The line of carriages continued toward Goldcrest without delay. They eventually arrived outside the city at night when the gates had already been closed and barred.
Out on the open land, some distance from the gates Ben had the carriages once again form a defensive circle. The tents and cooking fires were arranged in the center of the circled carriages.
The group was now just outside the city so Ben did not expect any trouble but it was times like this when people let their guard down they could encourage bandits to attack.
Ben remembered this strategy from old western stories. When the travelers would come under attack or make a camp they would arrange the wagons in a circle to form a makeshift fort. They could stay inside the circle and use the wagons as cover while keeping their attackers outside the circle.
When the doors of the armored carriages were locked they essentially had a wall around them to protect them from arrows or sneak attacks. If a group of bandits wanted to attack they would have to climb under or over the carriages.
There wasn't much clearance under these carriages so you would have to crawl under one on your stomach leaving yourself exposed to attack when you crawled into the center where the defenders who were waiting to skewer you. Each carriage also had arrow slots which could be opened to allow the archers to fire out at any attackers.
Ben thought it was a solid defensive tactic and wasn't even worried enough to have his men keep watch. He allowed them to all sleep while he remained in his tent. The group slept throughout the night in peace while Ben kept watch and cultivated once again.
When the sun began to peek over the horizon Ben left his tent to find a light fog had rolled across the area. The grass had droplets of water and the air was fresh smelling.
Ben went off to find the Stable Grooms so he could have them begin hitching up the horses to the carriages. The city gates would be open shortly and Ben wanted to enter the city with his group before the city began to wake up.
Ben's group patiently waited outside the gate in an organized line for the gates to open. While they were waiting Ben noticed a city guard had climbed up onto the wall to check the area before opening the gate.
When he saw the long line of carriages and mounted troops quietly waiting he climbed down with a look of surprise. Ben assumed he was going to open the gate but when the gates remained closed for another fifteen minutes his patience wore thin.
Ben spurred his horse forward and he pounded on the gate.
"Open the city gates! You saw us out here waiting already!"
Ben wasn't answered so he activated his Enhanced Hearing and could hear a group of guards talking on the other side of the gate.
"I don't know who the hell they are but there are more of them than us! There are lines of men wearing metal armor that covers their entire body and there is some type of enclosed carts with hundreds of people in them who are also wearing armor!"
"Did you bother to ask who they were or what they wanted?"
"Hell no! I got my ass off the wall as fast as I could before I was attacked or shot with an arrow! I don't think you guys understand there is a small army just on the other side of this gate and they are all equipped for battle!"
Ben deactivated his Enhanced Hearing and sighed.
"These damn guards." Ben cursed under his breath as he walked his horse over the two generals.
He climbed down from the saddle and passed his reins over to General Victor.
"Apparently the guards do not recognize us and are hesitant to open the gates. I am going into the city for a moment to get them off their asses and moving. Please wait here for me with the troops I will be right back." Ben explained.
He turned toward the gate and began to run straight toward it. Just before he reached the gate he sprung up and over the city gate and smoothly landed on the other side near the huddled group of city guards.
When the group of guards saw a shadow pass over them they looked up to see a man in shiny armor sailing twenty feet above them. The man landed near them as if he had jumped off a chair.
"Do any of you recognize this noble crest?" Ben asked as he held his shield up toward the guards.
"I am Duke King and I have been waiting outside the gates for over twenty minutes now. I am curious to know why that is? Are nobles suppose to wait on city guards? Are nobles restricted from bringing personal troops into the city? Have any of you even attempted to do your damn job and find out who is waiting outside your gates?"
Ben took control of the situation as soon as he hit the ground and began asking the guards a series of questions to which he already knew the answers.
Any noble who was entering the city was allowed to pass through the gates without waiting in line to be inspected and they were allowed to have their own guards and household members accompany them in and out of the city without question.
Ben knew the sudden appearance of his troops who were all wearing armor, unlike anything these guards were used to seeing had spooked them. Even so, they could have attempted to make contact with him through the gate or from the wall. If he showed them his crest or noble badge it would have cleared up the situation.
These idiots were acting like if they ignored the group outside maybe they would give up and go away.
Ben instantly unequipped his armor and equipped his noble clothes with his gold badge pinned to the chest of his tunic right in front of the guards.
"Is it possible that you know what this is?" Ben asked pointing to the gold badge that displayed the king's crest and his Duke title.
The group of guards looked at Ben instantly recognizing who he was. Of course, they knew who he was and his crest. It was a part of their job and insurance for their well being to know each cultivator in the city.
If a cultivator were to become upset and squash one of them there would be no one to blame but themselves. Cultivators were a power that the city relied on and if one of them killed a few city guards no one would so much as batting an eye.
