Princess Alexis turned and elegantly returned to the Palace, leaving the rest of the crowd to gossip about the strange interaction that they had just witnessed.
Unfortunately, that also included her oldest brother, the Crown Prince.
"Lord Sorcerer. It is good to see that you would so vocally defend your intention to court my sister, and the Crown thanks you for your leniency in not aiming for a fatal strike." Claudius began, his ice blue eyes sparkling with amusement that didn’t reach his voice.
"Your Highness. I can’t say that I had expected to be in this situation today. I had simply come to accompany my master while he settled a dispute in the forge." Dominic replied.
Pops nodded at the Prince, who gave him a polite nod.
"Congratulations on your first victory in the trials. My staff will contact you tonight to arrange a chaperoned meeting between you and your potential bride."
Then, the Crown Prince departed, leaving Dominic even more confused than he had been when he was challenged.
Since when did he need a chaperone to meet with the Princess?
The unfortunate Lord Johnathan was escorted away by medical staff, who had stopped the bleeding with healing magic, but weren’t sure whether there was going to be a way to salvage his hand.
The bullet had done too much damage to it, and healing magic wasn’t a miracle.
It was considered that by some, as it could heal wounds with minimal scarring, and cure many diseases. But regrowing limbs was a very difficult task, and the hand was a complex part of the body. Far more difficult to repair than a missing chunk of muscle tissue or a broken bone.
Dominic’s lack of scarring was an oddity among Nobles who had trained with the blade.
Even training swords would leave injuries, and broken skin from hits through chain armour was incredibly common. So, it was just expected that every Nobleman would have a collection of scars, both large and small, across his arms, and a half dozen other spots on his body.
Even the Princess, trained as a Paladin, had a multitude of faint scars on her arms from magically healed wounds.
"Well, it looks like you’ve taken an early lead in the betting on the identity of the next Royal Consort. Once I get these louts back to work, I will join you in the suite for a drink.
I expect that you will be busy during dinner, so you should mentally prepare yourself first, and find an outfit that might impress a lady. Assuming that you do own something of that sort." Pops joked.
He knew full well that Dominic was likely to either wear Sorcerer robes to dinner, or do his best with the uniform outfits that he was given when he started working as a Royal Advisor.
Dominic gave the other forge workers a sympathetic smile, then headed back into the Palace with the pair of Royal Guards behind him. So, they were assigned to watch him, and not Pops.
Once they were inside and away from the attention of the Nobles and the staff, one of the Guards stepped up beside Dominic to whisper to him.
"You should stop in at the supply room and get a holster for that pistol. You’re not always going to be able to shrug off firing second. Plus, you need to look good for dinner. Do you have an idea of what you will wear?"
Dominic paused. He hadn’t thought about that. He had been wearing robes with armour for ages.
"Thank you. We should stop at the tailor as well and see if they have something in stock. I have just the right outfit in mind."
And he did. It wasn’t his own original fashion idea, but the male lead of the Romance novel that Alexis was reading wore black leather pants with a black silk shirt, unbuttoned halfway down the front.
Dominic didn’t think that he could get away with that at a formal dinner, he could do the rest of the outfit correctly. Maybe not the shirt, though. Black shirts and blonde hair weren’t a great combination. It just made his head look extra bright.
Perhaps if he got a fancy one with some golden decoration to pull the light colours down?
The experts would know.
The tailor was closer, so that was where Dominic headed first.
The Master was on duty when he arrived, and the old man had a huge smile for Dominic.
"I suspected that you would be here soon. Now, let’s get you all ready for your big date. What style are you going with? Naval with brass accessories? Perhaps something regal? Lace and ruffles for that elegant sense of timeless wealth?"
Dominic smiled. "Are you familiar with the sort of outfits that the rakish Noblemen of ladies romance books wear?"
The old man laughed. "Oh, I know exactly what you’re thinking. Now, let’s see what we actually have for it. It’s not the sort of thing that is requested from the Palace tailors often, but I should have something."
He went into a back room and Dominic could hear him humming happily as he searched for the right look.
"Here, I have a few options. Start with the dark brown leather pants. They’re a more modern style, with side pouches for magitech storage. Wear that with a pistol belt, just leave the munitions loops empty, as it’s prohibited to display explosives or weapons in the Royal Dining room.
Now, I’ve got a royal blue silk shirt that matches your eyes pretty well. But it is also exactly the colour of hers. Try those on, and we will see if it’s too informal for a Royal dinner."
Dominic stepped behind the dressing curtain and came back out a minute later.
"The belt is too much. But keep that one anyhow. I heard that you need one. I will be back."
Dominic sighed. "How did the news of the duel make it here before we did? Is there some special gossip spreading device in the Palace?"
The Guard laughed. "You underestimate the power of gossip. Half the city knows some version of current events by now."