Chapter 102: Returning in Succession
The spring plowing began in the Lanwan Viscountcy. Due to the warmer climate, the spring plowing in the Lanwan Viscountcy started a little earlier than in most parts of the Oran Empire.
Although Charlotte did not encourage her directly subordinate subjects to farm, she had dispatched civil officials early on to urge the various knightly fiefs that it was time for spring plowing.
Last year, when Charlotte arrived in Lanwan, the autumn harvest had already ended. Those Lanwan knights, accustomed to living far from imperial oversight, had not handed over a single grain of tribute to her. Charlotte did not want such a thing to happen a second time.
This agricultural tax was a mere drop in the bucket compared to Lanwan's rapidly increasing military expenditures. Charlotte wasn't relying on it for sustenance, but the knightly fiefs could not avoid paying taxes. This was a matter of principle and a matter of attitude.
As spring plowing began on the lands, Charlotte also began her own "spring plowing."
In the bare flowerbeds around the castle, Charlotte, holding a small hoe, turned over the soft soil and sowed rose seeds. Renee followed a step behind with a watering can; every time Charlotte scattered a handful of seeds, she would follow by watering them.
"Why do you have to plant them yourself? Aren't there gardeners in the castle?"
Celine was also helping to weed the flowerbeds, but her work speed was much faster than Charlotte's. Having gotten a significant lead on Charlotte, Celine rested, leaning on her hoe, and asked Charlotte curiously.
Celine had often helped her father with farm work when she was young, but that was because the northern knights of Lanwan were very poor back then, with limited serfs. Charlotte, on the other hand, maintained a large retinue of servants, including gardeners specifically for tending to flowers and plants. The young girl couldn't understand why she would personally plant flowers.
Without looking up, Charlotte asked in return, "Would you decorate your own room yourself?"
"I would," Celine nodded.
"This castle has only one mistress," Charlotte looked up and pointed to her own nose. "It's essentially my room, so isn't it perfectly normal for me to decorate my own room myself?"
"Oh," Celine said with sudden understanding.
"Speaking of which..." Charlotte looked up at the sky, then looked at Celine with some confusion. "Lola and the others should be in class right now, shouldn't they? How come you, their teacher, have time to be here planting flowers with me?"
"Miss Heidi is explaining the inner workings of the extraordinary factions to them today," Celine said, her cheeks puffing up involuntarily. "Your Excellency, I don't think I'm very suitable to be a teacher."
"Hmm? Why is that?" Charlotte asked.
"I barely understand most of the knowledge Miss Heidi teaches in class. I... I don't even know many words," Celine paused slightly, then continued, "My swordsmanship isn't suitable for teaching Lola and the others either. Every day, I can only lead them in practicing some basic striking and grappling techniques."
Celine's greatest martial skill was greatsword swordsmanship. This style was characterized by wide, sweeping movements, cutting down enemies as if they were melons and vegetables. On the battlefield, it was imposing and invincible. However, Charlotte was training girls like Lola and Sophia as spies and assassins. Greatsword swordsmanship was clearly unsuitable for them; what normal assassin would carry a greatsword taller than themselves to carry out an assassination?
Working with Cecilia, Celine already felt she had little to teach. Now that Heidi had arrived, Celine felt even more redundant.
"You can also learn the things you don't understand alongside Heidi," Charlotte said. Seeing Celine still looking unconvinced, she smiled and asked, "If you don't want to be a teacher, then what do you want to do?"
"I think I'm still better suited for the battlefield. Please let me go fight," Celine said, picking up her hoe and striking a pose as if holding a two-handed sword.
Charlotte was just about to say, "War will come sooner or later, there's no need to rush," when Cecilia hurried over, interrupting Charlotte's idle chat.
"Miss Charlotte, Black Wolf has returned," Cecilia said.
"Black Wolf?" Charlotte remembered the old tribesman with white hair and a wrinkled face. "He's finally back? He was gone for so long, I thought he had died in the Kanpei Mountains. Did he come back alone?"
"No," Cecilia shook her head. "Black Wolf brought back many people, about two to three thousand."
"Oh? Quite a harvest," Charlotte stood up, clapped her hands, and said, "Let's go take a look together."
