The Exiled Duke's Lottery system

Chapter 216: Chapter 209: The Price of the Best

Thirty-one days remained before the ninety-day industrial review. Two years and 306 days remained before the compulsory quest deadline.

The military planning chamber had been prepared for maps, supply ledgers, and arguments that ended with troops moving by dawn. By late afternoon, it had acquired a dragon.

Aurethar occupied most of the open space near the western wall — one foreleg folded beneath his chest, the other resting beside a stack of military reports that now looked particularly small. His horns rose close to the ceiling beams, and the polished scales along his neck caught the light whenever he turned his head.

As soon as lucas entered he had asked whether the chamber could safely support his weight.

Aurethar had simply replied that the chamber had survived Ironbreaker’s opinions for months and should therefore possess adequate structural reinforcement.

Brakka, Gandalf, Maerath, and Ironbreaker arrived directly from Titanworks after the Vulcan inspection. Cedric carried the final selection records, while Malen brought the medical and performance summaries from the twenty-five candidates now recovering inside the training compound.

Lucien waited until the doors closed and the last servant withdrew.

"The Commando Programme has its candidates. Now we decide what those candidates are worth."

Lucas placed Ironhold’s production report on the table. "That sentence already sounds expensive."

"It’s meant to."

Malen opened the selection record. "Twenty-five passed. Four True Knights, eighteen Elite Knights, and three Master Knights."

A brief silence followed. Lucas had known the final number. The ranks gave it a different meaning.

"Those are their classifications now?" he asked.

"Before formal commando training begins," Malen said.

Cedric rested one hand beside the open record. "The selection didn’t measure raw combat strength — we already knew what they could do in a direct fight. It measured whether they could think under exhaustion, adapt when command changed, and keep functioning after the original plan fell apart."

"Which," Aurethar observed from the wall, "is a surprisingly rare quality among beings who consider themselves intelligent."

Malen glanced toward him. "You sound experienced."

"I have attended councils."

That ended the exchange.

Lucas looked again at the numbers. Four True Knights. Eighteen Elite Knights. Three Master Knights. Elarion hadn’t collected ordinary soldiers and given them a dramatic title — it had gathered a concentrated body of trained combat power and then subjected it to a selection designed to remove anyone who couldn’t operate under uncertainty.

"What exactly are you proposing?" Lucas asked.

"Not weapons yet. Not designs," Lucien said. "Requirements."

Brakka’s expression improved slightly. Lucien noticed. "You sound relieved."

"I prefer when the person giving the order doesn’t also arrive with a finished mechanism drawn from imagination."

Ironbreaker leaned toward Gandalf. "He means you."

Brakka turned his head. "I mean all of you."

Lucien ignored them. "The commandos will be used where conventional formations can’t move fast enough or can’t operate at all — destroying an enemy array, recovering prisoners, sabotaging supply lines, breaching a fortress, eliminating a critical commander, remaining behind hostile lines for days." He nodded to Cedric, who continued.

"They may need to guide artillery or future aircraft toward concealed targets, open a route before an army advances, or hold a position long enough for regular forces to reach them."

Malen added, "They may also have to leave without support, adapt their objective mid-mission, and continue after losing equipment."

Lucas folded his hands. "And how much do you intend to spend on twenty-five people?"

"Enough that equipment is never the reason they fail."

"That’s not a budget."

"No," Lucien said. "It’s a doctrine."

Lucas held his gaze. "Then explain the doctrine before I start calculating how much of Ironhold you intend to consume."

Lucien placed both hands on the table. "The regular army will continue receiving standardized equipment designed for production, maintenance, and scale. The commandos follow a different rule." Aurethar’s golden eyes narrowed with amusement. Lucas looked considerably less so. "Commandos are a rare currency. Elarion can afford to give them the best."

He let that settle before continuing. "That doesn’t mean waste. Every expensive material or system must improve survival, mobility, endurance, communication, firepower, or mission success. But cost alone won’t be the first reason we reject something."

