Ben tried to sleep in his keep and found he just wasn't tired. Instead of sleeping he decided to lay on his bed and cultivate.
When the rays of early morning light shone through the small window slits of the keep Ben stood up and prepared to head over to the barracks.
He found his two generals Victor and Justinus preparing to begin their system-link lessons. The three of them sat down in General Victor's living room while Ben explained his plan for the party.
"I want you to have your troops begin learning how to march and ride in formation. Use the system-link lessons and drill them on the training grounds. I am sure they have some experience in marching in formations but I would like to see them marching in formation before the end of the week." Ben explained.
"My lord I would like to report General Victor and myself have been drilling the troops in marching formation, shield wall formation, and testudo formation together. The mounted knights do not have their mounts to train on so we have been drilling the knights and archers together as a single infantry division. We will then split them apart for weapons training. I have also issued steel longswords to the knights from the Armory for weapons training."
General Justinus explained they had begun drilling the men in formations along with their other training.
General Victor agreed and explained how the troops could quickly adapt to anything once they had completed a lesson. After the troops had the information on the various formations completely transferred into their memory they could then perform those formations like veteran soldiers. They were already at the point where they could all march in step together as if they had been marching for years.
It seemed once they had learned anything through the system-link chair with a few minutes of practice their bodies would synchronize with the knowledge. It might be different if they did not have the strength to perform what they learned but the simple things like marching were almost instantly mastered.
Since this was the case Ben allowed the two generals to continue with their current training routines.
"My lord I would also like to report on the Indigo Iron Fruit. I had asked for volunteers to test out the fruit you gave me. The entire squad of archers both men and women stepped forward so I chose one man and one woman from them to eat a fruit."
Ben raised his eyebrows in surprise when he heard General Victor had already performed a test with the fruit.
"The Elven man and woman were monitored while they ate the fruit and after eating the fruit. They were fine for the first couple of minutes. Unfortunately, around five minutes later they began to describe a feeling as if their insides were on fire. The extreme pain continued to build and it led to them passing out. They were both unconscious throughout the night but they awoke the next day. They are both back to normal and in perfect health." General Victor explained.
"This is great news even though they had to deal with the extreme pain they will now have bones that are extremely dense. The Indigo Iron Fruit will give the person who eats it bones of steel. I ate the same fruit myself and had gained 71 pounds from the transformation of my skeletal structure. If we have the troops eat these fruits they will be less prone to broken bones and could deal out more damage with the additional weight behind their attacks. Once we return from the mission to Goldcrest city next week I want you to distribute a fruit to each of them to eat. You two should also eat one as well, although I feel terrible for subjecting everyone painful experience the benefits are well worth it."
After the two generals had agreed with him General Victor also reported that he and General Justinus have been supplying the troops with the Flourishing Domination pills and there were no reported side effects. The pills are effective and the troops performance in the weight training room and physical training was steadily increasing.
[Flourishing Domination]: This is a low-grade muscle growth pill. It can increase the strength of a regular person over time. This pill is not effective for cultivators above stage three.
He informed the two generals to increase the troops pill supply. Instead of one pill a week they would be given two pills a week from now on. They would then continue to monitor their health and performance.
Ben dismissed General Victor and escorted General Justinus to the Barracks and had him assemble his mounted knights. The troops were all called over the in-house intercoms to report downstairs.
Ben passed out the military clothing, items, and armor to each of the men. General Justinus was given the same items and armor which were custom made to each person's measurements.
As he was handing out the gear made specifically for each man he began to curse himself for using the random creation option.
'I should begin making all future recruits with a set body size. As long as each of them has a different face they won't look like an army of clones. It is a pain in the ass having to make these custom measurement creations and then finding the right soldier later on whom the gear was made for. If they were all the same size I could make one size for all their gear and just stockpile it in the Armory.'
At least now the knights had everything except their weapons and horses. Ben estimated that their weapons should be completed by tomorrow and he would also have the money from the store to purchase the horses.
As he left the barracks thinking about the horses he began to wonder whatever had happened to the horse-like "Destilar" creatures from that slave cart. Those creatures had pulled the cart of slaves and injured guards to the fortress and after that Ben had completely forgotten about them.
Curious to know Ben walked over to Chancellor Rayner's house. Rayner told Ben that one of the previous guards had taken care of the creatures allowing them to graze on the grass inside the fortress and feeding them fruit and vegetables from his market supplies.
The former guards and slaves had a soft spot for the creatures because they had pulled them to their new homes. Without those creatures, they would have had a difficult time making it to the fortress.
Ben told Rayner about the new stables and had him and the guard who looked after them bring the team of creatures over there. Ben assigned them stalls and had the menu set to automatically feed them.
If the people wanted to come over and visit the creatures they could anytime. With these creatures now in the stables they would have a place out of the elements with plenty to eat.
'I've done just about everything I can around here for now. The store should be opening about now so I guess I will head over and help out there.'
After he ate a couple mana recovery pills Ben cast the Zoom spell and teleported to his store office
Baynard was at his usual place near the front door in the store's entranceway greeting each customer as they came in to shop or look around. Cordelia and the sales girls were in they're assigned departments and even the new girls had begun working on their own.
