Today Vernos has a meeting with the city lord of Vermont, Randy, and the administrators of the city. Usually, nobles would hire city lords to take care of the city for them while they reap the benefits. The city lord's position was only political and had no power in the military.

"My lord, as I reported earlier the situation in Vermont isn't very good. Our land is barren and can't grow any food. All our food is purchased from outside cities. Since we are far away from the nearest city the transportation costs are high and no merchants come into the city." Randy reported

"Randy, have someone you trust take some men and redo the census. From now on I want them to count the population once a year. Make sure it is accurate." Vernos ordered, "Later I will take some men and investigate the territory and see if I can fix the land."

"My lord, our territory currently has an army of 1500 the average strength is 7-star knight apprentice and the highest is 3-star Knights. All the stronger knights left with the old baron."

Stage 1 knights are also called knights, while stage 2 knights are called Great knights.

"It costs about 200 gold coins a month to keep the military running. The current salary for a knight apprentice is 10 silver coins a month while the knights are getting paid 20 silver coins a month." Randy continued to report the situation of the army.

Vernos frowned while listening two-fifths of the tax income from the city is going towards the army. He planned to lower the taxes but he can't do that yet until he has a foothold or he won't be able to pay salaries.

The money in the empire is divided into copper coins silver coins and gold coins. One hundred copper equals one silver coin, and one hundred silver equals one gold coin.

"From now on my knights will train your army."

Nobody had any objections so they all nodded.

"My lord, we are running out of food because the previous baron took almost all of our food before he left." One of the administrators reported

Vernos frowned and said "I brought some food but it won't last long I will find a way to take care of the issue. What is the market price for food? How much will it cost us a month to feed the city if we buy food from outside?"

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"My lord, previously we spent around 200 gold a month buying food and transporting it. During the winter the price doubles and we aren't able to afford it with the current tax income." The finance minister reporter.

Vernon's frowned listening to the report, the situation was worse than he thought.

"Randy I will give you 500 gold coins go out with some knights to stock up on supplies." After saying this Vernos ordered Albert to give Randy 500 gold as long as 2 great knights 15 knights and 30 knight apprentices go with him to the nearest city.

The nearest city is called red city and it is half a month's journey from Vermont. So they would be gone for a while.

"Sir, please spare some food" A sickly old lady grabbed onto Vernos while he was walking by. The old lady was very skinny and looked like she hasn't eaten in 3 days.

"Hands off!" The guards quickly grabbed her a pushed her off.

After the meeting, Vernos went to patrol the city. He wanted to get a good look and understand what he was dealing with. Most of the people were unemployed or worked for the city. The city had no economy and the citizens got most of their food from the government. If he wanted to revitalize the city he needed to create an economy but he couldn't do that yet.

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The next day-

Today Randy and the knights would depart. They also brought servers along with them to help transport the supplies so they needed a lot of food. In total, they had about 80 people.

Vernos came to see them off, he really didn't need to but he thought it would give them morale.

After they left Vernos was going to meet with Lucas regarding the military.

"Lucas I want you to be in charge of the military. I don't want to expand for the time being, but the troops' quality should improve. Pick some great knights to teach them. I will also pass on a new training method to you. It is called the imperial knight technique. From now on it will be the main technique of the army. It is much better than the one they are currently practicing. However, I will only give the first three stages to new recruits. If they wanna get unlock more they will have to contribute."

Lucas was surprised but he didn't say anything.

The imperial knight technique has a total of 9 stages. The first three stages can be cultivated to stage 3 knight also called earth knight.

"Lucas let me see the technique you are currently practicing I will make adjustments to it and give it back to you. It will be much better after I make the adjustments."

Lucas frowned but still handed over his technique. Naturally, this frown didn't escape notice by Vernos. Lucas's technique was called the sky wave technique. Its main element was water. This technique can only be practiced until stage 5 knight. This was already rare as stage 5 knights were quite rare in the empire and techniques that could be cultivated until then are highly sought after. After looking at it he started rewriting it completely. It only took 2 hours to finish. The adjusted technique had a total of 9 stages meaning it can be practiced until stage 9 knight. A technique that had nine stages was unheard of in the continent. In the continent, stage 9 knights are mere legends. Nobody has ever seen one.

"Sir, this is.." After listening to Vernos describe the changes he made Lucas didn't believe it and thought it was a joke.

"Lucas trust me this technique is much better than your current one." Vernos knew that Lucas would be surprised but he also trusted Lucas.

Normally Lucas wouldn't try the technique but Vernos is his master and he had complete trust in him. Even if he noticed something wrong with the technique he could easily stop it before it damaged him with his strength.

After trying the technique Lucas was surprised this technique is at least 5 times faster than his old one. The energy it gave was also much purer.

"At this rate, I can become a star knight in less than a year."

Vernos smiled after hearing Lucas.

"Lucas these are the first three stages of the imperial knight technique pass it on to the army. Make them sign a contract and tell them they need contributions to get the higher stages." Vernos handed a book to Lucas. "Make sure to teach them well."