When Charlotte, dressed in her best clothes, arrived at the manor hall, warm applause broke out.
The luxurious reception hall was filled with noise and the nobles stood up one after another and saluted the girl.
Among them were families and wealthy businessmen who had business dealings with Castel, representatives of various friendly families, and envoys from lower-level nobles in Castel's territory.
Charlotte was wearing a gorgeous aristocratic dress with her long golden hair draped naturally behind her. She looked elegant and noble, beautiful and charming, like a holy angel under the dreamy and colorful crystal chandeliers.
Today, she looks more beautiful and mature.
Of course, Charlotte knew it was just the costume and makeup effects.
She would measure her height every once in a while. Since she traveled through time, she had actually not grown at all. Even after taking off her clothes, she was still that pitiful little figure.
Charlotte seriously suspected that her body shape and appearance had been completely determined from the moment she became a vampire.
Seeing the girl entering the hall, the people attending the ceremony made way for her, and the silk carpet with burgundy as the main color led straight to the front of the hall.
There, Raoul, the director of the church hospital, was wearing a white priest robe and had a gratified smile on his face.
Charlotte made her way through the crowd and to the front of the hall.
She held up the hem of her skirt, bowed gracefully to Raoul, and said with a smile:
"Good evening, Grandpa Raoul."
Raoul also laughed:
"Good evening, Charlotte, congratulations on your coming of age, you look really beautiful today."
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Charlotte smiled.
Then she blinked again:
"Congratulations on becoming the High Priest of Bolder."
"I am just the acting high priest. If I cannot pass the church's divine grace test and become a Blazing Sun, I will eventually have to return to the church hospital to serve."
Raoul shook his head.
A test of divine grace
Charlotte's heart moved slightly and she secretly remembered the name.
Charlotte was quite surprised to learn that Raoul, the director of the church hospital, was elected as the high priest of Boulder.
Generally speaking, only priests of the third level of Blazing Sun are qualified to become high priests.
As far as Black Cat Nice knows, this seems to be the result of a power struggle between the Inquisition and the Church of Bolder.
In order to purge the corrupt priests of the Church of Bolder, the newly appointed Grand Knight did not want to see a strong Grand Priest, so he supported Raoul, who was still Silver Moon.
That's right, purge the corrupt priests.
As the saying goes, if the top beam is crooked, the bottom beams will be crooked too. The high priest Lainas has fallen into depravity, and there are many of his followers in the Bolder Church.
Perhaps these followers are not aware of the secrets of the high priest, but they are not clean, and some of them have even participated in the activities of the Drunken Dream Salon.
In recent months, under the inspection of the Inquisition, the Church of Bolder has been in chaos every day.
However, this is a good thing for Charlotte.
She has always maintained a good relationship with Raoul, and having Raoul perform the sacrament of adulthood for her can also avoid some unnecessary incidents.
"You will definitely pass the test. After all... your faith is so strong."
Charlotte smiled.
Priest Raoul did not seem that excited, but smiled bitterly:
"Let's hope so... Bolder is a mess right now. Nearly a quarter of the entire cathedral has been dismissed by the Grand Knights. Who knows what will happen in the future."
Charlotte blinked again:
"If you don't want to stay in Boulder, then apply to come to Castel. Castel needs an upright priest like you."
"Hahahahahaha... Charlotte, you're getting better and better at speaking."
Raoul laughed.
After saying this, he seemed to have thought of something, hesitated for a moment, and asked again:
"Charlotte, does the oath you made to the church in front of Lennas still count?"
Charlotte's smile faded and she lowered her head.
Raoul understood immediately.
He sighed softly and said:
"I see."
"I know that what Linus did made you a little disappointed in the church, but... he has received the punishment he deserves."
"If you have ideas, the door to the Holy Royal Court is always open to you."
Charlotte hesitated for a moment, raised her head, and looked at the old priest sincerely:
"Grandpa Raoul, I did hesitate."
"I think... maybe it's because my faith is not strong enough."
"If possible, after I inherit the title and return to the territory, I hope to study in Castel's church school in my spare time, learn more about the church, and pray and confess under the holy light."
