We were unopposed as we entered the city and made a beeline for the mayor's manor. Reiner was able to find himself and returned to his human form. He was naked, but no one was going to say anything about it. Reiner did purr and nuzzle up to a wounded Kadin. "After a battle like that, you can't help but want to share a bed with someone." he said as he held Kadin's arm tightly. Kadin could see where it was going. "Luck there are so many of the whores going cheap here. You should pay for one tonight." Reiner narrowed his eyes and said "You pay for me and I'll let this go. You wouldn't be able to satisfy me anyway." Kadin gave him some coins and stumbled away. I wanted to laugh, but karma would catch me. I did not want to be Reiner's prey either. When I got there, there was a popup alerting me that I took the city. I also had the option of going to the keep at the center of the city and crowning myself a petty king. We roused the 15 men that went down in the first wave. That brought our total up to 30. The squires and knights that managed to survive leveled up a lot from the experience.
As a procession we went to the keep. The few guards there allowed us in with out a fight. The main hall was essentially a throne room with a plain wooden chair. I sat down and said "From this day forth, I Azil Divad, Grand master of the Order of the Apples and Orange, do declare myself King of this newly conquered city and the forts I have occupied. I name my new kingdom Orange" The menu changed and I could name and manage my petty kingdom. I had a look in the treasury and was amazed at the amount. There was half a million gold in there. I immediately put it towards upgrading my forts to the max level. The whole building structure was going to be renovated. Each fort would be able to hold a full battalion of 800 men. It had multiple floor barracks with uniforms that had our logo on it. The stables had enough horses for a light cavalry company of 150 men. The forges were stocked and upgraded to where a master smith had a 10% chance to forge legendary weapons or items. That was a big deal. I would have to pay another one to come in.
The keep had 15 cells and two torture rooms. We had multiple tactical maps in the main hall and a long table for the masters and up to sit. It was also painted in various shades of orange. The walls were all reinforced and made taller. I also made sure there were eight cannons and balista on each and every wall, facing every direction. It even gave me the authority to speed up the job for added costs. I poured as much as I could to get it done in a week. That most likely spawned a whole village worth of people to do the job in the time limit, but I did not care. A long as the forts were done by the time any armies cam marching in, we would be fine. I still had a back log of applications from people who wanted to join. To fill the spaces I made in the forts I halved the entry cost. I accepted all the applicants as squires.Even some Players in the area applied. I put them in as knights. As for my current crew, I promoted them all. The squires became knights, the knights became standard bearers, the two standard bearers became templars and Suzie became a master.
Morale was high and I filled the staff positions needed for the court forts. There were lots of people needed to make a kingdom such as ambassadors, ministers of the various activities of the kingdom, stewards, marshals, spymasters, chaplains, cooks, cleaning staff, stable hands, recruiters, torturers, and the city and royal guards. I could spawn people to fill positions by hiring from the menu, or I could appoint the members from the populace of the world. I decided to just hire most of them and have the arrive. They would all be moderately loyal to begin with but could change based on my actions and their traits. I personally appointed a cleric from the Church of the Wind as my court chaplain. Two others were assigned to the forts. As for the royal and city guards, I established two new Coat of Arms orders of knights, the Order of the Goat and the Order of the Lion. The Goats would oversee the garrison and be a defensive force during invasion. The Lions would be the head of the standing army. The standing Order of the Apples and Orange would become the royal guard.
I had to spend money to build more outposts, both in and out of the city, to hold the new orders. I upgraded the city throne room with the banners, orange carpet, and a new throne. I stayed near the large wooden throne with leather and iron studs. I was not a humanoid, so I could not sit on it. Wendel made a sliver circlet with eight gold fleur-de-lis to make it a crown. I wore it on my head and waited for my enemies to come back. In the meantime, I drained the rest of the money on cannons and ballista on the walls of the city. The lack of funds was concerning, but I was sure we could make it back later. The King of Quidon declared war on me and vowed to crush my "evil rebellion". He was welcome to try. He still had to muster his troops and much down on us. That would take some months. In the mean time, I need to bolster my ranks. The old mayor was still on campaign for Rose City. That meant that the king had much less men to muster. The best for me would be if there was a pyrrhic victory ending. That way, they would be easy pickings for us. I had to bide my time for that.
