startled upon seeing Charlotte: "Ah! It's you!"

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

　　"Seeing you first thing in the morning is such bad luck," the girl named Lilis said with a dark face, not giving Charlotte any face, "What are you doing here, you noble lady?"

　　"A friend comes to visit, and you won't entertain her? Lilis," Charlotte wasn't angry at all in the face of Lilis's sour expression.

　　"Who's your friend! I don't want to see you, you liar!" Lilis turned to go back upstairs.

　　"Huh?" Charlotte blinked, raising her voice, "Last time you were knocked over by a pig, it was me... mmm..."

　　"Ahhh!" Lilis jumped down from the stairs, pounced on Charlotte, her face red, covering Charlotte's mouth while shouting to cover up.

　　The guards behind Charlotte, except for Renee, were all startled by Lilis's sudden burst of speed.

　　To prevent Charlotte from further publicizing her being knocked over by a pig, Lilis finally invited Charlotte upstairs. Lilis was a long-term tenant of the Old Axe tavern, with a private room on the second floor, but she only allowed Charlotte and Renee in, keeping the other guards outside.

　　Lilis's room didn't look like a little girl's at all. Besides the bed, there was only a desk, a bookshelf, a workbench, and the walls were hung with various tools and weapons. The bookshelf was filled with ancient books and stone tablets emitting an old smell.

　　In theory, adventurers should be a staple, even overused, in a fantasy world. However, after nearly sixteen years in this world, Lilis was the only person Charlotte had met who truly identified as an adventurer—Charlotte certainly didn't think this was just a child's game of make-believe, because when Charlotte first met Lilis, she was already 1.3 meters tall, and Charlotte was only four years old.

　　Now, almost twelve years later, Lilis's appearance hadn't changed at all, as if her time had stopped.

　　Even her personality hasn't changed much, Charlotte thought, watching Lilis kick off her sandals and stand on the bed to meet her gaze.

　　"So, what are you really here for?" Lilis stared at Charlotte.

　　"We're adventure partners, aren't we? I'm here to go on an adventure with you," Charlotte said with a smile, hands behind her back, giving the standard response of a shonen manga protagonist.

　　"Hmph, who wants to go on an adventure with you anymore? Every time, you take all the good stuff. Don't think you can fool me again!" Lilis clenched her little fists to express her anger, but combined with her youthful appearance, it was hardly intimidating and even somewhat cute.

　　"But you always get a lot too, like that time at the Luyang ruins..." Charlotte said.

　　"Shut up! You dare mention the Luyang ruins!" Lilis gritted her teeth, "You took all the valuable relics, and I only got some useless junk! How dare you bring that up!"

　　The "junk" Lilis referred to was actually gold and silver treasures, but Lilis didn't care for wealth. She preferred stone tablets, parchment, and various inscribed vessels that recorded history and ancient knowledge.

　　In this regard, Charlotte thought that although Lilis identified as an adventurer, she was more like an archaeologist.

　　However, Charlotte was also interested in knowledge and history, so there was a significant "conflict of interest" between them, often leading to "unequal division of spoils."

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

　　"Of course I'm angry! Get out," Lilis pushed Charlotte.

　　"I came to invite you to go on an adventure with me."

　　"I've already said! I won't take you on adventures anymore! How many times do I have to repeat myself!"

　　"What can I do to make Lilis forgive me and join my adventure team?" Charlotte asked pitifully, hands over her chest.

　　Lilis remained unmoved. She had seen Charlotte's pretentious act countless times. She sneered coldly and extended a small foot, saying, "Unless you kiss my toes."

　　For a noble, this was undoubtedly a great insult.

　　However, Charlotte noticed the faint blue wing behind Lilis, its light very dim, easily overlooked in the bright daylight, but it was undoubtedly there, which meant...

　　"Really?" Charlotte asked.

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

　　Then, to Lilis's astonishment, Charlotte took Lilis's small foot and kissed the tip of her toes.

　　The mocking sneer instantly froze on Lilis's youthful face.

　　The moment Charlotte's kiss landed, Lilis felt as if an invisible chain had bound her heart, and the other end of the chain was undoubtedly with Charlotte.

　　Lilis belatedly retracted her foot, like a startled little rabbit. When she realized what had happened, she finally jumped up in fright.

　　"Bastard! Liar! Shameless! Are you a pervert?" Lilis kicked Charlotte's arm, her large blue eyes filled with glistening tears.