Lord Knight Ian (13)

Become a lord?

Even for Ian, this result was far too shocking. He looked at Isengard, his gaze asking a question.

Did you know about this? Is this your surprise for me?

The other boy shook his head blankly.

How could I possibly know?!

That was indeed the truth. Isengard knew nothing about it.

Theoretically, Lady Ellen had no authority to grant lordships. Even Marquis Ellen himself could only bestow rewards upon knights within his own territory; he certainly had no say over the Southern Ridge.

And Layan Territory... His own territory was in Layan Territory? That made sense. Baron Layan was already dead and had left no descendants. His relatives probably did not meet the Empire's requirements for ennoblement either. In that case, the land ought to be divided into several knightly fiefs and granted to mountainfolk knights, as well as Imperial knights like himself.

Ian had rendered meritorious service during the Layan Territory incident, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to receive a piece of land. But it did not seem very realistic... He was so young and had not accomplished all that much. How could he...

Unless...

"Wait. Why had all my merits been piled onto my identity as an Inspecting Knight? So this was what they'd been waiting to spring on me?"

Ian suddenly understood. He had indeed accumulated quite a few merits along the way, especially when he had helped Teres resolve the train hijacking incident. Although he had gotten off midway to avoid a possible trap, adding up all his contributions meant that, in terms of qualifications, he truly had enough.

The question was, who had arranged this for him?

"Marquis Barton? Lady Ellen? Or the Second Prince? Forget it, they were all in the same camp anyway. Besides, a knightly fief was