Ben closed the auto notices and looked at the young girl kneeling on the ground who was still saluting him with an expression of determination.
"Alright, you can get up now." Ben reached down and pulled her up. "Why don't we start by introducing ourselves. I am Ben King and I am a Duke of the Aregard kingdom. I am also the leader of these troops, well except for the princess and the royal cultivator over there." Ben pointed toward a pretty young lady and a man who looked old enough to be her father.
"Is that really a real princess and a royal cultivator?!" The young girl had stars in her eyes when she heard the duos titles.
"They sure are, and what is your name young lady?" Ben asked with a smile after finally seeing her act her age for a brief moment.
"My name is Mythia and I'm fourteen years old." Ben was taken aback when he heard she was older than he guessed. She was so small and thin, when he guessed, he thought she was around twelve years old.
'Living in that little town I am sure they all struggled with malnutrition. Her body hasn't had enough nutrients to properly grow.'
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mythia. You should be getting hungry by now right? Let's head over to the cooking fires so I can distribute the food for dinner. If we stay over here talking all night everyone in the camp is going to starve on us."
Mythia nodded and ran over to Ben's side. When she saw Ben remove the huge piles of assorted foods from his inventory she wasn't sure if she should flip out over how much food there was or at how Ben made it just appear in front of them.
At her family's dinner table they would generally eat a few small sides of vegetables and a small piece of meat was a special occasion for them. She had never seen so many different types of food all at once.
Some of the troops who seemed to enjoy cooking took over from there. They brought out the cookware and tableware from the carriage that held their gear and began to make a few different meals.
Mythia had to wipe her chin from drooling over the fresh cuts of beef, ham, and chicken, along with the familiar and unfamiliar vegetables being prepared in these diverse dishes.
Ben laughed for the first time since he had left Goldcrest when he saw the look on her face.
"You will never have to worry about being hungry living with me Mythia. I own a store in the capital city and it sells this food we are eating here tonight. This is also a special type of food that will help you to grow stronger."
"How will it help me become strong, master?" She asked looking up at Ben puzzled.
"This food has Qi and Mana in it. I am not sure if you know what that is but QI is used by cultivators to become strong and Mana is used by a mage to fuel their spells."
"Wow! Did the royal cultivator tell you all about the Qi stuff? It must be awesome to know a real cultivator!"
"What are you talking about you silly girl. You already know a cultivator, I am a cultivator and a mage." Ben explained with a wry smile.
"Actually me being a cultivator and having a few soldiers is the reason we were near your town. The royal cultivator and I had a battle with the invading Trareniel Kingdom's royal cultivator and their ally's royal cultivator the day before we came to your town. The king needed time to raise an army to protect the capital so I volunteered to use my troops to slow down the Trareniel invasion. I'm sorry that we didn't know about the invasion sooner, it might have been possible to save your town, but the Trareniel cowards attacked without warning."
Ben tried to suppress his growing anger in front of Mythia who had started to calm down. He was afraid that if he said to much he might unsettle her again.
"So, that is what happened. no wonder you were able to beat up the disgusting soldiers so easily. Is it possible for me to become a cultivator like you master?" She asked while watching the food simmer on the fire pit.
"I believe it will be possible for you to become one now. You will also learn how to use magic. First, we need to start by building up your body though. Right now you are too weak. With the proper nutrients, supplements, and training we will build up your body and mind. You just need to be patient and do as I say and before you know it you will be stronger than any normal man and will never have to worry about people like those Trareniel soldiers again."
Ben still needed to look through the new SECT category he unlocked but he was sure it would be comparable with how the Wizardry School and the Military Classrooms which allowed normal people to learn from them.
A half-hour later Ben, Mythia, princess Alessandra, and royal cultivator Duven sat down at a large fancy table that Ben had kept in his inventory from his party. It looked odd to be eating on such a luxurious table and chairs in the middle of a camp surrounded by tents but it was better than sitting on the ground.
As they ate their dinner Mythia tore into her food with a passion while Ben explained everything to the princess and the royal cultivator. In a hushed voice, he went over everything that had happened inside that small farmhouse where he found Mythia hiding.
