Tome of Blood

  Chapter 168-18-History of the Castel family

  Castre's capital, Northport, is a city established on the sea, located next to the mouth of the Dorn River, the largest river in the West Unite region.

   It is said that eight hundred years ago, this place was just a coastal swamp, uninhabited, surrounded by dense forests, where many monsters were active, and it was once part of the Violet Forest.

  At that time, the Violet Forest was not called the Violet Forest. The entire forest spanned the lowlands of the northern border and was called the Dark Forest. Many monsters would often form a tide of monsters in the spring and attack the villages of the human countries in the south.

  Later, in order to permanently solve the problem of the wave of monsters in the north, the king of the New Moon Kingdom formulated a policy of pioneering knights to entrust the land.

Anyone who is willing to go all the way north and go deep into the dark forest to open up land and build a village, no matter noble or commoner, can be awarded the title of pioneer knight. All the land opened up is owned by the knight, and all the rare resources found on the estate are shared equally with the royal family. , all land pioneer knights can obtain the corresponding hereditary noble titles.

  The Earl of Castel, the Violet Duchy, and even the Roman Duchy, which is now an enclave of the Fallen Star Kingdom on the mainland and also the ancestral land of the Fallen Star Kingdom, were all developed in this way.

  The origin of the Castel family can be traced back to seven hundred years ago.

  At that time, the prestigious Bold family in the south of the Kingdom produced a magic genius named Castel.

At that time, the theory of the four extraordinary ranks had not yet been proposed, and the division of ranks was not so clear, but... According to various historical records, the ancestor of the Castel family was at his peak after middle age, and his strength was probably a legend.

Because he was the posthumous son of the old duke, Castel did not inherit any fiefs and titles. In order to obtain his own land, he chose to become a pioneer knight after he became an adult. With the support of the Duke, a pioneering team of 1,000 people was pulled up.

  The Earl of Castel was created by Castel's pioneering group.

Relying on his powerful magic power, Castel killed countless monsters, forcibly opened up a world in the dark forest, and chose to build the city on an island on a shallow beach by the banks of the Dorne River, and made the large area of ​​darkness The forest has been marked off as its own territory.

  There are four main reasons for building a city here.

One is relying on the barrier of the shallow sea, which can effectively avoid the attack of the tide of monsters; the other is that it is close to the Dorne River, and can go upstream through the river to communicate with the interior of the New Moon Kingdom, and even the Unet Empire and the Koria Kingdom in the east; According to the Treaty of Pioneering Knights, the fief division of Pioneering Nobles is based on strongholds that radiate to the surroundings. Strongholds that go deep into the dark forest can draw a large amount of territory for themselves; Divide the most flat part of the land in the dark forest under your own name. After cleaning up the monsters, this part of the land can be converted into fertile land for arable land.

In this way, Beigang City was built, becoming the northernmost city in the New Moon Kingdom, and the Castel family also owned a full 120,000 square kilometers of land, including Bold, which is the largest principality in the New Moon Kingdom. All of them benefited from this, and the scenery was unique for a while.

  Many people say that Castel is a family favored by the gods.

  During the period of great development, it was the period when supernatural powers were developing in the human world, and supernatural materials mainly based on monster resources were in short supply in various kingdoms.

Relying on the rich resources of monsters in the dark forest, the North Port of Castel has become a paradise for adventurers and mercenaries. Merchants from all over Myria flocked here to meet mercenaries and adventurers along the Dorne River. Traders to acquire precious magical materials and resell them around the world.

  In a sense, the Castel family started their business from the very beginning.

Over the next two hundred years, the Castel family used Beigang as their base, and gradually cleared the monsters in the family land one by one. , developed into a new city with a population of tens of thousands.

  The traces of monsters gradually disappeared in Castel Territory, and the original dense forest was also cut down.

  The people of Castel began to cultivate, and the countryside began to appear.

   But at the same time, because they were no longer located in the forest, the trade of Warcraft materials gradually disappeared from the Earl of Castel, and moved to the Violet Principality in the south and the Northern Tribal Alliance in the north.

   Logically speaking, Castel City is likely to decline because of this.

  But the favor of the gods came again.

