The verdant empire, the mountain behind the Burris family.

The ground in the mountains is covered with yellow and green leaves, the black soil is very soft, you can hear the sound of dead leaves breaking when you step on it, and occasionally you can see a few ants crawling under the fallen leaves and on the trunks of trees, they carry small grains of food, some are the corpses of other insects, some are some pine nut fragments, crawling in various crevices.

The hedge of the dead wood branches was pulled diagonally, some of which had fallen loose, revealing rusty nails that shook a little as the wind blew, and the trees were quiet, except for the occasional long birdsong.

A young man with blond brown hair, about sixteen years old, wearing a white shirt that was easy to move around, wearable leather trousers underneath, and a broadsword on his shoulder, looking at the old scabbard and the polished shiny weight ball, it must have been some years.

He casually stepped over the rudimentary fence, and the dead bark stained with some crumbs on his leather trousers, shook off some dust with a casual slap, and then turned a few large trees, and a simple wooden shelf appeared in front of him.

The wooden shelf is a thick piece of wood stuck in the ground, and then the upper part is nailed horizontally with a wooden branch, the overall height is the same as that of an adult.

He drew his broadsword, placed it under a tree, and began to get used to swinging it, the broadsword clenched in both hands seemed a little larger, and it was estimated that it would be a few more years before he could use it.

Although the speed of swinging the sword is not fast, there are gusts of wind in the air, and there is a decent appearance, which should be professionally guided.

First, he practiced swordsmanship a few times, his body was a little hot, then he put down his sword, pressed his legs, stretched his ligaments, and then trotted around the woods a few times before returning to the place where he put his sword.

Seeing that it was about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, he went to a mountain spring not far away to drink some water, and then leaned under the tree to prepare to rest for a while.

At this moment, a small figure slowly walked from the woods behind him, not fast, but his steps were so light that he couldn't even hear a sound.

The figure slowly approached the tree on which the boy was leaning, holding the short sword in his right hand, his left hand stretched out in the air. Seeing it getting closer and closer, the boy didn't seem to notice, still leaning against the trunk of the tree, closing his eyes and recuperating.

Seeing that he was defenseless from the figure approaching from behind, he was secretly happy in his heart and was about to attack him.

"Drink!"

In the silent woods, the young man opened his eyes, and suddenly screamed, very suddenly, scaring the figure behind him, and his feet stepped on the dead leaves, making a sound, and before he could react, the young man in front picked up the sword in his hand, got up and slashed back, he could only rush to fight, and blocked with the short sword in his hand.

But how can a light and thin short sword compare to a heavy broadsword, after a simple two blows, the short sword is knocked away, and it falls on the gravel next to it, and the hilt of the sword bounces slightly, and then falls, standing still. And the boy also aimed his broadsword at this figure as himself.

"Haha, I won this time, Roque." The teenager excitedly announced victory.

"Cut."

Looking at the broadsword aimed at him, Roque turned his head dissatisfied.

"Just once, what's there to be happy about."

"No, no, you can't forget, Roque." The boy waved his sword triumphantly and continued.

"I said okay, if I win, you will agree to be my entourage."

"You still know, you lost to me so many times before, why don't you see you as my retinue." Roque said dissatisfied.

"This ......" the boy was stunned for a moment before speaking.

"Because Uncle Wade is my father's chief of guard, your words shouldn't be ......"

"What should I have, on what basis? I won't be like my dad, stupid, I don't want to do any bullshit entourage. Speaking of which, Roque was a little excited.

"Isn't the chief of the guard good? I'm usually not very tired, and I can go to banquets with me to eat and drink. The boy put down his sword, a little puzzled.

"What if I go, those ladies of noble families won't take a fancy to me, they just want to marry those noble heirs who have fiefs."

"Besides, Isaiah, you are only the third in line, and the title will not be inherited by you, so it is too promising to follow you."

Pierced his heart, hearing this, the boy was also a little depressed.

The Verdant Empire was a hierarchical class society, with a huge disparity in the rights between nobles and commoners. For example, many schools only admit the children of the nobility, and if the children of the commoners are recruited at the same time, the nobles will not let their children go to this school or study under the name of the teacher.

Because the tribe does not like to see their children sitting in the same classroom as those wild children of unknown origin, thinking that it will bring them badly. There are also fancy restaurants, libraries, and even shops.

If you are an ordinary person in the verdant world, then there are many places in this country that you do not have access to, and so are many benefits.

Walking on the streets, the nobles had special passages, the carriages met at the intersections, the nobles should be given priority to advance, etc., this inequality was manifested everywhere in society, and even the laws of the empire clearly wrote that human life was not equal, and some people wanted to be honorable.

It stands to reason that such a system should accumulate a lot of contradictions and resentment between classes, but the builders of the empire cleverly designed many channels for ascension. For example, with a very complete military merit system, fighting a war can not only obtain wealth, but also the respect of others, and the accumulated military merits can make people rise to the ranks of nobles.

The benefits of nobility inspired groups of people to set foot on the battlefield and fight hard to gain military merits and change their fate. This also allowed the Verdant Empire to greatly suppress anti-war sentiment at home in the early days and improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

At the same time, in addition to military merits, excellent craftsmen, priests, scholars, and high-ranking transcendents could also be granted nobility, stripping them from the civilian class.

In this way, the aristocracy used various channels to recruit the most elite and outstanding people in the country, and there were no transcendents or masters among the commoners, and naturally they could not make any waves.

And most commoners also recognize this concept, the reason why nobles are nobles is indeed powerful, diligent and dare to fight. Many commoners also educate their children to strive to become nobles in the future.

The privileges of the nobility are also divided into three, six and nine, and the top is naturally the royal family, the four ducal families, and then the lower row, earls, viscounts, barons, and a large number of lords who cannot be hereditary. At the same time, the nobility would also pay a considerable tax according to the rank and number of family registrations to pay for their welfare, in a sense the privilege of nobility was bought with money.

If the tax is not paid enough, the title will be demoted until it becomes a commoner, which is again a means of recovering the title.

Relying on this unequal treatment, but also giving a certain hope, constantly inspiring the commoners, and even the small nobles to continue to climb upward, the Verdant Empire maintained a high vitality, and continued to iterate forward in internal and external competition, and finally defeated the country of Oz and became the strongest country on the continent.