Earl's Court, Ballroom.

Dressed in a traditional silk robe, an elven musician elegantly conducts a half-elf band to play the popular elven music of Miria, which is quite exotic; Dazzling crystal lamps illuminate the magnificent hall.

Costumed Castel nobles talked and laughed, elegantly holding goblets and talking to each other in the halls of the Earl's Court.

Looking around, there are probably three or four hundred nobles and nobles who participated in the banquet, up to three viscounts, up to seventeen fiefdom barons, down to fiefdom knights and landless nobles of all sizes in the territory, dragging their families and mouths, and almost all of them who can come.

It had not been more than a decade since the previous Earl of Castel had taken up the post of head of the Borde Mage.

If you count the servants and guards who are traveling with the nobles and are not qualified to enter the hall, the number of people attending the banquet of the Earl's Court this time is probably even higher.

"Your Excellency Baron Angus, I haven't seen you for many years, and you are still so chic."

"Your Excellency Baron Ghent, this is your youngest son, right? I didn't expect it to be so big in the blink of an eye.

"Mr. Cole, I heard you've been working on a new alchemy workshop recently? Raising funders? ”

"Hahaha, Lola-sama, are you interested? It would be great if the Glis family would be willing to participate! ”

“……”

The aristocrats gathered in twos and threes, talking and laughing.

There are those who greet each other, those who reminisce about the past, those who exchange information, and there is no shortage of those who take advantage of this opportunity to carry out family cooperation.

The nobles of Castel almost all had fiefs.

Even those who don't have fiefdoms will at least have a manor or workshop property, or some chamber of commerce, a major shareholder or organizer of a fleet.

Although the nobles would hold banquets with each other on weekdays, most of the time they stayed in their own domains.

Exchanges often lead to intelligence, and intelligence is always accompanied by opportunity, as for the exchange of favors between nobles...... It is also a necessary daily routine to enter the upper class of Castel and maintain status and identity.

Therefore, as long as they are not stupid, no one will miss this good opportunity to fully communicate with other nobles and come to Beigang to participate in the banquet.

After all, the only one who can gather all the nobles of the entire territory is the lord of Castel.

There were more and more nobles in the banquet hall, and the atmosphere in the venue became more and more enthusiastic.

When the elven dance music sounded, the highlight of the banquet also came.

Ballroom dancing was always an important part of the social interaction of the Miriaya aristocracy, and almost all banquets were inseparable from dancing.

Melodious melodies sounded, and the nobles saluted each other gracefully in pairs, dancing to the music.

The dance made the atmosphere of the venue lively and cheerful, and even the most serious nobles were gradually infected by the atmosphere and unconsciously smiled.

Even the old Viscount Roman-Fur, who was sitting drowsy on the sidelines, shook his head slightly to the beat of the music.

A nobleman like Lola, who was originally enthusiastic and unrestrained, had already left the stage and danced with the cooperation of her dance partner, which attracted a lot of applause.

And when the lord of the Northlands, Charlotte de Castel, Count of Castel, arrived at the meeting hall accompanied by the elven butler, the atmosphere in the banquet hall suddenly reached a climax.

This was Charlotte's first time hosting a banquet as a lord, and it was also the first time she stepped into the venue as a lord.

Today, she chose a corset dress with white as the main tone, and her smooth blonde hair and pink skin sparkled in the light, giving people a mysterious, noble and holy feeling.

She wore an ornate ribbon on her chest with a black eagle painted on it, symbolizing the glory of Castel.

The moment Charlotte stepped into the room, the half-elves stopped playing, and the attendants, maids, and guards saluted her respectfully.

The nobles also quickly noticed the arrival of their lord, and the men and women who were dancing stopped almost instantly, and hundreds of eyes fell on Charlotte.

The sight is amazing, joyful, respectful, and curious......

Regardless of what the nobles present thought of her in their hearts, when Charlotte looked at everyone, all she saw was smiling, respectful and elegant faces.

No malice, no hostility, no contempt.

Yes, only a bright smile that seems to come from the heart.

If she hadn't felt the contempt of the nobles, Charlotte would have almost believed it.

Drama spirit.

It's all drama spirits!

Charlotte complained in her heart, but her face was elegant and demure, like a noble lady.

With Sebas's support, she gracefully walked through the crowd and towards the front of the ballroom.

The nobles moved out of the way to the sides, opening the way for Charlotte to the front of the lord's seat.

Whenever she passed, the nobles on both sides would consciously bow down and salute, with standard and respectful movements.

Nice the black cat is still following Charlotte.

Looking at the nobles on both sides who bowed like wheat blowing in the wind, it held its tail high, held its head high, and exposed the pet ring painted with the black eagle coat of arms on its chest, looking proud, and thought that it was it that the nobles had seen it.

Charlotte walked slowly to the front of the ballroom, where hundreds of people could be heard of needles dropping.

Under the gaze of one after another, Charlotte came to the lord's seat, sat down gracefully, then nodded slightly, greeted the band, smiled and spit out a word:

"Go on."