The two of them were surprised to hear Ben had basically taken custody of the girl and promised to raise and train her. This was unheard of situation in this era. There wasn't a single noble in Goldcrest who even think about fostering a poor farm kid from an outlying town who had just lost her family.
Ben had to admit he normally wouldn't go out of his way to make such a grand promise to someone he had just met. He couldn't help but remember how lost he was when his parents had passed away and this allowed him to feel connected to Mythia.
The following day they had all returned to Goldcrest. The people in the capital continued on with their normal routines never knowing that the city was only a couple days away from being sacked.
Ben dropped off the princess, royal cultivator, and the survivors from Mythia's town at the front gate to the Royal Palace. They both wanted him to come in and report everything that had happened to the king and to be rewarded for stopping the invasion but Ben had to put it off for now. He wanted to take his troops back to the fortress which was currently left unguarded.
He swung by the Small Palace and had his troops and the stable hands prepare to head out on the road. Ben decided to leave the musicians there to live in the Small Palace. He intended to eventually open a place for them to perform so it was best to leave them in the city.
It wasn't long before they were back on the road for a few more days. Ben was sure to keep a vigilant eye on his map to make sure there wasn't anyone following them from the city. He still wasn't ready to make his fortress location known so he had to be sure the king or the nobles didn't have anyone tailing them.
Ben trusted the king but he was sure that the king knew something strange was going on when he suddenly appeared with hundreds of troops and magi. The first thing anyone would want to know is where the hell did they all come from? As far as they knew Ben lived in Goldcrest and was known to leave the city on occasion This wasn't strange because merchants were always traveling but where was he keeping this many troops up until now?
With these thoughts in his head, Ben was sure to guard his secrets against prying eyes along the roads.
They brought the carriages back to the fortress stables and Ben left the stable hands to unhitch the horses and return them to the stables. Generals Victor and Justinus led the troops back to the barracks along with the twenty Fairy magi.
Ben led Mythia back to his keep and opened the Build Menu once they were on the third floor. He still had not done anything with the inside of the keep and it was time to make a few changes
On the currently empty third floor, he made two large bedrooms for Mythia and him. He decorated her bedroom in a modern Earth decor. Three of her walls were painted pink and one wall had matching floral wallpaper. There was a queen size white four poster bed with matching flora comforter, a white ornate bookshelf, a white stylish corner desk with drawers and upper shelves and a large walk-in closet.
Ben decided to try something different for his room. He had always been fascinated with Japanese decor from watching animes, mangas, and reading light novels growing up.
In his bedroom, he installed tatami floor covering and the walls were covered with stationary shoji paper screen panels. The keep still had the exterior stone walls so the light could not filter in through the Shoji paper walls, but it still gave it an authentic look.
The bed he chose was a Japanese platform bed which was only a few inches off the floor. Along the outer wall, he purchased a torii arch inspired desk and chair with an Asian themed bookcase next to it. He also made a closet and added a couple ceiling lights made with a mahogany finish in the Shoji lamp style.
Now that he had designed a bedroom for both of them he began to design a bathroom next to the two bedrooms. The bathroom had a flushing toilet, a long vanity with two hot and cold running sinks and drawers underneath to store hygiene products and towels. Along the opposite wall there was a separate glass panel shower and near the shower was a large jacuzzi bathtub.
Mythia patiently watched Ben as he walked around the third floor of the empty keep. He appeared to be pointing at certain areas and moving his finger around in front of him. She had no idea what he was up to and decided to stay out of his way and waited to see what this was all about.
Happy with the floor plan he had designed Ben finalized it and stepped back to stand next to Mythia as the blue mist began to cover the floor, walls, and ceiling. Fifteen minutes later the design became reality.
Mythia could only stare with her mouth hanging open as the walls took form and furniture sprang into existence before her eyes.
"It looks like everything is done. Let's go take a look." Ben walked down the hall and went into the bathroom and was forced to once again have to embarrassingly teach someone how to use the flushing style toilet and toilet paper. Ben showed Mythia how to adjust the knobs to control the water temperature of the sinks, shower, and tub. He then loaded the vanity cabinet with soaps, shampoos, deodorant, combs, brushes, body powders, perfumes, colognes, and towels.
