I was up bright and early and ready to break some spirits but it turns out so was a certain young princess who spoke as soon as I came out of my room.
"I wanna watch"
I thought about it for a second then spoke.
"No... you're going to lead"
Clair pointed to herself with a questioning look and spoke.
"Me?"
I looked at her and felt my lips form into a smile as I spoke.
"Yes you're perfect to crush their sense of pride"
I had her get into her gear I grabbed my newly made metal staff and then we were off to the meeting place infront of Serothor's front gate.
The walk was pretty fast and when we got there the imperial army was there no shoes and in their training gear and I took a pile of papers and a fountain pen with an ink well out of the bag I had with me then I started speaking.
"I'm going to start calling out names for every absent person I want a push up from everyone starting now please say aye and stand over there when you hear you name! Aaruk of Xanostead, Jonathan of the twilight citadel, Greg of Vareaton"
The list went on and on but in the end there were 48 absentees so that meant everyone had to do 48 push ups honestly I expected more people to be absent but it is good that not many are absent it shows that trick with the shoes worked.
That was when a random guy spoke.
"Why should we? I know you threatened to take our fingers and our balls but what authority do you really have? a foreign prince can't threaten foreign aid anyway everyone here are trained soldiers"
Then a different guy spoke.
"Yeah your probably just using empty words it would be backwards to make soldiers sent to you weaker by removing their reproductive organs"
A bunch of mumbles broke out then I spoke.
"According to imperial decree and Serothonian law I have free range over your entire force so I can threaten and enforce all I want as for making my soldiers weaker... you do know serothor has women soldiers right?"
The looks of shock and realisation replaced their mumbles then I gestured to Clair and spoke.
"My sister princess Clair is exceptionally talented and she is a little girl I'm sure I could use a few young fit able bodied soldiers with or without their bits"
I spoke again.
"Actually I don't even care if you're fit I can still use you without arms, legs, even if you don't have either don't underestimate my conviction I know for a fact I can find a use for you even if I have to remove your eyes and ears"
I took a deep breath and spoke.
"So... start doing some pushups"
From that point on they listened it was almost a good thing so many of these soldiers were sexist that way I could use it against them Clair who already experienced the laps around serothor didn't complain or struggle too much.
As for the imperial forces which hadn't trained for a over a month they were huffing, puffing and whining all the way then when it ended I had them grab some training weapons and start sparring.
Clair started looking at me with puppy dog eyes and spoke.
"Big brother Zeth can I please spar some people?"
I looked at her she will probably get hurt but she really wants to and this will probably be the safest place to experience complete and utter defeat so I nodded and spoke.
"Fine but no one with an aura and be safe"
She had her training weapons a wooden Naginata and she walked towards a random guy he had some visible muscle and was training with a wooden arming sword.
I saw them speak the guy put a finger up and spoke Clair nodded and then they got ready to fight I got closer to watch and step in if I need to.
The man took the initiative running towards Clair obviously he was trying to end the spar quickly but I just shook my head that is the worst method against a defensive fighter.
It was smart to for someone with a short range weapon to close the distance but it is also stupid to rush towards a mid range defensive fighter because...
Clair took a step forward and the tip of her weapon went straight towards the man's neck I wouldn't be able to stop it if her hit lands then that man might die from a broken airway.
The guy was able to side step it but he didn't do the smart thing and jump back instead he tried to flow on from dodging and he walked forward and the result was he was hit by Clair's weapon on the side of his neck.
He fell on the ground embarrassed and Clair started walking towards me with a smile on her face but I looked behind her the man was standing and rushing towards Clair.
But before I was about to fight him I saw a sword pierce his head and sergeant Vex standing over the body Clair was shocked and Vex spoke.
"With insults I can protect people with my reputation and rank but hitting or hurting a royal outside of a spar or duel is punishable by bloodline extermination in the empire and gods knows how you would of tortured him"
It's true I was already thinking of several ways to make his death painful I was leaning towards forced ingestion and I spoke.
"Sergeant training is over today you may bury your man however I expect 100% attendance tomorrow and for your guys to know just how serious the crime this guy was about to commit is"
With that I left with Clair and she spoke as we were walking.
"I am sorry I didn't think-"
I cut her off and spoke.
"Don't worry that guy was an idiot it's not your fault and this is a good thing for us"
Clair looked at me and asked a question.
"How"
I replied.
"Because now they are going to take you seriously and that won't happen again"