Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 202: -18- The History of the Castel Family_2

Chapter 202: -18- The History of the Castel Family_2

Merchants from all over the world once again swarmed in, this time for the precious mithril.

And as the Mithril Workshop industry gradually developed, Castel City also became the most well-known mithril producing area in the entire Mireya, and thus became the most important trade hub for elves who loved mithril to conduct trade with the human world.

From that moment on, as the overseas center surrounded by five forces including the Elf Clan on Moon God Island across from the Star Moon Strait, Falling Star Kingdom, New Moon Kingdom on New Moon Peninsula, and Eastern Yonette of the Black Land Mercenary Alliance, and the Northern Territory Dukedom established by the Northern Territory Alliance in the northeast, Castel’s commercial value also became increasingly prominent.

The Castel family gained a massive amount of wealth and leaped to become one of the richest families in New Moon Kingdom.

And as the capital of Count Castel Territory, North Port also underwent expansion after expansion, evolving from an initial city built to resist the invasion of Demon Beasts into a metropolis with a population of over five hundred thousand...

Until today.

Charlotte, upon her first glimpse of North Port, subconsciously thought of two cities from her previous life on Blue Star.

One was Venice on the Apennine Peninsula, known as the "City of Water," the other was Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands United Provinces, known as the "Carriage of the Sea" during the great maritime era.

Indeed, it was quite similar.

Upon crossing the city walls rebuilt during the Star Moon War era and entering the city, one would find canals and numerous bridges throughout the city. Although not replacing streets with canals like Venice, it certainly qualified as "living on water, water flowing into the city, and people relying on water."

The prosperity of North Port even surpassed that of Bold Duchy’s capital, Bold City, and Moon Guardian Duchy’s capital, Anlo City. If one did not know, it would be hard to imagine it was merely the capital of a Count Territory.

In the city, rivers crisscrossed with spacious roads on either side, with merchant ships on the water and a ceaseless flow of carriages on the roads.

It was said that each expansion of North Port was personally designed by the Count of Castel at the time, with Great Mages participating in the reconstruction each time.

As an immigrant city, North Port’s architectural style was influenced by various regions of Mireya, but most prevalent were the Gothic-style buildings that shared the same origin with New Moon Kingdom.

The Count Mansion was located at the center of North Port, transformed from the fortress built by the first Count Castel into a solemn palatial castle.

Having been long without an inhabitant, the mansion was not staffed with many servants, but even so, when Charlotte stepped out of the carriage, there were still no fewer than two hundred deacons and maids standing on both sides to greet her respectfully.

Charlotte nodded slightly, then entered the Count Mansion accompanied by her followers.

Sebastian, wearing a butler’s tailcoat, stood elegantly and respectfully by her side, holding an umbrella over her, while the Black Cat Nisi followed behind her, strutting with head held high and a self-important demeanor, as if asking for a scolding.

Upon entering the palatial castle of the Count Mansion, Charlotte immediately felt a very familiar sensation, as the decor and layout were very similar to Castel Manor in Bold.

It was clear that Castel Manor was a miniaturized replica of the Count Mansion.

The layout inside the Count Mansion was also similar; passing through the staircase and long corridors, Charlotte easily found the Count’s master bedroom and study, with hallways nearly identical to those at Castel Manor, the only significant difference being the portraits of the past Counts that hung on the walls.

Charlotte even noticed that beside the last portrait, there was already a decorated blank space, obviously intended for a new portrait.

As for whose portrait it was to be, it was likely her own.

In addition to this, having seen the Count’s handwriting in advance at the Manor, Charlotte knew that her family’s Count Mansion also had a magic study chamber reserved exclusively for the Castel Counts for generations.

Charlotte entered the master bedroom of the Count and, following the handprints of the previous Counts, felt around the ornate wall columns, quickly finding the mechanism recorded, and after gently infusing it with magic power, the entire wall flipped over, revealing a passageway to a secret chamber.

As Charlotte followed the passage in, her expression quickly turned peculiar.

