Chapter 338: War Profiteering


    With theprehensive 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 rted 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 popr topic of conversation.


    Stories circted 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 me was entirely ced 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 reced it was curiosity about how the reimednds of the Lagrisse family would be handled.


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


    Recently, many northern nobles hade 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 reimednds.


    As a lord, Charlotte patiently received them all.


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


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


    The Lagrisse Viscountcy was vast but sparsely popted, so granting some less criticalnds 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’snds, Charlotte retained the most crucial territories.


    These included the directnds 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 ie!


    With their title revoked andnds reimed, the Lagrisse family’s share in the Castell mines was naturally absorbed by the Castell family, with no ns to redistribute it.


    Including shares reimed 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 ounting for the future tax reallocation as a direct vassal of the kingdom, the Castell family’s ie would significantly increase.


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


    After the turmoil of external and internal conflicts, the Castell family’s ie 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.


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


    Even excluding the increased ie from reiming the Castell silver mine, the reimed noblends alone provided Charlotte with an additional monthly ie 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 ie 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 nned to invest further in the territory’s development.


    But that was forter. Charlotte first ordered the Count’s cab to discuss these matters, devising feasible ns to finalize after she returned from the central meeting.


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


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


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