The next morning, the maids came to Dominic’s room with a list of events coming up soon.
Most weren’t planned too far in advance, but there were three holidays during the next season, all of which were scheduled, and then there was a war preparation luncheon that very day, called with six hours notice.
Full Military Formal Dress was requested, and Dominic breathed a sigh of relief that he had actually finished his gear.
"Is there anything else that you require?" The maid asked.
"Where do I go to get more nail polish? It’s impossible to get my nails clean enough, and I don’t like wearing gloves to lunch." He asked.
"Was there none in your supplies?" She asked.
Dominic checked the storage ring quickly and shook his head. "There is some makeup, likely to hide bags under the eyes, but no nail polish. Oh, there are gloves here, a number of them. That must be why there is no polish.
Am I supposed to be wearing gloves to events?"
The maid giggled at his confusion.
"There should be a chart of clothing requirements in there somewhere as well. But gloves are acceptable for all events, though not mandatory for any. I would recommend scrubbing your hands as well as you can get them clean and then wearing the gloves.
They go with the Sorcerer’s robes better than most other coats and shirts." She replied with a shrug.
Dominic set out the pile of gear that he would need to be fully armoured for the event.
"Do these often happen on short notice? I’m still new to the forge, and I am unsure what the policy is on leaving in the middle of a shift for a mandatory event." He asked.
The maid smiled. "Normally, there are very few of them that are mandatory attendance. Most are voluntary, and the lower Nobles are strongly encouraged to attend, but not at the expense of leaving their duties. Mandatory ones are more uncommon, and if there is one, you are generally excused from duties for the day."
Dominic smiled at the maid.
"And of course they schedule it on my day off."
The maid laughed, then gestured to the common area. "Breakfast is served. You will probably want to talk to your master before he leaves for work."
"Thanks for the warning and the assistance." Dominic replied.
The maid smiled. "Head maid would have my head if I let someone on my rotation miss the start of a mandatory event. But I’m going to be here nearly every day now. Now that the new Weaponsmith is settling in, the head maid has assigned the quarters as part of the regular rotation."
Dominic joined Pops at breakfast, and the old Dwarf smirked at him.
"Looks like you get to put on a show earlier than expected." Pops chuckled as Dominic removed the cover from his breakfast plate.
"You make it sound like you know what this meeting is about already." He asked, while trying not to laugh at the way the maids pointedly ignored the fact the Dwarf had filled his ale mug nearly halfway with whiskey before adding the ale.
"You do as well. It’s about the Natural Sons Regiments. It’s a big thing for the families with too many sons. There aren’t many chances for the discarded children to advance in the world, and now they will finally have the chance to prove themselves in battle.
If the war ends well, there is even a chance that they will be able to earn a peerage of their own and become proper landed nobles, despite their more humble upbringing."
Dominic nodded as he finally understood the significance. For these nobles who didn’t inherit anything, if they couldn’t claim a title or peerage of their own, their children would simply be commoners from a Noble Family.
More likely to work as servants of the main branches of the family or get a trade skill, as they were unlikely to see another rise to Noble titles, unless it was a pretty daughter or an especially talented soldier.
Putting your life on the line for the slim chance that you would get some official Royal Recognition was a long shot, and not exactly the average Noble’s idea of a good time. Only a few oddballs like the Twin Princesses and Princess Elanor actually enjoyed going into combat.
Once breakfast was done, Dominic went back to the forge in his room and decided to make a few pistols. He was going to the firearms’ production group, and while they were making rifles for the soldiers, a couple of Rare Grade mana revolvers would make for great bargaining chips to get things he really needed.
He really did need more spells to add to the book. Everyone seemed to have a great time reminding him he was a Sorcerer, and he couldn’t remain a one spell wonder forever.
But once Dominic got back to the forge, he realized that there were certainly spell gems in the Palace somewhere. He just needed to learn how to obtain them.
The monsters occasionally dropped gems. Most of them were turned in by the Guards. So logically, there had to be a place that there were stored and available somewhere. Even if they were a high-demand item, the most common drops should exceed the number of people who needed them, as duplicates did you no good.
But there should also be magitech orbs with spell effects available for purchase in the city. He just didn’t want to go through the hassle and embarrassment of being thrown out of shops until he found a place to purchase one.
Either he would find that place, or he would find someone who could trade him what he needed in exchange for a Rare Grade Mana Revolver. But first, he had to make the revolvers to trade.
Having done it once, it was not nearly as difficult the second time. Plus, he had much better materials available to him now than the tool steel that he had made the first one from.
Not that it was a bad choice, tool steel made wonderful pistols. But for trade, they would want slightly fancier.