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Looking Back On The Class System
Same as back on Earth in my previous life, there was a complicated status system in this world. It differs by country and region.
Here in Esta Forestia, the class system that was common even in Western countries was in place.
It starts from the top.
First of, the most important person in this world.....is probably the 「Emperor」 as expected.
The Emperor was the supreme leader of all humankind. He could give a command to anyone. However, it was not hereditary.
To take this position, all one needs was recognition from all nations in the world, support from religious authority, and a specific purpose. Unless there were circumstances such as to accomplish a goal or the resolution of a major problem, the Emperor’s post was in name only.
Historically, only one person has ever held this position, Gisshian Chirem. He had worked hard on a large undertaking of uniting the world and defeating the Demon Kings in all parts of the world.
If it’s just the title of Emperor, it had existed even before him but afterwards, it stopped being used in its old meaning. And so, even the emperors of the Seripashia Empire - which he had conquered before - called themselves kings from the next generation onwards. The exception was the royalty of Wanonoma, their kings - as the overlords of allied nations of islands at the far eastern edge - use a title that corresponds to that of an Emperor. Although they also agree that their real status was not that of an Emperor, but equivalent to a king.
However, when it became like this, questions arose whether one needs any background to become an emperor. Apart from personal ability, without power that works on the scale of a nation, one’s authority would not have any real effectiveness. What if someday someone proclaimed themselves as emperor who was not a king or a noble? However, there was something to make up for that. It’s the Chirem island.
It’s the base established by Gissian Chirem in the central continent. The island, which had once been a buffer zone between nations and inhabited by people who came drifting from the east and west, who built towns there, after Gissian’s unification of the whole world and the imperial capital Padma was established, went on to flourish greatly both as an important east-west trade center and a center of learning. The Emperor’s territory is, in other words, that island.
During the Dark Ages, which began with the rebellion of the false emperor, several forces emerged trying to conquer this land. But, the imperial capital’s lines of defense were extremely solid, as it was designed with battles against the Demon King in mind. It has never been conquered even once, and the people living in this free city take pride in that.
Excluding the emperor position that had been vacant in the past 1000 years, the king and 「nobles」 hold the highest status in this world.
What they had in common was the following. First, there was basically no tax liability. Essentially, there was a situation where they demanded continuous taxes but it became honorable service to the royal family」, so some kind of recompense could be expected. Moreover, the tax rate was much lower than for the common folk. And there were other special privileges according to their rank.
If there was a territory or a special agreement, then the status was hereditary. Also, hereditary nobles were seldom newly established. It’s the same as having a fixed number of titles, and inheritance could only be obtained through blood relationship, it was also common sense that formal marriage should be between nobles.
Just like ancient China, there were 5 ranks of nobility in this world. This applies mainly to Western countries. For convenience, and starting from the top, were Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. Be that as it may, the meaning was completely different from my previous life’s ranks.
First was the second from the top, the Marquis. This originally refers to nobles who had independent territories and lent their support to the king at the founding of the nation. In this case, 「noble」 was quite a questionable title. The founding of the nation was in times of war, and while some of them were people from ancient houses, there must have been some who were leaders of the armed forces.
In any case, although they were independent forces, they recognized a leader as the king among them due to mutual interest and swore to obey his descendants from then on. In other words, the most powerful families became the king while the least powerful families became Marquises in order to form cooperative relationships.
And so, the status of a Marquis was high, and they enjoyed great privileges. Because they were in a feudalistic relationship, they had the duty to dispatch troops in emergencies and achieve deeds worthy of their ranks, and at the same time, they were originally rulers of 「Independent State」. And that was also why, even the king could not lightly reduce their territory or intrude upon them.
However, there were some unusual Marquis houses. They didn't have territories. That said, it was not like they did not exist. The Marquis house, that gave up on self-governance of their territories, presented them to the kingdom. In this situation, they passed the territories that were once theirs to the kingdom, and the king granted them a pension, so that their honor and rank were maintained.
Recently, the kingdom of Esta Forestia has been strengthening its system as it moves towards centralization of power. Originally, this system only applied to Marquis houses but it was eventually opened to lower rank nobles as well, something along the lines of「In exchange of your lands, you shall receive a steady income in coins, together with a loftier title and greater honor」 .
