It is said that when the flag of the Pirate King fluttered outside the Empire's largest port, Mingfuster, a certain general of the Imperial Navy was so scared he pissed his pants.
At that time, Mingfuster Port had fewer than twenty warships in repair, while the returning pirate fleet consisted of a formidable array of 300 ships, powerful enough to flatten the Empire's largest port. With a rapid march along the port, they could have stormed into the Empire's capital, Strasbourg, in just one week.
In that bustling port city, every resident, every merchant felt as if the end of the world had come, with not even half the soldiers mustering the courage to fight.
When the flagship and the vessels under the Pirate King raised the surrender flags, Mingfuster Port erupted into joy as if it were the grandest festival, with everyone immensely happy, and countless people dancing and singing in the streets.
Zimmerman Robin led the pirate fleet back home, returning to the Empire's embrace, his reputation unmatched at the time!
In just a few short years, Zimmerman Robin's renown plummeted to the lowly depths before skyrocketing, reaching heights even his unprecedented talents should not have been able to attain in a lifetime!
His young life was truly the stuff of Empire legends.
In that year, Zimmerman Robin's renown even rivaled that of his ancestor from five eras before, Saroses Robin, deemed the most untamed figure of the times, destined to be immortalized in history.
When the King granted an audience to Zimmerman Robin, he said with a smile, "You can ask for any reward from me, except for the throne!"
At that time, Zimmerman asked for something no one could have imagined. He declined to return to the Robin Family, instead requesting from the King the surname Axel, thus changing his name from Zimmerman Robin to Zimmerman Axel Robin!
After leading the fleet back to the Empire, Zimmerman Axel Robin seemed to have achieved all his life's goals, undergoing a peculiar change in personality.
Before leading the fleet in rebellion, Zimmerman Axel Robin was a man of few words, engrossed in his studies, considering all forms of entertainment unnecessary, strict in self-discipline, and traditional in his ways. His mentors described Zimmerman as a man whose daily routine was as precise as a clock, whose life was as disciplined as a saint, this guy, except for his studies and truth, was oblivious to all else!
The Zimmerman who returned to the Empire, however, seemed to have cast aside all pretenses, transforming into the Empire's most seasoned playboy in just a few days.
Menierman Sumei, also known as Charles's legendary senior sister, was once Zimmerman's fiancée.
One day, when she went to visit her mother, she witnessed Zimmerman "toiling" on her mother...
The scene at the time was considered a great disgrace by Menierman.
Enraged to the extreme, The Empire's First Rose drew her side sword on the spot, deciding to duel this philanderer.
Charles saw an entire day's worth of things he should not have.
He understood why Miss Menierman wanted to burn those documents.
If it weren't for the widespread spread of this affair, Charles even doubted whether his senior sister might resort to murder to silence it.
Given his senior sister's family background and social status, killing a few lowly first-grade clerks was not considered a serious crime in the Empire.
The duel did not go ahead as planned, after Zimmerman Axel Robin brought Madame Sherlie to the pinnacle of bliss, he rolled over, smashed through a window, and disappeared from Menierman's sight at top speed.
The Empire Rose had no chance to stop this shameless, lecherous bastard.
The next day, Menierman issued a public statement, not only tearing up the engagement but also challenging Zimmerman Axel Robin to a duel to the death.
The most outstanding of the Empire Roses had innumerable faithful servants willing to run errands for her, challenging her former fiancé on her behalf.
Within a single day, Zimmerman Axel Robin received hundreds of duel challenges, and wherever he appeared, someone would block his path and demand a duel on the street.
As a descendant of the Robin family, Zimmerman Axel Robin inherited profound swordsmanship skills, and his ferocity and ruthlessness even surpassed those of his ancestor from five hundred years ago, during his prime.
Zimmerman won several duels on the street with overwhelming victories but, during the eighteenth duel, he was provoked by a challenger and killed a man on the street.
After that duel, he showed no mercy in all his challenges, fighting a total of one hundred and fifteen duels and killing one hundred and fifteen enemies, thus offending most of the Empire's nobility.
After all, those who were qualified to challenge him belonged to the noble offspring of the Empire, born of noteworthy nobility.
This widely impacting series of duels came to be known historically as the Empire Rose Incident.
It marked the dividing line in Zimmerman Axel Robin's life, as well as the beginning of his great fall.
Zimmerman seemed to become unreasonable overnight, not only defeating his enemies on the dueling ground but nearly every time after a duel, he would go on to provoke the older women of the challenger's family, including but not limited to: mothers, aunts, maternal aunts, elder sisters, female cousins, and so on…
If there were no other options, sisters, female second cousins, even daughters of family friends were not spared.
From being a noble of the Empire, he fell to the status of a criminal charged with: murder, rape, arson, robbery, theft, kidnapping, intimidation... totalizing two hundred and fifty-seven offenses.
He even set a new Empire crime record!
If not for his previous great achievements, His Majesty the Emperor would not have signed seven pardons in a row, and Mr. Zimmerman would have found himself on the gallows long ago.
As Charles went through the records, there came a slight pause, and suddenly he felt that this, indeed, was what life was about.
Compared to Mr. Zimmerman, even with his additional experience of transmigrating, his own life seemed rather dull, tedious, and utterly uninteresting.
Zimmerman Axel Robin is now imprisoned in Kilmainham Prison, awaiting either the Emperor's eighth pardon or an execution order for hanging.
Charles rubbed his temples and decided he couldn't force himself to drink this world's tea anymore; he resolved to buy some different tea leaves tomorrow, like the flower tea transported from the Eastern Li country.
After putting down his teacup, Charles took off his clothes, climbed into bed, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
The next day!
Charles woke up in the morning light, rubbing his eyes.
He had slept comfortably through the night, got out of bed, freshened up a bit, changed into clean clothes, and packed up his dirty clothes at the front door.
The maids from the Savings Association Apartments would take away the dirty clothing left by tenants at the door, wash, iron, and return them clean, with the cost added to the rent, settled once a month.
After tidying his room a bit, Charles, who didn't have enough time to dispose of the ladies' clothes at home, hurried out of the apartment because he had some work procedures to go through today.
In this era, office automation did not exist, and all official procedures needed to be done manually.