"At present about half of the territory's officials stand with us. In terms of fighting strength, the coup will be led by my soldiers. A few captains will support us with their soldiers by maintaining a perimeter and encouraging the other troops not to do anything." Victor said beginning to outline his plan.
"The coup will proceed during the cover of darkness. The guards at both the city entrance and palace gate will be on our side whether if that is through bribery or other means. Once inside the palace, key figures and the Duke's family must be apprehended and detained. No loose ends and no alerting the city of what is going on. Any questions?"
General Rapp raised his hand, "My Lord what of the targets outside of the palace?"
Acknowledging the question Victor calmly said, "Having the Duke and his family as prisoners will deter the loyal officials well enough to deter them. Externally the Cruyff Dukedom won't be able to move since Josephine and her children will be our hostages. This is when we can stabilize the territory and then we can work with the Cassell Dukedom and take the fight to Duke Cruyff in his territory."
Larys well impressed raised his hand and spoke. "I am impressed with all that you have accomplished and how thoroughly you have planned this out nephew but I have one question. Why did you ask for our support? From what I've seen and heard you could pull this coup off without us."
Victor smiled, unfazed by his uncle's question. "You are right uncle we do not necessarily need your support. However, having some financial assistance and being able to say that we have your support greatly helps our cause. Whether Grandfather decides to support us or not, the coup will still happen. It'd be in your best interest that I am the ruler of the Luxenberg Dukedom," he said in a calm tone.
The officers all agreed with that statement. By themselves, they could still pull off this coup but with the backing of Duke Cassell, they could flawlessly pull off the coup and still have a surplus of funds.
Surprised at his nephew's answer, Larys could only contemplate what his dukedom had to lose. Without having to send military forces the support for Victor's coup would be minimal. The Cassell Dukedom was a wealthy territory so financing the coup wouldn't be a hard task.
Seeing his uncle in deep thought Victor ordered the officer to leave the room. With a slight bow, all of them exited the meeting room. Victor smiled softly at his uncle and said. "You do not have to support me, Uncle. I only asked so that Grandfather would delay his war with Duke Cruyff. I did not wish for my territory to be the battlegrounds for their war and I did not want my father to ally with Harold Cruyff."
For a momentary pause, Victor placed his hand on his uncle's shoulder and continued, "I never imagined that I'd overthrow my father but to help my family I shall do what is necessary. Tell Grandfather we don't need his support, we only ask he waits another 2 months before declaring war. By then the Dukedom will be mine and it will give me time to stabilize the region."
Larys Cassell was shocked. The level of maturity and calmness Victor showed was far above what a 17-year-old boy should possess, especially when he is planning to do something that will shake the foundation of his territory.
Victor smiled and left the meeting room, leaving Larys to his thoughts. His nephew was beyond comprehension. A boy who had suffered for so long now possessed a new charisma and mental state which somehow led him to this situation.
Chasing after his nephew, Larys ran and caught up to Victor who was in a conversation with General Rapp. Approaching Larys began to speak, "My father Duke Cassell gave me the authority to act on his behalf. The Cassell Dukedom will fully support you with whatever you need. I'm confident you will succeed with or without us, but as your family, we will stand with you."
Overjoyed by his uncle's pledge of support Victor embraced him and thanked him for helping his coup. Now with the support of Cassell Dukedom Victor was ready to set his plan into motion.
The following night Victor convened his war council to finalise the date and plan for the coup. With everyone present, he began to speak, "Gentlemen with the support of the Cassell Dukedom we can now begin laying the groundwork for this coup. We will aim to take over in 1 month. During that time we shall secure the loyalty of the guards posted on duty. We will make sure that the Duke and his family do not leave the palace. We can not afford to mess this up. If we do we are all dead men. Understood?"
The officers saluted Victor in a show of loyalty. They knew that failure would mean death. With a timer set for 1 month, everybody went to work.
Victor left for the palace in Hannover and began to train with soldiers in the training yard. He also used his servants to acquire information about the guard postings. General Rapp and the officers began to inform the soldiers of the plan and what roles they would be playing. The camp would be only defended by the cavalry units since they were not as proficient dismounted.
2 weeks had passed and significant progress had been made. Larys Cassell was able to secure funds and began to transport them to the military camp alongside 100 soldiers to help defend the military outpost in Victor's absence.
Florence and Sebastian were able to get information about where and when guards were deployed and meant to switch. They also were able to find out who was usually scheduled for those guard duties. This made it easier to locate people to bribe.
Victor had spent a lot of his time with the Luxenberg soldiers. He was able to learn about them and made an effort to be liked by them. Ever since his duel with Klaus, the soldiers found a new level of respect for Victor. Thus it was easier for him to secure their love and loyalty.
Everything was going smoothly, but Victor overlooked 1 thing. How would he drag the territory out of borderline poverty? Currently, the territory was not making any money. The pirate king was openly pillaging the trading lanes into the Bulgar continent, depriving Hannover of the trade and business it usually got.
With enough money to maintain the territory to its current the Duke had done a good job stopping the people from starving, even if it came at the cost of not improving the living standards of Luxenberg.
Whilst thinking about the coup and the aftermath a blue system screen appeared and behind it 4 purple screens awaited him.
'Main Quest: Succeed in Taking Over The Luxenberg Territory!'
'Rewards: ???'
With no rewards specified Victor grew curious. Plenty of times the main and optional quests provided reward descriptions but this time around they were left out. Usually, the hard quests like the dangerous ones provided extremely good rewards so Victor prayed that'd be the case, however, Victor's curious expression became dark after seeing the optional quests.
"These are grim quests."