   When the Castel family cleared the hilly area in the east of the territory, they accidentally discovered a rich silver mine!

  According to the personal investigation of the contemporary Earl of Castel, who was also a mage at that time, he even discovered high-quality accompanying Mithril in the silver mine...

   Thus, the era of the great silver mine in the Earl of Castel began.

  The mining of silver and mithril brought enormous wealth.

   Not only the Castle family, but also the Polder family and the Crescent royal family benefited from it.

  Especially Mithril.

  The mining of mithril was accompanied by the emergence of the precious metal processing industry in Castres, and gradually developed into a workshop industry of jewelry and extraordinary materials in Castres.

  Businessmen from all over the world flocked again, this time, for the precious Mithril.

And when the mithril workshop industry gradually developed, Castel City also became the most famous mithril producing area in the whole of Myria, and thus became the most important trade place for the mithril-loving elves to trade with the human world. node.

From that moment on, Luna Island, where the overseas elves reside, the Fallen Star Kingdom on the other side of the Xingyue Strait, the New Moon Kingdom on the Crescent Peninsula, and the Eastern Unet Blackland Mercenary Alliance in the east, and the Northern Tribal Alliance in the northeast The Grand Duchy of the North was established... the center surrounded by five forces, and the commercial value of Castel has become increasingly prominent.

  The Castel family has acquired massive wealth and has become one of the wealthiest families in the New Moon Kingdom.

  As the capital of the Earl of Castel, Beigang has been expanded again and again, from a city designed to resist the invasion of monsters, to a megacity with a population of more than half a million...

   Until today.

  When Charlotte first saw Beigang, she subconsciously thought of the two cities of Blue Star in her previous life.

  One is Venice, known as the "Water City" on the Apennine Peninsula, and the other is Amsterdam, the capital of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, known as the Maritime Coachman in the Age of Discovery.

   In fact, it is indeed very similar.

When you cross the city wall rebuilt during the Star-Moon War outside and enter the city, you will find that there are canals and waterways everywhere in the whole city, and there are many bridges. In the city, people and water depend on each other."

  Beigang is even more prosperous than Boulder City, the capital of the Principality of Bold, and An Luo City, the capital of the Principality of Moonguard. If you don't know it, it's really hard to imagine that she is just the capital of an earldom.

  In the city, the rivers criss-cross, and on both sides of the rivers are relatively spacious land roads. Merchant ships in the water come and go, and horse-drawn carriages are constantly on the road.

   It is said that every expansion of Beigang was personally designed by the then Earl of Castel, and the Archmage participated in the reconstruction every time.

  Because it is an immigrant city, the architectural style of Beigang has been influenced by various parts of Myria, but most of them are Gothic buildings with the same origin as the New Moon Kingdom.

  The Earl's Mansion is located in the center of Beigang. It was rebuilt on the basis of the Castel Fortress built by the first Earl of Castel, like a solemn castle palace in a manor.

  Because there was no master living there for a long time, the mansion did not arrange too many servants, but even so, when Charlotte stepped off the carriage, there were a full 200 deacons and maids standing on both sides to greet her and salute her respectfully.

  Charlotte nodded slightly, and then entered the Earl's Palace accompanied by followers.

  Wearing a butler tuxedo, Sebastian stood beside her, holding an umbrella for her elegantly and respectfully, while the black cat Niss followed her, with his head held high and his toes high, looking like a kitten that deserves a beating.

   As soon as she entered the Castle Palace of the Earl's Mansion, Charlotte felt a very familiar feeling, because the decoration here was very similar to the Castel Manor in Boulder.

   Obviously, Castel Manor is a replica of a small earl's mansion.

The direction of the Earl's Manor is also very similar. Through the stairs and corridors, Charlotte can easily find the Earl's master bedroom and study room. In the almost identical corridors, the only one that is significantly different from Castel Manor is probably It is the portraits of the earls hanging in the past.

  Charlotte even noticed that a blank area had been decorated next to the last portrait, obviously planning to hang a new one.

   As for who is hanging up, I am afraid it is herself.

   In addition, Charlotte, who had seen the earl's handwriting in the manor in advance, also knew that there was another Earl of Castell in her earl's mansion who was dedicated to studying the magic chamber.

