Gospel of Blood

Chapter 153: Touring-style Travel

The Castell County is located in the northern part of the Crescent Kingdom.

Traveling from Borde in the south to Castell in the north takes about a month by land. While powerful individuals might make the journey faster on their own, for Castell's thousand-person caravan, a month is already considered quick.

Of course, there is also the option of traveling by sea. The western region of the Borde Duchy is coastal. If one heads west to the coast and then sails north through the Star-Moon Strait, they can also reach Castell in the north.

Traveling by sea might be faster. However, Charlotte did not choose this route.

Firstly, the war between the Falling Star Kingdom and the Crescent Kingdom just ended not long ago, and the control of the Star-Moon Strait has always been dominated by the Falling Star Kingdom. Additionally, the Boite Duchy, which borders the sea to the west, is a longtime enemy of the Borde Duchy. Even if Charlotte doesn't have a favorable view of Duke Borde, she is still a part of the Borde Duchy when traveling, making her a potential target.

Moreover, passing through the Star-Moon Strait would require traveling through the Falling Star Kingdom's enclave, the Roman Duchy.

Therefore, Charlotte decided it was better to be cautious. Castell County has always been a coveted land for the Falling Star Kingdom during the decades-long Star-Moon War.

Secondly, Charlotte wanted to take this opportunity to better understand the world she was in. Although she had already learned a lot from books, practical experience is invaluable.

Unlike the predominantly urban Borde City, leaving Borde and entering the vast countryside gave Charlotte a true glimpse of a feudal kingdom's reality.

Borde City is the capital of the duchy. Such large cities are rare even in the kingdom. In the Crescent Kingdom, there are numerous castles, mansions, churches, and villages.

Each castle represents at least one baron; each mansion often signifies an extraordinary knight; each church usually houses a priest. Whether or not these individuals are of high rank, they are extraordinary beings, much stronger than ordinary people, and they have their own retainers or servants.

Most villages are built around mansions, churches, and castles, receiving protection from nobles and priests.

Cities often develop around noble castles. Cities that develop generally are either located at key transportation routes or belong to influential local nobles, usually starting from the rank of viscount.

These cities are much smaller than Borde, most being towns with populations of two to three thousand. Towns with over fifty thousand people are considered large cities. However, there are many such cities, scattered like stars across the land.

These cities, castles, mansions, and villages form the lifeblood network of the kingdom's governance.

Around cities, castles, mansions, and villages are vast farmlands, but beyond them lies an endless wilderness.

The wilderness is not safe, harboring bandits and robbers who attack passing merchants. However, these bandits and mercenaries rarely include extraordinary individuals, posing a greater threat to common people.

What truly drives common people to seek protection from nobles are the magical beasts roaming the wilderness.

The origin of magical beasts is uncertain, but a widely accepted belief is that their power comes from fallen gods. The extraordinary powers in the world of Myria come from gods, and magical beasts also possess such powers.

They are believed to be monsters born from the corpses of fallen gods, breeding over generations and spreading across the Myria continent, posing a significant threat to civilization.

Because of these magical beasts, nobles with extraordinary powers become the main protectors of common people and rulers of various territories.

Compared to bandits and robbers, magical beasts are the greatest fear for traveling merchants. Bandits often seek wealth, but encountering even the lowest level of magical beasts can spell disaster for unprotected merchant caravans.

Charlotte's caravan encountered a magical beast shortly after leaving Borde.

In her view, it wasn't particularly powerful—just a pack of zero-tier demonic wolves called Wind Wolves, capable of using wind blades and light body magic. However, the problem was that it was a pack of over thirty Wind Wolves.

A First Tier extraordinary individual could easily wipe them out, but for an ordinary caravan that couldn't afford to hire such a person and happened to miss any passing mercenary adventurers, survival was unlikely.

Of course, Charlotte didn't let them go. She personally led the knights, and the thirty-plus Wind Wolves quickly turned into over thirty fine wolf pelts.

A merchant in the accompanying caravan remarked that each wolf pelt could fetch ten gold tana on the market!

"That expensive?"

Charlotte was surprised.

"Yes, master, anything related to extraordinary powers is pricey. Wind Wolf pelts are quite decent magical materials and are among the best materials for making mage robes."

Sebastian explained. He continued,

"By the way, don't be fooled by Castell's abundant income; that's without a large-scale investment in extraordinary power. If you want to develop extraordinary power on a large scale... the income from your territory won't look as impressive."

Charlotte pondered this. Castell County is a vassal of the Borde Duchy, and the duchy often shoulders much of the burden of extraordinary affairs.

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Take the Borde Mage Corps that once followed the Castell Count and Countess, for example. While the Castell family covered most of the salaries, many extraordinary resources were provided by the duchy.

