Chapter 13: The Pattern of the Empire

Thank you for your concern. 】

Iniesta is thirty-five years old at Chinese New Year's Eve, just seven years after receiving the title of baron.

Having lived in a poor village with his mother and grandfather since he was a child, he understands the plight of the common people very well. He was born in the village of Indigo, his grandfather was the village chief, and the suave Viscount passed through the village after returning from a hunt in the volcanic lava area, and the drunken viscount raped the village chief's slightly beautiful daughter, and then he had Iniesta.

The woman whom the Viscount had sex with gave birth to a son to the Viscount, and no one dared to touch it. But the poverty of the village of Iniesta filled Iniesta's childhood with painful memories. Because, no one told him who his father really was.

When Iniesta was thirteen years old, a gang of bandits attacked and harassed the village, and Iniesta escaped by hiding in a hole under the stove, but his mother was killed by the bandits, and his grandfather was beheaded by the bandits.

The village of Indiya was burned, and the villagers who had fled into the mountains and forests returned to the village after the bandits had left, and rescued Iniesta.

Iniesta, who lost his home at once and all his loved ones, hated the bandits to the extreme.

A kind-hearted blacksmith in the village secretly told him that the viscount who lived in the city of Descending Dragon was his real father, and the news shocked Iniesta.

He originally wanted to go to those bandits for revenge, but then he thought about it, he would die in vain, and if he had the backer of the Viscount, there would be hope for revenge.

After several rounds, Iniesta arrived in Descending Dragon City, and finally succeeded in recognizing his relatives with a jade pendant left by his mother, and became the third noble young master of the viscount.

That year, Iniesta was thirteen years old.

Iniesta's life in his new home was not satisfactory, but fortunately, one of the Viscount's warriors discovered that he had a talent for warriors, and from then on, Iniesta and his two brothers, Guta and Ruta, entered the Fengyun Academy in Dulong City.

Guta and Ruta were several years older than Iniesta, and there was no affection between the three brothers.

However, hatred and past experiences led Iniesta to study hard in the academy, and at the age of fifteen, he successfully cultivated his fighting spirit and officially became a first-class warrior, and at the age of eighteen, Iniesta was already a third-level warrior, graduated successfully, and became a member of the warrior guild.

His two brothers, Guta became a second-level magician, and Ruta became a second-level thief. Both joined the guild.

The fact that the three brothers graduated and joined the three major guilds made Viscount Ebreth very proud. With three sons with unlimited potential, it is the pride of the old viscount. He vowed to expand his territory tenfold.

However, the Viscount's arrogant words soon turned into a joke, and became the laughing stock of those aristocratic lords in Dulong City who were richer and more powerful than him.

The fief obtained by Viscount Ebreth has nineteen towns, a population of nearly 300,000, two iron ore mines, bordering the southern part of the volcanic lava field, the land is very barren, and the production is not abundant.

A large part of the Viscount's income comes from the two mines, so there is a lot of gold coins spent on the mines every year, and it is a big expense to maintain two armed armies of 1,000 people to guard the mines.

This is not the main reason for the failure of Lord Viscount's rhetoric.

Although the Viscount's territory is a grant from the Empire, it is located in the volcanic plain, bordering the dangerous volcanic lava area to the south, and the other three lords bordering the territory are all powerful earls and viscounts, and one-third of the annual income of the viscount in order to protect himself was given to Count Amanda, so the viscount's rhetoric to conquer and expand the territory was completely frustrated and became a joke.

However, having three sons who have been assessed and certified by the three major guilds still makes the life of the Viscount of the Dragon Descending Territory a little more stable.

The White Dragon Empire, at the beginning of its founding, had three grand dukes, eleven marquises, thirty-four counts, and as many as two hundred and seventy-five viscounts like Ebreth.

The territory of the White Dragon Empire is composed of four major blocks: the Volcanic Plain, the Tiger Mountain Plain, the Wolf Mountain Plain, and the Volcanic Canyon.

The largest lord of the Volcanic Plains is Duke Bard, the largest lord of the Tiger Mountain Plain is Duke Barlow, and the Wolf Mountain Plain is controlled by Duke Barry.

The three plains, the most fertile and the most mineral-rich land have been divided among the three dukes, who have long raised a strong and well-equipped army of more than 100,000 people, and the mansion has long enshrined a large number of high-level magicians and high-level warriors and high-level thieves, and the marquis, earls, and viscounts of the entire White Dragon Empire have to selectively take refuge in the three dukes in order to seek protection.

Like Count Amanda, the backer of Lord Viscount Ebreth, he relied on Duke Bard.

The king of the White Dragon Empire controls the volcanic canyon, and his princes and princesses can only be allowed to open up territories close to the volcanic canyon area when they become adults, and the imperial capital Panlong is three thousand miles away from the volcanic canyon.

Strictly speaking, the Volcanic Canyon area was the domain of the royal family. There are also various mines and farms, but the hot temperatures have forced the dukes of the three plains to form slave hunting teams and sell a large number of slaves to the royal family, becoming the subjects of the territory opened up by the princes and princesses.

The old king Bazel, a total of four princes, three princesses, four of whom and two princesses have carved out a large territory in the volcanic canyon, and a young princess is in the Panlong Academy, which is said to be extremely talented in magic.

Bazel himself is a third-level great magician. The three major guilds were firmly in the hands of the old king, and became his weapon to control the three dukes.

The materials and gold coins sent to Panlong every year by the three major plains and territories are the main source of income for the royal family, of course, no one knows whether the income of the three major guilds has been intervened by the royal family.