The group of guards were now scared to death and looking at their comrade who had climbed the wall earlier like they wanted to tear him apart.
Ben without waiting for them to recover from his sudden appearance walked past them to the gate and removed the huge wooden barricade bar which took six strong guards to lift. He dropped the telephone pole-sized barricade bar off to the side with a series of loud bouncing thuds that made the guards jump. Ben ignored them and swung open the enormous gates like he was opening a regular door and remounted his horse.
As he led his group into the city he turned to shake his head at the group of guards as he passed.
'Why am I always getting into these situations with the city guards? These guys need to be reorganized and you would think they would have a better system at the gates. There should be a window slot they can open and close to question people before opening the gate instead of climbing up onto the wall and exposing themselves.'
Ben just let the line of thought drop. This wasn't his city to make changes and he could only deal with the problems when they arose.
He didn't know as he was heading toward the noble district the guard who he had seen on the wall was pulled into the guard post and slapped around by his fellow guards. This jackass had put them in a situation which could have got them all killed so they vented their anger and fear on him.
Things were much smoother for Ben at the noble district gates. The royal guards who were stationed here instantly recognized Ben at the lead of the carriage line and opened the gates for his group as they approached. They both stood off to the side at attention and saluted as he passed by.
Well, at least the royal guard is a well trained professional division. I guess city guards are only here to break up fights and arrest troublemakers so they give any brute the job with minimal to no training.
Ben led his troops to his estate and was glad to see the road out in front of the Small Palace was clear of people.
He led his group past the Small Palace driveway gates and unlocked the gate at the far end of his property. The carriage line and the mounted knights followed him through the gate into the hidden clearing in the back grove.
The party wouldn't start for a while so he had his troops set up a camp and relax. Ben and his two generals left the troops to walk out of the hidden grove toward the Small Palace.
Sergeant Stokes must have seen or heard the carriages as they passed by because Ben met him as he was making his way across the property.
"Good morning Sergeant Stokes. Let me introduce you this is General Victor and this is General Justinus. Generals this is Sergeant Stokes he is in charge of security for my estate here while I am away from the city." Ben explained after he introduced the three men to one another.
"Good morning my lord. Good morning generals it is a pleasure to meet you."
Sergeant Stokes greeted the massive generals who were six and a half feet tall and both had impressive physiques. When they wore their armor it looked like a wall of metal approaching you.
Ben had given both of them towering height and muscular bodies. With just their physical appearance these two could keep the soldiers in line and intimidate the enemy. They were also dual class soldiers and from what the system had told Ben the dual class was ten times stronger than the basic single class recruits.
Once everyone had been introduced they went into the palace and found Steward Hughes. Ben led his group around the Small Palace and explained his plans for today and the true reason he was holding this party.
They made a stop in the kitchen and talked with the cooks about the dinner. Ben told them he had stocked the freezer and cooler and wanted them to prepare an impressive feast. These cooks had once owned their own restaurant and they had impressive cooking skills so Ben left the details to them and went outside.
Next, to the pond near the driveway with the help of the groundskeepers, they erected a huge canopy tent on the lawn. Under the tent, Ben arranged decorative rugs, fancy furniture, tables and chairs for his guests to relax.
"Steward Hughes when the nobles arrive I want you to escort them here to the tent. I will set out wine, liquor, and appetizers for them to enjoy. When the guest have all arrived I will lead the troops from the far end of the property. I will address the guests out front and then escort them inside to the Dining Hall. I want the maids to stay out here under the tent to serve the nobles and to help the kitchen later with serving the food."
Ben set out food, wine, liquor, plates, glasses, and tableware. He then went on to tell everyone where he wanted them and what their duties were. When he met up the maids he brought out French maid uniforms he had made for them. They looked identical to normal french maid uniforms with only one alteration to the skirt length which was normally worn very short.
His maid's skirts were cut to just below the knee and even this was considered short. Women in this era still all wore full-length dresses so they were considered borderline risque. Ben did not want to embarrass his maids by suddenly having them wear mini skirts and did not want the male nobles to get carried away and make an advance on them.
Ben's slaves were all given new uniforms. Steward Hughes was given a tuxedo with tails, the kitchen staff was given classic white cook jackets and white slacks. The groundskeepers would wear long sleeve brown denim shirts and brown denim cargo pants. Lastly, the account was given a black Victorian style formal suit.
Ben even brought out a couple custom made formal suits for his two general who he wanted to attend his party. Having the extra security with them attending was nice but Ben also wanted them to have some fun. These two were constantly dealing with the troops so Ben hoped this would be a nice break for them.
Back inside Ben helped the maids to arrange the solid gold tableware placement on the huge dining room table. He also decided to make a few arrangements with spirit plants and herbs. There were a few spirit plants that grew beautiful flowers that would work perfectly. Ben looked at flower arrangements in the system store for examples and attempted to mimic them.
