Oops, I became the witch's substitute

Carol turned around and asked, "So what is the motive of the Goddess of Fraud?"

Feilin touched his chin and said, "At their level, worldly money has no meaning. They probably just want a word from Marian."

Jasmine couldn't help but ask, "What do you want from me?"

"It's nothing more than..." Feilin leaned back in his chair and changed his tone to imitate, "Ahahaha~ I cheated money from that bird-headed goddess next door."

Three seconds later, Marian grabbed Filin's neck with both hands and shook him hard: "Who do you call the bird-head?"

Is this the point?

Chapter 225 The Taste of Film

Belinda Camillia, from a well-known magic family in the Strahl Empire.

The kingdom is ruled by a king, and generally a feudal system is implemented. The noble families have a high degree of control over their own territories, or some lands originally belong to these nobles. They just express their submission to the king and pay tribute. Even the tribute is a bargaining chip in negotiations with the king. The king's power is very limited, and the internal situation is not very stable. Another characteristic is that there are many knightly orders.

The empire will be different. It can be seen as a transition from the feudal system to the county system. The power of local nobles has been greatly weakened, and the voice of commercial consortiums has been suppressed. Large families like the Morganna family are strong in themselves. Their ancestors completed the work of several generations when they followed the emperor into the pass. In addition, they were loyal to the royal family and acquiesced in autonomy to a certain extent. Later-rising military families like the Camillia family accumulated their wealth through external expansion. The difference between them and the Morganna family is that their descendants either choose to go into politics or choose to do business. They have almost no autonomous territories. Unlike the military characteristics of the kingdom, the empire's standing army is obviously larger than the Knights Templar.

Therefore, Camilla's marriage with the Morgana family was obviously marrying up.

Belinda's father relayed the matter to his daughter with this feeling: "In order to complete the engagement as soon as possible, your father hopes that you will go and bring your fiancé back..."

The word "catch" is not used.

Belinda has a heart that yearns for freedom, but not a heart that yearns for suicide: "Ah?"

Whether the outside world is dangerous or not depends on people.

If she is unlucky, the female knight will be knocked down by a stone thrown by the goblin. If she is lucky, the village girl can pass safely between the two countries. If she is extremely unlucky, she may encounter the Kalan crisis.

It was a political marriage, but the situation was pretty good. There was no setback like Romeo and Juliet, and the unmarried people on both sides were happy to meet each other. This upright marriage was generally fine. "Belinda, you have grown up and are old enough to travel. It is inconvenient for a rich lady to travel abroad, and you may encounter danger, so try to keep a low profile along the way, walk through several relatively stable big countries, and if possible, take a detour through the Theocracy to protect yourself."

The only problem is that Bereda is a country with a bad reputation.

Belinda has a certain level of magic, but she is not a transcendent. She has a magic eye, but her combat power has not been improved. The young lady can be accompanied by guards when traveling, but if she encounters a powerful dangerous creature, she will basically deliver food together: "I'm going to Bereda, is this true?"

Finally, the father explained the reason: "...Actually, this is what the Morgana family wants. So, you should write a letter to Filin first and ask him to be ready for the response."

Belinda thought about it and decided that since a political marriage was based on the premise, the two of them could not be said to be in love, but they would eventually be together. Even if they were not in love, they would still fantasize about their romantic life after marriage. They did not need to consider too many issues of choice. Just like the stories in some books, they would fall in love over time.

"I understand. I will get my fiancé back. Ask the guards to arrange a female magic knight for me. Then I will disguise myself and go out to find Filin as soon as possible." Belinda clenched her fists. She still had some expectations for Filin. She couldn't say she loved him for the time being, but the tolerance and affinity he showed during the blind date made Belinda feel safe.

At least you don't have to worry about marrying a middle-aged man over 50.

Far away in Bereda, Filin was drafting various business contracts when he suddenly felt a chill inexplicably behind his back.

"Hurry up, I've been waiting for so long that the flowers have wilted." Marian came over while chewing an apple. She was urging Filin to complete the business contract.

