Chapter 50 - Adapting

Five minutes after Hans informed John of Dante's arrival, John entered the Grand Duke's office. The Duke was sipping some tea on the balcony.

"You called for me," John said as he entered the room.

Dante pointed to the couch by the tea table and nodded lightly. "Take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment."

John took his seat and waited for the Duke to join him. After looking at John's left arm with a pained expression for a moment, Dante finally sat down and put down the tea cup in his hands on the table.

"Fuuh, well things worked out better than we anticipated," Dante said.

"The nobles didn't oppose?" John asked, surprised at Dante's unexpected words.

Dante let off a small scoff. "Oh, they did. In fact, I'm pretty sure they will declare war on us within the next year or so."

John held his forehead in confusion, a frown appearing on his face. "…how exactly did it go well again?"

Dante let out a small laugh at John's reaction and started explaining. "Well, if both the nobility and clergy declare war on us at the same time, and assuming we can beat them, their forces will be significantly weakened."

"After which, reforms will be much easier, given the likelihood of a rebellion would have dropped," John interjected.

"Precisely," Dante said, snapping his fingers.

After a small nod of understanding, John leaned forward and asked, "I see, so what's the plan now?"

"Well, I do have a few questions for you myself," Dante said as he leaned back into his chair, taking a sip of his tea before continuing. "When do you intend to visit the dwarves?"

John furrowed his brow, considering the question. "It's impossible to visit them during winter, so I must reach there before winter starts. That means I will leave next week."

Dante's expression shifted to one of concern. "That's definitely not enough time for you to get used to fighting with only one arm," he said, voicing his worry.

"We have no other choice, now more so than ever, given that it is possible for the other nobles to declare war on us," John replied, his shoulders slumping at the weight of their situation.

Dante hummed thoughtfully, considering their options. When he didn't reply after a few moments, John spoke up. "Training can be done after I return from the dwarven territory. For now, it's best if I just get somewhat used to holding a sword and maintaining my balance."

"Let's do what we can. You can't always have everything you want," Dante said with an understanding nod before taking another sip of his tea.

After the conversation ended, the Duke stood up from his chair, but before he could leave, John interjected. "Now onto more pressing matters," he said, "we need to start making changes to the estate. The first step is to professionalize the army."

"Huh?" Dante exclaimed, caught off guard, and sat back down.

John noticed Dante's confusion and clarified, "What I mean is, although we do have a mostly professionalized army, we still use peasant levies for most of our infantry. This approach is not sustainable in the long term. A well-trained, smaller workforce is better than a larger untrained workforce."

"How do you propose we do that?" Dante asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"The most efficient way would be to integrate all the armies of your vassals into one massive army for the grand duchy and revoke their right to create their own armies," John explained.

Dante frowned. "What about the security of the states?"

"We can maintain security with one separate unit of the army whose sole purpose is to maintain peace," John suggested after a moment of consideration.

Dante shook his head, skeptical of the plan. "I'm not sure if everyone will be accepting of this."

John's face twisted into an evil smile. "When you tell them they won't have to pay for their own armies, they will agree to this quite easily."

Dante's eyes widened in disbelief, and a frown crept onto his face. "Wait, I will have to pay for this out of my own pocket?" he asked incredulously.

John's expression turned solemn as he nodded. "Unfortunately, that is the price of maintaining a professional army."

Dante let out a groan as he imagined the state of his treasury after such a proposition. The weight of the responsibility felt heavy on his shoulders.

"By the time you fix this, I will have arrived with the dwarves, so we can start the true development of the duchy," John reassured him. "Until then, I suggest you keep drilling your soldiers."

After a moment of silence passed, Dante rubbed his forehead and spoke, "Let's go to the training grounds. I will listen to the rest of the details later. I also need to wrap my head around all these ideas of yours."

John nodded understandingly as he thought to himself, 'That's understandable. These ideas weren't widely accepted in the empire, even after they were proven effective by the Maritona Confederation.'

"Alright, please take as much time as you need," John said with a small smile on his face. "You'll have all the time in the world to implement these changes once I set off."

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After their conversation, Dante and John could be seen standing on the training ground, both wearing their training attire. John had brought a wooden sword with him, ready for the lesson.

Dante cleared his throat and began, "Now, before we start, there are a few things I want to discuss with you regarding your sword style."

John nodded in agreement, and Dante continued, "I want you to form a sword style based only on the most basic movements. There's a reason for this."

John looked at him with a questioning expression, prompting Dante to explain further. "Your sword skills are currently lacking, and to improve them, you need to train in the basic imperial sword style. Without a strong foundation, your entire fighting style will come crashing down."

Dante paused, noticing the frown on John's face. "Furthermore, you're already at a disadvantage compared to most young people your age. You lack your left arm, and the sword is not your primary arm. While you could argue that the sword will have to become your primary weapon since you can't use the spear anymore, my instincts tell me otherwise."

He gestured towards the weapon rack and added, "So, I believe it's best if you learn something simple and easy to progress with."

Taking a deep breath, Dante paused for a moment before continuing, "Lastly, the final reasoning: I intend to pass on my own sword art to you and to learn it, you will need to create your own sword art with the basic sword technique as a foundation."

"Hold on what now?"