Chapter 72: Two 'Talents'
"What kind of talents are they?" Charlotte's curiosity was piqued.
Simon Capriati had his two attending students go fetch the individuals. While Charlotte waited, sipping tea in her teacher's home, a young man and a young woman were brought before her.
"This is Robert Kaye, and this is Heidi Steffen," Simon Capriati introduced them. "And this lady is the daughter of the Duke of Greenwood, the Viscountess of Lanwan, Charlotte Mellerfield."
Both young people were plainly dressed, devoid of any adornments, clearly not from wealthy families. The young man, Robert Kaye, stood tall with his chin up, exuding an air of cheerful confidence. In contrast, the girl, Heidi Steffen, was extremely timid. She kept her head bowed and her shoulders hunched, making her already petite frame seem even smaller.
"I wish to recruit some capable individuals for my domain," Charlotte explained. "Professor Capriati recommended you both. May I ask what talents you possess?"
Robert Kaye's eyes lit up at her words. "I excel at recitation and writing!" he declared eagerly. "I'm proficient in five styles of calligraphy, and I'm skilled in bookkeeping and accounting too."
"Hmm? But I'm not really looking for a scribe or an estate steward," Charlotte remarked, tilting her head slightly.
Robert Kaye was instantly speechless.
"Fool," Simon Capriati scolded him gently. "Go back and bring your work to show Lady Charlotte."
"Oh!" Realization dawned on Robert, and he hastily dashed out again.
Charlotte then turned her attention to the shy girl named Heidi. "And you, Miss?" she asked with a gentle smile.
"I… I…" Heidi's voice was soft and sweet, though barely audible. "I have studied the ways of the Thousand Faces School…"
"The Thousand Faces School?" Charlotte was somewhat surprised.
The Thousand Faces School was renowned for its mastery of disguise, a well-known yet sparsely populated discipline. The scarcity of practitioners wasn't due to harsh training conditions or high mortality rates like the Shadowmancers, but because its methods were closely guarded by a few select organizations and individuals. These custodians maintained a tacit agreement of secrecy, leaving the outside world largely unaware of who exactly held the knowledge of the Thousand Faces School.
Of course, practitioners did occasionally surface.
For instance, the assassin who, five years prior, had killed the court lady pregnant with Emperor Leopold's child. According to Jose Mellerfield, that assassin was a Thousand Faces Adept disguised as a court dwarf, whose true form was a burly man nearly two meters tall.
Such revelations, however, only served to diminish the reputation of the Thousand Faces School, making people even more wary of its adepts.
Now, this young woman standing before her claimed to know the training methods of the Thousand Faces School. Charlotte felt a mix of surprise and pleasant anticipation.
"Would you mind demonstrating the abilities of the Thousand Faces School?" Charlotte asked, intrigued.
Hearing this, Heidi bit her lip. She held her breath, closed her eyes, and a pair of faint, lavender-glowing wings of light materialized behind her.
Charlotte watched intently, her eyes wide.
Yet, nothing else happened.
Just as Charlotte's brow furrowed in confusion and Heidi's face turned crimson from holding her breath, a change finally occurred. Heidi's hair gradually shifted from its original flaxen color to a soft pink.
Is that it?
A pang of disappointment was unavoidable. While others could transform from a giant man into a dwarf, this girl could seemingly only dye her hair. Still, Charlotte carefully kept her feelings from showing on her face.
However, Heidi seemed to perceive Charlotte's unspoken thoughts. "My own aptitude isn't particularly great," she hastily explained, "so my abilities are limited. But I understand the complete training methods of the Thousand Faces School, and I know many insights from practice. I can teach them all to you."
Charlotte gave Heidi a longer look, a smile gracing her lips. It seemed this timid girl wasn't a simpleton like Linda, despite her shyness.
"I must clarify," Charlotte said, "my territory is quite remote, in the southwestern part of the Greenwood Duchy. Reaching it by carriage takes at least a month. If you come with me, you might only be able to visit any remaining family once a year, if that."
Heidi's gaze dropped. "That's no problem. I haven't had any family for a long time."
Charlotte hadn't expected that answer.
Heidi glanced at Simon Capriati, who gave her a subtle nod of encouragement. She then spoke truthfully, "When I was thirteen, my mother was taken away by Prince Henry Holovin and never returned. When my father found out, he went to the Prince to demand her back… and he never came back either."
