Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 461 - 461 215 Expanding the Military and Preparing for War_3

461: Chapter 215: Expanding the Military and Preparing for War_3 461: Chapter 215: Expanding the Military and Preparing for War_3 As they spoke, the two of them entered the hall.

Leon looked up at the emblems hanging around the walls of the hall.

During his absence, it seemed that the newly titled Avalon Knights had all produced their own emblem banners.

Currently, apart from himself, Azeryan, Lokhak, and the first group of four Thorny Flower Knights who joined the Knight Order.

Olivia’s blue with Golden Lion banner, Kovis’s white with red eagle banner, Brian’s grey with broken sword banner, and the various colored emblem flags of Hawk, Zabron, and others, were now hung in the hall.

Passing by more than a dozen banners representing the members of the Knight Order, Leon felt a collector’s sense of achievement rising inexplicably within him.

Of course, these were far from enough to fill the hall.

In the future, even if hundreds of banners were to be accommodated, there would be more than enough space.

Bringing his gaze down from above, Leon saw Olivia, who had just cleaned up and put on a white blouse and a blue skirt, had already arrived.

Azeryan and Lokhak were already seated and waiting.

The five of them present were now the core and innermost circle of power within Avalon, not only because of their individual statuses and roles within the Knight Order, but also because they were all aware of Lola and the Mage Tower.

Quickening his pace, he and Kovis took their seats.

Alongside Olivia, they began to inform everyone of what they had seen and heard on their journey.

After the recounting, the hall fell into silence for a moment; both Azeryan and Lokhak had furrowed brows, never having imagined that their homeland could truly turn into a “Hell.”

“Expanding the army, stockpiling food, recruiting soldiers and acquiring warhorses…

we don’t have time to build up slowly like we’d planned before.” Leon turned to his own Chief Steward to inquire about the financial situation: “How much money do we have in the Public Treasury currently?”

“Including the tax revenue from the recent southern tour, valued at 1252 gold crowns with the minimal level of tax collection, we have a total of 5033 gold crowns in funds before settling this month’s expenses,” Azeryan promptly answered.

The Knight Order Chief Steward went on to report the current expenditures: “…Currently, within the Baron Domain, the salaries of the knights and officials, army maintenance costs, servants’ wages, and all other expenses amount to about 393 Gold Coins a month.”

“What is the estimated income from the territory for next year?” Leon thought of the sealing lord’s mention of the 60-40 profit split from the iron ore mining.

“Under the Knight Order’s name, if full taxes are collected from all territories, the annual amount is about 3756 gold crowns, and the income from the Avalon iron ore mines is conservatively estimated to be over 4000 Gold Coins…”

“What about the taxes in grain from the territories?” Leon asked.

“If collected in full, all sorts of main grains estimated about 2835 Mystic Stones per year,” answered Azeryan.

Leon nodded, closed his eyes and rapidly did the calculations.

His fingers tapped on the armrest and he figured out it was about 144 tons.

In extreme cases, that would be enough for an army of about 2000 men for two months.

Of course, as an emerging lord, he did not yet have the capital to organize an army of 2000 ready troops; even 500 men would be very strenuous.

“We must quickly expand the Knight Order’s troops to full capacity, we can’t leave the money in the treasury to accumulate interest,” Leon set the direction for future administrative affairs.

“The Heavy Cavalry unit needs to be expanded to 100 riders, the infantry replenished to 300 men, and the Crossbowmen brought up to 100…”

Leon felt somewhat relieved that, thankfully, the sealing lord had already dismissed the able-bodied men previously conscripted in the Thorny Flower Territory.

Within his and the other’s new territories, the Orland Soldiers were plentiful, so raising an additional 360 qualified Orland Soldiers would be quite easy.

However, the “National Treasury,” so difficult to fill, was about to be emptied again for warhorses, armor, weapons, and army salaries.

Especially warhorses, a strategic resource, the sealing lord selling a dozen or so to him himself might be feasible, but any more would also be lacking within his own family; these animals were always in short supply.

Leon estimated that including the reserves, he would need to spend a considerable sum on seventy to eighty of them.

Even the minimally qualified warhorses, without connections, can easily be sold to the buyer at far above market prices; he hoped that Count Eriv had channels to help him find suitable sellers.