Nobility. A title granted to families that had done great deeds for the Nation, they pledged themselves to. Rewarded for their actions with great power and authority. Granted the privilege to oversee parts of the Nation, dividing the governing and allowing for much faster reactions to whatever arises.
It was a great honor and duty.
It was something children were taught to look up to.
But in reality, it was something to fear. Not in the title itself. All commoners wished they could become a Noble. But in the Nobles themselves. Within their authority, they had the power to completely destroy the lives of even dozens of commoners without even being questioned. They would only draw attention if they ruined the lives of hundreds.
Children learned quickly to step out of the way of Nobles and to bow their heads, never to look a Noble in the eye or dare to disobey a command from one.
Nobles tended to stay in the cities, typically congregating around the capital in order to play their political games. Deciding the fate of a Nation they only saw through their coin purses and account ledgers. Why see the lands they were supposed to govern and protect when they can pay someone to do that for them?
They could remain in the comforts of their cities and manors, rarely having the need to get up from their expensive couches or stop snacking on delicacies that cost more than what a commoner makes in a month.
Due to that tendency, Alaster had rarely met a Noble when he was a child in the distant village of Pinefall. But each meeting only soured his opinion of them.
The stories told of valiant and brave Nobles, wearing gleaming armor and atop magnificent steeds, charging fearlessly into battle to protect their people. Risking their lives to honor their promise.
What a lie that turned out to be.
By now, Alaster had met dozens of Nobles, and yet the Onigarian City Lord’s and Siphas Family were the exceptions. Proving themselves to be quite normal.
One would have expected that with Galmore isolated from the rest of the world for several centuries, they would have developed differently. But after meeting and watching the Galmorian Delegation, he found them indistinguishable from other Nobility. Just as self-centered and greedy as any other.
Out of the entire Delegation, only two of the Nobility saw the common people as anything more than simply numbers on a piece of paper. Even then, they did not truly see them as people, just more than animals, barely.
With his opinion and the experiences to back it up, Alaster was not excited to be told that his final teacher, the person that was supposed to teach him the final step in how to rescue his sister, would instead be teaching him how to act like the very people who killed his parents and stole away his sister.
“Why?” Alaster finally asked.
“Why?” Azemar huffed humorously, “Tell me boy, with all the hundreds of Nobles within a single Nation, and thousands in the world, how does the common person know if the person standing before them is a Noble?”
“The way they dress, act, and their retinue?”
“Pretty much. In the grand scheme of things, Nobility is nothing more than one person claiming to be better than the others around them and being believed. If the common man cannot distinguish between Nobility and Commonfolk without something as flimsy as fancy clothing and speech, how do the Nations themselves do so?”
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Alaster thought for a moment, “Bloodlines?”
Azemar nodded with a slight grin, “Pretty much. History. That’s it. But throughout the countless years Humanity has been around, History can be quite confusing and even deceitful. Each Nation does what they can to track the Family History for each Noble in order to cement their authenticity.
But then what about when a new Noble Family arises? And in another Nation?”
Alaster thought once more but couldn’t think of an answer. Azemar chuckled at his response.
“As I said, Nobility is simply one person saying they are better, and being believed. And in the Noble Community, calling someone a liar, especially for serious matters has created conflicts that have lasted centuries and cost hundreds of lives.
Simply put, if one Noble is not absolutely certain that the other is lying, they won’t say anything. And a lie told enough times and over a long enough period of time, becomes truth. Maybe not reality, but truth.
If I told you that water was dry, you would call me a liar. But if I told enough people, there would be some foolish enough to believe me. They would form their own reasons as to why I am right simply because they don’t want to be wrong. That lie would grow, and if it was not stopped, it would soon spread to so many people that common knowledge would be that water was dry.
That’s what power is. Sure, having physical or magically strength is great, and should be trained and cultivated. But true power is the ability to manipulate a person’s perception of reality. Once you control that, you control the person, and can make them do or believe anything you want.
Don’t believe me? Pick up a history book.
Ever heard the saying, ‘The victors write the history’? It’s the same principle. No one likes to be the ‘bad guy’. Everyone wants to be the hero. Which makes it so easy to convince them that they are. You can very easily convince someone they are the ‘good guys’ even as they are beheading children. Why? Because they want to be.
Young people, typically between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three, are the easiest to control. They don’t truly have their own beliefs, they are still trying to figure themselves out. That uncertainty makes them easy to control. Tell them that their parents don’t truly understand them. The kids will believe you, because that’s what they want to believe. Tell them that their parents hate them. Have them rebel against their parents.
In just a short time frame, you can convince hundreds of young people to murder their own parents. Just look at history. Young people are idiotic, stupid, naïve. Just tell them something they like, and they will believe you. All people are like that, it’s just the young ones that are so easy.
Dictators have all understood that and used it. Give power to those that don’t have it, and they will follow you everywhere and believe anything you say.
Did you realize that the Commonfolk outnumber the Nobles by hundreds of times over? So then, in a world where the System equalizes everyone, granting them power should they seek it, how do the Nobility keep control? They don’t try to control the masses through force. They simply control their ideas.
The strongest human emotion is hate. Coupled with the human instinct to feel safe. Use those two, convince the masses that something wishes to harm them. Convince them that they should hate this something. Do that, and you can get them to do anything in the attempt to protect themselves against this something.
With Monsters being prolific throughout the world, it has been very easy for the Nobility to keep their power.
To learn to be a Noble, that is what you must learn. How to control a mind.
The people who murdered your family and took your sister are Nobility. You know this. You could simply storm in, slaughtering any who dare stands in your way, but even an Expert as powerful as you has a limit. All the Nobles would have to do is convince the masses that you wish to destroy their ways of life, which considering you are killing everyone in your way, won’t be difficult to convince.
Then you will have thousands upon thousands hunting you down.
But, if you can convince the Nobility that you are one of them, then you can begin to pit them against each other, weakening them as a whole, allowing you to extract your sister safely and without harassment.
Be fancy, dress fancy, speak fancy, act fancy, and they will not dare question your authenticity. They will fall over themselves in order to gain your favor. You will do favors for them, gaining favors in kind. You will first learn to manipulate the minds of the masses. Then, you will learn how to manipulate the minds of the Nobility.
I will teach you how to conceal yourself while you act in the shadows. You will learn to sabotage while protecting yourself.
Nobility is simply a title for those claiming to be better. So few truly are. You will learn how to play their political games, how to lie, how to mislead, and how to govern. I will teach you how to govern their own lands better than they can.
I am going to teach you how to be a Noble. You will become a Noble. You will be able to stand before the very person who took caused your family’s destruction, and you will smile.”