Charlotte never expected to be assigned to Kilmainham Prison for work, gain the favor of his senior, Miss Meniherman, and even receive an unexpected promotion and salary increase.
However, no perfect beginning could alleviate the pressure in his heart.
As the room grew dark, Charlotte did not turn on any lights, as there were none to turn on. The street outside lacked streetlights, and after nightfall, it was pitch black, a stark contrast to the world he came from.
In that world, every city had streetlights, and after nightfall, the lights would be brighter than the stars in the sky. Such a world was now a thing of the past.
After a long time, Charlotte gently clenched his fist, waved it slightly, and whispered, "Teacher Huang Haisheng, you did well today."
"Please keep up the good work tomorrow. Keep going."
He gave himself a word of encouragement, took out a kerosene lighter, gently turned the wheel, struck a spark, and lit an oil lamp in the room.
No electric lights, but a lamp that could burn.
Although the light was dim and yellow, an oil lamp was still a lamp.
Charlotte examined the room that belonged to him for a while. The Savings Union Apartments were only for single young people, so all the apartments were one-room units.
It had a private bathroom, representing the era's sewer systems, but no independent kitchen. He could only use a kerosene stove to make coffee, soup, or simple porridge.
The layout of the room was a combined bedroom and study, with a desk, not too big but sufficient for writing, a wardrobe for clothes, and a single sofa.
Seeing the gas stove made Charlotte realize he was hungry. He hadn't eaten anything all day.
Miss Meniherman seemed to have forgotten this as well. She hadn't eaten anything, so naturally, she didn't prepare any food for Charlotte either.
Charlotte got up, lit the kerosene stove with the dim oil lamp, and found a few potatoes, some vegetables that looked like peas, a bottle of what seemed to be curry (which also smelled like curry), and half a loaf of hard black bread.
This era had no electricity, but the apartment had running water. Charlotte filled a pot with water, peeled and cut the potatoes, threw in a handful of peas, added two tablespoons of seasoning, and after the water boiled, broke the black bread into pieces and tossed it in.
A few minutes later, he served his dinner.
Honestly, the taste was terrible.
But after starving all day, Charlotte didn't care about the taste and quickly finished the pot of food, even making a pot of tea afterward.
The tea was also from his stash, very strong, and tasted quite different from the black tea on Earth, with a flavor reminiscent of peppery water, very strange and refreshing.
Charlotte frowned as he took a sip, sat back down in the wicker chair, took out a diary, hesitated for a moment, and didn't open it.
When he returned from Saines, he had his luggage shipped by the imperial postal service, bringing only this diary with him. He had discovered the diary just before leaving and had only skimmed the last few pages, confirming that the previous owner had died summoning an evil god, but he had not yet thoroughly read through it.
The oil lamp's light was weak, and under such poor lighting conditions, he didn't want to read anything, as it would strain his eyes.
What worried him more was that the diary might be tainted with the aura of an evil god. The previous owner had died summoning an evil god, so there was a chance he might see something "unclean."
Sipping his tea slowly, Charlotte reflected on the files he had seen earlier, trying to pass the time.
Honestly, he hadn't expected to come across so many explosive secrets.
Most of these documents were related to one person.
Zimourman Axel Robin!
This man was of noble birth, originally named Zimourman Robin!
Five epochs ago, Saroseth Robin assisted King Axel in ascending from a commoner to the throne, becoming the eternal successor of the highest nobility in the Faris Empire through loyalty, bravery, iron blood, and merit.
Before Saroseth's sudden rise, the Robin family was already one of the oldest noble families in the Ingrima Empire, having produced countless scholars, military strategists, adventurers, and legendary warriors and swordsmen!
In the newly established Faris Empire, the Robin family's power, prestige, and status surpassed even that of the Ingrima Empire era.
Zimourman exhibited extraordinary talent from a young age, entering Harbosk Public School at six years old and graduating as the top student in his third year before enrolling in the First National Academy.
All public schools in the empire follow a credit system, with the average time to complete all coursework being six and a half years.
Harbosk Public School is the top-ranked public school in the empire, with particularly rigorous academics. It's not uncommon for students to take over eight years to graduate, and even those who take more than ten years are not unusual.
That Zimourman completed his studies in three years and graduated as the top student was enough to make him the envy of all his peers. Calling him the empire's future star was no exaggeration.
Charlotte graduated in five years, but his final ranking was eighty-ninth, and his school, Leman Public School, was far inferior to Harbosk, being only a second-tier school.
But Zimourman Robin's achievements didn't end there. At thirteen, he smoothly completed his studies at the First National Academy and, once again, with outstanding grades, was admitted to the Royal Hogwich University. He was considered a once-in-a-century genius at Royal Hogwich University, completing his studies before the age of twenty.
After graduation, he declined lucrative job offers and chose to join the Imperial Navy. Within a year, he was promoted from the captain of a third-rate ship to the commander of a fleet with five warships. He led the fleet to crush eight pirate fleets in a row, subjugating the troublesome Dongli Kingdom and turning it into an overseas vassal state of the empire.
He should have naturally become the governor of Dongli Kingdom, but instead, this man rejected the appointment and... defected!
He joined the largest pirate group.
This prodigy immediately became the most wanted pirate in the empire, with a bounty of 500,000 gold écus—a record!
Before he topped the list, the previous number one pirate king had a bounty of only 116,000 gold écus, and the combined bounties of the top ten pirates totaled only 486,000 gold écus.
The empire was swept up in an indescribable frenzy at the time; no one could guess why he would forsake such a promising future and choose to fall from grace.
The king was furious, publicly humiliating the head of the Robin family several times.
In a fit of anger, the head of the family announced that Zimourman was disowned and declared in the newspapers, "The Robin family will never accept an imperial traitor."
No one expected this audacious man to commit an even more earth-shattering deed!
Zimourman Robin joined the pirate king's fleet for less than half a year before he openly challenged the pirate king. In a carefully planned public confrontation, he killed the pirate king, who had dominated the seven seas for over fifty years and was even rumored to rival the imperial navy.
In the following three years, he unified sixteen pirate fleets across the seven seas, becoming the new pirate king with unparalleled prestige.
Then, Zimourman Robin made a decision that shocked the world—he led the united pirate fleet back to the empire.