PS: Two updates today! Asking for collection, subscription, reward, recomndation, monthly ticket, click, anything you want to say about this Chapter!
Late autumn, the first snow dances, inside the high tower is a harmonious scene.
Laine, Surya, and the Lake Fairy sit around a small table, a hot pot is placed in the middle. The newlywed couple sits on one side, while the Lake Fairy sits on Laine’s left side rather than opposite them.
"Not as simple as imagined?" Laine asked puzzledly, holding Surya. He hadn’t been in Brittania for long and wasn’t familiar with so customs yet.
"Laine, you’re from Nord, in Nord or the Empire, how does a peasant beco a noble?" The Lake Fairy asked with a smile on her stunningly beautiful face. She sliced beef, prawns, and chicken, dipping them in sauce and placing them into the hot pot. The Goddess doesn’t really need to eat; she avoids at and only eats so fruits and tastes fruit wine and grape wine.
The Goddess does this rely to show closeness.
"Three channels, sa as the Empire." Laine raised three fingers.
"The first is to enter school or Church to study as an apprentice (ascetic study). Imperial nobles regularly visit various academies and the Church to scout for outstanding attendants and courtiers. Although schools always recomnd based on piety and loyalty, many excellent students are chosen by nobles, becoming their attendants and gradually promoted to stewards or even courtiers. When a courtier accumulates enough qualifications or achievents, so nobles choose to grant them a noble identity, although this way incurs significant costs, payable only by self-cultivating farrs, wealthy farrs, rchants, and shop owners among the civilians."
"The second way is to join the army." Laine extended his second finger: "Lords always need an excellent army to defend their territories. Civilians can enlist every year. Enlisting involves initial training, and those who endure beco reserves, awaiting the opportunity to be supplented as town garrison soldiers, and then continue waiting for the chance to beco official soldiers."
"Official soldiers are assigned to Swordsman Corps, Crossbowman Corps, Long Spear, or Long Halberd Corps. They continue fighting bloodily until they accumulate achievents and strength to beco Great Swordsn. Great Swordsn enjoy double salaries and well-maintained barracks as living quarters. The most excellent among them are promoted by nobles, becoming military officers or knights, thus entering the noble class. So military officers may even be knighted and beco imperial generals."
"The third way is to find a way to beco a Knight Apprentice to a knight. Knight Apprentices learn and manage a knight’s day-to-day life. After several years, outstanding Knight Apprentices may be promoted to Knight’s Squires, who start to gain certain status. They accompany knights on battles and earn distinctions. Exceptional Knight’s Squires have the chance to beco Apprentice Knights, fight on horseback, and await titles of noble knighthood, becoming Ranger Knights, thus entering the noble class."
"So that’s how it is!" Surya’s eyes lit up; she looked at her husband with admiration: "Laine, you must have taken the third path then?"
"Ahem, no, I’m a foster child of the White Wolf Knights, naturally qualifying as Apprentice Knight. After earning honors in the Battle of Lapland, I directly beca a Ranger Knight." Laine replied sowhat awkwardly.
This is the backdoor noble families leave for their offspring; noble offspring tread a different path. They receive superior training from a young age, and upon graduating from court or school courses, noble offspring either beco Apprentice Knights or Pistol Cavalry (also regarded as a form of Apprentice Knight).
"Laine, my champion, if I didn’t help you, you now should be a company commander in the White Wolf Knight Order, living in White Wolf City, waiting for orders from White Wolf Yurik, fighting long-term battles against the Beastman Tribe in Drakwald Forest and Chaos Warbands in the Brass Mountain Range, right?" The Lake Fairy said with a beaming smile, her fingers interlocked, laid on the table.
"Most likely, then I would need to fight for another ten years, accumulate battle rits, and see if Boris Prince-Elector is willing to grant the title of Baron. Then accumulate another thirty to fifty years of battle rits...maybe eighty years, to see if I can be promoted to Count." Laine lanted: "That’s probably how it is, or even longer, my Lady, Surya, you both know how the Empire is about seniority and rank. I have no qualifications, even if I accomplish great feats, the rewards I actually get are minimal."
This is how the Empire’s ascension system works. Although, unlike Brittania, where peasants almost never beco nobles, for the Empire’s civilians, it often takes more than one generation of effort, usually three generations, to beco nobles.
"Minimal?" Surya sweetly leaned against her husband’s chest, thinking her luck was really good.
The Lake Fairy looked at the happy state of the female knight, feeling a bit uncomfortable, let out a soft hum, and her restless legs under the table adjusted her sitting position.
"The achievent of the subordinate is the achievent of the superior, the error of the superior is the responsibility of the subordinate." Laine calmly said: "The Empire and Nord don’t have the knightly path or the teachings of the Lady. Since I was eighteen, I’ve made countless achievents, but eventually only rose from Ranger Knight to Kingdom Knight, thanks to the relative fairness of the White Wolf Knight Order, which only values Martial Valor."
Surya understood Laine’s point; in the Empire, there’s no such thing as the knightly path.
"That’s the Empire." The Lake Fairy boasted with a hint of pride on her face: "My champion, you chose correctly."
