Chapter 396: The End of the Battle of Ironhoof Island

The meeting at Juniper Fortress lasted for two full days.

During these two days, knights from various territories had gradually departed, and the knights from Coral Island also left Juniper Fortress on July 12th, following the orders of the Count.

"Levis, lead the knights back to Horn City first and rendezvous with the family's fleet. Once the meeting here concludes, I will head directly to Horn City."

"Yes, Father."

As the Count left the knights to return to Juniper Fortress, Liszt caught up and asked, "Father, would it be a problem if I took a few craftsmen from the cities along the way?"

"The Duke's knights have already taken control of the major cities, so it's best not to do that... We are currently discussing military merits, and it's important to follow the rules. Losing your rightful honor over small things isn’t worth it," the Count said. "Your title of Viscount will be confirmed after this battle, and that is the most important thing."

In theory, Lee William, as a territorial Count, could confer the title of Viscount to anyone.

However, in practice, he only had the authority to divide his own territory and the right to propose and negotiate new territorial titles as officially defined. This meant that if he carved out a piece of land from Coral Island to confer a title to a follower, the court wouldn’t interfere in the slightest. Even if he conferred ten Viscount titles, as long as there was land to divide, it would be permissible.

But Coral Island was limited in size, and dividing it for two Viscounts had already consumed much of its land. Splitting off another city would strain Tulip Castle’s finances.

At this point, it was necessary to trade for new territories from the Duchy to confer titles to followers.

The currency for such transactions was military merit.

The court held the power to review and approve the conferment of knighthoods. If a knight being conferred did not meet the court's criteria, the court had the right to refuse the transaction of new territories. Instead, military merits could be stored through material rewards or accumulated military achievements.

These merits could be redeemed later.

Lee William had not increased his territorial holdings for many years, opting instead to reward military merits with material goods, as the requirements for trading new territories were very high.

Unless he could accumulate enough military merit to be promoted to Marquis and gain a larger island as his territory, trading military merit for a small island would be pointless and a waste.

"Have I earned enough military merit?"

"Yes, the First Prince is very pleased with the performance of the Longtaro family and the Tulip family. He has spoken highly of you and even mentioned you. If you are willing, you could even become a follower of the First Prince. However, I know you are developing a new island?" Lee William revealed.

He clearly already knew about Liszt’s work on Black Horse Island.

Liszt nodded without denying it: "I want Black Horse Island as my territory. The island is about two thousand square kilometers, roughly the size of a small city's jurisdiction."

"Black Horse Island? That will soon be realized."

"By the way, Father, can I retain Flower Town for the long term? It's just a small town, and I can pay the family more as long-term rent."

Lee William pondered slightly: "That’s doable. We’ll talk later—I need to get back to the meeting."

After the Count left.

Liszt continued to ponder his conferment matters.

He had studied the knighthood conferment system. In this knight-dominated world, the conferment systems of various countries were essentially similar, inherited from the Moon Empire's feudal system, where lords had independent ownership of their territories.

However, there were many differences in form.

The conferment systems of the Sapphire Duchy and its suzerain state, the Kingdom of Steel Ridge, differed. The Kingdom of Steel Ridge followed a feudal form of territorial accumulation, while the Sapphire Duchy followed a feudal form of island exchange.

...

Territorial accumulation.

It means territories can be continually acquired and stacked together.

For example, a knight, after becoming a lord knight, is granted a small village as his fief. Later, he earns military merits and is promoted to baron, receiving a small town as his fief. His title would then be "Baron of a certain town" plus "Knight of a certain village," owning two independent fiefs.

Therefore, his eldest son could inherit the title of Baron of a certain town, while his second son might inherit the title of Knight of a certain village.

Of course, most of the time, the eldest son inherits all titles, and the second son goes to war, writes novels, plays the piano, or suffers the tragic fate of flirting with noble ladies. The tough luck of the second son is probably why the noble system of monogamy can be maintained. Having too many wives would mean more second sons, exacerbating the imbalance in fief distribution and leading to the collapse of the knight system.

...

Island Replacement.

This is a unique feudal system of the Sapphire Duchy, meaning that nobles can only own one island or one city, and their fiefs do not stack.

For example, a knight, after becoming a lord knight, is granted a small village as his fief. Later, he earns military merits and is promoted to baron, receiving a small town as his fief. He must then choose the town as his fief, relinquishing the original village and retaining the highest title of "Baron of a certain town."

However, there is a considerate strategy to ensure that the interests of the fief are not harmed: the original fief can retain a harvest period of three to five years, allowing for the transfer of spirit bugs, population, and other wealth from the fief.

When the Tulip family was still named Tile, Liszt's grandfather, Greg Tile, was the Viscount of a city near Blue Dragon Island.

After Lee William inherited the viscount title, he earned merits and became a count, choosing Coral Island and retaining the city for three years by paying taxes.

After transferring the family's assets, the city was reclaimed by the court three years later.

This system is directly related to the fact that the Sapphire Duchy is an archipelago nation. With many islands, little land, and difficult maritime transportation, nobles would spend a fortune on maritime travel to manage two distant fiefs, so they focus on one island.

Thus, the island replacement system was born.

However, the system is rigid, but people are flexible.

Liszt wants to lease Flower Town on a long-term basis. As long as he pays, Lee William and Levis would have no reason to disagree, after all, they are family.

"Flower Town is the starting point of my career, and most of the rewards from the smoke mission come from Flower Town. It might have special significance, and I can't bear to give it up."

Flower Town is where his rise began.

Although this world does not emphasize places of origin, Liszt is somewhat influenced by geomancy and has a certain fondness for such places. Even without considering this, Flower Town holds most of the fruits of his hard work, making it difficult to abandon immediately.

Most importantly, the invisible dragon has visited this town.

This is one of the clues about the dragon. Perhaps one day, the invisible dragon will visit the town again, and Liszt can interact with it properly, hoping to ride it one day and become a dragon knight.

How awesome would that be!

...

On June 11th, they landed at Horn City on Iron Horse Island, and on July 14th, they returned to Horn City. The month-long Iron Horse Island campaign finally ended.

Liszt could relax in bed, enjoying the post-war tranquility.

Once the count arrives, they can head home.