Tome of Blood

  Chapter 166-16-Castel Collar

   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, skillfully connecting pieces of farmland together. At the junction of the roads, you can see villages with little smoke.

  Big 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 large black bird can be seen soaring above the sky and leaping between the water systems. It is a unique type 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 is bursting with a kind of thriving atmosphere, which is far beyond the comparison of the deep and quiet Violet Forest and the vast and sparsely populated countryside of the Duchy of Boulder.

  And if you look up to the extreme, you can see the city and castle surrounded by silver-gray walls located between the vertical and horizontal water systems in the northeast.

  Looking along the city and continuing to the north, you can still see the beautiful scenery of the water and the sky at the end of your field of vision.

   That's the sea.

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

  Castel Territory was originally a territory near 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, staring at this paradise-like world in the distance with burning eyes, and her heart couldn't help feeling excited.

   She finally came, and came to her territory.

  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 of the team, obviously knew the knight. 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:

   "The cavalry commander of the Earl of Castel, Angus de Valais, meet 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 identity of the other party 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 that Charlotte saw on the hill just now is Valais.

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

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

  Its current patriarch, Angus de Valle, succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen. He fought with the Earl and his wife 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 socializing, 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 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.

   "Please do so without courtesy, Your Excellency Angus."

   Put away the scattered thoughts, Charlotte said gently.

  Her voice was gentle and gentle, 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 way of bloodlines 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.

  According to 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 what was recorded in the archives of Castel's study.

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

   "Is your Valais the only one here?"

   "Lord Earl, the Valais Barony is the gateway from the Violet Forest to the Castel Territory. The distance is relatively close, and the news was received early. The other families are relatively far away, so I probably don't know about it yet."

   "We know you're coming north this way."

   Angus said in a deep voice.

  Charlotte:  …

   Isn’t this answer too honest?

  Shouldn't you behave yourself in front of the lord at this time, and step on those nobles who didn't come?

  Charlotte gave the baron a strange look, convinced that he was an honest man.

  As for the reason the other party said that 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 an extraordinary world with magic, it is very convenient to carry out magic communication at the magic association resident in the city.

  However, it is normal that no one came 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, so she has no prestige at all.

   "Your Excellency, Angus, thank you very much for your invitation, but... I have delayed 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.

  Early 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 intend to attend any noble banquets.

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

  Every time the Duke of Bold comes back from outside, not all the nobles rush towards the Duke's mansion like licking dogs. They are the lords, not fathers.

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

   You know, Quasimodo sent messages to the families in every territory.

  And this is not the first time that a summons has been made. After the Gorefiend case in Castel Manor, the 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 participate in large and small banquets. I am afraid that she will also face a series of hypocrisy and deceitfulness to make children happy.

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

  Charlotte is too lazy to do this anymore. She has participated in various banquets along the way, and she is also used to intrigue, knowing that nobles are best at disguising.

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

  Although the files of the Castel family allow her to have a preliminary understanding of the nobles in the territory, 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 Valais 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, obviously not knowing how to answer, scratched his head, and said in a deep voice:

   "Okay, then... the subject will act as the guard and **** 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 loyalists.

   "Then thank 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.

  Then, 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 one 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 put down the gauze curtain and asked.

"Yes."

  Across from her, Shirley replied while filling her a glass of milk.

  Charlotte nodded slightly.

  The Patriarch's younger brother attended her coming-of-age ceremony. Among all the visiting envoys of the noble family, he was considered tall.

  The cavalry of Baron Angus joined Castel's convoy, and Charlotte set off again.

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

  The caravans that finally arrived at their destination also bid farewell to the Castel family's convoy. They paid "protection fees" along the way, and Charlotte earned a total of almost two thousand goldtana pocket money.

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

  The Earl of Castel is very 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 about 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 data, 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 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 of Blue Star’s similar history. 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 from the Principality of Boulder, it is still a powerful force in the Kingdom of the New Moon.

  The convoy headed north. Gradually, there were more towns and more pedestrians on the road.

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.

   Baron Angus showed hesitation.

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

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

   she said.

   Angus hesitated for a moment, and said in a deep voice:

   "Master Earl, actually... There have been bad rumors in the Earl's Territory recently..."

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

  (end of this chapter)