"You horse boy, oh eighteen years old, that's a groom!"

"Even a horse is nobler than you!"

"Don't look at your origins, don't even have a father, do you want to be a knight?" a few young knight squires teased a young man at a stable, and there was a broken wooden riding gun on the ground.

"I don't want to be a knight!" the boy picked up the broken riding spear and walked away, leaving only a group of knight squires and the mocking laughter behind him.

"Mother, I'm back. ”

"Avi, come and see if this cowhide armor fits, I'll let you play knightly games with those young squires. ”

In the stables of the Knights of Goldhoof, Joni, the city's best horse trainer, is hand-sewing a cowhide armor for her son, who is tall and thin.

"I'm already an adult, so I won't play any knight games anymore. Avi's yellowish hair was a little curly, I don't know if it was due to malnutrition or if it was natural, and his slightly childish face was already able to accommodate the well-defined features.

After hearing her son's coming-of-age declaration, Joni didn't dare to smile, and a slight wrinkle had inadvertently crept up on her weather-beaten face, "It's very good-looking, with your father's..."

"Don't mention the people of the past. The optimistic Avi gave a rare look of depression.

Joni: "Okay, just don't mention it, but you have to promise your mother that you must change the accent of 'me', so that it looks good"

"Yes, I agreed!" Avi blurted out before holding his hand to his mouth.

"By the way, mother, I saw a notice posted in the city today, which seems to say that the people of the Kingdom of Salins have killed the marquis's younger brother, and they plan to send an army to fight against it, and they need to prepare war horses on the stable side. Avi placed the broken rifle in the corner of the hut, where some of the knight's paraphernalia were placed, but most of them were old and mutilated.

Joni put down the cowhide armor in her hand, sat up straight and said to her son: "Fighting is not such a child's play, you have to take it seriously and seriously!"

"I... I know, but isn't the Marquis's brother the Baron Burns? ”

Joni said, "Okay, come over and try this cowhide vest." ”

The well-dressed Avi showed a bit of heroism, and his tall and thin figure was very suitable to be a knight.

"Wait a minute, go to the horse farm and train your horsemanship, and let me see if you improve. ”

"Okay!"

The sunset stained the sky red, and most of the people who practiced riding returned home, except for the two mothers and sons, who made the horse farm their home, galloping on the dirt.

Avi rode a silvery-white young mare, whose name was "Winter", and he was only four years old this year, but he was already able to serve, but his pedigree was not so noble - it only contained the genes of the most humble sand horses, so no knight wanted to take it. Avi's skillful equestrianism allowed him to demonstrate horseback riding skills such as back-riding, standing, and unleashing on horseback, while some dangerous maneuvers and a few self-created "horse stunts" were not performed in front of Joni - after all, her mother was a very strict person with herself.

"You have to pay attention, riding a horse is the same as fighting, you have to be serious, serious!"

"I know, I'm going to be the fastest in battle, no one can catch up. Avi's nonchalant appearance worries Joni, after all, her son is eighteen years old, and one day he will gallop forward like a grown horse.

The next morning, Avi woke up early in the morning. Although the stables also work early, he was woken up by the beating of gongs and drums in the city.

"The mercenaries are optimistic, this is a rare opportunity to recruit the regular army, as long as we know how to ride horses, the cavalry of the Oguna Empire is invincible..."

Avi squeezed through the crowd, and the list of recruits read: "Due to the malicious encroachment of the Kingdom of Salins on the authority of the Empire, a conscription order is hereby issued, and the soldiers recruited this time must meet any of the following conditions. 1. It used to be a cavalry in other places. 2. Mercenary status but skilled horsemanship. ”

Avi looked at the first two items, only to find that this recruitment order was quite demanding, and he continued to read.

"3. Civilians who are proficient in horseback riding and have a horse age of more than five years. ”

"Isn't that talking about me? I've been riding horses for more than eighteen years!" Avi counted the days when he was still in his mother's womb, and he couldn't be happy in his heart.

"Hey, aren't you a stable boy, why are you here and not going back to work?"

It was the same young knightly squires from yesterday.

Avi: "You can't take care of it!"

"Oh, you don't want to be a cavalryman, do you?"

"This guy must have been with a horse for a long time and became a horse-like IQ, right?!"

"You haven't woken up, you're still dreaming, aren't you?huh!?"

These young knight squires had all grown up playing with Avi, but when they realized the class difference between them, their original innocence was abandoned far away. And the rest is nothing more than discrimination and debasement of those who think they can increase their worth.

Avi clenched his teeth, he knew very well in his heart that these guys would have a chance to become knights of this huge empire in the future, members of the knights of the nobility, and he...

"Alas, it's unfair, there's no way, lowly fellow—" the most arrogant knight's scolyte was still shouting, when suddenly a woman handed out a sharp sword and put it on his neck.

