Chapter 281: Guard Upgrade
Alexis headed into town with two of her maids, while Dominic took a moment to think about what they should have the Guard uniforms look like.
Then he realized that he didn’t actually have to. There were uniforms already in the house. A whole closet full of them.
Dominic went to the old guard supply closet and took out one of the uniforms. They were simple, but just fancy enough that nobody would mistake them for militia.
The brown of the pants was closer to the colour of dead grass, with a black stripe down the outside, and the green coat had black cuffs and collars, with black metal buttons. Still good for moving through the woods, but much more clearly military than the militia uniforms.
Dominic took that one old uniform and headed for the tailor’s shop.
"Gentlemen, good to see you today. How are the Militia uniforms coming along?" Dominic greeted them.
"Nearly finished. But you’ve got a look like you’re going to make us start all over." The tailor replied.
"Quite the opposite. We have received word of threats to the area, so we are forming a proper town guard, and they will need fancier uniforms. I would like you to duplicate these." Dominic explained.
The tailor took the uniform and nodded happily. "Oh, this is perfect. It’s the same template as the others, but with a black liner, and an added stripe. Yes, this is quite possible."
The other tailor inspected the uniform and then gestured to the badge. "Did you want to copy the badge as well? We made up sew on patches for the militia, using the Duchy logo, but this one still has the Wavemates Royal Logo in the bottom quadrant."
Dominic sighed. "The new one. I completely forgot that these were from the Earl’s Guard, and not the town guard. They otherwise looked the same."
"That is understandable. Though I do wonder why the Earl chose to do it that way." The tailor pondered.
Dominic didn’t actually know the answer to that. It was practical, but the Earldom was not just related to the Royal Family, it housed a Royal Concubine. Logically, they were entitled to full Royal Heraldry.
But they had chosen a simple design suitable for hunting in the woods.
"Can I ask what caused the change in plans?" The tailor asked.
Dominic frowned. "We received some new information. There might be Dagos forces still hiding in the region. They might not be coming toward us, and they might just be hiding from Cygnia’s army, but it’s better to be safe than to find out the hard way."
The tailor nodded. "I understand. We will get the uniforms done as quickly as possible. I saw that there are some new arrivals around town today. Are those prisoner outfits they have on?"
"They are. They’re acolytes of a mage tower that supported the wrong candidate for King of Bothersia. They’ve got a magical prisoner contract, life term. I purchased it from the Merchant’s Guild today, and they will soon be working for the Duchy."
"If you want to send them our way, I have suitable mage robes for them. They’re one of the items that we had in stock and haven’t sold yet.
None of the locals really wear them outside of formal situations, and we don’t have a lot of those. But they’re plain enough for prisoners, and they’ll match, so you can identify them.
Do you think they’ll be a threat?" The tailor replied.
Dominic chuckled. "They are from the Purity Sect. They’re cursed not to be able to attack others unprovoked. Of course, that also means that nobody can attack them without facing backlash, but nobody should be attacking my mages anyhow."
The tailor sighed. "And still no cute widows."
Dominic chuckled. "One day, you will find just the right one. They are out there, we just need to find a way to attract them here. Once we’ve built a reputation as a wealthy city, I’m sure that they’ll flock to your shop and its promise of beautiful dresses."
"We can only dream, My Lord. Give us one day, and we will have guard uniforms ready. How many of them do you need? We will mass produce them even if it takes all night."
Dominic mentally counted, then sighed. "Probably twenty of them. I don’t know if that’s even possible in one night."
The tailor nodded. "It will be. We will just put off all the other orders for a day. The others will understand that your order takes priority, especially when it’s for the Guards.
Don’t forget to send the mages over, though."
Dominic paid the tailors for the uniforms in advance, and then went to find the new mages.
They were helping to stake out the floor plan for the new apartment buildings along an extension of the main road.
"Gentlemen, mages. How is the work coming?" Dominic greeted them.
"Very well, My Lord. With all this extra magical power, our construction process will be incredibly quick, and I am told that the Technowizard has spells to build proper roads. He volunteered to come over here tomorrow to build the streets for the new development.
I don’t believe that any of the mages know how to operate a tractor, but my assistants do.
It might not look like much right now, but trust me, it’s going to be glorious.
Once we have everything measured and marked, we will dig the basements with magic, and it will be easier to visualize how big the buildings will be." The architect explained.
"Wonderful. I will need to borrow one of your mages, though. The tailors shop has matching mage robes for them. Prisoner outfits are all well and good while travelling, but they don’t match.
Above all else, they are property of the Duchy. I have an image to maintain." Dominic explained.
The older workers hid their smiles at his weak excuse. These kids were extremely naive, and so terrible at lying that they just believed everything that you told them, as long as it seemed possible.
It wasn’t hard to see how they had been convinced to make magical weapons for the failed Prince.
If Dominic asked them, they would do it again, and not see any reason not to.
Dominic was the Duke, he was married to a Princess, and they weren’t doing anything wrong with the weapons. That had been their only concern about the use of their magic. They didn’t want to be tricked into hurting people again. It was against their oath.