Gospel of Blood

Chapter 338: War Profiteering

With the comprehensive restoration of the northern territories, the rebellion in Castell ended with the fall of the Lagrisse family.

The official story was that the Lagrisse family colluded with the Blood Demon Cult, attempting to summon an Evil God from the ruins beneath. Ultimately, this backfired, leading to the family’s destruction.

These tales gained credibility as the Lagrisse Viscountcy was fully taken over by the Castell family.

The recent phenomenon felt by nearly all northern residents, dubbed the “Palpitation”, was rumored to be related to the failed summoning attempt by the Blood Demon Cult, adding authenticity to the narrative.

In taverns and noble salons, people discussed this with great interest, turning it into a popular topic of conversation.

Stories circulated about the Blood Demon Cult discovering an ancient lost artifact, and attempting a divine summoning, only to be thwarted by the Castell family.

Other tales included betrayals and sudden awakenings within the Lagrisse family during the ritual, leading to their ultimate failure.

Truth mingled with fiction, and fiction with truth.

In short, with Charlotte’s deliberate efforts, the blame was entirely placed on the Blood Demon Cult and the Lagrisse family.

Of course, this wasn’t entirely false. The Lagrisse family did collude with the Blood Demon Cult, the Cult did attempt a summoning, and not all members of the Lagrisse family were entirely corrupt.

The key difference was attributing the vibrations caused by Charlotte’s fusion with the statue to the Blood Demon Cult.

As for whether the future investigation by the Holy Court would believe this… Whether they did or not, the northern residents believed it, the nobles believed it, and Charlotte herself… well, she believed it wholeheartedly.

Moreover, since Castell’s official stance was that the Blood Demon Cult’s conspiracy had been thwarted, the concern over the “Evil God’s Descent” quickly subsided among the people.

What replaced it was curiosity about how the reclaimed lands of the Lagrisse family would be handled.

The people were curious, and the nobles were even more so.

Recently, many northern nobles had come to Northport to pay homage to Charlotte, bringing their families, pledging loyalty, showcasing their achievements, and discussing their hardships…

Their implicit and explicit message was the same. They hoped Charlotte would favor their families with a portion of the reclaimed lands.

As a lord, Charlotte patiently received them all.

Aside from some excessive requests, she satisfied those that were relatively reasonable.

This was part of her pre-arranged deal to gain the full support of the nobles, promising them land in return.

The Lagrisse Viscountcy was vast but sparsely populated, so granting some less critical lands wasn’t an issue. It wasn’t yet time to strengthen central authority, and Charlotte needed to exchange some interests for the nobles’ support.

No… on second thought, if Charlotte intended to pursue a path to Godhood, whether to strengthen central authority might not even matter.

Following the times and taking one step at a time, her main goal now was to gain loyalty and establish her own belief system.

Of course, when allocating the Lagrisse family’s lands, Charlotte retained the most crucial territories.

These included the direct lands of the Lagrisse family, such as Lagrisse Port, several border fortresses, and the most prosperous baronies within the Lagrisse Viscountcy…

Charlotte incorporated all these into the Castell family’s direct holdings.

Additionally, there was the Lagrisse family’s share in the Castell mines.

Given the Lagrisse family’s proximity to the mines and their significant contributions to their development, they historically received the highest revenue share among the three Viscount families, almost equivalent to the total shares of the other noble families.

The Lagrisse family could maintain 1500 fully armored cavalry thanks to the mine’s income!

With their title revoked and lands reclaimed, the Lagrisse family’s share in the Castell mines was naturally absorbed by the Castell family, with no plans to redistribute it.

Including shares reclaimed from other rebellious noble families, Castell now controlled nearly half of the silver mine’s shares.

With the Castell family’s original shares, Charlotte’s current share in the Castell silver mine exceeded 70%.

Moreover, with the Castell family having gained independence from Borde, they no longer needed to pay the contractual tax to the Borde Duchy. Even accounting for the future tax reallocation as a direct vassal of the kingdom, the Castell family’s income would significantly increase.

A preliminary calculation by the County tax officers gave Charlotte a staggering figure.

After the turmoil of external and internal conflicts, the Castell family’s income was projected to increase four to five times, with monthly revenue exceeding two million gold tana, surpassing even what her father earned a decade ago!

The North was indeed wealthy, and its nobles were indeed rich.

Through an internal war, Charlotte, the lord, profited greatly…

Seeing the numbers, Charlotte suddenly grew more interested in centralizing power.

She couldn’t help it, the wealth was truly enticing.

Reclaiming a viscountcy and some smaller noble estates, coupled with independence from Borde, had this effect.

Even excluding the increased income from reclaiming the Castell silver mine, the reclaimed noble lands alone provided Charlotte with an additional monthly income of 500,000 gold tana.

And this was just the recorded tax revenue. In reality, the various resources produced within the territories, especially some scarce extraordinary and strategic resources, were invaluable.

Take the Lagrisse family, for example. They managed a pasture specifically for breeding warhorses. While the quality of these warhorses was just adequate, far inferior to the dragon-scaled horses of the Northern Grand Duchy, they were still much better than Castell’s own ordinary horses.

This pasture, a primary source of warhorses for the Lagrisse family’s cavalry, was also taken over by Charlotte.

However, while Charlotte’s income increased, so did her expenses.

With Castell’s independence, no longer under Borde’s protection, Charlotte needed to build her own extraordinary army. Besides, she planned to invest further in the territory’s development.

But that was for later. Charlotte first ordered the Count’s cabinet to discuss these matters, devising feasible plans to finalize after she returned from the central meeting.

After the official handover of the Lagrisse territory, Sebastian and Nice also returned.

Accompanying them were the disguised Blood Count Yurst and the magic-sealed Black Dragon Eudoxia, still asleep.

However, they weren’t alone. They were accompanied by a group of uninvited guests in distinctive attire— A delegation from the Northern Grand Duchy.