"Yes, I think I chose correctly." Laine lowered his head, knowing the Lake Fairy harbors many thoughts and intentions regarding him, yet he always believed that his alliance with the Lake Fairy is ultimately a win-win situation.
Only after truly experiencing this stringent system, did Laine understand how difficult it is for civilians in the Empire or Nord to beco nobles. Typically, if one starts off as a lowly tenant farr (with a knife and a dog), it’s virtually impossible to beco a noble within one generation. This often requires three generations of accumulation.
For example, the first generation of farrs joins the army, becos a Swordsman, and gets injured in battle, receiving a large pension and honorably retiring. Then, his son can relatively receive so military education and use his father as a springboard to directly enter the army for service.
The second generation starts as soldiers, earning recognition and military rits in so major battles, becoming Great Swordsn, enjoying double the salary and better living conditions within the barracks. Naturally, they are qualified to send their children to military schools for education and training (in Brittania, this ans as sergeants).
The third generation finally yields fruit; relying on their father’s position and inco as a Great Swordsman, they can beco Knight’s Squire, equip themselves with knightly gear, or inherit their father’s position, earn rits, and be promoted to the lowest rank among the nobles—a knight (in Brittania, to beco a knight and shake off peasant status requires a King’s Order Lake God Witch’s decree).
Of course, there are always so "exceptions" in the world. Here, we speak of normal conditions, like Huaisi, there are Divine Favored or extraordinarily powerful individuals who can leap three ranks consecutively. Such people are never scarce but cannot be seen as the norm.
So then, for soone like Laine who is a Kingdom Knight?
The titles in the Empire are even harder to climb. For a Kingdom Knight to rise to Baron within a generation is nearly impossible; typically, it takes three generations. From Baron to Count could require a century of accumulation and coincide with major wars; due to Laine’s exceptional battle prowess, this process may be relatively shorter, but as Laine quipped, thirty years of accumulation is the minimum.
Nord shouldn’t think about it at all; a Lord remains a Lord for life, and just holding onto one’s territory is good enough.
"By the way, Surya, you still haven’t told why Duchess Huaisi can’t pass on her duchy title even if she has children?" Laine thought the conversation had strayed far. He cradled the voluptuous female knight in his arms and asked jokingly, "Isn’t Huaisi’s husband a noble?"
Laine recalled the famous "one-drop rule" where in the United States, if a person has even a drop of Black blood, they are considered Black and still face discrimination. For this world’s nobility, it’s the sa; only nobles and children of nobles are perceived as nobles.
"No, first of all, Huaisi has never married. Besides, even if her husband were a noble, her children would still be peasants and unable to inherit the title." Surya shook her head: "The duchy title of Duke of Leonais is destined to not be passed down."
"Why?!" Laine was perplexed; Huaisi is already a noble, and finding a noble husband wouldn’t work either?
"Haha, you are sowhat unaware, Laine." The Lake Fairy laughed: "In Brittania, whether a person is a noble depends on their family’s genealogy."
"Family’s genealogy?"
"The Lady is right. The entire family’s genealogy is traced from that person, five generations. If all relatives within those five generations are nobles, then he is considered a noble; otherwise, he is a peasant." Surya used a spoon to scoop up a piece of beef and placed it in Laine’s bowl: "Duchess Huaisi is a noble specially conferred by the Lady and the King, but her father was a minor tax officer, her mother a shepherdess; she is only and solely a noble herself. Her children remain peasants; the Lady’s favor extends only to her, not her descendants."
"Hahaha~" Laine covered his face with his hand, suppressing a rueful smile: "Lady, your rules are really strict."
"These aren’t my rules; they were established by Arthur and his son Lewis." The Lake Fairy feared Laine’s misunderstanding and shook her head repeatedly: "This is beyond my jurisdiction, divine matters are for divine beings, and mortal matters for mortals."
Laine understood that throughout Brittania’s history, the five peasants who ascended to nobility have in so way alard the Lake Fairy, and faced with the Goddess’s oracle, the Masters Knights couldn’t very well oppose it.
"Well... then I should count myself as a noble. My foster father is a noble, my Godfather is a Great Noble, my father... could be the most esteed noble of all." Laine suddenly rembered sothing, and he addressed the Lake Fairy: "My Lady, if I plan to offer a few peasants the chance to ascend to nobility, would you be willing to assist ?"
"You want to start this?" The Lake Fairy narrowed her eyes, her exquisite face still bearing a slight smile: "Setting such an example isn’t easy."
"Laine, I’ve already discussed this with my father; he and I will both support you in this endeavor!" Surya was the first to express her stance.
"Across the entire Kingdom, no more than three places a year, awarded to exceptionally outstanding peasant soldiers, exceptionally outstanding ones, how about it?" Laine finally revealed his ambition before his wife and the Lake Fairy: "To inspire peasants’ enthusiasm, they ought to have so hope, with you, Lady, overseeing it all."
"Hmm~" The Lake Fairy intentionally left it hanging before saying: "My Champion, between us, what need is there for any separation? If you think it’s possible, then do so. I will support you."
Seeing the Lake Fairy relent, Laine felt relieved.
The insurmountable chasm between nobles and peasants must be breached.
This is the most crucial step in revitalizing the Kingdom!
User Comments
0 comments from readers