Chapter 38: Journey to Frankish City

About half a month after the new year, Christine left for Frankish City, the capital of the Frankish Kingdom.

As a noble, she was required to go to the capital to meet the king within one year of inheriting the title. After all, the king needed to see what the nobles he had created looked like. It was also a chance to meet and get to know the nobles in the capital, so that if anything came up in the future, she would be able to handle it.

There are only a hundred field barons and above in the entire Kingdom of France. These people and a few hereditary honorary dukes form the first level of the kingdom's aristocratic circle. As long as they do not violate the three major conventions, they are no different from the king in their own territories.

The second level is the hereditary honorary nobles, who hold important positions. Because they have power, their words carry weight, and many field nobles befriend them. Field lords also fall into this category, as some families with a long history of field lordship will have fiefs of three to four villages.

The third level is the remaining hereditary nobles, who own at most one village or in some cases one manor.

There are also those whose ancestors were wealthy but later fell into poverty. For example, the Baron of Lorient, a territorial noble who owns a town, is ranked according to the amount of land he owns.

Then there are some non-hereditary nobles, some of whom are the children of great nobles, some are professionals who have been ennobled for one reason or another, a small number are merchants who have donated money, and the last part are courtesans in aristocratic circles, such as a certain baroness or countess. The higher the title, the more popular they are and the more expensive their appearance f*e.

However, whether they were hereditary or not, as long as they had a noble title, they enjoyed noble treatment. Even if a wealthy merchant had no noble title or ecclesiastical position, he would still have to greet and address a lowly honorary lord with respect.

In addition to these secular nobles, there are also the leading members of the great churches, the Mage Guild, the Warrior Guild, the Druid Guild, the Mercenary Guild, and other organizations. These people make up the entire circle of nobles in the Kingdom of France, and each county also has its own circle in which nobles must participate.

Therefore, according to tradition, Christine had to go to the capital of France.

Since the journey was not short, she traveled lightly, accompanied only by her sisters Irina, Milisa and Misa, ten maids, ten squires and ten cooks. The knight Albert de Lussac, who was going to the royal capital, brought fifty cavalrymen as an escort.

The various supplies and gifts for the king filled several wagons. Since the first audience with the king had to be accompanied by a gift, Christine prepared olive oil worth 1,000 gold coins, and since a shield tax was required, she doubled the amount.

Just as the knights had to fight for their lords and serve for a certain number of days each year without pay, so the nobles in the field had to fight and serve for the king. But in reality, the king could not call the nobles to the field when there was real work to be done. For example, if there was a battle, he would ask a certain nobleman to lead the troops to fight, but if the nobleman disobeyed the order, he would not dare to go and would find all kinds of excuses to delay for a month or two.

The kingdom was constantly changing hands, and even if the kingdom of France was annexed by another country, the nobles in the field would simply change their allegiance. Therefore, not many nobles really used their family wealth to fight for the king.

Therefore, the Pact of the Nobles stipulates that the nobles can use the "shield tax" to replace the obligation to fight in wars, that is, to pay a sum of money to the king every year, and the king uses this money to support the knights and the army of the kingdom. The local barons pay 1,000 gold coins each year, with an increase of 1,000 gold coins for each higher rank. Hereditary honorary barons pay 100 coins per year, with an increase of 100 coins for each rank.

For a field count, 3,000 coins a year is no problem, and for a hereditary honorary count, 300 coins a year is no small amount. Of course, the "shield tax" does not have to be gold coins, it can also be other equivalent items, so the olive oil Christine prepared seems much more tasteful.

The trip went very smoothly. Even though it was winter, the servants accompanying the group did not have to walk because they had prepared enough carriages. More importantly, a canopy was installed to keep out the cold wind.

The cavalrymen wore winter clothes made of animal fur, which provided excellent warmth. Combined with their strength of at least the third class, the cold was nothing.

In this world, the noble carriages are larger than those in the medieval world of Blue Star because of the heavily burdened blood-sucking war horses. Under the same conditions, everyone would prefer a carriage with more space and a more comfortable ride. In addition, its special design provides excellent protection against the cold and wind.

Christine's carriage is an even greater improvement. The wizards have developed an alchemical product similar to rubber, only more expensive, which solves the sealing of doors and windows and the shock absorption of the wheels. Magic circles are carved under the seats of the carriage, and using magic stones to power them can make the carriage warm in winter and cool in summer. The downside is that it requires at least one apprentice mage to use it.

So even if it's snowing outside, the sisters can still wear tulle in the carriage. Christine wants to try to pet the foxes, well, I should say the fox sisters.

Christine is sitting on the sofa and Misa is lying on her lap, while Christine is reading a book and stroking Misa's tail. Since the twin fox sisters are telepathic, Misa, who is lying on the opposite sofa, seems to enjoy it as well.

However, the base of a fox's tail is known to be very sensitive. A few strokes from time to time are fine, but if it goes on for a while, something special can happen. Right now, Miisha, who is lying down, has a bright red face. Even though she looks like she is enjoying it, she is clenching her teeth as if she is holding on to something.

That's why you shouldn't touch the tails of small animals, it can affect them, and some with a bad temper might even scratch or bite their owners.

At that moment, Misa had buried her head deep between her arms. It was so embarrassing that she couldn't hold back when her owner stroked it.

Christine didn't know that this would happen either, and after a moment of shock, she couldn't help but laugh. This made Misa even more embarrassed and she wished she could dig a hole in the sofa and crawl inside.

"Well, I didn't know this would happen either, you guys take a rest for a while."

Christine carried Meisha to the other side and placed her next to her sister, then flipped a switch next to her and the sofa back collapsed, turning it into a bed.

Meisha buried her head in her sister's arms and didn't dare say a word, while Meilisha had long since pretended to be asleep.

Christine had arranged the carriage this way mainly because she was worried about the symptoms of her blood pulse, not knowing when they would strike. If she was out in the open, she couldn't just randomly kill a few passersby to alleviate the symptoms.

As it turned out, the effect was very good, because with the existence of the soundproofing array, even if Elena and the three twin fox girls sang in high voices together, it was impossible to hear them outside.