Lucas tapped one finger against the table. "Equipment better than what senior officers and noble knights carry?"

"Yes."

"If the mission requires it."

Cedric understood the political difficulty immediately. "So the equipment follows qualification, not rank."

"The equipment follows the mission," Lucien corrected. "Not the title."

Malen nodded. "A ceremonial position doesn’t justify rare armor. A mission that could save thousands of soldiers might."

Aurethar lowered his head slightly. "An admirable principle. I look forward to seeing how many titled men suddenly discover an interest in covert operations."

Lucien almost smiled. "They can attempt selection."

"That should reduce interest considerably."

Lucas opened a blank page in his ledger. "What is the first requirement?"

"Armor," Lucien said. "Full powered armor designed for the Knight Commandos."

He didn’t reveal a hidden prototype or unroll a completed engineering plan — no armored figure waiting in the chamber, only rough silhouettes, measurements, and mission notes spread across the table. He pointed to none of them as though they were final.

"I want armor that protects the entire body, amplifies the knight’s strength, absorbs heavy recoil, seals against hostile environments, carries integrated communications, and supports extended operations." He paused. "It must still allow climbing, crawling, movement through ruins, fighting in confined spaces, boarding ships, and operating across broken terrain. It cannot become a fortress that needs a road."

Ironbreaker looked toward the broadest silhouette. "So you want heavy armor that moves like light armor."

"I want armor that lets the wearer complete the mission."

"That’s a more elegant way of making the same impossible request."

Brakka pulled one of the blank sheets closer. "How much assistance?"

"Enough that the wearer can carry the suit, heavier weapons, additional equipment, and still move effectively."

"That depends on the wearer."

"Then each suit is built around the wearer."

Lucas looked up. "Individually?"

"Yes."

Brakka considered the implications before speaking. "The core systems can be standardized — power connections, service panels, weapon interfaces, replacement modules, maintenance tools. But the internal geometry can’t be identical."

Ironbreaker took over. "Height, shoulder width, limb length, balance, joint angle, stride, even the way a knight shifts weight under mana reinforcement. If we force one frame onto everyone, some will end up fighting the armor more than the enemy."

Gandalf added, "Mana flow differs as well. One wearer may naturally reinforce the legs; another channels more efficiently through the torso and arms. The assistance system has to be tuned to the individual."

Maerath slid one of the selection summaries toward himself. "Then each suit requires a personal mana profile before final assembly."

Lucas’s pen stopped. "You’re not proposing twenty-five identical suits."

"No," Brakka said. "Twenty-five related suits."

"That sounds more expensive."

"It is."

Aurethar’s head drifted lower toward the table. Lucas looked toward him. "Do you intend to contribute something useful?"

"I’m contributing perspective."

"Your perspective appears delighted."

"It usually is when someone else receives the invoice."

Lucien returned them to the matter at hand. "Malen. Cedric. Define what it must survive."

Cedric began with direct combat. "Rifle fire. Machine-gun fire. Artillery fragments. Explosive shock. Magical projectiles. Fire. Collapsing structures. Close combat with enemies physically stronger than ordinary knights."

Malen followed with the dangers that rarely appeared on parade-ground requirements. "Smoke. Poison. Cold. Heat. Immersion. Long climbs. Long marches. Mana disruption. Corruption. Continued movement after injury."

"Demonic influence," Aurethar added.

The room looked toward him. He had lost some of his amusement.

"If these suits are meant for the coming threat, protection against physical force alone is inadequate. Demonic corruption doesn’t ask whether the breastplate is thick."

Maerath nodded. "Then the armor needs layered resistance rather than one universal ward."

Gandalf looked down at the rough torso outline. "Isolated channels as well. If one section is corrupted or damaged, it must not compromise the entire suit."

Brakka began writing. "Modular structure. Torso core, helmet, arm assemblies, leg assemblies, external power unit, control modules, mission mounts."

