"How often do the Ness clan hold remote meetings? Is there any pattern?"
Ignoring Agnès's shocked expression, Charlotte continued to ask while playing with the communication crystal.
Agnes was silent for a moment, then said:
"Remote meetings are only held on the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. It seems that the crystal controlled by the Ness Clan needs to be recharged."
"However, it doesn't have to be held every ten days. Generally speaking, the crystal ball will release a signal three days in advance before the meeting, and its luster will turn red."
1st, 11th and 21st
Charlotte thought.
Today is July 22nd, which means that Agnes and the others probably communicated with the vampires behind the scenes yesterday. The next communication should be on August 1st.
"Did you have a meeting yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Did the vampires of Clan Ness say anything at the meeting?"
"I asked about everyone's progress and mentioned the workshop. I said something went wrong in the workshop."
"Workshop..."
Charlotte nodded slightly.
This must be referring to the Castel Mining Workshop.
It is obvious that Charlotte's actions have aroused the vigilance of the vampires behind the scenes, and it may even have affected their plans.
"Hey! I've told you everything I know, but you haven't told me who you are."
"Success or failure, I accept defeat, but at least... let me die with a clear conscience!"
Agnes said through gritted teeth.
Charlotte glanced at her and chuckled:
"When did I say I was going to kill you?"
Agnes was stunned.
However, Charlotte did not explain further, but got up and left the interrogation room.
As for Agnes's doubts, she did not answer them in the end, leaving her alone to be suspicious.
At the same time, Sebastian walked out of another interrogation room.
After seeing Charlotte, he naturally came to the girl and said respectfully:
"Master, La Hail's interrogation is over."
"Oh? How's that?"
"It went smoothly. He was reluctant to talk at first, but after I threatened him with Agnes, he told me everything he knew."
Sebastian smiled slightly and presented the middle-aged knight's confession with both hands.
As Charlotte took the confession, she looked at Sebastian oddly, thinking that this master and servant really were master and servant, even the reasons for their confessions were exactly the same.
Of course, she and Sebastian were not much different, and they chose the same method without any prior agreement.
After reviewing La Hire's confession, Charlotte and Agnes checked their answers and found that there was no difference.
Obviously, in order to protect her own knight, Agnes did not deceive her, and the same was true for La Hier on the other side.
"Master, we have asked everything we can. What should we do with them next?"
Sebastian asked respectfully.
Charlotte hesitated for a moment and said:
"Keep it closed for now, maybe it can be useful."
Honestly, even though Agnès and the other man summoned the undead to attack her convoy, perhaps because they did not cause much damage, she did not hate them that much and did not have much desire to kill them all.
Now that he knew from Agnes why the other party hated Castel, he could no longer hate him.
Even if the other party obviously hates her to the core.
After knowing that Agnes and the others had a way to participate in the remote meetings of the vampires behind the scenes, Charlotte did plan to sneak in and take a look.
However, she does not plan to attend in person.
The reason was simple. Although she had just successfully activated the communication crystal of the Ness clan, the communication crystal was not as calm as it seemed. When Charlotte activated it, she could feel the communication crystal trembling.
This Ness clan's communication crystal... seems to react very strongly to her bloodline.
Agnes said that the activation qualification of the communication crystal is bloodline.
It is obvious that Charlotte, who possesses the Holy Book of Blood and has undergone profound body transformation by the Holy Book, has already surpassed the average vampire in terms of blood strength.
Charlotte didn't know whether the current blood strength of her body could be considered at the "True Ancestor" level, but it was definitely much stronger than the third-generation vampire Count Hall who Agnes was able to kill.
In this situation, Charlotte was really unsure whether something would happen if she sneaked in herself.
Based on the description, she estimated that this kind of remote communication might be an advanced application similar to the dream world. If this was true, then her status was indeed too high, and it was very likely that the entire conference venue would be assimilated into a dark castle the moment she entered the conference site.
That's a big problem. Her current strength is too weak, the cheats are limited in time, and she has to be careful to hide her identity.
Charlotte thought that maybe she would need these two people at that time.
If she went directly into the meeting place, she might cause strange phenomena. However, if she could sneak into the meeting of the Ness clan through Lahail's spiritual world in a similar way to the possession of the Blood Scroll, it might be a good choice.
But this requires La Haier's cooperation.
He doesn't need to become Charlotte's Blood Scroll, he just needs to let go of his spiritual world, just like when Charlotte sneaked into Lottie's spiritual world.
But there is no rush, there are still eight or nine days left.
Now Charlotte was more curious about the banquet at the Earl's Mansion the day after tomorrow, and what the nobles in the territory and the vampires who infiltrated behind the scenes would do.
Thinking of this, Charlotte looked around her mansion again:
"Where's that guy Nice?"
