Witch Monastery

Although the number of people awarded honors in Libel Port this year is not small, the number of people staying in this castle hotel is not that large. Many people waiting to be awarded honors have their own residences in the Mithril District. At this time, if they are a little accommodating, they don't need to gather here.

Therefore, the people who live here now are basically people who live in other districts. When Hawthorne went downstairs, he saw people gathered in twos and threes, talking in low voices.

Their identities, status, races and occupations are different, but tomorrow, they will all have the same identity: lifelong nobles of the Sein Empire.

The types of nobles that the Sayin Empire would enfeoff could be roughly divided into two categories: the "hereditary nobles" who could pass on their privileges, power, and fiefdoms to their descendants, and the "lifelong nobles" who could not do so and could only enjoy all the privileges themselves.

The former naturally have more rights and are more likely to enjoy actual power in their own fiefdoms, after all, their families will be the masters there for generations;

As for the latter, since there is only one generation, even if they have a fiefdom, it is difficult to say that they have accumulated any prestige or foundation there: after all, when a person dies, all these things will be taken back by the authorities.

However, although everyone knows that hereditary nobles have greater power, the difficulty of obtaining the title can be said to be extremely difficult.

Although the Sayin royal family has not publicly stated that they will no longer confer new hereditary nobles, judging from their performance in the past few hundred years, the number of hereditary nobles has indeed not increased at all.

If you want to become a new hereditary aristocrat, you probably have to join an uprising, overthrow the current royal family, and then wait for the new emperor to confer the title on you as a founding father.

Or just become the emperor yourself.

cough!

The royal family naturally had their own considerations for doing so. After all, if every family's fiefdom could be inherited, then the territory required by the empire would be infinite, which was simply impossible.

Anyone with a little education can understand this situation and know that the royal family can no longer confer new hereditary nobles. Therefore, they basically give up the idea and set lifelong nobility with a higher title as their goal.

Hawthorne walked down the stairs from the second floor with a smile on his face. Without saying much, he easily attracted the attention of many people around him.

He didn't need to take the initiative to talk to anyone. Immediately, a figure came forward and said in a low voice with a little embarrassment: "Are you Mr. Nigel Hawthorne? It's an honor to meet you. I'm Lucy Bronze, a football player. Uh, it's an honor to meet you..."

Hawthorne turned around and saw a female half-orc who was half a head taller than him and had rough, dark skin, looking at him uneasily. She rubbed her palm-leaf-fan-sized hands back and forth, wondering if she was qualified to shake hands with him.

Hawthorne smiled, extended his hand generously, and shook hers: "It's an honor to meet you, Ms. Bronze."

The orc relaxed visibly, and then he let out a long sigh: "I admire you very much. I have dreamed of becoming a barbarian warrior and fighting against evil since I was a child. But I don't have the talent and can't sense the call of my ancestral blood..."

"So, I admire you for destroying those terrible demons... Can you sign an autograph for me? On my team jersey, I want to wear it on the court next time."

Hawthorne smiled and agreed, so the rugged female orc took out a white jersey with the number 10 printed on it from her dimensional bag. After Hawthorne wrote her name, she was so excited that she couldn't express it in words: "Thank you, I feel honored."

Hawthorne smiled and said you're welcome, and then chatted with her. Bronze told Hawthorne that she won the championship in the World Cup this fall on behalf of the Sein Empire, which gave her the opportunity to be a noble.

"But my achievement is not that great." She said with an envious look, "At most I can get a lower-level knight's medal. I can't compare to you. After destroying the demon lord, you should at least be awarded the title of Viscount, right?"

The ranks of nobility in the Sein Empire are divided into five levels from top to bottom: Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. Below that are the various levels of knighthood.

Among them, the first five have fiefs from large to small, while the knight title has no fief, only some special allowances and privileges. But even so, it is still a widely recognized symbol of honor.

Huo Sang smiled softly: "How could it be a viscount? That would mean giving me a territory as big as a town as a fiefdom. That's unlikely."

Although the government offices of each district notified them to come and receive the title, they did not mention the specific title, the size of the fief, etc. It was also a common topic for those who were to be awarded to guess the level of each other's title based on their qualifications and deeds.

Just as Hawthorne finished speaking, a gentle male voice sounded from behind: "Indeed, the Viscount is a little too high."

The two turned their heads and saw a fat man with a thick square chin, wearing huge black-framed glasses and a well-tailored suit walking towards them.

The female orc's expression suddenly became somewhat unhappy, but Hawthorne smiled and said to him: "Hello, I am Nigel Hawthorne, may I ask who you are?"

