Louis V's voice was calm.
But beneath the calm, there is unquestionable determination.
Charlotte knew what the other party was referring to, which was the territory of Castel. This monarch who wanted to strengthen centralization would never allow Castel to become the territory of the church in the future.
"Sir Castel, I know that you once swore an oath in front of the God Lord. Now you and your family are about to become my direct vassals. Before that, I must know your attitude."
Louis V stopped procrastinating and went straight to the point.
Are the vows I made valid?
Regarding this question, Charlotte actually already had answers and ideas in her mind.
However, standing here, she was still a little curious about how strong Louis V's will was.
"Your Majesty, if my original oath is still valid, what will you do?"
Charlotte asked.
"Then I will not recognize the legitimacy of the oath. You will still become my vassal, and the Castel family will still be protected by Valva, but at the same time, I will not allow the Castel family to enjoy direct vassalage. The vassals should have independent control over rare and extraordinary resources, but will continue to use the contract between Bold and Castel to replace the royal power contract between the royal family and Castel, and restrict other direct vassals and Kastel. The Extraordinary Trade of House Stur.”
Louis V said coldly.
Autonomous control of rare and extraordinary resources?
Charlotte's heart moved.
In the continent of Miria, all resources involving extraordinary power are called extraordinary resources.
But only those resources with rare production and great value, or resources that are in high demand but cannot keep up with production, are called rare and extraordinary resources.
For example, the rare material soul stone used by high-level mages for meditation; such as fine gold, the main material for making enchanted equipment; for example, the rare magical beast materials necessary for high-level alchemy and magic energy transformation; and for example... the Castel family Mithril that you can produce yourself.
Yes, Mithril is also a rare and extraordinary resource.
Although the price of mithril is much lower than that of materials such as soul stones, dragon crystals, and star cores, it has become an essential material for alchemy and magic circles due to its super high magical conductivity and plasticity. It has been used since ancient times. Great demand.
Moreover, the price is relatively low, at least it is much more valuable than gold.
As for the right to autonomously control rare and extraordinary resources, it is naturally the right to freely control these resources.
The Crescent Kingdom is very large, and there are many areas that produce rare and extraordinary resources, but not all noble families have the power to freely dispose of these resources, even if they are produced in their own territory.
In the entire Crescent Kingdom, only the direct vassals of the kingdom have this power.
This is also one of the royal power contracts between the royal family and its direct vassals.
Under the contract, the royal family's direct vassal families can trade the extraordinary materials they produce with other forces. These extraordinary materials not only refer to the output of the vassal's direct territory, but also include the vassal's vassal territory. output.
During this process, the royal family will not interfere with the disposal of extraordinary materials by the direct vassals. Even if it is sold to an enemy country, the royal family will not stop it, because this is the right that the vassals themselves should have.
In exchange for the contract, the vassal needs to unconditionally transfer part of the output of rare resources to the royal family.
At the same time, the royal family will protect the vassal's ownership of rare resources, and other vassal's war claims on the resource will not be recognized.
And once a noble family really starts a war, the royal family can even step aside directly if necessary, support the family with rare resources, condemn and sanction the family that started the war, and order the other party to cease the war.
It can be said that the right to autonomously control rare and extraordinary resources is the most significant power of the direct vassals of the kingdom. It is also the contractual right that has the greatest benefits and is most supported by the lords of the kingdom.
As for why this is the power with the biggest payoff…
That's because the Crescent Kingdom's royal power contract stipulates that only the kingdom's direct vassals have the right to independently control rare extraordinary resources, and vassals under direct vassals must leave the control of extraordinary resources to their own lords.
Take the Castel family as an example. The mithril owned by the Castel family is also a rare and extraordinary material. However, because it does not have the right to autonomously control extraordinary resources, the Castel family cannot trade mithril to anyone at will. Other forces can only sell to targets designated by the Boulder family.
It can be said that this contract greatly restricted the extraordinary power of many noble lords who were not directly subordinate to the kingdom, and significantly strengthened the extraordinary power of the vassals directly subordinate to the kingdom.
Some direct vassals with low titles and small territories control more types of extraordinary resources than those indirect vassals with higher titles. It is this contract that works.
As long as Louis V refused to recognize the Castel family's independent right to control extraordinary resources, even if Charlotte wanted to trade extraordinary resources with other nobles, no one would dare to deal with the Castel family under pressure.
That is not only the pressure from the royal family, but also the pressure brought by the domination system of all the direct vassals of the Crescent Kingdom to jointly maintain the extraordinary resources of the Crescent Moon.
