"Hello, I am the mayor of the town below, Fox Town." After Liang En opened the door, the middle-aged man at the doorway quickly extended his hand in greeting, "I'm mainly here to check on our new neighbor and to discuss some matters with you, my lord."
"Please come in and have some tea first; we can't just stand here at the door talking," Liang En said, inviting the middle-aged man into the house after hearing his introduction.
"However, I think there might be some misunderstanding with your information. Although I am indeed the new owner of these three thousand acres, I am not a baron but merely a commoner."
"You don't say?" The man, who identified himself as the mayor, showed a surprised expression. "I thought your acquisition of this land was for that Scottish feudal baron title."
"What baron title?" Liang En was even more confused upon hearing this. "The acquisition of this land was somewhat accidental, so I only know about the size of the land and the general situation."
"Ah, I see, that's different from what we had thought," the mayor said, now understanding, and began to explain the situation to Liang En.
It turned out that Liang En's acquisition included not just the land, but also the accompanying title of Baron of Fox Estate. His lack of clarity was mainly due to the hurried nature of the entire affair.
"In fact, in a few days, his lawyer should remind him of this, as the transfer of the title would need to be registered with Lord Lyon, the Queen's representative in Scotland, who would then issue a shield-shaped coat of arms representing the nobility to the new owner."
"However, that being said, this so-called title, while fun to use in informal settings, is not recognized as a legitimate nobility status, which is why there was no special mention when the documents were handed to Liang En."
According to the law, all official noble titles in Britain must be conferred by the Queen, and titles like this are legally recognized only as heritable commoner titles.
The reason for this situation stems from Scottish history and the British nobility system. Traditionally, nobility can be categorized into two types: those ennobled by the monarch and those who are semi-independent landowners.
However, as history progressed and royal power gradually strengthened, the recognition of nobility worldwide shifted towards the first method, while the second method slowly disappeared from history.
This is the case in Britain, where the nobility system in England, Wales, and Ireland gradually moved away from the second type. Thus, there are no so-called feudal nobles on these lands.
But the situation in Scotland is different, given its brief union with Britain and the meager attention given to its impoverished land, the old feudal remnants still exist.
Despite their existence, being excluded from the mainstream is unavoidable, so any titles not conferred by the Queen are not legally recognized as true nobility.
From a certain perspective, this title is akin to that of a landowner, which sounds neither impressive nor does it avoid a strong scent of provincialism.
Even so, such nominal titles still attract followers, at least according to Liang En, many foreigners unaware of their insignificance are willing to pay for them, thinking they are equivalent to real noble titles.
However, these titles are far less valuable than unscrupulous merchants tout them to be, not to mention that the privileges once associated with true nobility are now limited to ceremonial or symbolic aspects, hardly useful in everyday life.
After gaining a basic understanding, Liang En had no interest in a title that could not even precede his name with 'Lord.'
To be frank, if he really needed a title to enhance his status, 'Dr.' or 'Prof.' would be more practical and easily attainable given his groundbreaking research, which has not yet been recognized due to its recent proposal.
But as time goes on and his theories gain wider acceptance, Liang En will naturally acquire these titles representing academic distinction.
Having clarified the matter regarding the title, Liang En asked the mayor of Fox Town what he specifically came for, and it turned out the visit was mainly related to the land.
The mayor hoped Liang En would allow the local people to continue fishing in the river, gathering dead wood and mushrooms in the forest, and passing through his land without harm.
"I think that's certainly possible, but if we are to sign a written agreement, I'll need my lawyer's assistance," Liang En generally agreed after hearing the mayor's request.
Because the request was very reasonable, and according to the data he had previously checked, although the landowner has a range of rights, under normal circumstances, some of these should also be relinquished to the local indigenous people.
Indeed, some new landowning tycoons cancel these rights granted to the indigenous people upon acquiring the land, completely prohibiting others from activity on their land.
Such actions could potentially affect the local situation, for
example, for owners of agricultural lands who could legally evict farmers who have been tilling the land for generations.
According to Scottish law, these landowners have the right to reclaim the land and evict the farmers, provided that the land ceases to be used for agricultural or industrial production thereafter.
Perhaps in the past, ceasing production could affect many things, but for many modern land purchasers, they simply buy the land to hold it for appreciation.
For them, renting out the land is too complicated; it's simpler to just plant trees after clearing the people off, and naturally, these individuals would not consider the local populace's views.
However, Liang En viewed things differently; sometimes, relationships between people require more empathy rather than cold, hard rules, so making some concessions that do not harm his fundamental interests isn't a bad thing.
More importantly, the land Liang En acquired contained little agricultural land and was managed by himself, so there were hardly any conflicts of interest typical of farms, thus avoiding most land disputes.
After receiving Liang En's response, the mayor of Fox Town smiled, representing the whole town in this inquiry, and getting a favorable answer was certainly good news.
This good start also led the mayor to share everything he knew about the land during their brief conversation, allowing Liang En to gather a wealth of firsthand information about the area.
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