Returning to his room Victor was content to be able to sleep on a decent bed and have proper walls fighting away the wind and rain.
Already completing 1 optional quest, Victor's attention was focused on completing the other 2 optional quests he had received from the system. Both quests involved his family, but due to him garnering a fair amount of attention due to his recent exploit, Victor decided to wait a while before attempting the other 2.
Victor had to grow stronger to be able to complete the other quests and deal with the aftermath of them. So to achieve his goal of getting stronger, Victor first used the 1000 Store Points he had received from completing the bandit quest to buy two skill books.
The first is a low-level swordsmanship book and the second is a low-level equestrian book. These two would help improve his combat prowess fighting in melee on and off the ground. After resting in his room and catching up on all the latest rumours from his servants for a week, Victor set off for the military outpost.
In a week the makeshift tents had been replaced by homely and practical-looking barracks. Two well-constructed watch towers had been built at either end of the camp. With the addition of a training yard and canteen tent, the camp had almost tripled in size.
Seeing the arrival of their lord, the soldiers bowed as he rode past them, making his way to the officer's tent. Once he had arrived Victor was greeted by Sergeant Junot and Captain Nowak
"Welcome back Lord," the two officers said welcoming Victor into the tent.
"I am most pleased with the camp's fast development, you men have done excellent work," Praised Victor. Showing his appreciation to the two men.
"The reason I have come is I wish you to be taught swordsmanship and marksmanship with a pistol. I want to be able to become a proper soldier who could hold his own in battle." Victor stated, hoping that his soldiers could help drill him properly, unlike his previous instructor who would beat him for the smallest things.
"Truthfully all the men here only excel at using muskets but some of them have had previous experience using pistols and swords. We will organise some of them to train you," replied Captain Nowak.
Without wasting any time the offices began to ask around the camp looking for soldiers who could be of any use to helping Victor's training. After 2 hours the officers returned with 2 soldiers behind them.
The soldiers stepped forward and paid their respects to Victor before introducing themselves.
"I am Andrei, my Lord. I was originally training to be a part of a cavalry regiment but chose the infantry instead since I could barely ride a horse. I have some prior knowledge using sabres which I hope can benefit your training." Andrei said.
Andrei was a tall soldier from the Polish Line Infantry with a solid frame. His hair was short and blonde. A younger man with hazel eyes and defined facial features, cursed with a bayonet scar across his forehead. Then there was another soldier from the Polish Line Infantry. Shorter in stature compared to Andrei, he was a stocky fellow.
"Greetings Lord, I am Mikhail. I was once a well-renowned duelist in my city. I am more than accustomed to wielding a pistol and hope I can help teach you how to master the pistol." Boasted Mikhail.
With suitable trainers selected for him, Victor smiled at the two soldiers. " I look forward to your lessons," He said eagerly.
Without delay, Victor began his instruction from Andrei and Mikhail. In the mornings Victor would drill for multiple hours on using and reloading a pistol under the tutelage of Mikhail. While in the evening during the cool breeze, he sparred with Andrei.
With weeks elapsing the constant training Victor undertook was vigorous. As his proficiency slowly rose the harder the lessons got became. Starting with simplistic drills the soldiers found that Victor was breezing through them without a challenge. They introduced physical training to develop his body further. Mikhail even got Victor to practice shooting his pistol on horseback.
Andrei made Victor learn with both hands so he could be ambidextrous. He also used sandbags as weights to slow down Victor's movements to help build strength and speed when using a sword.
After two months of training, Victor had managed to raise his proficiencies in equestrian, marksmanship and swordsmanship. He was able to upgrade his low-level skills into medium-level skills. For context, he went from being similar to the average practitioner to now being in the upper ranks.
But during those months Victor wasn't the only one making moves.
During his time away, Victor's absence had been duly noted. Josephine had been keeping tabs on Victor ever since he returned from subduing the bandits. However, Josephine's people who had been keeping tabs had mysteriously lost him. They presumed he was cooped up in his room but when asking one of Victor's servants they found that he had left the palace earlier that morning.
In a panic, Josephine's followers scoured the port city of Hannover trying to find where the missing Victor could be. They knew failing the Duchess would lead to serious repercussions. Through some rushed investigation a travelling farmer had mentioned that he saw a young man on a horse ride into the nearby forest.
Frantically they made haste for the forest where they discovered an outpost of some kind full of soldiers. This by itself was already suspicious, however the sight of their young lord training among the soldiers.
With such crucial information, the followers didn't muck around and rushed straight to Duchess Josephine. Bewildered by such nonsensical information she sent a letter to her brother, Duke Harold Cruyff, urging him to send mercenaries to deal with Victor and the soldiers associated with him.
Harold Cruyff had always had a soft spot for his only sibling, so when she requested that he do something for the safety of herself and her children he quickly sought action.
The Duke, in his arrogance, didn't believe in proper preparation, especially against a weak teenager who couldn't have more than 20 soldiers at his command. To be sure of their demise he hired 100 mercenaries and sent them to assault the camp. They were led by one of Duke Cruyff's adjutants, who like the duke was extremely arrogant.
The mercenaries who had been marching for 7 days were drawing in on the outpost. Victor who had been eating his lunch in his tent received a red screen from the system.
'Dangerous Quest! Defend the Outpost!'