And Alex's troubles did not end there. Plenty of people had approached him to pull strings for places, and the nobles on good terms with him had already requested more than three hundred places between them.
He could not reject all those nobles' requests, much less agree to them outright. After all, they were only taking five hundred people this time. If only two hundred of the remaining seven hundred could stay, he would not even be able to ensure basic fairness, and his prestige would suffer.
Alex hesitated, but with no better option, he simply sent Victor a telegram, hoping Victor could ask Duke Barick, the future king, for more places in the Guard Corps.
Before receiving Alex's message, Victor had not expected the Vela Nobles to attach such importance to this matter either. The number of sons they had sent far exceeded their earlier estimates.
Moreover, many of the nobles taking the tests were related to him, including his eldest maternal uncle's son. But Victor did not want to show blatant favoritism either.
With that in mind, Victor could only head to the Royal Palace and ask Duke Barick to make an exception and grant more places in the Guard Corps.
When Victor arrived at the Royal Palace and reported the matter, Duke Barick was also very surprised, and even found it somewhat amusing.
He had not expected the Vela Nobles to take this matter so seriously. According to Victor, even after screening, the number of qualified young nobles they had sent far exceeded the five hundred places he had originally granted.
Still, Duke Barick did not hesitate. He agreed to Victor's request outright, saying that he would take all one thousand remaining candidates.
After all, he had thought five hundred was too few anyway. A thousand men