Many nobles have attachments to their territories and would not easily give them up. However, in reality, more and more nobles served as officials and soldiers in the royal capital and were seldom able to return to their own estates. My current master was like that as his original territory seemed to be located in the northwestern part of the kingdom, but he was busy governing the port city of Pyris and may only get to visit once every few years. So the number of nobles who choose to exchange their territories for annuity has been increasing bit by bit.
A Duke was the blood relative of the king, holding the highest authority. Among the 5 noble ranks, it was the highest in rank. Nonetheless, this does not necessarily mean that their rank was proportional to their political power. They could be divided into hereditary and non-hereditary. And among them, it could further be divided into those who had their territories and those who didn't.
Hereditary Duke was a status established at the time of the nation’s founding. Even the king was just the leader of the feudal lords. That meant the king’s authority base was not strong. That was why, they sent trusted relatives as the feudal lord to important bases they conquered during the war at the time of the founding of the nation.
However, as the generation changed, they grew increasingly distant from those Duke houses. Thus, there spread a movement to replace them with ducal territories that were more closely connected. In other words, the brothers or sisters, or the children of the current king, were entrusted with the important bases in only one generation. But, their descendants would not be able to inherit the territory and would lose their title as Duke.
Moreover, the king did not bestow lands upon all his children. Therefore, there were Dukes without territories. The title was not hereditary, unless there were special circumstances.
So, what happens to the descendants of non-hereditary Dukes? All princes other than the crown princes were Dukes, but the grandchildren were Viscounts. In the end, they were all being treated as branch noble families. Great-grandchildren would become Baron. After that, they would lose their noble status. Otherwise, the royal family would have to pay them an annuity, making financial difficulties unavoidable.
A Count was similar to Duke, except that they did not have royal blood. Originally, people who were not the lord of a place would be sent to a conquered land or reclaimed land, and in exchange for being allowed to manage the land, they would become responsible for the kingdom’s line of defense.
Due to those circumstances, they do not have the same privileges as the Marquis. As for the Count’s territory, the kingdom’s regular army could pass through there quite freely. A Count’s territory was not an ‘independent state’ after all, rather, it was seen as a territory entrusted to the king’s vassals.
By the way, the whole Tyntinabria, including Linga village where I was born, was also a Count’s territory. This originates from the fact that Gissian Chirem’s staff officer - Rogis - who set the place up as a supply base during the war against Seripashia. Rogis was then allowed to continue ruling the area after the war. Furthermore, many knights who had served under him were granted his surname and took the name of Tick. The Tick family - who picked me after I escaped Linga village - must also be the descendants of those knights.
A Viscount was originally a title granted to a branch family of those nobles. Of course, they could not just claim the title at will; the Count and Marquis houses had to petition the king for recognition of partition and inheritance of their domains, and only upon approval would it be established.
As already mentioned, the eldest child of a Duke - who was a non-hereditary successor usually granted the title of Viscount. Even if they were related by blood to the king, they would be treated like a noble from a branch family if they were the grandchildren. These Viscounts do not have their own territories but receive an annuity.
My current master was also the head of a Viscount house. The main branch of the house was the Marguis house Fonkeno1, which established its territories in the northern part of the kingdom. A long time ago, the Marguis house had a detached territory near the northwestern part of the border, and it was divided off and bestowed upon them. Therefore, the Viscount’s original territory was small, and their status was certainly not high. However, due to their close ties with the royal family and by reason of their generations of service as finance officials, they were now entrusted with the governance of the port city Pyris.
A Baron was a title conferred in other instances. It was conferred on people who have made significant achievements. There were exceptions where some Houses were recognized for some reason but basically, the title was not hereditary if they do not have territory so there were a fair number of one-generation Barons without hereditary right living only on annuity. Moreover, descendants of wealthy farmers who - in times of emergencies - contributed large sums of wealth to the kingdom may also be ennobled as Barons. For example, the War2 house that recently fell into ruin, which succeeded in reclaiming desolate lands, was granted both a Barony and a name derived from that place.
Just looking from that perspective might seem like they do not have an important status, but that was not the case. First off, except for some exceptions, they do not have to pay tax. Furthermore, since it was common for a Baron to have no territory, those with a wide territory were extremely rare, they were hardly ever required to provide troops. Just keeping their own territory safe was already considered enough work for them. Such an easy and comfortable status. Well, that being said, those newly granted the title of Baron were usually men who had fame in the army, and they were bound to be drawn into war in any case.