Arius's official delegation was about to arrive. If the subsequent business negotiations were handed over to the people of the Theocracy, those good people might relax many of their upper limits on conscience. Therefore, Filin had to complete the basic framework for the collapse plan, and even had to write a speech for Marian and explain some details of the contract to her so that even a fool like her could successfully fool people. It was not easy.

"Don't rush me, I'm writing now." Filin said.

The theocracy ruled by Morrigan has a completely different approach from the kingdom and the empire. The true God and the nature of faith alone are enough to make the theocracy relatively stable. Arius is now under Morrigan's direct management, which is different from the church system that is offline from the gods.

No matter what, a true theocracy has one basic demand, which is stability.

Normal humans say they want to live and work in peace and contentment until they are 80 years old. Coincidentally, the gods also hope that humans can live that long, because humans who die peacefully and at an old age can certainly provide more faith than believers who die young at the age of 20. Running your own church is essentially about finding an economical and stable way to support believers.

However, the gods in this world face many problems. If they personally take the lead in governing, their level may not be better than that of the dragons and phoenixes in Africa. Once a mistake is made and a crisis occurs, a large number of people's faith will instantly turn into resentment. However, if there is a certain separation from faith, such as nominating the Pope or the bishops to govern, then there will inevitably be a difference between the rights of the gods and the demands of humans.

Philin doesn’t know what will happen to Arius in the future, but everything is fine now. Maybe things will be even better when Arius’s Xuanfeng wakes up.

After eating the apple, Marian wandered around Filin's desk, sometimes looking at what Filin had written, sometimes talking to herself not far away. She seemed to notice that Filin was relaxing after writing a contract, so she came over.

Jasmine recalled a non-existent scene: "Filin, let me ask you something. Do you think it's normal for girls to hug each other?"

Feilin frowned, "It's normal, but it's just a more intimate act."

Marian continued to ask, "What about kissing between girls?"

Filin immediately replied: "It's not normal, but it's not impossible. Generally speaking, only virgins and hedgehogs can't watch it."

Marian was stunned: "Why is there a hedgehog?"

Filin patiently explained: "It's not just hedgehogs, any homosexuality will bring some prejudice, but I don't care, as long as we like each other and look good together, that's fine."

Jasmine thought about it: "Those two handsome guys..."

Feilin raised his hands in surrender: "Please, I suggest you find a special club for this kind of thing, don't pollute my spirit."

Marian pointed to her head and said, "Since I was born, I have absorbed the knowledge of millions of humans. There have been many bizarre things about Arius from ancient times to the present. But you are right. I still need to consider secular morality more."

Another three hours passed, and Philin picked up the thick contract, which had about sixty or seventy pages, and handed it to Marian.

"These drafts are given to you first. They are enough for your delegation to read. The bottom line remains unchanged. Other matters can be negotiated flexibly. The purpose is to divide the spoils among Bereda, Miriam and Arius."

"Who loses, then?"

“Whoever’s smile disappears from his face in the future will be the loser.”

After saying that, Filin drove away Marian. This annoying goddess actually talked a lot and often asked questions. When he first started drafting the business contract, she studied it carefully beside him. Her questions were endless, which was almost mental torture for Filin.

While dealing with Marian, the false clone also had to devote his energy to it. Fili secretly negotiated with the resistance organization and initially gained their trust. She recommended Xiao Qian as her agent and taught her how the resistance organization she had personally established earned funds for its activities. She also sorted out the basic demands of the resistance forces and analyzed who the enemy was, who could be won over, who were friends, and who were the foundation of the resistance.

Bereda is an independent city, in fact it can also be called a city-state. Its size is to control one or two cities, and develop into a city union with some similar city-states. Its characteristics are a large population and free and developed commerce. Today, Bereda relies on alchemy technology to be called the trade center of the surrounding countries. It is prosperous in this area. When it is threatened, in addition to relying on its own strength to resist, it pays protection fees to other major powers to maintain the situation. It was also lucky that year, and the star beast fell into the enemy camp when it was liquidated.

