I really wanted to look up and see what expression was on the king's face, but I knew that I couldn't do that in this situation.
After all, this was a formal ceremony and before it ended, I couldn't look up.
In fact, since this was a formal ceremony, I had no choice but to accept this title even though I really didn't want to.
If I were to reject this title in this public place, it would be like slapping the king's face and that was the last thing that I wanted to do.
So I had to say, "Thank you, your majesty for this grace."
The king gave a simple nod after hearing this before lifting the ceremonial sword in his hand.
He lifted this sword up and placed it on my shoulder before saying, "Baron Zwein, do you swear to uphold the laws of this kingdom and protect its people for as long as you shall live?"
"Yes." I said in a simple and firm voice.
The king tapped the sword on both of my shoulders before saying, "Then by my rights as the ruler of this kingdom, I grant the title of a hereditary viscount to you. At the same time, I grant you the right to bear a coat of arms."
When these words were said, there were even more shocked looks that appeared.
That was because the right to bear a coat of arms was not as simple as it seemed.
A coat of arms was a symbol that would represent a noble family, but that wasn't all that it was.
With noble titles came the right to gather forces, recruiting soldiers and guards to serve under the noble. However, there was a limit to how many troops one could recruit since the king wouldn't want nobles having too much power.
Nobles that had too much power were prone to think about betrayal.
So nobles that were given too much power would often lead to coups which the king wanted to avoid.
To limit their power, nobles could only recruit a certain amount of troops.
If they ever tried to recruit more, they would be punished.
A light punishment was a fine and a severe punishment would be having their title stripped, as well as having their entire family executed. All of this depended on the mood of the ruler.
So no noble dared to break this law.
But a coat of arms was a way around that.
Having a coat of arms was the only requirement needed to form an order of knights.
As long as one had the money, they would be able to recruit as many troops as they wanted into this order of knights. So this was one of the few ways that a noble would be allowed to recruit as many troops as they wanted.
However, a coat of arms was not something that could be given lightly.
Only to nobles that the king trusted could a coat of arms be given, otherwise who knew if the noble would rebel against the king.
So everyone was shocked when they heard that this Baron Zwein was being given a coat of arms. After all, in their eyes, this Baron Zwein was nothing more than a young upstart who no one knew anything about.
Even if he did a few things that could be considered beneficial to the kingdom, that was far from enough to be granted something like this.
After all, there was no knowing what kind of attitude he had towards the current royal family.
If he had his ambitions…then this was like feeding a hungry lion.
One day, it would come to bite the king in the butt.
But of course, not a single one of the ministers or generals dared to say anything here. This was a public ceremony after all and if they undermined the king's authority here, it would be equal to cutting off their future path.
So they would find a chance to talk to the king in private about this matter later.
I had no choice in this matter since the king had already made the declaration. The only thing that I could do now was graciously accept this title and coat of arms.
However, I too knew what being granted a coat of arms meant, so I knew that I had just been handed a hot potato.
With a bitter smile on my face, I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible as I said, "Your majesty, thank you for this grace."
There was a silence that followed before a soft 'un' sound rang out to acknowledge this.
Then the pair of feet in front of me turned around as the king walked back to his throne and sat down once more.
After he sat down, there was another silence that followed as everyone waited to see what the king would do this time. The last time, he suddenly pulled out this viscount title and this coat of arms, so they had no idea what he would do now.
However, the king just sat there without saying a word.
Since he had left, I was finally able to peek upwards at the king's face.
As I looked at his face, I tried to find anything on his expression that would give me a clue as to what he truly wanted. However, no matter how I tried to read the king, I wasn't able to find a single thing from his face..
It was as if it was an iron vault that locked up all of its secrets.
As expected of a ruler that had reigned over this kingdom for so long.
He was not an easy nut to crack.
After a long silence, the king finally said, "It seems that today's matters are concluded. Let's end this audience here then."
But before the king could make another move, one of the ministers suddenly said, "Your majesty, if I may, there's something that I want to bring up."