After receiving his first Dangerous Quest, Victor was intrigued about the rewards he was about to receive. Excited to claim his rewards he quickly tapped the blue screen. In a flash, a new screen appeared and Victor's jaw dropped to the floor.
'Rewards: 1x 10-Man Bodyguard Unit Summon, 1x 30-Man Cavalry Unit Summon and a 1x Medium-Level Commander Summon.'
Victor was ecstatic. '10 more French Imperial Guard troops were always a welcome addition to my ranks, but to get cavalry and a general to lead my forces, I'm thrilled!' Victor screamed internally. A beaming smile shot across his face and he couldn't help but giggle having such amazing rewards.
Too excited to do anything else Victor began to use his new summons. First, he redeemed his usual 10 French Imperial Guard troops. They were the cream of the crop in terms of soldiers under his command. Although the Polish Line Infantry were superb in the defense of the camp they couldn't match the skill of Napoleon's Old Guard.
Next, Victor wanted to have a look at what cavalry units were available. As usual, a green screen appeared with pictured options to choose from however this time there were only 4 options. There were Hungarian Hussars, Dutch Guard Lancers, Royal Scots Grey and lastly Russian Cossacks.
Victor was at a loss, two options were nagging at him. There was the Russian Cossacks, a lancer-based cavalry whose ferociousness was almost beast-like. They were well-regarded shock troops who led terrifying charges into their enemies. Then there was the Royal Scots Grey. A heavy dragoon unit from Northern Britain that could use both flintlock carbines and sabres. They were infamous for their charge through the French centre at the Battle of Waterloo.
It was a hard decision for Victor. He could choose an elite shock cavalry or an all-rounded cavalry. Minutes passed by as Victor weighed the pros and cons of each unit, ultimately deciding on choosing the Royal Scots Grey unit.
All that was left to use was the Medium-Level Commander Summon. In its description, it said you could summon anywhere between a 3 to 5 Commander. Piqued by this interesting yellow paper talisman with the silhouette of a bicorn hat. Victor pressed the use button. Unlike the other summons, this was unique. Instead of a multi-choice picture option, it was a black silhouette of a man walking towards the screen. The background a yellow smoke show as he approached. The suspense was killing Victor, had he summoned someone good? Was it a potential 5-star general?
His questions were soon answered. What appeared was a man with short curly brown hair, brown eyes and a thin moustache. Dressed in a midnight blue general's uniform the gold embroidered into it popped. Confused at first Victor began to slowly piece together who he had summoned, after the animation had ended the screen said 'General Jean Rapp!' Next to his name were 3 stars indicating that he was a 3-star general.
'If General Rapp was a 3-star General it was fair to assume that the likes of Napoleon, Mikhail Kutuzov and Arthur Wellesley would be considered 5-star generals' Victor thought excitedly. Bouncing around in anticipation Victor went to sleep, ready for a fruitful next day.
Around the middle of the day, the new reinforcements arrived sparking the camp to become even more livelier. With the addition of 30 beautiful grey horses and their riders, the camp was now rushing to build stables to accommodate them. Soon after followed the French Imperial Guard unit escorting General Rapp.
"Greetings my Lord. I am General Jean Rapp at your service." the general remarked while giving a slight bow.
"I am grateful General Rapp. Having you lead my soldiers in my absence will be of great help." Replied Victor in an appreciative tone.
With a total of 130 infantry, 30 cavalry and 10 porters, plus 1 general. The make-shift outpost which had started with 10 men was now a proper outpost with a small warband. The average army size of a dukedom was around 20,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 100 pieces of artillery. Victor knew that he was severely lacking but was determined to grow his forces.
With that in mind, Victor rushed back to the palace just in time for dinner. He was aiming to complete the second optional quest the system had given him. The Join Your Family for Dinner quest.
Wearing a decent grey attire Victor waltzed into the dining room amidst the flurry of horrified expressions from his half-siblings and stepmother. Flabbergasted at the audacity of Victor for joining them in the dining none of them knew how to interpret this act. What was worse was Josephine couldn't believe that Victor was still alive after getting her brother to send mercenaries to kill him.
"You must forgive me, dear family, I hope I am not too late." Victor courteously said while pulling a wooden chair out and sitting at the long rectangular table.
"What do you think you are doing Victor, shouldn't you be in your room?" Josephine said coldly.
"Am I, not the father's eldest-born son I believe I should have a seat at this table. Isn't that right father?" Victor asked with a faint smirk directed at his stepmother.
Vipon who had been sitting in silence eating his meal said nothing while the drama was unfolding. He was constantly working to help drag the territory out of financial stress. With the constant attacks from the Pirate King and local bandits trade and economic growth were significantly slowed. Even with budget cuts, Vipon was still losing money even though his calculations suggested otherwise.
"Do as you like Victor, but all of behave yourselves, please. This is the only time of day I rest" Vipon said exhaustedly.
In a state of awkwardness, dinner proceeded. The twins whispered amongst themselves and Josephine constantly scowled at Victor. Dinner was almost done, yet Victor broke the silence with an outlandish request.
"Klaus it has been so long since we duelled with one another how about tomorrow we go for a few bouts?"
At this, both Katrina and Josephine began to hurl insults towards Victor. To them, it was an arrogant challenge requested by someone lower than them. Klaus looked in disbelief. The brother who he had beat time and time again was now challenging him.
Victor recognised Klaus's silence and followed up by saying, "What's wrong, Klaus? You're usually not this quiet. You used to beat me all the time when we were younger. Do you not have faith in your abilities anymore?"
Klaus's face ran red with fury. Victor's obvious taunts sent the prideful and arrogant twin into a calm rage. Quelling it best he can Klaus took a deep breath to compose himself.
"Fine, I shall beat you again. For old time's sake," Klaus replied with a twisted grin.
And so it was decided the sons of Luxenberg would duel the following morning.