Chapter 36: Here comes a gift-giver
Before the annual Great Prayer Service, the faithful of God report the results of their year's charismatic work to the priest of the local church, who then reports the results that best reflect the devotion of the faithful to the local bishop after the primary election. The bishops of the regions are screened and reported to the archbishops of the dioceses of the kingdoms. The Archbishop submits a list of the best results and a description to the College of Cardinals of the Temple for review. The College of Cardinals submits the final results to the Pope for final review. At the end of the final judgment, the Holy Maiden takes the list to the cathedral of the dioceses of each kingdom for on-the-spot verification, and the results of the verification are brought to the temple during the Great Prayer to be presented to God. If God is pleased with this, he will send down divine grace.
After Brigitte had told Charles and Diana about the Great Prayer, she led her guests to the temple's VIP lounge.
The Forge Temple is a large circular complex.
Its outermost layer is a ring of wall-like buildings, six flat-roofed buildings made of gray-brown rock that symbolize the walls of the furnace. This circle of buildings, known as the wall towers, was where the priests of the temple worked on a daily basis.
The inner layer is a square paved with black rocks and inlaid with red rocks that make up various religious patterns, which symbolize the charcoal inside the furnace. Whenever an event is held at the temple, the square is filled with people.
In the middle is the Cathedral of the Holy Hammer, which is made of fiery red rock in the shape of a flame. This is the heart of the temple.
The entire temple of the forge looks like a furnace.
Located on the top floor of the main entrance to the south of the wall, the lounge's nearly six-metre height combined with the topography of the temple's location gives guests a bird's-eye view of the smelter area and the Church of the Holy Hammer in the center of the temple.
Today's Forge Temple invited guests are naturally not only Charles and them, but also members of the royal family of the Kingdom of Firingen and some nobles.
Other temples such as earth, ice, currents, gales, god of war, wisdom, prophecy, music, love, etc., were also invited.
Charles was powerless to complain about the bloated gods of these institutions, and he had counted them on his fingers, as long as he could meet them in life, there was no place that the gods could not control.
Now the VIP lounge is divided into three groups, the nobles gather around the two royal daughters of the Kingdom of Philingen, Elizabeth chats with the shepherds of the gods, and the third group is a little smaller, that is, Charles and Diana are now counting the chimneys in the smelter area in front of the window.
The others didn't care if they were just two children who were curious, and they reacted similarly when they first saw the scene, when in fact the two of them were estimating the steel production of the plant.
"The annual output of iron is 60,000 tons. Diana concluded.
"It's about the same, it's the same as the output of our Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant at the beginning, but I don't know how much steel is produced. Charles chimed in.
At this time, someone walked up to Charles's side and said to Charles, "Earl Maccaden, please forgive me for taking the liberty of disturbing me." ”
Charles turned around and found a middle-aged man in a black tuxedo with a royal coat of arms from the Kingdom of Philingen and a viscount crest pinned to his left chest. Behind him is a young woman in a black skirt and a white apron maid outfit.
The black tuxedo brought by the previous time-traveler has become the signature costume of the housekeeper in this world, along with the maid's outfit. Whether it was the butler of the royal family or the butler of the wealthy freedmen, they must have worn a straight black tuxedo when they worked.
The visitor wore two coats of arms on his chest at the same time, indicating that he was a steward in the service of the royal family and was also a viscount.
Wearing the royal coat of arms is like a minister holding the sword of Shang Fang, representing the dignity of the royal family.
"It doesn't matter. Charles saluted him as a sign of respect for the royal family of the Kingdom of Philingen.
The butler respectfully said to Charles, "My lord apologizes for the unpleasant experience that the Earl of Maccaden has had in the Kingdom of Philingen recently. On behalf of Lucy Fihringen, the fourth royal daughter of the Fringen, and Lily Fihringen, the fifth royal daughter, I would like to send a small gift to the Earl of Maccaden. ”
After the butler finished speaking, he turned sideways, and Charles saw a pair of twin sisters who were dressed in gorgeous clothes and about the same age as himself, surrounded by a group of nobles.
The maid walked up to Charles with a tray on a purple velvet cushion with a storage ring.
Charles bowed in thanks to the two princesses, and then took the storage ring from the tray held by the maid beside him.
The butler was relieved to see Charles take the gift, and after saying something about the Earl of Maccaden's pleasure in the kingdom of Fringen, he left with the maid.
During the whole process, neither of them looked at Diana next to Charles.
Charles turned out the window, playing with the precious storage ring in his hand, and sneered twice with a "hehe" in his mouth.
A few months ago, before Charles's sister Mira left home to study, Charles's father taught his daughter many rules of communication between nobles, and Charles was also on the sidelines.
If it weren't for the conversation in the carriage just now, Charles couldn't figure out why the royal family of Filingen would give him such a valuable gift.
According to common sense, it is enough for the other party to send a butler at the earl level of the same level as himself according to the principle of reciprocity of aristocratic exchanges, and if you give face, you can give a small gift that looks good.
Now the other party sent a viscount, although the level is a little lower, but the other party came with the princess, and finally gave a grand gift, the meaning behind this is worth playing.
The combination of the princess who came to the scene and the viscount butler when she served them, and then the viscount butler came forward, which can be equated to the earl butler who served the king from the scene, and both Charles and the Filingen Kingdom did not lose face.
The other party negotiated with the Earl of Maccaden for the Viscount, and if the Earl was uncomfortable, he could take a Viscount to vent his anger. Although the other party is representing the royal family, it is not possible to greet the other party's female relatives directly, but it is still okay to greet the women of the viscount's family with a little words.
Coupled with the storage ring that must have something inside, it will benefit Charles's face, and the posture of the Philippine royal family is a bit low.
Combined with the conversation in the carriage just now, Charles estimated that the Philingen royal family was stopping the loss, so that he should not fall into the trap of the Philingen Kingdom in court, especially since he had an unpleasant incident with a certain earl on the way to escape.
Charles didn't mean to fall into the Filingen Kingdom in the first place, but since the other party had given gifts, if he didn't accept it, the other party would think that he was going to fight them to the death. So he simply accepted the gift.
Charles then stuffed the storage ring into Diana's hand, and he said to Diana: "It's not convenient for you to go out without a storage ring, so I'll give it to you." The contents go back, you three and I can do it. ”
Then Charles suddenly remembered something, "Isn't this (T) (M) (D) the daughter of this guy and the queen of the family the daughter of the fourth and fifth princesses of the Fringen Kingdom?"