"Mina, take Rhea to select some gear," Lucas said, turning to the cat-girl.
He knew Rhea only carried a single spear and her leather armor was worn to threads. If he wanted her help, he had to provide proper equipment.
"Yes, My Lord," Mina replied. She turned to Rhea and said softly, "Follow me. We're going to the armory."
"Understood," Rhea nodded coldly, following her out of the study.
The castle had recently built a new armory specifically for the soldiers and to prepare for the possibility of a siege. While the inner storehouse remained off-limits to all but a few, Rhea was being taken to the general military armory.
As they navigated the winding corridors, Rhea's curiosity grew. The security was incredibly tight—guards were stationed every few steps. She realized that even with her skills, infiltrating this place undetected would be nearly impossible.
"We're here." Mina stopped before a massive iron door guarded by twelve soldiers in full steel plate armor, wielding long double-edged swords.
These guards were under strict orders never to leave their post, even if the castle itself was breached, to prevent any tactics.
"Miss Mina," The lead guard said respectfully.
"Open the door." Mina produced an intricate token.
Lucas had custom-made these tokens on Earth for Mina, Annie, and Nicole. In high-security areas, the guards followed the token rather than the face; without it, no one was permitted entry or the authority to move troops.
"Yes!" The guard signaled his men. It took two different keys to finally unlock the heavy door.
Creeeeak—
The hinges groaned as the dark armory was revealed. Guards immediately entered to light the wall candles.
"Let's go," Mina stepped inside. Rhea hesitated for a heartbeat before following, her eyes widening as the light touched row after row of wooden racks.
They were lined with perfectly polished steel armor. Her tribe barely had any armor at all, let alone high-quality steel.
"Do you want a heavy plate? If you can handle the weight, we have heavy sets here," Mina introduced casually.
"Heavy armor?" Rhea thought about it for a second and shook her head. For birdkin, heavy armor would utterly destroy their mobility in the air.
Mina knew as much and walked further in, pointing to a rack of black-coated gear. "These are steel light-armor sets. Each weighs about 28 lbs. They can easily deflect slashes from common weapons."
"This light?" Rhea asked skeptically. She stepped forward to inspect a set and was shocked to find it was indeed light, yet remarkably rigid.
"It's specially treated. It can stop most standard arrows," Mina said, crossing her arms. She remembered the Master mentioning a process called quenching.
"Can we really take these?" Rhea was stunned. A set like this would fetch at least a dozen gold coins on the open market.
"Of course. You can take eleven sets in total," Mina nodded. "If you don't like steel, we have leather as well."
"Leather?" Rhea's eyes lit up. Compared to steel, she far preferred the flexibility of leather.
"Follow me." Mina led her deeper into the hall, passing rows of equipment until they reached the middle section.
"These racks are all leather," Mina said, stepping aside. She preferred leather herself and had studied the stock. "The first rack is a double-layered hide reinforced with steel wire; the second is a pure seven-layer hide..."
Rhea listened intently as Mina described half a dozen variations. Finally, she pointed to eleven sets of Archer's Leather Armor—the kind designed for longbowmen.
"Just these?" Mina frowned. The defensive capability of this set was average; it was mostly designed to stop grazing arrows—though that didn't include the power of Sedona City's own recurve bows.
"These. Lightness is our greatest strength," Rhea stated. The archer sets were incredibly light, perfect for birdkin flight.
"Fine. I'll have them modified to leave openings for wings," Mina said. She didn't push further, though she knew the gear would need custom tailoring.
"I'll modify mine myself," Rhea said, picking up a lead set. Her wings were larger than those of her kin.
"As you wish. What about weapons?" Mina glanced at Rhea's wings and pointed toward the back of the armory. "The weapons are back there. Take your pick."
Rhea walked deeper into the armory, her heart racing. The sheer volume of equipment was staggering—there was enough here to fully outfit a company of 200 knights. The value had to be over 5,000 gold coins. These people were obscenely wealthy.
"Our bows are several times stronger than standard longbows," Mina called out from behind her.
"Oh?" Rhea paused. She walked to the bow rack and picked up a recurve bow. She gave the string a test pull and found it surprisingly heavy and powerful.
"These are special steel-tipped arrows. Common iron armor can't stop them," Mina said, handing her a long arrow from a nearby rack. She pointed to a section with targets. "There's a range over there if you want to test it."
Rhea took the arrow in silence and walked to the range.
Twang!
Thwack!
The arrow buried itself three inches deep into the bullseye.
"Excellent bow," Rhea whispered, her eyes shining with genuine admiration for the weapon.
"It's called a recurve bow. Master designed it," Mina said with a small, proud smile.
"Really?" Rhea looked at the cat-girl in disbelief, then back at the bow. That nobleman designed this? Was he actually a genius?
"Naturally," Mina affirmed.
"Then I want eleven of these recurve bows," Rhea said. She wasn't going to be polite anymore.
"Are you all skilled with the bow? Do you want to try a crossbow?" Mina asked. Bows took years to master; she was considering suggesting the easier-to-use mechanical crossbows.
"We are trained. But give us eleven spears as well," Rhea added. They still had to fight on the ground occasionally, and a spear was essential. As for archery, she had personally trained all her flying kin.
"Understood. They're over there. Help yourself." Mina pointed to the weapon racks on the far wall.
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