Indeed, everyone realized that within the entire territory, apart from the Lord, no nobility was granted, not even a fief knight.
This complete form of autocracy, with only that Lord as the noble, was greatly envied by the Baron, yet it did not conform to the noble enfeoffment system passed down through centuries within the Empire.
Moreover, that Lord was not even born of noble lineage, which gave the Earl, who considered themselves as having a stable noble heritage, an inexplicable sense of superiority.
The Baron, having risen during the chaos of those years, albeit not as esteemed as the Earl, was still a notable figure, and he sharply noticed one thing from the intelligence gathered.
He believed that Lord controlled those armies through personal prowess and noble status, and since he too was a noble, and even more generous than that Lord.
