Chapter 201: Officially Joining

In this world, noble offspring without inheritance rights who follow another great noble do so for nothing more than three things: wealth, power, and fiefs.

The difficulty of obtaining these three things also follows a progressive relationship.

Someone once calculated that for a Free Citizen to become a landed noble, they generally go through these four stages:

The first generation becomes a noble's official or servant in the capacity of a Free Citizen;

The second generation awakens transcendental abilities, follows a noble to perform meritorious service, and becomes a Conferred Knight, which is the lowest rank of nobility, also known by people as a Sir;

The third generation then, on the foundation of being a Sir, relies on merit to be formally enfeoffed.

Although some special individuals can shorten the process from Free Citizen to noble, most rely on several generations of accumulation, talent, and luck to step into the noble class.

Although Luogena's talent is not bad and he has an unusual background, the possibility of him becoming a landed noble under Luoning in a short time is not high.

If he is like this, then Geladuo, whose background is slightly more ordinary than his, is even more so.

As for Kelami, she is actually bound to Luogena; after all, these two are a couple about to be married.

Therefore, the second point Luoning mentioned does not actually count for much to the three of them.

"My Lord, these are not problems."

Luogena took the lead in standing up and knelt on one knee again, "I had already thought it through before coming here; please accept my allegiance!"

Kelami and Geladuo also followed by kneeling on one knee, swearing their allegiance once more.

The corners of Luoning's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a knowing smile.

Since that was the case, what reason did he have to refuse?

"Then, I hereby formally welcome the three of you to join the Wubei Territory!"

With this, among the knights under Luoning, there was one more Advanced Knight in addition to Qiaofuli.

The Wubei Territory now has two Silver Knights, two Advanced Knights, and three Intermediate Knights; such a Knight Squad already counts as top-tier in combat power.

Next, Luoning chatted with the three of them about the benefits after joining the Wubei Territory.

This is the same as for everyone else, with remuneration matched according to strength level.

Advanced Knight Luogena has a daily wage of 100 copper coins, Intermediate Knight Kelami has a daily wage of 60 copper coins, and Primary Knight Geladuo has a daily wage of 30 copper coins.

If they hold concurrent posts, such as Ruidar serving as commander, Maiken serving as Guard Officer, etc., there are additional bonuses for their duties.

Besides these, as the lord, Luoning will prepare a set of armor and a warhorse for them.

However, Luogena and the other two brought these things themselves, sparing Luoning the trouble; he now only needs to provide housing for the three of them.

Previously, when in Shanlin Town, due to limited resources, Luoning had the knights live in rooms in the Inner Castle or Outer Castle.

But the castle is, after all, the place where the lord lives, and not all followers are qualified to live inside the castle.

Now that the situation in the territory is gradually getting on the right track, some things that were not considered before must begin to be planned.

For example, Luoning can mark out a piece of land around the castle to build a "noble residential area," where only Transcendental followers or distinguished guests visiting the territory can live.

Of course, this is currently just an idea; to really engage in real estate, one must first have a sufficient population.

The current situation is that if followers want to live in better housing, such as those with independent courtyards or large areas, they can apply to Luoning for a plot of land and hire workers to build it themselves.

For Luoning, the current top priority for the territory is to provide housing for the thousands of Slaves about to arrive; the matter of building a noble residential area will have to be pushed back.

After all, there are some empty rooms in the Outer Castle of Zhaozebao and in the town, so arranging for Luogena and the others to stay temporarily is no problem.

After Luoning had Chahar take the three of them down to get settled, he kept Tangmu behind again to inquire about the situation at the Viper Slave Exchange.

According to the manager Andongni, the Viper Exchange has already prepared the four hundred Slaves that meet the requirements and can be transported over at any time.

At the same time, the remaining six hundred Slaves will all be gathered within the next two months.

Now that spring plowing is imminent, the territory is exactly in need of labor.

Luoning immediately had Tangmu go notify Pi'er-sen, telling him to go to the Viper Slave Exchange after arriving at Muma City, and have Andongni arrange for people to transport all four hundred of these Slaves to Swamp Town.

As for the remaining six hundred Slaves, Luoning plans to send them all to Shanlin Town; after all, there are still over forty thousand mu of land there that have not been reclaimed.

