Chapter 37 Ridiculous Trial

Chapter 37 Ridiculous Trial

Rayne Nazares killed the man and rode off on his horse, very dashingly. Jarrod Garcia was forced to come out and clean up the scene of scattered corpses. Regba Dando's torso and limbs were gathered into a pile by the roadside, and his head was hung on the wooden wall. Below it, a sign read: "The Fate of a Smuggler."

Onlooking merchants and travelers were pale-faced with fear at the bloody scene, pointing and gesturing at Regba Dando's head, whispering to each other.

Then, news of a smuggler being drawn and quartered in Lanwan Canyon gradually spread.

A few days later - the Lanwan Canyon checkpoint garrison commander drew and quartered a smuggler.

A few days later - Jarrod Garcia ripped apart a smuggler.

...

Knock knock.

Inside the lord's castle, a delicate hand knocked on the door of Charlotte's study.

"Come in," Charlotte's voice came from inside.

Cecilia, holding a thick stack of papers, pushed open the door and entered, but immediately froze at the doorway.

Charlotte was leaning in disarray against a charming young girl, toying with her unique light cyan long hair. Her silk skirt was also wrinkled, and the silk belt was not tied around her waist but hanging casually on the armrest. Beside Charlotte was another girl, even petite, with a face full of amorousness, and wet strands of hair clinging to her lips. Her appearance was seventy or eighty percent similar to the girl Charlotte was using as a pillow. Seeing this, how could Cecilia not know what Charlotte was doing in the study?

"Cecilia, is there something you need?" Charlotte asked.

Cecilia closed the study door and said with a slightly sullen face, "Indeed, there is something. The work of investigating the population within the territory that you asked me to do is basically completed. However, Viscount, don't you think it's a little rude of you to speak to me like this?"

Charlotte thought for a moment and nodded, "You're right, you guys go out."

She patted her skirt, stood up, and gestured for the two girls beside her to leave.

Charlotte smiled and pointed at the corner of her mouth. The even more petite girl seemed to realize something, licked her lips with her small pink tongue, and then gave Charlotte a charming smile.

These two girls were both female slaves Charlotte had bought from Ambratu. It has to be said, you get what you pay for. These two little slaves were not bad-looking, and they were very skilled in bedroom tricks. Charlotte had entertained herself a little in the morning, and afterwards felt refreshed and invigorated, sweeping away the fatigue from last night.

The two little slave girls left the study. Renee stepped forward to help Charlotte put on her disheveled clothes – only then did Cecilia notice Renee's presence in the study. She really didn't understand how this little maid managed to watch Charlotte's erotic scene from the side without changing her expression throughout.

"Let's get down to business," Charlotte said, fastening the last button on her cuff before sitting down at her desk.

Cecilia took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, then placed the manuscript in her arms on Charlotte's desk with a straight face. "According to preliminary statistics, the Lanwan Viscount Territory currently has a total population of just over seventeen thousand. This is the figure after excluding the southern villages attacked by necromancers. We are currently unsure how many survivors there are in those attacked villages."

Seven villages in total were attacked by necromancers. The worst affected, Cowbell Village and Bluefish Village, had no survivors. Other villages might still have survivors, but there would definitely be very few.

Charlotte looked at the statistical report in her hand, her heart aching.

If the ratio of old corpses to fresh corpses among the walking corpses outside is calculated at one to one, then Regba Dando killed at least four thousand people. Lanwan Viscount Territory inexplicably lost one-fifth of its population just like that! Thinking of this, Charlotte wished she could piece Regba Dando's body back together and tear it apart again.

"Just cross out those disaster-stricken villages," Charlotte said. "The surviving villagers will be relocated to other villages later."

"Mm."

Cecilia nodded, deeply understanding the horror of necromancers. The undead army that seemed to spread and grow like a plague was simply a nightmare for ordinary people like her. Caught off guard, it probably wouldn't be difficult for a necromancer to destroy a city.

No wonder not only the Church, but also the major empires, always harbored deep wariness towards necromancers.

"Excluding your subordinates, Lanwan Viscount Territory currently has ninety-five knights, over eight hundred nobles, over fourteen thousand commoners, and over three thousand slaves..." Cecilia continued.

The so-called nobles in this poor place, Lanwan Viscount Territory, were just those knights and their families. The knights Charlotte brought with her mostly had their fiefs in the Green Plains Duchy, or even the Gato Kingdom, so they could not be counted as Lanwan nobles for the time being.

