There is a foundation day celebration banquet that will be held at the end of the week in the palace. The emperor was very insistent that Victor joins the banquet especially as he was the one who did not accept a debut banquet and the prime minister and the emperor thinks this is a good opportunity for him to meet all the nobles. They were still feeling guilty about the whole thing and still thought of ways to rectify all the wrongdoings that were done to him as the third prince has lost so much that most princes and princesses have undergone. Now everyone in the noble society wanted to come because the emperor also insisted the rest of his children be there, except for the nineteenth prince who is still an infant. Because of the high death rates for young infants, it is often not recommended for the mothers and the babies to meet other people until they are older. However, Victor finds the whole thing tedious. He has many things to prepare to overtake the duchy and he has no time to deal with these nobles since the isolated location of the duchy meant he never had to deal with them at all in the future.

One of the things has to prepare for is the slow transition of getting the position into his hands. He can’t travel to his territory until after his marriage that was arranged for the next month so he has to send letters to the only vassal nobles who will be under him – a count who lived in the duchy and the magistrate that Victor doesn’t trust. He was already aware that the magistrate was the cause of the corruption in this territory. But he can’t exactly deal with him and what he has done until he meets the man.

Aside from the funds, he has access to his duchy assets in the capital which include two manors. It is common for nobles to travel regularly between the capital and their territories so it is better to have a place to stay that belongs to them. This is safer than staying at an inn or a tavern. Most of the time, nobles stay in the capital and their territories are managed by the right people who bring the income for them. This is something Victor does not have. He does not have all the right people yet (even his current housing requires some house management but he lacked the servants to help him) and he has no idea what is the current situation of his territory to assess what income he can use to build it up. Plus, he doesn’t trust the magistrate to handle those affairs which is why he has communicated most of those issues with the Count and not the magistrate.

The one Victor is planning to stay in temporarily is one of the manors which has a large patch of land behind them. Because of neglect, there were no beautiful gardens like most noble manors, and the land behind them could be used for farming. There was a row of dormitories which is where the knights and other guards would stay. Although he was offered a place to stay in the palace, Victor declined. Living there would mean he will be in the vicinity of all hose nobles and the scheming concubines and a noble consort. He does not have the time to deal with all those dramas.

General Aster (because even though he is Marquis now, the Blue Rose and Prince Victor still call him General) also has his land and manor in the capital but even combined with the prince, they don’t have enough land to hold all 500 soldiers so most of them are staying at the Blue Rose base. Thankfully, the emperor has allowed them to stay in the barracks even though they should have been dissolved already. They are just lucky that the emperor seems to be attentive whenever Prince Victor wanted something.

The army already knows that they are now the soldiers under the Velgras duchy (the name of the prince's new territory) and the new Marquis Aster. But the prince was not asking all of them to be a part of his army. He was willing to support other careers or jobs the soldiers are willing to take but only when they have to work on it in their territory. The general agreed with him that the Blue Rose will be divided between the two of them.

Victor at the start wanted Pietro to become one of his commanders however because he is now a Marquis. That position is better than being a general in the army. Plus, the man has a much more prosperous land than Victors being one of the hubs of agriculture in the capital. Most of the soldiers who followed the general are mostly those who stayed the longest with the general which includes Silas the second in command and those with families. Victor was the one who suggested that those with families stay with the general because his territory might not be suitable for those with families especially if they have children or elderly in the family.

Velgras is not only very far, but it is also very cold and currently in poverty and has limited access to many of the amenities that the capital offers. So, it will be very hard to live there if you have a family to take care of. Not to mention that it borders three countries that the empire does not have a positive relationship with so instability is also a problem. This was intentional since the emperor was not the one who assigned this to him after all but those assholes in the ministry who were out to get him. The soldiers and the general were very understanding of this even though Pietro suggested that the prince take in some of the experienced soldiers but they mostly chose his side and Victor did not like to force people. He has learned in his time in the army and running a multimillion construction company in his Earth life that it is better to have people willing to work for you over forcing them. Plus, it is not like he is leaving them alone. He is going to train them very well. Overall, Victor has at least 300 soldiers who are willing to follow him to Velgras and the other 200 follow the general.

Planning the training was not an easy one because there is no structure available to follow. Victor wanted them to be suitable as knights which is not an easy task because these are not just commoners but many of them were in the army for criminal reasons. Knights were reserved to nobles but Victor does not care about that. Once they are in the territory, he can name them as knights as he wants. With or without a criminal history, they are all good people. They work hard for their time and the fact that most of them were there because they were sold off by their families to pay off a debt or have to commit those crimes due to poverty.

After years of abuse and neglect from the capital, they were now able to gain access to resources they previously did not have, and this included access to better materials and food. With the help of that money, the prince is targeting to bulk up his soldiers and finally build the strength and health they needed. So aside from proper diet (Victor is still a little bit skeptical about Claesian food after years of health and wellness bombarded into him in his Earth life), he also introduced them to some exercises they have to undergo to build their health, and this includes stretching, pushups, jumping jacks, and much more before their regular training of swordsmanship, target practice and hand to hand combat. The soldiers were at first confused when it was introduced and it was funny when they try some of the exercises and fumbled when they try to do pushups. Rufus was not surprised at this. He has seen his young master doing this type of exercise every time he wakes up in the morning. Victor was also very clear about not forcing their bodies and it is important to try it one step at a time. For example today they have one push up maybe tomorrow they can go for two. They are also excused if they are doing heavy manual heavy work during the day as well.

"But what is this formation marching?" Jason asked. "This seems like for aesthetic purposes." He just entered the makeshift room that is currently used as an office in the camp. Victor look up at his best friend and blink and he tried so hard not to laugh.

"It's not funny!" Jason scolded Victor with a pout.