The convoy from Castel consisted of about three hundred people, guarding a total of forty carriages.
Among them, there were one hundred armored knights from the Castel family, three mages, and the remaining two hundred were followers and coachmen.
The leader of the caravan was Baron Chalon, whose full name was Chalon de Lien-Castel, a senior First-Order Knight of the Stars.
After knowing the other person's full name, Charlotte was a little surprised. She didn't expect to see half of her family's surname in the other person's surname.
However, after Quasimodo's introduction, Charlotte learned that the Leon-Castell family was a branch of the Castell family.
Just as the Castel family is a branch of the Bold family, there are also many branches of the Castel family in the Earldom of Castel, but some of them kept the name Castel in their surnames after the split, while others changed their names completely.
Similar family branches are quite common in the world of Miriam.
This is determined by the inheritance law of the Miriam aristocratic system, which also originated from the Yunet Empire, which laid the foundation for the current basic political structure of Miriam. The Yunet Empire advocates divided inheritance. In addition to the eldest son obtaining the main title, every heir of the noble will obtain the next level of noble title and territory.
For this reason, over the past thousand years, various aristocratic families have grown and branched out. In addition to the main family, side branches have also continued to branch out, forming increasingly large aristocratic surnames.
In other words, Baron Chalon's ancestors were also direct members of the Castel family.
However, the division of inheritance can lead to both success and failure.
Although the division of inheritance maintained a certain fairness and allowed the noble families to continue to grow, it also brought about wars, especially the struggles among heirs over inheritance rights.
In addition, the continuous division and inheritance also weakened the centralization of power. Many feudal kingdoms, including the Yunite Empire, saw the royal power weakened due to continuous division, and eventually the central government lost control over the local areas, and even led to the demise of the country.
Of course, this is already old news.
People have long memories, and the same is true for nobles.
Today, a thousand years later, the vast majority of aristocratic families have long since abandoned the practice of divided inheritance and have chosen the more "advanced" practice of primogeniture.
Although heirs other than the eldest son may receive fiefs, it is not for inheritance reasons but as a gift from the lord.
As for the Castel family...
Except for the branch family that had grown out more than a hundred years ago, the main branch of Castel has been a single-line family for five generations in the past hundred years, and has been on the verge of extinction at all times.
By the time it came to Charlotte, it was almost as if the family had ceased to exist.
That is why, although there is a branch of the Castel family in the Earldom of Castel, their blood relationship is not even as close as that of other families in the kingdoms and duchies through marriage, and the same is true for the claim and inheritance rights to Castel.
Even though they were related by blood, and even though they were still considered part of the Castel clan, the nobles of these territories were almost the same as the feudal nobles.
In addition to Baron Sharon, there are five knights who have entered the rank among the one hundred armored knights escorting the convoy. Among them, there is a hereditary nobleman and four extraordinary knights who have entered the rank with the help of the seeds of source power.
Although the remaining knights have not been promoted, they are all extraordinary people.
As for the three mages, there is also one Fanxing, and the remaining two are apprentices.
It is obvious that the ratio of mages among the extraordinary people is much lower than that of the extraordinary knights.
But this is also normal.
The requirements to become a mage are more stringent than those for a Transcendent Knight, not to mention that a Transcendent Knight can also be mass-produced through the Seed of Source Power.
Although the mass-produced entry-level players are a little weaker, they are still entry-level players.
After seeing the strength of the escort knights, Charlotte had a more intuitive idea of the strength of her own family.
You know, in the Demon Hunting Station in Boulder City, the number of Demon Hunting Knights who have entered the rank is no more than forty. But here, in a team of the Castel family that is transporting supplies, there are seven people who have entered the rank!
However, the knights escorting the convoy were not the strongest force of the team.
The strongest force is a middle-aged man standing next to Baron Sharon.
Unlike the armored knight, the equipment on him looked much more worn, and he had a rough and untamed air.
Charlotte felt a clear sense of threat from him, although not as strong as Sebastian, but still quite strong.
