147: Rectification of the Army

With the help of these two portions of dragon blood, challenging the Legendary rank might be possible!

The specific operation depends on how the Duke Gryphon decides!

No matter what method is used, the value of the two portions of dragon blood is unimaginable!

Thinking this, the Duke Gryphon felt that the value of these two portions of dragon blood was comparable to, or even slightly higher than, the two-thirds of his territory that had been taken away.

Arthur's apology was quite substantial!

As thoughts churned in his mind, the Duke Gryphon's expression immediately changed from rejection to the same benevolent smile he had worn before today.

He laughed and said:

"Arthur, you are thoughtful. I accept this gift, and I will fully support your new policies!"

Hearing this, Arthur knew that the Duke Gryphon had let go of the matter of him being tricked, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Because if he didn't appease the Duke Gryphon, he would not only lose his grandfather as a relative, but he would also have a difficult time explaining things to his mother, Charlotte.

Then he smiled and said:

"Grandpa, I'm glad you like the gift. As for the new policies, just carry them out as usual.

If you appear too enthusiastic, it will only draw the hostility of the other nobles.

Besides, I have hundreds of City Lords supervising; those nobles will wisely implement the policies. There's no need for you to take extra action!"

"Haha, you always think things through thoroughly, kid. Since you don't need it, I won't insist!"

The two parties were completely reconciled. After chatting and laughing for a while, the Duke Gryphon departed from the Royal Palace with a smile.

Some observant nobles outside the Royal Palace were secretly curious about what method Arthur had used, seeing such a dramatic change in the Duke Gryphon's expression.

Since he was able to appease the Duke Gryphon, who had lost two-thirds of his territory.

Unfortunately, they were destined to remain curious, as the matter of the dragon blood was too important for the Duke Gryphon to disclose to others!

For the next three days, Arthur waited for the nobles to submit the maps of the territories they were going to cede.

Of course, Arthur was not idle during these three days; he needed to rectify the army, as the territories ceded by the lords still required military garrisons.

Previously, the army of the Kate Kingdom was mainly divided into three parts.

First, there was the Anti-Beast Legion stationed in the north, guarding against the Beastmen!

This legion had the largest number of troops, totaling three million!

Second, there were the armies stationed in the Royal Capital, totaling five hundred thousand.

Third, there were the local defense forces directly controlled by the Royal Family in Isaac Province and Munsstan Province, totaling about one million!

Thus, the army directly controlled by the former Kate Royal Family totaled approximately 4.5 million!

When Arthur overthrew the Royal Family and took control of the Kate Kingdom, the damage sustained by the army was negligible.

Therefore, the current Lionheart Kingdom, meaning the army directly controlled by Arthur, also has approximately 4.5 million soldiers.

In the previous month, Arthur had already spent nearly 130 million gold coins.

He summoned one Sky Knight, forty Earth Knights, four hundred Gold Knights, and four thousand Silver Knights.

He distributed them among the 4.5 million soldiers, completely taking control of the army!

The Sky Knight was sent to the Anti-Beast Legion in the north, because an army of three million still required a Sky Knight to oversee it.

Moreover, the Anti-Beast Legion fights the Beastmen; without a Sky Knight, they wouldn't even have the courage to resist the Beastmen!

Now the Royal Family has 4.5 million troops, plus the armies held by various nobles, which also total over four million!

Therefore, the Lionheart Kingdom currently has approximately nine million soldiers across the entire realm!

This achieves a ratio of roughly ten to one compared to the kingdom's population of over eighty million!

This ratio is high and unhealthy, but it had been maintained to counter the Beastmen in the past!

Logically, Arthur, who no longer fears the Beastmen, should reduce the army size to alleviate the Royal Family's financial burden and free up more people to boost the kingdom's economy.

However, Arthur's next step is to destroy the Beastman Kingdom, which will require even more garrison troops across the territories, so there is no need to reduce the current army size!

Of course, although the numbers don't need to change, Arthur is somewhat dissatisfied with the quality of the kingdom's army.

Because these 4.5 million troops are mostly just trained commoners, and Knights are extremely rare among them.

Even Bronze Knights are only present at a ratio of roughly one per thousand soldiers.

This is different from the army Arthur envisioned!

If Arthur were to summon them using the Portable Shop, based on previous prices, a Gold Knight requires one hundred thousand gold coins.

A Silver Knight requires ten thousand gold coins, so a Bronze Knight should require one thousand gold coins.

If all 4.5 million troops were converted into Bronze Knights, it would require a staggering 4.5 billion gold coins—a sum too massive for Arthur to possess currently!

Even if he had it, he wouldn't do that, because wouldn't it be better to spend all that money summoning Legendary figures?

Therefore, buying directly from the Portable Shop is not a feasible path!

But Arthur is not one to give up easily; he quickly thought of another solution.

That is, to use dragon blood to strengthen the soldiers!

Arthur confirmed with Dragon Joao that the ten drops of dragon blood he used during his first soaking session.

Were enough to allow a trained commoner a high probability of achieving a Breakthrough to become a Bronze Knight!

This way, the cost is greatly reduced!

Because Arthur calculated that one drop of dragon blood is usually 1mL, and one cubic meter of dragon blood equals one thousand liters, which equals one million milliliters, which equals one million drops of dragon blood.

A single soldier only needs ten drops of dragon blood to achieve a Breakthrough from a commoner to a Bronze Knight.

This means one cubic meter of dragon blood can allow one hundred thousand soldiers to achieve a Breakthrough to become Bronze Knights.

In Arthur's Portable Shop, one cubic meter of dragon blood only costs ten thousand gold coins.

This means that if Arthur uses dragon blood to allow all 4.5 million soldiers to achieve a Breakthrough to become Bronze Knights, he only needs forty-five cubic meters of dragon blood, which is 450,000 gold coins.

This is a world of difference compared to the previous 4.5 billion!

Therefore, Arthur's choice is obvious!

Of course, the dragon blood is the minor issue; the secret medicine needed for the soaking, along with the required medicinal materials and magical plants, are not easy to find!

Previously, Arthur had to rely on the Dawn Merchant Guild to gather them.

This means this plan is not feasible for ordinary people!

But Arthur is different; he has the Portable Shop!

It has now been two months and twenty days since he last used a duplication chance.

Therefore, Arthur currently has two unused chances to duplicate items and two unused chances for random summons.

Although the secret medicine used for the dragon blood soaking requires several kinds of rare medicinal materials and magical plants.

Arthur only needs to package those medicinal materials and magical plants together, labeling them as one portion of dragon blood Secret Medicine.

Then, he would only need one Duplication Chance to buy them in bulk!