The villages that Archmage Kadmos obtained as part of the deal were located just outside of Westbridge. Originally, they belonged to one of Varre’s uncles, who perished during the tragic birthday dinner that ended much of the dynasty.

  The Crownlands were already spread out across the entire kingdom. Much of them lay in the fertile and productive South, but the entire kingdom was a patchwork of lands belonging to different noble families. By inheriting the lands of so many different powerful and wealthy royals all at once, Varre actually managed to bring many of these disparate places closer together. The two villages outside of Westbridge were just one example.

  In a way, it was a heavy price to pay just to access a few mages for the war effort. In the worst case scenario, if Kadmos got too used to such bribes, he might refuse to do anything in the future before getting paid first. Varre was a bit more hesitant of this option when preparing for the meeting. He worried about paying too high a price for this deal.

  The actual agreement however, was better than the king had feared. If Kadmos ended up building an entirely new magical academy right next to the capital, that would only result in an influx of new mages in the future. They would serve the nation well.

  Especially if Varre managed to create a better working relationship with the Archmage. Or replaced him, with a more suitable candidate.

  Regardless, for now, he achieved his short term goal. He could freely employ wizards into his army. Unfortunately, Kadmos wasn’t kidding about the problems with manpower. There was only a handful of mages in the capital and not all of them were interested in joining the war effort.

  Varre worked closely with Elvira to analyze their skills and find the best ways to utilize them. They managed to hire a pair of communicators. They specialized in sending magical messages over long distances. Once the army left the capital, one could be left behind to better coordinate the situation back home and react to unexpected developments. Several more mages would travel with the army, using their offensive spells to bring waste to enemy lines.

  Finally, to the king’s surprise, he saw two familiar faces amongst the applicants. The twins, Zarkon’s assistants, have come to support him.

  “What are you girls doing here?” he asked, as soon as he noticed them standing between the others.

  “Zarkon sent us,” Jury explained.

  “He said it wouldn’t be a great advertisement of his healing services, if you went and died just a few months after his procedure,” Perry smiled.

  “Oh no, we wouldn’t want that,” Varre joked, “I’d hate to hurt his business.”

  Jury bowed. “I’m glad we understand each other.”

  “It’s nice to see old Zarkon following up on his favorite patient, but why hasn’t he come here in person? Is he staying home?” Varre scratched the back of his head.

  “The master said that he’s too old for war. But he trusts you’ll achieve victory in no time,” Perry explained.

  “Fine. And you two?” the king grinned, “do you doubt me?”

  Jury shrugged. “He said we could use the training.”

  “And that we’d learn something useful,” Perry added.

  “Great!” Varre clapped his hands, “then since you’re getting paid in experience…”

  “Oh no! None of that,” Jury stopped him, “we’ve already negotiated our salary with your Court Mage.”

  “And we didn’t give you any friendship discounts either,” Perry winked.

  The king grasped his heart. “My coffers! You cruel witches!”

  The trio continued laughing and joking together. Varre was missing this. Though he had plenty of fun exploring the city’s taverns with Nilo and the others, the twins were still the first friends he made in this world. Though their positions in society have radically changed since then, he was glad that they could still act as they did back in that manor.

  Though he’s only been a king for a couple of weeks so far, it was a very different lifestyle to what he was doing as a duke. And that was already on a whole another level compared to Earth. It was nice to get some small reminder of the peaceful and lazy olden days, even if these days haven’t been gone that long.

  -*-*-*-

  Over the following weeks, as Varre inspected his soldiers’ training together with Captain Hakon he discovered another issue. The army needed commanders.

  As the king, he was naturally expected to lead his men into battle. This was obvious to everyone, even Varre. Yet even then, everyone realized that not every king was a genius of tactics or strategy. He needed advisors.

  Normally, the other high ranking nobles joining the army could fulfill that role. Wars and small conflicts were common, so older aristocrats were often experienced veterans. Even if they had no spark of intrinsic genius, they often had good advice.

  However, since Varre did not call on his vassals directly, these potential commanders would stay back home. He’d need to find another alternative.

