Chapter 288: Armed Hunters
Back at the Manor, Dominic found that General Alator had joined them for dinner.
The Royal Guard were asking him questions about the plans for the town guard force, and when they should be trained well enough to start doing patrols in the wilderness around the village.
The Royal Guard were primarily concerned that there might be monsters sneaking up on them, and that would be a threat to farmers and livestock.
Keeping up patrols was an essential function of the guard, and as remote as they were, there wasn’t anyone else to call on if the guard couldn’t handle it. So, they needed all the training and equipment that they could get.
"Is all well with the witches? You took a while getting back." Alexis asked.
"All good. They’re working on a stockpile before they start making anything to sell. They’re uneasy about not having their full suite of remedies available in a new location. But they’re not getting a hard time from anyone that I can tell.
I did have to inform them of a few differences to what they were used to, but nothing major. They didn’t know that they were allowed to keep rabbits and chickens." Karl explained.
Alexis shrugged. "That’s an understandable reaction. A lot of Nobles put restrictions on the commoners. But I don’t see that working here. The more self-sufficient that everyone is, the better.
Speaking of which, how did your day go?"
"I got a dozen pistols made for the town guard, and plenty of spears. It should be enough for the guard and the militia. All are uncommon magical items. I will pass them to the General after dinner, so he can distribute them during training.
Once that’s done, I will start on rifles for the huntsmen.
That will at least get us a good start on the defence of the duchy. After that, the basic preparations should be ready, and we can focus on ensuring there is enough housing for new arrivals." Dominic explained.
"Productive. I thought that you might have run into trouble." Alexis replied, glancing at his claws.
"Nothing that dinner can’t fix." Dominic agreed with a sly wink.
Nobody at the table missed the fact that they had long since stopped talking about the actual topic at hand. At this point, it was simply veiled flirting, and if it wasn’t for the promise of lemon meringue pie to finish the meal, the newlyweds would surely already be up in their room already.
And that was exactly where they went the moment that dinner ended.
Lying in bed as the sun came up the next morning, Alexis sighed. "I really should get up and take the maids out for a training exercise. They’re coming along well with their combat skills, but without practical skills, they’re no better than raw recruits.
Who knows how they will act under pressure."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Dominic asked as he rolled over to face her.
"I think that you should. How long will it take you to make the rifles for the huntsmen?"
Dominic shrugged. "There’s only five of them that are proper huntsmen at the moment, I have that many spares in my storage cube. They’re a bit worn, as they’re patched rifles from the Natural Sons’ Regiment, but they’ll do."
Alexis smiled. "I think that they might actually appreciate that more than making them new ones. For a common soldier to get a used weapon from one of his Noble Officers is an honour, as they know that the weapon was intended to be the best they could get.
Even if it’s a bit worn, and the edge isn’t as great as it once was, a Noble’s sword often becomes a family heirloom. The same will be true of the rifles.
The Huntsmen won’t put thousands of rounds a month through them like the Regiment did, so even if they’re just repaired units, they should last for many years with proper maintenance."
"In that case, I will hand them out this morning after breakfast. If you give the staff a bit to finish their chores, I will join you on an outing to go look for monsters." Dominic agreed.
That should give him plenty of time. The maids would do what they needed to, and then everything else could wait while they were out for the day.
It might be a bit of a hardship for Beth, the cook. But Dominic suspected that she might enjoy a day with one less meal to prepare.
Besides, she still had Liz, the scullery maid, with her.
The first stop that Dominic made when he left the Manor was not at the house of a Huntsman, but the sheep farm of John Mackay, the King’s Man.
"John, I will be accompanying the Princess, her Royal Guards and the maids on a training mission today. Julio is at the Manor if any visitors arrive, and I will be stopping to pass rifles to the huntsmen before we go.
I know that they prefer the bow for work, but these are good magitech rifles, the repaired replacements from a Noble Regiment." Dominic explained when he found the former assassin out in the field with his flock.
"I don’t suppose that you have a spare, do you? I can use a bow well enough, but the rifle will scare off predators far better."
Dominic chuckled, and handed him one of the repaired Magitech rifles.
"I’ve got a bag of shot for you as well. I didn’t have any spare munitions creation orbs, though."
John shrugged. "That’s fine. I have one for making lead shot. It should do well enough for the rifle if it works how it looks."
Dominic nodded. "It does. Lever action to load and shape the shot, side lever to charge the air, and a bit of mana for the magitech circuits to make it effective."
John looked over the rifle, then loaded shot from the bag Dominic offered him.
"Mighty fine weapon. It looks like it saw more than its fair share of combat."
"That it did. These are the ones that were deemed too damaged to continue using. I swapped parts to make as many useful ones as I could. There will be more coming eventually, but I’ve got enough for the Huntsmen today."
John smiled. "Alright then. I will keep an eye on things while you’re out. If you get in trouble, just send up a flare and the General will have the boys rallied within fifteen minutes, guaranteed."