Over the next few days, all members of the Heros Party slowly trickle back to the castle. With them, they bring reports of good news and in the end, a grand total of three were lost. One just quit outright to pursue their love, so can't really feel too beat up about that one. The other two were part of the military support given to us. Two lower-level knights who thought themselves invincible ran into what was an easily spotted trap. Unfortunate yes, but the military has the condolences handled with the families. I make sure to throw in some extra money to help this as well, as a thank you for their service.

I send letters asking Duke Hasslerouge and the King for any assignments. Duke Hasslerouge pretty much replies by saying in his response letter

"Nope, can't legally justify anything for a little while."

The King doesn't respond so I assume that means he has nothing for us, at least for a while. This is a perfect time to create myself some new gear. During my spree of freeing slaves, I managed to get some Fronteirsman blacksmiths and other workers. I of course put them on equipment duty where they produced some fine items for my... personal operatives.

While I will have a major role in creating my weapons and armor, especially with the runes, it is very nice to have help, makes the job a lot easier.

I decide on making a set of armor similar to what I wore back as an honor guard for the Stella Coyote.

The chest armor consists of two pieces of armor. A lower composite set similar to my earlier prototypes, a steel plate in between thick, treated leather. It is set in bands running across me horizontally while overlapping allowing the armor to be made of relatively thin and lightweight materials while still being quite strong. The second piece is what I call the chest rig. It looks almost like football shoulder pads but much smaller. Two pauldrons made of three articulating plates held together by chain, connected to three horizontal plates on my chest and back. The plates do not go lower than my sternum. The pauldrons are slightly raised, not enough to damage my shoulder mobility and neck mobility, but it makes it nearly impossible to cut my neck with a horizontal swing.

My arms are covered with parallel plates embedded in leather the same as before, but unlike my old gauntlets, they cover my entire arm with a small metal cup protecting my elbow. The armguard goes up my upper arm just far enough to be three inches under the pauldrons. I have a second plate put over the forearm plate and my hand, on top of the leather to act similar to my old gauntlets of pimp slapping.

My crotch area is covered in a set of faulds or more horizontal running metal plates, I have them embedded in leather as well. They are loosely attached to my lower chest piece which allows my legs to move freely, and a split in the center allows me to even drop into the splits if I wish to do so... If.

My greaves and shinguards are designed in the same way as my armguards. With an extra plate as a shinguard and a loose plate sitting on the top of my foot. The top of the greave straps onto the underside of my torso armor keeping my pants on and my belly from ever being exposed. The only places on my body with exposed skin are the inside portions of my upper arms and the upper part of my calves. Both of these areas are difficult to strike with most weapons but also do not contain as many major arteries. Plus it makes it all the easier to move and cool down.

The helmet is a simple spangenhelm. A dome-shaped bowl, which we molded to fit somewhat snugly onto my head. It has a triangular plate of metal that goes down to the tip of my nose. Two eyeholes that follow the curve of my head grant me good sight while denying any easy access to blind me. The last part of the helmet is the mail coif which is directly attached to the helmet. It covers the rest of my head and neck loosely to allow for full range of movement. The chain coif can hook onto the inside of my chest rig removing any final gaps in my vital areas, of course, I have a comfortable liner inside the helmet along with a sturdy strap around my chin to keep everything nice and tight.

Despite the complexity of the armor, with a crew of ten blacksmiths and leather workers all working at the same time, it is made easier. Not all the smiths and workers are of the Stella Coyote so I am able to see how other Frontiersmen cultures work with metal and how they make their steel. There are merits to everyone's methods, and we are all able to come together to combine our knowledge to find the most effective and efficient methods to make armor and weapons.

As for weapons, I request another shortsword as well as a small handaxe. I have no need for anything longer as I can always use my fathers' spear. I do have my father's spear looked at and sharpened by an older smith whose experience far exceeds my own. With all the gear made, it is up to me to add the runes to them.

