The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 424: Couldn’t Miss It

But Dominic was not prepared for what he found when he finally made it home.

The emissaries were not meeting in the central compound, as they usually did. Instead, everyone was gathered in the main Manor house, along with a small group of finely dressed ladies that Dominic didn’t recognize, and a pair of representatives wearing Merchant’s Guild badges on their chest.

"Ah, Your Grace, wonderful timing. We just arrived through the portal, and we were about to discuss advanced trade route planning.

Everyone wants in on the action, it seems, and your airship docking fields have proven truly impressive." One of the Merchant Guild members greeted Dominic.

While he spoke, his hands signed a separate message.

[Ground travel is becoming too dangerous with the recent Dagos Rebel offensive, we would like to switch this route to airborne travel, with Wistover as a central hub between the nations.]

Dominic nodded, but didn’t sign anything back, as he was facing the others, and it would be immediately noticed, even if most of them didn’t understand the signs.

The other representative of the Merchant’s Guild pushed the ladies forward. "We will be the staff of the outpost here in Wistover, if you don’t have any objections. My name is Rill, and these are my daughters. A family branch, if you will."

"Oh? That’s an interesting composition. Might I ask if your wife will be joining you?" Dominic replied.

The Merchant coughed politely, and Dominic smiled. "I understand, my apologies for the insensitive question. However, rest assured that your family is well suited to a brilliant future here in Wistover.

There is no shortage of upstanding young men still looking for wives here, and many have arrived with their family to vouch for them."

The Merchant chuckled and gave Dominic a slight bow. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Your Grace."

They were from an untitled branch of a Noble family in Cygnia, and so his hope was to marry at least one of his daughters to the son of a Baron in the area, once they started to arrive. He had some time yet, only his oldest was looking for a suitor this year. But having a few years to get to know each other was even better.

The Merchant Guild had done him a huge favour by shipping him here. It would give him a head start on choosing the best alliances for his family when the Barons were sent.

That would likely be after the rainy season had ended, assuming that the hostilities in Dagos were over by then, and the army could stand down. And influence was going to be necessary, with all the war casualties and rewards.

War always led to an overabundance of daughters, with too few sons to give them all legitimate marriages. Some would be concubines, others would grow old as spinsters, but he didn’t want either of those futures for his girls.

"We will have to work on the cargo docks for airships, though I do believe that there is a suitable compound for the Guild House vacant here in town.

I suppose that has already come up in conversation, as everyone was here before I arrived. My apologies for that, I did not know that you were coming, and I was busy with a small project regarding the equipment of our Royal Guards." Dominic replied.

The two Merchants smiled. "Actually, we weren’t joking about the timing. We arrived under a minute before you did. The discussions were ongoing long before we arrived, but you didn’t miss any of the formal portion."

The look on Dominic’s face made Alexis and all four Princes laugh.

"You have misjudged the situation, Merchant. The formal part is the part that he was trying to dodge. Why else would he have immediately gone to work on new equipment himself, instead of simply telling everyone to use their spare gear until the craftsmen had time?" Prince Claudius asked.

Dominic shrugged and didn’t say anything. He couldn’t fault them for that interpretation. But he didn’t think that anything was happening that needed his presence as anything other than the hose, and one of the staff would have come to get him if he was needed in that capacity.

They might be great about letting him dodge Royal duties, but there was no way that they would let him escape if there was even a hint of it falling within his role as the Duke.

They were far too competent that way.

"Well, if it’s all about formality, then I have arrived just in time. I assume that the kitchen staff has been made aware that we have extra guests?" Dominic asked.

The maid standing along the wall nodded, and signed back, using the Cygnia military hand signals, that Beth was preparing a proper feast at the usual time. That gave him a few hours to get everyone settled, and do his duties as the Duke.

"How large of a facility were you hoping for, Merchant? We have a new warehouse available that hasn’t been allocated yet. It is right next to the factory, and along a well-developed road, intended for caravans to enter and exit town." He suggested.

The Merchant stroked his short beard as he considered the choice.

"A warehouse in the factory district would be a wonderful option for the Guild. But how well-developed are we talking about with the roads? Will they be alright in the wet season?" Rill asked.

Dominic nodded. "We have had the Cygnia Royal Infrastructure teams make a fully bedded stone roadway, wide enough for two caravans to pass each other, headed through that portion of town.

There is room to turn around in the warehouse yard, even if you’ve got trailers on, and the factory across the way has a magitech tractor repair facility included."

The merchant nodded happily. "I was informed of that before I arrived. The caravan leader who picked up the first shipment was most impressed with your facilities, but he had failed to mention the roadway."

"It’s unfortunate that it ends so close to town, but after the rains stop we will work on something to improve roads to one of the major cities." Dominic explained.

The airships might do their best to take over, but Dominic knew that they had their limits as cargo vessels. It was simply more efficient to have a ground caravan take the goods, if the roads were even halfway decent and safe.