Tome of Blood

Walking out of the rolling violet forest, the vision suddenly widens.

What catches Charlotte's eyes is a flat plain. Standing on a hill, one can see criss-crossing river systems, dotted lakes and ponds, as well as reed haystacks and shrub forests interspersed between the water systems. and large patches of farmland.

The winding stone road leads to the distance, cleverly connecting pieces of farmland together. At the intersection of the roads, you can see villages with little smoke.

Large and small windmills stand around the village and in the farmland, rotating slowly. If you look closely, you can see farmers busy in the fields and craftsmen driving donkey carts full of goods into and out of the windmill mill.

The clear sky is blue and pure. Occasionally, a big black bird can be seen soaring above the sky and leaping between the water systems. It is a unique kind of falcon in the Northland, and it is also the source of the Castel family emblem.

What an infinitely beautiful pastoral scenery!

Charlotte can keenly feel that everything here exudes a kind of thriving atmosphere, which is far from the comparison of the deep and quiet Violet Forest or the vast and sparsely populated countryside of the Duchy of Boulder.

And if you look up, you can even see the cities and castles located in the vertical and horizontal water systems and surrounded by silver-gray walls in the northeast.

Keep your eyes on the city and continue to the north, and at the end of your field of vision, you can still see the beautiful scenery of the water and the sky.

That is the sea.

Or to be more precise, the Xingyue Strait facing the Luoxing Kingdom from north to south.

Castel Territory was originally a territory facing the sea.

Standing on the hill, Charlotte looked far into the distance. After leaving the forest, or because of the proximity to the sea, the oncoming wind was obviously stronger.

Although it was far from being cold, it was clearly beyond the scope of the breeze, blowing her beautiful blonde hair a little messy.

Charlotte stroked her hair, looking at the distant world like a paradise with scorching eyes, she couldn't help being excited.

She's finally here, in her domain.

From now on, wherever she looks, it belongs to Castel's land!

The mighty convoy left the Violet Forest, and everyone's expressions became relaxed and bright.

As soon as the convoy walked out of the forest, there were knights in full armor and more than 30 cavalry coming from afar, as if they were already waiting at the exit of the forest.

Baron Sharon, who led the team at the front, obviously knew the knight, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, he brought the knight to meet Charlotte.

The strange knight came to the carriage led by Baron Sharon, and bowed respectfully towards the carriage:

"Angus de Valle, Commander of the Cavalry of the Earl of Castres, pay homage to the Earl!"

Shirley, who was also sitting in the carriage, lifted the gauze curtain for Charlotte, and Charlotte also saw clearly the knight kneeling on one knee.

This is a middle-aged man who looks about forty years old, with a resolute expression.

Charlotte had studied the relevant materials of the Earl of Castel in advance, and quickly recognized the other party's identity through the name reported by the other party.

Angus de Valais, one of the seventeen fiefdom barons directly under the Earl of Castres, the contemporary head of the Valais family, and the knight commander of the Earl of Castres.

At the same time, he is also the gateway to the Kingdom of Castel and the Principality of Violet, and the lord of Valais.

The city Charlotte had just seen on the hill was Valais.

Looking at the resolute knight in front of her, Charlotte quickly recalled the archives she saw in the study of Castell Manor.

The Valais family, one of the aristocratic families who most support the Castel family in the Earl of Castel.

Its contemporary patriarch, Angus de Valle, succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen. He fought with the Countess of Castel for more than ten years and participated in the Roman campaign to repel the massive invasion of the Fallen Star Kingdom.

Angus de Valais himself was taciturn, he didn't like to socialize, and he didn't like forming cliques. His only hobby was fighting swords. He was a swordsman obsessed with sword skills and a serious knight, but unfortunately his talent was not enough. Jia, you can only be trapped in the star rank for a lifetime.

These materials were all seen by Charlotte in the files in Castel's study, and those files were all left by her father, the previous Earl of Castel.

Although ten years have passed, it still has a certain reference value.

