After a few days of preparation, the royal entourage prepared to move out yet again. The servants had packed all of the necessary armor, weapons, and equipment, as if they were heading to war. Luckily, the king wouldn’t need to travel on top of his own horse. He wasn’t meant to inspire anyone this time. He could instead enjoy a ride in relative comfort, inside his magnificent eight horse carriage.

  It was absolutely massive. Large enough to comfortably fit Varre, Benjamin, Etty, Elvira and even both of the twins at the same time. Technically, Captain Hakon deserved a spot inside too. He was a member of the council. Regardless, he preferred to travel outside. He wanted to be able to quickly react to any unexpected events. Kerryn the adventurer also chose to remain on his own horse.

  All in all, the entire procession was made up of over one hundred people and around twenty wagons. Besides the king, the advisors each needed servants of their own. So did Esther. Even the Royal Guards were knights at the end of the day and deserved some extra added comfort. They certainly weren’t going to cook their own food.

  The royal carriage was a familiar sight in the city and many curious onlookers watched as it rode down the central boulevard. Varre hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to use since his coronation, so the fact he was riding inside now was a good sign. If he able to move around in comfort, the situation must have been stable.

  The journey to Lindridge would take around four days. On the way, Hakon came up with an additional activity for the king. A last surprise before they set off.

  The captain had spent the last couple of weeks working closely with the newly promoted Duke Jan. As the leading commander of the loyalists during the recent civil war, he was placed in charge of the newly formed royal army. As requested by Varre.

  The pair had to get started on the project immediately. The entire point of doing it now, was to take advantage of the thousands of infantrymen with recent fighting experience. And in particular, the sergeants and other junior officers.

  These men were commoners. Often slightly more educated or skilled than the average peasant, but without noble titles. They often came from the cities and were using the war as an opportunity to earn some extra money. Especially if they came from households with too many children for everyone to inherit a piece of the family business.

  With the rebellion finished, they were going to return home soon. Spread out all over the nation. Instead of scattering them to the wind, it would be best to offer them a chance to remain here and become the core of the new professional army of Logres.

  Not everyone was interested. Some had realized that war was too dangerous for them. Or they simply had saved up enough money to achieve their goals back home. But, as requested, Duke Jan managed to find close to two thousand volunteers.

  There were still a few hundred souls missing, but they could be easily replaced with fresh recruits. The important part was to have a sizeable, experienced nucleus to base everything else around. With time, some of the veteran soldiers would retire or be dismissed, but it would be much easier to repair and replace small sections of the army, rather than build the entire machine from scratch.

  For now, the entire force would be based in a single location. Eventually, smaller units could be dispatched to other areas of the country, to better control it and keep it safe. Before that could happen, Jan first wanted to make sure that the men were properly trained and able to work together.

  The army received a portion of land just outside of the city walls. They didn’t need an entire village, so they simply took over several fields. It was best to keep the military camp close to the capital. This way, in case anything happened in the future, the soldiers would be ready to respond immediately.

  The men had already started working on switching from tents to more permanent structures. They began by building a wooden fence. It mostly served to keep curious onlookers away, rather than any defensive capabilities. Eventually, the walls would be made out of stone, just like the ones surrounding the rest of the city. Then, the entire area could be simply connected directly to Westbridge, creating a new military district as a portion of the capital.

  Eventually, a new gate would even be constructed to directly connect the fort to the rest of the city. Today, the royal entourage had to make a detour in order to visit the construction site.

  The men were told about the king’s imminent arrival, but work was proceeding regardless. Or perhaps because of it. Everyone wanted to show off from their best perspective after all. Various experts were already working on the design of the area. Architects were inspecting the walls and deciding where to place the new gate, while other planners were marking the location of future buildings.

  Duke Jan personally went out to greet Varre, together with his cadre of closest officers.

  “Your majesty,” Jan began as soon as the king stepped out of the carriage, “welcome to the site of your new army.”

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  The duke was excited, but with so many powerful dignitaries present he stuck to protocol. He used the correct title when referring to his liege.

  “You’ve picked a good location,” the king pointed out, “right next to the river. It will be easy to defend.”

  “Indeed. I doubt anyone would dare to attack us head on,” Jan nodded, “but we need to be prepared nonetheless. Strong walls will come in handy.”

  “How are the men?” Varre asked.

  “The morale is high, your majesty,” the duke explained, “but we haven’t had much time to drill yet. For now, everyone is involved with construction.”

  “I hope the experience they acquired while sieging Tresannes and Quendon comes in handy here,” the king said.

  Jan chuckled. “The men know how to dig pits and put up palisades, but we want this place to be a little more permanent than that. Fortunately, since we’re this close to the Westbridge, we have no shortage of supplies or skilled masons.”