  The first choice was Hakon. As the captain of the Royal Guard, he was well experienced with matters of security. He’d been following Mikkel III to every battlefield for the last twenty years. Even before he became their leader, he worked as a regular guard, protecting the monarchy with his life. Though he’d never lead any troops directly into battle, he was included in enough planning meetings to have learned something useful.

  Still, he shouldn’t be the primary advisor. He’ll have his hands full with security issues already. He’ll need to be ready to respond to sudden reports, and spend as much of his time as possible on fortifying the military camps the king would be staying at. Though he can weigh is with additional advice, he shouldn’t be distracted with drawing up actual battle plans.

  Lester came in with a more innovative idea after talking to Alastair. The young knight was one of the first volunteers to the army. As Varre’s friend, he was fully on his side from the very beginning. Especially since he personally knew the real reason why the former student managed to survive the deadly birthday dinner.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Although Alastair was trained in the matters of combat and had the same understanding of tactics as any other knight of his age, he was inexperienced with actual war. His father on the other hand, was. Henry of Muchelney fought in the brutal war against Langogne twenty years ago. Though he was just a cavalryman on the ground, he knew what to expect. He knew the Western territory well and remembered where the hardest battles were fought. He even recalled which tactics his own commanders used back then to achieve victory. Which ones worked, and which didn’t. He too could contribute valuable advice.

  But even Henry couldn’t manage an actual army on his own. During one of the lengthy council meetings, Varre suggested seeking out potential generals amongst his closest noble supporters. He still wouldn’t call on all of his vassals, but perhaps there were a few willing to lead the army. If the king achieved victory, the generals would bring back glory and prestige. The only problem was ensuring their loyalty.

  Marna had a decent overview of the kingdom’s nobility. She was the one who organized the guest lists for both Mikkel’s funeral, and Varre’s own coronation. But the risk there was far lower. Rather than inviting the most loyal supporters for the ceremonies, she focused on the most influential and important nobility. She didn’t want to accidentally insult anyone by omitting them.

  The Steward had limited knowledge of the aristocrats actual opinions on their current king. That was always Fedlow’s job. As the Alderman, he maintained close connections with powerful nobles across the entire kingdom. And now he was on Clement’s side.

  Here, Varre received assistance from an unexpected source. One evening, after yet another round of fruitless discussions with the Steward, he settled down for dinner together with Nilo, while complaining about this problem.

  “Yeah, I’m not so sure about Nellis,” the young aristocrat said, “he’s always been close to my father.”

  “Really? Marna seemed pretty confident that the baron was on our side,” the king responded, before blowing on his spoon to cool it down, “apparently they hate each other.”

  “I’m certain. They ended their quarrel five years ago,” Nilo nodded to himself, “they’ve even been talking about getting Nellis’s daughter betrothed to one of my cousins.”

  Varre leaned back in his chair and ran a hand down his face. “Damn. And he seemed like our best candidate.”

  “And another thing. I still don’t get why you’ve rejected Jan,” the noble gestured with his hand, “he won an actual battle in the Langogne war, unlike Nellis.”

  “Jan? Count Jan of Ancaster?” the king asked, “I thought he was close friends with one of my uncles. If he thinks I killed his pal…”

  “Nah,” Nilo shook his head, “he hates my father. He was once outbid when he tried to buy some land close to Tresannes. My dad managed to bribe one of Jan’s people and found out exactly how much he was offering. Then he bid just slightly more to rub it in. Jan’s hated my father’s guts ever since. Even called him a snake the last they saw each other.”

  “Really?” Varre scratched his chin.

  “Oh yeah. If my dad says that you were involved in the assassination, then Jan is definitely one of those people who’ll distrust that message. If anything, he believes you more now,” the noble said and picked up his spoon again.

  “How do you know all this anyway?”

  “Heh,” Nilo started playing with his food, “that’s why I’m here in the first place, remember? My father sent me here to build connections for him. I had to know all of his friends. And enemies. I also had to meet new people and make even more friends. That’s how I met you,” he pointed with the spoon.

  That gave Varre a lot to think about.

