Tome of Blood

As the reception dinner ended, the news that Duke Asia, one of the heirs to the throne, gave up his right to inherit the throne and surrendered to Count Castells quickly spread.

Along with this heavy news, Charlotte's peace agreement with the vampires spread, as well as Charlotte's trial of Archpriest Campbell at the banquet and the miracle that occurred in front of everyone.

The heir to the throne surrendered, and the vampires behind him also compromised.

The nobles of the Lilac Faction, who had no foundation and no leader, surrendered one after another in the next few days, and the shadow of the looming civil war in Falling Star Kingdom disappeared almost instantly.

Putting aside the influence of the blood clan, strictly speaking, the nobles of Luo Xing are not opposed to Charlotte's succession, and they even welcome it overall.

This is not only due to the prestige of Charlotte's "Saint Lady", but also her commitment to the fallen star nobles promoted by the parliamentary nobles——

After abdicating in the future, the ancient falling star electoral succession system will be reactivated.

This kind of monarch who is willing to delegate power to the nobles will naturally be welcomed by the noble group, even if it is just a promise for the future.

In the next few days, there was an endless stream of nobles going to Falling Star City to see Charlotte.

The situation was decided. Dukes, Earls, Viscounts... Whether they were from the Neutral Faction or the Lilac Faction, all the Fallen Star nobles who heard the news chose to surrender.

Although she has not been officially crowned yet, the title Her Majesty the Queen is already on the lips of all the nobles.

At the same time, with the help of the miraculous power at the banquet, Charlotte took advantage of the opportunity to publicize the cooperation between Archpriest Campbell and the "Fallen Blood Tribe", directly nailing the Holy Court branch of Fallen Star Kingdom to the pillar of shame.

The Holy Court branch of the Fallen Star Kingdom has been declining due to the indiscriminate exclusion of the local nobles and the Ness clan in the Fallen Star. Charlotte's actions are almost equivalent to directly tearing down their foundation in the Fallen Star.

As a "holy girl", Charlotte almost naturally took over the control of the branch of the Fallen Star Kingdom Church.

She was not even resisted by the priests.

Not only that... many priests cheered for her arrival.

This development has exceeded the expectations of many vampires.

In fact, the Council of Elders of the Ness clan has already prepared for the intervention of the Holy Royal Court and even the possibility of a religious war after the True Ancestor Crown takes over Luo Xing.

As a result... the intervention of the Holy Royal Court did not come, and the church in Luo Xing was "happy to welcome the King Master".

The higher-ups in Ness did not know the true identity of Count Castells, but they knew that Count Castells was a "relative of the true ancestor".

Although...this "true ancestor's family" turned into a saint of the Holy Royal Court for some reason.

All I can say is that this world is so wonderful that even Bardock, who has lived for two thousand years, cannot survive.

The blood descendants don't know how their ancestors did it. They just feel that the true ancestor after his return seems to be more powerful and mysterious.

However, even though Charlotte gained control of the Fallen Star branch of the Holy Royal Court, she did not rush to start preaching in the Fallen Star Kingdom.

Her foundation in Luo Xing is not yet stable, and her control over the Luo Xing branch is not stable either. She plans to gradually and subtly penetrate the Luo Xing branch and gradually transform the Luo Xing branch into a branch that believes in her own.

And when the time is right in the future, we will gradually build momentum, and finally find a way to merge the transformed Falling Star Branch with the Dark Night Cult.

It's a very bold idea, and it can be regarded as a blatant attempt to take advantage of the Holy Royal Court, but now that the "God Lord" has personally performed the miracle, it has considerable feasibility.

The only thing Charlotte needs to pay attention to is probably the interference from the Theocracy.

Of course, considering the distance between the Theocratic State and the Fallen Star Kingdom, it might be unknown how long it will take.

Five days after Duke Asia announced his renunciation of the throne, the busy Charlotte finally received a group of special visitors——

The legendary extraordinary beings of Falling Star Kingdom.

"Praise the Holy One, Her Majesty the Queen, your reputation and deeds have spread to every corner of the Luo Xing Kingdom. May Luo Xing be with you, and may the Holy Light be with you."

In the Red Palace, three elderly extraordinary people saluted Charlotte.

Charlotte sat on the throne and looked at the three people in different costumes in front of her. The information about the three people she had learned in advance also came to her mind.

The legendary swordsman of the Fallen Star Kingdom, the representative of the neutral nobles who guards the northern coastline of the Fallen Star Kingdom and fights sea beasts all year round - Duke Gale.

The legendary mage of the Fallen Star Kingdom is rumored to have a good relationship with the Vampire Clan, but he has never been involved in politics. He only serves as the honorary president of the Kingdom's Mage Association and is obsessed with various magical researches.

The Red Dragon Knight of the Fallen Star Kingdom has elven blood and an adult red dragon as a contract partner. He is a legendary mercenary who personally participated in the Star-Moon War. He is also the leader of the largest mercenary group in the Fallen Star Kingdom, the Red Dragon Mercenary Group. ——Viscount Lorenci.

