Volume 2 chapter 63
Finally, Charlo had to decide on the banner and crest for the newly born Seres Territory and Count Seres.
These were the symbols of a noble house. Flying the corresponding banner allowed other nobles to identify you, preventing friendly fire. Of course, it also made you easier to find on the battlefield!
Additionally, every titled noble had to leave a copy of their banner and crest in the Imperial Register for the records.
"Charlo, have you prepared your banner and crest?" Emperor Hooke asked with a smile.
"Of course!" Under the witness of the Capital's nobility, Charlo presented the banner he had prepared long ago, holding it up with both hands.
It was a bright red flag. Within the 4:3 rectangle lay a simple, striking design: A Magic Staff crossed with an Iron Hammer!
The crest was circular. In the center sat a red five-pointed star, surrounded by crossed sheaves of wheat.
"This... is your banner and crest?" Hooke looked at the strange design, somewhat baffled.
Traditionally, nobles chose symbols representing their territory's geography, legendary beasts, or abstract heraldry.
Charlo's design clearly had specific meaning, but Hooke couldn't decipher it.
"Yes, Your Majesty! These shall be the banner and crest of Seres from this day forth!" Charlo declared loudly. He had thought about this design for a long time.
He had considered the Hammer and Sickle, but felt it might be too provocative. Since the territory's development relied heavily on magic, he swapped the sickle for a staff. Magic and Industry.
"So be it!" Hooke didn't press further. What symbols a noble used was ultimately their own business. It was just an identifier; as long as it wasn't a duplicate, anything went.
"Store the banner and crest of Count Seres in the archives!" Hooke waved his hand. Two court attendants stepped forward, bowing as they received the items from Charlo.
"Count Charlo de Seres!" Hooke addressed him by his new title.
"Come forward. Leave your Shadow and Seal!"
Charlo stepped forward respectfully. Another attendant brought a Shadow Stone and activated it.
"I, Charlo de Seres!" Charlo looked directly into the stone, head held high. "Ennobled by the 39th Emperor of the Maurice Empire, His Majesty Hooke de Maurice! I pledge eternal loyalty to Maurice!"
After speaking, he left his mana imprint on a stone tablet held by another attendant.
With this, Charlo officially became an Imperial Noble! He had formally entered the upper echelons of the Empire!
"Then! The investiture is complete! Let the banquet begin!"
With Hooke's proclamation, the smooth and uneventful ceremony concluded.
Chapter 173: The Social Battlefield
That evening, the Imperial Hall was brightly lit. Dressed in luxurious finery, nobles gathered to toast the newborn Count—Charlo!
"Tonight, let us celebrate the addition of another young Count to the Empire! Sir Charlo!" Hooke raised his glass. "Let us send him our blessings! Charlo de Seres!"
"Congratulations! Sir Charlo!"
"Truly a young genius! Congratulations, Sir Charlo!"
"Congratulations..."
Nobles crowded around him, smiles plastered on their faces, eyes filled with ingratiating intent.
Anyone with eyes could see how absurd it was for someone under thirty to reach the Seventh Rank. In the past, aside from the Hero, only those Legendary Saints recorded in history books achieved such speed!
Clearly, Charlo wouldn't stop at the Seventh Rank. Barring accidents, Sainthood was practically guaranteed.
Once he became a Saint, he would be the first non-Royal Saint in ten thousand years! Naturally, they wanted to curry favor with this limitless potential early.
Charlo held his wine glass, barely coping with the swarm of nobles.
"By the way! Sir Charlo isn't married yet, is he?" A Marquis suddenly asked. "My family happens to have a daughter, close in age to Sir Charlo! Perhaps after the banquet, Sir Charlo would like to visit my estate?"
"Uh..." Charlo knew this topic was inevitable. How best to rope in a young, promising noble? For these aristocrats, the answer was always Marriage Alliance.
For tens of thousands of years, nobles had used marriage to form alliances and secure loyalties.
"Hah! What nonsense are you spouting? Wasn't your daughter engaged to the White family's son long ago? Are you going back on your word?" Another Marquis mocked.
"Hey! Who said I meant my eldest daughter? I'm talking about my youngest!" The first Marquis retorted, annoyed. "Would I introduce someone improperly to Sir Charlo?!"
"Hah! Your youngest?" The mocking Marquis laughed louder. "She was born just a few years ago! Is she even weaned yet? Look at the age gap!"
"She's ten! Only a dozen years' difference with Sir Charlo. Not even twenty years apart—they're practically the same generation! Why can't they marry?!"
"Hah! What a joke! Sir Charlo, ignore them! Come, let me tell you about my daughter. Sixteen this year! Second-Rank Mage! Beautiful too! Want to meet her?"
...
