Chapter 257: A New Novel

Charlot Mecklenburg could still feel "peace" in the Behemoth Principality, with almost no signs of war. But as soon as he entered the South Seraph territory, the atmosphere of war was unmistakable.

Initially, the people of South Seraph hated only the Behemoth Principality. However, after such a long war, they harbored no goodwill toward the Fars Empire either.

The West Wind Knight Order, under Charlot's command, was attacked twice shortly after entering South Seraph territory. These assaults weren’t from the South Seraph restorationists; their main forces were still in Ferranden. Instead, the attackers were merely local farmers.

Charlot, now commanding a formidable force, easily repelled both attacks.

After the skirmishes, he neither resorted to slaughter nor generously released his captives. Instead, he forcibly conscripted them into the West Wind Knight Order, attempting to indoctrinate them. However, his efforts often failed, as many would escape.

To Charlot’s surprise, among the dozen or so efficient clerks assigned to him by Annie Bretagne, one particularly creative young man stood out. While transcribing stories for Charlot, this clerk, Italio Calvino, became so inspired by Charlot’s tale that he decided to write his own novel.

When the West Wind Knight Order entered South Seraph territory, Italio Calvino was struck by inspiration and penned a novella using Charlot as the protagonist. In this tale, Charlot was audaciously depicted as the illegitimate son of Jonan, and Hughes was portrayed as a loyal knight devoted to protecting his young master. Together, they ruled South Seraph and the Behemoth Principality, achieving legendary feats and earning recognition from Emperor Julius Axel of the Fars Empire—Charlot was made a duke, and Hughes an earl.

Although Italio’s story entirely overlooked the plot hole of Jonan’s death, it was otherwise well-paced and coherent.

When Charlot received Italio Calvino’s manuscript, he was greatly impressed. Drawing from his years of reading experience, Charlot added a subplot involving Jonan’s Twelve Trials. He also introduced a brother for Jonan, forcefully inserting elements of the Hercules myth and the tale of the Lion King.

The revised plot turned into a story where Charlot, after completing Jonan’s Twelve Trials, was poised to inherit Jonan’s ambitions. However, Jonan’s brother murdered him and framed Charlot...

Zolman even gained a sense of honor!

Once a forgotten figure in history, Zolman was revived due to a lack of characters. He was reimagined as Jonan’s brother with the nickname "Scar." Thanks to “borrowing” many classic tropes, Zolman’s new persona was far more vivid than his real-life counterpart—a cunning, scheming villain whose every pore exuded malevolence.

After several rounds of refinement, Charlot decisively used this novella to replace his original indoctrination plan for the South Seraph populace.

Knowing that most commoners in this world were illiterate, Charlot distributed copies of the story to his clerks, instructing them to recite it aloud to the people of South Seraph.

Initially, the South Seraph people refused to believe the tale. But whenever doubt arose, Charlot would appear with a face full of sorrow and offer small acts of kindness—better food or personally bandaging a young South Seraph villager’s wounds. (Notably, Charlot had no medical skills beyond tying bandages.)

Unexpectedly, this indoctrination through storytelling proved remarkably effective.

The emotions of the captured South Seraph people gradually stabilized.

However, the story’s success created tension among Charlot’s Behemoth-born soldiers, who grew uneasy.

To address this, Charlot quickly released a second version of the story, giving himself a Behemoth-born mother. While Charlot’s actual mother was indeed from Behemoth, to preserve her dignity, this character was transformed into Anastasia’s mother instead. Baron Febollet of Silver Dove Castle, as a result, posthumously received a peculiar new title.

As Charlot adjusted the story based on audience feedback, Italio Calvino’s novella underwent several revisions, becoming increasingly polished. Its indoctrination effect also grew stronger.

Before long, this story spread across the South Seraph region.

On the thirteenth day of Charlot’s campaign in South Seraph, an independent unit of South Seraph restorationists defected to him.

Charlot was delighted and treated the leader of this unit with great care. Upon learning that the young leader, Sebald, had to leave higher education due to poverty, Charlot even taught him the Beastman Transfiguration: Redback Bear Warrior technique.

Perhaps Sebald truly possessed talent buried by a hard life. Within five or six days, he successfully practiced the Redback Bear Warrior transformation, developing the ability to turn his hands into “bear claws,” which greatly enhanced his arm strength.

News of this spread quickly, and Charlot’s army encountered no further resistance. Each day, more South Seraph people defected to him.

As for whether this plan would backfire...

Charlot no longer cared. After all, he had no intention of ruling South Seraph or the Behemoth Principality. Those future rulers could deal with the consequences.

What did this have to do with Charlot?

With the resistance from the South Seraph people resolved, the West Wind Knight Order advanced rapidly, soon nearing the front lines.

At this time, Clair Bretagne and Ebner Soumet had been locked in battle with the Black Phoenix Dynasty’s army for seven or eight days. They had no idea that Charlot had returned to Strasbourg. If they had known, both would have been furious. The frontlines were tense, and Charlot had gone back to the capital for a “vacation”! Who could tolerate that?

Fortunately, they were unaware. Charlot’s decision to personally lead reinforcements moved Clair Bretagne and Ebner Soumet deeply. Neither had time to meet him and simply ordered Charlot to capture a nearby small city.

This city was none other than Interlaken, where Duke Joseph had been besieged and killed.

During the Battle of Interlaken, the Behemoth Principality’s army was utterly decimated. Only about twenty percent of its forces escaped; the rest perished in the city.

The battle left Behemoth without heirs for seventy percent of its noble estates. Many territories remained unclaimed, including Silver Dove Castle, which Baron Febollet had opportunistically seized.

Interlaken was now guarded by a noble knight squad from the Black Phoenix Dynasty. Their numbers were small, only seven to eight hundred. The city, mostly destroyed in the previous fierce battle, had crumbling walls and no natural defenses. As defensive warfare was not customary in the Old Continent, the knight squad assessed their situation upon seeing the West Wind Knight Order and decisively retreated.

Charlot entered Interlaken, and his diary emanated a faint thought: Charlot Mecklenburg had become the master of Interlaken, fulfilling the conditions to establish the Thirteenth Labyrinth. Interlaken was about to transform into a labyrinth.

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