"Isn't it trying to flirt with the maids in the mansion? Just before I entered the interrogation room, I saw it meowing and acting cute to the maids in the mansion."
Sebastian smiled slightly, never forgetting to flatter Nice in front of Charlotte.
Charlotte: …
Her face darkened and she said:
"Tell it to meet me in the study."
After a while, Nice came happily to Charlotte's study.
"Meow! Great Miss Charlotte, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Charlotte sighed as she looked at the black cat that seemed to have gotten fatter and shinier after arriving at the territory.
"Nice, it seems that you are living a good life. How is the maid in the mansion?"
After hearing Charlotte's words, Nice's eyes lit up instantly:
"Meow! Not bad! Really not bad! As expected of Castel County, which is rich in beauties, the quality of the maids in your house is much higher than when I was in the manor! Master Cat..."
Nice didn't finish his words.
Because it quickly noticed that Charlotte's expression became playful.
"Speak up, why don't you say anything?"
Charlotte said with interest.
Nice swallowed a mouthful of saliva, shuddered coldly, and quickly stopped talking and changed the subject:
"Um... that... what is it that you called me here for?"
Charlotte didn't continue to care about the private life of this lecherous cat, but got straight to the point:
"What is the highest level of protective, sealing magic and divine arts that you can cast now?"
Nice thought for a moment and said honestly:
"Um... As for magic, I can only perform the second level at most. Divine magic is a little better. I can draw on the power of Mithra... No, I can borrow the power of the great God of Contract, so I can perform the third level."
Charlotte: …
Did you just want to talk about taking advantage of others
You mean to get some wool, right?!
After taking her in as a slave, she had never seen this lecherous cat pray to the gods. Now it seemed that she had found some loophole to use divine magic, right? !
This guy... is definitely not a believer of Mithra, the god of contracts!
Charlotte looked at Nice oddly, thought for a moment, and said:
"Nice, I want you to set up all the high-level protective and sealing spells you can at the banquet in the Earl's Mansion. Can you do it?"
Nice's eyes lit up:
"Are you going to deal with those vampires who might sneak in? Meow! Don't worry! Leave it to me! I will make sure that all those blind ones will be sent to another dimension!"
Charlotte's eyes twitched:
"That's not necessary. I want to catch him alive."
But after thinking about it, she said:
"It's okay to keep a backup plan that can exile the alien space."
"Meow! Don't worry while we do the work!"
Nice patted his chest and said.
…
After ordering Nice to prepare the magic, Charlotte finally had some free time and planned to take a look at the books in the Earl's Palace.
However, she had just returned to Beigang from the mining workshop and was destined to be busy for the time being.
The sweet milk on the desk hadn't even cooled down yet when she received another request for a meeting from North Port Mayor Madoc Olan.
"Maddock? Let him in."
She took a sip of milk and said to the maid Shirley who was reporting.
Shirley respectfully took her leave, and soon, North Port's mayor, Madoc Olan, hurried in.
"My Lord Earl, I heard that you captured the mercenaries who attacked you in Shallow Water Street?"
The fat old mayor asked as soon as he entered the study.
Charlotte was a little surprised:
"The news spread so quickly?"
Madoc Olan nodded:
"Yes, it has spread. After all, the city guards all went to Shallow Water Street in the morning. I heard that even the Mercenary Association sent a lot of mercenaries to participate. It was quite a commotion."
Then he sighed again:
"This is also my fault. I didn't expect these daring mercenaries to hide in Shallow Water Street. I also didn't expect those poor people in Shallow Water Street to dare to shelter criminals..."
"However, the problem of Shallow Water Street has not been going on for just one or two days. Please give me some more time. I promise to take care of the public security in this place!"
"Please rest assured, I will give you an explanation for this matter!"
Madoc Oran said through gritted teeth.
Charlotte gave him a strange look:
"The mercenaries who attacked me were not from Beigang, so why did they mention Shallow Water Street?"
Madoc Olan was stunned:
"Aren't you... quite dissatisfied with Shallow Water Street?"
Charlotte frowned.
"I?"
She looked slightly cold:
"Who said that?"
Madoc Olan hesitated for a moment, then said honestly:
"The city guards told me. They said that when you were searching for the fugitive, you were quite dissatisfied with the protection provided by Shallow Water Street..."
Charlotte was stunned for a moment, and soon remembered that she did seem to have expressed dissatisfaction when she was communicating with the guard.
However, she was not targeting Sham Shui Po Street, but the guards who, in response to her question at the time, described all the residents living in the slums as unruly and disorderly people.
Now it seems that her expression at that time was misunderstood by the guards and even reached the city governor Madoc.
At this time, Charlotte understood to some extent why those people in high positions in her previous life always carefully controlled their words and actions.
Because your words and actions may very well represent your attitude in the eyes of your subordinates.