Ben's employees were now settling into their new jobs and could help the customers without needing to question Ben about the products anymore. As he watched them all working he began to see he wasn't needed around the store.
This didn't upset him in actuality he was happy because he had never planned to work in the store every day. The reason he had hired additional employees was to make sure each customer would all be taken care of without him having to stick around the store constantly.
When each of his employees was free he gave them one of the noble badges he had made. The brooch sized badge made out of solid gold and gems was a stunning piece. The badge was so well made it would be considered an affluent piece of jewelry.
If you were to melt it down there would be enough gold to make twenty gold coins. Anyone who wore this badge would have a small fortune pinned to their outfit.
Ben was used to dealing with thousands of gold coins daily and never stopped to realize most commoners would have to work for three months just to earn twenty gold coins.
There were also the two small red jewels which were the eyes of the fierce creature sculpted into the badge. Even if gems did not hold the same monetary value here as they did on Earth the people of this world were unaccustomed to cut gems and were drawn to them.
Gems of this world were sold and used mainly in their original form. The uncut gems had pretty colors but they have dulled out colors compared to the clear crisp color of a cut gem. Even being unfamiliar with cut gems they could all agree that cut gems added to the beauty and value of any piece of jewelry.
His employees didn't waste any time pinning the badges onto their elegant uniforms which brought a few envious stares from the surrounding customers.
While he was handing out gifts Ben had an idea to also drop off a gift for the king of Aregard. He was still worried over the rumors and wanted to try and smooth things over with King Sletten.
Ben knew the king would not take the rumors to heart but they could still drive a subconscious wedge between them. The two of them were just beginning to develop an open and trusting relationship and Ben wished to keep it that way.
When Ben had reached the Royal Palace he moved one of the armored carriages he had manufactured from the Warehouse into his inventory.
Outside of the palace entrance, Ben brought out the first carriage he had made. The two guards standing at the doors almost jumped out of their shoes when it appeared right in front of them.
Once they were over the shock of the carriage's sudden appearance they were then stunned by its elegant craftsmanship.
This was the first fully enclosed vehicle ever seen and it was the copy of a wonderfully crafted royal carriage from Earth. The carriage design was beautiful and you could even see your reflection in the shiny black painted surface.
Ben told the guards who he was and asked them to make sure no one went near the carriage.
Inside the palace he found one of the king's assistants walking around and brought him outside to the carriage.
"Tell the king this is a gift from Duke King and I am sorry he has been disrespected by these slanderous rumors spread around the city. This here is called a carriage and is the first of its kind. This carriage can protect you from foul weather and it can also protect you from attacks. This entire carriage has sheets of metal hidden throughout it and these windows can stop an arrow or blow from a weapon. When the king travels in this carriage he can lock the doors from the inside and remain safe from any attacks."
The assistant went to inform the king immediately after Ben left. He had never seen anything like this carriage and was excited to tell the king about everything Ben had said. This carriage was literally a luxurious mobile castle.
Ben knew the king was a busy man so he didn't want to drag him outside. This way the assistant could explain the carriages features and the king would examine it when he had the time.
Back at his store he went down into the basement and began practicing his firebolt spell. He found just by casting and holding the bolt of fire in his hand he could increase its level.
He swallowed a few more mana recovery pills and trained until closing time. As he went back upstairs Ben opened a new notification.
[Notice] [Spell: Firebolt has increased! Firebolt: Apprentice Level: 5!]
'One of the great things about low-level skills and spells is they level up quickly at first. I just wished they would continue to level up this fast.'
Ben had Baynard deduct the weekly salaries for the employees from the day's sales so that they could be paid tomorrow and he took the remainder of the money with him.
After he left the store Ben walked over to the noble district and saw a group of nobles standing out in front of his estate. They appeared to be examining the Small Palace and grounds through the wrought iron fence.
Ben wasn't in the mood to be bothered with them so he jumped over the fence near the beginning of his property and activated Cameleon. He went around behind the palace and walked back toward the slave's homes.
At the edge of the wood line, he built a small wooden shack and filled it with the tools he had made for the groundskeepers.
He found his Steward inside the palace and asked him where he could find groundskeepers. The Steward explained the groundskeepers had been familiarizing themselves with the property so they were out looking around.
The property was about 500 yards in length and 200 yards deep. If it wasn't for Ben having the ability to find them on his map it would have taken some searching to locate them.
They were in a little clearing surrounded by trees on the opposite end of the property. It seemed they were checking out the trees which were native to Earth. These guys all had experience with plants and trees so none of them could make out what type species most of the trees on estate belonged to.
Ben pulled them away from their investigation to show them the tools and how to use them. They were experienced with shovels, rakes, saws, and hoes but the shears, pruners, and push reel movers were new to them.
Before Ben left the estate he went back to the end of the property where he had found the groundskeepers. He built a new locking gate on the border of the property far from the main entrance. He had plans to use this gate during the party at the end of the week.
When he saw the small hidden clearing earlier where the groundskeepers were found he had an idea to make use of this hidden location during his party.