The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 468: Powdered

Hearing that they just wanted somewhere to stay for a week was a great relief to Dominic, but housing them was going to be an issue. The Manor itself was not set up for thirty Noble guests in separate rooms, but the courtyards would put them in direct contact with the Envoys, who had work to do that required a private and secure setting.

If they were from one of the involved nations, it would be different, but Amer only shared a border with southeastern Axbridge and southern Mitfield. Not Cygnia.

"Just be sure not to make any comments slighting their situation, the ladies tend to be sensitive about it, and the Skipish Theocrats have some rather colourful names for them."

Dominic could well imagine it. The church that ran the Skipish Theocracy was very Patriarchal, and didn’t normally allow unwed women to walk about without an escort.

An entire convoy of unwed women looking for husbands might as well be the travelling brothel that Dominic had thought they were when he saw the excessive makeup.

Dominic entered the front sitting room, where the veiled maids were serving tea and snacks, and was immediately bombarded with questions.

"My Lord, might I know exactly where we have found ourselves? Our maps did not indicate a major city until we reached Castle City." One of the ladies asked.

"You have found yourselves in Wistover, as I mentioned. It is a newly reclaimed territory of Cygnia, formerly of Stansia Province. I am Dominic Wavemates, the Duke of Wistover."

The room went silent as he finished, and then one of the girls gasped and began to fan herself dramatically.

"Wistover, as in the legend of Wistover? The cursed Earldom?"

Dominic smiled. "It’s a Duchy now, under Cygnia’s governance. But you are where you are thinking. I assure you that it’s not nearly as terrifying as you might have been led to believe."

The Noblewoman who asked where they were giggled coquettishly, which made the veiled maids cringe in secondhand embarrassment.

"Is it true that there is a Feral Dragonkin wandering the territory, who will eat children who are out after dark?"

Dominic laughed. "Of all the things I’ve heard about myself, that’s one of the most entertaining. No, I have never eaten children."

"You are him? The uhmm... survivor of the events at Wistover?"

Dominic rolled his eyes. "There is no need to be delicate, I know what my reputation is like. Yes, I am the Butcher of Wistover. But the King of Cygnia has seen fit to elevate me to the status of Duke, and I have wed into the extended Cygnia Royal Family through Princess Alexis."

"None of this news has reached the Royal halls of Amer." The girl muttered apologetically.

"That is unfortunate. Our wedding was quite the joyous event. I recall that there were representatives of Amer at the event, but they might have redacted some of the irrelevant details of the reports.

How long has your group been travelling? You said that you were intending to get to Castle City, but that implies that you came down the river from the west, not from the south, directly from Amer."

The woman frowned, and waved a guard over.

"Tell the Duke where we have been. I am not good with directions."

"We took an overland route north out of Guildmince, Your Grace." The guard explained.

Dominic blinked slowly. "Good sir, you missed it by nearly four hundred kilometres. You passed it days ago, though you were likely far southwest of it, given your route."

The guard frowned. "So, we are west of Castle City?"

"At the old Wavemates Cygnia border. The river you have reached is the Wistoverke River, and you can follow it back to Castle City, if you travel east."

[It’s normal for caravans to get lost going overland. They’re too proud to ask for directions from the smaller Baronies, so they just keep going.] One of the veiled maids signalled to Dominic.

"It seems that our journey was not so much slower than expected, we simply missed our target.

However, this city seems quite pleasant, if smaller than Castle City is said to be.

Tell me, with this city being recently moved to Cygnia’s control, has it been settled again, or did it survive the war?" The Noblewoman asked.

"It has been fully revived. It was vacant of civilian population from the Dagos invasion until after the most recent change of control. I don’t know that you’ll find the husbands you have been hoping for, as our settlers are mostly not the Noble sort, but our hospitality is not known to be lacking.

If you wish to freshen up, I can lead you to the courtyards. It is naturally a shared accommodation, but it is larger than the carriages, and there is hot running water for the showers."

Those were magical words, Dominic discovered.

The tea and snacks were quickly abandoned for the prospect of a warm shower.

"Even if it is bunk beds in a barracks room, we don’t mind, as long as there are real showers. They are magitech, right? I hear that Cygnia has been implementing heated Magitech showers in every Noble household." One of the girls asked in a pleading tone.

"Indeed. And Wistover is head and shoulders above most cities, in that we have far more magic users, so we have changed nearly everything over to Magitech. If you are lacking the ability, just ask one of the veiled maids, they will be happy to assist you with the proper flow of hot water.

They will show you to your accommodations, and you can settle your belongings to change."

[Settle them in the Courtyards furthest from the Emissaries. If there are senior Royals, put them in the main house.]

The maids quietly requested the list of guests from the maids, and then gave Dominic a thumbs up to signal that they would put them all in the courtyards.

"Ladies, please. To save time, I will lead you to the unused barracks to shower. They are the only suitable space for so many to shower at once, but they have been updated with the finest showers." The veiled maid insisted.

"Your guards do not stay in the barracks?"

"They have a new barracks building. The old one was built for humans, but the Manor Guards are all Mountain Trolls."

Though they had already seen a few of them, the concept seemed to utterly baffle the ladies. Dominic could tell already that this was going to be an interesting visit.