"Arnold Abinson, interim

Secretary of the Cabinet Organization of the City Hall." The man made a series of tongue-twisting sounds, with the temperament of a classical aristocrat, "I have received the Knighthood Medal three times, and I have a lot of experience in similar situations."

"But I'm afraid, sir, you have never destroyed a pit lord, have you?" Bronze said indifferently, while Arnold remained calm: "Of course, but I have seen many similar feats. If you, Mr. Hawthorne, have not been knighted before, it would be difficult for you to get such a high rank when you were knighted for the first time."

Hawthorne nodded. Experience is indeed an important criterion for judging. Although he does not particularly agree with it, this criterion exists objectively: "So, with your experience, I can probably..."

Arnold pondered for a moment and said, "It should be the Order of the Garter. Oh, that's the highest one you commoners often talk about when you chat with each other, the Grand Knight's Order."

This is the highest level of the Order of Chivalry, but it is still only a knighthood and does not come with a fiefdom.

Next to Hawthorne, the female orc exclaimed, "So low? He should be a baron, right?"

Arnold gave her a cold look and said, "That's already very high, ma'am. Even if you are the world champion, the most you can get is the Order of St. George, right?"

The Order of St. George, which is what Bronze just called the "Inferior Knight's Order". In fact, all medals are named after famous people in history. It's just that some people with poor historical knowledge can't remember so many difficult names, so they gave them many common names based on their value.

Bronze gritted his teeth secretly, but could not refute. Hawthorne smiled lightly and didn't care: "This is also good. After all, I don't contribute to the city in the city hall all year round. I am already very satisfied with this result."

He was too lazy to argue with this arrogant old bureaucrat and just waited for tomorrow's results.

Arnold looked at him with satisfaction. He thought that this young man was worth training. This guy knew how to respect civil servants and did not become arrogant just because he killed a mere demon lord.

Then, he glanced at Bronze again, his eyes showing undisguised disdain. Whether it was the race of "orcs" or the noisy sport of "football", in his opinion, they were not related to "nobility". Giving a medal to such a person was really a sign of moral decline!

He had terrible prejudices, but Hawthorne just smiled and said a few perfunctory words to him. Slowly, Arnold felt bored and turned away, leaving Bronze standing beside Hawthorne, looking at his back with angry eyes: "These guys... Tsk!"

She curled her thick lips, looking extremely disdainful. Hawthorne smiled and then advised: "All these old nobles are like this. It's okay. We just ignore him. It's essentially a matter of attitude. The impact is not that big."

Bronze's expression eased a little, and at this moment, a sharp male voice with a flick of tongue came from behind them: "Yes, as long as these guys are willing to pay on time and don't deliberately manipulate the media to discredit us, then it won't be considered hostility."

Hawthorne and the other man turned their heads and saw a young owl-man male who looked like a human, but had a colorfully dyed owl head and owl claws on his hands. He walked slowly towards them with a somewhat stiff and graceful step. "I'm Paul McCartney, also from the Muse District, an ordinary rock musician. It's an honor to meet you, Father Nigel Hawthorne."

Chapter 474: The Conferment Ceremony

Can an ordinary rock musician wait here to be knighted?

Hawthorne thought to himself, and then shook his hand, or to be more precise, shook his paw: "It's an honor to meet you too, Mr. McCartney."

Afterwards, the female orc also shook hands with the owl man. After they introduced themselves to each other, Hawthorne took the initiative to talk to him: "I just heard you mention the smearing. Could it be that someone is deliberately smearing the reputation of a musician like you?"

The owl shook his head: "I dare not call myself a musician, but it is true that if we don't pay some surrender fees, the paparazzi of the Casalante family will harass us."

"They said that we, who make entertainment products, don't do any production, but earn a lot of money, which makes the workers distracted and unwilling to move goods to the port. Oh, it's ridiculous, do they think we don't know how hard it is for dock workers!"

Bronze nodded in agreement. "When I first came to Libel Harbor, I also worked as a porter at the dock. If I hadn't personally experienced how the dock workers were bullied, I would have believed their lies!"

Hawthorne looked thoughtful: "The Casalante family... Well, I seem to have been smeared, but I'm not sure who did it. Mr. McCartney, can you introduce this family to me?"

McCartney's eyes lit up and he was eager to try. At this time, Bronze said first: "They have also made up a lot of so-called negative information about me. I will also tell you what these bastards have done!"

Hawthorne smiled and nodded: "Then I'll trouble you two. Uh, it's getting late. Why don't we have dinner together?"

The two of them immediately looked eager: "It's an honor, Mr. Hawthorne!"