In every moment free I have had I have worked on my runesmithing capabilities. I really liked what I saw in the newest book, and really liked the strength and speed enhancement runes, it's just that I needed a way to avoid tearing my muscles and overall hurting myself with the runic abilities. I also further studied materials and how to add even just one more rune to an object or weapon, composite runes have gotten even more complicated as some of the newer ones react poorly when used with one another. I nearly lost an eye due to adding a fire rune and a frost rune to the same sword. Then I had a breakthrough. Component inscribing. If you build a tool or armor piece, bit by bit, each component can have a rune on it to a maximum of five or six depending on the material and compatibility of runes, this is far better than the normal 2 steel allows for. The best part is, that once the components are all pieced together all the runes are able to be used across the whole weapon.

For example, a fire rune on the crossguard of a sword doesn't just ignite the crossguard, but will still also ignite the blade. This is a massive breakthrough as it allows me to avoid composite runes which on the best of days have a 50% chance of exploding, even when I do them correctly.

With this knowledge, I begin to create a masterwork of weapons and armor.

For the chest armor, I find the two pieces once placed over one another act as a single set, resulting in some new scars on my chest and neck, but I learn from my mistakes. I only do four runes on my chest so as not to tempt fate. I, of course, add my impact-dampening runes which is absolutely necessary, then per usual I have the toughening runes which make the leather and steel act as if they were Kevlar and AR500. I then add one of the new enchantments, the first one being that of cooling and heating. Armor is hot, there is no way to really stop that with the materials available to me at this time, so I put it in runic form. The rune simply keeps me nice and cool when I'm hot and nice and toasty when I'm cold. A pretty handy one at a time without air conditioning. The final rune is the most difficult one yet. It forces me to inscribe a very delicate shape, one with depth and what feels like shading as if I am drawing a work of art. This rune is a healing one. The old book was somewhat damaged so the healing rune page was almost completely unreadable, but after a long and difficult study, I was able to piece it together. While the rune doesn't grant me Wolverine-level healing, it simply slowly over time mends my wounds, so long as I have the material in my body to do so, meaning the more I heal the more I have to eat. During testing, I lost what felt like ten pounds while cutting my hand to see the capabilities. I will be more careful in the future. With my center protected I believe I can add my strengthening runes safely now.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

On my arms, I put the usual toughness and absorption runes, but I also add the impact and reflection runes. These two work to either reflect force back onto an attacker if I manage to block them with my armor as well as double the impact if I am to backhand or hit someone. Then is the strengthening rune. During testing, I found that I can sort of adjust how much strength I am granted. Unlike the black armor, with this level of strength, I will not be smashing skulls with single punches. I adjusted it to make me strong, but not unnaturally so. As an example, if I could lift with my arms alone 50lbs without the runes, with the runes I can now lift 75lbs the exact same. Stronger, yes, but so powerful as to accidentally break my own bones or destroy something I don't mean to, no.

My legs are granted the same runes as my arms but without the impact runes. I found that makes running quite difficult. Instead, I replace the impact rune with something called a dispersion rune. What it does is reflect energy into the ground or the air around me. AKA it's a feather-falling rune. I don't think I'll ever be in a situation where I need it to survive, it's mostly there to protect my knees when I inevitably fall or drop to the ground.

The final piece of armor is my helmet and the attached chain coif. I do my usual protection runes, even adding an enhancement rune to increase the impact absorption rune because whiplash and concussions are not fun. Unfortunately, there are no runes that give me night vision or something so I find a very important one. It is an attraction rune. What it does is slightly direct attacks toward the helmet itself in a very small area surrounding the helmet. Normally I would think this is a stupid rune, but in practice, it substantially decreases the likelihood of something going through the eyeholes of my helmet, especially as I have found with arrows or other flying objects.

With what is effectively magical power armor created I move to work on my weapons.

I really only bother to add runes to my new handaxe and my shortsword as backup knives don't need to be overly powerful, and my fathers' spear is off-limits.

The sword is built in a similar construction to a Roman gladius, but it comes with a steel handguard that also works like a pair of knuckle dusters, creating a cool weapon that works as a mix between the small sword and a WW1 trench knife. The axe is what I consider somewhat basic. A wide and broad-cutting head with a hooked underside to work as a sword catcher. The back end is a brutal spike for armor-penetrating purposes. A pretty good arsenal if you ask me.

