Holfort Kingdom

Holfort Kingdom is the country where three reincarnated so far transmigrated to (Leon, Marie & Aaron), and one of the key locations of the series.

History
A long time ago, a group of six adventurers formed a party to explore an unknown land which eventually became the Holfort Kingdom. The party consisted of Holfort, Field, Arclight, Seberg, Marmoria, and one unnamed female adventurer. The female adventurer was an expert in healing magic and used it to help people. Afterward, the people gathered under her and created the organization known as the Temple. As a recognition of her deeds, the Temple declared the female adventurer the Saint and began worshipping her. However, the Saint disappeared shortly after the kingdom’s founding, and no one ever saw her again. She left her equipment behind, which had been safeguarded by the Temple ever since.

The mainland of the Holfort Kingdom has contained numerous dungeons since the olden days. Those dungeons were a goldmine of resources since they also produced magic stones. It became a source of income and materials for the kingdom, which was the primary factor for its rise into a prominent nation.

Politics
The Holfort Kingdom is an absolute monarchy with a long history of a social class system. There are roughly three social classes: royalty, nobility, and commoner. Among the nobility class, there are two subcategories: the royal court nobles and feudal lords. Feudal noble households use Fou as a middle name, court noble households use Fia as a middle name and royal households use Rapha as their middle name (this includes the Redgrave Household).

The Holfort Royal Family
The Holforts are the ruling family, with Roland Rapha Holfort as the current king. They descend from one of six founders and have ruled the kingdom from its foundation. While their grip on power had been solid, the recent string of unprecedented events put the royal family into a precarious position.

Firstly, the king is increasingly unpopular among the nobles as an irresponsible playboy and troublemaker. Furthermore, None of his sons display worthiness for the throne. The first prince, in particular, broke his engagement with Angelica Rapha Redgrave in a humiliating way and consequently antagonized the formidable duke family.

Lastly, the resentment of the feudal lords toward the royal family nearly reaches its breaking point. To gradually eliminate feudal lords and centralize political power, The royal family had schemed to deprive feudal lords of their wealth and power. The excessive privileges for low-class noblewomen were a part of the scheme. Inevitably, these oppressive treatments caused immense discontent among the feudal lords as they had to bear hardship and injustice for generations.

Noble
The nobility of the Holfort Kingdom shares similarity to the real-world British counterpart. They form the backbone of the political systems, functioning as the rulers of territories, bureaucrats in the government, and primary combatants during the war. The nobles vary in terms of wealth and influence. For instance, the high-ranking nobles, like the Roseblade family, are so affluent that they can buy several floating islands at once and hold considerable sway over the kingdom's politics. By contrast, the baron household of Bartfort had lived a little better life than commoners until recently. They became politically relevant only after their second son rose to the higher echelon of the kingdom.

Some noble families share blood-tie with the royal family and thus have a higher status than other nobles. Such a family is the Redgrave household.

All nobles have obligations toward the kingdom. Aside from taxes, nobles must contribute to the war effort whenever the kingdom demands. Severe punishments await any noble who fails to fulfill their obligation. Nevertheless, the extent of their contribution is in proportion to each noble's status. For example, a baron only needs to provide one warship, while the viscount has to send a small fleet.

Royal Court Noble
The royal court nobles primarily work as government officials. Although they do not have territories and income from tax collection, they can own businesses and receive an annual payment from the royal palace. Their positions can be hereditary, such as the minister position of Earl Atlee's household. As the royal court nobles do not have territories of their own, their livelihood is highly dependent on the kingdom.

Feudal Lord
They are nobles who rule over territories of the kingdom. Their territories can be either floating islands or on the main continent. Unlike the royal court nobles, they do not receive yearly money from the royal palace.

There are varying degrees of autonomy among the feudal lord. The noble, whose territories are on the mainland, can be monitored closely by authorities. By comparison, feudal lords, who rule over the floating islands, tend to be more autonomous. Because of the lack of long-range communication, the government has limited ability to monitor territories far away from the center. Therefore, the feudal lord on the floating island generally can do as they please within their land.

The royal family always has a strained relationship with feudal lords. Because of frequent uprisings in the past, The royal family deems feudal lords to be untrustworthy and unreliable. In turn, the feudal lords also resent the royal family due to their oppressive policy depriving the feudal lords of power and resource.

Foreign Relations
The Holfort Kingdom has rather hostile relations with its neighbors in general. Due to its national power, the neighboring countries were wary of the Kingdom. At the same time, they also eye for its resource-rich territories. Inevitably, the Holfort Kingdom is often in conflict with surrounding countries ranging from minor skirmishes to full-scale wars.