For some mithril, no direct vassal family is willing to destroy the Great Wall, and even those who are brave will only trade secretly, and will inevitably lower the transaction price to a quite exaggerated level.
It can be said that with this alone, Louis XV can limit the development of the Castel family's extraordinary power, and even directly affect the development of the alchemy industry in the North.
"Not only that……"
Louis V paused for a moment, his expression became more and more indifferent, and his eyes towards Charlotte gradually became colder:
"I will acquiesce to the claims of all noble families with claims to the North to the title of Castel, and even continue to allow them to use war methods."
"As a lord, I will not directly interfere in this claim war, but I will definitely not mediate in this process."
"And if the day comes when Castor changes hands in the future, the royal family will never sit back and watch the North Land fall into the hands of the church. Even if it involves the use of war, it will definitely prevent this outcome."
"In the final analysis, it is still the same sentence. From the end of the Star-Moon War, the number of actual dukes and theocratic dukes in the kingdom can only be reduced, and it is impossible to increase."
Louis V looked serious and his voice was majestic.
After hearing his words, Charlotte was somewhat surprised.
She was not surprised by Louis V's attitude, but by his frankness.
It's candid, and it's also a naked threat.
But again, where there is coercion, there are incentives.
What Louis V said was only possible after Charlotte continued to adhere to her oath.
"Then, Your Majesty, what if I take back the oath I made before the God Lord and no longer recognize the validity of the oath?"
Charlotte asked again.
Louis V took a deep look at her, and his majestic voice softened again:
"If so, I very much welcome the Castel family to become my direct vassal. You and your family will receive the most comprehensive protection from the Valva family and enjoy the same royal rights contract as other kingdom lords."
"The Castel family will have the right to independently dispose of the Castel mithril deposits, and will be able to freely participate in the extraordinary trade of the kingdom's vassals. The Castel family can also use some of the rare extraordinary resources controlled by the royal family. Get it regularly like other direct vassal families."
"At the same time, the Castel family will also have the right to enter the kingdom's cabinet and the kingdom's military. The core library collection of the kingdom's highest university will also be open to the Castel family, just like other noble vassals."
"In addition, the Kingdom will also be able to assist in retaking the territorial claims of the Castel family to territories outside the kingdom, and they will be owned by the Castel family."
Louis V's voice was calm, and he listed the benefits of Charlotte's giving up her vow one by one.
And Charlotte felt quite moved after hearing this.
Needless to say, the right to autonomously control extraordinary resources. Unless Charlotte is determined to fight to the death with the royal family and no longer plans to hang out in New Moon, she will definitely get this.
The core library collection of the kingdom's highest school is also very attractive. Although Nice is already a cat-shaped magic encyclopedia, extraordinary power does not only include magic. There are some things that Charlotte may not need, but if she wants to develop her territory , corresponding knowledge is definitely needed.
Not to mention, such libraries often contain rich historical information, which is helpful for Charlotte to understand the past, especially the history of blood descendants.
As for helping the Castel family obtain claims... this Charlotte can probably guess what Louis V is referring to.
There is a territorial dispute between the Castel Territory and the Roman Principality. Although the area is not large, only 5,000 square kilometers, it is 4.2% of the current Castel Territory's territory.
This is a historical legacy of the Star-Moon War.
It is obvious that Louis V has not given up his legal claim to the Roman Principality, and still has the intention to regain the territory.
But Charlotte doesn't care so much about this.
"Sir Castel, these are the royal family's conditions. So...what's your answer?"
Louis V looked at Charlotte again, his voice as calm as ever.
Charlotte also looked up at the elderly monarch.
Facing the other party's scrutinizing gaze, she smiled slightly and said:
"Your Majesty the King, do you know? After I came to Lutetia and settled in my accommodation, the first place I visited was the Lutetia Cathedral."
Louis V was noncommittal, and his expression was not surprising:
"I know that during that visit, you stayed in the Lutetia Cathedral for almost three hours, of which two and a half hours were spent talking with Archbishop Loren, Grand Inquisitor of Champaigne, and Cardinal Mazarin."
"In the remaining half hour, you performed a service in the church, prayed devoutly, and even triggered the holy light of the statue of the Lord God, causing quite a sensation in the church."
"When you left, almost all the middle and high-ranking priests in the Lutetia Cathedral were present to bid you farewell."
"Oh, by the way, before the service, you also donated a whole box of quintana to the church, no more, no less, exactly two hundred thousand, and all of them were the sixth edition of the Kingdom's seal from 1437 to 1441 in the Holy Calendar. Quintana.”