The three of them then walked into the restaurant of the Castle Hotel and ordered some steaks and a bottle of red wine. After getting in the mood, McCarthy could not help but complain to Hawthorne, saying that ten years ago, although the lives of various folk orchestras, theater troupes and dance troupes were not easy, they were still good.

With a living space, the cultural market is thriving.

But since the rise of the Casalante family, these greedy guys are unwilling to leave even a little bit of profit to folk art troupes. If they are not acquired, they will be deliberately discredited and then suppressed, resulting in fewer and fewer art groups that can survive independently.

What's even more hateful is that the fat woman in the Casalante family doesn't understand art. She recruited many dance troupes with beautiful girls. Her actual purpose was to let them satisfy the dark desires of some nobles. Many girls were tortured to the point of suffering from mental illness.

These bloody stories made Hawthorne heartbroken, and Bronze added that these things were not exaggerated but actual situations they had seen.

Hawthorne's mood suddenly became very heavy. He wanted to do something, but he didn't know where to start. He could only keep it in mind for the time being.

After dinner, other people came to find Hawthorne and took the initiative to hope to make friends. Hawthorne also accepted everyone who came, because it was always good to have one more friend.

Before they knew it, it was late at night. Everyone, already sleepy, went back to their rooms to rest. Hawthorne was no exception, and fell asleep with anticipation for tomorrow.

The next day, early in the morning.

The knighting ceremony was held in the Hall of Glory in the Mithril District of Liber Harbor. It was a huge two-story palace, but the middle was hollowed out so that the magnificent dome could be seen directly.

The place for conferring the title of nobility is on a platform on the east side, while on the west side there are two levels of audience seats, the upper level is for invited nobles, and the lower level is for various celebrities who are invited but do not have noble titles yet.

But this does not lead to an imbalance, because celebrities know that sooner or later, they will also sit in the upper class.

Early in the morning, the second floor of the ceremony site was filled with old nobles dressed in luxurious clothes. Most of them were middle-aged men and women in their forties or fifties, accompanied by their daughters in their teens and twenties, who were dressed up in fancy clothes.

For powerful hereditary nobles, this ceremony of conferring a title is also a great opportunity for them to choose a son-in-law. Those men who can obtain a title at a young age are definitely the most outstanding talents in the city.

The Amcasla family was no exception. Although he had wrinkles on his face, Grant Amcasla, the Minister of Transportation of Port Liber, who had thick blond hair, clear blue eyes and looked handsome, also arrived at the scene with his daughter Annuo.

However, they are not here to choose a son-in-law today, but to meet the future son-in-law who has been reserved.

The two sat down in their reserved seats. Grant looked relatively calm, while Annuo's face flushed with excitement.

"Dad." Suddenly, the girl asked in a low voice, "What level can Huo Sang get with his contribution?"

Grant hesitated for a moment, and it was hard to say for the time being. After all, he had never seen a young man who could destroy the Abyss Lord in his life; similarly, he was not sure what attitude Lyra Silverhand would have towards such a young talent.

Should I encourage him as much as possible? Or should I deliberately curb his arrogance?

He didn't know. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Although his achievements are indeed great, after all, before this, he was just a commoner."

"In order to ensure the nobility of the noble title, the city lord should not give him a title that is too high at the beginning. But it won't be too low either. After all, destroying the Abyss Lord is indeed a great achievement."

He weighed the pros and cons and finally concluded, "If you ask me, it would be a very suitable choice to make him a baron and then mark out a street in his old nest, Nangang District, as his fiefdom."

An Nuo's face suddenly fell: "Ah? So low?"

The ancestors of the Amkhasla family were dukes, but were later stripped of their titles by the emperor. However, Grant is still a marquis and has a fiefdom of more than 1,000 square kilometers in the north.

However, unless there is something urgent, he will not go back. After all, times have changed. No matter how high the yield of the farmland in the fiefdom is, it is not as good as the profit brought by using the power in his hands to facilitate the multinational consortiums in Liber Port.

"It's already high enough, Anno." Grant smiled. "If you give him a viscount, even if he is a lifelong peer, it will cause an uproar and strong backlash in the aristocratic community."

"My Lord City Lord, she is also a part of the bloodline of the gods. She will not make such a mistake that will anger her own people."

Annuo curled her lips, still feeling a little unbalanced. Thinking of the Graol Stone that she had handed over for Hawthorne, she prayed secretly, hoping that what Vajera said would work and that Hawthorne could be given a higher title this time.

I don't ask for anything higher, I just want to be a Viscount, Viscount is good enough...

