The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 434: Dave Likes To Help

While Alexis and her maids collected gossip from the Trolls who had gone with them, Dominic gathered information of a different sort.

"So, are there any of the farmers that might not be able to take care of themselves?" He asked the group of trolls who had come with him.

Once they had heard that he was going to see the farmers, they sent twenty trolls with him. Two as bodyguards, and then eighteen more to help with things. Initially, they were all going to go, but with two accompanying Alexis, and her Royal Guards out of the Manor, they felt that the building needed more guards, so they had ten trolls on patrol of the walls, and a few others sleeping or cooking.

Their nature magic was on an entirely different level.

While Millie could grow crops in a matter of days, the Trolls could do it in minutes. Of course, that used an enormous amount of energy, but they recovered much more quickly than the Elf, as long as they had dinner ready.

Dominic had learned that there were only two meals in a Troll’s day.

One was breakfast, the first meal after the woke up. Then everything else they ate during the day was considered dinner.

"There is a family over here that has too many small children and the father has a bad leg. They always need help, even if they don’t ask." One of the trolls suggested, pointing off into the distance.

"Then we will start over there. I see that they’ve got the kids out in the field picking vegetables. They might need help with that." Dominic agreed.

The trolls laughed and nodded in agreement.

"We’re really good at picking turnips and potatoes." The one who had recommended the destination declared.

"Oh?"

The trolls nodded eagerly. "We will show you when we get there. Nobody picks potatoes as well as a Mountain Troll."

They were stout, with short legs and long arms, with biceps nearly the size of an ale keg. But that didn’t necessarily mean that they were good at farming. Just that they wouldn’t be defeated by hard ground.

The kids waved as the trolls came over, and three of the brutes ran ahead of the group.

"We’re here to help pick potatoes."

The kids laughed. "There are SO many. There are carrots and onions too."

The trolls nodded, then did something that Dominic had never expected. They simply leaned forward and plunged their fingers into the dirt, then walked forward.

The potatoes were uprooted by the handful, and the Trolls just let them drop into rows for the kids to throw into baskets. Within a minute, they had hundreds of kilos of potatoes dug up, and they were starting on rows of other root vegetables.

"You weren’t kidding. Trolls pick potatoes even better than tractors." Dominic commended them.

The troll beside him thumped his chest. "We’re Mountain Trolls, we’re good at everything."

Cutter, the aging hunting dog who lived at the manor, came out to join them, sniffing the new kids carefully before trotting over to Dominic.

"Do you speak dog?" One of the kids asked.

Dominic shook his head. "No, but I am pretty good at guessing."

"Oh, that’s a shame. I can speak cat, and the Dave trolls can all speak goat. But I don’t know anyone who speaks with dogs. That’s sad."

Dominic sniffed the air, and realized that the kids did smell like Blink Cat, or something similar. So they must be part of the population that the Elder had informed him about.

To speak the language of their magical beast ancestor was extremely rare, but not completely unheard of. Normally, it was the Ogre or Troll descendants that could innately speak the language of their ancestors, though.

The father of the family came out, and Dominic saw that his leg was more than just "bad". It was amputated at the hip and replaced with a crude wooden prosthetic.

It didn’t fit well, and it was simply strapped to the outside of his hip, which gave him an odd gait. Without the ability to bend at the knee, he couldn’t easily do ground level work without kneeling, so he would struggle with picking crops.

However, he might be alright at driving a tractor.

Once it came time to plant new crops, Dominic would have someone check. If he did the driving for others in exchange for help with the parts he struggled with, it could work out well for everyone.

But he would figure that out on his own.

"Duke Wistover, thank you for having us. This house is wonderful. Shame that it was abandoned, but they left us everything that we could possibly need." He welcomed them.

"Did you have any questions about the amenities?"

"Do you know how to turn the water on? It’s obvious that there should be running water, but there is no water in the cistern, and it doesn’t feed off the roof."

Dominic nodded, "It’s likely fed off the well, then. Do you have a basement?"

The farmer shook his head, and Dominic was about to move when a woman’s happy scream came from inside.

Over the roof of the house, Dominic saw a Trollish hand extend a thumbs up gesture, and he began to laugh.

"It’s definitely a magitech cistern and well pump. Just go ask the Dave and he will tell you how to turn it on and keep it charged.

I would ask to greet your wife, but I suspect that she’s currently soaked."

A dripping Elven woman stepped outside, wiping water from her face. She stopped to hug the troll who had fixed the water, then came to greet Dominic.

"Your Grace, welcome. I see you brought Dave to rescue us. Sorry for the imposition."

"Not a problem at all. We’re making a loop of the farms to ensure that everyone is getting along well. I would say that the controls for your water cistern are outside, but if you have more questions, I’m here to answer them."

"We sent the boys into town to get canning jars this morning. The neighbour said that there are lots for sale, so we will make soup tonight, now that Dave has dug up the garden for us."

The trolls nodded happily, and then one of them cast a spell that caused plants around the house to grow shoulder-high in only a few seconds.

"Soup with lots of dill." She amended.