At the signal, the Half-Elf Band continued to play, while the nobles hesitated for a moment and continued to dance, and soon the atmosphere was full of enthusiasm again.

Charlotte sat on the lord's seat, one hand gracefully propped up her head, the other resting on the ornate armrest, her blue eyes gently sweeping the crowd, corroborating the nobles' costumes and coats of arms with the materials she had seen.

The mayor of North Harbor, Maddock, stood beside her.

Whenever Charlotte's eyes were set, he would lean over slightly and respectfully introduce Charlotte's identity and family history.

Charlotte bowed her head and observed secretly, and soon recognized three viscounts and seventeen barons among the fiefdoms and vassals directly under her.

The dancing aristocrats looked chaotic.

However, if you look closely, you will find that the Castel nobles gathered in the hall are faintly divided into four factions.

Among them, the three viscount families each formed a faction, each with its own friendship with nobles, especially Leon Castel and Lyglis, which can be called the stars and moons.

Charlotte's mind quickly came up with information about the two companies.

She was familiar with Leon Castel, the main family of Baron Chalon, a branch of Castel's family, and a nobleman of the allegiance faction in the records, who may have some careful thoughts of her own, but has always been a die-hard supporter of Castel.

Its patriarch, Emory, is a veteran Knight of the Silver Moon, who has served as the foreign minister of the county for many years and has a wide range of connections.

As for Lyglis...... It is said to be the earliest knight to follow the first Earl of Castell, with red dragon blood, and is a true dragonborn.

The fiefdom of the House of Lygliss is adjacent to the Grand Duchy of the North, and with a brave cavalry force, the influence of the Earls should not be underestimated.

However, Charlotte remembers that the Legliss family had fallen into decay in recent years with the death of his old master, but this is not the case today.

Its new head of the family turned out to be a silver moon, and she was such a young woman.

As for the last of the three viscounts, although the nobles gathered around the Roman Fahr family were the fewest in all, this family had the strongest aura.

Charlotte keenly noticed that the other nobles were almost invariably far away from the place where they had gathered, and there was a sense of isolation, awe, and fear in it.

It's pretty much the same as she's seen.

Unlike other families, the Roman-Fore family is a family of converts with the most complex backgrounds.

Their ancestors, the Romans, were once pirates in the North, and the Romans often raided the coastline of the Crescent Kingdom during the days when the North's pirates were rampant hundreds of years ago.

Later, the Roman family occupied the land in the north of the Crescent Kingdom, and in order to win them over, the Crescent royal family, which had a declining monarchy at that time, had no choice but to crown them as the Duke of Roman, which is the origin of the current Principality of Roman.

It's just that the Roman family later invaded the Falling Star Kingdom and established the Romance Dynasty in the Falling Star Kingdom, and the Roman Principality ran along with it and became an enclave of the Falling Star Kingdom.

The Roman-Fore family was separated from the Duchy of Romance shortly thereafter.

Unlike the Roman lords, they chose to stay in the Crescent Kingdom.

Because of their common pirate tradition, the Roman-Fort family did not have a good reputation, and although they were selective of privateers, they were despised by many nobles.

However, despite being despised by the Roman-Fort family, they control a powerful fleet and are completely sideways in Castel, which is known for its trade, and is feared by almost all families.

Not only that, but in the Star-Moon War, it is said that they also wavered between the two kingdoms, and even angered the then Duke of Boulder because of this......

In short, they are a powerful nobleman with a complex background and a delicate position.

Thinking back to the various materials she had read, Charlotte slowly withdrew her gaze from Viscount Roman-For.

I don't know why, the moment she saw each other, she faintly felt a familiar feeling.

In addition to the three viscounts, there are also some landless nobles who have formed a small circle of their own, although their titles are very low compared to those old nobles, many of them only have the title of baron or knight without fiefdom, but the clothes on their bodies are quite gorgeous, and they even look richer than many old nobles.

After reading the information, Charlotte knew that these people were the nouveau riche who had grown in recent years, and unlike the traditional nobles who relied on territorial taxes, almost all of them were in business, or had workshops, and even many of them were originally merchants, and their titles were bought.

They don't care about anything else, they only care about whether they can make money and how to get a higher status in the county.

These four forces are almost the status quo of the Castel aristocracy.

Charlotte didn't know which of these people were related to the Ness Clan, maybe one faction or more than one.

However, her purpose today is to observe.

Of course, observation alone is not enough.

To really understand, it is necessary to communicate and probe.

Charlotte gestured with her eyes, and the waiter suddenly understood, and pulled up the curtain in front of the lord's seat.

The drapery is carved with intricate patterns, and if you look closely, you can see some magical inscriptions.

This is a special draperium that has been blessed with special magic.

The curtain could block the view of the nobles outside, but on the inside of the curtain, Charlotte could see every move of the nobles on the field.

Not only that, the curtain cut off the sound from inside and outside, and Charlotte could faintly hear the music in the venue, but the conversation inside the curtain would not be heard at all.

This is a curtain dedicated to the lord!

It was a banquet and an event to receive the nobles, and while the banquet was held outside, Charlotte would receive the nobles on the side of the curtain in turn.