As he added things into the cabinet drawers Ben gave Mythia a description of what everything was and how to use it.
When the bathroom was set up and ready for use they walked out into the hall and Ben opened the door to Mythia's new bedroom.
"This is your new bedroom. I hope you like it I tried my best to make it look like a young girls room." Ben explained as Mythia entered her new room.
"This looks like a bedroom for a princess! This room is beautiful!" Mythia excitedly ran around her new room exploring the furniture, closet, and every corner. She seemed to have instantly fallen in love with the thick pink plush carpeting and the comfortable padding under it. While Ben watched her he noticed she stood out in such a lovely room since she was still in her worn and dirty clothes. She was still dirty from hiding in that filthy cubby hole for a day under her parent's house and spending the last few days outside on the road.
Ben didn't bother with his room and took Mythia straight over to the Seamstress workshop. He had her enter the scanning booth to get an exact copy of her measurements.
He used her measurements to design a cute female Tai Chi black uniform with red trimmings. He just wanted to make her a new set of clothes she could change into for now. When there was more time later he would make her a full wardrobe to fill her closet. Since Mythia would be training later she would have a use for her Tai Chi uniform other than only wearing until she had a wardrobe.
As the uniform was being made Ben went over to the Barracks and used the intercom to call down the Fairy Magi and asked for a female Elf who was familiar with the Public Bathhouse facilities to help him out for an hour.
Four females Elves came down willing to help so Ben took them all over to the Bathhouse. Ben asked the Elven females to show Mythia and the Fairies how to use the showers and baths. He gave them a basket filled with soaps, shampoos, hair brushes, and towels. Ben gave Mythia her uniform that had been completed while they walked over here and watched as they entered the women's section of the baths.
Ben left the fortress and walked down the inclined road into the lower valley. He traveled to the opposite side of the valley where had had previously built the farms. Over on this side of the valley, it was still all flat wild grasslands and nothing had been built.
Ben started by making a concrete road that connected to the inclined road from the gatehouse that wrapped around the plateau to where he was standing. As the road was being built he used the Park category to make a large area of grass.
He was using the same technique he had at the Small Palace to clear and flatten the land. Once the land was cleared of obstacles a lush lawn was rapidly grown to cover the area. Ben fenced in the large lawn with the same decorative wrought iron fence from his noble estate and added large double gates that could be swung open from the road.
Along the northern fence line, he began placing small white marble mausoleums which were eight feet wide, ten feet long and ten feet tall. The small mausoleums were designed in the Neoclassical architecture.
He had enough room from the east fence to the west fence to fit twenty of his custom design mausoleums in one row. He only needed twelve for his dead troops but he was sure that the way things were headed it would not be long before more were needed.
Small walkways, trees, decorative shrubs, and colorful flower gardens were added to the cemetery along with a few small white marble water fountains and white marble statues of angels.
Ben went back into the fortress and waited outside the bathhouse for a few minutes for Mythia to come out in her new martial arts uniform. Now that her hair was shampooed and the layers of dirt were washed away Ben was stunned at how cute she looked. He could tell in a few years she would be a beautiful young lady.
They all walked back to the barracks and Ben thanked the Elven women for helping out. Ben and Mythia left the other women in the barracks and went over to the two generals homes and told them he would bury the fallen soldiers tomorrow.
He told them to have the troops dressed for battle and ready to head down to the cemetery at 11 o'clock in the morning in front of the barracks. Ben then went to the stables and placed the carriages into his inventory which were lined up along the side of the street. There was only one carriage left out and it still held the bodies of his fallen soldiers.
It was now getting to be near dinner time so Ben brought Mythia over to the Restaurant and showed her how to use the menu to order a meal. There would be times that he left her at the fortress so she had to learn how to order food.
He also told her about the Recreation Center and the Gym. Ben would need to sit down later and create a workout schedule for her and build a few schools for her and his people to attend. He wanted her to begin by developing her mind and body while learning how to use magic and cultivate later.
There was no need to rush her along. Mythia wasn't a military recruit who needed to learn everything before she was tossed out on some battlefield. For now, they just talked and enjoyed their meal as the sun began to descend behind the western wall.