Return from Vacation

"If anyone greets me, give them a warm hug. If it's a woman, compliment her on how pretty she is. If something unexpected happens, just laugh and say, 'What lovely weather today...'"

Charlotte Mecklen kept encouraging himself, doing his best to appear calm and unhurried.

About ten days ago, Charlotte Mecklen had still been called Huang Haisheng, a high school math teacher born on Earth who had completed a standard undergraduate education.

He did not know how he had "died."

During the final stretch of that life, his consciousness had been muddled, and he remembered nothing at all. When he woke up, Huang Haisheng had become Charlotte Mecklen, an Imperial Government employee on vacation.

Charlotte Mecklen worked at the Central Government Office as a First-Class Clerk. He ranked forty-first in the Imperial bureaucratic hierarchy and handled various paperwork.

The country he worked for and received a salary from was called the Empire of Fars!

A powerful nation that had never existed in Huang Haisheng's memories.

Charlotte Mecklen was a native of the Old Continent, born in the Duchy of Behemoth (note: one of the Empire of Fars' vassal states). After growing up, he had come to the Empire to study and, upon graduation, successfully secured a well-paid job in the capital, Strasbourg.

In the first few days after transmigrating, he had been terribly panicked. No one could stay calm after encountering something like this.

Fortunately...

Charlotte Mecklen had been on vacation at the time.

He had rented a small cottage alone by the sea in Senis. The surrounding neighbors were all strangers, giving him both the time and environment he needed to calm down.

Huang Haisheng quickly concluded that assuming Charlotte Mecklen's identity and living step by step as before was his best option.

After transmigrating, he had gained most of "Charlotte Mecklen's" memories, as well as some ancient knowledge, allowing him to blend perfectly into this fantasy world with its classical European flavor.

Yes, this was a fantasy world.

There were gods, magical creatures, forbidden creations from ancient times, giants, Barbarian Witches, vampires, magic, battle aura, alchemy, as well as superhumans and Supernatural Items.

This world was ruled by the Nine Righteous Gods.

In an indescribably ancient era, the nine gods had forged a sacred covenant, the "Law of the Gods," which stipulated that the nine gods would take turns ruling the world in hundred-year intervals, each period known as an era.

It was now the thirty-fifth year of Lady Black Moon's rule over the world, as well as the fifth era since the founding of the Empire of Fars.

Charlotte Mecklen entered the Government Office with a composed smile, always taking the initiative to offer anyone he met a gentle greeting.

Everyone who passed before his eyes looked extremely vague to him. The original owner had invested far too few memory pixels in the appearances of most colleagues, not enough for him to recognize a single one.

It was like how people could recognize most acquaintances at any time, yet when alone, could not imagine what most of them looked like. It was a small flaw in human memory.

He made his way to the office from his memories. More than twenty clerks shared it with Charlotte Mecklen. Though it was not a private workspace, it was already far better than those colleagues who worked in the main hall.

The moment he pushed open the door, he heard a stern middle-aged woman call out, "Mr. Mecklen, you'll have a special assignment these next few days."

Charlotte smiled faintly as he searched his memories and pieced together the speaker's image.

This middle-aged lady was his direct superior, Madame Aldegonde, an old-fashioned and imposing senior government employee.

"Very well, Madame Aldegonde. I'll do my utmost to complete this assignment."

Madame Aldegonde was slightly surprised. She had expected Charlotte Mecklen to refuse. The job was extremely troublesome, and almost no one was willing to take it on.

However, since Charlotte had already agreed, she would not make unnecessary trouble. She said flatly, "Take this identification to Kilmainham Prison. Someone there will arrange your next task."

"Here is one Écu, as compensation for this temporary assignment."

Charlotte smiled as he accepted the envelope Madame Aldegonde handed him, while searching his memories. He quickly recalled the relevant information about Imperial currency.

The Empire had three currency units: Écu, Flor, and Centime.

One Écu equaled ten Flor, and one Flor equaled one hundred Centime.

Écu meant "shield" in the Imperial language. There were denominations of one Écu and five Écu, minted from gold and extremely valuable. Nowadays, only wealthy magnates and great nobles kept large quantities of Écu in their homes. It had become a collectible, rarely circulated on the market, and almost no one would spend one.

Flor had originally been a unit of weight for currency, equivalent to one pound of silver. In the Third Era, it had been changed into minted silver coins, which Imperial citizens called Old Flor. In the Fourth Era, equivalent paper notes were issued, called New Flor, in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, fifty, and five hundred. After the change to paper currency, silver Flor, like Écu, rarely appeared on the market and had effectively left circulation. One Flor had roughly the purchasing power of 1,800 to 1,900 yuan.

Centime came in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty Centime. No paper notes had ever been issued for it, making it the only coin still widely circulated today.

One Écu was already an exceptionally generous reward for extra work, roughly equal to one and a half months of Charlotte's salary.

That was right. As an Imperial First-Class Clerk, Charlotte was a highly paid worker earning one Flor and seventy Centime a week, and he could even afford an annual vacation.

Other than having worked too few years to accumulate much savings, leaving him unable to buy a home and forced to rent instead, he was considered one of the finest young men in the Empire.

That was also the fundamental reason girls at social banquets would touch his thigh. Charlotte Mecklen was a remarkably desirable Imperial gentleman with a bright future ahead of him.

Madame Aldegonde was stern and sparing with words. Once she had given him his assignment, she returned to her desk.

Charlotte turned and left the office, exiting the Government Office building. He casually raised a hand on the street, and a public carriage quietly stopped. After Charlotte climbed aboard, the driver urged the horses into a trot again.

Sitting inside the carriage, Charlotte experienced the jolting ride of this ancient mode of transportation while opening the envelope. He pulled out a ten-Flor note and a formal official letter of introduction.

The Empire had not issued Écu banknotes in any denomination. There were neither one-Écu notes nor five-Écu notes; Écu existed only as gold coins.

For all those reasons, the Empire had a custom that bewildered transmigrators: people habitually called a ten-Flor note an Écu!

Charlotte slipped the ten-Flor note into his wallet and tucked the letter of introduction into the inner pocket of his coat. He crumpled the envelope into a ball and casually tossed it out of the carriage. It landed in a trash bin at a street corner with astonishing accuracy.

His Majesty Julius, the Empire's sixth emperor, had been born with an obsession for cleanliness. Unable to tolerate the sewage flowing through the streets and the garbage piled everywhere, he had pushed for municipal trash bins. It proved that even emperors had things they could not accomplish. The project had not succeeded completely, and trash bins remained only in the Val-d'Oise District.

The Val-d'Oise District was home to the imperial palace, the Central Government Office, the churches of the Nine Great Righteous Gods, and the four most famous universities.

These noble gentlemen were also willing to enjoy a clean living environment.

As for the other districts, let them drift with the wind.