After a long period of development, Filin saw the hidden dangers of Bereda and began to calculate. Others saw that there were many ways to attack Bereda besides military means, and creating an economic crisis was a simple and effective method.

"But someone in the upper echelons of Bereda has discovered this problem and organized spies and assassins. They have also supported a group of resistance forces to act as spies, pretending to be active while clearing out those who really have the intention to resist. They are still very skilled, so we have to be careful."

Filin put down the information, stood up and stretched. At this time, the door was pushed open and Carol walked in from outside, fully armed.

"I'm ready here. Xia Duoli has also dressed up and looks like a rich lady. It's time to take back the property that belongs to her."

"It's time to take down the first outpost. Let's go."

She wanted to leave as soon as she said she would, but when Filin was about to go out, Carol closed the door, locked it, grabbed Filin's collar, and kissed him with irresistible force.

"Ugh..."

"Bold kiss, is that annoying? This is proof that no matter what you look like, I like your soul. And Feilin is also very handsome."

It was short and quick, only five or six seconds, like an attack.

Philin frowned, put his hands on Carol's shoulders, and kissed her without saying a word, his lips moving calmly closer. As the saying goes, the first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar. Everyone saw that it was Carol who provoked first.

I already had a headache today because of work pressure, and I also had accumulated troubles because of Marian. Now it was just right for Carol to untie the shackles of these troubles.

It turns out that kissing can really relieve stress.

After the kiss, Filin gently stroked Carol's hair, smiled, opened the door, and trotted away.

"So? Why are you stunned? You don't think that I will be shy if something happens to me because I am younger than you, right? I am so happy that I can wake up laughing at night if I take advantage of you."

"You guy!"

Carol chased after him, fist pumping.

Chapter 226: Planning for the Real Daughter

The real daughter Xia Duoli is still a bit introverted. When re-educating her, Fili thought many times, why not create a second personality for her? Otherwise, her personality can't even be a puppet.

However, Xia Duoli is also a strong-willed girl. The time is relatively short, and the shadow of Perris' long-term mental oppression has not completely dissipated, but the resentment of imprisonment until now has made her desperate, and she has no psychological pressure to resist such a father.

"I live... for myself. I've had enough of my brother's lies, my sister's teasing, and my father's resentment. I want to breathe freely, I want delicious food, I want the life that belongs to me. No, even if it's just through basic labor, I want to reap a good harvest through my own efforts."

After a brief education, Fili (Filin) ​​reshaped Xia Duoli's worldview into a simple one, that is, those who do not work shall not eat. In addition to teaching her etiquette and knowledge, her daily work was to take her to the slums and let her see a life that was even more miserable than being kept in an attic.

Although her daily food was already very poor, having no food to eat was even more pitiful than eating slop, especially in the flesh and blood workshop behind the alchemy workshop, where child laborers who had no wages would be beaten to death without anyone caring.

The Little Match Girl is not just a fairy tale, it is a true story that happened on the dark side of Bereda.

Today, Feilin is acting as Feilin, and he doesn't know why he has to emphasize his identity so often.

In Xia Duoli's eyes, Filin was like a tutor, teaching her every day, young, handsome, humble and polite: "Remember, you have to do two things in the future. The first is to use the status of the Perris family to pull more upper-class Bereda into the scam."

Xia Duoli subconsciously asked: "What about the second thing?"

Feilin said: "Do you know what the people in those factories are called in this country of alchemy?"

Xia Duoli answered blankly: "Worker?"

Feilin shook his head. "No, in the mouths of those alchemists, they are called talents, materials, just like mice are alchemical materials, not people. In essence, the official name of these people is no different from slaves. Even if they are declared to be workers, it is just a better name. The civilians here may be better than them, but not much better. The alchemists have strictly divided them into occupations, such as craftsmen, farmers, and doctors. If you are a civilian, your children and your children's children will work for the alchemists for generations."