"What about civilians..."The woman has a gardenia-like tattoo on her neck, she is wearing chain mail, the color of the sword is attached to the left and right sides of the sword by two different colors, and behind her there are three mercenary-looking men in the prime of life.

"Ahh

"Get out of here!" the woman shouted. The knightly attendants crawled and rolled backwards, and the other civilians were attracted by the situation here, and someone whispered, "That woman is a privileged mercenary of the Empire!"

"What's a privileged mercenary?!"

"Those guys generally only do things for the Empire, and they don't belong to the regular army of the Empire, anyway, they are very powerful..."

The woman put her sword back into its scabbard, glanced back at Avi, and turned to leave. Avi immediately ran over to say something to the woman, but was grabbed by a young girl from behind.

"Hey, Avi, is that you, Avi!?" the girl wore a long single ponytail, and her golden hair shone brightly in the sun.

Avi knew who the other party was as soon as he heard the voice - "Miranda!"

The last time the two young men saw each other was two years ago, and Miranda, who is also eighteen years old this year, is only one day older than Avi and is the only daughter of a tourist businessman. Although they are businessmen on one side and grooms on the other, the lively and active two people have long played all over the streets and alleys of Golden Foot City, and they have spent those carefree days together as childhood sweethearts.

Avi follows Miranda back to the shop, a shop that has no owner all year round, because the owner has been out for several years, and the whole family is still on the move. However, there is an old cat "watching the store", and this cat looks like a dumb chicken, very similar to Avi when he was a child.

"Welcome, Avi, I haven't seen you for a while, I've become tall and handsome, ahaha!" The uncle with a small one-sided round glasses was Miranda's father, Charrick, who always hid the shrewdness and alertness of a tourist merchant under his glasses, and his beard was also puffed high.

"Uncle, your beard is almost up to your ears!"

"Avi is here at my house today, let's have dinner together!" Miranda was naturally enthusiastic, and as optimistic and cheerful as Avi, she quickly put this morning's troubles behind her.

Charlik's shop is small on the surface, but there is still a lot of space in the back storage room and back garden. After dinner, the two young men lay on the grass in the back garden, while the old cat who was the gatekeeper came over and lay on Miranda's belly, looking up at the sky of the Oguna Empire.

"I haven't seen you for two years, and you're getting less and less staying, but Dumb is getting a lot older. Miranda stroked the old cat with her hand, and the cat closed her eyes to enjoy the tranquility of the moment.

"It's been two years, and I'm really happy to see you come back safely, you know? Since you were eight years old, every other year I have followed Uncle Charrick out to do business and travel the world, how I envy you. ”

"What's this, although I can see a lot of different things, but the journey is very hard! Dad and Mom's physical strength is so good, I can't keep up..."

Avi crossed his hands behind his head and cushioned it, "But I haven't even left Golden Hoof City, and the farthest place I've ever been to is probably the farm outside the city... Even the cows there see more than I do!"

Miranda glanced at Avi secretly, subconsciously crossed her hands behind her head and said, "Then where do you want to go the most? I've only been to the Kingdom of Salins, the Kingdom of Cosse, the Three Duchies, and the Kingdom of the Church..."

"Wow, that's pretty much all the countries! Then I'd like to go to the Republic, because there... You haven't been..."

"Then far to the west, it will take a few months from the Golden Hoof... Why don't you ask me what I've been to anywhere?" Miranda pouted.

Avi realized that Miranda was a little upset, and he immediately changed the topic, "Ask you, those mercenaries seem to be very strong today?"

Miranda patted the "mediocre" chest and said, "I know this, they are privileged mercenaries! Judging by the marks on their shoulders, they are probably second-class privileged mercenaries!"

"Second-class privileged mercenary, he must have done a lot of earth-shattering things, and he probably even went to the bottom of the sea..."

Miranda laughed, "They're mercenaries, not fish! This nickname was given to Avi by Miranda when he was very young, because Avi would say something inconsistency in a daze.

"But why don't you say 'me'? ”

"I've changed it! This is the 'foot' of cultivation!" Avi, who hadn't read much, couldn't think of a better analogy.

"Even though I'm only eighteen years old, I've wanted to stay at home for a while," Miranda said thoughtfully, "and it's too many days for a girl to travel." ”

"Well, that's good, then you can learn to raise horses from my mother!"

Miranda slapped Avi on the head, "Girls are going to learn to weave!

"It doesn't make a difference, my mom does it anyway. Avi said triumphantly.

"You know what? Avi... Actually, I've been thinking..."

"You know what!?I just suddenly wanted to be a mercenary!" Avi suddenly turned his head to look at Miranda, and found that Miranda was also looking at him, and a trace of anticipation slipped away from Miranda's eyes. And the old cat, as if smelling something familiar, snuck away from Miranda.