Walking out of the rolling violet forest, the view suddenly opens up.
What came into Charlotte's sight was a vast plain. Standing on the hill, she could see the criss-crossing river systems, the numerous lakes and ponds, as well as the reed haystacks, shrubs and forests, and large tracts of farmland interspersed between the water systems.
The winding stone road leads to the distance, cleverly connecting one farmland after another. At the intersection of the roads, you can see villages with smoke rising from chimneys.
Windmills of all sizes stand around the village and in the farmlands, rotating slowly. If you look closely, you can see farmers busy in the fields and craftsmen driving donkey carts loaded with goods in and out of the windmills.
The clear sky is pure blue, and occasionally you can see a large black bird soaring in the sky and flying between the water systems. It is a kind of falcon unique to the North, and it is also the source of the Castel family emblem.
What an infinitely beautiful rural scenery!
Charlotte could keenly feel that everything here was bursting with a thriving atmosphere, far beyond the deep and cold Violet Forest and the sparsely populated countryside of the Duchy of Boulder.
If you look far away, you can see a city and castle in the northeast, located among the crisscrossing water systems and surrounded by silver-gray walls.
Continue walking north along the city, and you can see the beautiful scenery where the water and sky meet at the end of your vision.
That is the sea.
Or to be more precise, it is the Star-Moon Strait that faces the Falling Star Kingdom from the north to the south.
The Territory of Castel is originally a territory on the sea.
Standing on the hill, Charlotte looked into the distance. After leaving the forest, perhaps because it was near the sea, the wind was obviously stronger.
Although it was far from being cold and harsh, it was clearly stronger than a breeze and made her beautiful golden hair a little messy.
Charlotte smoothed her hair, looking at the paradise-like world in the distance with burning eyes, and her heart couldn't help but feel excited.
She was finally here, in her territory.
From now on, wherever her eyes looked, it was Castel's land!
The huge convoy left the Violet Forest, and everyone's expression became relaxed and bright.
As soon as the caravan walked out of the forest, a fully armored knight with more than 30 cavalrymen came from afar, and seemed to have been waiting at the exit of the forest.
Baron Sharon, who was leading the team, obviously knew the knight. After exchanging a few words, he brought the knight to meet Charlotte.
The strange knight came to the carriage under the guidance of Baron Sharon and bowed respectfully:
"The Earl of Castel and his cavalry commander, Angus de Val, are here to meet the Earl!"
Shirley, who was sitting in the carriage, opened the gauze curtain for Charlotte, and Charlotte could see clearly the knight kneeling on one knee.
This is a middle-aged man who looks to be about 40 years old, with a resolute expression.
Charlotte had learned the relevant information about the Earldom of Castel in advance, and quickly recognized the other party's identity by the name he reported.
Angus de Vallay is one of the seventeen barons directly under the Earldom of Castres, the current head of the Vallay family, and the commander of the knights of the Earldom of Castres.
At the same time, he is also the lord of the city of Valais, the gateway to the Territory of Castel and the Duchy of Violet.
The city that Charlotte had just seen on the hill was the city of Wallai.
Looking at the knight with a resolute expression in front of her, Charlotte quickly recalled the files she had seen in the study of Castel Manor.
The Valais family is one of the noble families in the Earldom of Castres that supports the Castres the most.
Its current head, Angus de Vallet, succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen. He followed the Count and Countess of Castel in battles for more than ten years and participated in the Roman Campaign to repel the massive invasion of the Fallen Star Kingdom.
Angus de Walley is a taciturn person who doesn't like socializing or forming cliques. His only hobby is sword fighting. He is a swordsman obsessed with swordsmanship and a serious knight, but unfortunately he has poor talent and is trapped at the starry rank for his entire life.
Charlotte saw all this information in the files in Castel's study, and those files were 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, René-Castell, is also one of the families recorded in the archives as having always been loyal to the Earl. This is something Charlotte only found out about after carefully reading the archives.
