The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 497: Extreme Weather

Over the course of the next three hours, the storms all over Dagos, and offshore to the north of the continent continued to increase in severity, to the point that it was clear there would be no outcome except natural disaster.

"First reports are in. Albroles is getting a centimetre of rain an hour, with rains expected to continue for at least two more days." Julio reported, then sighed and continued.

"The typhoon is turning south, hitting Chip, West Keria and northeastern Dagos. Sustained winds over two hundred kilometres an hour, rain in excess of three centimetres an hour.

It’s... not good.

I don’t know any other way to put it.

But in the northwest, near the border of Skiple, they’re not getting it any better. They’re getting tornados and extreme lightning. There are wildfires spreading all over the region, the airships of the fleet have run west, and are currently offshore, so they don’t cause an international incident.

The storms only extend for fifty kilometres or so past the borders, and the storm from Staptontave is headed inland, not toward us.

However, we have a storm forming overhead, as you might have noticed.

No estimate on how bad that will be, but we think that it’s a natural storm that is forming in place, due to the disturbance in Dagos. Until that is settled, there is no way to tell what is natural and what is not.

Dominic sighed. "Are we going to have to start sending relief supplies in once the storms clear?"

"Undoubtedly. I mean, if we actually want to help. There isn’t going to be much that isn’t flooded or storm damaged in the entire country.

If anyone survives the fallout, and they likely should if there isn’t too much more coming after this round of storms, then they are going to need every type of support that we can offer, from food to clothing and rebuilding of infrastructure.

The cities should be relatively fine, other than the flooding, but the peasant housing outside the cities is mostly tin over wood frames. They’re not going to hold up to a decent wind, much less what they’re getting.

Technically, it’s not our problem. But it’s going to become our problem if we start getting hundreds of thousands of refugees out of Dagos."

That would be chaos. Hundreds of thousands of people who had lost everything in the storm would strain every city and town’s resources, and most of them would be from cities, without the skills that would be needed to start over as farmers, living off the land.

But the cities wouldn’t have jobs for them all.

"We will have to do something about that, then. At least enough to encourage them to stay home and rebuild. I think that it can wait until the event is over.

How are we doing on the housing requests for couples that are looking to marriage?"

Julio smiled. "We’ve had quite a few. We’re separating them for now, but that’s pending your decisions.

As Duke of the territory, it is up to you to preside over the weddings and give your formal approval in lieu of their parent’s personal presence.

While the Princess does technically outrank you, the territory is granted in your name to your lineage, so this particular duty can only be done by you personally."

"And I have been slacking, and distracted by other tasks, so none of the actual weddings have been planned.

But that’s an issue I need to speak with you about as well. Do we do a mass wedding, where each couple goes up one after another on the same day? Or should we arrange them all over town, for smaller groups, but possible scheduling conflicts?"

"I believe that the only option will be a group wedding, and we might not even have the luxury of giving them their own venue. We have over three hundred new Nobles who are going to be moving into the Duchy to account for, and the majority of them will be married soon.

But then there are all the others, and I have just received word that more are on their way.

All the Noble sons in the northeast, near the Dagos border, are afraid that the storms will come in and wipe them out, so they’re planning to send their unwed and marriageable children our way if they don’t already have a planned alliance.

Normally, they would wait a year or two, the northeast usually marries later.

But it’s better to get them set up before word comes in about damages to their territory."

Dominic shook his head in dismay. It was a cynical way of looking at things, but if their home territory really did take heavy damage from the storms, their marriage prospects would tank.

The sons’ at least.

But there were other issues that had to be settled first. Namely, the fact that the Dagos Ladies’ presence was seen as a bad omen not only by the other ladies but by many of the men.

They had just arrived here, and then there was a major attack, and an outbreak of natural disasters.

What else could everyone think than that their entire nation was cursed?

Technically, they weren’t wrong. But the Dagos territories were cursed many years before this party started, and it was more likely that the old curse was breaking than that a new one was just starting.

They hadn’t done anything monumentally stupid in at least three weeks.

"Should I prepare a speech for you, Sir?" Julio asked.

"No, I will make it up as I go. As soon as we finish here, I will open scheduling for the weddings, and make an announcement of support for the former Dagos ladies."

"Are you sure that is wise?"

"Do you think that refusing to support them would do anything but reduce the respect they got as the wives of Knights? It doesn’t cost me anything to speak in support of them, and the boys will thank me for not putting them in a difficult spot."

Julio smiled. "So, this is for the less marriageable men among the Regiment? I see what you’re after. Some of those gents would be better suited to a half Trollish sorcerer than a Noble lady, no matter their status."

"In both appearance and manners. But given a few weeks to remember that battlefield etiquette isn’t Noble etiquette, they’ll be back to something resembling their old false personas."