Charlotte entered the earl's master bedroom, followed the handwriting of successive earls, touched around in front of the gorgeous pillar wall, and soon found the mechanism in the records. After lightly injecting magic power, the entire wall was reversed. A passage through the secret chamber was opened.

  Charlotte walked in along the passage, but soon, her expression became a little weird.

   This is not a simple secret room.

   Actually, after walking through the passage, Charlotte discovers that this is yet another hidden bedroom.

  The decoration here is also gorgeous, and there are luxurious bathrooms and bathtubs. She almost immediately thought of what this place is for, maybe it is not the place where the Earl’s golden house hides beauty or picks wild flowers...

   It may not be her father, but it must be a certain generation of ancestors, or it is very likely that all generations have used it more or less.

However, if you go deeper, you can see the real secret room for studying magic in the records. It is a circular secret room with various sophisticated magic equipment, and there are a lot of books on the bookshelves on the wall , taking into account the role of magic research and study.

  Charlotte is a vampire, magic research is of little use to her, and she is not the type to do research, but this place is very suitable for her to hone the innate magic of vampires, or to study the power of the blood scripture.

   It can be said that after getting acquainted with the Earl's Mansion, Charlotte is quite satisfied.

   "Lord Earl, the Mage Tower is ready for a collective communication, and the news of your arrival in Beigang can be delivered to the nobles everywhere at any time. Do you think you need to order them to come to see you as soon as possible?"

  Charlotte patrolled around, and after returning to the hall, the mayor of Northport, Maddock, greeted him with a smile and asked respectfully.

   "Mage Tower? Is it the Mage Tower that broke last year?"

  Charlotte's heart moved.

  Madock's expression was a bit awkward:

   "Ahem... yes, but it was an accident..."

   "Our Earldom has only one mage tower capable of ultra-long-distance communication. It was refitted by elf craftsmen the year before last. It can be said that it is the most advanced in the world of Myria. Now it can send messages to various nobles in the territory at any time."

   "This is the most high-end magic craft of the elves, but the disadvantage is that it is not stable...Last year, I was unlucky. I didn't adjust the magic circle properly when I encountered a storm, and the elements were disordered as a result."

   "Because the elf craftsmen returned to Luna Island to participate in the Luna celebration, so it hadn't been repaired for two months when you summoned..."

  After hearing Maddock's words, Charlotte glanced at him unexpectedly:

   "You also know magic?"

   Maddock scratched his head:

   "To tell you the truth, I always dreamed of becoming a mage in my early years, but unfortunately I didn't have the talent to awaken the magic circuit. However, I have always been interested in magic, so I know something more or less."

  Charlotte nodded knowingly.

   "Master Earl, do you see... do you need a summons?"

   Maddock asked again.

"Let's pass it on, tell them that I'm here, and... I'm going to hold a banquet in the Earl's Mansion in a week, and invite nobles from all over the Earl's Land. Come to bother me."

  Charlotte thought for a while and said.

   After coming to the Earldom, she will definitely meet the nobles. Charlotte also needs a banquet to judge the status of the nobles in the Earl of Castel.

   Madoc saluted respectfully:

   "Obey, I'll do it right away."

  …

  The news of the new earl's arrival in Northport quickly spread to all parts of Castel Territory through the Mage Tower.

   At the same time, in a dilapidated old castle somewhere near the Principality of Violet in Castel Territory.

  The middle-aged knight Lahail looked at the blood girl Agnes who was standing in front of the mirror trying on various maid outfits, hesitated, and asked:

   "Miss, are you really going to her banquet?"

  After hearing what the knight said, Agnes turned around and stared:

   "Go! Why not?"

   "The Necronomicon is still in her hand! This is a good opportunity to sneak into the Earl of Castel's mansion, of course I will!"

  …

  Charlotte didn't know that some of the two blood races who attacked her also knew that she was going to hold a banquet.

   There are still seven days before the banquet, and during these seven days, she has some other arrangements.

   Among them, the most important thing is to go to the Castel Silver Mine to the east.

   Ask for a monthly ticket for the new month_(:з」∠)_

  (end of this chapter)