Xia Duoli thought seriously for a while: "I heard that I can become an alchemist by entering the Alchemist Academy..."

Filin smiled and said, "Yes, Bereda has a rule that 12-year-old children can take the entrance test, but how many students can a single academy accept? For example, if you are a child from a slightly wealthy family, you will most likely be sent to the academy to try your luck and get a chance to become a superior person. However, tuition fees are a mountain pressing down on your head. You have to prepare your uniform, living expenses, materials, and tools by yourself. You also have to pay for the assessments of different subjects. You usually have to do extra work to barely afford the cost of studying. If you take out three days a week to work, you essentially study three days less than the real noble children. They have tutors, resources, and room for error, but you may not even have time to read. If you fail the assessment every six months, you will be warned. If you fail the second time, you will be expelled from the academy and will never be recruited again. In this way, you will be completely trampled on the bottom of Bereda and will never be able to turn over."

Xia Duoli swallowed and said, "I... understand. Their situation is not much worse than mine. It can even be said that it is more miserable than mine."

Feilin gently touched Xia Duoli's head and comforted her, "You don't have to compare your misery with others. You are just as pitiful and just a fallen person. Your stepsister would say that if you can't afford bread, why not eat cake?"

This kind of words are classic quotes no matter which world they are in.

After these days of education, Xia Duoli has subconsciously divided herself into two camps in her mind. She wants to be the "good person" that the witch Fili expects, rather than going along with the crowd in an environment like Bereda. Simply put, she wants to follow the witch.

As he had fully investigated Bereda, Filin gradually found a breakthrough: "Now you know that the so-called Alchemy College is essentially an educational institution monopolized by the Bereda elite. Occasionally, there will be lucky people who are selected and sponsored to graduate, but after graduation, they will be branded by the sponsoring families."

Xia Duoli hurriedly took notes.

Filin continued, "The area around Bereda is not very safe. Due to long-term alchemical experiments, many escaped Chimera synthetic beasts and illegally modified monsters roam around. Therefore, the city regularly recruits soldiers. These soldiers have to pay for their own weapons and equipment to go to dangerous places to investigate and defeat monsters. You can imagine, if it is the slightly wealthy family I just mentioned, they have already spent a lot of effort to support a child to study, and then they are dragged into the army, what will happen to them?"

Xia Duoli didn't know: "You are talking about a slightly wealthy family. Such a family has to do everything to support a child, so how can they have money to arm themselves? But they should still have cheap swords and equipment..."

Feilin nodded. "Of course they can, but it has been proven over the years that those soldiers sent out have always suffered heavy losses. They often face dangerous and difficult-to-resist monsters. Even if they are not monsters, they often go to investigate areas full of magical radiation. If they don't have sophisticated equipment to protect them, they will lose their lives within two or three years."

Xia Duoli couldn't help but feel frustrated: "This is too much of a bully. There is absolutely no way for me to survive."

Feilin raised his finger and said, "Want to survive? Of course you can. Sell your wife and extra children, or go to some alchemy workshops to conduct human experiments, sell your organs, etc., and use the funds to buy magic equipment to equip yourself."

Xia Duoli couldn't help but ask: "What if the assigned task is not completed?"

Feilin sighed, "Failure? Either you die or you accept punishment. The former means you lose everything you have accumulated, and the latter means you are fined. What if you can't pay the fine? Your property will be confiscated and you will be incorporated into the factory."

Xia Duoli took a deep breath and said, "This kind of life is simply not something a human can live. Why don't you run away?"

Filin pretended to be surprised: "You still dare to run? As long as you don't run out of the country, the Bereda nobles will find ways to catch you back and brand you. They also have a large sum of money to hire mercenaries to hunt down those residents who attempt to escape, and there are generous rewards. You will never be able to leave this country. Just like this, your family, which was originally happy and wealthy, has now sold all your children and daughters and become slaves. With your family in this situation, your studies will naturally not be able to continue. You, the hope of the whole family, will have to drop out of the college and follow in the footsteps of your family, and will never be able to turn over. So if it were you, would you hate Bereda?"

