Chapter 466 – The Enfeoffment Examination

“…”

The moment they heard “Practice Quiz Card,” Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph all wore subtly awkward expressions.

Other newly graduated young witches would still diligently work through the quiz questions for the rewards inside the Practice Quiz Cards.

The three of them had no need for such meager rewards and had long since forgotten about those cards entirely.

“If you’d done the quizzes, you would already know this. The 《Practice Quiz Card – Continental History》 has some supplementary expansion questions that cover the Mage Empire’s mage movements. The enfeoffment examination came about after the Third Mage Movement,” Mo Lan said.

Since her companions weren’t willing to do the quizzes, she had no choice but to tutor them herself:

“During the First Mage Movement, the Mage Empire declared that all mages could become nobles, receiving hereditary titles and fiefs.

Later, because the descendants of established mage families had taken up most of the titles and fiefs, leaving no land to grant new mage nobles, the Second Mage Movement erupted, and the Mage Empire abolished the hereditary system for titles and fiefs.

From then on, a mage’s title and fief belonged only to that individual. If their descendants produced a mage of equivalent rank, they could inherit their ancestor’s title and fief with priority. Otherwise, the title and fief would be reclaimed and granted to other mages.

But as the status of mages in the Mage Empire grew ever higher and the mage training system gradually matured, more and more new mages appeared. The Empire’s financial pressure mounted, available fiefs dwindled, and mages had to queue up just to receive the titles and fiefs they were originally promised.

Mages with connections, backing, and ability would even pull strings to cut in line and get their titles and fiefs ahead of others.

As a result, many mages who had reached the corresponding rank would wait in line their entire lives without ever receiving the titles and fiefs the Empire had promised them. This triggered the Third Mage Movement.

After this movement, the title itself and the title’s benefits were separated.

Those with only the title were called ordinary nobles, while those with title benefits and a fief were called landed nobles.

The latter were generally superior in both strength and resources compared to the former.

The title itself could be obtained directly upon reaching the appropriate rank, but the benefits and fief could only be obtained by prevailing in the enfeoffment examination.

Each nation holds enfeoffment examinations based on their own title vacancies and talent needs, where eligible mages compete for one or several titles and fiefs.

If there are no title vacancies, one must challenge an existing mage who holds a title and fief. Upon winning, one can claim the opponent’s title.

However, since each vassal state’s financial situation differs, the frequency of enfeoffment examinations varies, and the benefits and fiefs for equivalent titles can be better or worse.

Generally speaking, titles from the Empire are stronger than those from kingdoms, and kingdom titles are stronger than those from duchies.

Although the Duchy of Lance is a border state with defensive pressures, it’s well-governed with sound finances and also receives the Empire’s border state and frontier development subsidies. Its enfeoffment examinations are held somewhat more frequently—every three years in recent times.

Moreover, its title benefits are stronger than those of ordinary duchies, comparable to a typical kingdom’s, and the fief resources are quite good as well.

In short, becoming a landed noble in the Duchy of Lance offers excellent value.

However, the Duchy of Lance’s title examinations are a bit stricter. Whether for the rank of Count or Marquis, one must pass the title examination. Failing means no title will be granted.

Unlike some vassal states that, in order to attract high-level talent, only examine those seeking Viscount or Baron ranks—Count and Marquis titles can be obtained simply by applying, no examination needed.

That’s why those mages assumed we were also rushing to participate in the enfeoffment examination.”

“So are we going to participate?” Lilith asked.

Although they had originally planned to travel through the Colorado Mountain Range anyway, it wasn’t for this enfeoffment examination—it was simply the shortest route.

Mo Lan shook her head:

“No! Being a landed noble has its perks, but it’s not that easy either. You have to take responsibility for governing your territory, especially as a landed noble of the Duchy of Lance.

The Duchy of Lance has higher governance requirements for landed nobles than most nations. If you just enjoy the benefits while letting your territory fall into disarray, and the populace reports you to the capital’s Administrative Council, an investigation could result in your fief and title benefits being revoked.

To be a good landed noble, you either have to stay in your fief and manage it yourself, or learn to delegate and maintain a team of people to handle your territory for you.

Neither is easy.

Our targets are mages who have mastered magical energy, not ordinary humans. It’s best to stay in Lance City where mages are most concentrated. Going to a fief would actually be inconvenient. Besides, we’re not short on resources, are we?

Earning those resources by becoming a landed noble? We’d be better off doing more quizzes and collecting the Practice Quiz Card rewards. That would be much easier.”

“Ahem, I’m full!”

“Me too, I’m full!”

Lilith and Sylph bolted.

Vasida pulled out the Devouring Stomach, swept all the unfinished dishes on the table into it, and then bolted too.

Time to flee! Doing quizzes was absolutely out of the question!

Mo Lan: “…”

Indeed, sometimes being too wealthy wasn’t a good thing either—they’d completely lost their motivation to study.

This couldn’t go on. They all treated her like a walking encyclopedia, asking her whenever they didn’t know something.

She couldn’t possibly stay with them forever.

She thought about it and decided to change the way she answered their questions.

The next morning, at breakfast.

Mo Lan said, “After we leave the inn, we’ll head to the Administrative Center to test our magic. You’ll take the mage badge examination, and I’ll update my mage badge.”

Grandma Dayla had already arranged an Intermediate mage badge for her, issued by another country and with many update records on it.

But Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph didn’t have theirs yet and needed to apply.

They were posing as mage apprentices who had only recently become mages, so applying as new mages would be perfectly reasonable.

Lilith asked Mo Lan, “What’s the difference between a mage badge and a witch badge?”

“Volume eighty-nine of 《Continent of Valen》, chapter seven,” Mo Lan said.

“???” Lilith nearly thought she’d misheard. “What?”

“Look it up yourself! The process of looking things up counts as review, right? Besides the information you need, you’ll at least pick up some other knowledge along the way.”

“…” Lilith was utterly defeated. She’d managed to dodge the quizzes, but she couldn’t escape reading books!

“Fine, I just won’t bother looking it up. They’ll probably explain it during the magic test anyway!”

“Be careful you don’t blow your cover by not knowing the basics,” Mo Lan said with a smile.

That one sentence struck right at Lilith’s weak point. “Fine, I’ll look it up, okay?!”

She summoned her Grimoire and searched at lightning speed. “Volume eighty-nine of 《Continent of Valen》, chapter seven—got it!”

She read through the entire chapter before finding her answer.

Knowledge had forced its way into her brain in the most aggressive fashion.

“So? What exactly does a mage badge do?” Vasida asked Lilith.

Sylph perked up her ears too.

“Want to know?” Lilith raised an eyebrow.

Vasida nodded vigorously.