Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 151: -139- Is grandpa’s family that rich?!

Chapter 151: -139- Is grandpa’s family that rich?!

The convoy from Castel consisted of about three hundred people, guarding a total of forty wagons.

Among them, one hundred were Armored Knights of the Castel family, three were Mages, and the remaining two hundred were attendants and coachmen.

The leader of the convoy was Baron Sharon, whose full name was Sharon de Lian Castel, a seasoned Starry First Tier Knight.

After learning his full name, Charlotte was somewhat surprised; she hadn’t expected to see her family’s partial surname in his.

However, it was only after Casimodo’s introduction that Charlotte realized the Lien Castel family was a branch of the Castel family.

Just as the Castel family was a branch of the Bold family, the Count Castel Territory also housed various branches of the Castel family. Some retained the Castel name in their surnames after branching off, while others completely changed their names.

Similar family branches were quite common in the Mireya world.

This was determined by the inheritance laws of the Mireya noble system, originally established by the Yonette Empire, which laid the foundation for the current basic political framework in Mireya. The Yonette Empire advocated partitioned inheritance, granting the eldest son the main title while every heir received a lower noble title and territory.

As a result, over the past thousand years, various noble families had branched out. Apart from the main family, secondary branches kept proliferating, thus forming an increasingly vast web of noble surnames.

In other words, Baron Sharon’s ancestors were direct descendants of the Castel family.

However, partitioned inheritance was a double-edged sword.

Though it maintained a degree of fairness and allowed noble families to grow, splitting inheritances also led to wars, particularly disputes among heirs over succession rights.

Moreover, continual partitioned inheritances gradually weakened central power. Many feudal kingdoms, including the Yonette Empire, eventually saw royal authority wane due to ongoing splits, culminating in the central government losing control over the regions, and even leading to the collapse of the state.

Of course, that was all old history now.

People learn from the past, and so do nobles.

Now, a thousand years later, the vast majority of noble families had abandoned partitioned inheritance in favor of the more "modern" practice of primogeniture.

While heirs other than the firstborn might still receive fiefs, they were granted not as a matter of succession but by the Lord’s favor.

As for the Castel family...

Besides having branched off more than a hundred years ago, the main line of the Castel family had been the sole line of inheritance for the past five generations, constantly teetering on the brink of extinction.

By the time it had reached Charlotte, it was nearly extinct.

Thus, although there were branches of the Castel family in the Count Castel Territory, their blood relations were even less close than those with other families in the kingdoms and duchies of the Yonette Empire and their claims and rights to inheritance were equally slim.

Even if they were related by blood, even if they were still considered members of the Castel Clan, these territorial nobles were almost no different from those with fiefs.

Besides Baron Sharon, among the hundred Armored Knights escorting the convoy, there were five tier-entering men, including one hereditary noble, and four Transcendent Knights who had entered through the Source Power Seed.

The remaining knights, although not tier-entering, were all Transcendents.

As for the three Mages, one was a Starry, and the remaining two were apprentices.

Clearly, the ratio of Mages to Transcendent Knights among the Transcendents was much lower.

But that was only normal.

The prerequisites to become a Mage were stricter than those for a Transcendent Knight, not to mention that Transcendent Knights could be mass-produced through the Source Power Seed.

Though mass-produced tier-enterers were less powerful, they were still tier-enterers.

Seeing the strength of the escorting knights, Charlotte got a more concrete idea of her family’s power.

Remember, in the Demon Hunting Institute of Bold City, there were no more than forty tier-entering Demon Hunting Knights, but here, in a Castel family convoy transporting supplies, there were seven tier-enterers!

However, the knights escorting the convoy were not the strongest force in the group.

The strongest force was a middle-aged man standing next to Baron Sharon.

Unlike the Armored Knights, his equipment looked much more worn, and he had an air of ruggedness about him.

In his presence, Charlotte felt a distinct sense of threat, not as intense as that of Sebastian, but still quite strong.

Silver Moon!

This was a Silver Moon Second Tier Transcendent!

