Chapter 283: Chapter 279 Knight Novel
"Just wait here, when the Count has time, he will summon you." After saying this to Shay, the staff left the room, leaving Shay slightly nervous as he waited alone.
He was here to await the summoning by Perfikot. As the only noble knight among this batch of pioneer immigrants, Shay naturally received Perfikot’s summons after revealing his identity.
To be honest, this made Shay feel somewhat flattered. After all, he was just a noble knight, and even when he was in the military, he rarely had the chance to be summoned by a great noble like Perfikot.
Not to mention that he had been expelled from the army for killing the son of his superior, leaving him unable to stay in the Empire and having to seek a living in the Northern Territory.
Although he was a noble knight, the knight’s title was indeed considered noble when mentioned.
However, strictly speaking, the current Empire’s purely honorary titles without any fief are quite difficult to qualify as truly noble.
In the past, it was fine when knights had fiefs and lands that could be inherited; even if it was just a knight’s domain, it was legitimately a feudal noble, and the cornerstone of feudal nobility.
Yet, with the current reform of the Empire’s noble system, the old feudal nobility has lost their power to grant lands, making the status of noble knights somewhat awkward.
Without the power of feudal grants, great nobles naturally no longer divide their territories among knights, while the Empire itself only bestows titles but not lands, causing most noble knight titles to be merely empty shells without much substance.
To put it bluntly: this is even worse than the knight titles sold in Scotland in Perfikot’s previous world, which at least allowed nominal ownership of a piece of land, even if it was merely a wooded area less than a hundred square meters that couldn’t be repurposed.
Thus, in Shay’s view, the noble knight title he received after becoming an Extraordinary Knight was merely an identification that allowed him to knock on some noble doors occasionally, but it served little other purpose.
He was prepared to start anew when coming to the Northern Territory, ready to begin his new life under the identity of an ordinary person.
In fact, this was indeed the case along the way; having little money left, he initially bought the lowest class cabin ticket, possessing nothing but a knight’s sword of value, and had fallen into poverty with hardly any assets.
It was his elder brother who couldn’t bear to see it and bought him a third-class cabin ticket, allowing him to have his cabin on the ship, albeit sharing with another person instead of squeezing into the deck without cabins.
In Shay’s original plan, he would first find a job after arriving in the Northern Territory, and if he could join the Lord of the North’s army by virtue of his knight identity, that would be even better, but his best aspirations were just that.
He never thought that after revealing his identity and strength, he would be summoned by Perfikot immediately.
It’s like a penniless young man walking down the street, suddenly being hit by a piece of gold, and it being literal gold, not just night soil falling from the sky.
Although lifestyles have greatly changed with the gradual entry into the age of the industrial revolution, in some remote cities of the old world, one could still encounter people dumping night soil from the second floor onto the street, so being "hit by gold" isn’t an impossible occurrence.
But to be summoned by Perfikot, the Lord of the North, was truly a reason for Shay, this impoverished knight with cleaner pockets than a face, to feel more elated and fortunate than finding a piece of gold.
Because if lucky, and gaining Perfikot’s favor, he would have a chance to turn his life around.
Not to mention anything else, just being able to enter the Lord of the North’s army and start as a grassroots officer meant Shay was making a turnaround. With a few years of hard work, he could earn himself a business in the Northern Territory.
Who knows, with luck, receiving a Pioneer Knight’s title, which is far more valuable than his family-inherited Baron’s title.
And if luck were even better, Shay heard there was a Knight Order directly under the Count of Exploration in Northern Territory, fully equipped with Steam Knight armor; if he could become a Steam Knight...
This was already the best situation Shay could envision. As for the young lad who shared his cabin on the way, fantasizing about winning Perfikot’s affection, becoming the husband of the Count of Exploration...
Shay could only say it’s good for the young to have dreams, but it’s overly unrealistic.
Indeed, the Count of Exploration is a teenage girl, but thinking this capable of stirring such waves in the Empire, the Empire’s Count of Exploration is merely an inexperienced girl, is underestimating the Empire’s nobles.
Surely, like those knight novels, some naive aristocratic young ladies may fancy a poor young man, and elope for so-called love; the Empire’s history isn’t devoid of poor young men rising to prominence for this reason.
But these are isolated cases, and generally, one can’t even find out the names and details of the protagonists.
For the nobility, such matters are often considered family scandals, those eloping with poor young men are mostly disowned or sent to monasteries to live out their days.
Only if the poor young man is truly talented and can prove his worth will the great nobles begrudgingly accept him.
But applying this to the Count of Exploration? It’s rather dismissive of the Count.
In stories, only those isolated from the outside world, curious yet naive aristocratic ladies become interested in impoverished young men who wouldn’t appear in their world.
But the Count of Exploration? Shay doesn’t believe someone ordinary could catch the Count’s eye. Getting a glance from her is already rare.
Shay knows his worth well; even if he had such an opportunity, he wouldn’t dare dream, as one misstep would be worse than death, and he doesn’t wish to be hunted by the old steward who is reputedly an extraordinary knight.
Killing his superior’s son brought exile at most, but truly offending the Count of Exploration would incur pursuit throughout the Empire.