A huge swift bird grunted dissatisfiedly. The saddle on its body made it very uncomfortable, but when it saw Buso's gesture, it still lay down honestly.

"Then what to do? Just feed the ground lizard to it?" Nicole held a half-dead ground lizard in her delicate hands and asked Buso next to her. She could test ride this big bird right away, allowing her to both

Exciting and sweet.

You know, this is the first time someone has ridden such a big bird. Even Nelson was a little jealous, but Victor gave her this opportunity with just one word.

Nicole wears a tight-fitting women's rhinoceros leather soft armor. This kind of leather armor lacks defensive power, but it is light and flexible, so it must be designed to fit the human body. When worn on the tall female knight, it also highlights her long legs and waist.

, the breasts are perky and the buttocks are perky, making Victor particularly hot-eyed.

With Buso's approval, Nicole fed the ground lizard in her hand to the Swift Bird lying on the ground, then quickly turned over and climbed onto the saddle, shaking the reins. The Swift Bird also immediately stood up, and raised its head to kill ten birds.

The heavy ground lizard swallowed it whole, let out a loud cry, spread its legs and started running.

Seeing Nicole's strong figure and quick movements, Victor secretly sighed.

After all, he is a knight, and his recovery ability is amazing. Last night, he was still in pain when we were having sex. Today, he was like a normal person and rushed to test ride the Swift Bird... Actually, I want to ride it too.

"Victor, I didn't expect that you actually tamed the Swift Bird?!" Edwin couldn't help but exclaimed when he saw Nicole riding the Swift Bird up a hill in the blink of an eye.

"Well, to be honest, I'm also surprised. I didn't expect the villagers' group's domestication progress to be so fast." Victor said with some pride.

What a surprise! The Swift Bird was originally the mount of the mountain light cavalry of the Nairel Empire. Auxiliary Buso knew the habits of this chocobo very well, so domesticating it was naturally a matter of course.

Bruce carefully observed the running movements of the Swift Bird, his eyes solemn.

He found that the speed of the Swift Bird was slightly faster than that of the war horse, but the advantage was not big. However, its balance ability was excellent and it could pass through complex terrain perfectly. For example, it carried Nicole up a hill with little effort, and it

When going down the mountain, its huge wings can help it slow down and maintain balance. The rider can sit firmly on its back and will not fall down at all. The Swift Bird is taller than a war horse, and its feathers are tough, which means it can easily

It can pass through thorny bushes without being scratched. The huge and strong bird's claws firmly grasp the ground, which makes its body very stable. Even when making sharp turns, the rider will not feel too bumpy.

This will make mounted shooting easier, faster, and more accurate.

Although he still doesn't know the endurance of the Swift Bird, Bruce can also be sure that in a hilly environment, the value of this mount is far more than that of a war horse!

"Sir Knight, do you want to give it a try? We can also hold another one." Seeing the knight's glaring look, Dean, the village leader standing aside, said enthusiastically.

Dean's words surprised Bruce. He had some impression of this farmer. Three months ago, he was a humble and cowardly freeman, but now he dared to take the initiative to talk to him.

"No, you go and do your work."

Dean bowed to Bruce, but being rejected by the knight did not make him feel depressed. Instead, he loudly called on the villagers under him to do something.

Bruce has felt that the civilians who traveled with him have begun to become more confident and proactive. They are no longer as submissive and gloomy as before. Like the sky clearing after the rain, they have begun to have their own color. And this change is just

Three months' time.

"Victor, you are surprised, but I am not surprised at all! Look, your men were still half-dead free people a few months ago. They did not even dare to make their voices heard when faced with the bullying of villains. But now, they

After taming swift birds, establishing camps and villages, reclaiming wasteland, and finding several crops that had never been discovered before, I knew that the free people were as intelligent as we are, but my colleagues in the White Tower turned a blind eye to this.

!" Edwin said to Victor with some excitement. The old scholar had been trying to persuade his colleagues in the White Tower to collect and organize the knowledge and skills spread among the common people, but he was ridiculed by most people.

"Master, you haven't answered my question about the free people and the church yesterday. You know that I don't have a deep understanding of the church, nor am I an experienced lord. Please tell me how I should deal with the relationship with the church.

relationship." With that said, Victor solemnly bowed to Edwin with a noble salute.