These three legends are the highest experts in the extraordinary realm of the Fallen Star Kingdom. They belong to different forces, but they have maintained a neutral attitude on the issue of succession to the Fallen Star throne.

Charlotte has carefully studied the specific situation of Falling Star Kingdom in the past few days.

Unlike the Crescent Kingdom, several official legends of the Crescent Kingdom obey the orders of the Crescent King, and can be called followers of Louis V.

But the Legend of Fallen Star Kingdom is relatively independent.

They do not obey the king directly, but obey the Fallen Star Kingdom Council and implement the resolutions passed by the council.

Therefore, when the throne was vacant, the kingdom's parliament was divided, and the two factions of nobles, the parliamentary faction and the lilac faction, were quarreling, they consistently remained neutral.

This is also related to the identities, responsibilities and personalities of these three legends.

The legendary swordsman Duke Gale guards the north and fights against the sea monsters that infest the coast all year round. His mind is not on politics at all.

The same goes for Great Sage Bryn. He is obsessed with magic research. Many of the alchemy tools and magic techniques in Falling Star Kingdom are said to have come from him. Even Yurst has a pretty good personal relationship with him.

Viscount Lorenci, the Red Dragon Knight, is a little different.

As the leader of the mercenary group, he mainly works for money.

However, the Red Dragon Mercenary Group is originally affiliated with the Kingdom Parliament and is a mercenary group supported by the Kingdom Parliament. Therefore, although it is in a semi-independent state, it will still obey the decisions of the Kingdom Parliament.

The Kingdom Council of the Fallen Star Kingdom is much more powerful than the Noble Council of the Crescent Kingdom. In many cases, it can even influence the royal power. Therefore... obeying the Parliament does not mean obeying the king.

This is also the main reason why Viscount Lorenci remains neutral in the succession to the throne.

As far as Charlotte knows, during the Star-Moon War, there were far more than three legends of the Fallen Star Kingdom, but those legends who firmly followed the royal family eventually died in the war, under the sword of Louis V. , in the end only these three conservative and pacifist legends were left.

But that doesn't mean these three legends are completely useless.

Although they remained neutral, they still had the responsibility of guarding Luo Xing and were still loyal to Luo Xing Kingdom. At the same time, they were a force that could not be ignored for the Ness Blood Tribe.

It is precisely because of their existence that in the late Star-Moon War, when the strength of the Crescent Kingdom crushed the Falling Star Kingdom in all aspects, it did not dare to attack the Falling Star mainland. At the same time, in the competition for the succession of the throne, the Ness clan did not overthrow the Falling Star Kingdom. table.

In Falling Star Kingdom, there are almost always checks and balances between different powers.

The king is a ruler, but not an absolute authority.

This is not a bad thing for Charlotte. For her, the throne of Fallen Star Kingdom was completely obtained for free, and this kind of check and balance of power will help the Fallen Star nobles to better accept her, and even some Help her rule the Falling Star Kingdom like a shopkeeper.

As for strengthening centralization...

This is not urgent, and it is not necessary for Charlotte now.

Obtain the allegiance of the Ness clan, control the church branch, and become the Queen of the Fallen Star...

For Charlotte, she already has the strength and ability to completely control Luo Xing. Centralized power in the secular sense is no longer so important to her.

Not to mention, centralization is not the only solution, the one that is suitable is the best.

Charlotte's pursuit is also different from other kings. She wants to become a god and reach the pinnacle of extraordinary power.

At that time, centralization and other things actually didn't matter at all.

In a sense, Charlotte is somewhat similar to the three legends of Fallen Star Kingdom.

For beings whose strength has reached the pinnacle of the worldly world, many times their eyes are no longer on the worldly world.

This is why legends rarely take action directly in wars. At most, it is just legends versus legends.

The meeting of the three legends further strengthened Charlotte's legitimacy.

This means that the parliamentary faction nobles have made peace with the Lilac faction nobles, and the Fallen Star Kingdom Parliament has resumed normal operations.

Soon after, Charlotte's coronation time was officially set, which was February 13, 1447 in the Holy Calendar.

This date...how should I put it, made Charlotte feel quite subtle, but it was indeed the second Friday in February, and she had set it herself.

She regretted that she didn't check the calendar carefully to see what day the blood moon was next month.

However, once it’s decided, it’s decided.

The throne of the Fallen Star Kingdom has been vacant for several months. Now that the overall situation has been decided, no matter whether it is the parliamentary, neutral or lilac faction nobles, they actually no longer want to delay it any longer.

Even if there are checks and balances on power, the king is still the ruler of the kingdom and the leader of the country.

If the throne is vacant, the political situation will be unstable. Even if the aristocracy is autonomous, many things cannot be pushed forward.

Especially the formation of a cabinet.

If Charlotte is not crowned, she will not have the power to reorganize the cabinet. The current temporary cabinet headed by parliamentary nobles alone cannot support the normal operation of the kingdom.