Of course, unlike the Valais family, Leon-Castell's title is Viscount, and he is one of only three viscounts in the Earldom of Castell.
The fief of the Leon-Castell family is just northeast of the city of Valais.
"Please stand up, Sir Angus."
Putting her scattered thoughts away, Charlotte spoke gently.
Her voice was gentle and soft, neither overly enthusiastic nor distant, but just the right level that made people feel comfortable and couldn't help but feel close to her.
After practicing the blood art of spiritual resonance for so long, even if Charlotte does not use the magic of majesty or charm, her level in this area is not low.
After receiving Charlotte's order, Angus stood up again and said in a deep voice:
"My Lord Earl, you have worked hard on the journey. The Valais family has prepared a dinner. Please allow me to welcome you on behalf of the people of Barony Valais."
Angus obviously doesn't really like socializing.
When he invited Charlotte to the city of Valais to attend the banquet, he looked serious and stiff, as if he was studying, exactly as recorded in the files in Castel's study.
Charlotte did not respond directly to Baron Angus' invitation, but looked behind him:
"Are you the only one from the Walai family here?"
"My Lord Earl, the Barony of Valais is the gateway from the Violet Forest to the Territory of Castel. It is relatively close and received the news earlier. The other families are relatively far away and probably don't know yet."
"We knew you were coming north this way, so here we are."
Angus said solemnly.
Charlotte: …
Isn’t this answer too honest
Shouldn't we perform well in front of the lord at this time and step on those nobles who didn't come
Charlotte gave the baron a strange look and became convinced that he was an honest man.
As for the reason the other nobles gave for not coming, she didn't believe it at all.
The Huns were honest people. With so many family representatives following in the convoy, Charlotte didn't believe that no one of them had sent a message in advance before entering the Violet Forest.
In the extraordinary world with magic, it is very convenient to conduct magical communications at the Magic Association’s headquarters in the city.
However, it is normal that no one came to pick her up.
This is not the emperor of the Celestial Empire's southern tour. Even as an earl, the degree of centralization in Castel is not that high, and the lord's constraints on his vassals are not that strong.
It's a matter of whether you want to come or not, and no one is forcing you to do anything.
Not to mention that Charlotte had just ascended the throne and had no prestige at all.
"Mr. Angus, thank you very much for your invitation, but... I have wasted too much time on the journey and I don't plan to attend any banquets before returning to North Port."
Charlotte said gently.
Yes, I won’t attend the party.
Long before entering the Territory of Castel, Charlotte had already made up her mind that she would not attend any banquets hosted by nobles before returning to North Port, the main city of Castel.
In fact, it doesn’t matter whether anyone comes to pick her up after she enters the territory.
Every time the Duke of Bold comes back from outside, not all the nobles will rush to the Duke's Mansion like bootlickers. He is the lord, not the father.
But judging from the envoys sent by the various families in the Earldom of Castel to her coming-of-age ceremony and succession ceremony, these families did not really take her seriously.
You know, Quasimodo had sent messages to families in various territories.
Moreover, this was not the first time that the summons had been sent. After the Blood Demon case at Castel Manor, the nobles of the territory had been summoned to "protect the emperor."
Of course, no one took any action in the end, and the response given was that the mage tower of the Mage Association in the territory was broken.
Charlotte could almost foresee that after entering the territory, she would continue to attend banquets of all sizes, and she would probably have to face a series of hypocritical plays to please children.
Not paying attention means not caring, not caring means looking down on and underestimating, means prevarication and fooling around, means the breeding of ambitions, etc...
Charlotte was too lazy to go through all this. Having attended various banquets along the way, she was used to seeing intrigues and knew that the nobles were best at disguise.
If possible, before returning to the main city, she did not want to enter any noble's home ground and form a first impression of the other party in the environment created by the other party.
Although the files of the Castel family allowed her to have a preliminary understanding of the nobles in the territory, the first impression was still very important, and a wrong first impression could easily lead to misjudgment.
