Sic Parvis Magna II

I woke up on a sunny day, thinking that I want to procrastinate a bit before I go off and start the day but not everything works positively for anyone doesn't it? I heard a sudden knock on my door

"Come in"

The door creaks, and a middle-aged maid of ours comes in, with a bucket of warm water and a towel, probably to help me wash myself

"Young Master, the madame asked me to come here and wake you up and help you to prepare for the morning, I need to help you change your clothes and get you ready for breakfast"

Still feeling a bit fuzzy, Renaldo chose to ignore the maid and get some more sleep for a few minutes.

~A few minutes later~

"RENALDO! GET YOUR ASS UP AND PREPARE FOR BREAKFAST OR YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET NOT EATING BREAKFAST WITH US AND NOT FOLLOWING MY ORDERS YOU LAZY BUM!"

Renaldo was shocked to the core, he completely forgot about the time and overslept! He immediately looked for some water and splashed his face with it and took a towel to thoroughly cleaning himself, he took a primitive looking toothbrush and a charcoal based "toothpaste" to clean himself, he even sprayed some perfume to his clothes for safe measures.

In the dining area of their house, Renaldo and his parents are eating their breakfast and talking about things that are typical of what families often talked about, Renaldo is clearly a bit down since he was scolded a bit when he came here, it's a good thing that he came on time or else there will be hell to pay, he'd rather face a the whole Spanish Army than experience the wrath of an angry mother cause based on his past experiences, mothers are really scary when they get mad.

While eating, his father stared at Renaldo and spoke:

"Son, Maestro Bentong told me the other day that you've bested someone older than you in a debate about war strategies, is that true?"

"Yes father, I've merely used my knowledge attained from reading those books that I've asked of you on my 5th birthday, especially the ones written from that book called the Thirty-Six Stratagems that you got from an "intsik" merchant"

His Father, clearly amazed at what his son told him felt proud that his son is such a resourceful child with a good memory saying;

"Hahahaha! Look at our child! Marilou! He's already so sly and resourceful at a young age! With great memorizing skills too! I'm sure he'll make a great soldier in the future! Isn't that right my sweet baby boy?~"

Renaldo, feeling some chills well up his ass by his father's doting immediately replied with a lie while faking a tantrum and said;

"Father! I've told you before that I've always wanted to be a merchant like grandpa! I don't want to become a soldier like you! It's not my cup of tea!"

"Well, son, your father is right though, you will be forced to be conscripted when you're of age soon, and I bet that he'll probably avoid paying the tariff to let you skip the conscription, so you will most likely join the guardia civil for a short period of time, don't worry, once you've had enough experience and if you still want to be a merchant, we'll gladly pay the tariff and support you in what you want to do, right Mauricio?" His mother glared at his father like a tigress protecting her cub

"Sure! Sure! my love! and don't worry, I won't let him be conscripted here in the Philippines, I'll send him to Spain to be conscripted there, he'll have a bigger chance of being promoted in that place compared to here, because in all honesty, ever since Mexico was liberated, the crown has always been sending corrupt officials to "exile" here in the Philippines"

Seeing that his parents are in a good mood and are about to change the topic, Renaldo thought that it is now the best opportunity to request some things to them

"Excuse me mother, father but I have something to ask of both of you, seeing that I don't have a choice in that conscription subject"

Both looked at him curiously, as if in shock for their son never asked them a lot of things even if it's his birthday

"What is it?" *Comically, both speaks at the same time*

"Well, I need your help in getting or recruiting some orphans around my age, probably around 200, that will train with me and will be under my direct order, I want to train them and start them as young and as early as possible, so that I can practice a bit about commanding, because whenever I read books about warfare, I often feel that having experience is better than just reading and understanding them. I know that it is going to be hard and will be a bit tight on our budget but I promise to make everything worth it if you approve of this request of mine"

Both parents looked at their son weirdly, thinking a lot of things like, why would a child think like this? Is Renaldo okay? They're thinking about what is currently going on with their son's mind, they've always known that their son is a bit more mature than his own peers and he sometimes acts so weird and often babbles about weird stuff, they even saw him secretly writing some weird language on a notebook at night a few years ago but this is next level weirdness even for them.

"And why would you even need that many men? And why orphans instead of grown men that have developed minds and developed bodies? Tell me honestly son, are you in trouble? Are there people bullying you when you go outside? Or when you are in class with Master Bentong?"

His father is a bit weirded out but is quite the open-minded person especially about these kinds of military stuff, his mother on the other hand is about to refuse his request but decided that her son needs to grow and that her son is right, that in order to become more proficient in what they want to do, they need to get more experience"

"No, nobody's bullying me or anything of the sort, it's just that even if the current time is peaceful, I still want to prepare about emergencies, and that in the rare case that father is not around to order our private soldiers, I can always become a substitute for him"

Both parents agreed to their son's argument and they relented.

"Seeing that you've clearly thought about this beforehand, I accept your request but we don't need to gather more and the budget is really not a problem because currently, we already have a lot of orphans at our disposal because your mother often helps the friars and even established an orphanage inside our hacienda, I will give you those orphans to manage and train, but in one condition, I will put Master Bentong as your advisor, if he thinks that your decisions are not correct, he have the right to stop you and he will inform me immediately if he thinks that you cannot handle everything, on the other hand, if he tells me that you are doing great, I will add more orphans from our orphanage to give you more manpower, understood?"

"Yes father, I understand, and thank you so much for allowing me, I know that it's still too early for me, and I know that both you and mother still have qualms about this but I promise that I will not fail your expectations!"