After hearing the girl's words, Raoul looked relieved:
"While inheriting the territory, you will also be listed as a noble priest... I understand."
"Don't worry, I will write a letter of introduction for you. The Holy Light will witness your piety and listen to your voice."
Charlotte smiled sweetly and was very happy:
"thank you!"
She is really happy.
As long as she served as a noble priest, even in name only, she would be able to swagger into the local church and make money even if she returned to Castel.
"this is necessary."
Raoul smiled.
After he finished speaking, he straightened his expression again:
"Okay, it's about time, let's get started."
Dean Raoul clapped his hands, and the music in the hall stopped instantly, and the boiling crowd became quiet.
Charlotte's coming-of-age ceremony also officially began.
In Miria, the coming-of-age ceremony for the nobility is divided into two parts.
One is that the elders formally introduce the adult nobles to the guests and accept the blessings from the guests.
The second is to perform the sacrament, where the clergy of the church will give divine blessings to adult nobles on behalf of the church. This is a divine ritual that can improve physical fitness and disease resistance and help the nobles strengthen their bloodline power.
Since Charlotte was the only direct member of the Castel family left, Charlotte handed over the responsibility of hosting the coming-of-age ceremony to the old priest Raoul.
The formal introduction of Charlotte to the nobles was just a formality.
As the current de facto head of the Castel family, Charlotte had taken over the family's authority a year ago, and the nobles present were more or less familiar with her.
That is, the envoys and representatives of the lower nobles of the Earldom of Castel who had rushed over after hearing the news, still looked at her with inquiry, and were quite curious about her, the future lord.
Many families in Castel Territory sent representatives to attend Charlotte's coming-of-age ceremony.
However, Charlotte noticed that the status of these representatives seemed to be low. Not a single noble family head was present, and many family representatives could not even be considered nobles...
It was obvious that the nobles of Castel County did not take her, the young heir, very seriously.
The formal introduction of identity was quickly completed, followed by the administration of the sacrament.
This is also the process that Charlotte is more concerned about (because it is very likely that she can take advantage of the power of Holy Light to make some money).
Accompanied by the ethereal hymns, Charlotte pinched her bulging skirt and knelt gently on one knee.
Bathed in the divine light, Raoul held the sacred code in one hand and recited the blessing of the coming-of-age ceremony in a rhythmic manner. With the other hand smeared with holy oil, he gently drew a cross on the girl's forehead, representing the Holy Court.
As Raoul moved, a holy light enveloped Charlotte.
Familiar burning pain came from all over her body, and Charlotte soon saw new information emerging in her consciousness:
The Blood Codex detected a divine ritual in progress—
Technical name: Holy Rite
Caster: Holy Light
Subject: Charlotte de Castel
Effect of the ritual: The blessing and marking bestowed upon mortals by the divine light can inspire the potential and abilities of the recipient, enhance the recipient's physique and bloodline strength, and at the same time mark and hint at the recipient, mark the recipient's soul coordinates, and make the recipient's stance more inclined towards the Holy Royal Court.
Interception probability determination: 100%
Intercept
Sacramental ceremony
Charlotte's heart moved slightly.
The last time she came to No's sacrament, she did not detect this divine ritual.
So... Could it be that when the high priest came to Nas, he didn't really perform the real sacrament for the other party, but just went through the motions
only…
Marking the soul and implying a stance
Charlotte thought.
She vaguely understood why the Holy Royal Court wanted to promote the sacrament ceremony among the nobles.
This is a blessing, but also a means for the Holy Royal Court to indirectly control the nobility.
Charlotte noticed that although the person who performed the sacrament was Raoul, the Blood Codex detected that the caster was "Holy Light".
This is the power of Lord Harald.
In other words, it was the Lord God Harald who blessed the recipient with the help of the believers' hands, and also marked the recipient's soul coordinates and hinted at his position.
Charlotte's heart moved slightly.
The sacrament of adulthood... is a means for the Holy Royal Court to cultivate potential believers, and it is also a means for the gods to extend their gaze to mortals!
