While we were waiting around in the bases, a steward from Dandelion City came to visit me. He had a set of three coffers. Each had 10,000 gold. "A gift for our most intrepid Liberators. The commoners have never been more eager to take to the road for commerce and adventure. Both of which brings revenue to the city." I nodded over to Elis and he took two of the coffers to the treasury. The steward smiled at me and said "We did have a small proposition for you to discuss. There is a long standing grievance. The mayor of Rose City is a base and corrupt woman. Not only does she have illicit affairs with demihumans like centaurs and lamia, but she maintains a very large outpost of Blood Knights. Those knights do not mess with their city, but spread out and destroy villages and kill travelers. We are now amassing an army to bring our just demands. We want her to step down." I did not care for the reasons for deposing, but there was an opportunity for us. "I see. I have an offer for you. Instead of taking pay for this excursion, Dandelion City will support my right to lead the city."
The steward blinked and said "I'm sorry, but could your repeat your offer? I don't think I followed what you said." I repeated myself and he said "Sir! Surely you must be joking. While you are well respected. You are not a native of this country. You're not even a native of this world! A Yieldless demihuman as well. No non human has been a mayor in all of our history. Who would justify you ruling the city as its new mayor? Besides, it would be much too auspicious with you owning two forts and your closeness with Honey Village. If you are not careful, one might accuse you of trying to become a petty king. You should be more aware of your position." I smirked and said "I know my position very well. We have a sparkling reputation. One that you are trying to capitalize on to give your claims legitimacy. Will you agree to our just request or not? Or, were you just bring up the army you are raising in passing to discuss something else? I'll hear anything else." The steward was angry. He stood up and said "I'll have to confer with my mayor before I can agree. Please wait for our response... sir."
I did not care what the response was. I had a plan either way. A week later, I received a letter from them that said that they were not interested in my offer. That was fine with me. I had 30,000 gold to spend. I spent a full coffer to erect a second wall around both forts. With the second coffer, I also improved the forge by supplying it with silver and gold ingots. I also bought several horses and improved the stables. There was 12100 gold left from the coffers. It was time to put it with the rest of the treasury to get a cannon and ballista. It take several months for all the additions to be ready, but was worth it. I had sent people towards Dandelion City to see how their war efforts were going. It was going to take a month before they would be able to march out on campaign. I kept them going past to see when they would leave. Because they were technically still bandits, they were able to confer with the other criminals in and out of the city to get the best information. Being knights also allowed them entry into polite society. The notable people could not ignore them.
All the improvements and the continued bandit eradication made us very popular. We were still taking people in as squires and letting them train up and do the patrols around the build sites. When they had reached the five missions needed to rank up, we would promote them to knights. We had fifty members after I spent some money to get another floor of space in the barracks for members in each fort. Eventually, it was time and the full force of the Dandelion City army began to march out from the gates. It was about a thousand men. The knights were Coat of Arms knights. The paladins did not see any legitimacy of such a war. The Red knights would probably be on the side of Rose City. The battle system was great. The cities had full authority to declare their own wars. They would bring their soldiers and knights on campaign and leave the city guards as a garrison. Even the mayor was going. I knew for a fact that there were only 300 guards in the garrison. If we moved now, we could take it for ourselves. The guards were about Level 50. I was Level 26 now. I liked my really chances.