Borde Duchy's income might not be much higher than Castell County's, but due to its vast land, it has far more extraordinary materials than Castell County.

Extraordinary materials often can't be measured in money; they're strategic resources that are both expensive and scarce.

Charlotte knew that the future might see Castell and Borde grow distant, so she would need to develop her own extraordinary power.

She wasn't extravagant enough to use her divine power of blood to nurture extraordinary subordinates. Spending money on extraordinary resources was far less practical than controlling the sources of those resources.

Charlotte thought of her silver mine—an essential strategic resource for Castell, as it also contained mithril. Mithril was not only valuable but also a hard currency for trading extraordinary materials.

"It seems that the first thing to do when I return is to investigate the depletion of the mithril mine."

Charlotte thought.

In the past six months, she hadn't been idle. Comparing the territory's accounts, she found that the depletion of the mithril mine coincided with the old Castell Countess sending all accompanying extraordinary individuals back to the territory.

This was too coincidental. Charlotte suspected there might be a connection, and the depletion of the mithril mine might not be as simple as it seemed.

The caravan continued northward, drawing attention along the way. In the second Star-Moon War, the Castell family made a name for themself, especially in the Battle of Roman, where they stopped the Falling Star Kingdom from invading Castell, earning fame throughout the kingdom.

Although the Castell couple were gone, the family's territory remained wealthy and significant within the kingdom. Thus, Charlotte received warm welcomes from local nobles wherever they stopped.

From minor viscounts and barons to counts and even marquises, many sent envoys to invite her to banquets and social dances when the caravan rested.

Nobles are like that. Unless there's an irreconcilable blood feud, most meetings are cordial and friendly. Even on the battlefield, many would spare each other's lives, capturing instead for ransom.

This seems to be an unspoken rule among Myria's nobles. It's better to have more friends than enemies, and nobles value expanding their social circles, especially among peers. A historically significant and wealthy family like Castell naturally attracts many 'friendly' nobles.

Castell also had numerous businesses in the kingdom's heartland. While more nobles were engaging in commerce, most still lived off manors and taxes. Few, like Castell, had flourishing commercial enterprises, maintaining many business connections.

Therefore, nobles along the way showed immense enthusiasm for Castell's caravan, and Charlotte, adopting a "tourist mindset," didn't refuse, attending banquets almost every day.

The only thing she found challenging was the intense gazes given by many nobles inviting her to dance. Despite a year since her arrival, Charlotte still wasn't used to such attention.

However, she had changed. The Bloodborne's innate magic, such as memory manipulation, mental shock, or charm, could quickly subdue any inappropriate advances.

A single glance from Charlotte could make a previously audacious noble fall at her feet. She found using mental magic to control others quite satisfying, though Sebastian gently cautioned her.

"Master, your identity is special. We should be more discreet."

"Don't worry, I know my limits."

Charlotte replied.

Along the way, she encountered only mid to minor nobles, with the highest being of Silver Moon rank. As long as she was careful, it was relatively safe.

Thus, Charlotte's leisurely journey progressed slowly, with the caravan moving even slower. Half a month had passed, yet they hadn't left the Moon Guardian Duchy.

But Charlotte enjoyed it. Each stop brought enthusiastic receptions, new friends, and broadened horizons, providing insights into the Crescent Kingdom's noble circles.

More importantly, she gleaned information about the Bloorbornes—specifically the Blood Demon Cult. Despite being eradicated in Borde, traces of them remained elsewhere.

As a peace-loving and just person, Charlotte naturally wouldn't let these cultists run rampant. When encountering confirmed information, she decisively acted to eliminate them, aiding local nobles.

Unexpectedly, she even acquired two more pages of the Gospel, proving the Blood Demon Cult's penchant for hoarding cursed pages.

Charlotte grew fond of these cultists. Her actions also had a noticeable impact, as her reputation spread through merchants and bards. Stories of her coming-of-age ceremony's anomalies further exaggerated her legend.

Tales of her being a divine favored one, a natural saint, and a purifier of the bloodborne proliferated, causing Charlotte some anxiety. Such high-profile attention might help conceal her Bloodborne identity, but it could also attract the Holy Court's higher-ups.

Half a month into her journey, Charlotte finally reached another city comparable to Borde in size but even more prosperous—Anro City, the capital of the Moon Guardian Duchy, with a population exceeding 500,000.

The Duke of the Moon Guardian Duchy, having received the news, sent an envoy to invite Charlotte to a banquet at the ducal palace before the caravan entered the city.

Meanwhile, Charlotte learned from other merchants that another distinguished guest was also at the ducal palace—the third prince of the Crescent Kingdom, Philip de Valois, traveling south with his wife, Eleanor, to the Borde Duchy.