The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 651: Pageantry

The Knights arrived at the front gate to a driveway lined with Mountain Trolls, all flying the Wistover Duchy banner and wearing full ceremonial armour, or what they assumed was supposed to be ceremonial armour, as they had never seen a Mountain Troll wearing it before.

At the end of the laneway, Dominic and Alexis were standing at the front doors to the Manor, flanked by Veiled Maids and stable hands, ready to attend to the needs of the guests.

For the people outside, it was an incredibly impressive sight, nothing but armoured guards and banners leading all the way to the house, escorting in the finely dressed Knights like it was some sort of fairytale.

It wasn’t every day that the Duchy went all out with the pageantry, Dominic and Alexis were both much more relaxed than average, and not as concerned about appearances.

Part of that was Alexis preferring the simplicity of the Paladins over Royal Pageantry, but most of it was that neither of them had any use for the sort of Nobles who had to spent excessive amounts of money to remind themselves that they had a privileged position.

Though, this wasn’t exactly expensive. Dave liked to look impressive, and the banners had been in storage before they arrived.

The Trolls began singing a rumbling song in Trollish as the Knights approached, and Dominic had to do his best not to laugh. He could only understand a word or two of it, but they were definitely singing about soup.

Fortunately, the Knights understood even less of it than he did, and they simply took it as a welcoming tune.

"Everyone, welcome to Wistover Manor. Thank you all for coming on such short notice, and congratulations on your victory. Please, do come in and join us for dinner. There is much to celebrate, and the Manor’s Chef has prepared quite the feast." Dominic greeted them.

Sir Nallon of Shersdonia smiled back at him. "I have heard that Wistover Duchy managed to poach a head chef from the Royal Palace. Quite a feat, if I do say so myself. I am looking forward to it."

That was a fact that the others had not known.

Nobody thought to ask about who was the chef at a Noble Manor. It was most likely the eldest daughter of the last generation’s chef, who was the eldest daughter of the chef who came before her.

Such was the usual progression of things.

But Wistover was newly formed, and they didn’t have generations to build up their staff. So, nobody had thought that the food would be anything beyond decent. They had all come for the chance to make connections, and to eat a meal that didn’t come from an arena vendor.

Not that those were bad, but they did get predictable after a few years on the tour.

Only so many foods were good both hot and cold, plus easy to serve to guests in the stands of an arena. Even having three or four different options was better than usual. Most arenas specialized in some form of sausage and bread combination, or simply a fancy bread.

Dominic led the knights inside, while the staff brought their horses to the stable.

Inside, the decorations from the debutante ball had never been removed, they had just been altered day by day to keep them interesting. The end result was that the whole Manor looked like they were in the middle of a festival, or celebrating some grand event, even when they had only decided a few hours earlier that they would have more guests.

"I know that none of you wants to be up too late tonight, and there are rooms available here in the Manor if you want them. But I do understand if you wish to return to your tents after dinner." Dominic began.

Prince Damien nodded. "It’s an all or nothing situation, I fear. If one of us wishes to return, the rest all will, so that there is no chance that our equipment is tampered with. But while it is at the estate’s stable, it should be safe enough."

"Dave would never let anything happen to the horses. They’re under the protection of our Manor Guards, and they take such infractions very seriously." Dominic agreed.

If there was one thing you could count on, it was a Troll doing their duty. They never slacked off.

"Then, we will remain the evening, and head directly to the joust from here in the morning. Please ask your staff to allow our squires in after dawn so that they can help prepare." The Prince agreed on behalf of the group.

"Wonderful. Take a seat wherever you like. On the field, everyone is equal, so I didn’t map out any ranked seating positions." Dominic explained.

That made the Prince smile. It was not often that someone let him mingle with his peers so freely.

Prince Claudius left the top table to come sit with him and Sir Nallon at the other end of the room, while Jack Merlot pulled Sir Charles over to sit with Duke Dominic to talk business.

The rest of the Royal Family spread out as well, mingling with the various Knights, a rare moment for the usually protocol bound group.

"You know, if you tried to tell anyone else that this happened, they would never believe a word that you said." Prince Claudius joked as Prince Damien eyed the seating arrangements.

"That is very true. Even if I tried to downplay it, the King of Cygnia sitting with mere Knights from West Keria and Axbridge is unbelievable enough. It does look like the young Paladins are getting to know the Duke, though.

That should make life easier on me in the future."

Claudius laughed. "That it will. And not just because they are neighbours. There is something about Wistover that seems to attract powerful ladies to it. The more often they come visit, the more likely your Mitfield Knights are to end up with some powerful Mage or Techno Witch in their family."

"Or a merchant’s daughter. I have noticed that Rill character who runs the Merchant Guild warehouse has been keeping his family tucked away from the action while we are here." Damien joked.

"He’s not the only one. With over a thousand noblemen and ladies here for the Debutante event, every single daughter who wasn’t quite old enough to be married off has been on lockdown for a month."