  Fortunately his friend was right. Count Jan had nothing but disdain for Clement and was eager to join the army, if he could ‘get rid of that traitorous bastard once and for all.’ The aristocrat was fully convinced that Varre was innocent and that Clement was directly involved with the assassination. He wanted to make the bastard pay.

  Over the next weeks, in close cooperation with Nilo, the king managed to identify several more nobles who held various grudges against the traitors. Both Clement and Fedlow were powerful and had a lot of friends, but in the process of getting them, they acquired just as many enemies. And a handful of said enemies were veterans of either the Langogne war, or some of the smaller conflicts that occurred since. Slowly, an experienced core of commanders was forming that could lead the war effort.

  A few, such as Count Jan, hated Clement enough to bring their own troops into the fray. These weren’t huge amounts, but another couple hundred soldiers wouldn’t go to waste. Varre, in the interest of fostering loyalty, paid these soldiers the same rates as all of his other volunteers. He could easily afford it and many were far more experienced than the green peasants. They would offer a nice boost to the army’s strength.

  Soon, yet another opportunity appeared for the crown. As the peasants worked the land collecting the harvest, the newly expanded crownlands started to deliver a massive surplus of grain. Far more than the capital needed. Lester had been tasked with securing new customers for it, but there was plenty of it to go around.

  In most wars, the marching armies fed off the land. Depending on the friendliness of the territory, they either loot, requisition, or rarely buy the needed supplies. If a large enough army travelled through a poor area, or worse, had to stay in one place as they sieged a castle, it could start a devastating famine.

  Varre had no intention of destroying his own lands. Instead, he tasked Lester with organizing steady shipments of supplies to the frontlines. The grain had to be distributed evenly though. After all, the capital couldn’t feed itself and had to rely on imports. The king didn’t want to save the peasants just to starve the cities instead. The quantities and frequency of shipments had to be carefully monitored to ensure that no one went hungry. Fortunately, as the people left the cities to join the troops, they needed a little less food back home.

  The king spent many long nights going over the reports with his Head Merchant. Arranging this shipment while relying on medieval technology was a lot more complicated than he expected. The Crownlands consisted of properties spread out across the entire nation. Including in the rebellious West. Fortunately, Lester was well suited to the task, thanks to his experience as a merchant. He organized caravans and shipments to granaries, while Varre went over his work and offered suggestions.

  Eventually, the Head Merchant would stay behind in the capital, to continue his work, while Varre travelled West with the army. He needed to be confident that Lester could handle it. Fortunately, he was doing an excellent job so far.

  In between all these other tasks, Kerryn continued his relentless training sessions. The king’s time was limited, so the coach made sure to double the intensity to make up for it. Lora and Elvira understood the assignment well and continued drilling the monarch too.

  As the harvest came to its conclusion, Elvira performed yet another talent check on the king. His energy went up by a lot, approaching the twenty minute mark.

  The intensive training managed to increase his natural strength, dexterity, speed, and even toughness. Though he wasn’t extremely muscular yet, the difference was clearly visible compared to when he had started out. On top of that, the enhanced attributes went up significantly. Now, when Varre powered himself up, he became over twice as strong. He was also more resilient. Though he couldn’t exactly punch through walls, he could hit some harder surfaces without breaking the skin on his fists. Especially the wooden training poles available in the courtyard.

  He spent a lot of time sparring and was beginning to understand the flow of combat. He still couldn’t beat anyone experienced in a fair duel, but Kerryn could no longer hold one arm behind his back during their matches. He had to actually take it seriously.

  Benjamin made sure to copy the results of the talent check, onto a piece of paper.

  - - - - -

  Status:

  Varre of Logres

  Energy: 18/18

  - - - - -

  Attributes:

  Strength: 14 | 29

  Dexterity: 11 | 15

  Speed: 11 | 14

  Toughness: 12 | 22

  Power: 6 | 9

  Aura: 9 | 12

  Luck: 25 | 25

  - - - - -

  Abilities:

  Strange Mind

  - - - - -

  Hopefully, they'll provide some useful advice in the battles to come.

  He's had six weeks to prepare, until the harvest season finished.

  He couldn't train as hard as before, but every little bit of extra power will help.