Of course, the aggressiveness of the Crescent Kingdom is also another reason. At the reception dinner, many nobles witnessed the Crescent Kingdom's covetous attitude towards the Fallen Star Kingdom's mainland enclave.

Even considering the threat from the Crescent Kingdom, the succession to the throne cannot be delayed any longer.

Of course, even without being officially crowned, Charlotte has actually taken over the power of Luo Xing.

The intensity of ruling a kingdom is different from ruling an earldom. Even with the help of a temporary cabinet, Charlotte has seen with her own eyes what it means to be knowledgeable and knowledgeable in this era.

Her vision suddenly changed. Before, Charlotte only dealt with the various lords of the Crescent Kingdom, but now... she may have to start thinking about all the countries on the continent.

But similarly, the power and power of ruling a kingdom is definitely incomparable to that of a county.

The Count of Castres is already considered to have a large population, but it only has a population of 4 million and an area of ​​120,000 square kilometers.

But Falling Star Kingdom... has a population of 67 million and an area of ​​an astonishing 1.225 million square kilometers.

If this area were placed in Blue Star in the previous life, it would be almost equivalent to the three northeastern provinces plus Hebei and Shandong.

Of course, of the 1.225 million square kilometers of land, more than 900,000 are the area of ​​the main island of Luo Xing Island.

As for the army... there is no way to calculate it. Like the Crescent Kingdom, the Falling Star Kingdom also has a levy system. During the war, the nobles responded to the king and provided levies.

But the number of extraordinary standing personnel directly under the kingdom is already quite astonishing, a full 30,000 people.

This is not the kind of standing army privately owned by noble lords. For example, in the Bold-Castle War, the standing army raised by the two principalities' coalition forces also had 30,000 people, but the proportion of those who entered the ranks was not even 100%. One, and the two principalities have elite extraordinary personnel, and the ratio of those who have entered the level is not even 1:50.

However, the proportion of those who are directly under the control of the Fallen Star Kingdom has reached an astonishing 1:20!

Of course, just as the parliament restricts the king's power, the extraordinary standing supplies of the Fallen Star Kingdom cannot be mobilized by the king at will. After the king gives the order, it must be approved by the parliament.

In the early stages of the competition for the throne, the military remained neutral.

However, in addition to the extraordinary standing supplies directly under the kingdom, the royal family itself also has its own extraordinary standing reserves, which can be mobilized without going through parliament.

There are 5,000 people in this group of extraordinary standing personnel, but they are more elite than the extraordinary standing personnel directly under the kingdom, and the ratio of initiates has even reached 1:10.

Although for Charlotte now, whether there are 5,000 or 10,000 people, as long as she does not fully deploy the magic energy array and completely explodes the power of the demigod with the saint posture, she can move tens of thousands with a single move. Ji's army was destroyed.

But now order has not collapsed, and war still has to follow rules.

Under the premise that Legend cannot end directly and her identity should not be completely exposed, a powerful army is indispensable.

Of course, compared with the military strength of the Crescent Kingdom, the Falling Star Kingdom is still far behind.

As far as Charlotte knows, the number of extraordinary heavy cavalry in the Crescent Kingdom alone should be almost the same as Luo Xing's extraordinary standing stock.

However, the reverse is true for the navy. As an island country isolated overseas, the Falling Star Kingdom has the most powerful navy on the mainland second only to the Luna Coast City-State Alliance. The number of standing warships exceeds a hundred, crushing the Crescent Kingdom.

Of course, like the army, unless there are special circumstances, the king's use of the navy also requires parliamentary approval.

As for the financial aspect...it's a bit unexpected.

Charlotte took a quick look and found that despite having ten times the territory and fifteen times the population of the Castel Territory, the Fallen Star Kingdom's annual financial revenue was less than three times that of the Castel Territory.

That is to say, the extraordinary resources are relatively abundant, and they can maintain the extraordinary standing expenses. After adding, adding, subtracting and subtracting, the financial balance after one year is actually not much, not even as much as the fraction left by Castel.

Although Castor's wealth was well known, it had to be said that Falling Star Kingdom... was quite poor.

Looking at Falling Star Kingdom's financial report, Charlotte sighed.

Maybe...this is the drawback of the decentralization of power among the aristocracy. It seems that we will have to find ways to make money in the future.

One way is to pick it directly from the nobles.

However, Charlotte doesn't want to do that for the time being.

Her power comes from the support of the fallen star nobles, and she is not stupid enough to dig her own foundation before she has secured her seat.

Reducing expenditure is indeed a way, but besides reducing expenditure, there is also increasing revenue. In this regard, combined with the geographical location and development status of Falling Star Kingdom, Charlotte actually has some ideas.

Of course, that is all after the official succession.

In the next ten days, Charlotte cooperated with the Fallen Star nobles in the transfer of power, learned about various internal affairs of the Fallen Star Kingdom, and considered how to rule Fallen Star in the future.

Before you know it, the day of the coronation has arrived.

——————

Sorry, I'm on a business trip these days, so updates are unstable.