This was not a simple chamber.

In fact, after crossing the passageway, Charlotte discovered it was yet another hidden bedroom.

The decoration here was equally lavish, and in addition, there was a luxurious bathroom and bath, where she almost instantly surmised its purpose—perhaps a previous Count had used it to keep a secret mistress or as a place to gather wildflowers...

Not necessarily her father, but surely one of her ancestors, or rather, it was very likely that it had been used by many generations, to varying extents.

However, if one ventured deeper, they could see the real magic research chamber recorded, which was a round chamber equipped with various precise magic instruments, and the bookshelves on the wall were filled with a large number of books, serving both as a magic research facility and a study.

As a member of the Bloodline Clan, magic research was not of much use to Charlotte, and she wasn’t the type to engage in research, but this place was very suitable for her to refine her Bloodline Clan’s Talent Magic, or to research the power of the Blood Holy Scripture.

One could say that after familiarizing herself with the Count Mansion, Charlotte was quite satisfied.

"Count, the Mage Tower is ready for group communication," Mayor Madoc of North Port approached Charlotte with a smile, after she had toured the hall, "and can deliver news of your arrival to the nobles everywhere at any moment. Would you like to order them to come for an audience as soon as possible?"

"The Mage Tower? Are you referring to the one that broke last year?"

Charlotte’s interest was piqued.

Madoc’s expression turned somewhat awkward:

"Cough... Yes, that’s the one. But it was an accident..."

"We only have one Mage Tower in the Count Territory capable of long-distance communication. It was modernized by Elf craftsmen the year before last, and it is considered one of the most advanced in all of Mireya—now capable of sending messages to the nobles throughout our lands at any time."

"It’s the pinnacle of Elf magic craftsmanship, but it has its downside of being somewhat unstable... The accident last year was simply due to bad luck, encountering a storm while the Magic Array wasn’t tuned properly, which caused elemental chaos."

"Since the Elf craftsmen had returned to Moon God Island for the Moon God Festival at the time, the Tower had not been repaired for two months by the time you tried to communicate..."

Upon hearing Madoc’s explanation, Charlotte unexpectedly gave him a look:

"Do you understand magic too?"

Madoc scratched his head:

"I won’t hide it from you; I’ve always dreamed of becoming a Mage, but unfortunately, I possess no talent and could not awaken the Magic Circuit. Nevertheless, I’ve been deeply interested in magic, so I do know a little about it."

Charlotte nodded, understandingly.

"Count, then what do you say... Should we send the message?"

Madoc asked again.

"Send it. Tell them I have arrived, and also... I will be hosting a banquet at the Count Mansion in a week’s time, inviting the nobles from all over the Count Territory. Before that, I wish to wander through the domain as I please, so no one should come to disturb me."

Charlotte decided after some thought.

After arriving in the Count Territory, a meeting with the nobles was inevitable. Charlotte also needed to host a banquet to assess the situation among the nobles of Count Castel.

Madoc bowed respectfully:

"As you command, I’ll take care of it immediately."

...

The news of the new Earl’s arrival at North Port was swiftly transmitted to various parts of Castel Domain through the Mage Tower.

Meanwhile, in an old, dilapidated castle near the border with Violet Duchy within the Castel Domain, the middle-aged Knight Rahael gazed at the Bloodline girl Agnes, who was trying on various maid outfits in front of a mirror. He hesitated before asking:

"Miss, are you truly planning to attend her banquet?"

Upon hearing the Knight’s words, Agnes turned her head sharply and shot him a glare:

"Go! Why shouldn’t I?"

"The Blood Holy Scripture is still in her possession! It presents a great opportunity to infiltrate Count Castel Mansion, so of course I’m going!"

...

Charlotte was unaware that the two Bloodline assailants who had attacked her were also privy to the news of her upcoming banquet.

There were still seven days until the banquet, and during these days, she had several other arrangements to make.

Among them, the most important was visiting the Castel silver mine to the east.