Charlotte, Cecilia, and the others rode to a military camp southwest of the castle. This camp was originally the earliest garrison of the Lanwan Viscountcy guards, built to accommodate two to three hundred knights, so it was slightly cramped. After the Ambratu general, Mariasis, surrendered to Charlotte with his citizen-soldiers, this small camp became inadequate.
After Elm Town was completed, the commoners had free time, so Herman Green negotiated with Cecilia and built a larger military camp with more buildings next to the old garrison. The small camp of the old garrison was then left for the Direwolf warriors emerging from the Kanpei Mountains.
Firstly, the Direwolf warriors were few in number. Secondly, living next to the knights, these barbarians, who had never truly been touched by civilization in their bones, might exercise some restraint.
When Charlotte entered the military camp, Herman Green had already led his knights and knight-squires to encircle the camp's training ground.
It turned out that Black Wolf had brought back over fifty Direwolf warriors and more than two thousand mountain people in one go.
The newly arrived Direwolf warriors and mountain people were somewhat restless, clearly dissatisfied with their situation. They had come to seek refuge, yet they were being treated like prisoners!
However, Herman Green completely ignored their dissatisfaction. If anyone tried to step out of the training ground, he would whip them mercilessly, almost to death.
There was no choice. Including the sixty Direwolf warriors Black Wolf had brought back on the previous two occasions, there were now over one hundred and ten Direwolf warriors in this small camp. Although the Oran knights liked to disparagingly call the Direwolf warriors "monkey warriors," if they were truly lax in their vigilance, these hundred-plus Direwolf warriors were enough to cause major chaos in the viscountcy.
"Miss Charlotte," Herman Green bowed.
"I'm very glad to see you are well," Charlotte nodded to the guard captain, who had finally regained his spirits and returned to duty. Then she smiled at Black Wolf and said, "Mr. Black Wolf, you've worked hard, recruiting so many people for my domain again."
Upon seeing Charlotte, Black Wolf knelt down with practiced ease. Hearing Charlotte's words, he immediately replied, "Serving you is my most cherished dream!"
Suddenly, someone among the Direwolf warriors Black Wolf had just brought shouted loudly, "Black Wolf, is this the noble new master you spoke of? I thought it would be some warrior! Why is it just a little bitch?"
"Hahahaha..." The man's words caused a group of Black Wolf warriors and mountain people to roar with laughter.
Black Wolf abruptly raised his head, glared angrily at the speaker, then hurriedly kowtowed to Charlotte, "Viscount, please forgive me. I will teach this insolent fellow a lesson for you right now."
Charlotte smiled faintly and shook her head, then said to Celine beside her, "Kill him."
Celine nodded, turned to retrieve her greatsword and a long-handled warhammer from her horse, and then walked into the training ground.
Thump.
Celine tossed the long-handled warhammer in front of the Direwolf warrior who had just spoken.
The Direwolf warrior, whose weapons had already been confiscated, was momentarily stunned, then hastily picked up the warhammer.
Celine rested the greatsword on her right shoulder, her eyes fixed intently on her opponent, and slowly approached him step by step.
With each step, her aura seemed to intensify.
The Direwolf warrior secretly swallowed.
When the distance between them was less than ten steps, the Direwolf warrior couldn't help but take half a step back.
With just that half-step, Herman Green shook his head and said, "Miss Celine should have won."
Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
Celine took two more steps forward.
The Direwolf warrior finally couldn't bear it any longer. With a roar, two wings appeared behind him, and his entire body lunged towards Celine like a cheetah.
Celine's reaction was also extremely fast. She leaned back, her left foot forward and right foot back. The greatsword held in both hands was pushed behind her. Her entire body was like a spring instantly coiled tight. Accompanied by a wing of light appearing behind her, the spring was instantly released, unleashing tremendous energy. This energy was transmitted through all her muscles to the greatsword.
The greatsword slashed out, colliding with the descending long-handled warhammer.
It was the two-winged Direwolf warrior's long-handled warhammer that was knocked off course.
To avoid the blade, the Direwolf warrior retreated hastily.
Celine took a step forward and made another twisting slash, only this time the greatsword was on her left shoulder.
The greatsword slashed out again.
The long-handled warhammer was sent flying.
Celine advanced again, the greatsword shifting back to her right shoulder.
