Dominic sighed as he realized the situation. "So, the Merchant’s Guild and the King both need something that will defend their airships when the pirates and hostile nations eventually develop a defensive strategy.

Cannons on airships aren’t sufficient, and it also needs to double as a defensive weapon for the cities?

Is there anything else that I’m missing?"

The Count shrugged. "That’s the core of the design criteria. However, the King did note that it would be best if it could be used by specially trained soldiers, and ground maintained by mages, instead of being flown by Techno Wizards."

That was a concept Dominic understood.

"Because there aren’t enough Techno Wizards to be sending them up in fast attack craft, or having them man ground-based anti-aircraft batteries."

"A what now?"

"Oh, it’s a concept we came up with when we were first thinking of ways to defend against the Dagos airships at the start of the attack. Cannons or artillery guns with timed explosives and shrapnel, designed to take out airships that are even vaguely close to the detonation.

Something like a super long ranged shotgun.

If you tear open enough holes in the envelope, the airship comes down. That’s all that you really need to do. So, explosives are perfect, even if they have a barrier up. If the first shot doesn’t get them, the second or third will."

"Actually, that sounds brilliant. Artillery has come a long way since the start of the war. So, if you could arrange something like that, even a few for each major city would make the War Council happy.

But that still leaves the issue of defensive measures for airships, and for battles that are not at the cities."

"I think that I have something. I don’t know how well it will work, but we came up with a few design ideas when we were working out the best ways to design the new airships.

We could use winged airplanes with a steam turbine and propeller drive system. The issue we ran into was the fact that the wings aren’t as well suited to heavy loads as a gas envelope, and the cargo space was limited.

However, if you want an attack ship, I think that we can make them faster than airships, and mount some guns to them."

The men all chuckled at his enthusiasm.

They had definitely come to the right man to come up with a new form of high-speed weaponry to intercept airships.

"How long do you think that it would take for you to start coming up with something that might be effective in stopping the traditional airships, should we face a foreign attack?" Count Duntamers asked.

Dominic considered how he was going to answer that.

He already had an idea, it was just a matter of testing it. But the airship hangar also likely had multiple ideas, as they had prepared the defensive abilities of the airships with their most likely threats, including bad weather, in mind.

"If I redirect resources to it, I suppose that we can likely have a workable prototype ready by the end of the summer.

It’s a bit different from past projects, as we won’t be improving on an existing design, but completely starting over. Still, I have reasonable confidence in that timeline."

The other men considered his words. That was a reasonable amount of time to make a whole new military vehicle, less than half a year. Still, there was something about his confidence that said he was sandbagging, and actually had something in the works already that he simply wasn’t going to tell them about.

"Alright, that timeline sounds reasonable. Do you have enough workers, or are you going to need assistance with recruitment?"

Dominic smiled. "I believe that I have enough workers here who are trained in the basics. It’s only if and when we start to put them into mass production that the number of skilled workers will greatly increase.

Fortunately, we have an Academy here in town that specializes in both traditional mages and Techno Wizards.

Combined with the new grads from the Biverlow and Capital Academies, we should be able to get the workers that we need. The shops in Wistover pay quite well, and we’re less established, so the generational connections count for less here.

It’s proven to be invaluable to formerly overlooked talents."

"Indeed. The expansion into the Stansia Province has been a godsend for many of our younger generation. The three cities have received many young talents." Rill agreed.

Dominic gestured to one of the maids, and she poured three of the four men a goblet of wine, and then filled a tankard with their level 5 magically created ale for Ragnar, the Innkeeper’s Guildmaster.

"Forgive the house vintage, I haven’t gotten to stocking a full cellar, so we’ve only got the one option available at the moment," he explained.

Ragnar gave the ale a skeptical look, then sipped at it. Three seconds later, the tankard was empty, and the maids were pouring it full again.

"You know, I might learn to appreciate a city that can pour ale like this. Do you have a Brewmaster in town?"

Dominic shook his head. "Not exactly. However, we do have a few heavy drinking master mages."

The Dwarf laughed as he drained another tankard, and then laughed harder as he realized the maid was simply refilling it with magic, and not going to fetch more from the basement.

"This is a secretly dangerous building. Who would have thought that they would find a way to try to get a Dwarf drunk during negotiations?"

Count Duntamers frowned. "I would like to point out that you’re doing it to yourself."

Ragnar shrugged. "I’m far from drunk. But you need to try that wine." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The head of the assassin’s guild stealthily cast a cleansing spell on his cup before he tasted it, then raised an eyebrow in shock.

"That’s surprisingly good. I’m guessing level five as a house vintage? Just the right balance between simply being good, and being overwhelming."

"I’m glad you appreciate the nuance."