Volume 1 Chapter 6: Nobility Ranks

If the population of the Shisanya Empire and the number of pirates were about the same, they might not be able to do anything about each other.

However, the Shisanya Empire was way stronger than the pirates. Even if all the pirates in the nearby waters gathered together, they would still not be enough to fight the Shisanya Empire. The only reason that there were still pirates around was because the pirates scattered all around the sea and avoided the Shisanya Empire as much as they could.

However, the Shisanya Empire was still very diligent in suppressing pirates. There were huge bounties for infamous pirates and their gang members, so whoever caught the pirates would just kill them so they could collect the bounty money.

The pirates tried their best to escape, but the three Rolands weren’t going to just let them go.

Seeing how the pirates instantly got defeated, she told her retainers, “You guys go and help the 3 Lord Knights destroy those pirates!”

The 2 retainers happily accepted the order. They wouldn’t dare to fight a full pirate crew with high morale, but they were very willing to go around and crush the pirates who lost all their will to fight.

Although they were nowhere near as strong as the Rolands, they were more than enough to deal with the escaping pirates. They were, after all, elites from the battlefield, so killing headless flies was but a simple task for them.

The blazing sun was high up in the sky, and the blood from the pirates dyed the coast water red, making the originally beautiful and clear ocean water bloody and dirty.

The battle was over, and Rolin was bandaging the two retainers, who had gotten some minor injuries. Their faces were red with shame as they were being tended to as they had gotten injured even though it was the Rolands who rushed in the hardest and took the bulk of the pressure.

Not only that, if light-type Roland hadn’t rescued them, then one of them would have died to 3 of the pirates who fought back in desperation for their lives. This caused the two retainers, who recognized themselves as elite warriors, to lose face.

However, they could only keep their anger to themselves as they did not have the guts to be angry at the Rolands due to their strength. 

The group boarded the ship, and Miranda had Ye Tian Ming get someone to take down the pirate flags, as it was a bad idea to wave a pirate flag on a ship. If they encountered other pirates, the pirates would get close to test them and then fight, while the Shisanya Empire ships would open fire at them the moment they saw them.

After the pirate flag was taken down, Ye Tian Ming asked Miranda, “Forgot to leave a few alive… do you guys know how to drive this ship?”

“Don’t worry, leave it to us! There’s no problem as long as there’s enough black gold.” While the Owen Family was a viscount family, it was a family that spread through the sea territories, so most of their members knew how to drive ships and swim. And while Miranda was the eldest young lady of the Owen Family, she still learned proper etiquette, swordsmanship, ship driving, swimming, etc., even though she wasn’t very good at them.

Luckily, the ship was steam-powered, so all they needed to do was add coal, which was done by the 2 retainers.

Oh, by the way, black gold was what they called coal.

…

Sailing the ocean might sound cool, but it was very boring, especially if the ship wasn’t very fast. Due to his boredom, Ye Tian Ming started asking Miranda and Rolin questions. He asked about what a knight was and what kind of country the Shisanya Empire was. Because Ye Tian Ming asked in a tactful manner, and because Miranda and Rolin had a favorable impression of Ye Tian Ming and wood-type Roland, they didn’t suspect anything.

Ye Tian Ming finally got proper information about the world after chatting with Miranda and Rolin, and he also had wood-type Roland learn how to drive the ship.

When it was nighttime, Ye Tian Ming suggested letting wood-type Roland take over and drive the ship. It’s better to have one of my own control the ship at night.

The 2 retainers were in charge of the black gold. After all, comparing the statuses of the 8 people on the ship, the 2 of them were the most suitable for the job.

Ye Tian Ming was preparing to rest after he finished dinner. Light-type Roland and dark-type Roland were outside guarding Ye Tian Ming’s door, taking turns to close their eyes and rest.

Ye Tian Ming’s face became pale when he returned to his room. The deaths of the pirates had a considerable effect on Ye Tian Ming as they were still human- it was very different than killing demonic beasts. Luckily, he hadn’t personally killed them, or he would probably get nightmares that night.

Ye Tian Ming could only tell himself that he was removing evil and doing justice, which somewhat comforted him and calmed him down.

After calming his mind, Ye Tian Ming, who was lying on the luxurious wooden bed, recalled the information he had obtained earlier in the day. Aside from the information about knights, Ye Tian Ming also learned about the nobility rankings of the Shisanya Empire: knight, baron, viscount, count, marquis, duke, archduke, and prince. While it was theoretically possible for a commoner to become a duke, there had been no such case in the past hundred years.

As for the title of archduke and prince, well, not all royalty could obtain the titles. The title of knight was the lowest and easiest to obtain, and it was basically given to any commoner who was strong, hadn’t committed any crimes, and had a clean family history.

In order to be promoted to a baron, knights needed to make great contributions to the empire. It was the same for other titles- one could promoted through contributions and merits.

While the titles could be inherited, they would decrease by one level with every generation. For example, the Owen Family was once a count family that had been reduced to a viscount family after passing down the title.

If the heir of the Owen Family wanted to restore the glory of the family and make it a count family again, then they would have to make more contributions to the Shisanya Empire. Otherwise, the family would eventually be reduced to commoners.

If they didn’t want that to happen and be required to return their 18 islands to the Shisanya Empire, then the Owen Family’s family head would have to work hard to keep their title. This was because only barons and above nobility were allowed to own islands- if a family title had dropped to a knight, then the family would be considered to have fallen.

Seems like the Shisanya Empire’s emperor is quite good at harvesting leeks.

Under such a system, all the nobility would desperately try to build up their merits, and as long as there were nobility doing so, the Shisanya Empire would remain strong.

It’s no wonder the empire can command the seas and scare the pirates. The Shisanya Empire really is something.

Miranda’s room was still dimly lit after Ye Tian Ming fell asleep.

Rolin looked at Miranda, who had a determined expression on her face, and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you really going to do it, Ms. Miranda?”

Miranda clenched her fists, and with a determined tone, said, “I have to try. After all, I ended up in this situation after taking a team out to sea. I will never be able to rise back up if I don’t bring back any contributions!”