The World Dragon's Heir

After seeing Alexis' response to the new rifle, Dominic focused his efforts onto making more like it.

The design was a marvel of Magitech, simple and functional to the point of being nearly indestructible. He had even set the crystal in resin, so rough treatment and recoil wouldn't damage the mounting.

But it was not her raving about the functionality that made him want to make more of them. It was her raving about the design.

The compact size that would be better for smaller frames, but also for portability and usability on the caravan trails. It would fit much better under a seat like the shotguns did, and until the first shots were fired, prepared bandits wouldn't have too much fear of it.

The carriage guns were incredibly easy to aim, being loaded with small round shot. But they had an incredibly short range.

At first, these rifles would be mistaken for the usual carriage guns, but they were accurate to a much longer distance.

Well, relatively accurate. Good enough to hit a group of bandits, and most likely the desired one at two hundred paces. It was just that firing from a moving vehicle did not match well with precision weapons, so most drivers would still prefer a shotgun.

Dominic's first task was to make a second rifle, a replacement for the one that Alexis was sure to claim.

Even though it took him two full days again, Dominic didn't regret putting the same exacting level of workmanship into it.

However, it did give him time to realize one important fact.

While the caravans had the most practical need for such a weapon, it would be better to reserve a few of these ornate weapons for visiting Royals and High Nobles, to give as gifts.

The rifles wouldn't see nearly as much use, but the response would be completely worth the effort.

Nobles liked to display ornate magitech and magical weapons.

It would be easy enough for others to see who made it, and the design alone would be a giveaway once others had seen one. He wouldn't go all out and make them so powerful, but even at the lower standards, they would still be worth a fortune.

The second one wasn't quite identical to the first. Instead, he made it with the Wavemates dragon crest on one side, and Princess Alexis' personal heraldry on the other side of the stock.

Once she had her own, specifically made for her, Dominic assumed that he should be able to keep the prototype.

Or first edition, as he hadn't actually made any changes except the cosmetics on the second one.

The office, and the courtyard beside it, had quickly turned into a workshop, with Dominic's tools everywhere, and even his portable forge set up on the garden path.

It was time to make himself a proper workshop before he got too engrossed in his work.

The question was: Where should he put it? Attached to the house was most convenient, but incredibly cruel to everyone else when he was hammering metal or running a forge in the summer.

The open area between the hay fields and the barn seemed like a good spot.

It was out of the way, far enough from the house that the noise wouldn't bother too many people, and it gave him an excuse to go play with the goats on his way past.

No real downsides.

While the varnish on the second rifle dried, Dominic went out to check his planned location.

The first stop was the barn, where he found Jasmine still struggling to get along with the goats. They had most certainly decided that she was also a young goat, and were just as reluctant as ever to let her wander.

However, she had learned their tricks, and now she just worked with a pair of slot eyed escorts.

They even let her milk them.

The smallest ones ran over to headbutt Dominic's legs, and he laughed as he realized how many more of them there were than a week ago.

"Why do you look so shocked?" The farrier asked as she repaired one of the stall doors.

"I didn't realize that most of the goats were pregnant. I thought our feline friend was just feeding them particularly well. Now, we've got tiny goats everywhere."

"They've also calmed down on the maternal instincts now that their own little ones are here. They even let me work most of the time. There are a few left to birth, but soon we will have a dozen new additions to the herd." Jasmine laughed.

"I was going to put up a new workshop so that I don't create too much of a mess in the house. But I wanted to stop by here first and see how we're doing." Dominic explained.

"We're pretty good. But we're going to need more storage space for bales. Millie likes rolling in it, so she grows it back as soon as I cut it, and now we've got the whole loft full, with more piling up." Jasmine joked.

Dominic nodded. "I think that we can do something like that. There used to be a large temporary hay barn at some of the farms. They were just loops of metal and a large canvas tarp. It kept the rain off the bales, so they didn't rot, but it wasn't anything fancy.

I will work on it and let you know."

Jasmine waved him off so that she could finish her work, but Dominic couldn't go anywhere yet. Not without stepping on all the baby goats.

An activity that ended up burning half his afternoon, and Dominic returned to clean up his tools after only briefly looking at the location and doing no construction. Still, not a wasted day.

Bonding with the animals was important. Even if Alexis laughed at all the tiny hoof prints and straw on his clothes when he returned.

"Darling, look what I've made for you." Dominic teased when he noticed her laughing at him.

Alexis feigned surprise. "Oh, that is lovely. You did an excellent job of the Royal Heraldry, nobody would ever mistake this as belonging to anyone else."

Dominic winked at her, aware that she had been checking on it all day, waiting for it to dry and for him to come back.

He picked up the rifle and turned it over so that she could read the inscription on the bottom of the forestock.

{To My Princess With Love ~ Dominic}