It is an indisputable fact that the White Dragon Empire is rampant with bandits.

Moreover, there are always large undeveloped areas in the three plains, which is the source of frequent wars between lords and lords.

An undeveloped area often means minerals, resources, and wealth. Of course, especially the exhaustive savages are more popular with lords of all sizes, and once captured and turned into slaves, they are sent to Panlong as golden gold coins.

The people of the three guilds are also often active in undeveloped areas, they are powerful, or alone, or in groups, most of the time the purpose is to find rare ores, or to find various magic herbs and magical beasts. There are very few conflicts between the people of the three major guilds and the lords, and the occasional disputes will be dealt with quickly.

The White Dragons advocate fighting.

Whoever has the big fist will have a sense of what he says. On the premise of not touching the bottom of the imperial regulations, generally speaking, the royal family or the three major dukes will not openly interfere in large and small battles and disputes between the lords within the earl.

As the years of war continued, the territory of the three dukes became wider and wider, with the number of marquis becoming seven, the number of counts becoming fifteen, and the number of viscounts reduced to fifty-three.

This is war and annexation.

Iniesta's father, Viscount Ebreth, has been able to hold on to this day without losing his territory, thanks to the protection of Count Amanda.

Every year, the Dragon Descending Territory can produce nearly sixty tons of iron ore, 90% of which are sent to Dulong City by the Viscount, and the Viscount also needs to hand over 300,000 gold coins to the Earl every year. It was precisely because of this that Lord Ebrath barely managed to keep the Dragon Descending Territory and kept himself from disappearing from the list of nobles.

Although they all rely on Duke Bard, Lord Amanda has several quite strong enemies, Earl Bill and Count Blanche have been eyeing Amanda's territory, and recently the three have broken out in the area of Longquan Forest, which is said to be for a rare magic essence mine.

Demon Essence Ore is an ore that can be smelted to make magic items, weapons, and armor, and is quite rare. The Longquan Forest is a dangerous place no less than the volcanic lava region, it belongs to the undeveloped territory, there are hundreds of thousands of wild people active there, and the army of ordinary lords does not dare to approach it at all.

Iniesta's good mood lasted for four or five days before it came to an end.

The good mood was mainly due to the fact that the slave catchers in the three towns had sent thousands of bandit heads one after another, although among them he could not find the heads of the bandit leaders and leaders he most wanted to see, Iniesta was still very excited.

Iniesta set a very low tax on the three towns under his jurisdiction, which made him scolded every time he saw the viscount. Compared to his two elder brothers, Iniesta contributed very little to his father's Dragon Falling City, and it was for this reason that he only received the territory of three towns.

But Iniesta does not regret it.

One of the things he wanted to do most was to eliminate the bandits in his territory, and if there was ambition, then this was probably Iniesta's greatest ambition. As for his father's title, Iniesta never had an idea, although he had the right to inherit, but there were Guta and Ruta in front of him, and he could only rank third.

Iniesta didn't know what the reason for the slave catcher team in the three towns was, and suddenly became mighty, and these days he actually killed all the bandits, which made Iniesta very excited, to be able to eliminate the bandits in his territory, and to return the people to a relatively peaceful environment, and to avenge his mother and grandfather, which is Iniesta's wish for many years.

Iniesta's cultivation is the Golden Dou Qi, the Golden Dou Qi is sharp and fierce, and after all these years of continuous cultivation, Iniesta feels that he will break through the bottleneck and advance to the fourth level. However, the expensive warrior nutrient solution, the worst of which costs a hundred gold coins a bottle, can only be taken for three days, and Iniesta cannot afford to consume it at all. So, despite his desperate desire to advance, there was nothing he could do.

Sisan Castle is an ancient castle that is said to be nearly 800 years old. The city had more than 14,000 inhabitants and 3,000 troops of Iniesta stationed.

On Iniesta's side, two people can often be seen, one is the third-level magician Kari and the other is the third-level warrior Cora.

Kari is forty-two years old, and can use one second-level magic and three first-level magic, which is the kind of third-level magician who is in the lower category.

Cora is thirty-nine years old, with average combat effectiveness, and often conducts combat training with Iniesta, and the two have their own victories and defeats.

Cora is Kari's magical guard.

At this moment, Baron Iniesta, who was in a good mood, was discussing things with Kari and Cora in the study with a sad face.

Thirty-five-year-old Iniesta is 1.80 meters tall, with blond hair, a slightly pale face, and a beard that makes him look more imposing.

"Kari, what do you think I should do? or not?" asked Iniesta, absent-mindedly, fiddling with a rabbit quill.

"My lord, it's obvious that Guta and Luta are making ghosts out of it, and they went to Longquan Forest to participate in the war, just people like us, even if we go to 10,000 people, we will never return. Kari said indignantly.

"However, have you ever thought about it, if the Lord doesn't take someone to the Dragon Descending, what will the Lord Viscount think? Originally, Lord Viscount has a deep prejudice against adults, and in my opinion, it is better for Lord Viscount to think about it carefully. Cora said cautiously.

"Alas, I had hoped to destroy the bandits, so I would take my men to the north bank of the Toussaint River to open up a new territory, but now it seems that this plan will not be realized. Iniesta sighed heavily.

There was a sudden silence in the study.

Suddenly, the voice of the old butler outside the study sounded: "My lord, the soldiers defending the city have come to report that a bandit warrior has brought the head of the bandit leader and leader to receive the bounty!"

"What?"

The three people in the study, Huo Di, stood up, all showing expressions of disbelief.

The leader of the bandits, a fifth-level warrior, was actually killed?