At this moment, Grant suddenly straightened his back, squinted his eyes, and looked down: "Wait, the person who was awarded the medal this year is not Leila Silverhand?"

An Nuo was also startled, and he also leaned over to look down, then his expression was stunned: "Ms. Vajera?"

……

At the side of the Lordship Hall, Hawthorne, who was waiting in the waiting room for the award, suddenly heard a commotion from others. He went over, looked up, and was immediately filled with astonishment.

He saw that Vajera was standing on the platform used for conferring titles, leaning on a black staff, with a white stone bench in front of her.

Wait, the person presiding over the awarding ceremony this year is not Leila Silverhand, but Lady Blackstaff?

Looking at Vajra, who was leaning on the artifact with a serious expression and obviously revealing nervousness, Hawthorne pondered in his heart, and then couldn't help laughing in his heart.

Haha, it seems that these are still the same as in the game. After giving the Stone of Gral to Vajra, the relationship between her and Layla Silverhand will be greatly eased. At the same time, both of them will have a high initial goodwill towards the player.

This would be very convenient for my subsequent growth and my plans to become stronger. With only tens of millions of gold coins, I could buy the favor of a demigod and a legendary wizard who held a divine weapon. This deal was a big win no matter how I looked at it.

He secretly thought in his heart that although his total assets now added up to less than one million gold coins, this did not prevent him from looking into the future a hundred years later. After that, he would become a legendary spellcaster and hundreds of millions of gold coins would flow with a wave of his hand.

After Vajra took her place, the ceremony began immediately. The staff came over and asked those who were waiting to be awarded to stop watching and go back to their seats to wait for the ceremony to begin.

In this regard, even though the recipients were very eager to receive the honors, they had to suppress their curiosity for the time being, returned to their seats, and waited for the host of the ceremony to call out their names.

The hour bell rang slowly, announcing the official start of the ceremony. Inside the magnificent auditorium, the orchestra that had already stood on both sides began to play their instruments, letting the loud and pleasant, but not at all ear-splitting military music echo in the huge hall.

"Arnold Abinson, Cabinet Organizing Secretary."

On the second floor, on the east side of the auditorium, the Minister of the Palace, wearing a black tailcoat, read out the first name on today's honors list, and then said: "Because of his dedication to his duties in his position, His Majesty the Emperor has awarded him the Order of the Garter."

Later, in the waiting room, Hawthorne saw the burly, square-jawed middle-aged man he had met yesterday stand up from his seat, stride out of the waiting room, and walk all the way to the platform on the east side of the first floor.

Because he was not very familiar with the specific process of conferring a knighthood, Hawthorne looked ahead with curiosity. Then, he saw Arnold walk up to Vajera, kneel on the bench in front of her with one leg, and lower his head to show respect.

Next to Vajera, a waiter in a red dress came up to him holding a tray. On the tray was the medal that was to be awarded today.

With a solemn expression, Vajra took the medal from the tray and put it on Arnold personally. Then she said something, but unfortunately the distance was too far and Hawthorne could not hear clearly.

Finally, she picked up the black staff that was automatically floating next to her, and tapped Arnold's broad shoulders lightly with its tip, to indicate that part of the burden of the world would be on his shoulders, and the title of knight was not only an honor, but also a responsibility.

After that, Arnold turned around and left under the guidance of another waiter.

After conferring the honor on the first person, the Minister of the Palace continued to read out the names of the next people. People waiting to be awarded honors walked onto the stage one after another, and the process was generally similar. Hawthorne had a rough idea in his mind, but he was still very curious about what kind of title he would receive.

There is no experience to refer to in the game in this regard. After all, at the ninth level, no matter how many major events are played, the Abyss Lord will not appear - and by the time it appears, players no longer need it and don't care about it.

So, what can I seal?

Viscount? Baron?

Or is it, as Abinson said, just a great order of chivalry, a knighthood without even a fiefdom?

He was not sure, and at this moment, the loud voice of the Minister of the Palace came again from the auditorium.

At this time, the loud voice of the Minister of Palace came again from the high platform: "Father Nigel Hawthorne from the Church of the Goddess of Life, because of destroying the Lord of the Abyss Monbot and saving millions of people in Port Liber from life and death crisis, His Majesty the Emperor highly appreciates it and specially awards him..."

He seemed to be shocked as well. He paused here, took a deep breath, and then continued: "The title of Earl!"

Chapter 475 Earldom

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire awarding ceremony was in an uproar.

count?!

No, this Nigel Hawthorne, according to investigation, he was clearly just an ordinary civilian before, right?