Principality of Fanoss
The Principality was once a part of the Holfort Kingdom. Additionally, the Fanoss ducal family started as a branch of the Holfort Royal Family. However, an unnamed ambitious duke of Fanoss declared independence and formed The Principality of Fanoss. From that point onward, the Holfort Kingdom maintained a hostile stance toward its former territory. The Principality often attacked and pillaged the Holfort Kingdom's territories to obtain resources. The Kingdom also invaded the Principality in retaliation. The two countries fought back and forth for centuries and accumulated immense grudges among their population.

At last, the Principality launched an all-out invasion to destroy their archenemy once and for all. By taking advantage of the Kingdom's political division and powerful magic flutes, the Principality's armada nearly succeeded in its gambit to become a truly great country. The Kingdom, however, emerged victorious in the end. Severely weakened by war, the Principality was absorbed back into the Kingdom and became the Duchy of Fanoss once again. Moreover, the Kingdom imposed harsh conditions on the Duchy and has monitored it closely ever since.

Holy Kingdom of Rachel
The relationship with the Holy Kingdom of Rachel has always been uneasy for the Kingdom of Holfort. The animosity between the two countries began taking root even before the foundation of the Holfort Kingdom. The founders of the Kingdom were originally nobles from the Rachel who were driven into exile by the political upheaval. They unsurprisingly held a grudge at their former homeland and passed it down through their descendants. In turn, the ruling class of the Holy Kingdom usually looks down on the Holfort Kingdom, seeing it as an annoying backward country of up-jumped adventurers.

Due to Leon's actions, especially with humiliating their invasion of the Alzer Repubic and taking one of their flagships, the Holy Kingdom now sees Holfort and especially Leon as a threat. By the ninth volume, the Holy Kingdom had placed a bounty on Leon's head of over 5 million dia.

Alzer Republic
The Alzer Republic is among nations that are not hostile to the Holfort Kingdom. In the past, the Kingdom relied on its connection with the Lespinasse House to maintain the relationship. After the destruction of Lespinasse House, however, the Kingdom did not have any close contact with other Great Nobles. The relationship between the two countries was limited to Magic Stone trading.

Because of their advanced technological level and the reputation of invincibility in defensive battles, most Alzer nobles looked down on the Kingdom, dismissing it as an insignificant third-rate country. Their attitude ultimately changed after the series of events, including the coup attempt, had ruined the Republic. They now depend on the Kingdom for protection while trying to rebuild their country.

United Kingdom of Repard
*Information will be added soon later.*

Female Privilege
In the beginning, the kingdom society was simply patriarchal, where men held the political power. As a result, the kingdom enacted a policy to limit the wealth and influence of feudal lords, due to the fear of lower nobles gaining more military power and the danger of revolt or revolution. As a result, the kingdom designed a value system of giving women more privilege. The main goal was to eventually allow for the commoners to attain an education along with the nobility and do away with the nobility altogether within several generations.

However, the noblemen of viscount and baron households were put in severe disadvantageous positions. They must marry. Otherwise, they would meet social discrimination. On the other hand, women enjoyed excessive privileges, which allowed them to impose unfair conditions on their partners. Over time, this distorted relationship caused viscount and baron-class noblewomen to become arrogant, selfish, corrupt, and shallow. It was common for them to get lovers aside from their husbands and treat men poorly. In addition, the value system favoring women caused extremely detrimental effects among the the lower nobles, especially since the female population greatly outnumbered the males. The lower male nobles began developing feelings of inadequacy, bitterness, low self-esteem and helplessness. These negative emotions would come to a head during the two invasions of the Principality of Fanoss. A large number of lower male nobles found themselves unwilling to defend the Kingdom as they had been subjected to unfair and often brutal conditions from their spouses and the Kingdom's policies. Furthermore, those who had decided to flee the country were more than willing to abandon their selfish, unfaithful wives and their exclusive servants/lovers to the invading principality. Many noble families lost their titles due to desertion. Additionally, many of the barons and viscounts were considering defecting to the principality's side. There was little sense of loyalty or patriotism towards a country that treated them so shabbily.

After the war with the principality, the social structure drastically changed as the previous policies were doing far more harm than good. As a result, the excessive privileges that the lower noble women enjoyed were repealed. Exclusive servants became banned at the academy. The noblemen of viscount and baron households now have advantages in choosing their wives since women outnumber men considerably. Meanwhile, the noblewomen, who entered or graduated from the academy before the reform, are now struggling to find a decent marriage partner because men usually deem them as selfish, arrogant, unfaithful and generally undesirable. This is largely due in part of how badly the females treated the males, and how they flaunted their servants and lovers in front of them. Furthermore, the formally-entitled females now find themselves at a loss of how to face the harsh realities of the outside world without their privileges. If they are unsuccessful in finding husbands and a source of income, they must either learn other skills such as housework and labor, or end up destitute, in brothels or out on the streets.

