The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 657: Who Could It Be

"If they’ve got to go to the points of power to accomplish their tasks, doesn’t that imply that they’re either far enough away that they couldn’t normally communicate or travel that distance?

Or perhaps that they’re using a strong enough magic that they needed the certain times to make it work?" Dominic asked.

The mages shared a concerned look. That was definitely possible, but in this context it didn’t make much sense. Why would they need to use long distance communication techniques just to inquire into Wistover?

But more than that, why would they need to hide who they were?

One or the other made sense. But the Duchy didn’t have enemies outside the local area, and they didn’t have a reputation much further than that. They simply hadn’t been here long enough.

It was a bit like sending spies to inquire into a niche artisan.

But come to think of it, they put the origin location on all the trade goods that they sent out. Wistover Duchy, Cygnia. If it were actually about the products, based on having seen them before, why would they need to ask about the location in some of these reports?

Just come to Cygnia, or the neighbouring nations, and ask. Everyone knew the tale of the Butcher of Wistover. If they couldn’t find the place, they weren’t trying.

For most of an hour, everyone was stumped as they searched through the reports, and then Rill’s communication token flashed with a message and he smiled.

"I think that we have a lead. The Guild just sent an update, and they have identified one of the people asking strange questions. They appear to be a Mage Sect from the Burlish Empire.

They didn’t identify themselves as such, but one of our agents happened to see their portal open in the forests outside the city, and saw the agent transform before he came into town. He went directly to the Merchant’s Guild and began asking about Wistover.

Not about the goods this time, if they were trustworthy.

He was disguised as a member of the local Count’s household, and the magic on his uniform appeared to be correct.

That is extremely high level disguise magic.

However, it leaves us with many questions. Notably, what is their intention? If they want to know how trustworthy you are as a trading partner, it doesn’t track with them trying to do a military assessment, or trying to find you.

They should now already know where you are, who you are, and what you make.

So, they’re looking to trade with you.

The issue is that Burlish is on the Merchant Guild’s blacklist. The entire nation is off limits." Rill explained.

"You put an entire nation off limits? Your Guild didn’t even do that during the war. What is up with Burlish that the Merchant’s Guild doesn’t trust them?"

"Burlish isn’t an organized Kingdom. They operate as one on the surface, but the whole place is run by mercenary companies and mage sects. It’s like one big pirate port, and the chance of robbery is simply too high for us to send caravans in, even with local escorts."

"Alright, I won’t doubt the Guild’s threat assessment. However, does that correlate with the other incidents. High level disguise magic, a lot of questions about specific products that only we are mass producing. Do you think that it might actually just be a Mage Sect in Burlish, or some power there, looking for magitech that they can’t usually trade for?"

"That is a possibility. The place is so dangerous that they don’t get much from the outside, and they don’t produce anything too valuable, as the craftsmen are afraid of being abducted by a powerful family and forced to work in captivity.

So, the whole area is either desperately poor, or sailors competing for pirated loot on the high seas.

It’s not a great place to be. Especially now that other nations are starting to use airships.

Dominic could see how that would be a nightmare for traditional pirates. They had spent their whole lives gearing up their ships for boarding actions, and now the most valuable cargo was simply flying overhead.

Dominic sighed as he looked at the reports in a different light.

"If this is some backwater Noble in a sanctioned nation trying to get resources, even if they’re for resale at locally inflated prices, it actually makes sense. But it also doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not a threat.

If they start trying to steal our workers in the most literal sense, we will have to retaliate. But they’re on the other side of the continent from us."

Jack stared at the map, which was now full of locations, slowly circling in on Wistover.

"Well, they’ve certainly found us. But I don’t think there is much more to be done about it today, now that we’re aware. There is nobody here to confront. We don’t know where they are hiding, and with the way that the assembly line works, they’d do better just stealing a blueprint instead of some random apprentice Techno Wizard from the factory." He insisted.

"In that case, we can return to the arena and watch the rest of the matches." Dominic realized.

"And get a drink," Jack agreed.

Lord Blackwell sighed as he looked at the desk one last time. "I will send people to investigate this lead, but it won’t be done today, or even in the next few days. We can finish this up and return to the arena. It’s not going to be a direct threat to the King or our other visitors."

That was his primary concern. If someone attacked Dominic in his own home, the Trolls would make sure none of them escaped. But if this was a threat to the Kingdom by someone who knew about the meetings, it would have been a very different story.

It was almost a relief that they were the ones being targeted.

It was less work to deal with.