Chapter 82: An Expanded Realm

After treating with the delegation of surrendered soldiers Victor sent out some scouts to confirm that what they said was true. Sure enough, Victor's scouts returned promptly with not only news of the surrender but also with some surrendered soldiers who acted as guards to escort the Maldenberg family.

Arthur, Priscilla, Adrian, Penelope and Adeline were brought before Victor at the entrance of the Maldenberg palace, a place that was their home, a place that seated the patriarchs of the Maldenberg family for decades.

"Greetings Maldenberg family, It brings me no joy to see you in such a state, (sigh) Nevertheless, we are enemies, and I can not say I am surprised with this outcome. To think you would be mad enough to order your soldiers to fire into a city full of their loved ones and homes," Victor said in an almost disappointed tone.

"Silence you mongrel, is this how you repay us for generous hospitality, when my daughter was attacked by that drunken fool from the Fontaine family, you dared to side with them. You are nothing more than a lowly mutt from the south. If we were not at war with the Fontaine faction I would have conquered you and expelled your family name from history," Arthur said in a venomous tone.

Unamused by the malicious ramblings of Grand Duke Maldenberg, Victor signalled his soldiers to escort him and the rest of his family into the dungeons. Swiftly they were taken away. 

With the siege concluded and the Maldenberg family captured, Victor was now focused on restoring the city to a liveable standard. Most of the Luxenberg soldiers alongside the remnants of the men from Arthur's army began to dispose of the dead bodies and hold a funeral for them.

After the funeral people were able to return to their homes and if anything was damaged, Victor made sure they were compensated for their cooperation during the siege. Streets were beginning to be cleared of rubble and houses were being repaired. The walls would take a very long time to repair so it was not an immediate task.

While everything in the city restoration project was underway Victor found a moment to relax and look at his system. He opened up the overview tab and looked at his new territory. The map now showed the entirety of the continent and then highlighted the area that Victor owned. The statistics read…

'Domain Overview'

'Regions: 7, (Luxenberg, Cassell, Dupont, Maximillian, Cruyff, Gundenvarg, Maldenberg)

'Cities: 12

'Total Population: 17,673,183 People'

'Army Size: 150,000 Infantrymen, 21,000 Cavalrymen, 550 Cannons'

'Personal Army Size: 2,225 Infantrymen, 420 Cavalrymen'

'Fleet Size: 1 Flagship, 10 Ships Of The Line'

With the expansion of his territory, Victor was more and more appreciative of the overview mechanic of the system, it acted as a natural census and was helpful to fully assess his total military strength spread throughout his realm. 

Victor's understanding of the system grew as well. He finally was able to understand what the region's statistics meant. It did not represent the original owner of the region and its correlating cities but it represented the family that had it before it was integrated into Victor's domain.

So places like Cassell, Dupont and Gundenvarg joined as vassals so they counted as one each where as the Maldenbergs and the Maximillians owned multiple cities that they had conquered so they now counted as part of their region.

Victor was disappointed to learn of how his military might had declined and not recuperated during this war and how he had not gained as many new soldiers as he would have liked. Brutally defeating the Maldenberg army twice had affected the growth of Victor's military it would now be a slower process to rebuild his military might.

However, while Victor was contemplating how to handle such a massive territory, a blue message from the system popped up. It was refreshing to the system after many months of not receiving any new quests or rewards.

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

'Rewards: 1x Legendary-Level Commander Summon, 20x 1000-Man Infantry Unit Summon, 3x Medium-Level Commander Summon'

Victor was in disbelief, this was an outstanding haul of rewards. 4 new commanders with at least 1 guaranteed to be a 5-star general. On top of that 20,000 infantrymen was a huge boost to the Luxenberg army who had suffered a substantial amount of casualties over the course of 2 big battles and 2 minor sieges.

Right away Victor used his 20 1000-Man Infantry Unit Summons, 10,000 German Fusiliers, 2,000 Russian Jaegers, 5,000 French Chasseurs and 3,000 Polish Line Infantry were added to the Luxenberg army's ranks. Victor envisioned garrisoning most of them in Archenshien while sending a few thousand men to garrison Hausen.

Next Victor used his 3 Medium-Level Commander Summons, The first general was a 3-star general known as General Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn. He was a man who served in both the Prussian and Austrian armies, he had blonde curly hair with mutton chops and blue eyes. Victor planned to use General Gimborn as the military governor of Hausen.

The next general was a 3-star, his name was General Sergei Kamensky, and he was a Russian Infantry General. His hair was white like snow and almost wig-like in appearance, while his eyes were brown. He had served in the famous battle of Austerlitz, the Russo-Turkish War and the French Invasion of Russia. Victor planned to send him to Duke Gundenvarg as a capable commander for his forces and could help with any military logistics. 

Victor's final Medium-Level Commander Summon was another 3-star general. This French general was Dominique Vandamme. A well-renowned general who served in the Napoleonic era. Participating in battles such as Austerlitz and Warve, General Vandamme was a proven commander who was unfortunate not to become a Marshal of France.

Victor was most pleased with getting a general like Vandamme, he would prove to be extremely useful in the war to come. All that was left to use now was the Legendary-Level Commander Summon.