By the way, Baron Chalon's family, Leon-Castel, is also one of the families recorded in the files that have always been loyal to the Earl. This is what Charlotte found out after carefully looking through the files.

Of course, unlike the Valais family, Leon-Castel's title is a viscount, and he is also one of the only three fiefdom viscounts in the Earl of Castel.

The fiefdom of the Lien-Castel family is just northeast of Valais.

"You are welcome, Your Excellency Angus."

Put away the scattered thoughts, Charlotte said gently.

Her voice was gentle and soft, neither overly enthusiastic nor alienated, but maintained at a level that made people feel very comfortable and couldn't help feeling close.

After practicing the bloodline method of spiritual resonance for so long, even if Charlotte doesn't use the prestige technique or the words of charm, her rank in this aspect is not low.

After receiving Charlotte's order, Angus stood up again, and said in a deep voice:

"Lord Earl, you have been tired all the way. The Valais family has prepared a dinner. Please allow me to welcome you on behalf of the people of the Valais Barony."

Angus obviously really doesn't like socializing very much.

When Charlotte was invited to enter the city of Valais to attend the banquet, she also had a serious expression and a stiff expression, as if she was studying, which was exactly the same as recorded in the archives of Castel's study.

Charlotte did not directly respond to Baron Angus' invitation, but looked behind him:

"Is it only your Valais family?"

"My lord, the Barony of Valais is the gateway from the Violet Forest to the Castel Territory. The distance is relatively close, and the news was received earlier. The other families are relatively far away, so I don't think they know about it yet."

"We know you came north from this road."

Angus said in a deep voice.

Charlotte: ...

Isn't this answer too honest?

At this time, shouldn't you behave well in front of the lord, and step on those nobles who didn't come?

Charlotte cast a curious look at the baron, convinced that he was an honest man.

As for the other party's reason why the other nobles didn't come, she didn't believe it at all.

To fool the honest man, so many family representatives in the convoy followed, Charlotte couldn't believe that none of them sent a message in advance before entering the Violet Forest.

In the extraordinary world with magic, it is very convenient to carry out magic communication at the magic association resident in the city.

However, it was normal for no one to come to meet her.

This is not the emperor's southern tour. Even as an earl, the degree of centralization of the Castelland is not so high, and the lord's restraint on the vassals is not so strong.

This is a matter of coming if you like it, and not coming if you don’t like it, and no one forces it.

Not to mention that Charlotte has just succeeded to the throne and has no prestige at all.

"Your Excellency Angus, thank you very much for your invitation. It's just that... I wasted too much time along the way, and I don't plan to attend any banquets until I return to Beigang."

Charlotte said gently.

Yes, no more banquets.

Before entering Castel Territory, Charlotte had already made up her mind that before returning to North Port, the main city of Castel, she did not plan to attend any noble banquets.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether someone comes to meet her after entering the territory.

Every time the Duke of Bold came back from the outside, not all the nobles would rush towards the Duke's mansion like licking dogs. That was the lord, not his father.

But judging from the envoys sent by the various families in the Earl of Castel to her coming-of-age and succession ceremonies, these families did not attach much importance to her.

You know, Quasimodo sent messages to the families in all the territories.

And this is not the first time that a summons has been made. After the Gorefiend case in Castel Manor, nobles from the territory were summoned to "escort".

Of course, no one moved in the end, and the response given was that the mage tower of the mage association in the territory was broken.

Charlotte can almost predict that after entering the territory, she will continue to attend large and small banquets. I am afraid that she will also face a series of hypocrisy and obscenities to make the children happy.

Not paying attention means not caring, not caring means belittling and underestimating, prevarication and fooling around, breeding of ambition, etc...

Charlotte was too lazy to do this anymore, she was used to intrigue during the journey to attend various banquets, and knew that nobles were best at disguising.

If possible, before returning to the main city, she didn't want to enter any noble's home court, and create a first impression of the other party in the environment created by the other party.

Although the files of the Castel family allowed her to have a preliminary understanding of the nobles in the territory, but the first impression is still very important, and a wrong first impression can easily lead to misjudgment.