Compared to other regions of the Oran Empire, Lanwan Viscount Territory had a relatively low proportion of slaves. Of course, this didn't necessarily mean that the people of Lanwan were more civilized; it only meant that the southern knights had done a "great service." They had sold most of the serfs and even tenant farmers in their territories to the Sokia Peninsula and the Quake Forest, two regions with high demand for slaves.

"How many direct subjects do I have now?" Charlotte suddenly asked.

The eight knight territories were moved to the north, and the vacated southern territories naturally returned to Charlotte's ownership. When the knights left, they could only take away their families, slaves, and some hired laborers and tenant farmers who were willing to go with them. The common people remaining in those territories naturally became Charlotte's subjects.

To her delight, Charlotte finally had direct subjects of her own.

"Originally, there should have been over eight thousand, but now there should only be about four thousand left," Cecilia replied.

Hearing this, Charlotte couldn't help but rub her temples again.

Regba Dando killed all the way from Bluefish Village to the castle, and all those he killed were going to be Charlotte's direct subjects.

"Later, send a message to Robin Mancini and have him inquire about whether the Elder of the Fei Di Order, Regba Dando, has any family members left. I want to throw them all into Lanwan to feed the fish," Charlotte instructed, rubbing her temples.

Cecilia remained silent, not daring to respond.

"Yes," Renee nodded, and noted it down.

"Cecilia, I want to conscript all my subjects to build a market at Elm Village. This task will be entrusted to you and your subordinates," Charlotte said.

Elm Village was located in the former fiefs of the Eric Scamario and Costa Scamario brothers. This place was a must-pass on the southern trade route and was also a common overnight stop for merchants and travelers heading to the Green Plains Duchy. Now this place belonged to Charlotte.

"All subjects? Even the old, weak, women, and children?" Cecilia asked doubtfully.

"Yes, even the old, weak, women, and children," Charlotte nodded.

"But... building a market is physical labor, the old, weak, women, and children can't help much," Cecilia tried to persuade Charlotte.

Charlotte stood up and pointed to the map, saying, "I plan to first build a labor camp in this location west of Elm Village to house the conscripted subjects. Winter is coming, Cecilia, and I believe you have seen that these people have no clothes, no food, and not even a shelter to keep out the wind. Concentrating them, providing them with housing and food, can reduce the number of deaths this winter."

"Alright," Cecilia was convinced, but then she hesitated and said, "But, I haven't really been in charge of building a town..."

"Oh, don't worry too much about that. I brought back an assistant for you from Ambratu," Charlotte turned to Renee and said, "Go get that what's-his-name... what was it again..."

"Jonathan, Jonathan Harkman," Renee rolled her eyes.

The two little slave girls remembered clearly, the master builder who claimed to have participated in the Fei Di construction project, but their own young lady had almost forgotten him.

"Yes, go and invite Mr. Jonathan Harkman here," Charlotte continued to instruct, not feeling embarrassed at all.

Renee acknowledged and left, quickly bringing Jonathan Harkman to the study. Although his slave shackles had been removed, he still looked haggard.

"Greetings, Viscountess," Jonathan Harkman already knew the true identity of the master who had bought him. As soon as he entered the study, he knelt down to Charlotte.

Charlotte didn't speak, she sat at her desk, leaning against the armrest of her chair, and carefully sized up Jonathan Harkman.

Only when Jonathan Harkman felt uneasy under Charlotte's gaze, and sweat beaded on his forehead, did Charlotte speak, "Mr. Harkman, this person beside you is a disciple of the wise scholar Simon Capriati. She heard that a great architect who participated in the Fei Di construction project had come to the territory, and originally wanted to visit and have a long talk with you. But after hearing your name, she regretfully discovered that among the great architects who participated in the Fei Di construction project mentioned in the scholar's teachings, there was no one named Harkman. How do you explain this to me?"

Cecilia blinked, had she said such a thing? In fact, the construction of the new city of Fei Di took nearly a hundred years, spanning three generations. The number of architects who participated in the construction was countless. Even if Simon Capriati was knowledgeable, it was impossible for him to be bored enough to memorize the names of those architects one by one.

However, Jonathan Harkman was already so frightened that his forehead touched the ground.

Firstly, Simon Capriati's name was too famous in the Eagle Continent, and he had almost been deified among the common people. In the mouths of ordinary people, it seemed that there was no knowledge that this great sage didn't know. Secondly, Jonathan Harkman was indeed not a great architect.

"Please, please forgive me, Viscountess. Great architect was an identity fabricated for me by the slave trader. I was just a slave under him, and had no choice but to help him lie. But I do understand architecture, and I can definitely help you build houses, any kind of house," Jonathan Harkman pleaded.

"Then what is your real identity?" Charlotte questioned.

"I was originally a citizen of Ambratu..." Jonathan Harkman began to confess.

