Falling Star City, the study within the Red Palace.

The glow of the magic faded away, and the Royal Authority Magic Ball on the desk regained its calm. Charlotte ceased channeling her magic power and slowly opened her eyes.

Recalling the magical projection conversation she'd just had with the Northern Territory Duke, she pondered thoughtfully,

"Not denying is an admission… It seems indeed that the Northern Territory has some dealings with the Bloodline Clan, Harcos, of the Blood and Flesh Path."

"However, the attitude of the Northern Territory Duke was rather ambiguous; their relationship is probably just a partnership, much like the negotiations with me, perhaps akin to allies with Harcos."

"The Northern Territory Duke wants to unify the faith, while the Harcos Clan suppresses the faith of the Northern Territory. They have possibly made some sort of trade of interests. Judging by the recent turmoil in the Northern Territory, it is likely also related to the Totem Beliefs of various tribes there…"

"Regrettably, my understanding of the Northern Territory, as well as that of the Harcos Clan, is still too scant. Harcos is the most elusive among the bloodline clans; even Albrecht has little information on them…"

At this thought, Charlotte shook her head, then picked up the documents about the Harcos Clan from the desk.

These were provided by the Nais Clan. After the Nais Clan submitted to her, she had ordered them to gather all kinds of information about the Harcos Clan.

However, Charlotte regretfully noted that the intelligence known by the Nais Clan was limited.

This was not due to the Nais Clan having no knowledge about the Harcos Clan.

In fact, the materials provided by the Elder Council of the Nais Clan were quite comprehensive, including how many legends there were in the Harcos Clan, what their titles were, their strengths, personalities, and so on.

However, the problem was… the information about the Harcos Clan provided by the Nais Clan was almost entirely from a thousand years ago.

In the last millennium, the Nais Clan had hardly had any contact with this elusive bloodline clan, despite both being in the northwest of the continent, only separated by a strait.

Though to say there had been no gains would be wrong, at least from the Nais Clan, Charlotte knew why such a situation had occurred.

A thousand years ago, the Holy Royal Court rose, the bloodlines were fragmented, and the Royal Authority Family was also history after being attacked by other bloodline clans.

After that, one of the remaining five princes of the bloodlines, the Crimson Queen, Royena, declared that she would lead the Harcos Clan into seclusion.

They severed all contacts with other clans and retreated to the Northern Territory, and for a thousand years… they never took another step into the secular world.

No one knew why the leader of the Harcos Clan, the Crimson Queen, Royena, suddenly announced their seclusion, nor where they had retreated to.

She was just like the Moon God Artemis after the Mythical War, seemingly losing interest in the continental dominance in an instant, choosing to avoid world affairs.

Before its decline, the Nais Clan had made various investigations about this and tried to track the whereabouts of the Harcos Clan, but ultimately to no avail.

The Harcos Clan had seemingly vanished out of thin air, only occasionally would there be some rumors of their whereabouts.

Duke Robin of the Nais Clan's Great Elder Council had specifically conducted an Observation, but the results of the observation were ultimately concealed.

However, according to Duke Robin's judgment, the Harcos Clan was likely in seclusion within a different space somewhere in the Northern Land.

This was close to Charlotte's own speculation.

The Scarlet Sea within Charlotte could locate all bloodline coordinates, but it was precisely unable to accurately locate the Harcos Clan's bloodline, only sensing that they were indeed in the Northern Land. If one wanted to delve deeper, it would be blocked by the barrier over the Northern Land.

And as for why the Harcos Clan went into seclusion... one theory was that the Crimson Queen Royena had obtained the method to condense a Divine Position during the attack on the Kilari Clan of Royal Authority Family, then chose seclusion, preparing for Divine Enthronement.

Furthermore... there were rumors that during the attack on the Royal Authority Family, the Crimson Queen had taken away three Faceless Divine Statues held by the Royal Authority Family.

"The scene I saw around the Prohibition that day, was likely the secluded place of the Harcos Clan."

"To aim for True Divinity ... it's not impossible, especially considering that the Prohibition over the Northern Territory precisely prevents divine powers from intervening…"

"The power of the bloodline comes from blood heritage, and the Harcos Clan is suspected of collecting the blood heritage of other clans through the Northern Territory Grand Duchy. If the Crimson Queen is indeed attempting Divine Enthronement, it seems... highly likely."

"Moreover, the Harcos Clan holds at least three Faceless Divine Statues..."

"The Faceless Divine Statues contain the power of laws; I only relied on two statues and became a Demigod; with three… Can it be possible that the Crimson Queen is actually aiming for True Godhood?"

Reflecting on various pieces of information she had obtained, Charlotte speculated.

The Harcos Clan holds secrets.

This Charlotte was quite certain of.

But unfortunately, this clan was too secretive. Even after collecting information from various sources, what Charlotte knew was still very limited.

