The next morning came entirely too early, but Dominic managed to make it to breakfast on time.

Everyone was in a rush, with adjutants and advisors coming and going while the Officers and Royals ate. Even Alexis had members of her Royal Guard coming and going during breakfast, when they would usually be sitting and eating.

Dominic felt a bit like he had been excluded from the fun.

But his part of the dance would start in a few minutes, when he headed over to the Adventurer’s Guild to look for a party to go with him, looking for monsters.

Amie was at the far side of the table, next to Pops and Mead, and she had brought a pair of mages that Dominic didn’t recognize. Men in their thirties who looked like they should be competent adventurers, wearing sun faded Duskblade Sect robes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure. However, I am off to the Adventurer’s Guild. I will send you a message as soon as I get in place." Dominic informed them.

"You will?" Alexis asked, suspicious of his intentions.

"I have a radio now. With the airships in the area, it shouldn’t be a problem for me to send messages to and from the battlefield. I will take a team and start to pick off their scouts while we place the portals for the army.

I am assuming that the mages have prepared." Dominic explained.

The men nodded in unison. "We have targeting beacons. Once we activate them, the Sect will know that we’re ready to open a portal to the location within a metre or two."

That was good enough for Dominic, so he waited for them to finish their meals and then went straight for the Adventurer’s Guild, where he could see a member of the Royal Guard leaving, and a large group gathered by the door.

"Duke Dominic, right on schedule. The Royal Guard informed us that you’ve got a high-paying mission for us today."

"Indeed I do. There is a solid reward for the monsters killed, but there are also so many of them that it will be a windfall for the Adventurers who choose to take up the mission." Dominic agreed.

"That’s a lovely way to say that it’s a suicide run." One of the men noted.

"If it was a suicide run, I wouldn’t be going myself. But I won’t pretend that it’s not dangerous. There will be thousands of Goblins and Hobgoblins, an unknown number of Ogres, plus Gnolls, Wererats, Centaurs and a strong chance of Ettin mages."

The Adventurers looked shocked. Some of those monsters were incredibly dangerous, especially the Ettin mages.

"Is there a reason that so many monster clans have gathered?" The Guild Master asked.

"The Rebel Prince from Dagos gathered them in our territory to use against his enemies. Us included, naturally. We spotted them before he could take action, and now we’re gathering forces to surround and eliminate them.

But before the military arrives, the independent forces will go in and fill our pockets."

The Adventurers chuckled at Dominic’s description, and Bella smiled at him.

"Isn’t it a bit dishonest for the Duke to go monster hunting before the army? Like, it’s your actual sworn duty to dispatch the army to deal with foreign threats." She asked.

"And I did. But they need portals placed, and I need monster cores for crafting."

Guild Master Stone nodded happily. This was his kind of mission. It wasn’t critical because the army was coming. It was just a free hit at the enemy, taking the easy pickings before someone else came in to clean up.

"Does everyone have their Guild Card?" The Dwarf asked.

Dominic shrugged, while the three mages all handed over silver coloured cards.

The adventurers looked impressed by that, but Dominic wasn’t quite sure how the ranking within the Adventurer’s Guild worked.

"Will this be enough for the mission? We’ve got twenty in all, counting yourself and the three you brought." Guild Master Stone asked.

"More than enough. Most of our task is just to pick off scouts, isolated groups and set some portal markers for the army, so they can come and finish the job. We can adjust to however many we have available." Dominic agreed.

"Now, do we have anyone who can heal? I know we have at least a few mages and a gunslinger, but what other specialties do we have?" He continued.

Bella smiled and answered for them. "There are four gunslingers in our group, actually. Then we have a medic, who is actually an alchemist and not a cleric, but he has healing potions, and they’re reasonably priced."

Dominic nodded. You couldn’t always get everything that you wanted.

"Well, I will ask the mages to put a bit of extra effort into defence so that it doesn’t cost us too much to get patched back up. I take it that the other twelve are warrior sorts? Does anyone have a bow or rifle?" He asked.

All twelve of them raised their hands.

"Now, this is what I’m talking about. Everyone is fully kitted and ready. If you’re interested, I have some level six uncommon grade mana revolvers for sale as well. I normally sell them to the Merchant Guild caravan guards, but there’s no reason not to sell them to you as well." Dominic added.

One of the gunslingers stepped forward. "Are you offering a discount?"

Dominic winked at him. "Ten percent off if you buy two."

"Do you take an IOU?"

The other Adventurers laughed, while Dominic gestured grandly at Guild Master Stone.

"I will put it on credit against your Guild Membership. But you’ll likely make enough in monster cores this trip to pay for the pistols and then some."

He would have to kill a lot of monsters to get that many cores, but Uncommon Grade weapons weren’t completely unaffordable.

"The pistols take the Cygnia standard pistol rounds. I’m not sure what you’ve got stocked. Or, you can fire them with straight mana, obviously. But if we run into an Ogre, it’s better to have at least a few reloads of solid shot." Dominic explained.

Then he handed over the pistols, and the gunslinger checked them against his ammunition.

"Yep, looks right to me. Good thing, too. Cygnia and Axbridge both stock the same pistol ammunition, so if it was anything else, none of us would have any." He joked.

Dominic shrugged. "I’ve got the [Create Munitions] spell, so I make all my own. But speaking of that, I’ve got mortars as well as firearms.

I will shout if I’m going to use one, they can be a bit startling the first time."