Still, there were extremely few cases where an individual’s title changed for reasons other than succession or establishing a branch family. There was not necessarily a fixed relationship between ruled territory and rank but land itself was considered to have a certain 「Rank」to them. For example, Tyntinabria, it was obvious for it to be a Count’s territory, so it was considered unnatural for it to become a Marquis or Baron’s territory. Generally, a noble’s name consists of 3 parts, first was their personal name, followed by their family name, and the last one was their title, which comes from the land that was first granted to them. Since nobles were privileged class, for that reason, changes in their status were not something that was assumed.
Only, there were still exceptional cases of rank promotion. Depending on their achievements or blunders, there were cases where their domain was reassigned, conversely, offering up their territories might grant them honor and privileges.
This explains the nobility class. Only, these 5 levels of nobility did not apply anywhere.
For example, in Saharia, in exchange for them was the clan system. I guess the head of the clan was equivalent to a position similar to a Marquis. That means Myluc - the previous generation of Necamel clan’s head - could have claimed a status equivalent to a Viscount.
Also, the king’s status in Saharia was not particularly high. As a result, statuses equivalent to Duke, Count, and Earl did not exist. Although there was a king, the king interacts with the head of a clan - equivalent to Marquis - almost equally. To them, the king was only the representation of the tribes alliance.
Other regions also have their classes or statuses that correspond to each of their society. But in general, their common features were their privileges and status.
So, what about 「Knight」? Aren’t they nobles?
Indeed. Just being a knight does not make one a noble. Not only Foresian and Ruinian, even Saharian have those with status equivalent to knights, but they were not nobles. Even if they were granted territory.
Knights are, so to speak, the middle class between the ordinary people and nobles and have existed since quite ancient times. And it was said that it was Gissian Chirem who gave that status special meaning. Although it was no longer the case in reality, knights were originally 「Elites who contribute to society」. That status was common in societies everywhere.
Knights and nobles were clearly of a different class. Following the process, a nobleman could become both a noble and a knight at the same time. Conversely, being a noble does not automatically make you a knight. Although nobles enjoyed far more privileges than knights, the latter had relatively little to gain.
On the other hand, ordinary people could become knights by following the proper process. In the case of the ordinary people becoming a knight, their status was considered that of a knight, and the law applicable to that person would also be based on that status.
Knighthood was not hereditary. This was due to the origin of the knight’s status itself. Their origins could be traced from emperors, kings, and nobles, to select outstanding individuals from among the ordinary people, demanding that they further contribute to the country and the world.
However, no matter how capable a person was, there was no future if it was only for one generation. And so, the status of a knight was no longer hereditary and rather developed in such a way that active knights would raise their successor and recommend them to an influential figure, such as the king.
Unlike the nobility, which affirms the existing authority, the title of knight was the result of ability and achievement. Consequently, privileges were not granted to increase their own benefits, but rather to remove the obstacles to their activity in society.
First, those who became a squire or page, the preliminary steps to becoming a knight, were given items as a mark of their status by influential people who vouched for their status. They were usually ornaments made of silver. Whether necklace, ring, once they become a knight, those would be replaced by items made of gold. Although these ornaments have little value by themselves, they serve as proof of their status, so their treatment everywhere they go would be guaranteed. If you behave improperly to them, their patron would eventually come to know of that.
A representative of privilege granted to a knight as well as a squire would be the freedom of movement. That said, naturally, every knight had their particular powerful patron who recognized their status, but that recognition did not necessarily guarantee their protection if they were in conflict to the ruler of an area they were about to pass through.
In addition, knights were required to pay taxes. Rather, they were not exempt from taxes, just like the ordinary people. However, that only applies to the common economic activity, as a knight, the annuity and income from the land granted by their powerful patron were - like those of nobility -exempt from taxes. However, the meaning of this privilege was different from that of the nobles. The condition was 「Use these money to contribute to society」. Of course, many knights have neither the annuity nor the lands.
The duty and privileges of knights were complex and cannot be summed up in a single description. For example, the place where Dona came from Nuga village, was ruled by a knight who had been granted land and became its lord. That person probably had military duties to the kingdom of Esta Forestia. On the other hand, there were knights who had no designated territory and almost no obligation to their patrons.
There were several steps to becoming a knight.
First of all, one must be granted the status of a 「page」 by an influential person such as a noble or a high-ranking clergyman. A page was what was called an apprentice or personal attendant. Those selected would improve themselves while attending to the personal needs of nobles or devoting themselves to service at a religious institution.
