Chapter 345: Inspect the Sect
Elder Manif turned to confer with the rest of his people, then extended his hand to Dominic.
"Your Grace, we will accept your hospitality, and gladly discuss the construction of a mage tower specifically for the Duskblade Sect, and the students we wish to train." He agreed.
The Duskblade Sect began to come forward to offer polite greetings to Dominic, who noticed that they were all still dressed for the desert, despite the fact that they should have left it weeks ago, as they were travelling on foot.
"Wistover isn’t unfriendly to those with a few added features." Dominic informed the Elder with an upward glance, as if looking at his own horns.
The mage smiled and shook his head. "We’re not all Sorcerers. Some are, but the majority of us are entirely human. It’s a practice of the Sect that we keep our heads covered. If we were still working as bodyguards, we would cover our faces as well.
You see, the Duskblade Sect has long been a Mercenary Guild registered force, though not a powerful one."
"Then running a school will be quite the change for you." Dominic joked.
The Elder just shrugged. "Not so different. Mercenary work is dangerous work, so we’ve trained our fair share of new mages. Getting out of that line of work to focus on teaching new students seems a fair bit more presentable, don’t you think?"
"Most certainly. Though, I do believe there is an argument to be made that training mages as bodyguards is a highly marketable skill."
A few of the other Elders smiled at Dominic’s words.
If the Duke was saying what they thought he was, then they could make a name for themselves doing what they already knew best.
Behind Dominic, the assigned soldiers shared nervous glances. The Duke of Wistover negotiating to train combat mages was not on the schedule for today. They had been informed that the nomadic tribe might be a danger, but that appeared to be true for everyone but the Duke.
"Are we just going to collect every oddball with a bit of magic?" One of the Royal Guards whispered from beside Dominic.
"That is very much the plan, yes. Nobody else is doing it, and I intend to have the most advanced magitech city on the continent. We’re not going to get the people we need if we start turning them away without a good reason." Dominic replied in a hushed tone.
The mage sect convoy didn’t appear to be in the best of shape, and they were moving slowly as they prepared for the last leg to Wistover.
"Elder, will you accept a ride? I can see that it has been a long journey." Dominic offered, with a gesture toward his horse.
The old mage shook his head. "I’m not that old yet, Your Grace. It’s just that we came across a clan of bugbears, and it took more out of us than expected to get away."
"How did I miss that? Guards, if you would be so kind." Dominic replied.
The old man looked confused as the two Cygnia Royal Guards dismounted. But the Paladins were quick to move to the mages and begin casting a minor healing spell on everyone who was limping or moving slowly.
"I have Paladins, as well as a Trollish Healer, and some witches near the city. We have decent medical facilities already, there is no need to suffer in silence." Dominic explained.
He could see that the Guards were doing the bare minimum of healing as they moved, and checking the mages for distinguishing marks or signs that their story wasn’t true.
While Dominic’s words had given them more work to do, it had also given them a good reason to put hands on the mages and get close enough to properly inspect them.
With their hoods pulled low, it was difficult to tell who was who, but as they moved, they found that the core of the group was made of elderly women and children, surrounded by the more powerful mages, with the male elders out front.
But the old women had some powerful magical jewellery on. They might not be just the wives of the Elders, they were most likely Sect Elders themselves, and disguised as helpless old women as they protected the young ones.
That told the Paladins that these mages were still organized and didn’t have that defeated mindset that many refugee groups got after even a few weeks on the road.
Even after battle, and lacking healing, they were still combat-ready and in defensive formation.
"My Lord, the healing is done. Everyone should be ready to move."
Dominic nodded, then mounted his horse and helped the maid up behind him.
"It’s not far to Wistover now. They will be expecting us, so we should get moving before dinner gets cold."
Elder Manif smiled. The kitchens would never let a Duke’s dinner get cold, even if they had to make it six times.
That was one of the perks of rank and wealth.
But what he didn’t know was that these Royal Paladins weren’t assigned to him, they were for Alexis. When it came to the more important person in the house, it was unlikely that most of the staff would say that it was the Duke and not the Duchess.
If he was in trouble with Alexis, the kitchen would almost certainly side with her and make him eat a cold dinner for being late.
Dominic kept the horse to a slow walk, so he could pace beside Elder Manif, who had many questions.
"Lord Dominic, have you had training as a mage as well? I can feel that your inner mana level has progressed much more than average." He asked.
"Not formally. I do have a fair number of spells available, but mostly the ones available to soldiers, plus a few utility ones, as I took blacksmithing as a trade. Once you are settled in, I may come for some additional courses.
One of the things I would like to learn is the art of Materia gem creation, so I can recreate crystals and spell gems. It would greatly benefit my magitech orb creation attempts." He explained.
That took the Elder by surprise. The Duke wanted to learn to make highly advanced magitech orbs? Not many high Nobles kept up the trade skills of their youth once they had the title.