Once the dining hall was ready to receive guest Ben moved on to arrange places for his musicians for the party.
When you entered the main entrance of Ben's Small Palace a fifty-foot wide hall stretched out toward the back of the palace. If you were to look up you could see the second and third-floor hallways exposed up above you. These upper hallways had wood railings that prevented people from falling from above while allowing them to look down into the large hall.
This design would remind people from Earth of a shopping mall. Shopping Malls would often have a long main corridor that you could look up and see the upper floors above you.
On the open third floor hallway, Ben arranged an area for the musicians. He placed the piano and their instruments along with comfortable seating for them.
He wanted them to play music without it be too overpowering as the nobles entered and ate dinner. The music would be heard from above without drowning out the conversations on the first floor.
One of the two palace state rooms was cleared of furniture and turned into a ballroom. Extra instruments were also arranged here for the musicians to perform. They could simply leave the instruments on the third floor and come down to use these during the dance.
While Ben was organizing the arrangement of the ballroom he suddenly realized he did not know how to dance and might have to dance at one point.
'Oh crap, this could be used against me by the nobles! I know upper society people from Earth would use this type of opportunity to get me to embarrass myself by dancing singing or playing an instrument!'
Ben was so confident his show of strength would shut these nobles up he had forgotten there were other ways for them to politely embarrass him! Nobles were taught proper etiquette, how to fight, dance, sing, read, write, and recite poetry on Earth and it should be similar here as well!
He immediately opened the System Store and purchased skills to teach him dances from this world and some from Earth as well. He also purchased a singing skill and a piano skill.
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Piano Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Singing Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Waltz Dance Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Tango Dance Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Ceili Dance Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Modini Dance Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Dollu Dance Level 1!]
Ben sat down at the piano and began to play. He was a little stiff at first but once his body caught up to the knowledge he gained from his skill he began to improve.
Ben was glad it was still early and he had seven hours before he had to pick up his employees before the party. This allowed him a little time to improve on the skills he just purchased.
As Ben walked out of the Stateroom which was presently being arranged for the ball he opened his notices.
[Notice] [Skill: Piano has increased! Piano: Level 1!]
[Notice] [Skill: Piano has increased! Piano: Level 2!]
[Notice] [Skill: Piano has increased! Piano: Level 3!]
After a couple hours of continuous play, he was at the point where his piano playing was passable. He was far from matching the skills of his musicians but at least he could play without being embarrassed.
He crossed the wide central Hall and went into one of the empty drawing rooms and began to practice his dance steps. For now, he concentrated on the two popular dances of this world.
The Modini dance was a group dance and the Dollu was a partner dance. He practiced the steps for the next few hours. Since his stats were so high now Ben could dance non stop without being winded or breaking a sweat.
When he felt comfortable with his dance he moved on to vocal training with his Singing skill.
[Notice] [Skill: Piano has increased! Modini Dance: Level 2!]
[Notice] [Skill: Piano has increased! Dollu Dance: Level 2!]
[Notice] [Skill: Piano has increased! Singing: Level 3!]
Ben just went through a six-hour nonstop training session and was getting short for time now. He improved himself to be just passable in his new skills.
He went back to the hidden camp on the far side of the property and had the musicians and one of the available mounted knights board one of the carriages. Ben had the knight hop in the coachman's cab and he led the carriage to the front entrance of the palace.
Ben took the musicians inside and showed them the two places they would perform and left them to get situated with the instruments.
The now empty carriage followed him to his store and Ben had the knight park out front.
The store was closed at noon and when the customers had all left Ben had his sales girls all wear and keep the gorgeous renaissance style dresses they sold at the store.
He allowed them to also wear and keep the store jewelry and accessories. Each of them looked like princesses when they were dressed. Baynard had brought his wife along and they were also dressed up. Ben had the girls dress Baynard's wife just like them while Baynard wore a classy formal suit with a formal hat and shiny black leather shoes. Each of them topped off their outfits with the gold noble badges Ben gave them. Ben even gave Baynard's wife a noble badge to keep.
When everyone was dressed to impress they climbed into the carriage and were led into the noble district. When they passed Ben could see there were nobles already arriving so he rode his horse on the opposite side next to the carriage so they would not see him as they passed by the front gates.
Ben took his employees into the hidden camp and began to arrange his troops. When the carriages they would use and his troops were in position it was time to make an appearance.
Ben sent one of the Stable Grooms to ask Steward Hughes how many nobles had arrived before he made a move. From what the Groom was told there were at least ninety nobles with some of their immediate family members under the canopy tent.
