The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 546: The Right Contacts

Prince Fahad took out a sheet of paper, and began to write.

"I will prepare an introduction for the King of Albroles. Obviously, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to show up unannounced, but it shouldn’t be difficult to arrange for him to send an official invitation to court.

Give it a day or two, and I should be ready to take our repentant mage to Albroles, and perhaps we can get things sorted out fast enough to save Westleby," he decided.

"Save Westleby?" Dominic asked.

"With no working age men left, just a bunch of seniors to protect the women and children, how long do you think that they will be able to hold off bandits, refugees and pirates?

The city is all but doomed if nobody sends a large military force there to secure it, and it will be a matter of weeks, if not days, before it is too late for them."

Everyone turned to stare at Dominic.

"What? It’s not my fault that all their men were soldiers."

The mage just shuddered at the memory of Dominic’s attack on the city before he raised his hand.

"Highness, perhaps this might help? I have the former Lord’s official seal, as well as a signed statement from the current Administrator."

"Who is in charge of the city now, and what is his Noble Rank?"

"The Administrator. Third son of the brother of the Earl of Bamberbury Royal Estates. Everyone with a title or a direct claim to one was in the Lord’s house for dinner when Duke Wistover arrived.

The damned fool mage who let him in opened a portal into the dining room, trying to escape from wherever he had been, and that let Duke Wistover through."

Dominic smiled, and the mage cringed.

"There’s no need to traumatize the man further. I understand now why there is no titled Noble in charge of the city, and why your military response was so dismal.

I would assume that the senior command of the military were all in that room?"

"Yes, Highness. As I understand it, Duke Wistover threw an explosive through before he arrived, and they didn’t even have a chance to raise defensive barriers."

"How many damned mortars do you carry around?" Prince Alex demanded, staring at Dominic with great concern.

"On a good day, about a thousand? I’m still restocking, as I managed to use every one of them that day, to the point that I ended up using the launcher as a club after I ran out of ammunition."

The Prince sighed in dismay. "That’s a bit excessive. You have perfectly good offensive magic."

"Oh, I used that too. But you can throw explosives with both hands while still casting fireball."

The mage nodded. "I can confirm, the Duke can indeed accomplish that feat."

"And yet, you survived?"

The mage simply shrugged. "What can I say? I’m loyal, but not that loyal. When he killed the entire leadership of the city, I went home to protect my family."

The Royals smiled, and Prince George patted him on the shoulder.

"That might be the smartest thing that you’ve ever done. Let the soldiers deal with matters of war, and keep your nose in your own business.

I will send a letter of reference as well. That should keep them from causing Prince Fahad any undue trouble. Mitfield isn’t a bordering nation now that Cygnia controls Stansia Province, so there is little that we would gain from conspiring against Dagos."

Prince Alex took out a small magitech device that looked like a typewriter.

"I will send the messages. I have a direct link to the King."

Fahad rolled his eyes. "You could have started with that. Send the message, and we will try to get this sorted in the morning. That’s better than sending messengers back and forth."

That would be one of the great advantages of the new airships. They covered so much ground that they could run a private letter from Wistover to Albroles in a single day.

That was better than anything short of magical transmission, and it could be a physical message, which was better than a secondhand message, or sending someone through a portal, which posed a security risk.

Now that the idea was in Dominic’s mind, he realized that they really did need to do something about that vulnerability.

Anyone could open a portal in the vicinity of the Manor, and while the number of mages who could open a portal were limited, if you counted it on a continental scale, the number was in the hundreds, or even thousands.

They definitely needed a protective item to limit portal activation near the Manor. No matter how inconvenient it would be for some of them.

"Duke Wistover, your eyes are glowing." The mage whispered, clearly terrified.

"Ah, sorry, I was just thinking about some security concerns in the Duchy. Forgive my lapse in attention."

{We need to talk about that before I leave.} Prince Fahad signed, using the Merchant’s Guild hand language.

Dominic nodded, and Prince Alex finished sending off his message. The typewriter immediately spit out another few lines, and the Second Prince smiled.

"Alright, he has agreed to meet our guest in the morning. You may go tonight, or before court starts. He says to arrive at the Palace gates, not inside the walls.

They have restrictions set."

Dominic knew that it was a good idea. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought of it before. He would have to talk to Amie and have the Sect work with the Techno Wizards to make something.

"In that case, we will head out right away. The sooner we get everything sorted, the faster I can return. I just need someone who can open a portal to come with me so I can return easily."

"I will arrange for someone." Dominic agreed.

Amie would have to suffer for an evening. But while she was there, she could gather some intelligence for him about how things were really going after the storm had passed over Albroles.