Jonathan Harkman was once a citizen of Ambratu, who traveled outside the city-state year-round, mainly dealing in stone materials. He was a building materials merchant, and occasionally helped people build houses. He also had some connection with Fei Di. Many of the high-end marbles used in the construction of Fei Di City were purchased from his quarry, and Jonathan Harkman had made a fortune from this.

However, the harvest in his career did not bring Jonathan Harkman a harvest in love.

Jonathan Harkman, returning home in glory, caught his young and beautiful wife in adultery with Martin Cramer, the youngest elder of the Elders' Council.

In anger, Jonathan Harkman severely beat Martin Cramer and sued him in court. According to Ambratu law, adultery was a crime that could be punished by hanging in the most serious cases.

However, in court, Martin Cramer, with his parrot, which was ridiculed by citizens as "Little Cramer," was very eloquent. He claimed that he was only comforting a lady who was sad because her husband was impotent, and that they had just forgotten to put on clothes. But if Jonathan Harkman could not prove to the jury that he had penetrated his wife, then he was not guilty of adultery. These words, combined with Martin Cramer's farcical performance, made the citizens attending the jury burst into laughter.

Then, the citizens of the jury voted Martin Cramer "not guilty." Their reason was simply "still want to see Mr. Cramer's farcical performance, wouldn't it be a shame if he died and we couldn't see it anymore."

A lawsuit that was almost ironclad evidence was actually overturned for such a ridiculous reason.

Martin Cramer was innocent.

That meant Jonathan Harkman's lawsuit was completely slanderous.

Jonathan Harkman was stripped of his citizenship for slander and assault on an elder.

After losing the protection of citizenship, Jonathan's wealthy property became a piece of fat meat in the eyes of others. Soon, he not only lost his family, but also all his savings, and he himself was sold into slavery.

Cecilia frowned. Her teacher, Simon Capriati, had no good feelings for the democratic politics of the Sokia Peninsula, where people always liked to vote with pottery shards. He once used an analogy: "If a cargo ship wants to pass through the dangerous Flowing Cloud Strait, would you rather hand it over to an experienced captain to steer, or let a group of ordinary people vote to decide its course?"

Now, hearing Jonathan Harkman's experience, Cecilia's impression of the popular democratic politics that relied entirely on public opinion became even worse.

Charlotte nodded slightly after listening. Jonathan Harkman's words, apart from slightly exaggerating his own ability to make money and build, were basically consistent with the facts. She knew Jonathan Harkman's true identity because this person's story was quite widely spread in Ambratu. Robin Mancini's notebook given to Charlotte recorded this story.

Of course, the protagonist of the story was Elder Martin Cramer, who won the jury's hearts with his talent and won the beauty. Jonathan Harkman was just an insignificant supporting role in it.

"Your experience is sympathetic. The citizens of Ambratu are indeed foolishly ridiculous," Charlotte said.

"No!" Jonathan Harkman raised his head, his eyes full of hatred, "They are not only foolish and ridiculous, but also cold-blooded and greedy. For their own selfish desires, they can do anything, and abandon all moral integrity! They are just a group of insatiable, shameless pigs!"

Hearing these words, Charlotte smiled, "Mr. Harkman, if I say I want to occupy Ambratu and turn all the citizens there into slaves, would you be willing to serve me?"

Hearing this, Jonathan Harkman looked at Charlotte in shock.

"I'm not joking," Charlotte said with a smile, "If it was just to govern a mere Lanwan Viscount Territory, why would I, as the daughter of the Green Plains Duke, come here myself?"

Jonathan Harkman bit his lip, and suddenly kowtowed repeatedly, until blood flowed from his forehead. He raised his finger to the sky and said, "I swear to the God Lord Ig, if you can avenge me, I will serve you faithfully for the rest of my life."

"Very good, deal," Charlotte laughed.

At the same time, Lanwan Canyon.

Several clergymen stood in front of the checkpoint, looking at the head hanging on the wooden wall, shocked.

"Is that the demon?" one clergyman said.

"That's him! I've been chasing him for so long, his face is in my sleep. There's no way I could mistake him," another clergyman said.

"He looks like he died a horrible death..." another clergyman said.

"A four-winged necromancer actually died like this. It seems the new Lanwan Viscount is not simple," the mendicant monk Borodin sighed softly, "Perhaps we should pay a visit to this Viscount, at least we need to take this head back to the Tribunal."

"Should we go and ask for it now?" the young mendicant monk behind Borodin asked.

Borodin shook his head and said, "No, let's go back today. The other party is a high-ranking noble, it would be impolite for us to just go to their door like this."

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