She wanted to see what these nobles' attitudes towards her were like, and she also wanted to see what these nobles themselves were like.
She wanted to see how many nobles would come to visit her if she didn't visit them.
Of course, the Valais might really want to invite her.
But since she had decided not to attend any noble banquets, Charlotte naturally couldn't ask for it.
Charlotte's refusal obviously caught the middle-aged Cavalier off guard.
He was stunned for a moment, obviously not knowing how to answer. After scratching his head, he said in a deep voice:
"Well, then... I will serve as your guard and escort you to North Harbor with Lord Sharon."
Charlotte looked at the middle-aged knight in surprise, and now believed that the other party should really be a loyalist.
"Thank you for your hard work, Sir Angus."
She smiled brightly and spoke gently.
That bright smile made Baron Angus stunned again. A smile that was full of beauty and charm was always very lethal. Even the taciturn middle-aged knight was stunned for a moment.
But he reacted quickly and bowed his head respectfully.
Then, the Baron Knight mounted his horse again and, together with Baron Sharon, protected Charlotte's carriage in front.
One on the left and one on the right, they are like two great Dharma protectors.
"The Valais family... During my coming-of-age ceremony, the messenger who came was Baron Angus's younger brother, right?"
Charlotte asked, lowering the veil.
"Yes."
Across from her, Shirley answered as she filled her glass of milk.
Charlotte nodded slightly.
The fact that the head of the family's younger brother attended her coming-of-age ceremony was considered high-ranking among all the envoys from noble families who visited.
Baron Angus's cavalry joined Castel's convoy, and Charlotte set off again.
This time, the convoy did not take a detour to the city of Walai in the northeast, but headed north along the main road of the Earldom.
The caravans that finally reached their destination also said goodbye to the Castel family's caravan and left. Charlotte made a small profit of nearly two thousand quintana pocket money by paying "protection fees" along the way.
Without the caravan, the Castel convoy moved faster. According to Baron Angus, it would arrive in three days at most.
The County of Castel is big. Very big.
As far as Charlotte knew, its size was equivalent to one-third of the Principality of Boulder, and the officially recorded area was about 120,000 square kilometers.
Judging from the map, the shape of the entire principality is roughly an obtuse triangle with an arc angle of 120 degrees. The obtuse angle faces northeast and the north faces the Crescent-Star Strait, which is also the location of North Port, the capital of Castel Territory.
By the way, the population of the earldom is said to be over five million.
When Charlotte first learned about these data, she couldn't help but be amazed. Seriously speaking, this scale is completely equivalent to a principality. Even if placed in a similar context on Blue Star, it is still an important lord.
Of course, the world of Miria has extraordinary power, and the scale of its administrative divisions is obviously much larger than that of similar historical periods on Blue Star. For example, the population of the Crescent Kingdom is said to be 80 to 90 million.
But even so, the Lord of Castel is 100% a great noble. Even if it is independent from the Duchy of Bolder and placed in the Crescent Kingdom, it will still be a powerful force.
The convoy headed north, and gradually, there were more and more towns along the way, and more and more pedestrians on the road.
The people of Castel Territory were obviously wealthier. Even the peasants dressed similarly to the residents of the city outside of Boulder. You know, in the countryside of Boulder, the peasants Charlotte saw were dressed almost the same as beggars.
However, what surprised Charlotte was that the pedestrians on the road would change their expressions slightly after seeing the Castel family's convoy. They would stop what they were doing and move aside or hide far away, looking at the Castel family emblem on the convoy with a rather complicated, even hostile look.
"Why are they looking at us like that?"
Charlotte frowned, pulled aside the curtain and looked at Baron Angus who was riding a horse outside in confusion.
Baron Angus looked hesitant.
Seeing the other person like this, Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.
"It's okay, if there's anything, just tell me."
She said.
Angus hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice:
"Mr. Earl, actually... there have been some bad rumors in the Earldom recently..."