Margrave's approval

The next morning Cassius awoke to the assembled troop outside his door, and a weary tired looking Horace.

"Everything alright Horace? You look like you haven't slept at all." Cassius asked, concerned with his subordinates' drowsiness.

"Everything is fine, My Lord" Horace responded, trying to put on a strong façade for the boy.

Cassius sighed, "You know, I don't like to be lied to Horace, why are you so tired?"

*Sigh*... "I'm sorry Lord… I was up half the night worrying about Carmen's insanity, and then spent the rest of the night hearing about what he had accomplished." An exhausted smile betraying the proud look in his eyes.

"That's better." Cassius replied simply, a smile overcoming his features. "I don't have much planned for us for today, so after our morning training, catch up on some sleep, you're not much use to anyone when you can hardly stand straight."

The morning exercise was ultimately uneventful, his men were still completely exhausted by the end of it, with Maron surprisingly coming up in second place, followed by Lee, Horace, and finally the large shield bearing Kral coming in last. The barrel chested stalwart guardsman having decided that indeed yes, this was a form of torture worse than death.

After dismissing the men, Cassius was quickly approached by a lankier man whose apparel denoted him as a messenger of the Margrave.

"Lord Cassius, the Lord Margrave requests your presence in his study at your earliest convenience." He proclaimed respectfully, "When will you be available so I might inform his Lordship?"

Cassius simply replied that he needed to wash and eat, but he would be there within the hour.

Satisfied, the messenger left, but not before informing him to skip breakfast. His father wished to enjoy a morning meal with him.

This left Cassius feeling oddly apprehensive, he had hardly interacted with his father in both 'his' turn, or his body's previous owners.

"Alrighty then."

Hence, he quickly departed to remove the grim off from his body, and later stopped by his room to change into a decent plain linen shirt and pants, proceeding his way towards his fathers study.

A short knock later, and he was welcomed into the study by none other than Captain Jacobs and another unknown guard.

"Greetings father." Cassius stated, and gave a clumsy but respectful bow. I'll never get used to that. He thought.

"Good morning Cassius." Laurence smiled, "Come, take a seat." Gesturing openly to the only open space available before him.

Cassius, although internally a little suspicious, sat across from him and waited for the man to speak.

Both ended up in uncomfortable silence, as neither really had experience with 'happy family dynamics' before eventually Laurence eventually chose to speak up.

"So… Baron Hektor informs me you would like to create a device known as… a blast furnace?" He started, his voice uncertain, but poised with intrigue and curiosity.

The question of which caught Cassius off guard, but quickly ignited the passion he carried for his retirement hobby.

"Yes? Yes! That's my dream! If I can get your approval for its construction I will be able to completely change our entire economy around!" Cassius, a forty sum year old man, retired Colonel and fearsome commander of man and machine quickly because Cassius, a passionate retiree explaining his hobby to a captive audience.

To his credit, Laurence listened intently as and with as much enthusiasm a stoic father could possess while Cassius explained in detail, he truly amazed that his progeny could develop.

Eventually Laurence interjected however, "While your.. Blast Furnace sounds incredible, you stated earlier that this could change our economy completely… could you explain more?" He was very proud of his son already, but he needed to know how far he saw ahead with his invention.

Cassius was prepared though, as instead of causing him pause, he steamed ahead into Laurence's questions, explaining the wealth it would bring, how the salaries he would pay would eventually find their way back to the March through taxes, and by enriching his employee's, he would quickly see the wealth spent across his lands more frequently with the large wages he had planned.

He also explained how his refining process for steel would function, and how this steel would be capable of becoming all sorts of goods within a short period of time.

"If I can figure out some other processes, I could perhaps mass produce munitions quality armour to equip our standard soldier with, cutting the costs of fully equipping our army by several magnitudes!"

Munitions Armour refers to cheap, mass produced suits of armour. During the Late Middle Ages, plate armour was expensive and tailor-made for the wearer. Consequently, it was generally reserved for nobility, or in regards to the March, his small professional army of elites and his Honour Guard, who all had been equipped in the prohibitively expensive suits.

Cassius eventually wanted to create a tiered system of armour for the regular army based off his previous life;

Munitions Grade: A mass produced lower-class of armour that would be kept in the armouries and stockpiled before a conflict. It would be stamped out using water power and a press, and would be created in three sizes.

Lancer Grade: A more tailored and custom fit class of weapons and armour for the more experienced and wealthier veterans, which could easily be modified to the user.

Aegis Grade: Highly specialised, tailored, and refined suits of arms and armour, decorated and comfortable to wear for long periods of time, and encompassing the best practices of the era to create a man-portable fortress of armour that would be nigh impregnable by the Cross Kingdoms poor quality gear.

The benefit to each of these grades was that sections of armour could be added or removed quickly depending on the scenario. Static position on a wall? Add a gorget, protective armoured skirt or additional Pauldron steel, need to move quickly through difficult terrain? Remove it down to the base and carry on.

He wasn't exactly reinventing the wheel here, but the concept of modulising add-on armour wasn't completely unheard of, but had never been industrialised like he was planning.

Hence, seeing his fathers curiosity deepen explained this, and how the fastening of equipment would work.

Both Lancer and Aegis grade arms and armour were to be made traditionally however, as they would require a seasoned and professional touch to ensure the reliability to protect their wearers. Aegis in particular was to be made to a higher standard than even what the Margrave would currently wear into combat, while retaining a great deal of comfort and ease of movement. He considered his future armour as the "Rolls Royce" Of protective suits of armour.

Whereas a team of craftsmen might be able to mass produce a few suits of munitions grade armour a day, he was praying he could put out a single Aegis bi-weekly if he got his way.

Hell, when he was through with arming his company of Guardsmen, he figured that the Cost alone would likely eclipse that of his fathers entire honour guard.

Either way, he looked on as his father nodded his approval with his incredibly ambitious plan.