"Victor, as a lord, you have agreed to join the White Tower camp. It's time to tell you some things." Edwin adjusted his emotions and said to Victor.

Without waiting for Victor's orders, Nelson dispersed the surrounding crowd and called for guards to stand guard around the area.

"Master, I'm listening." Victor cast an appreciative look at Nelson and said to Edwin.

"Let's talk about free people first. Free people are refugees. These people are actually landless civilians. They have a difficult life, but they have an endless stream of people. Do you know why?"

Edwin did not wait for Victor to answer and continued: "The fundamental reason is land. Land is limited but the population is growing. When the land in a territory is not enough to feed all the people, extra people become a need.

Free people who make a living on their own. You see, after several generations of lords in a barony, this territory will gradually be divided up, and there will be no extra land. At this time, even the children of the vassal family will

They may need to fend for themselves, not to mention the lower-level subjects."

"But the vassals did not want their children to become humble free people. Their will would affect their lord. At this time, development and annexation became the lord's only choice, and the war broke out. If it was between two lords

In an inter-war war, the loser will lose his land, and his vassals and subjects will become free people."

"Don't expect the victors to take in those subjects and vassals. Their own vassals will not allow such a thing to happen. These people need more land to feed their descendants, even if their descendants have not been born yet, all

Vassals are xenophobic."

Hearing this, Victor nodded. He finally understood why Emperor Lant had seized the land in the three provinces in the east of Cambies, but did not take in the people, but drove them all away. Because he needed these

Land to appease the lords and generals who worked for him.

"It is true. After the fall of the three eastern provinces, more than 120,000 people were displaced. Most of them migrated to the Centaur Territory. However, our York family only accepted 18,000 people in addition to the original more than 50,000 people.

There are many people. Although the land here is more than the three eastern provinces combined, the reality is that the vast majority of lords are unwilling to accept more free people." Bruce nodded.

Victor was silent. When he came to take office, there were countless free people outside Black Castle Town waiting to be recruited. Unfortunately, there were very few lords willing to recruit.

Think about it, if a family does not have enough land reserves and cannot even retain its own blood knights, how will it face attacks from other families?

"Victor, don't think that because your territory is vast, you can accept free people at will. You must know that our York family's territory is several times larger than yours, with more than 60,000 citizens and vassals, but we only have more than 3,000 soldiers.

, Mrs. Sylvia believes that this is the limit. Any more will affect the family's development potential. You cannot control more free people with your current strength. You need to use land to recruit knights to guard the territory for you, and then you can

Consider recruiting more citizens."

Worried that Victor had committed the problem of kindness again and went to Black Castle to recruit more free people, Bruce sincerely warned that during this time together, he had already regarded Victor as a friend.

"Since land is so precious, why don't we open up more territory?" Victor nodded gratefully to Bruce and couldn't help but ask again.

"Haha, little Victor, I told you a long time ago that the Centaur Hills is not a wilderness. There are very few monsters here. You can't even imagine how dangerous the wilderness is." Edwin laughed.

"Beyond the mountains in the north of the Na'ville Kingdom, there is a vast expanse of land. However, over the past hundreds of years, the Na'ville Kingdom has built countless fortresses in the mountains, not to defend against the Sasanians, but to defend against powerful foreigners.

"

"You have seen goblins, but I'm afraid you don't know that countless pioneer knights have died at the hands of goblins for thousands of years. In the real wilderness, there are thousands of goblins in any goblin tribe, and the hobgoblin among them is

and bugbears account for a large proportion. What’s more, there are also terrifying ogres among them.”

Victor has seen goblins, but he has never seen hobgoblins and bugbears, but he knows that hobgoblins are intelligent, and bugbears are all violent monsters!

"If the forest men and horses hadn't withdrawn from the men and horses hills by themselves, the Kingdom of Cambis wouldn't have dared to make any plans here. Even when the Lant Empire was at its strongest, it would have suffered a bloody blow in front of the forest men and horses. You must know that the orcs

The ratio of violence to violence is astonishing."

Edwin's words shocked Victor extremely, and he finally realized that the difficulties of human beings in this world were beyond his imagination.

"So, the cost of war between lords is much lower than the cost of opening up the wilderness. No wonder the Sasan Empire did not open up the eastern wilderness, but chose to go south to launch a war." Victor murmured.