Charlo politely declined the Marquises enthusiastically peddling their daughters. Just as he managed to escape the crowd, he ran into a Seventh-Rank Magus.
"Good evening! Sir Charlo!"
"Good evening... and you are?" Charlo looked at the middle-aged man in heavy mage robes.
"I am Matthew de Leon, a Magician under Grand Duke Harold of the North! Please, call me Matthew!" The Magus bowed with a hand over his heart.
"Master Matthew, hello! Is there something you need?" Charlo bowed slightly in return.
"His Grace the Grand Duke expresses great respect for your wisdom and has much praise for those weapons! He wishes to purchase some from you to deal with the demons and break the stalemate on the battlefield! Regrettably, His Grace is far away on the front lines and cannot come personally, so he asked me to inquire!" Matthew said directly.
"His Grace..." Charlo narrowed his eyes slightly. As expected. Once exposed, these things cannot be ignored.
The Alliance was bleeding troops on the demon front. The Charge Formation, invented specifically to breach magical fortresses, was failing against the combination of minefields and rapid-fire fortress guns.
Most of the Charge Formation's power was concentrated on the lead knight, forming a mana drill. Only a small portion covered the rest of the formation.
While that "small portion" could withstand wall guns from ten kilometers away, once inside the ten-kilometer kill zone, it wasn't enough.
If knights within the formation were killed, the formation's integrity weakened until it collapsed under the volume of fire.
And there was always the risk of a Fortress Gun scoring a direct hit from twenty kilometers out. Whether it hit the leader or the center, a direct hit neutralized the formation instantly.
So, the Alliance desperately needed something new to lead the charge. Anything.
"Master Matthew, honestly, His Grace's praise makes me ashamed!" Charlo put on a troubled expression. "Those weapons... are actually unfit for major use!"
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Matthew asked curiously. "I saw those steel chariots charging as if entering an uninhabited land, unstoppable! How are they unfit?"
"I won't fear your laughter... Master!" Charlo shook his head self-deprecatingly. "That was just my whimsical idea. I replaced a carriage body with iron, drove it with a magic array, mounted a cannon, and used it to lead a charge! That was its first deployment. I never expected it to be so... terrible!"
"Its speed is incredibly slow! You saw it in the footage, Master. It took over ten minutes to cross just a few kilometers! Slow enough that the cameraman could retreat safely! That was already its top speed!"
"And it is unreliable! After that single sortie, eight out of ten failed to start due to various malfunctions! They still haven't been fixed! So, truly, they cannot bear heavy responsibility!"
Charlo spewed nonsense with a straight face, shaking his head and sighing as if deeply regretful.
"That does sound... problematic..." Master Matthew sighed lightly, but then pivoted. "However, it has only been two years since Sir Charlo obtained that demon weapon. To invent something even the demons don't possess in such a short time... surely in a few more years, Sir Charlo will produce even more powerful weapons!"
"Defeating the demons is not the work of a single day! Is Sir Charlo interested in contributing to the extermination of the demons? Perhaps a long-term cooperation with the Grand Duke of the North?"
To entice Charlo, the Magus added, "His Grace said that if you are willing to contribute to the cause, he can recommend you for a Marquisate and marry our Northern Princess—Lady Livian—to you!"
"I dare not! I dare not!" Charlo hurriedly refused. "How could a fledgling like me dare covet His Grace's daughter! I appreciate the Grand Duke's kindness, but this is absolutely impossible!"
"As for the great cause of exterminating demons, I naturally support it. But I am currently weak and cannot shoulder such a burden!"
"Sir Charlo!" Matthew narrowed his eyes, his tone turning cold. "Exterminating demons is the mission of every noble in the Empire! His Grace invited you out of goodwill, for your own good!"
"Apologies! I cannot bear His Grace's 'goodwill'!" Seeing the attitude shift, Charlo hardened his tone. "I am but a small youngster. I have never had dealings with the North. I grew up under the Iron Rose and developed in the East under Grand Duke Folk. I really cannot climb the high branch of the North!"
"Furthermore, regarding the demons, my Ironwood Territory is small, but we have contributed greatly! Even if we cannot fight directly, we provide massive logistical supplies to the frontline soldiers! Does that not count as contributing to the war? Moreover, after His Majesty's second and third conscription orders, Ironwood weakened its own defenses—while facing the malice of Count Ester—to send three full companies of knights to the front! Do you doubt my loyalty to the Empire?"
"I dare not! I dare not!" Matthew shook his head repeatedly. "Your loyalty is acknowledged by His Majesty! No one can question it!"
"Then let's leave it at that! Please thank His Grace for me! As a mere Count, I will not embarrass myself before him!"
Charlo raised his glass, dropped the sentence, and walked away.
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