"To have offended Henry Holovin and still survived in Platinum City until now… that couldn't have been easy," Charlotte commented thoughtfully.
A bitter smile touched Heidi's lips. "After my parents disappeared, my other relatives died off one by one under various strange circumstances. Only I survived, thanks to Professor Capriati hiding me within the Great Banyan Academy for several years. My original surname was Gerard; I changed it to Steffen."
Charlotte nodded in understanding, as if feeling a shared experience. Yes, such shameless acts were exactly the kind of thing Henry Holovin was capable of.
"Platinum City won't remain stable for much longer," Simon Capriati interjected. "My Great Banyan Academy probably won't stay open much longer either. Heidi needs a safe place to go, the farther from Platinum City, the better. I believe your territory would be very suitable."
"No problem at all. I warmly welcome Miss Heidi to join me in the Viscounty of Lanwan," Charlotte said with a smile.
"It would be my honor to serve you," Heidi bowed, a wave of relief washing over her. She had been worried that a high noble like Charlotte might reject her due to her history and enmity with Henry Holovin.
In truth, Heidi's fears were entirely unnecessary.
Given Charlotte's disdain for Henry Holovin, she would gladly gather everyone in the Oran Empire who despised him and form an "Anti-Henry Holovin Alliance."
"Professor, are you planning to close the Great Banyan Academy and leave Platinum City?" Charlotte turned back to Simon Capriati, seizing the chance to recruit him as well. "Why not come with me to the Viscounty of Lanwan? I promise you the finest hospitality, ensuring you live even more comfortably than here in Platinum City."
Simon Capriati was undoubtedly one of the world's foremost scholars. He had spent nearly a century traveling through almost every nation on the Eagle Continent, collecting and organizing knowledge spanning politics, philosophy, mathematics, literature, medicine, supernatural disciplines, and more. This monumental undertaking was still ongoing.
Such knowledge represented an immense treasure, coveted by any monarch of any empire, let alone the ruler of Charlotte's small viscounty. If Simon Capriati were willing to come to Lanwan, Charlotte felt that spending a bit more money would absolutely be worth it.
Unfortunately, Charlotte knew that someone like Simon Capriati couldn't be easily swayed by mere wealth.
As expected, Simon Capriati waved his hand dismissively. "I do intend to leave Platinum City, but I've already traveled through Lanwan years ago and don't plan on returning for now. However," he added, "if you and Cecilia truly manage to build something remarkable in Lanwan in the future, I might find myself interested in visiting again."
Charlotte sighed with a hint of regret.
Just then, Robert Kaye finally returned, carrying his "work."
It was a thick, heavy ring made of black iron. Attached to the ring were a small cylindrical box and various other components, including… an antenna?
At least, the upright metal wire strongly reminded Charlotte of an antenna from her past life's memories.
"What is this?" Charlotte asked, puzzled.
"If you've studied the ways of the Royal Griffin Knight Order School," Robert Kaye explained excitedly, gesturing wildly, "you just need to wear it like this, press this spot here, and your Eagle Eye ability will allow you to see farther and clearer..." He pantomimed putting the ring on like a collar around the neck. That thin metal wire wasn't an antenna, but meant to be inserted near the spine.
Ah, it's an amplifier! Charlotte understood with blunt simplicity, finding it quite fascinating.
This ring wasn't a single man-made artifact, but a complex device assembled from multiple artifacts, displaying a level of complexity Charlotte had rarely seen since her reincarnation.
Regardless of whether the device truly amplified the Eagle Eye ability, the mere fact that Robert Kaye could create such an intricate mechanism in an era where even basic arithmetic wasn't widespread marked him as a genuine talent.
Charlotte had only brought Renee with her this time and had no one nearby who could use the Eagle Eye ability. However, since Simon Capriati recommended this student so highly, she assumed it wasn't a fabrication. She toyed with the heavy ring, asking curiously, "How does it achieve the effect of enhancing the Eagle Eye?"
Robert Kaye offered an explanation.
Knights of the Oran Empire had a habit during long, intense battles: they would ingest Mithril powder to boost their spirits. Naturally, this practice was harmful to the body, but undeniably effective in wartime.
Intrigued by these stories, Robert Kaye conducted repeated experiments. He discovered that Mithril, when stimulated in a specific way, would vibrate slightly while releasing a peculiar energy. This energy helped knights recover stamina quickly, heightened their senses, and allowed them to stay alert for extended periods. Based on this discovery, he designed the peculiar collar now before them.