There are just over one hundred nobles in the city so the majority were already here. Ben had his employees climb into a carriage and he squeezed into another with the twenty Fairy mages.
The huge procession began to slowly move out toward the road. The two carriages were in the center of the road. There was a column of fifty mounted knights on each side of the carriages and one hundred and fifty Elven archers on each side of the mounted knights.
As they crept down the street Ben had the archers begin to break off one by one to line both sides of the street. By the time they had reached the main gate, the road had archers standing shoulder to shoulder all along it.
They were wearing red Mythril chain-mail with their black breastplates over it. They had full quivers on their back and held a red compound bow. On their waist, there was a red short sword, compass, canteens, a KABAR knife, and two daggers.
When the mounted knights reached the front gate they rode past the carriages to group up into a wedge formation and suddenly charged at full gallop around the horseshoe driveway and past the tent of nobles.
There was no part of their bodies that could be seen each of them looked like they were made out of polished black metal. The only opening visible were the eye slits on their helms.
Every knight had a black and red shield attached to their left gauntlet with Ben's noble crest imprinted on them and they held gleaming red Mythril longswords in their right hands raised above their heads.
The mounted knights like the archers carried a compass, canteens, a KABAR knife, and two daggers. On the web belts around their waist. Their horses were also wearing the black lightweight armor Ben had designed for them.
As they charged around the horseshoe driveway they went out onto the street again and charged directly towards the two carriages slowly rolling down the road. Just before colliding with the carriages the knight's wedge formation reformed into two lines and split around the carriages and between the archers without stopping or slowing their speed.
Ben's lead carriage and the one following him turned into the open gate and came to a stop on the driveway in full view of everyone under the canopy tent.
Baynard stepped out of the rear carriage and began to offer a hand to the beautifully dressed ladies who stepped over toward the tent to join the nobles.
As the sales girls were walking over to the tent where the nobles were the cavalry had come back and formed up into a perfect line behind the carriages.
Everyone stopped to look at Ben's carriage as the twenty kingdom-toppling beautiful Fairies climbed down and made a line on each side of the carriage door.
Ben was the last one to step out and as he walked between his Fairy magi as they cast fireballs and lightning bolts into the air like fireworks above him.
As Ben approached the canopy tent he literally saw people dropping glasses and plates of food on the ground. Everyone had eyes like saucers and were left stunned in place by the performance they had just witnessed. All in a matter of a couple minutes they had seen things that no one had ever seen before.
The entire property was now surrounded by hundreds of armored troops wearing matching metal armor unlike any they have ever seen and it was obvious to anyone they were all well trained by the way they moved in synchronization.
The mounted men were riding large creatures with black coats and bright red manes and tails. Not only that their mounts were also wearing armor like them! What the hell was this? Even the mounts matched the riders?!
These mounted men could ride together as one and had pulled off quick turns in unison. This spoke of the skill of rider and the animal they rode.
As if these troops were not impressive enough there were twenty jaw-dropping beautiful magi casting devastatingly impressive elemental magic spells. If a large kingdom had one or two mages it was an impressive feat but right here in front of them, there were twenty of them!
'It looks like my little demonstration worked. These people look like a ufo just landed and aliens stepped out to greet them.' Ben thought as he showed a welcoming smile to the crowd.
"Welcome everyone to my new estate! I brought a few of my military troops out to provide you all with some pre-party entertainment! I hope you all enjoyed their performance!"
A few troops? Enjoyed their performance? Half of them looked like they might need a new change of underwear. They were all still frozen in place until Ben finished speaking and provided a forced round of applause as they felt a shiver run down their spines.
Ben's two generals who had ridden along with the knights in formal wear dismounted and walked over to stand near him.
Once everyone seemed to have begun to breathe again Ben escorted them into the Small Palace. When they entered they were greeted by softly playing classical music that floated down from the third floor. The maids were now lined up neatly off to each side of the entrance and they curtsied as everyone entered.
The nobles were looking everywhere trying not to miss a thing. Ben saw as they pointed and gasped at the beautiful craftsmanship all around. There were paintings, statues, colorful carpets, and masterfully crafted wood and marble architecture to be seen all around them.
They were led down the wide central hall into the main dining hall and seated at a table with at least a hundred seats around it. The people quickly noticed the tableware was all made of solid gold! Ben could hear them whispering at how much gold was on this huge table and then someone looked up from the tableware to see dozens of spirit plants in front of him!
He began to point it out to the others around him and they soon found there were other similar spirit plant arrangements on the table!
Some people put out flowers for table setting who could afford to put out spirit plants as a decoration? Nobles could afford spirit plants but they were used strictly for training or special occasions.
Ben stood up and raised his glass and thanked everyone for attending. After he spoke the maids and kitchen hands began to bring out gold serving trays filled with a delicious feast.