While everyone chatted, Castellan Julio was making notes of everything that they brought up as a proposal point so that it could be passed to the negotiators for processing.

It wasn’t technically part of his job. But the secretaries and assistants that travelled with the Royals weren’t in the room to do it, so he stepped up to save them all some time.

The only event that caught his notice was when Amie came in and gave Dominic a double thumbs up gesture.

With those two spending so much time together, it had to mean something important, but he was quite certain that the two had no sort of romantic interest in each other. For one, Dominic was quite the devoted husband. But Amie had never shown any interest in men at all. Most were met with open disdain by the tiny mage, only Dominic was spared, and that might be out of courtesy.

"Now that our final guest has arrived, perhaps we could move on to what I have been up to the past few days, while you all got your troops mended and settled?" Dominic suggested.

"Oh? It wasn’t making replacement rifle parts?" Prince Claudius asked.

"No, I still have enough of those to last a few battles. Instead, I went to the Duskblade Sect for a bit of help on improved equipment for future battles.

So, I present to you, my newest blueprint acquisition, the Vengeance Shield."

Dominic brought out the shield that he had made for Alexis, with her personal heraldry on the front, and placed it in her arms.

"With one available socket, this rare grade shield is the perfect addition to any Paladin’s arsenal. It includes a barrier effect, increased strength and spell damage, as well as a flaming blade spell. But most importantly, this shield includes magitech based mana regeneration, which reduces the casting cost of the flaming blade to nothing, or halves the casting cost to use the [Area Barrier] and [Flaming Blade] at the same time.

This particular unit has been customized for my lovely wife, and the Ice Element monster core used has altered the spell to a [Frost Blade], but the combat effectiveness is no less than the original." He declared in his best auctioneer voice.

The Royals tried not to laugh at his flamboyant sales pitch, then focused on the shield itself.

It truly was a Rare Grade item, and from what they could tell, it had three magitech orbs integrated into the back to improve the magical effects of an already impressive item.

"You got this during the battle?" Alexis asked.

"I got the blueprint, with [Area Barrier] on it. The other effects, we added after. I’ll make them for your whole Royal Guard detachment later. But the first and best one was for you." Dominic insisted.

"First?" She asked.

"Technically, second. The first one was a trial version with a Minotaur Core. That’s likely how I will make the others for the Royal Guard." He amended.

Alexis smiled gently. That was what she had thought. He had tested out the new idea once, then made her a special one so that he could show off his accomplishment in public. But she really did like this new shield.

It matched her armour, it saved her mana on the spells that she was already planning to use in combat, and the [Frost Blade] was actually higher level than the [Holy Blade] spell that she usually used.

She had only brought that one to level fifteen, but this was level twenty-one, and on a Rare Grade item, with extra bonuses attached.

There wasn’t anything to complain about with this design, and he had even personalized it, the way that he had for her rifle. The shield fit her arm perfectly, it wasn’t too tall or too short for her stature, and it had her name on the front, so that any enemy who could read would know where they had met their doom.

The dragonkin really did know the way to a girl’s heart.

Prince Russel hummed softly as he inspected the shield, while Rill, the Merchant, took out a device to analyze it.

"Truly impressive. You managed to fully integrate multiple magitech orbs into the design, and they activated at the item’s level. This level of craftsmanship would bring even a Royal Guardsman to tears." He declared.

"And not just when they saw the price tag." Russel agreed.

That made Alexis laugh. "If you were making these on your own, how much would they go for?"

Dominic shrugged. "Alone, it would take me over a week of full-time work to create a shield, and if I made them at level fifteen as a Rare Quality item, it would be difficult to put a proper price tag on them.

But I suppose that is true for all rare magitech items.

Rough valuation would be ten times the price of an Uncommon item of the same level, so about a hundred and fifty levels of uncommon grade items? This one would be more than that, but it’s higher level than usual and customized in design."

The merchant sighed and nodded. "You’re right. The price would keep nearly anyone from buying it. However, I do hear that some of the Adventurers obtained rare grade items from their trip, and they might be willing to trade you for some of your custom items later.

Every warrior needs a good shield, and getting the basic spells on their gear, instead of increasing the level of spells, is a huge cost savings for them."

"Which only makes the shield even more valuable." Claudius added.

"And that is why I will make them for the Royal Guard, who don’t pay for the gear they are assigned, and then save them as gifts for visiting Royalty." Dominic agreed.

"Duke Dominic, my old friend..." Fahad began, before the laughter of the others drowned out anything he was about to say.

"Yes, he will make you one, I am certain. In fact, if you ask nicely enough, you might be the first to get one." Alexis teased the Axbridge Prince.