The subject once again says it all. After wiping out my first enemy the price of all the champions has shot up from 0 guilders for a lvl 1 to 4.3 billion.
I'm married and my kids are all strong, but would still love to recruit some of the other champions, though with me controlling over 2/3 of the map and the other kingdoms below half my points, it's not really going to affect the outcome.