Ironbreaker added, "Limb units must be replaceable without opening the torso. If an arm assembly fails, field crews should fit another without sending the whole suit back to Ironhold."

Maerath traced a line through the sketch. "Emergency reserve power for breathing, communications, and limited movement."

Lucas looked between them. "You’ve been discussing this for less than five minutes."

Brakka did not look up. "That’s why the list is still short."

Aurethar’s tail shifted behind him, producing a quiet scrape across the stone. "If the armor requires this many emergency systems, Lucien has clearly designed its intended missions around places sensible beings avoid."

Malen answered without hesitation. "That’s where the missions will be."

Aurethar inclined his head. "A concise defence of madness."

Lucien let the experts continue — he’d set the goal, and now they had to decide whether it could exist outside his head.

Brakka looked toward Aurethar. "If cost is secondary and quantity is limited, what materials would you use?"

Aurethar’s eyes moved from the armor drawings to Lucien. "You’re asking a dragon to recommend rare materials for twenty-five individually forged suits."

"Yes," Brakka said.

"Mortals normally become more subtle before requesting treasure."

"I’m an engineer."

"That explains much." Still, Aurethar considered the question seriously. "For the highest-stress points — Starforged Adamant."

Lucas’s pen moved again. Aurethar noticed. "You may stop looking wounded. I didn’t suggest covering the entire suit."

"Yet."

"Your pessimism is almost draconic."

"Where specifically?" Brakka asked.

"The central breast reinforcement. Helmet crown. Major joint guards. Weapon mounting points. Structural locks. Places where failure kills the wearer or tears the suit apart."

Ironbreaker nodded. "Difficult to shape."

"Extremely."

"Difficult to repair."

"Also extremely."

Brakka wrote it down anyway.

"For corruption resistance?" Maerath asked.

"Voidsteel," Aurethar said. "Used carefully."

Gandalf looked up. "Because of mana interference."

"Because Voidsteel resists influence — it doesn’t distinguish between hostile influence and the power system you’d prefer it to tolerate."

Maerath leaned over the sketch. "Torso shell around the power core. Helmet interior. Critical channels, but never fully enclosing the main flow."

Aurethar nodded once. "Better."

Ironbreaker tapped the limb sections. "Mithril for mobility."

"Likely," Aurethar said. "The suit can’t be built entirely from pride and dense metal."

The material discussion gathered momentum. Gandalf proposed Aetherium for major mana-transfer channels and powered-assistance nodes. Maerath suggested Runesilver for controls, communications, sensing, and protective circuits. Ironbreaker wanted Dragonbone Ceramic beneath the outer plates to absorb heat and explosive shock without adding too much moving mass.

Aurethar turned his head toward him. "Dragonbone."

Ironbreaker paused. "Yes."

"Whose?"

Brakka answered from the table. "Dead ones."

Aurethar stared at him. "Your diplomatic skill continues its historic ascent."

Ironbreaker’s beard shifted. Cedric looked away.

Moonweave entered the design as the flexible inner layer — protecting joints, maintaining seals, allowing the wearer to move beneath the rigid sections. Lucas looked at the growing list. "Is there anything inexpensive in this armor?"

Brakka considered the question. "The bolts."

Ironbreaker shook his head. "Not if I make them."

Lucas closed his eyes briefly.

Lucien watched the discussion move without trying to steer it. Aurethar warned that the greatest danger might lie where the materials met rather than in the materials themselves.

"Aetherium carries mana aggressively. Voidsteel resists it. Runesilver holds enchantment. Mithral flexes. Starforged Adamant does not. Dragonbone Ceramic absorbs force until it fractures. Moonweave must move while preserving the seals."

Gandalf understood the problem immediately. "Transition failure."

"Heat, feedback, cracking, power loss," Maerath said.

Ironbreaker pointed to several connection points. "Separate interface plates."

Brakka added, "Replaceable."

Aurethar gave a slow nod. "The meeting has become disturbingly competent."

Ironbreaker looked toward him. "We can correct that."