Realizing his strength, Charlotte couldn’t help but cast curious glances his way.

Undoubtedly, compared to the imposing Armored Knights, this Silver Moon Second Tier was the real protector.

Alone, he could probably easily defeat all these knights!

Noticing her gaze, Sharon hastily introduced with respect,

"Miss Charlotte, this is Lord Carl."

After saying this, he introduced Charlotte to the Silver Moon Second Tier Transcendent:

"Lord Carl, this is the young mistress of our Castel family, Miss Charlotte."

Lord Carl...?

She felt a stir in her heart.

As a Starry First Tier Baron, Sharon did not address the other party as Lord, which indicated that the latter was not a noble.

A Silver Moon Second Tier, yet not a noble, coupled with that rugged, aged attire— the answer was almost ready to leap out.

The other party... was likely a freelance mercenary!

And just as Charlotte had guessed, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but glance at her a few times before shifting his gaze. He briefly paused on Sebastian, then said to Baron Sharon,

"Lord Sharon, we have arrived at Bold, and it is time for me to leave."

"Lord Carl, won’t you stay and rest a while? Let us extend our hospitality."

Baron Sharon spoke in a grave voice.

However, the Transcendent named Carl simply shook his head:

"Thank you for the invitation, but I have other matters to attend to."

After a brief refusal, the Silver Moon Second Tier Transcendent left.

Before leaving, Baron Sharon instructed a knight to hand over a beautifully crafted bag to the man. Charlotte, with her keen eyes, caught a glimpse of the shiny metal inside, which looked very much like legendary mithril.

She immediately understood that this mercenary was not one of the Castel house servants, but merely hired to assist in escorting the supplies.

However, to employ a Silver Moon Second Tier for a month’s escort was enough to show the financial strength of the Castel family and the value of the transported goods.

Based on the rates for hiring Transcendents in the black market that Nisi had mentioned, it would not be possible to hire one for less than several tens of thousands of gold tana!

And this... made Charlotte even more curious about the cargo the caravan was transporting.

After all, just the cost of this one trip was probably several tens of thousands of gold tana!

Accompanied by the excited chasing of children, the Castel family’s caravan entered Bold City. The knights on the outskirts cleared the way by scattering silver tana, greeted by waves of cheers.

Sitting in the carriage, Charlotte eagerly ordered the knights guarding her to bring the inventory list first.

Upon hearing her command, Baron Sharon hesitated slightly, but ultimately he obeyed.

Upon seeing the inventory list, Charlotte finally understood why forty carriages were needed.

Turned out, the convoy they were escorting was not only providing funding for the estate but also supplying goods to the family’s various stores throughout the Bold Duchy.

Most of the forty carriages were laden with goods!

They were not just a caravan transporting supplies but also a trading convoy.

As for the goods they were transporting... they had high-quality textiles from the Falling Star Kingdom, elf ornaments and magical tools from Moon God Island, and minerals and gemstones from the Castel Domain.

And when Charlotte saw the section about the funds being transported to the estate, her eyes lit up.

Five hundred thousand!

The funds transported to the estate as the family’s operational budget amounted to a staggering five hundred thousand gold tana!

Goodness, that was one month’s budget!

That meant six million gold tana a year!

Was her family really this wealthy?!

Charlotte felt her own heart quivering; she felt she had underestimated her family’s wealth.

At that moment, the old servant Casimodo couldn’t help but knock on the carriage window:

"Master, how much are the funds the family domain has sent over?"

"Five hundred thousand gold tana!"

Charlotte took a deep breath and said with a flushed face.

However, upon hearing her words, Casimodo slightly furrowed his brows:

"Five hundred thousand?"

Seeing his expression, Charlotte was a bit puzzled:

"What, is there a problem?"

Casimodo hesitated for a moment, then said softly:

"It seems there might be an issue..."

"Master, I haven’t been involved in these family matters for many years, and I’m not very clear about the current state of the domain."

"But only five hundred thousand... seems too little."

Charlotte: ...?

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