Silver Moon!
This is a Silver Moon Level 2 transcendent!
Realizing the other party's strength, it was hard for Charlotte not to cast a curious look.
There is no doubt that compared to the majestic armored knight, this Silver Moon Level 2 is the real escort.
He alone could probably defeat these knights easily!
Noticing her gaze, Sharon hurriedly introduced respectfully:
"Miss Charlotte, this is Lord Carlisle."
After that, he introduced Charlotte to the Silver Moon Level 2 Transcendent:
"Mr. Carlisle, this is the young mistress of our Castel family, Miss Charlotte."
Carlisle... Your Excellency
Her heart moved slightly.
Although he was a first-rank baron of the Stars, Sharon did not address the other party as "Sir", indicating that the other party was not a noble.
Silver Moon is at the second level, but not a noble. Coupled with his weathered and rough attire, the answer is obvious.
The other party... is probably a free mercenary!
As if to verify Charlotte's guess, the middle-aged man couldn't help but look at her a few more times before looking away. His gaze paused at Sebastian for a moment before he said to Baron Sharon:
"Lord Sharon, Polder is here, and I should leave too."
"Mr. Carlisle, why don't you stay and rest for a while? Let us show our hospitality."
Baron Sharon said in a deep voice.
However, the extraordinary person named Carlisle just shook his head:
"Thank you for your invitation, but I have other things to do."
After some refusal, the Silver Moon Level 2 transcendent left.
Before leaving, Baron Sharon ordered a knight to hand the other party an exquisite bag. Charlotte took a look and found that it was filled with a lot of silvery metal, which looked very much like the legendary mithril.
She immediately understood that this mercenary was not a retainer of Castel, but was only hired to help escort supplies.
However, the fact that Castel was able to hire a second-level Silver Moon to escort supplies for a month was enough to show his financial strength and the value of the items being transported.
According to the price Nice charges for hiring extraordinary people on the black market, it would probably be impossible to hire one without tens of thousands of Quintanas!
And this... also made Charlotte even more curious about the supplies transported by the convoy.
After all, the cost of this transportation alone would probably be tens of thousands of quintana!
As the children chased excitedly, the Castel family's convoy drove into the city of Boulder. The knights on the periphery scattered silver tana on both sides to clear the way, which was welcomed by cheers.
Sitting in the carriage, Charlotte couldn't wait to order the escorting knights to bring the list of supplies for her to check first.
After hearing her order, Baron Chalon was a little hesitant, but he finally obeyed her orders.
After seeing the list, Charlotte finally understood why forty carriages were needed.
It turns out that the convoy they escorted not only provided funds for the estate, but also provided goods for the family's stores throughout the Principality of Boulder.
Forty carriages, most of them are filled with cargo!
They were not only a convoy transporting supplies, but also a caravan.
As for the materials they transported... there were high-quality textiles from the Falling Star Kingdom, elven ornaments and magic props from the Moon Goddess Island, and minerals and gems from the Castel Territory.
And when Charlotte saw the column for funds delivered to the manor, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Five hundred thousand!
The funds that the convoy transported to the manor as funds for family activities amounted to 500,000 quintanas!
My God, this is a month’s budget!
That’s six million quintanas a year!
Is my family so rich? !
Charlotte felt her heart trembling, and she felt that she had underestimated her family's wealth.
At this moment, the old servant Quasimodo couldn't help but knock on the car window:
"Master, how much money has been transported from the family territory?"
"Five hundred thousand quintana!"
Charlotte took a deep breath and said with a flushed face.
However, after hearing her words, Quasimodo frowned slightly:
"Five... five thousand?"
Seeing his expression, Charlotte felt a little strange:
"Why, is there a problem?"
Quasimodo hesitated for a moment, and then murmured:
"It seems there is some problem..."
"Master, I haven't been involved in family affairs for many years, so I don't know what the territory is like now."
"But only half a million... seems too little."
Charlotte: ...