The sword I inscribe with the old impact and reflection runes as usual, but for better offensive capabilities I give it something called a hemophilic rune. What this rune does is basically cause flesh to crack and shatter like glass or metal. It creates exceptionally brutal wounds which bleed profusely. The whole idea of the rune is to cause as much blood loss as possible, but if used in a specific way can be used to slice through flesh with surgical precision. It all depends on how you swing, slash, or stab. The last rune I add was for more of a joke, but it's a loyalty rune. I have the sword bound to me and if I open my hand to call for it, the sword will return to my grasp.

The axe is given the same runes aside from the hemophilic one. Instead, I give the axe a rune called "Shatter". Basically, if the axe is able to bust through any form of shield or armor it will cause increased damage to the object, creating further cracks and splinters. Hopefully, this will work in good synergy with my more precise sword.

With my weapons finished I have an equal set of armor and weapons made for Sertean and Henna but to their own personal specifications. I give them the same runes as they are my officers and their survival is paramount. I then also begin work on making more empowered tools to give to a few trusted blacksmiths so that runic gear can be produced more frequently. I entrust my books to these men as well, and hope they are able to understand and create wonderful weapons and armor.

In the three-month break, we have after operation constrictor things change for the better. The food definitely gets a quality upgrade as my aunt brings a Frontiersman flair to the cooking. All of the freed Frontiersmen are very thankful for her addition and I am just happy to have her around. The people from the Alrius kingdom are at first hesitant to eat the "lowly food" but find it very tasty and easy to eat in the end. My aunt also has other Frontiersmen women join her in the kitchen where the many cultures are able to have their food represented at the dinner table, much to my and many others' delight.

Speaking of the various Frontiersmen present there are surprisingly few issues among the different cultural groups. While there are instances of old feuds showing through there was only one real fight during this time. It was less of a cultural or historical issue, but that of a strange love triangle thing. After a very solid ass-chewing, they made up and the issue was resolved. Every single one of us shares a sort of unspoken respect for one another. This comes from our shared pasts of having our homes lost and being put in bondage against our wills. Despite historical issues, we look past them due to our collective traumas. There still is friendly competition between us when doing tasks, but nothing substantial.

It's this past of slavery which motivated me to begin training with the men. None had been practiced in combat during their slavery, very few were granted the opportunity to hold any weapon in their hand during their slavery, and many of the fighting men and women lost much of their muscle and combat capabilities during their bondage. We train through our traditional methods, wearing full armor and sparring with real weapons, fearing the bite of steel leads us to sharpen our senses. Physical strength training, runs and exercises for stamina, and general skills being shared between us. We go on long hikes through the nearby wild areas, honing our survival skills along with tracking and stealth as we hunted wild game.

The bruises and cuts we receive from the harsh training are quickly healed by the priests of Serena allowing us to continue to fight without pause. The rich high protein foods made by my aunt and her helpers quickly put the pounds back onto the warriors. Very quickly the warriors of various cultures returned close to their primes.

In contrast, the soldiers and knights of the Alrius kingdom used this lull in work to sit around drinking and eating, going into town to find women or other companionship. The little training the princess had forced them to undertake was pitiful. They stood in lines on the training ground swinging their blades and going over basics. The princess at one point attempted to join our group but quit after two days of hard work. She was a little upset after her lip got busted by a random Red Hyena warrior woman. After quitting she then doubled down on trying to whip the royal soldiers to actual shape utilizing an old salty officer to get the men in line. It worked for a few days. Then they started bitching and getting lazy, complaining that they didn't need to train their physical bodies as their magical capabilities can make up for anything they physically lack.

Unfortunately, only Blake would listen to the princess, but his work ethic was equally shit... or was it capability, I don't know. He showed up every day and trained so that was better than most. At the end of the long break, my warriors are a brutal fighting force ready for their orders, which do come, along with a desperate plea.

I am pulled off the training yards by an out-of-breath messenger. I call a meeting and we meet in the war room. Inside the room, the messenger explains to us,

"A dragon has attacked a town in the Northern region of the kingdom! I-It appears to be a green dragon! You need to head to defeat it now!"

With grim determination, we all gather supplies and form a small army. Fifty of the royal knights and sixty Frontiersmen were ready to fight. We gather supplies for the two-day journey and head down the road, onto the fight ahead... I can't help but feel a little excited despite the danger ahead how many people get to fight two dragons in their lifetime?