Chapter 609: Shameless Self-Promotion

Over the course of the next half-a-month, whenever Christina wasn’t attending to strategy meetings or military trainings, she was busy running around Amherst contracting craftsmen and buying up large amounts of construction materials.

It was a huge expense, especially considering Christina had to pay extra to cut some lines and gain priority status with the various carpenters, blacksmiths, stonemasons, and labour guilds, but the princess was more than happy to spend this money, considering it nothing more than an investment.

As for the #13 northern barracks of the Piercing Sword Legion, the old building was completely torn down and had been replaced by a large construction site, one that from sunrise to sunset basically never rested.

Even the members of the Third Battalion had been roped into whatever Christina was planning by her declaring that this construction work was a replacement for their regular physical training.

Of course, in order to keep her subordinates onside, Christina had to provide some incentives, such as higher-quality meals and promises of additional payment, but again, this was all a minor expense in her mind.

With 100 strong soldiers and over 200 workers she had hired from companies that regularly partnered with the Piercing Sword Legion, Christina was able to swiftly assemble a brand-new barracks, complete with a bunch of useful amenities and features that had basically never been seen before, in just 16 days.

Of course, Christina hadn’t designed this setup from scratch.

This barracks was actually just a copy of the ones the Raging River Legion was currently upgrading its own housing units to back in Misty City.

While Christina’s primary mission in Amherst was to support the counter-terrorism and counter-smuggling operation that was set to take place sometime in the next couple of months, she had other objectives as well, one of which was promoting the unique products of the Balfour Family.

Or, more correctly, her Senior Brother’s and her own new products.

Soap, showers, yeasted breads, pastries, and a whole host of other items were now either on full display at the #13 northern barracks, or could be produced out of it.

Originally, Christina was only planning on demonstrating a few of these pieces of equipment to potential clients in Amherst, which was why the ship she sailed here on had carried several specialty items, like an LBM mark 1 steam engine and a 1,000 litres commercial-sized hot-water-boiler.

Christina also had a complete set of blueprints on her for the new barracks, a full-scale kitchen, and a large bathhouse that took advantage of these new devices, things she would have needed to make a detailed sales-pitch to prospective clients.

Now, however, thanks to the harassment of a certain local officer, Christina had the perfect excuse to build a full-scale model.

One might ask, why would she do this despite it costing her a huge amount of time, money, and effort?

Firstly, the First Regiment Third Battalion really did need a place to sleep.

Camping outside in mid to late August was still fine, even September in the Roth Dukedom wasn’t too harsh, but once you started getting into October and November, the nights got cold and the rains got heavy.

As soldiers, the Third Battalion could still withstand some harsh weather for a couple months, but while living in the middle of an established military base, why should they?

The second reason was, literally, to show off.

Christina wanted every single high-ranking solider and officer from the Piercing Sword Legion to get a good look at the amenities of this new barracks and, is possible try them for themselves.

She also wanted the common soldiers to eat some freshly baked Redwood-Style bread and pastries.

Not because she was being generous, mind you, but rather because once you experienced such things, and found how pleasant or delicious they were, it was hard going back to a life without them.

In other words, Christina was planning on doing large-scale advertising here, then earning a ’small’ profit off of the people of Amherst as many of the products and pieces of equipment necessary to replicate these conveniences were only available through the Balfour Family.

.....

After the initial housing fiasco, General Roth had given strict orders to his officers to not cause any more trouble with the Raging River Legion’s soldier. No one was obligated to make friends with them, but they were to at least be shown the respect fellow soldiers of the kingdom were due.

There were some light grumblings about this directive, as many thought their General was being too accommodating to the troops of a rival army, but it didn’t take long for rumours to spread that a member of the royal family was actually leading this small Battalion, which silenced most of the complaints.

While a royal serving in the military technically didn’t have any special status beyond their stated rank, no one was foolish enough to believe that a genuine princess could be treated as ’just another soldier’.

When joint training sessions and senior-officer-level meetings started being held, with Christina always participating and displaying both incredible strength and strategic wisdom, many even began not just tolerating the Raging River Legion soldiers, but actively approaching them.

The large-scale construction project also drew a lot of attention, with many curious soldiers stopping by the site of the former run-down barracks to check out what was going on.

All of these onlookers were warmly welcomed in by the Captains of the Third Battalion and given the full sales-pitch, as per Christina’s instructions.

This was, of course, a voluntary task, but with their Battalion Captain promising a generous commission for every item the Piercing Sword Legion committed to buying before they left Amherst, these veteran soldiers were more than happy to put on their greasiest smiles and sell sell sell.

It took nearly 10 days for word of what was going on to spread up the chain of command to Killian Roth, but even when it did, he didn’t take it too seriously; after all, it was just his little niece doing a bit of self-promotion.

Besides, whenever there was an important strategy session, Christina never showed any lack of preparation or inattention, so the General figured there was no harm in her running her little side-hustle.

Christina also made sure to brib... ahem, to share some of the delicious baked goods she, the fat ship’s cook Uri, and a couple of others she hired from around Amherst had been whipping up with her uncle.

Freshly baked fluffy breads, sweet pies made with local fruits, sugary cookies, something called ’French toast’, and a number of other delicacies adorned Killian’s table pretty much every day, making the old man more than happy to let his little niece run wild.

He did say she could make any modifications to the barracks she deemed necessary, as well, and if he wasn’t hearing any complaints from his side, nor Christina’s side, Killian was willing to turn a blind eye to whatever was happening.

However, when he began receiving formal requests for the army to make large-scale purchases of equipment and sign contracts with specialized craftsmen from Misty City to renovate and upgrade the Piercing Sword Legion’s housing and communal facilities, General Roth could no longer just feign ignorance.