Dominic went to find fresh water to wash up, and then changed into the set of Mage Robes that he was given by Princess Eleanor.
When the Colonel came back out of the meeting and saw Dominic standing off to the side, waiting next to the Royal Guards with mage robes on, his expression became complex.
Dominic wondered what he had learned, and what his purpose was in coming here so early.
They should have known that the battle was over before dinner, but they hadn’t come until morning. So, they weren’t reinforcements. If they were just here to escort the Princess back to the Palace after this disaster, there was no need for a whole Battalion of troops.
"Send in the Smith." A guard called from inside the command tent.
Dominic nodded to the guard beside him, and the man clapped him on the shoulder.
"See you soon. Don’t let her scare you." The guard whispered.
Dominic stepped inside, and found the Princess with two Royal Guards, and six guard officers in uniforms of another Regiment.
"Lord Sorcerer, please sit. This could take some time." Princess Alexis insisted, with a gesture at a metal folding chair.
Lord Sorcerer sounded entirely too formal.
Suspiciously polite even.
Dominic sat down, and one of the newly arrived officers pulled up a seat to face him from much too short of a distance, with their knees nearly touching. The man had chosen to sit between Dominic and the desk, instead of on the far side, which would seem more natural, as the Princess was standing beside the desk.
"Lord Sorcerer, I am informed that you contributed greatly to the battle yesterday. You have the Crown’s thanks for your efforts to secure the life of the Princess." The man began.
The unspoken "But..." lay heavy in the air, so Dominic simply nodded and waited for him to continue.
"I am told that you have collected many of the belongings of the reservists as well." The officer continued after a moment’s hesitation. He had clearly wanted to say something else, but changed his mind.
If he was wearing a badge of rank, it would be so much easier on Dominic, but the ornate uniform was enough to place him as someone higher ranking.
"Indeed I did. However, I no longer have possession of them. I turned the belongings of the Cygnia forces over to the Royal Guard this morning. The bodies of the deceased are in their respective storage items, in the cases where they could be identified and matched.
I don’t have a copy of the regulations for such things, but it only seemed right to prepare for the corpses to be returned to their loved ones." Dominic explained.
"And, do you have the remainder of the spoils of war from the invading force?" The officer asked.
"That I do. They are separated into three storage items, due to the pure volume. They are mostly grouped by the location on the battlefield, but I didn’t discriminate. This one is the closer ring of the battle near the reservists. This one is the western region before full engagement, and this one is the eastern region." Dominic explained, then took the storage cubes out of the pouch at his waist and tossed them to the Princess.
The officer seemed annoyed by his action. He might be able to use his influence to claim them from a Royal Employee and inspect them for treasures that wouldn’t be missed.
But now that the Princess had them, he wouldn’t be able to skim off the top before the official count.
"Do you have any insight into where the humans orchestrating the attack may have come from?" The officer asked, changing the topic.
"One of the men was formerly a military officer from Dagos. We had previously met during the invasion of Wavemates, when his unit captured the Wistover region containing my hometown, and the scars left on his face from my claws were unmistakable."
"Claws?" The officer asked.
Dominic held out his hand, and tried not to laugh as he realized that he still had badly chipped gold nail polish on them. But his fingernails had to be shaped with a metalworking rasp, they were not the same soft material as human fingernails.
"In my youth, I kept them sharp so that I could climb trees." Dominic explained.
"So, you grew up feral?" The officer asked with a hint of disdain.
"Not at all. I grew up in the estates of the Wistover Manor, raised by a well-respected magitech crafting family. But entertainment is limited in a small town, and playing hide and seek in the forest is a childhood tradition."
The officer looked shocked. "In the forest?"
"Sorcerer, remember? I’m not afraid of most wildlife. Besides, there are hunters, trappers, woodcutters and dozens of others living near town in the woods. It’s not like the kids will get lost." Dominic explained.
"And you are certain that man was the same one from the attack on your village?"
Dominic nodded. "Yes. But none of them were in military uniforms. I can’t speak to his current employment, only his former. However, the remains of his body are in one of those cubes. He’s still identifiable."
"Is there a possibility that you have any measure of Royal or Noble Lineage?" The officer asked cautiously.
Dominic shrugged. "I am a Wavemates Dragonkin, both in talents and name. Naturally, I have at least a distant relation to the former Royal Family. It never really mattered where I came from, as two thirds of the town could claim the same.
Nobody ever mentioned Noble Ranks of any sort, though I’m sure that I did hear the property referred to as an Earldom estate on occasion, and it was my eldest Uncle who led the branch of the family in the Manor house itself.
I was only ten during the invasion, and such matters were far from my mind, as I was planning to follow my parents on the path of the Artificer."
The Officer nodded. Every village in Cygnia would at least have a Baron overseeing it. Especially a border village. If he was thinking of the right instance, then the village had been an Earl’s peerage, with a large detachment of guards and a collection of his distant relatives living within the village.
So, there was a near certainty that the Sorcerer was distantly related to not just nobility, but Royalty, which would make it much easier to grant him rewards.
"We will have to investigate your family lineage. Among other things, you are due for a Royal Reward for your service, and recognition of your status as a Royal Sorcerer."
Dominic didn’t know that was an actual position. Perhaps it was both a magical specialty and a job title, like the Techno Witches that they employed?
The officer got up from the seat, and another man, this one obviously a mage by the energy flickering in his eyes, sat down in the same spot.
Dominic felt a nudge against his thoughts as the man cast a spell, and then the interrogation truly began.
At first, he didn’t ask any questions, then his mouth turned up into a smile.
"It seems that you have had an interesting life, young Sorcerer. Did you know that your skills are far beyond what most others of magical bloodlines are capable of before full maturity?" He asked.
"I don’t really know many sorcerers. It might come as a shock to you, but those born with actual magic are not incredibly popular in the cities of Cygnia or Dagos, and we don’t tend to congregate in groups."
Dominic heard a few of the others chuckle at the comment. He had a knack for exposing the elephant in the room. Indeed, they were only questioning him because they were unsure where his loyalties might lay.
"Princess, I do not detect any foreign loyalty in his mind. No signs of tampering, mental influence or corruption. If anything, he might be a bit too innocent to be joining the Palace, even in his current role as a Weaponsmith." The mage decided.
Princess Alexis nodded. "Understandable. Thank you, Magus. Now, did anyone else have questions before I finalize the requests for the King to consider?"
One of the men, a grizzled veteran of a soldier with more scars visible on his hands alone than Dominic could count on his entire body, placed his hands on the desk and stared down at the seated Dragonkin.
"I have one question. What were you thinking, attacking an Archmage, even a fake one, with a knife?"
Dominic smiled. "Given the options, I was not going down without punching him in the face at least once. Stabbing him seemed like an appropriate alternative from my position."