Chapter 69: Plunged Into Chaos

It had been a year since Victor had returned from his continental tour. 

The 3 grand duchies continued to keep each other in check, deterring one another from going to war. Letters from both the Fontaine and Maldenberg families had been sent, trying to continue to express their goodwill towards Victor. Despite Victor's disdain for both of them, he replied cordially to maintain a respectable front.

Looking at his territory, everything was continuing to develop at a rapid pace. Victor's generals had been doing a superb job at drilling their soldiers and helping them fully understand the corp tactics.

Farmlands flourished and produced bountiful harvests while roads were being approved in all Luxenberg regions, and every village was able to be connected with cobblestone roads rather than dirt. Victor had also used his previous knowledge from when he was Conrad to help further grow his territory. 

Victor introduced public schooling so that the generalised population could be able to be more advanced and pursue higher careers. Before leaving for his tour Victor tasked his civil administrators to begin a national census. With so many new regions under Luxenberg rule, having a registry of people and their property was appropriate.

A national census would mean, that the administrators would know exactly how much to tax an individual and it would help Marshal Soult know how many people he could conscript if the situation was dire.

In terms of farmland development, Victor worked alongside his uncle, Larys, to teach farmers in other regions the Cassell techniques that had seen them become one of the continent's superior agriculturists. Land drainage techniques were taught and proper crop rotation knowledge was shared with the farmers.

While Victor's territory had continued to grow, so did his family. Clarisse got pregnant a month after Victor's return and gave birth to another healthy son. This time around the birthing process was slightly easier for Clarisse due to her already knowing the pain of childbirth.

Victor's second son had white hair in place of Anton's purple hair. He was slightly smaller than Anton but was still quite healthy. The couple had struggled to find a name they could agree on for their second child. No name managed to stick and the couple had to ask Veronica for some help.

Veronica's name suggestion proved to be exactly what the couple were after. The name they eventually settled on with Veronica's help, was Henri. Victor's second son was now Henri Luxenberg, second in line for the Grand Duchy of Luxenberg. 

With 2 sons now Victor hoped that Anton and Henri would be able to form a bond like he had with Veronica. They were his legacy now, if they could mature into 2 fine men the Grand Duchy would be in comfortable hands.

In fact, Victor was already planning for Henri to be granted the title Duke of Draysden when he became a man. Cedric Dupont had no male heirs so the city of Draysden would fall to Clarisse and her children.

Everything was perfect for Victor. He had his family, a prospering territory with many wonderful citizens and a great score of trusted subordinates he could call friends. Victor only wished that he could continue with this peaceful and enjoyable life until he was old enough to leave the territory in the hands of his sons. Unfortunately, that peace would be soon disturbed.

Victor's spies that had been placed in both Osterbon and Archenshien had reported some extremely grave news. The Maldenberg family and the Fontaine family were gearing up for war with each other, even worse was that their allies were preparing as well. A war in the north was soon to begin.

The spark for this impending war originated in the Verdant Dukedom's city. A ball was hosted for Duke Verdant's birthday. Many nobles attended, most notably, Penelope Maldenberg and Harrison Fontaine. The 2 children of both grand dukes were sent as representatives of their respective families.

In the spies's reports, the ball was relatively calm until the conclusion of it. Both Penelope and Harrison had been missing from the ball for an hour. It may have been only a small problem but it was when they returned that the spark for war was ignited.

With not long left to the end of the ball Penelope who had been missing for an hour, returned with smudged make-up and tears streaming from her eyes. Everyone in attendance was concerned and instantly asked what happened and if she was alright. 

While crying she was able to explain to everyone that Harrison Fontaine grabbed her and tried to force himself upon her in one of the guest rooms in the palace. She was showing a small tear in her dress to get everyone to believe her.

During her explanation, Harrison who was drunk out of his mind stumbled in. Everyone turned to him with foul expressions. Harrison had no clue what he had done but he could the Maldenberg daughter in tears and scaredly pointing at him. 

Penelope who was well-liked by many due to her lovely appearance, had the support of most of the people in the ballroom, some of which were walking towards Harrison to confront him about it. Sensing that everyone's anger was focused towards him Harrison began to flee the palace.

A few of the young men who were infatuated with Penelope pursued Harrison but it was too late he managed to get to his carriage and begin his journey back to Osterbon. Harrison still had no idea what was happening but due to him being drunk, he would certainly find out what happened when he returned home.

In the month following that incident, both families were now aware of what happened. Grand Duke Maldenberg was blind with rage. He did not want reconciliation with the Fontaine's. Arthur Maldenberg wanted war and heads on pikes. As soon as he heard what happened to his daughter he issued orders for his soldiers and his allies to prepare for war.

On the other side, Simeon Fontaine could not believe what Harrison had done. No matter how hard Harrison pleaded his case, saying that he had not even talked to Penelope that night, no one believed him.

Grand Duke Fontaine had to prepare for war, his army and allies were to muster at once, and forced conscription was in effect as they needed all the men they could, to stop the war machine of Maldenberg.

After reading these reports, one letter from each grand duke was given to Victor. It was a call for aide. Each grand duke stated their reason for why Victor should support them. It left Victor in deep contemplation. He could not afford to sit idle as 1 grand duchy conquered the other.

Thankfully for Victor, he now had a pretence to join the war, he just did not know what side he would join. While deliberating on an answer a blue screen from the system showed up. It offered 3 quests for Victor.

'Main Quest 1: Join The War Of The Grand Duchies'

'Rewards: 10x 1000-Man Infantry Unit Summon, 1x Medium-Level Commander Summon'

'Main Quest 2: Conquer The Grand Duchy Of Fontaine' 

'Rewards: ???'

'Main Quest 3: Conquer The Grand Duchy Of Maldenberg'

'Rewards: ???'

Seeing these quests Victor knew that war was inevitable.