Adventurer
Since the kingdom's founders were adventurers, the citizens of the Holfort Kingdom thus revere people who dare explore the world or challenge dangerous dungeons. The successful adventure is a significant achievement for nobles, and many high-ranking noble families descend from celebrated adventurers. Furthermore, any wealth or treasure that the adventurers find during their explorations, are legally theirs to keep. As a result, Leon was able to keep Luxion, and all the Lost Items and treasures he had collected, thereby denying Zola any of it, when she demanded for all of it to be handed to her.

In other countries, such as Alzer, the profession of adventurer is looked down upon as a menial or low-class job. However, being an adventurer in Holfort, also has the hidden value of strengthening the body and mind in terms of combat and warfare. Despite being an avid adventurer in Alzer, Serge Sara Rault was actually weaker than the average Holfort adventurer, due to his people being almost totally reliant on their Crests from the Sacred Tree. Even after taking steroids and other strength-enhancing drugs, Serge was still taken down by Leon after a single punch.

At the Holfort Academy, students are expected to dive into the dungeon, not only to gain experience in combat, but for the lower noblemen to earn extra income to buy gifts for any potential wife candidates. This training proved beneficial during the Holy Kingdom of Rachel's attack, while disguised as air pirates. Much to the shock of the Holy Kingdom's agents, the entire force was beaten back by second and third year students.

The Royal Capital
The Holfort Kingdom’s royal capital is at the center of the massive continent, renowned for its beautiful and abundant natural features. The continent has numerous sites for pumping water from the sea and spreading it throughout the land. The royal capital is a modern city with infrastructures like a sewer system and electricity. The population of the urban district alone reaches a million people. A small floating island locates slightly away from the city and serves as a harbor for airships.

Holfort Academy
The academy is the place where the children of the noble households enroll to receive a proper education. On the side note, it is also an important gathering where the students find their marriage partners. Students are also expected to venture into the school's dungeon in order to receive combat training and to earn extra income.

Later on, the school policy accepts the application of the commoners to study in the academy. According to Mylene, it is a staging point where it will turn the country into a place where everyone is treated equally. Exclusive servants are now banned from the Academy.

Elven Island
It is the homeland of the elves and integral territory of the kingdom.

Principality of Fanoss
It is a duchy territory of the kingdom that declared independence from their master as an independent nation. It is later absorbed back under the rule of the Holfort Kingdom after their invading forces is crushed by Leon and the Armed Forces of the Kingdom.

The Temple
*Information will be added soon later.*

Known Households

 * Bartfort Household
 * Redgrave Household
 * Roseblade Household
 * Atlee Household
 * Lafan Household
 * Arclight Household
 * Field Household
 * Seberg Household
 * Wayne Household
 * Offrey Household
 * Neville Household

Royal Family

 * Roland Rapha Holfort
 * Mylene Rapha Holfort
 * Julius Rapha Holfort
 * Jake Rapha Holfort
 * Erica Rapha Holfort
 * Jilk Fia Marmoria
 * Oscar Fia Hogan

Bartfort Household

 * Balcus Fou Bartfort
 * Luce Fou Bartfort
 * Nicks Fou Bartfort
 * Jenna Fou Bartfort
 * Leon Fou Bartfort
 * Finley Fou Bartfort
 * Colin Fou Bartfort

Former Members

 * Zola
 * Rutart
 * Merce

Redgrave Household

 * Angelica Rapha Redgrave
 * Vince Rapha Redgrave
 * Gilbert Rapha Redgrave

Lafan Household

 * Marie Fou Lafan
 * Unnamed Members

Atlee Household

 * Clarice Fia Atlee
 * Bernard Fia Atlee

Roseblade Household

 * Deirdre Fou Roseblade
 * Dorothea Fou Roseblade

Other

 * Olivia
 * Luxion
 * Cleare
 * Brad Fou Field
 * Chris Fia Arclight
 * Greg Fou Seberg
 * Carla Fou Wayne
 * Daniel Fou Durland
 * Raymond Fou Arkin
 * Master
 * Kyle
 * Yumeria
 * Cordelia Fou Easton
 * Malcolm Fou Frampton
 * Miauler
 * Aaron
 * Lucle

Residents from the Principality

 * Hertrude Sera Fanoss

Trivia

 * Commoners in the kingdom don't have surnames.
 * It's not unusual for baron households in rural areas to have only one or two warships due to the high procurement and maintenance costs.