Lucas reopened the cost ledger with the weary patience of a man accepting that arithmetic had become a defensive weapon. "You’re all focused on the suit itself."

"That is generally where armor begins," Ironbreaker said.

Lucas ignored him. "Each one requires specialized furnaces, rare-metal refining, precision machining, individual fitting, runic work, calibration, power units, replacement sections, maintenance crews, charging facilities, transport frames, secure storage, recovery equipment, and guarded supply." He looked at Brakka. "Training damage?"

"Guaranteed."

"Seal replacement?"

"Regular."

"Power wear?"

"Expected."

"Runic recalibration?"

"Required."

Lucas looked at Lucien. "Are we equipping soldiers, or financing twenty-five independent military projects?"

"Both."

Aurethar produced a low sound that might have been amusement. Lucas looked toward him. "You find this funny?"

"I find Lucien’s honesty refreshing. Financially catastrophic, but refreshing nonetheless."

Lucien didn’t retreat from the cost. "A five-person team might destroy an array that would otherwise take thousands of soldiers to assault. It might recover someone carrying information that changes a campaign, or open a fortress before the army reaches it."

Cedric added, "Replacing one of these knights will take years."

Malen rested his hand on the selection record. "Four True Knights, eighteen Elite Knights, three Master Knights. The programme hasn’t improved them yet — that’s the value before the first formal training day."

Lucien looked across the table. "The most expensive component in the armor is the commando inside it."

Brakka stopped writing. "You become remarkably reasonable when the material being protected is human."

"Humans are remarkably difficult to manufacture after all."

Ironbreaker muttered, "And inspection standards remain inconsistent."

Malen looked toward him. Ironbreaker lifted one hand. "Humanity as a whole."

Lucien turned to Lucas. "Is Ironhold ready to begin its first production?"

Lucas reached for the city report. "Not completely. The first two foundries become operational within one week."

Brakka’s attention shifted immediately. "The first foundry?"

"Controlled military alloys, armor sections, reinforced components, replacement plates."

"The second?"

"Weapons parts, ammunition components, precision fittings, and smaller military mechanisms."

Ironhold still needed housing, power distribution, rail sidings, inspection halls, guarded storage, repair facilities, worker training, and secure transport routes.

Lucas tapped the report. "If we begin with this programme, Ironhold’s first production crews will be working on the most demanding military equipment Elarion has ever attempted."

"Good," Brakka said.

Lucas stared at him. Brakka didn’t change his answer. "A limited elite batch forces proper standards from the beginning. Material tracking. Tolerances. Inspection. Repair documentation. Component records."

"You’ve described an expensive risk as education."

"That’s what education usually is."

Lucien divided the responsibilities. Titanworks would prototype the hardest power and mechanical systems. Ironhold would begin with armor sections, common modules, replacement parts, and weapon mounts — then complete suit production once its foundries stabilized. Brakka would control engineering standards and final technical approval. Ironbreaker would lead frame structure, powered support, joints, external mounts, and service access. Gandalf and Maerath would develop mana distribution, sensors, controls, communications, protection, and emergency systems. Aurethar would advise on rare materials, ancient protective principles, corruption resistance, and the dangerous interactions between high-grade magical components. Lucas would control material release, workforce, transport, security, cost, and scheduling. Malen and Cedric would define how the armor must perform in the field.

Brakka looked down the list of candidates. "We begin by measuring all twenty-five."

Lucas asked, "How much can be standardized?"

"As i said before the core architecture," Brakka said. "Power interfaces. Service modules. Connection standards. Control panels. Weapon mounts. Maintenance tools."

Ironbreaker continued. "But every frame must be fitted to the knight wearing it."

"Not adjusted after production?" Lucas asked.

"Designed around them," Brakka said. "Assistance strength, limb travel, balance, joint geometry, internal fit."

Gandalf added, "Mana response as well."

Maerath nodded. "A Master Knight with strong internal reinforcement will interact with the suit differently from a True Knight still developing control."

