The Witcher: Make Witcher Great Again

Chapter 181 From this moment on, the whole of Toussaint is calling your name

Duchess Carloberta, surrounded by a group of maids, slowly walked up from the high platform reserved for the nobility.

The onlookers in the audience suddenly fell silent.

Following behind the Duchess, Florinilla gave Lynn a look that said "cooperate in the acting."

The witcher then knelt on one knee and thrust his sword into the ground with his right hand as a sign of respect.

Duchess Carloberta took the laurel wreath from Florinilla and placed it on Lynn's head.

And announced loudly:

“I am honored to present this award to our courageous and glorious champions.”

"He swore an oath in the name of the Lady of the Lake, and it was undoubtedly this oath that brought him this glorious victory."

"He demonstrated immense courage and strength, and maintained a high sense of honor and chivalry. He truly deserves the title of this year's Knight Tournament Champion."

"Therefore, in the presence of the Lady of the Lake and numerous nobles, knights, and citizens, I, Duchess Carolina Roberta of the Court of Beauclair, Ruler of Toussaint, do hereby anoint you Baron of the Duchy of Toussaint."

"And I grant you the Casteldaccia Manor and the surrounding 5,000 acres of land."

The entire arena was silent at first, and then erupted into huge cheers.

Although there have been precedents of civilians being knighted for their outstanding performance in knight competitions.

However, ever since the establishment of the Duchy of Toussaint by the "Grand Duke of the Lance" Ludovico, no commoner has ever been able to skip the knights and directly become a baron.

Although barons are the lowest class of nobles, they are still nobles after all.

As long as you can become a noble, you will be completely different from the peasants from then on. Then you will find that this is a brand new world that is completely different from the previous one.

Toussaint is not like Nilfgaard.

Despite the annual external expansion, excessive military spending, and waste of money and labor, it also created many opportunities for civilians.

Non-commissioned officers and officers of civilian origin could be promoted and granted land based on their military achievements in war.

But Toussaint is different.

This is a peaceful land. It doesn't even have an army, let alone any external expansion.

The benefit, of course, is that the people can live and work in peace and contentment without having to worry about war.

The country also thrives because of peace.

But the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, the lack of channels for promotion.

Even if one could win the nobility's favor and even be crowned a Knight-Errant through outstanding performance at the knight tournament...

After all, such examples are still rare.

What's more, the fact that one can bring his own set of weapons, armor, and horses to participate in the Knights' Tournament already exceeds 90% of the people in Toussaint.

When the common people heard that the grand prize was a manor and land, they were still somewhat skeptical.

Now that they found out that this was actually true, they naturally cheered.

The nobles and knights-errant smiled and congratulated Lynn, the new member joining them.

The bards who were invited to the event imprinted this scene firmly in their minds.

A commoner is promoted to a baron... This is a legend that is no less than that of Dragon Quest, and it is even more attractive to the public than the latter.

After all, compared to slaying the evil dragon, ordinary people in this era still want to dream of "leaping from being exploited to becoming exploiters."

……

A week later.

A group of people gathered at the entrance of Casteldaccia Manor.

Butler Sebastian took out a handkerchief and kept wiping the sweat from his forehead.

The Knights' Tournament had just ended when a dusty messenger arrived with instructions from the Beauclair court.

He told Sebastian that the new lord would arrive at Casteldaccia Manor a week from now.

Sebastian put a lot of thought into leaving a good impression on the new lord.

And they also hurriedly made the flag of the new lord.

It was a snarling direwolf.

It is said that this is the family crest designed by the new lord himself.

Sebastian is a true southerner. He has never been to the north in his life and has never seen a direwolf.

But putting aside the flattery, he admitted that the new lord's family crest was indeed well designed.

At this moment, the person who was specially sent by Sebastian to the watchtower to keep watch suddenly shouted.

"Someone, someone is coming."

Sebastian and the others were cheered up when they saw a group of people approaching slowly from a distance.

In the front was a young man riding a black horse.

The young man is handsome, with black hair and blue eyes, and exudes a noble temperament.

He was wearing a set of black lacquered armor that looked very valuable.

There was also a long sword at his waist.

The two people following the young man were a witcher with milky white hair and two swords on his back, and a middle-aged man dressed like a barber, emitting a strong scent of herbs.

When the three of them arrived at the gate of the manor, Sebastian and the people behind him quickly bowed and saluted.

"Welcome home, respected Lord Brandon. I am Sebastian Michaelis. I have been ordered by the noble Duchess to serve as your steward at Casteldaccia Manor."

Lynn nodded slightly, and dismounted with Geralt and Regis.

He pointed at them and said, "These two are my friends. From now on, whether I am at the manor or not, when they visit you, you must treat them as honored guests."

Sebastian bowed again. "Yes, I understand."

Lynn nodded and said to Geralt and Regis, "Go and rest first. We'll talk later."

After the two were taken away by the servants, Lynn looked at Sebastian again.

"Now, show me my territory."

"Yes, Baron, please follow me." Sebastian told the servants who were waiting with him at the door to go back to work, while he himself led the way for Lin En.

"The Casteldaccia estate is very large, with its own mill, winery, herb garden, granary, blacksmith shop, stables, and wine cellar."

"Thanks to Her Royal Highness the Duchess's permission, our manor is fully staffed and can operate at 100%."

"Outside the estate is where we grow grapes. The Merlot grapes we grow on our estate are one of the oldest varieties in the world."

“When it’s aged in oak barrels, it develops unique flavors like cedar and vanilla.”

“If East of East is the king of Toussaint wines, then our estate-made rosé is the crowd-pleaser.”

Lynn interrupted Sebastian.

"Wait a minute, I have a question. Why is this wine called Rose Wine? It doesn't sound like it has anything to do with roses to me."

Sebastian had obviously done his homework, as he explained calmly with a smile.

"It is said that the former owner of this estate, the previous head of the Maclino family, named the wine because his wife particularly loved roses, so he also added the word "rose" to the name of the wine."

Lynn suddenly realized.

He gestured for the butler to continue.

"Apart from this manor itself, the approximately 5,000 acres of land outside the manor are all your territory."

"There are approximately three hundred free people living in your territory. They are all your subjects."

"In peacetime, they pay you taxes, and in wartime they are obligated to fight for you."

"It's just that the combat level of these peasant soldiers... I suggest you don't have too high expectations."

Five thousand acres of territory is relatively small.

If this happened in the north, with a territory of the same size, the lord would not be able to collect much tax, and the people would be extremely poor.

But this is Toussaint.

The weather is good and there is a good harvest every year.

Plus the income from selling wine.

This is much more comfortable than the baron with the same territory size in the north.

It is a thousand times better than being a demon hunter who often does not get paid or has his wages withheld, and is looked down upon and spat on wherever he goes.

Next, Lynn and Sebastian rode their horses to inspect the villages in the territory before returning to the manor.

Along the way, Lynn asked a lot of questions.

Sebastian was able to give most of the answers accurately.

So, Lynn let Sebastian take charge of this territory with confidence.

This was how the nobles of that era were; basically everything was arranged by the butler.

There is no need to worry about being overthrown or being sidelined.

In this era, if you don't have aristocratic blood, you cannot rebel even if you have the right reason. Otherwise, you will be a traitor and will never be able to clear your name and become a legitimate rebel.

Such "unreasonable" things also happened in his hometown world. Apart from the land where he was born and grew up, even in the island country just across the water, people in ancient times paid great attention to bloodline. The so-called righteousness would only stand on the side of bloodline and fame.

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(End of this chapter)