Chapter 54: Food, Negotiation, and the Fox Using the Tiger's Power to Bully Others (Part 2)
As Takumiyou spoke, she pointed at Jericho who followed her in. Jericho didn't understand what was going on and nodded to the witches.
"...Huntington! The Vice-Captain of the Knights?!...Is this his knight squire?!"
Sure enough, as soon as this surname and position came out, the attitudes of the witches in charge immediately changed, and they became visibly more attentive.
In her previous life, Jiang You's brother, Jiang Deyun, had taught her that while business required honesty, sometimes negotiating involved the art of speaking. To be a good businessman, one had to flex their muscles and show their prowess appropriately, so as not to be bullied by those without the necessary skills.
As soon as he came into contact with the witches in charge, Jiang You realized that the honorary member was not a status that could be easily obtained as the two naive little witches said.
Just think about it, the Witch Forest, as a secluded utopia, has been able to survive amidst numerous political forces because it has its own backers. Just look at the girls here, who don't even have surnames or identities, yet they call themselves witches and sorcerers, and learn magic, even black magic, and you can tell that the Witch Forest is unusual.
Delicious drinks, the support of honorary members, the tugging of various forces... and even the support of the current royal family are all reasons why the Witch Forest, an organization that goes against common sense, can exist.
Given this, the status of honorary member is naturally rare and valuable. If anyone could obtain it, then the Witch Forest would not be able to rely on these honorary members as its backing and become a shelter for the homeless.
Although Jiangyou is quite capable, anyone who doesn't take advantage of the situation when he should is a fool. In her previous life, Jiangyou didn't have the weird reserve of leaving the resources at home unused and suffering alone outside... In her opinion, that's not proving herself, that's just being bored out of her mind.
How to use the resources at hand, play your cards right, and reap a thousandfold return—isn't that your own strength? Isn't that much more valuable than just washing dishes and cooking?
Besides, she didn't say anything nonsense. The newly appointed vice-captain of the Knights still owed her rent!
——Well, this can be considered as her taking the initiative to recover some of the rent... You're welcome, Andre!
The reason why she reported Andre's identity as the deputy commander of the Knights Templar instead of the Viscount was because in this country, the status of the Viscount was very embarrassing. It was a title with no real title and was not even as good as the Baron.
This went against Jiangyou's common sense, as she had memorized "gonghoubozinan" (Gonghou, Bo, Zi, Nan) as a child. But aside from the possible translation errors caused by the lich's inherent magical talent for translating text, the formation of the nobility class here was determined by the country's unique historical and political conditions, with distinct regional political characteristics that couldn't be simply lumped together with her past life's.
She found an opportunity to ask Jericho the reason. The actual reason for the Viscount's awkward status was very simple. It was still due to the political struggle between the old royal relatives of Delman and the new king Huntington.
Originally there were only four titles of nobility in the Kingdom of Derman: duke, marquis, earl, and baron. King Derman was a king who loved to grant fiefs and rewards to his relatives and friends at will. This led to the new king Huntington finding that all the available titles had been granted when he came to power.
Titles of nobility were supposed to have a fixed number, as they were directly tied to the kingdom's land. The size of fiefdoms and the number of troops one could support were the foundation and wealth of a title, something that could be passed down to future generations.
Without fiefdoms, there would be no wealth, no soldiers, and no power. Political power comes from the barrel of a gun, and this applies equally to this world.
King Huntington ascended the throne amidst internal and external troubles and the tug-of-war among several political forces, but he was helpless against the "clan nobles" left behind by the German Kingdom... Although these people had almost no blood connection with King German, the titles, land, wealth and troops in their hands were real.
Let alone abolishing these titles, even if His Majesty the King issued a royal warrant of "downgrading succession" the night before, the palace would probably be surrounded by these nobles and their troops before he even opened his eyes the next morning.
King Huntington had no other choice but to introduce the title of Viscount to his royal descendants. However, this did not completely solve the problem. King Huntington had hundreds of relatives and descendants, but he had no land to offer.
These newly crowned royal relatives were all granted the title of "Viscount" by the king and given the middle name of "Lu", but to put it bluntly, the so-called "Viscount" was just an empty title and had no real power.
Although in foreign countries, the status of a viscount should be ranked higher than that of a baron. However, in this country, a baron who actually owns a territory and can mobilize a regiment of knights for training at any time has more confidence than a viscount who wanders around with only a knight squire.
As for whether the inheritance will be lowered or not...the Viscount himself doesn't even have a fiefdom, so what can he pass on to the next generation?
This is why Andre Lu Huntington, as a viscount, had to come to the territory of Baron Augustin van Neumann to serve as the deputy master of the Knights Templar... It was not a matter of hierarchy, but was forced by the situation.
King Huntington wanted to use Andre as a sharp knife to penetrate the territories of these old royal nobles and stir up trouble in the enemy's territory so that the king could capture these old nobles one by one...
This was no easy task, and Andrei's resources were limited. He'd lied before about not having enough money, but his funds were indeed limited, and supplies could be cut off at any time, so he had to be frugal.
After hearing this from Jericho, Jiangyou finally understood: she, the unlucky skeleton, was inexplicably seduced by beauty and was tied to Andre's pirate ship without noticing.
Since she was inexplicably tied to the pirate ship, she naturally had to use the tiger's skin banner to bully others.
How can the people not be afraid of the government? The folk witch organization outside the next town, let me ask you, are you afraid of the threat from the Kingdom Knights!
She showed off her 'epoch-making' cooking skills, promised some (unfounded) benefits in the future, showed off her muscle partners, and then acted nonchalantly as if 'I don't really need you, it just seems that this decision is beneficial to both parties'. The ones who should be anxious next are not her, but the witches in charge.
The witches in charge had never seen such a scene before. Mana smiled stiffly, "Excuse me, could we discuss this privately?"
"Of course." Jiangyou, Jericho and Aunt Wolf were asked to leave the house. As soon as the door was closed, the three gossipers immediately put their ears to the door and they could vaguely hear the intermittent arguments inside.
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