Lucien asked, "Can the standard remain common even if the suit is individual?"

"Yes," Brakka said. "That’s the point. Different bodies. Shared systems."

Aurethar lowered his head closer to the table. "Twenty-five unique suits built from shared principles. Sensible. Expensive, but sensible."

Lucas looked at him. "You keep using those words together."

"They’re not enemies."

"They’ve become quite close acquaintances today."

Cedric wanted reserve suits. Lucas did not. The compromise took several minutes of argument and landed here: twenty-five primary suits, several simplified training frames, reserve torso cores, additional arm and leg assemblies, spare power modules, and replacement runic panels — but no complete second set for every wearer.

Lucas marked the decision. "At last. Arithmetic survives."

Lucien said, "For now."

Malen closed the selection record. "The armor shouldn’t enter training too early."

Cedric agreed. "A knight who starts believing the suit will save him becomes careless."

The candidates would begin the Knight Commando Programme without full powered armor — mastering infiltration, navigation, observation, silent movement, and team coordination before the suits were ever placed on their shoulders.

The equipment would come when they had learned to fight without it.

Malen looked toward the rough armor silhouettes. "They should learn how to survive before learning how difficult they are to kill."

Lucien accepted that without argument, then moved to the next principle.

"The armor is only the beginning."

Lucas’s shoulders lowered slightly. Aurethar noticed. "Your administrator appears to have sensed danger."

"He usually does."

"The commandos won’t use ordinary weapons simply because ordinary weapons already exist," Lucien continued. "Their armor will let them carry things standard infantry can’t control." He listed requirements rather than designs — a heavier primary firearm for powered armor, specialized anti-personnel launchers, mines, smoke and stun and fragmentation grenades, breaching weapons, dedicated melee weapons capable of using the armor’s full strength.

Brakka looked up. "Another meeting."

"Yes."

"Good."

Lucas turned toward him. "You’re pleased?"

"I’m pleased Lucien isn’t attempting to design the weapon today."

Ironbreaker smiled. "I was beginning to enjoy the old method."

"No one asked."

Lucien looked toward the blank weapon section on the planning board. "A suit that merely makes ordinary weapons easier to carry is wasted. Give them weapons ordinary soldiers can’t use." Ironbreaker’s interest sharpened immediately. Lucas’s concern deepened in equal measure.

Lucien wasn’t finished.

"In time, they’ll have their own tanks, armored carriers, aircraft, and ships."

Silence followed. Even Aurethar lifted his head higher.

"Are you creating a second military for twenty-five people?" Lucas asked.

"No. I’m creating the force that reaches the battlefield before the military does."

The future platforms would be designed specifically for rapid insertion, extraction under fire, reconnaissance, boarding, sabotage, and independent operations where conventional formations could not go — fewer in number, more advanced in design, more expensive and more powerful than anything in standard military service. Lucien made clear this was long-term doctrine, not an immediate production order. Armor first. Then weapons, communications, and specialist tools. The vehicles would come when Elarion could build them properly.

Aurethar regarded him with obvious amusement. "You began with twenty-five knights and arrived at ships."

"I plan ahead."

"Most people plan ahead until tomorrow. You plan until the treasury develops survival instincts."

Lucas looked at the ledger. "Correction,the treasury passed that stage months ago."

Maerath had stayed quiet through the discussion of future platforms. When he finally spoke, he brought them back to a smaller problem. "Powered armor solves weight better than volume."

Cedric understood immediately. "Ammunition, food, water, medical supplies, mines, demolition charges, spare power units — they still need somewhere to go."

"A supply column defeats the purpose of the team," Malen said.

Maerath folded his hands. "Then give them space rings."

The room shifted. The candidates could use mana — proper rings would let each team carry ammunition, medical equipment, food, water, demolition supplies, specialist weapons, mines, grenades, spare components, and additional power without surrendering any mobility. Maerath explained the operational advantage, then stopped. His eyes moved toward Aurethar. He didn’t say anything.

