"I vow to serve you unto death, my lord!"
In the Tulip Hall, where the knighthood ceremony had already begun, impassioned, exhilarating, trembling roars echoed.
Five Earth Knights who had accumulated enough military merits held the medals symbolizing the rank of Honored Knights, tears brimming hotly in their eyes. Generations of effort had finally borne fruit in their time, a glory bestowed upon them, a pride like no other.
It brought to mind the days of old.
The ancestors of the Tulip Family, too, came from common stock, and even earlier forebears might have been serfs unknown to any nation. The great-great-grandfather, endowed with divine strength, returned alive from the battlefield and was made an Honored Knight, his title hereditary and indisputable. From there, step by step, the family grew and expanded to become the present day Earl family.