Charlotte did not intercept the divine ritual, but let it fall on herself.
A holy light bloomed on the girl's body, and Charlotte clearly felt a burning power like fire surging into her body.
However, the moment the holy light entered her body, she controlled the Holy Book of Blood and used the power of blood, which was similar to the "blood-sucking" power, to devour the holy light.
At the same time, Charlotte felt as if she had established some inexplicable connection with a sea of brilliant light.
It seemed that the "blessing" for Charlotte had failed. After the holy light that entered her body was swallowed up, the holy light that enveloped Charlotte did not end.
In Charlotte's perception, the ocean of light in the dark suddenly boiled!
The brilliant light continued to bloom on the girl's body. Charlotte felt that more holy light was rushing into her body, as if it was desperately trying to "purify" her as a heretic.
Charlotte accepted all the holy light and let it pour in, then swallowed it all with a smile.
And then... the holy light surrounding her became even brighter.
As if she didn't believe in evil, the holy light became more and more dazzling. Charlotte even felt a strong sense of rejection and hostility from the holy light.
That kind of rejection and hostility has no autonomous consciousness.
In the girl's perception, this rejection felt like some kind of pre-set program.
But at this moment, this program increased its holy light output because of Charlotte's "stubbornness".
Then, a scene occurred that shocked the old priest Raoul and many guests.
I saw the girl's body shining brightly and dazzlingly.
Holy photons fluttered down from the sky, danced around the girl, and rushed into her body.
Like... a miracle!
Some of the priests present became excited on the spot, and could not help but make the sign of the cross on their chests. They looked at the girl bathed in the holy light with fanaticism, and their voices were trembling:
“Miracle… This is a miracle!”
"Praise the Holy One! She is blessed by the Holy Light!"
"The glory of God's grace... Could it be that she is really a natural saint?!"
The priests looked excited.
Under the fierce attack of the holy light, Charlotte absorbed the power of Lord Harald smoothly.
Until she reached a certain critical point, a strong sense of anxiety and uneasiness surged into her heart.
Somewhere in the dark, Charlotte felt that an ancient will seemed to be gradually awakening.
Her heart skipped a beat and she quickly stopped this almost cheating-like absorption and interrupted the sacrament ceremony.
Without its source of power, the holy light gradually lost its strength and stopped invading her.
The light faded, and the vague repulsion and hostility quickly disappeared, and the holy light shrouding the girl also dissipated...
In Charlotte's perception, her connection with the mysterious sea of light was completely severed.
Charlotte felt a little unsatisfied.
Although being burned by the holy light was not pleasant, and could even be said to be quite painful, she had just gained a considerable amount of power!
Not to mention anything else, it took her more than half a year to finally recover to 27.8 points of divine power, which more than doubled under the holy light that lasted for about three minutes just now, and increased to 55 points!
This surprised Charlotte.
At the same time, she was also very curious about the ocean of light she had just communicated with.
"That will that is gradually awakening, could it be the Lord God Harald? Is she sleeping?"
"I just... Could it be that I was connected to her?"
Charlotte thought.
The ocean of light she had just seen was incredibly vast.
Compared to the other party, the power she quietly absorbed was like a drop of water in the ocean.
But this one drop of water directly made her blood power almost return to the peak when the True Ancestor was released...
"Sure enough, compared to trying to find a way to produce divine power myself, this almost predatory 'bloodsucking' is more satisfying and faster!"
Charlotte thought to herself.
Coming out of the joy of her big profit, Charlotte opened her eyes.
However, when she saw the surrounding scene clearly, she was stunned.
The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone's eyes were focused on her.
The faces of the priests were filled with excitement, and they looked at her with extremely hot eyes, as if she were a treasure.
The guests all opened their eyes wide, with expressions filled with shock.
Charlotte: …
My goodness, did she make some big noise just now
…
At the same time, in the churches of the Miria world, statues of Lord Harald are enshrined.
The priests and believers knelt before the statue and prayed fervently and devoutly.
Just now, they witnessed a strange scene together...
All the statues of gods enshrined in the church were lit up.