Of course, not all nobles have to be seen, Charlotte only named three viscount families and a few influential barons' families, and the rest must apply for an audience by themselves.

The curtain was drawn, and only Charlotte, Sebas, and Nice were left inside.

The nobles looked at each other, knowing that the opportunity had come to meet the lord.

However, it was not the Castel nobles who were the first to come to Charlotte.

It's Charlotte's old acquaintance.

"Sister Lottie, I haven't seen you for a few days, is the work of the church going well?"

Looking at the gentle goddess in front of her, Charlotte smiled with some surprise.

She had only inquired about Lottie's work a few days earlier, and had heard that the priestess had been busy with her feet since she came to Castel, and she did not know how much work had been left in Castel's church.

Charlotte thought Lottie wouldn't be here today.

Listening to Charlotte's words, Lottie sighed, looking a little tired:

"It's a bit complicated, the church in Castres has more things to do than I thought, and I've been busy these days, and it's hard to get free......"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but say:

"Did you know? There is no presiding priest in the church of Castel! When I arrived at the church, I realized that my priesthood was the highest! ”

Charlotte was immediately happy.

She knew that the Holy Court's control over Castel was weak, but she didn't expect it to be so weak.

"Not even the presiding priest? Wouldn't that be the equivalent of a constant shutdown? ”

"yes, the question is...... Even the Church of Boulder didn't know that the chief priest of Castel was long gone, and the church of Castel had not reported it, and it had been seven years! ”

"Seven years?"

Charlotte's heart jumped.

With the bad things about Castell's silver mines, she's now quite sensitive to the number seven.

"Yes, it's been seven years, and since Castel's chief priest was promoted seven years ago, a new priest has not been arranged, and there is no record on the Border side, and the Duchy's Inquisition has not been inspected for many years."

Lottie said.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow:

"Suppressed by the Grand Priest Rinas?"

Lottie sighed:

"I'm afraid so."

Charlotte scoffed:

"This copper refining fetish has been tried and still haunted, and it seems that he didn't take the benefits of some guys at the beginning."

Lottie's heart moved:

"Some guys?"

"Some rats who want to do something, I originally thought they were just reaching out to the nobility, but now it seems that even the church is likely to infiltrate."

Listening to Charlotte's words, Lottie's expression also carried a trace of worry:

"Speaking of which, Lord Earl, I've heard a lot of bad rumors these days about you and the church's ......"

"Do you say that I am going to force the faith and to force the unbelievers and the disbelievers to convert?"

Charlotte said.

Lottie hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"Leave them alone, after all, I'm not a true believer, and these rumors will be dispelled over time."

Charlotte shook her head and said.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to think of something, and her expression was slightly condensed:

"Wait......"

"Lord Count?"

Lottie looked puzzled.

And Charlotte pondered for a moment, and suddenly said to Ness, who was gnawing on the side of the small dried fish:

"Nice, after today's feast, you go back to the church and go and check the identities of all the clergy."

Nice put down the small dried fish:

"Identity check? Meow? Lord Charlotte, do you suspect that Castel's church has also been infiltrated? ”

Charlotte narrowed her eyes:

"Just in case, I'm not afraid of certain rumors, but I have to beware of people messing around under my name."

As she spoke, she smiled at Lottie again:

"However, maybe this is also a good thing, since Castel does not have a priest, then we may be able to apply to Grandpa Raoul to make you the chief priest of Castre."

After listening to Charlotte's advice, Lottie stopped talking.

Of course, she understood what Charlotte meant, this was to completely control the belief in the territory and completely empty the Holy Court.

As a priest of the Divine Court, she should have prevented this, but at this moment, she only hesitated a little and accepted it.

The speed of acceptance surprised even herself.

Maybe...... From the moment I knew that the umbrella behind the drunken dream salon was the Grand Priest, I had already fallen.

Lottie sighed inwardly.

After the faith is shaken, he is still protected by the Light, honestly...... She didn't know what to believe now.

Maybe...... Only time will tell her how to answer.

"Sister Lottie, please be careful when you are in the church, when you go back after the banquet, bring two guards from the Earl's Court to defend yourself, I found two advanced guard captains on the side of the mining workshop, which is quite good."

Charlotte said.

"Thank you for your concern."

Lottie bowed slightly.

Despite the changes in her faith, as a priest, she still remembered that she was a descendant of the Broglie family.

The Broglie family has always been grateful for it, and after being saved by Charlotte, she has already decided to follow the other party, and that's all...... You can't go wrong.

……

Lottie's audience was more of a greeting.

After a few words, she withdrew from the curtain.

And after Lottie's withdrawal, as a branch of Castel, the head of the Lean-Castell family, who had a somewhat transcendent status in the county, Viscount Emory of Lean, took the lead in entering the drapery.

As soon as the old viscount entered the curtain, he bowed down to Charlotte tremblingly, and said solemnly:

"Lord Earl, I have important information to report to you!"

"Come to Glis's house...... I'm afraid there are different hearts! ”