And your attitude will directly affect the work below.
"I'm not dissatisfied with Shallow Water Street's protection, but I'm shocked that there is such a poor place in the wealthy North Port. After all... no lord would be happy to see his people living a bad life."
After thinking for a while, Charlotte said.
After hearing what Charlotte said, North Port Mayor Maddock breathed a sigh of relief. He sighed slightly and said:
"Shallow Street is also an old problem in North Port. I have always wanted to solve it, but unfortunately... I have never been able to eradicate it."
Charlotte's heart moved:
"How long has the slum area like Shallow Water Street existed?"
North Port Mayor Maddock said respectfully:
"It's been a long time. It should be since the land in North Port was fully developed. You know, North Port is a city built in the water. It was originally a small island on a shallow beach. Later, successive earls continued to expand the area until it became what it is today."
"However, the areas that can be expanded in Beigang have almost been developed. However, due to the development of the alchemy workshop industry in recent years, the population of Beigang has been growing rapidly. Now it has almost reached its limit..."
"Shallow Water Street was created under such circumstances. People who had no money to live in the city built houses along the water along the outer city wall, and eventually it became today's Shallow Water Street. No... To be honest, it can no longer be called Shallow Water Street. Now Shallow Water Street is almost a shallow water district."
Charlotte frowned.
"Since there is not enough land, has Beigang not had any plans to expand over the years? I saw this morning that Shallow Water Street is completely exposed outside the city wall. It's OK on weekdays when the weather is good, but if there is a storm, I'm afraid there will be heavy losses every time, right?"
Madoc sighed:
"You're talking about Shallow Water Street being a mess after every storm, and dealing with post-storm relief has always been a headache for City Hall."
"As for the city expansion plan, there is one, but it has never been pushed forward. I have read the records of Beigang. The earliest plan was eighty years ago, but it was later stalled due to the Star-Moon War."
"The expansion of North Harbor requires money, a lot of money. At that time, all the money that Castel received was invested in the war, so the plan was postponed."
"However, no one expected that the Star-Moon War would last for more than eighty years, so the expansion of Beigang was delayed until the end of the war..."
"But not long after the war ended, the previous Earl, your father, died, and the expansion plan of North Port was stalled again... until today."
Charlotte's heart moved:
“How much does it cost to expand Beigang?”
Madoc thought for a moment and said:
"This... needs to be calculated carefully. Considering that we need to recruit a great wizard or even a legendary wizard to help, it may be a sky-high price..."
"You know, we no longer have the Blazing Sun Mage."
Charlotte hesitated for a moment and ordered:
"Please prepare a list for me as soon as possible. I want to see the approximate amount of money needed to expand the North Port. Also... organize the information about the North Port and Shallow Water Street and bring it to the Earl's Mansion."
Now that I have become a lord, I have to do something first.
Taking back power is one thing, and improving the conditions of the territory is another.
Places like Shallow Water Street were never mentioned in the documents in the study of Castel Manor, and Charlotte only discovered them after she came to the territory and checked it out in person.
People are afraid of comparison. Compared with the comfortable life in the city, it is normal for residents to feel resentful when living in such a place.
Charlotte felt that since she had seen it, she couldn't just ignore it.
While integrating the nobles and consolidating power, she also needs to do something to win the recognition of the people and lay the foundation for future missionary work.
"Okay, Lord Earl, are you planning to expand North Harbor?"
Madoc's eyes lit up and he asked expectantly.
Charlotte glanced at him and said:
"It's just a preliminary idea. Bring me the information first so I can take a look. Also... don't spread this to anyone else."
"I will follow your orders!"
Madoc bowed respectfully and said.
…
Madoc's efficiency is still very high.
It can be seen that the mayor of North Port wanted to leave a good impression on Charlotte. The next day after she gave the order, he used a carriage to transport the sorted materials to the Earl's Mansion.
"My Lord, this is all the information about North Harbor and Shallow Water Street. However... the funding for the expansion you mentioned yesterday is too complicated and will take some time to calculate."
"You know, different expansion plans require different amounts of funding. We've done some plans before, but... they were all a long time ago, and now we have to start over again."
Madoc said respectfully.
"It's okay, there's no need to rush."
Charlotte said as she ordered the maid to take the information to the study.
Charlotte did not check the information immediately.
Things have their priorities, and the expansion of Beigang cannot be decided in a day or two. For now, I have to hold the banquet and meet with my vassal nobles first.
There will be a banquet at the Earl's Mansion tomorrow, and she still has to make some preparations today.
Of course, to be specific, it means working with Nice to set up a tight net in the Earl's Palace in advance, waiting for possible vampires to take the bait.
It would be fine if the Ness clan did not take action.
If she really takes action, she will leave everyone behind!
The day passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the Earl's Mansion banquet finally arrived.