CHAPTER 267: SIMPLE UNIFORMS

Dominic considered the options for a few minutes, then decided to go with the same uniforms that the Earldom had been using.

"How about simple green wool coats? Practical for the winter and general wear. Everyone will know what they are, even if they can’t see the badges. Just stitch the Wavemates Family dragon on the left sleeve, or apply it with a patch.

I will pay you to make a bunch of them, if you have a machine to mass produce them." Dominic suggested.

The Tailor nodded. "Indeed. I have a magitech embroidery machine. Once I input the patch, I can make you a hundred of them in only a few hours, and sew them on all the militia coats.

Green pants as well?"

Dominic shook his head. "Green coats, brown pants. It hides the mud better."

That was how the locals had always done it here. Practicality before all else, with a side of camouflage when wearing it in the woods.

When you were working, there was no need to draw attention to yourself.

"Alright, we will get right on those. As long as you don’t mind serged seams, we can make uniforms from templates pretty quickly. No more than a week to make the whole order."

Dominic nodded. "That works for me. Make a few sizes of pants, and you can start on the coats for anyone whose size you know. I will send them by for measurements over the next few days."

The tailor nodded, and Dominic set a small bag of silver with a few gold coins in it on the counter.

"Advance payment for materials. I will settle the difference when all the uniforms are made."

The other tailor opened the bag and nodded. "There might not be much to settle. We’re just making good wool coats and durable pants. Even in bulk, they’re not expensive, and made to the standard for common soldiers, they’re also very fast to make."

Dominic shrugged. "Even better. If you need me, you know where to find me. I’m heading to the training area now, so I can give everyone the good news and distribute some weapons to get them started.

I know that I should probably be better about knowing the cost of things, but I somehow got shuffled between the two states of never buying anything at a reasonable price."

The tailors chuckled. "Too poor and too transient to buy anything, and then too Noble to buy anything from a common vendor. We heard a little about your adventures in Cygnia from Pops at the tavern last night.

Though, I am surprised that you never went to the West Coast, where Sorcerers and the beast blooded are much more common."

It wasn’t that he had never thought of it. He just couldn’t bring himself to be thousands of kilometres from home. He had preferred to be the despised outcast than to give up on the slimmest chance of vengeance and simply leave.

Dominic waved goodbye and headed for the training ground, where the General and the Sheriff were still working to sort out the ones who were capable and had time to do the duty from the ones who just wanted to look good for the Duke.

After all, there was never a bad time to make a good impression.

"Your Grace, I believe that we’ve chosen the team leaders for the militia already. They were all city guard officers in the past, elevated to that status despite common birth. Just how many others will need to be trained is questionable, but we’re hoping for at least one or two from every section of the farms." General Alator greeted him.

"That is faster than expected. But I can’t say that I’m surprised. I knew that you would be the right choice for the job. Did all the team leaders you picked have a combat related trade skill core?" Dominic replied.

He looked through the gathered men, and saw that almost all the Grantbute town guard from the last batch of arrivals were present. That was practically a prebuilt militia or town guard on its own.

But General Alator only picked a few of them as team leaders, and then brought forward Omar Khalil, Captain Brass, and the half Ogre woman.

Then Cutter, the aging hunting dog, joined the end of the line. The dog was eager for a treat, and the chosen team leaders laughed.

"We can’t turn him down. He’s probably the best of all of us at picking out threats." Omar joked.

Dominic handed over a ham bone to chew on, and the dog settled down to snack.

Dominic reached into his storage cube and brought out a whole stack of Uncommon Grade swords, leftovers from the invasion, but good enough for defending against weaker monsters.

"We can start everyone with these, and I will make pistols for all of the militia members. That way, you will be able to properly defend the farms and village until reinforcements can arrive.

The hunters and the Princess will all be out checking for threats before they get close enough to threaten the farms, so I will be providing them with a magitech rifle to use in their duties.

Well, the Princess and her Royal Guard already have some, I will provide rifles for the hunters, unless you prefer to stick with a bow or crossbow." Dominic informed them.

The hunters were torn. Bows were better for hunting, as they didn’t scare away game. But they wouldn’t argue against having a rifle available if they should come across a wandering monster or a wild magical beast too powerful for a regular bow.

The General clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

"There you have it. The Duke is going to fully equip the militia force. I see that he just came from the tailor, so we will have uniforms coming soon, and he’s given us enough magical swords to get everyone started." He announced.

Dominic nodded. "The rest of the gear will come over the next few days. Swords are what I had ready, but I will arrange spears as well. A good spear wall solves many things."

All the potential militia nodded in agreement with that. If the Duke didn’t have any objections, every farm would have a handful of spears by the door. Not magical, obviously, that would be too expensive. But just being able to keep the monsters further from them was a great safety measure.

Especially here, where all the farm houses were stone, and not flimsy clapboard or thin lathe and plaster that even a Hobgoblin could smash its way through.