In addition, those who were granted the status of page were not limited to children deemed especially promising. For example, the butler of a Viscount's house was also a page. At this stage, not everyone aims to become a knight. In short, pages were kind of 「talent pool」 for the nobility.
In the case that there was an especially promising child among the pages, patrons would entrust their education to knights of good repute. If that knight accepted, then that child’s status would become 「Squire」. There were also cases where the knights themselves would request to take on a certain page.
A squire’s role was to assist the knight, and in that continued apprenticeship position, further train himself. Together with their master, they went on a harsh journey of wandering the world, growing into a full-fledged knight and contributing to society along the way.....or at least that was how it was said to be.
Actually, the old-fashioned squires were not in the minority. Or rather, it was extremely rare for a person or a knight to be born into an ordinary family. Our butler came from an ordinary family, but he was promoted to a page until he was an adult, and that alone, could already be considered quite a success. The majority of today’s knights come from noble houses.
In short, the situation was like this. From the nobles’ perspective, their territories would decrease if their branch family did poorly. If they dislike that, the second and third sons would have to leave. And if you were not a member of the royal family, you would end up losing your noble status relatively quickly. Well, only the children of the Marquis - even if they were not the legitimate heir - may call themselves as ‘lord’ but even then, it was merely a matter of title.
No matter what, from the person in question’s perspective, it was intolerable to fall to the status of common people. So, they somehow try to at least remain as knights. Their parents’ house also provided them with that much support.
So on average, they would ask their knights’ acquaintance to grant them the status of a squire at the age of 14. Once they became a squire, they had the duty to go on a journey to train but at that time, their mentor, the knight, would just tell them, ‘Go travel on your own!’. And so, they would go on an adventure for the sake of appearance. In other words, they would be attending the prestigious school in the imperial capital, Padma. Of course, the tuition was paid by their parents’ house.
And once they completed their course safely and returned, even though the knight mentor did not teach them anything, they went to inform the patrons - their parents - that they had completed their training. After that, only a perfunctory investiture ceremony was held, and in this way, the noble’s second son formally grew into a fine knight.
After that, they use that knight’s title and their parents’ family connection to find a good place of employment somewhere. A position such as commander of a unit in the imperial guards was a popular post but for weaker individuals, the path of becoming a civil official was also available.
However, while those kind of knights takes up the majority, there were also exceptions among them.
It was said that there were wandering knights who had inherited the wandering path of knights since Gissian Chirem’s time 1000 years ago. They train themselves and their squires in the old-fashioned way, swear solemn oaths, and with their lives as shields, continue to protect both the powerless and their honor.
Even knights who were the second sons of nobles also swore oaths, but the oaths of true knights like them were said to be extremely strict. Stories of knights meeting their dramatic end, slaying a tyrannical lord, and perishing in the act were still told, even until today.
Would they save the people, abandoning their life as a wandering knight, or serving a wise ruler who willingly devoted themselves to the world.....at any rate, their paths would always be life-threatening.
Below them were the 「common folk」.
They were obligated to pay taxes, and in some countries, conscripted into the military. Their freedom of movement was usually restricted so they would not be able to leave the territory without the lord’s permission or to another country without the king’s permission.
The only people with status below them were the 「Slaves」.
Those who have fallen into slavery through business were called transferred slaves, and after predetermined years have passed, their status would return to that of an ordinary person. Even if a transferred slave was transferred without a time limit, they could still return to being an ordinary person if they managed to prepare enough money to buy themselves back or if their owner declared them free. The owner had the right to order them, but unreasonable abuse was not allowed. If the owner killed a transferred slave without a justifiable reason, the owner must release all the other transferred slaves they owned and also have to pay a fine to the country.
However, criminal slaves had the most severe situation. If a predetermined number of years has been set for their case, the slave would become a transferred slave after those terms. Otherwise, they would remain slaves for the rest of their lives unless they received a special pardon. They could not be bought back with money, and their owner could not release them freely. Moreover, the owners were free to kill criminal slaves at any time, any place, and for any reason.
……and now, I am very much aware of my own status.
Nobles, knights, ordinary people, and slaves.
I am a slave, occupying the lowest class.
As I leaned on the window frame with my elbow and gazed outside, the door opened behind me.
「Fay, time for morning assembly」
That was right.
My name has changed again.
I have become Fay, slave of the Viscount house. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
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TL Note : Such a difficult chapter to translate, literally walls of text
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フォンケーノ, Fonqueno
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War Tock, Jill's family
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