As for the land reclamation in Black Earth Village, Luoning plans to transfer a group of people directly from Swamp Town after the spring plowing; after all, there is a shortcut from Swamp Town that leads directly to the Heiling Tribe, which is much more convenient than transferring people from Shanlin Town.

When it comes to farming, Luoning is very serious; he does not want to spend hundreds or thousands of gold coins to buy food from outside.

That night, Luoning gathered all the knights including Ruidar, Maiken, and Qiaofuli, and held a welcome banquet in Zhaozebao.

While the knights expressed their welcome to Luogena and the other two, they also faintly felt a sense of pressure.

Now that the Lord is mighty, he can even attract the second son of a Viscount family to pledge allegiance; in the future, there will surely be more and more people coming to pledge allegiance.

Dawei, Tangmu, and the others are all still Primary Knights; how to demonstrate their abilities to the lord and gain more trust before more followers arrive is something they need to consider.

Late at night, Luogena and Kelami were lying on the bed, the candlelight illuminating the room.

"What are you thinking about?" Kelami asked in a low voice.

Luogena, who had been lost in thought, came back to his senses, smiled, and said, "I'm thinking about the pointers Ruidar gave me at the banquet just now."

The banquet had no dance, but it did have sparring.

In order to understand Luogena's strength, Ruidar took the initiative to propose a spar.

Luogena knew he would lose, but he did not expect to lose even more miserably than he did against Jiamu Mengsong.

All along, he had been seen by outsiders as a young generation with great strength, but standing before Ruidar, who looked to be about the same age as him, he was suppressed in every aspect to the point where he could not fight back.

"That Ruidar is really strong; I even suspect that Sir Suoli is not his match."

Kelami frowned slightly, "That shouldn't be; Sir Suoli is a powerhouse who has half a foot stepped into the Silver Grade. That Ruidar only barely won against Baron Leisen a while ago."

Luogena could not help but shake his head; he even began to wonder if Leisen had deliberately talked himself up by saying that; perhaps Ruidar had won that spar very easily.

"Besides Ruidar, Maiken, and Qiaofuli, I didn't expect that Luoning already has so many knights following him."

Luogena could not help but sigh with emotion; the last time he came to Luoning's territory, he felt it was just ordinary.

But this time, after formally seeing this group of knights, he was truly shocked.

Most of them are young, have great potential, and every one of them is full of passion and drive; in time, someone will surely stand out.

Regarding this point, Kelami expressed her deep agreement.

She still hadn't understood before why Uncle Mawen would let his son follow Luoning, a noble even younger than Luogena, until she experienced tonight's banquet and finally understood what was meant by "immense potential."

"Alright, stop thinking about it."

Luogena lay down and pulled Kelami into his arms, "We have to follow Ruidar and the others to carry out the clearing mission tomorrow, so let's get some rest early."

At the banquet, Luoning had already made arrangements for Luogena and Kelami.

If the territory's Caravan had valuable goods that needed to be traded and transported, the two of them would lead the escort.

The reason Luoning made this arrangement was, first, that he trusted Luogena more than Pi'er-sen, and the other party was an Advanced Knight with sufficient strength;

Secondly, Luogena was the son of Viscount Mawen, unlike Pi'er-sen who was just of commoner origin, so he could handle himself better in certain formal occasions.

Luoning could even let them handle the Silk business with nobles later on; after all, coming from a family with strong commercial capabilities like Tieti Castle, Luogena must have the ability in this regard.

In summary, Luoning felt that letting the two of them handle the Wubei Territory's Caravan was a very appropriate arrangement.

Of course, during their spare time outside of running trade, the two's tasks would be arranged by the commander Ruidar according to the situation; for example, they could be pulled in to participate in the recent, vigorous clearing missions.

"Sigh~"

Kelami smiled bitterly: "The free and easy days are gone from now on."

Luogena couldn't help but laugh; compared to the free and easy life they had previously while relying on their family, their future days would require obeying others' arrangements, which indeed meant less freedom.

But they had to start their own family eventually and needed to plan for the future; they couldn't rely on the family forever and had to step out.

That Kelami could accompany him in taking the initiative to step out of her comfort zone required great courage, and Luogena was very grateful in his heart.

"Believe that our tomorrow will be better."

He couldn't help but kiss her lips, "Good night."

"Mm, good night!" (End of this chapter)