Robert Kaye's explanation was rather muddled. After listening for a while, Charlotte could only conclude that the fellow himself didn't truly understand the working principles of his own invention.
He only knew the phenomenon existed and had managed to apply it, finding out afterward that it actually worked.
Charlotte pondered for a long moment, then frowned and posed a question: "Since Mithril, stimulated by the ritual you designed, can replenish a knight's stamina, have you ever considered that the supernatural essence within extraordinary materials and the divine power within an adept's body might actually be the same thing?"
It was an offhand question. Charlotte was merely trying to express the concept of energy conversion – energy from supernatural materials converting into energy within the adept's body, much like humans convert chemical energy into heat.
However, Robert Kaye stood with his mouth slightly agape, silent for a good while.
"Is there a problem?" Charlotte asked, puzzled again.
"That sounds somewhat like the viewpoint of the Effigy Master School," Robert Kaye finally explained. "They believe that adepts themselves are living rituals. The adept's physical body is both the target upon which the ritual acts and the supernatural material consumed within the ritual."
"They theorize that supernatural materials are just ordinary matter that has absorbed 'something' from the world. That's why, after being consumed by a ritual, they revert to ordinary matter. The reason adepts can live for over a century, even two, without being consumed entirely by their rituals is because their efficiency in absorbing this 'something' exceeds the rate at which they consume it. Thus, when adepts engage in frequent, prolonged combat, they can sometimes die from exhaustion – that's when their absorption rate can no longer keep up with the ritual's consumption."
Robert paused briefly before continuing, "However, the Effigy Masters were declared heretics by Archbishop Contao and expelled from Platinum City. Their theories clearly contradict the teachings of the Canon."
Charlotte nodded, understanding perfectly.
The Church's Canon explained that the adepts' Initiation, Brilliance, Glory, and Holy Advent rituals were all methods of communicating with the great Ygg through means akin to sacrifice, thereby receiving Ygg's blessings. Therefore, all power possessed by adepts could only originate from Ygg.
Many supernatural schools didn't quite agree with this explanation, but most kept quiet. Only the Effigy Masters had spoken out frankly. The concept of a "living ritual" significantly diminished the perceived role of the divine in an adept's path of growth.
Although the Church could argue that the 'something' the Effigy Masters spoke of was simply Ygg's divine power – after all, Ygg created the world – the habitually domineering Church couldn't be bothered to debate. They simply branded the Effigy Masters as heretics and demanded they reflect on whether their faith was sufficiently pious.
"Oh, so that's how it is. What a pity. I would have liked to exchange ideas with those Effigy Masters," Charlotte lamented, tapping the collar lightly against the palm of her left hand.
Robert Kaye grew instantly nervous, quickly pointing to the small cylindrical box on the collar. "Lady Mellerfield, please don't tap it!" he urged. "Its most basic ritual runs on the slow burn of Spark Agate. This box is filled with Spark Agate powder – it's highly explosive!"
Charlotte froze, then carefully placed the collar back on the table.
Spark Agate was an extremely flammable and explosive supernatural material. Ground into powder, its explosive force was considerable. Charlotte couldn't fathom what this fellow was thinking, strapping such a large bomb onto someone's neck.
"Are you showing me this in hopes that I'll bestow it upon a disloyal knight and blow his head off?" Charlotte asked, her lips twitching slightly.
"No, no…" Robert Kaye flushed red. "It's just… I haven't found a suitable material to replace the Spark Agate yet."
Despite its flaws, Robert Kaye certainly qualified as a unique talent. Charlotte expressed her acceptance of him as well, repeating the same points she had made to Heidi, emphasizing the remoteness of the Viscounty of Lanwan.
This time, before Robert Kaye could even respond, Simon Capriati spoke up: "There's no need to consider it. This fellow blew up someone's house during his research and burned down half a street. He owes a considerable sum in damages. I helped cover some of it, but he's still far from clearing the debt. I'm sending him with you precisely so he can lie low and work off his debt. Just pay him a slightly higher salary; he's in no position to be picky about remoteness."
Robert Kaye lowered his head in embarrassment.
"Burned down half a street?" Charlotte glanced again at the "bomb collar" before her and couldn't help remarking, "Somehow, I'm not surprised at all."