The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 446: Armoured Dave

By nightfall, Amie had made the stoves, while Dominic had fitted all the plates to Dave, and was ready to start the actual enchanting of the armour, and weaving the chain sections.

Individual stamped links were the best, but Dominic didn’t have a machine for that.

What he had was very similar to a knitting loom, which would weave the wire into a mesh that would serve the purpose, even if it was easier to destroy in combat.

Once it was enchanted, that issue was minimized.

So, he wasn’t going to burn hundreds of hours making fifty copies of a much more difficult pattern. A few gaps cut in the armour of a Mountain Troll were much less likely to be fatal than the same weaknesses in the armour of a human.

The important part was that the vitals were covered in plate.

Dominic created a sand mould for each of the pieces of the plate armour, as all the Trolls were very similar in size, and made every Dave his armour at the same time.

There was only one custom detail that each piece needed when he finished.

It needed him to stamp the names on the front.

He didn’t have many recipes for fancy armour. It hadn’t been his specialty at the forge. But he did have a blueprint for Cogwork Armour, which would latch itself when it was put on.

That would make life easier on the Trolls, so that was what Dominic gave it.

All that was left was to make many more copies.

So many copies that he had to request a shipment of clay from upstream. A full wagon of clay to be delivered to the forges so that he could make all the materials he needed.

With the helpful glitch that he had encountered with the quality improvement magitech orb, he could make far superior metal weapons now. Ones that would cut through Goblin flesh even without an enchantment on them.

But it would also make incredibly durable armour.

How much more durable was something that Pops would know better than Dominic did, but that didn’t stop him from making all the plates out of mana steel.

It didn’t cost him anything to make the higher grade metal, and it held enchantments better, even if all that Dominic had granted the plate was extra durability and added strength, which were easy to do with magitech.

Slowly, the process became part of Dominic’s daily routine.

Paperwork for an hour in the morning, breakfast, half a day in the forge doing armour and shields for the Trolls, half a day doing weapons for Wistover and the Merchant’s Guild, and then a bit more paperwork after dinner.

All work and no play.

But in only a few weeks, everything was starting to look up.

Dominic had all the armour ready for the guard Trolls, who were already wearing their cloth uniforms. He also had a fresh batch of mana steel spears for the armoury, five hundred of them enchanted to level six and Uncommon Grade, but with extra sharp edges thanks to the improved metal.

If they were attacked again, they would be ready.

Alexis and the Royal Guards had gathered for the armouring ceremony, which Dominic had insisted on. Dave was extremely excited to get full armour, so he wanted to make a big deal of giving them their new equipment.

"Are you sure that this is wise?" Colonel Wilkes whispered as Dominic prepared to begin.

"Of course. Well, mostly. The King didn’t specifically say that we couldn’t hire Trolls to guard the Manor, and they’re only prohibited from the Royal Army, not from town guard forces, so it shouldn’t be a violation of protocol."

The Royal Guard chuckled. That was the same conclusion he had come to once he had started to look into the laws regarding nonhuman soldiers.

"Alright, everyone line up." Dominic began. "As the most impressive guards of the Wistover Manor, I have prepared new uniform equipment for you all."

Dominic walked down the line, setting out the armour plates and shields.

"If you put the armour against your body and give it just a little mana, it will lock itself in place. No need for fancy straps or tiny fingers.

Now, everyone can put your new armour on to check the fit."

The sound of clanking metal filled the courtyard as the Trolls rushed to get themselves ready, and Dominic rolled out a large mirror, so they could inspect themselves, and not just each other.

Even if they were nearly identical.

Alexis laughed softly as the Trolls hefted shields that were larger than she was, and brandished massive spiked clubs in their other hand.

"How does it feel?" Dominic asked, checking their fitment.

"Good armour, boss. Fits just right.

The shields are still the best. The soldiers taught us how to shield wall last big fight, and these are perfect. They even have shield magic, so I can shield while I shield." Dave agreed.

Well, when you put it that way...

"Is there a reason that they have horns?" Alexis asked as she examined the design of the armour.

"They specifically requested them."

"Was there a reason? I mean, other than that they thought the horns looked cool."

Dominic shook his head. "Nope, that was the reason. But I also put their names on the armour, and they got to pick the designs on their shin guards."

"They were right. The horns make them look very impressive. Though the choice of curled mountain goat horns is a bit unusual for armour."

"If they want to headbutt something, it should be just right, though. I reinforced the helmets for exactly that reason."

"Of course you did."

Colonel Wilkes laughed at the Princess’ resigned tone. There was no changing the uniforms now, the Mountain Trolls were in love with the armour.

But now that he’d seen them fully equipped as heavy infantry, he wouldn’t want to. Marching a unit behind a shield wall like that would absolutely terrify nearly any army on the continent.