"Trying to get words out from the Northern Territory Duke in a short period might be impossible; no... since the Harcos Clan can remain in seclusion for a millennium, they surely will not expose their true whereabouts. To find them, I have to first locate the members of the Harcos bloodline."

"The Prohibition over the Northern Territory is overly domineering, even able to interfere with my positioning. It seems impossible to locate someone using the Blood Holy Scripture in a short time; I will need to start from reality..."

"Perhaps we can find a way through the Free Tribe Alliance."

Charlotte pondered.

Having lived in the Northern Territory for so long, they certainly had their own channels of information.

They were descendants of the Free City State Alliance, and Charlotte refused to believe that not a single one among their hundreds of thousands of people knew of the Harcos Clan's whereabouts.

As for how to settle those exiled by the Northern Territory Duke from the Free Tribe Alliance, Charlotte also had an idea...

It was simple, to bring them all to the Falling Star Kingdom.

Falling Star Island was large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people from the Northern Territory with room to spare.

As for propagating the faith... The Northern Territory had prohibitions, making spreading the faith temporarily illusory, but as the saying goes, 'after the darkness comes the dawn,' and the conditions and potential for propagation in the Falling Star Kingdom were far superior to those in the Northern Territory.

Bringing hundreds of thousands of believers to the Falling Star Kingdom, along with the covert support of the Nais Clan, might also accelerate Charlotte's efforts in propagation.

"Let's wait for Sebastian's news. With the opposition from the Northern Territory Duke gone, he and the Free Tribe Alliance there are also safe. I expect I'll soon be able to establish formal contact with the Free Tribe Alliance. With the node of faith, even if prohibitions loom over the Northern Territory, perhaps I can attempt to infiltrate..."

Charlotte sighed.

After speaking, she glanced at the Royal Authority Magic Ball on the table and couldn't help but reach out and fiddle with it, her expression inscrutable,

"However, speaking of which... The magic-guided technology in the Falling Star Kingdom does have some merit. With this magic ball, even a mortal can achieve long-distance communication."

"The cost is just a bit high; even contacting the Mage Tower once consumes at least a thousand pounds' worth of gold tana, and like today's direct contact with the Northern Territory, it's not just burning a Magic Energy Crystal; the Magic Crystal Stones consumed are incredibly expensive..."

"Hey, Lord Charlotte, if the costs could be reduced, the Falling Star Kingdom would have already widely disseminated this technology, instead of just having a simplified version of the Communication Crystal among the nobility."

A familiar raspy voice came through; Black Cat Nisi had slipped through the window at some unknown time.

Charlotte gave it a fleeting glance.

Noticing her unfavorable expression, Nisi instinctively shivered.

It swallowed, quickly retreated, closed the window, and then properly knocked 'thump thump thump.'

"Roll in."

Charlotte spoke.

Only then did Nisi carefully climb back through, a look of appeasement on its face:

"Uh... I forgot to knock, really forgot to knock..."

After speaking, it excitedly looked toward the magic ball in Charlotte's hand:

"That... Lord Charlotte, may I take a look at your ball?"

Charlotte casually tossed the magic ball over, and Nisi quickly caught it.

It circled around the magic ball, clicking its tongue in wonder:

"To be fair... The mages and alchemists here are quite impressive indeed. Long-range magical projection is a capability usually reserved for Legendary Mages and Gods. To have it available with just the consumption of magic power is quite an innovation. If it could really be popularized... tsk tsk."

Charlotte looked at Nisi somewhat unexpectedly.

Though this creature was never serious, its proficiency and pride in magic were indeed remarkable, and receiving praise from Nisi was quite rare.

However, even Charlotte had to admit that the magic-guided technology of the Falling Star Kingdom was indeed a notch above that in other countries on the Mireya Continent.

Ever since she first used the Communication Crystal from Falling Star long ago, Charlotte had had this feeling.

Now that she had become the queen of Falling Star and had personally reviewed many magical documents from the Falling Star Kingdom, her understanding had deepened.

To use Nisi's words, according to the rate of technological iteration in magic-guided technology over the years on the Mireya Continent, the magic-guided technology of the Falling Star Kingdom was about ten to twenty years ahead of other countries on the continent, second only to the Elf Clan on Moon God Island.

Unfortunately, as an isolated island overseas, the island lacked essential resources like mithril needed to make magical artifacts; though technically superior, the overall strength of Falling Star wasn't much of an advantage. Various magical devices improved by the elves' technology were also mostly circulated among the nobility.

This was why the Falling Star Kingdom had always coveted the Castel Domain.

Not just because of its geographic location, but because the mithril resources of the Castel Domain were too crucial for the Falling Star Kingdom.

With this in mind, Charlotte turned her attention back to Nisi:

"Nisi, how is the task I assigned to you progressing?"