Chapter 229 - 10: Starting Today, I’m a Lord (Part 2)
Chapter 229: Chapter 10: Starting Today, I’m a Lord (Part 2)
’Getting on good terms with Jeffrey now will be greatly beneficial for the future.’
Valentino watched Robson in surprise. She knew just how difficult her cousin could be. Jeffrey was the type who would barely utter a word, yet she never expected Robson to get him to open up with just a few short sentences, allowing him to speak so freely.
Many more people arrived in succession. Most of them greeted Robson and Valentino. The few who didn’t were either Counts from the northern faction or those displeased with Louis III’s recent distribution.
Robson, for his part, welcomed all comers. Anyone willing to greet him was a friend.
This was more than just a simple greeting. These people wouldn’t be there for you in a crisis, but they were experts at adding to one’s success. And when enough people were doing so, it represented a qualitative shift in power.
Moreover, Robson had always moved in the circles of the Odogin Family. Now that he had entered the ranks of the high nobility with the backing of the Fengman Clan, he needed to build a new social network. These people were crucial.
Amid the cheerful chatter of the nobles in the hall, the CLANK of guards’ armor echoed from outside, and a magnificently dressed couple walked in.
The hall fell silent in an instant.
"That’s Duke Freeman, a cousin of our current Prince Noah. He serves as the Secretary of Governmental Affairs for the Kingdom Government, Speaker of the Kingdom Council, and Minister of State Affairs in the Royal Court Cabinet. The woman beside him is Lady Freeman. She’s the eldest daughter of Duke Bogali from the Algeria Kingdom. Duke Bogali is the Vice-Commander of the Algerian King’s Knight Order, and he was among those who came to the Kingdom’s aid last time," Valentino explained to Robson.
Robson nodded. ’That’s news to me.’
It wasn’t that Robson hadn’t done his homework. The main issue was that no one knew who would be presiding over this meeting. The Kingdom had so many powerful figures; he couldn’t possibly research every single one, could he?
Duke Freeman’s arrival meant that the official fief distribution was about to begin.
According to the traditions of the Frank Kingdom, the top leadership would first hold a private meeting to settle the majority of the issues. Only then would they convene a general assembly and have their subordinates fall in line with the decisions already made.
This was especially true for a matter as significant as granting fiefs. Typically, everyone would wait for the leaders to make their selections before the junior members followed suit in an established order.
Members of the same faction would generally choose fiefs in the same region. If one’s choice ran contrary to their leader’s, being ostracized was a near certainty.
"Ladies and gentlemen..."
Duke Freeman began with a slew of meaningless platitudes, recounting the glorious deeds of the Knight King and King Louis before heaping praise upon the current King. Only then did he arrive at the most crucial part of his speech.
"Therefore, with this allocation of lands, we must learn from the mistakes of the past.
To ensure the Northern Three Provinces can better fulfill our defensive duties in the future, the Kingdom Government has decided to re-divide the lands being granted. What was previously two provinces will now be three: Ehrlichland, Auric, and Ador.
And now, I invite the great heroes of the Kingdom to make their choice. The Kingdom Government will fully support your decisions." As Duke Freeman finished, the hall erupted in thunderous applause.
Duke Freeman had studied in the Tilia Kingdom in his youth and was a politician in their typical style. He was fond of rambling before getting to the point, saving the only information of any real substance for the very end of his speeches.
The Kingdom’s move to turn the Northern Three Provinces into four was also for the convenience of the Counts receiving these fiefs.
After all, each province had its own council and Governor, and the governorship was typically held by the most powerful local noble.
If you put nobles from two different political factions into the same province, wouldn’t they just beat each other’s brains out?
Although the Northern Three Provinces weren’t especially important, allowing them to be too divided was clearly detrimental to the Kingdom’s border defense.
If not for the defeat on the eastern front, Louis III would not have found himself on the defensive militarily.
As for whether they could drive out the Beastmen currently on the eastern front...
It wasn’t that the Frank Kingdom was overconfident; the eastern front had fallen more than once, but they had always managed to reclaim it.
This wasn’t due to some mystical force. The eastern front was a great distance from the major tribes deep within the Beastman Empire. The only one relatively close was the Centaur Clan; the rest were minor races like goblins.
Furthermore, the eastern front was near the Demon Beast Mountain Range, and the terrain was extremely rugged. The idea that an army could break through and threaten the Frank Kingdom from there was pure fantasy. As a result, the Frank Kingdom had never paid it much attention.
Count Sriphine and Earl Uman were undoubtedly the first to choose. Given their high rank, they were expected to make the initial selections based on precedence.
Both men had clearly made up their minds long ago. Count Sriphine chose Auric, which occupied the central territory. Several counties within the province were major grain producers, and it also boasted considerable mineral resources.
Earl Uman chose Ador Province. It was close to the northern faction’s sphere of influence and had a road leading directly to the Northern Kingdom.
After the two had made their selections, Duke Freeman smiled and looked toward Robson and Viscount Jeffrey.
"Viscount Robertson, and Viscount Jeffrey, please come up together," Duke Freeman said.