The greatsword, heavier each time, descended for the third time.
Blood splattered.
Three strikes.
The Direwolf warrior died on the spot.
"Tsk, he died so easily?" Charlotte blurted out. She had let Celine make a move, originally intending more to test this little girl who was eager to go to the battlefield. She hadn't expected Celine to achieve victory in just three strikes.
"The Direwolf warriors also practice the Kanoba school," Herman Green explained to Charlotte, then praised, "Although the battle was brief, it was not simple. This Miss Celine is undoubtedly a genius."
Charlotte nodded. In retrospect, Celine's battle was indeed not simple.
The peculiarity of the Kanoba school was that morale directly affected the strength of abilities. A contest between two Kanoba practitioners was, to put it bluntly, a contest of aura. The moment that Direwolf warrior picked up the warhammer Celine had condescended to give him, he had already lost half the battle in terms of aura.
And Celine's seemingly reckless three strikes, which looked like a life-for-life exchange, were actually a process of continuously weakening the opponent's aura and strengthening her own. If Celine had chosen slightly more conservative sword moves and had been parried once or twice by the enemy, she would not have been able to so smoothly crush the enemy's morale completely and achieve victory; instead, she might have been defeated.
Only after confirming the enemy was dead did Celine go to pick up the warhammer she had just knocked away, which had landed among the mountain people. As soon as she approached, the mountain people, who had just been laughing heartily with the Direwolf warrior, scattered nervously, their fear palpable.
Charlotte secretly pouted. These mountain people were always like this; even if you held a sword to their necks, if you didn't kill some of them in front of them, they would still think you were easy to bully. Charlotte truly didn't understand why this group had developed such a disposition.
Black Wolf lowered his head even further, seemingly worried that Charlotte would vent her anger on him.
However, Charlotte was not such a petty person. Being cursed a few times wouldn't cause her any loss; Charlotte had never cared much about it. Killing that Direwolf warrior was merely to intimidate these untamable fellows.
"I once promised you that if you recruited a hundred Direwolf warriors for me, I would knight you," Charlotte, not carrying her viscountess's short sword, casually drew a sword from Herman's waist. "Now you have done it, and I should fulfill my promise."
Black Wolf abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with ecstasy.
Charlotte placed the sword on Black Wolf's shoulder: "I, Viscount of Lanwan, Charlotte Mellerfield, hereby knight you. Mr. Black Wolf, I presume you do not believe in gods, so swear allegiance to me in the name of your ancestors."
"No, no," Black Wolf shook his head repeatedly. "How could my ancestors, as lowly as horse manure, be worthy of comparison with Miss Mellerfield? I will swear by Yig instead. I swear by Yig that I will dedicate the rest of my life to Charlotte Mellerfield, and if I betray her, may I die a horrible death!"
Black Wolf's nonsensical words made Herman Green's brow twitch uncontrollably. Even those slaves of humble origins wouldn't demean their ancestors like this, would they? Internally, Herman Green was very reluctant to admit that such a person was a knight like himself, but he was not a narrow-minded person. Black Wolf had, all told, brought back one hundred and ten Direwolf warriors and over three thousand mountain people slaves to the Lanwan Viscountcy. Herman also acknowledged this contribution.
In contrast, the dozen or so orthodox knights Charlotte had ennobled from knight-squires after capturing Ambratu were somewhat undeserving of their titles.
"I will have Cecilia send your reward to you. You have also been traveling for almost two months, so take a good rest recently," Charlotte added.
"Yes," Black Wolf kowtowed again, his head thudding.
"These Direwolf warriors will be under your command as usual, Knight Herman," Charlotte returned the sword to Herman and said.
"As you command," Herman replied, taking the sword.
"As for these mountain people," Charlotte looked at Cecilia again, "they should have been trained by Knight Jarrod Garcia, but Knight Jarrod hasn't returned yet..."
"No," Cecilia shook her head, "Knight Jarrod has returned."
"Returned?" Charlotte asked in surprise.
"Yes, he just returned," Cecilia said. "Knight Jarrod was injured and is currently receiving treatment from the physician, so he hasn't had a chance to see you yet."
"Injured? How was he injured?" Charlotte asked.
"I'm not sure, but he said he brought back what you wanted, safe and sound," Cecilia said.