"Indeed!" Edwin said seriously.

Victor could understand the meaning behind this heaviness. The most common soldiers died in the lords' war, but very few knights died in battle.

First of all, knights are much stronger than ordinary people. They are difficult to be killed by ordinary soldiers in battle. Even if the soldiers fight in formation, the knights can't beat them, but they can still run away. Ordinary people can't catch up with the speed of the knights, not to mention the perverted knights.

The physical strength. And the battles between knights, unless it is a duel between knights, are rarely fought to the death. Even if they are captured, they can be ransomed by their families.

In short, such a war reduces the number of civilians regardless of winning or losing, thereby easing the contradictions caused by population growth. As long as the knights of the family are still there, even if they lose the war, they still have a chance to make a comeback.

If you are opening up the wilderness, the situation will be different. Those monsters are all cannibals. They will not negotiate a tacit understanding with the lord. Knights can be eaten by them as well, and the taste is better.

The knight is very strong, but when faced with a group of bugbears, there is little possibility of escaping. One relies on his fighting spirit to burst out with terrifying power, and the other relies on his own abnormal physique. When the knight's fighting spirit is almost exhausted,

I can only drink my anger on the spot.

Therefore, when the human world is not unified, no lord will open up the wilderness on a large scale, because once he consumes his own strength, he will not be able to escape the fate of being annexed, and war within mankind becomes the option to alleviate conflicts.

.

As a result, there is an endless stream of free people. This is the current situation.

"Victor, this is the world of lords. It is completely different from the luxurious and comfortable life in the royal capital. You must become stronger as soon as possible, otherwise..."

"I understand!" Victor said solemnly, and Bruce's deep eyes made him shiver.

After a while, Edwin broke the silence between the three of them and asked Victor: "Victor, do you know what a noble is?"

"Nobles are knights!" Victor said in a deep voice. He had already thought about this issue.

"Yes! Knights are nobles, and nobles are knights. We are the natural leaders of mankind, because we have talents and powers that ordinary people do not have. This power continues in our blood and gives humans the ability to fight against monsters and orcs.

We have the confidence, so we become nobles and lords." Edwin nodded and said, it was natural and righteous.

Victor couldn't help but want to cover his face. The old scholar seemed to have forgotten that he, like Victor, did not have the talent to awaken the knight.

"Why don't we spread this bloodline talent to more people?" Victor asked nagging.

Victor, from a modern point of view, knights are really awesome. Since they are so awesome, why not let more people become awesome? By then, all the orcs and monsters can be wiped out.

!

I really think about the future of mankind! I don’t want to be a breeding horse, oh no, I don’t want to be a breeding cow! Victor said to himself in his heart.

Victor just listened to Edwin's passionate propaganda and wanted to cover his face but didn't, but after hearing Victor's words, Edwin covered his face instead...

"Victor, the purer the knight's bloodline, the greater the possibility of awakening talents, and the higher the degree of elemental affinity. Moreover, there are high and low levels of knight's bloodline. For example, golden knights frequently appear in the bloodlines of the three major royal families, and

The royal family of the Rand Empire has even had golden knights who entered the realm of legend, twice!" Bruce explained to Victor.

"I really don't know, what did Sophia teach you? Didn't she even tell you such basic common sense?"

Edwin said angrily: "You have to know how many lords even sacrificed their daughters and wives in order to obtain the blood of the Golden Knight! Some dilapidated nobles even intermarry with incest in order to restore their family's glory! You can imagine

Don’t you understand the importance of a knight’s pure bloodline?”

"Besides, it is difficult for knights to give birth. If you let Nicole get pregnant, I guarantee that she will give birth to the child!" Edwin said coldly, and he added in his heart, especially for someone with ancient blood like you, it is difficult to give birth to a child.

It's even harder.

This time Victor really covered his face...

He knew it would be like this! After a night of lingering, the last bit of youthful temperament on Nicole's body has completely faded away. The current female knight's smile is so charming that even a blind man knows what happened last night.

"Common sense has been given to you. Now I'll tell you an open secret from the White Tower camp."

After Edwin coughed, he continued: "Actually, in the era of the Chosen One, we knights were all subordinates of the wizard!"
Chapter completed!