Xia Duoli understood a lot of things, and then Feilin took out a booklet.

"That's all for today's class. Now you should understand how powerful this red doctrine is, right?" Filin made some adjustments based on the specific conditions of the other world. "So do you want to make a living by following this belief?"

Xia Duoli nodded slightly: "I vaguely understand that even if it is just an ordinary life with enough food to eat, it is the future they dream of."

Due to the special political system of the Theocracy, Filin finally chose to let Marian protect the future newborn Bereda. After all, the specific situation requires specific analysis. After careful analysis, Filin concluded that in this world, one must choose a specific camp and slogan to survive. It is basically a fantasy for ordinary human city-states to truly become independent.

Chapter 227 The Real Daughter Is Back

The alchemist Perris was in a panic because things had been going badly for him recently. First, the foreign imperial nobles helped his eldest daughter escape and she disappeared. There were even rumors that she eloped. Then, there were frequent riots in the factories under his industry recently. They were not riots by workers, but some machines that were not damaged much before had been breaking down and stopping recently. Finally, there were frequent thefts in the core alchemy workshop, and the alchemical equipment could only capture a vague cat-eared silhouette.

With so many things connected together, Perris is not a fool. He feels that something is surrounding him. The protector with whom he had a good relationship in the past has been ambiguous recently. Especially the incident of Xia Duoli has far-reaching impact. The partners related to the Philosopher's Stone are reducing their help to him.

Although the alchemist's actual fighting power is a little bloated, Peris believes that he is not made of clay, and is also trying hard to mediate, striving to find a way out for the family, or to pave a retreat. If he really can't make it in Bereda, he will transfer the property as soon as possible. If he can't afford to provoke, can he not hide?

Compared to the Alchemy City, he is indeed a soft persimmon.

But when he returned to the family tired after a busy day, he unexpectedly found that the family was brightly lit today. Many vehicles representing important figures were parked outside the mansion. The mansion was also brightly lit, but the guards and servants all looked at a loss.

There was a banquet being held in the mansion, but he, the host, was completely unaware of it.

Peris, who had been entangled in the secular world recently, had a burning brain. He was stunned for several seconds and couldn't figure out the cause and effect, so he asked slowly.

"what happened?"

"Lord Peris, you are finally back. It is that... it is... the banquet hosted by the eldest lady. Invitations have been sent out to entertain representatives of other families to discuss matters." The butler rushed to Peris.

"???"

What does it mean to reverse the Tiangang? This is it. Peris has never heard of such a thing before. Today he has broadened his horizons.

No, although he is not from a big family, but the housekeeper, guards and servants just watched Xia Duoli make trouble?

Perris strode into his own home, roaring, "Who allowed this!"

The butler hurriedly followed behind, but did not dare to speak loudly: "It can't be stopped! Lord Filin supports it, and there is also a powerful alchemist who guarantees it. Now the mansion is occupied by unknown mercenaries."

They were called mercenaries, but they were actually disguised by Marian's men. That's right, the palace knights who came from afar did not visit Marian right away, but accepted Fili's disguise outside the city and transformed themselves into mercenaries. A team of about twenty Transcendents assisted Shadoli in occupying the Perris family.

The palace guards were reluctant at first, but Marian only needed to give some instructions. Moreover, the gods gave firm orders, and they might feel guilty for invading Bereda and creating chaos. However, Marian changed her words and called it a great cause to liberate the suffering people of Bereda. After explaining the causes and consequences, these knights who yearned for justice immediately got into the role and gave full play to their subjective initiative after becoming mercenaries.

The palace knights are called "knights". Although they have the same status as the knights of the kingdom and the empire, their nature in the theocratic state is closer to that of officers of the standing army. They do not have many aristocratic manners. They are models of justice who often help old ladies cross the road, take the initiative to escort merchants' transportation, assist farmers in farming, and dispel monsters. Even after becoming mercenaries, they are still loyal to their duties.