Gandalf noticed first. Ironbreaker followed the glance. Lucas turned slowly as the implication became clear. Cedric looked toward the dragon. Malen did the same. Brakka turned last, already thinking about capacity, inspection, allocation, and replacement.

Lucien remained still and watched the entire room begin mentally counting a legendary dragon’s possessions.

Aurethar waited until every face had turned toward him. His golden eyes narrowed. "I dislike the direction this meeting has taken."

Maerath looked innocent. "I said nothing."

"You looked at me."

Ironbreaker nodded. "Very clearly."

Aurethar’s tail moved once behind him. "You are all inventorying my hoard with your eyes."

Lucas asked the question directly. "How many space rings do you own?"

"Enough."

"That’s not a number," Lucien said.

"It’s the number you’re receiving from me"

Maerath maintained an expression of calm professionalism. "Aurethar has accumulated hundreds — perhaps thousands — of rare objects over centuries. It would be unreasonable to assume he lacks space rings."

Aurethar turned his head toward him. "Your knowledge of my hoard is becoming professionally alarming."

"Legendary dragons aren’t known for poverty after all."

"And intrusive mages aren’t known for longevity either."

Gandalf immediately decided the table deserved his full attention.

Aurethar didn’t agree to provide anything. Instead he listed the limitations — space rings had fixed capacity and required mana; anti-magic fields could disrupt access; unstable materials couldn’t be stored safely; damage or sealing might deny the wearer everything inside at precisely the worst moment. And inexperienced users, he added, often treated spatial storage as an excuse to carry without discipline.

Brakka agreed. "Critical equipment stays physically accessible. No team puts every weapon, all ammunition, the only medical supplies, or the communication set inside a ring."

Lucien nodded. "The rings expand capacity. They don’t replace planning."

Aurethar looked toward him. "And what will Elarion offer in return?"

"We’ll discuss compensation separately."

"That phrase is usually spoken by people who haven’t yet decided how much of my property they intend to take."

Lucien didn’t press him — not in front of everyone.

Before the meeting ended, he divided the programme into four stages.

First: individually fitted powered armor built around shared systems and standards.

Second: powered-armor weapons and specialized munitions.

Third: magical support equipment, including communications, detection systems, and space rings if Aurethar could be persuaded.

Fourth: future commando vehicles and platforms.

Lucas demanded separate budgets, schedules, and reviews for every stage. Lucien agreed. Cost would not be the first limitation, but control would remain.

By the time the meeting began to break apart, Lucas had started calculating the first controlled material release. Brakka and Ironbreaker were already debating how candidate measurements should be taken. Gandalf and Maerath had moved on to personal mana profiles and emergency isolation. Aurethar remained by the wall in dragon form, watching the room with the wary expression of a creature who had just realized his hoard had entered Elarion’s military planning process.

Cedric asked, "When do we measure them?"

"Tomorrow," Lucien said.

Lucas looked up. "Ironhold’s first foundries won’t be operational for another week."

"Then we have one week to complete the first requirements, release the materials, and discover which assumptions are wrong."

Brakka looked toward him. "You’ve converted another deadline into a threat."

"I prefer motivation with a date attached."

Lucas closed the ledger and looked at the rough armor silhouettes spread across the table. "One suit may cost more than equipping an entire company."

Lucien looked toward Malen’s selection record.

"Then each suit had better help its wearer accomplish more than an entire company."

From the western wall, Aurethar spoke without lifting his head. "And apparently do so while wearing my rings."

Lucien turned toward him.

Aurethar raised one claw. "That was not agreement."

Outside Elarion, Ironhold’s first two foundries moved closer to ignition. Within one week, the military city would begin its first production — and its first prestige programme would not start with a finished suit or a completed design.

It would start with twenty-five knights, twenty-five sets of measurements, and a requirement simple enough to state and difficult enough to reshape an industry:

*Give them the best Elarion could build.*