I started walking towards the window. As I approached the window and looked outside, I could see many houses built with wood and stone and small gardens in their courtyards.
The streets and roads are dirty and not well built; they are unpaved. I can also hear sounds in the far distance. I guess that's the marketplace.
And as for sanitation, it smells like shit. Damn, man. I guess sanitation is still limited in this era. I can see walls built with stone surrounding the city from.
So this is the city of 'EBONWALL,' the seat of power of Marquis And it feels like I am in a castle, which is situated on the hill with another line of walls surrounding the castle, and a moat is built with a watchtower.
Soon I left the room. These dude Victor died, I guess, with a head injury because my head is covered with bandages.
He was riding a horse, and suddenly he could not control the horse, which led him to crash into the tree.
Brooo, your father Senior army officials and ministers already do not trust you, but then you could not even handle a horse...
I don't know what happened to Victor because, from my memories, I could say he was taught how to ride a horse by his father himself.
Whatever, I walked outside my room. What surprised me most was that no maid or butler was present in the corridor as well. Damn, these people do not give a damn about these guys, huh?
As I was walking, a young man could be seen running towards me. He came close to me and greeted me with, "My lord, are you okay?"
I noticed the sweat on his body, and also he was holding a tray that had tea and medicine. I Guess.
"Yeah, I am alright, Charl. So, Charl, what took you so long? I guess you went sightseeing". Charl quickly replied. "No, my lord, I was ordered to do 10 laps around the ground by Lord Degmon. I tried to explain to him. That I am taking some medicine and tea for Young Lord, but he still insisted ...
'Hmmmm, Lord Degmon The one who is cavalry commander of my father's army . Typical story: these veterans do not think of me as a worthy successor..'.
I looked at Charl "Next time onward, no matter which lord or minister of my domain tries to order you around, tell them you only take orders from Victor Armstrong. If they have a problem, they can talk to me directly. Got it."
Charl was surprised. "Yes, yes, my lord." Charl has been with Victor for the last 8 years, and he knows how Victor was always scared, but today the way he talks and the way he walks are totally different.
Usually Victor would walk awkwardly, always nervous he would encounter the army officials and ministers who would always look down on him.
But today he is walking so freely and with a nonchalant attitude... Maybe he is putting up a facade of being strong when he encounters those army officials and ministers; he would definitely stutter.
"Charl I am going to my office to summon all the ministers and army officials to my office. I don't care what they are doing; tell them to arrive in the office on time."
"Yes, my lord," Charl replied. Victor arrived in front of his office. He opened the wooden door. When the door opened, Victor was really surprised at how beautiful the room was.
The air in the room was thick with beeswax.
Sunlight streamed Through the tall and arched window. There were rich paintings in it depicting the battles fought by my ancestors.
The room was dominated by a massive desk in the middle of the room surrounding the desk. Behind the desk a plush armchair was placed, a seat of power for Marquis.
Surrounding the desk were three normal-looking chairs on its left and three on its right.
Behind the desk, a map of the archipelago can be seen.
And there are also two bookshelves that can be seen. A fireplace is also built.
Hmm, but what interested me most was the archipelago. It was by no means small; it was huge. Damn, if we compare the archipelagos on Earth to these, the latter will look tiny compared to these.
I turned around. I sat on the Chair of Marquis and waited. I had a small smile plastered on my face, which did not reach my ears.
I was waiting for my dear ministers and army officials to arrive. I was going to test who would heed my call and who would not. The people who ignore my orders will be the first ones I will be cleaning up.
"I waited Soon the knock can be heard on the door. My Lord, can I enter?"
"Sure," I replied. Soon I can see an old man with a well-built body entering the room.
He respectfully greeted, "I hope the young lord has recovered."
I looked at Lewis and replied, "My health is good now. So I decided to get back on my duty as Marquis, but where is your subordinate cavalry commander of cavalry?
"He will be here in a few minutes, my lord.
Soon "then cavalry commander Degmon arrived after an hour.
He greeted Marquis. "Young Lord, I feel happy that you have recovered. I was worried about you."
I looked straight at his eyes and did not reply. Soon Degmon started to feel nervous. Why is this brat not nervous? He is Looking straight at me, his gaze is piercing me.
"Degmon I think you have grown some wings on your back since my father died. It looks like now you can even order around my subordinate."
Both the commanders were stunned; this is the new side they are seeing of their young lord.
They heard the voice of Victor again.
"When I order you to come on time, you will arrive no matter what you are doing. You got that... When I order you to sit, you will sit. When I order you to stand, you will stand. You got that?
Or do you want me to beat some sense into you on how to follow the orders of superiors?
Degmon quickly bowed his head in shame and apologized. "I am sorry, my lord, forgive me."
Victor smiled and said, "It's alright, but believe me, next time you try to do anything like this, I will not spare you.... Now sit, both of you."
This brat and that smug look on his face Degmon was angry, but he controlled himself, and both sat and waited for other ministers to arrive...
Soon Finance Minister 'Jon,' Ministry of Justice 'Carlos, and City Head 'Albert' arrived, and the last one to arrive was Health Minister Ivon.
What are these? How can my father run the territory with so few officials? But I do agree with my father: the territory we hold is not really big.
There are only 4 major cities in the territory, 8 towns, and 38 villages, if I remember correctly.
My father focused mainly on the army. The reason he wanted the army to get strong was because, even though he was on good terms with the king, the king still did not let the marquis build many forts in his territory.
So my father was more interested in the army to make it strong so that they could defend the territory. I need to make changes to the whole structure, but first. Let me deal with these arrogant bastards.
I stood up, got in the middle of the room, and looked at everyone.
"So now that everyone has arrived, I am going to make one thing clear: I am Victor Armstrong. The current marquis of Wildwood territory."
"Now you might say, why is this boy saying that he is a marquis when we already know he is?" because I want you all to remember these in your mind next time any of you arrive late. without any proper reason.
I, Victor Armstrong, will personally punish that official. since you all think of me as just a boy....
There was silence in the room. I turned towards the finance minister. I questioned him, "From what I know, our territory is rich, and we get substantial profit from our diamonds and additional agricultural benefits. Why is there no sanitation?"
"My father ordered you to build some public privies or bathrooms away from the living area so that people can use them."
The finance minister looked at both city head Albert and health minister 'Ivon.'
Victor looked at Jon.
"Speak freely, Lord Jon."
"My Lord Before your father died, we had started the construction, but after he died, all funds that I distributed to Lord Albert and Ivon were used by them for personal gain.
Quickly Albert stood up, shouting, "This is a lie; I never got those funds." And Ivon also supported him. I looked at Jon and said, "Lord Jon, do you have evidence?"
Soon Jon got a paper out of his pocket and showed how in the last two months. Albert and Ivon had bought new properties. And since the death of the previous marquis, they are not even paying the tax....
Victor took the paper. "Why did you not inform me earlier, Lord Carlos?
My Lord Because Albert and Ivon threatened they will harm my family if I ever try to mention these to others. They even tried to bribe me. And-and "Jon stuttered
Victor said, smiling, "You did not trust me that I can handle these situations or not. It's alright; your family will be safe. And I will be forever grateful to you, even though you knew I was incompetent, boy, you still gathered the courage and informed me about these matters. "
Victor turned towards Carlos. Lord Carlos, "Start the investigation on this matter. And He also said, "Lord Albert and Lord Ivon are restricted from leaving the city, and also they can defend themselves against these charges by hiring a lawyer...."