Once the meeting broke up, the troops moved into action.
The damaged vehicles were unloaded and stripped of the gear and supplies, which were moved to the vehicles brought by the new Battalion. The injured soldiers were moved to racks in an ambulance truck, and all the gear from Dominic’s Smithy was moved to storage in an empty cargo truck.
"Where is the Smith? I was told that they survived the battle." One of the officers shouted, assuming that the man must be further away.
"Sir, no need to shout, I’m standing right next to you." Dominic informed him with a smile.
"The Royal Sorcerer is also the group’s only smith? What sort of insane deployment order led to this?" The officer demanded.
"I am the personal Apprentice of the Royal Master Weaponsmith, as well as a freshly promoted Royal Apprentice Weaponsmith. See, I’ve got the trade skill core and all." Dominic explained.
The officer took a longer look at the trade skill core on Dominic’s bracer and frowned. "Why would you pick Blacksmithing as a Trade when you can use magic?"
Dominic smiled. "It’s actually because I can use magic that I’m so good at being a Weaponsmith. I can reliably make Uncommon Grade magical weapons in the Royal Forge, even as an Apprentice, and once my skills have improved, I should be able to produce quality weapons faster than any of the other journeymen."
The officer in charge of transferring the smithy goods now looked intrigued. "Oh? Have you picked a weapons specialty yet?"
Dominic shook his head. "I have been commissioned to make a number of firearms lately, but I haven’t had an opportunity to specialize yet. Most of my official work was either tool making at Pops’ forge, or making weapons for the enlisted soldiers of the Garrison in the Palace Forge."
That was understandable. Apprentices were busy all the time, and only once they had passed the initial trials and proven that their work could keep up to the demands of the forge would they even get a say in what they were making for the day.
Getting to specialize was more common for the Journeymen of the forge, but most of the apprentices who applied had already chosen what they wanted, even if it wasn’t official.
In a way, it was better to have an apprentice one. Capable, but without any grand ideals and preconceived notions about what their job was going to be in the future.
For most of the apprentices, those grand plans that they had would never pan out. In fact, many of them would resign from their dream job at the Royal Forge and go look for other jobs, using their time served as a reference.
"Have you managed to turn out something noteworthy yet?" The Officer asked, while Dominic hesitated, wondering how much of what he did was confidential.
He was rescued from answering by a member of Princess Alexis’ guard.
"He made all ten of these rifles for us before the battle. Unconventional, to be certain. But I am told by Advisor Morgana that he managed ten successes at Rare Quality in under twenty-four hours."
The Guard took out his rifle for the officer to inspect, then laughed as the man’s expression went from skeptical to shocked to impressed.
"What do you know, it really does say that he made that rifle. At least, it does if his name is Dominic Wavemates." The officer admitted.
The Princess’ Guard smiled. "And that is a large part of why the Princess intends to reward him so heavily. Having even ten Rare Quality Rifles specialized for killing Ogres changed the entire flow of the battle.
I wish I could say that they saved many lives, but that was not how the battle went. I can say that the early elimination of the Ogres was the primary reason that there were survivors among our group, and likely the only reason there is still an Aramos Village."
The workers finished transferring the gear from the destroyed forge to their transport truck, and the Royal Guard nodded in satisfaction.
"All finished. Please come with me, Master Dominic. You have been requested to ride with the Princess in the lead carriage. I recommend that you wear armour for the journey, given recent events."
Dominic nodded. "I will change in one of the damaged vehicles. Give me a few minutes and I will be ready."
The Cogwork Plate wasn’t difficult to equip. It was only leg plates, arm plates, pauldrons, and a chest plate, all designed to self latch once they were pushed in place.
Dominic put most of them under the Sorcerer Robe he had gotten while fighting at the Capital, which had a bit of Spell Damage as its enchantment.
Then he got to the chest plate, and realized that it was too mangled to even be easily repaired, much less worn today. So, he went through the loot he had gathered from the monsters and mercenaries on the battlefield and placed in his own storage. There was a piece in there, Uncommon Grade and roughly the right size, and in nice brass inlaid steel.
That would have to do for the day.
With the substitute chest plate over top, he was visibly armoured, and still identifiable as a Sorcerer, so there would be no doubts about his identity.
Plus, this robe had a hood, so he could cover his horns if he had to talk to strangers. Going against a lifetime of practice still made him uneasy, even if he knew he would have to take the hood down when they entered the Palace.
Princess Alexis smiled as she saw him coming. "Well, don’t you look fancy today? Are those new, or did you just not have time to change before yesterday’s battle?"
Dominic smiled back. "It seemed a bit inappropriate to take the time to change out of my work clothes when I was needed before the battle, so I just put the armour over them. This chest plate is a substitute, though. Mine took some damage and hasn’t yet been repaired."
Fortunately, it didn’t have any marks that would identify the origin. It wasn’t Cygnia Army issued, and it didn’t have the marks of a foreign army on it either. So, Dominic could continue to wear it until he fixed his own equipment.