  “We’re lucky that the river is right there,” Hakon pointed out, “we’ve started by building that little dock for ships to port at. We can receive stones directly from the quarries up North.”

  “What about accommodations?” Varre asked, “housing thousands of people won’t be easy.”

  “It won’t,” Jan agreed, “that’s what all these planners are here for.”

  The king, together with the rest of his advisors walked towards the center of the camp, to get a closer look at the ongoing construction. Hundreds of men were busy moving planks and bricks around. A few others, likely officers or experienced builders, were barking out orders.

  “We’ve began by clearing the land for some barracks. We also need kitchens, armories, stables, warehouses,” the duke counted on his fingers, “not to mention quarters for the officers.”

  “What about training areas?” Varre inquired.

  “We still haven’t decided on the best way to make use of all this infantry,” Hakon explained, “but all we’ll really need is some dirt and free space.”

  “We do know how many men you wanted, but we need more time to determine the actual equipment they’ll need,” Jan corrected, “I’m particularly fond of the Mirotis. I think we could use some long pikes, maybe some archers too.”

  “I’d prefer to give everybody a large shield instead. Then we could put them in the center and have them last for a long time, locking the enemy down,” the captain argued.

  “We shall see,” the duke simply replied.

  “What about wizards?” the king suggested, pointing to Elvira.

  The court mage stood a short distance away, watching the ongoing construction together with the other girls. No doubt she was trying to better understand what was going on. Soon, she’d be put in charge of building a new academy to start training the local commoners in the mystical arts.

  Jan chuckled at the idea. “Your majesty, if you can get us some mages to assist our forces in battle, they’d be a great boon. But I don’t even dare to hope you could convince the guild to spare some of their people for a project like this.”

  “We shall see,” Varre mirrored the duke’s earlier statement.

  Etty was very impressed by the scene laid out in front of her. The duchy of Lindridge was a relatively remote area, without such large cities. While she was starting to get used to the crowds of the capital, seeing hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of men working here at the same time was still a sight to behold. The others had grown used to it, after witnessing even larger armies clashing together during the civil war. For her, it was an experience.

  With the king satisfied that the work was proceeding smoothly, the royal entourage returned to their carriages and resumed their journey. This close to the capital, the roads were all cobbled and well maintained. Even those that went in the direction of Lindridge.

  Of course, these conditions only continued until the first town. Then, the road returned to a more natural, rustic, dirt condition. Travelling in a wagon probably wouldn’t be very comfortable on either surface, but the royal carriage was designed with such problems in mind.

  Just as in the later stages of the campaign, there was no need to rush. The king could choose to stay in larger towns, even if it there was technically still some daylight left. Each afternoon, Varre and his closest companions would be welcomed by the local magistrate and spend the night in the fanciest inn in the city.

  Etty may not have been used to travelling with an army, but she at least understood this experience well. After all, she had just undertaken the same exact journey. Just in the opposite direction. As a noble, while she wasn’t personally greeted by each town’s leadership, she was welcomed by other local aristocrats and could always afford to stay in nice taverns.

  The first day was spent on passing through highly populated areas. From what Varre had heard, the South was even wealthier, but all the lands close to Westbridge were well off too. The towns were large and prosperous and the villages well maintained.

  At such short distances, shipping goods to the capital was easy and profitable. It made sense for wealthy merchants to set up businesses here and aristocrats to invest in better land management. Richer nobles were also likely to acquire nearby villages from poorer blue bloods, hoping to set up impressive manors in prestigious locations.

  From the second day onwards, the areas became less crowded. They weren’t destitute, but there was simply less reason to invest in them. Many hamlets were owned by minor nobles, who couldn’t easily afford to repair their properties on a regular basis. The roads were decently maintained, but the buildings and bridges showed signs of wear. The forests grew larger and fields smaller. There were also more and more meadows, as growing grass to feed animals didn’t require good soil or too much manpower.

  The royal entourage finally arrived at the border of the duchy on the third day. Many of these lands directly belonged to Varre, but he couldn’t tell any of them apart at a glance. Then again, with his massive crownlands, he had probably already passed multiple of his own villages.

  The hamlets weren’t marked in any way. The locals knew their names and who owned each property, so there was no need to inform the few travelers who happened to pass through here. They could simply ask for directions.

  Finally, on the fourth day, the king noticed the situation change. As the entire procession passed through yet another village, the carriage had left the main track and turned to the side. After a few minutes of riding down the noticeably narrower road, with crowds of surprised peasants stopping their labor to observe the commotion, the group finally arrived at their destination.

  Etty opened the doors and pointed to the large manor just outside. “Welcome home Varre. Welcome, to Lindridge.”

  They will receive their own fort right besides the capital.