She wants to see how these nobles treat her, and also wants to see how these nobles themselves are.

She wants to see, if she doesn't visit these nobles, how many nobles will come to visit her.

Of course, the Valai family might really want to invite her.

But since she decided not to attend any noble banquets, Charlotte naturally couldn't make such an opening.

Charlotte's refusal obviously caught the middle-aged knight by surprise.

He froze for a moment, apparently not knowing how to answer, scratched his head, and said in a deep voice:

"Okay, then... the subject will act as the guard and escort you to Beigang with Your Excellency Sharon."

Charlotte glanced at the middle-aged knight unexpectedly, and now believes that the other party should really belong to the loyalist faction.

"Then it's hard work for you, Your Excellency Angus."

She showed a bright smile, gentle and authentic.

That bright smile made Baron Angus stunned for a moment. A smile full of beauty and charm has always been very lethal. Even the taciturn middle-aged knight lost his mind for a moment.

But he quickly reacted and bowed his head respectfully.

Afterwards, the baron knight got on his horse again, and together with Baron Sharon, guarded the front of Charlotte's carriage.

One on the left and the other on the right, like two great Dharma protectors.

"The Valais family... During my coming-of-age ceremony, the messenger who came was the younger brother of Baron Angus, right?"

Charlotte lowered the veil and asked.

"Yes."

On the opposite side of her, Shirley replied while filling her a glass of milk.

Charlotte nodded slightly.

The Patriarch's younger brother attended her coming-of-age ceremony, and he was considered the tallest among all the visiting envoys of the aristocratic family.

Castell's convoy was joined by Lord Angus' cavalry, and Charlotte set off again.

This time, the convoy did not take a detour to Valais in the northeast, but headed north along the main road of the Earldom.

Those caravans that finally arrived at their destination also bid farewell to the Castel family's convoy and left. They paid "protection fees" along the way, and Charlotte made a small pocket money of almost two thousand quintana.

And without the caravan, the Castel convoy will go faster. According to Baron Angus, it will arrive in three days at most.

The Earl of Castres is big, very big.

As far as Charlotte knows, its size is equivalent to one-third of the Duchy of Boulder, and the officially recorded area is about 120,000 square kilometers.

From the map, the shape of the entire Principality is roughly a 120-degree arc-shaped obtuse triangle. The obtuse side faces northeast, and the north faces the Xingyue Strait, which is also the location of Beigang, the capital of the Castel Territory.

By the way, the earldom's population is said to be more than five million.

When Charlotte first learned about these statistics, she really couldn't help but click her tongue. Seriously speaking, this size is already equivalent to a principality. Even if it is placed in a background similar to that of Blue Star, it is still an important prince.

Of course, the world of Miria has extraordinary power, and the scale of administrative divisions is obviously much larger than that in the similar history of Blue Star. For example, the population of the New Moon Kingdom is said to be 80 to 90 million.

But even so, Castelland is 100% aristocratic, even if it is independent of the Principality of Boulder and placed in the New Moon Kingdom, it is still a powerful force.

The convoy headed north, and gradually, more and more towns and pedestrians were on the way.

The citizens of Castelland are obviously richer. Even the farmers, their clothes are similar to those of the residents in the outer city of Boulder. You must know that in the countryside of Boulder, the farmers Charlotte saw were dressed in the same clothes as Beggars are almost the same.

However, what surprised Charlotte was that the faces of the passers-by on the road changed slightly after seeing the Castel family's convoy, and they all stopped their work and moved to the sides, or hid far away, using a He looked at the Castel emblem on the convoy with a complicated look that could even be called hostility.

"Why are they looking at us like that?"

Charlotte frowned, opened the curtain and looked suspiciously at Baron Angus who was riding a horse outside.

But Baron Angus showed hesitation.

Seeing the other party like this, Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.

"It's okay, if there's anything, just tell me."

she said.

Angus hesitated, and said in a deep voice:

"Master Earl, in fact... there have been bad rumors in the Earl's Territory recently..."

Back to the territory! New January, ask for a monthly pass!