As he said that, Louis V glanced at Charlotte and showed a strange smile:
"By the way, of the 200,000 quintana you donated, 100,000 were eventually replaced by the priest in charge of collection with the fifth version of quintana printed in 1418 of the sacred calendar."
Charlotte:…
Good guy, this Louis V...is a spy, right? Know so clearly?
As for Louis V's mention of her donations being replaced by church priests, this was an eye-opener for her.
In the year 1418 of the Holy Calendar, the Star-Moon War was in full swing. At that time, the two kingdoms, the Crescent Moon Kingdom and the Falling Star Kingdom, were fighting fiercely and were in financial difficulties. All the engraved quintana were of insufficient quality.
That was the fifth version of the quintana after the unification of Miria's currency. Because the gold of the two kingdoms was mixed with copper and nickel, one quintana was actually only equivalent to 80% of the full gold. It was also considered to be the currency of the two countries. Scandal.
Less than thirty years later, the Holy Royal Court launched the sixth edition of Quintana and asked all countries to engrave new coins for this reason.
Charlotte clicked her tongue, secretly saying that the Holy Royal Court was really becoming more and more depraved. There were priests under Legend's nose who dared to adulterate, and they were really very courageous.
However, given the nature of several legends, they must not care about trivial matters such as donations. After all, to legends, gold and silver are just numbers, and extraordinary things can catch their eyes.
It has to be said that although Louis V did this on purpose, Charlotte must admit that her already subtle perception of the Holy Royal Court suddenly became even more subtle.
For those who didn’t know, I thought she donated half of the under-quality Quintana!
With a slight sigh, Charlotte sighed:
"Your Majesty, your information is quite detailed."
"After all, I am the master of Crescent Moon, and nothing about Lutecia can be hidden from my eyes."
Louis V said calmly.
Nothing can be hidden from his eyes...
Charlotte's heart moved slightly, thoughtfully.
Louis V looked at her again and asked with interest:
"So, Lord Castel, what did you want to say when you mentioned the church trip that day?"
Charlotte put away her thoughts and said calmly:
"That day, several legendary priests of the church invited me to become a saint of the Holy Royal Court in Crescent Parish."
Quiet……
The moment Charlotte finished speaking, the entire living room suddenly fell into silence.
It was not quiet in the ordinary sense, but the whole world seemed to have fallen into stagnation and depression in an instant.
Charlotte only felt that Louis V's gaze became sharp in an instant. Although the legendary pressure was not exposed, his whole aura changed drastically in an instant.
Facing Louis V's oppressive gaze, Charlotte smiled slightly and said:
"But, I declined."
Almost in an instant, Louis V's rising momentum quickly dissipated, the stagnant time began to move again, and the depressing atmosphere was swept away.
His eyes regained their composure, and his majestic voice softened again, becoming a little more appreciative:
"Wise choice."
After saying that, he picked up the still wine again, took a sip, and then asked with inquiry:
"Then, Lord Castel, I can take it that you want to tell me that you have given up the vow you made before the Lord of God?"
Charlotte sighed slightly, showing an expression of reminiscence, and said with a hint of sentimentality:
"I respect the Lord of God, so I once swore an oath in front of the Lord of God."
"However, it turns out that being worthy of respect for God and being worthy of respect for the church are two different things."
"I can dedicate everything to God, but the church...with all due respect, so many things have happened in the past two years, and I am already disappointed with the church today."
"I will remain unmarried and dedicate myself to God in this life, but Castel, I will no longer fulfill my vow."
After listening to Charlotte's words, Louis V's eyes finally became relieved. He smiled slightly and nodded with satisfaction to Charlotte:
"Then... Lord Castel, as the king of Crescent Moon, I welcome you to become my vassal."
"Of course, it is also an honor for the Castel family to become your vassal."
Charlotte replied.
Looking at Charlotte with a respectful attitude, Louis V was even more satisfied:
"Sir Castel, now that you have made your choice, the royal family will respond accordingly and give the Castel family the identity and status it deserves."
"Of course, just saying this to me is not enough. I need you to publicly renounce your previous vows, so that our contract can officially take effect."
"So, Your Majesty, how would you like me to respond publicly?"
Charlotte asked calmly.
"The canonization ceremony, I need you to respond publicly at the canonization ceremony of the Castel family. Three days later, I will hold the knight canonization ceremony of the Castel family in the Crescent Palace to officially announce the Castel family. Become my vassal.”
said Louis V.
Charlotte thought for a while and nodded slightly:
"Everything is as you wish."
