"Oh, no," the Emperor says, grinning evilly. "If you're going to be brought into the nobility, you're going to participate in the<em>full</em>rites. In fact, I think we can even have it all arranged for the High Sun ceremony, late next month. And you have a better claim to the nobility than you might think. Service above and beyond the call of duty, to the empire, as well as saving hundreds of lives, establishing and running a new, profitable city, while expanding the capitol's size, almost over night, helping to root out corruption and tax evasion amongst the powerful merchant dynasties... if you<em>don't</em>accept the title, I'm afraid I may just simply have to take drastic measures," he replies.