The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 687: Share The News

A whole unit of Palace Guards was waiting at the parking area when Dominic’s convoy rolled up, and instantly threw the whole process into chaos with their unusual designs.

Most Noble transports had doors on the side, the standard for carriages for a thousand years. But the ones that they had brought loaded from the back, so the usual positioning of the footmen and guards was all wrong.

Then, there was Dominic sitting in the front seat, while everyone else came out the back.

The guards had planned for this, though. They filed out of the vehicles, and arranged themselves to guide the Nobles out of the vehicles, while Dominic simply stepped out of the truck and moved to the front of the group to wait for the Princess.

At first, the palace attendant who was here to greet them looked startled, but after a moment he realized that Dominic was waiting for the Princess, instead of going to greet the other Dukes and higher Nobles who were standing nearby.

They would split up in a moment so that she could meet with the ladies while the Lords gathered to talk their own business. But it was a sign of respect that he waited so that they could both be introduced together.

A sign that she was more involved than most in the daily operations of the Duchy.

Of course, most married Noblewomen ran the house itself, and often the majority of the town’s cultural policy. But less often the businesses or the rural areas and agricultural production.

And that would be the part that the other Nobles gathered to see who had come for the party would want to talk about.

However, that was not Dominic’s purpose in waiting.

Alexis stepped out, flanked by a group of her veiled maids, with Amie at her arm, playing the part of a helpful Lady in Waiting. The Princess’ dress was designed in what Cygnia colloquially called "The Maternity fashion" fitted around the midriff, but without a corset.

It showed off the curve of her belly, and Dominic smiled as the Nobles gasped, then began to clap.

"You know that they’re clapping for you as well, Your Grace," the Palace Steward informed him.

"I don’t think that my part in this is the sort of thing you applaud in public. I’ll gladly accept the applause once I have an heir," Dominic whispered back.

The Steward smiled, then turned to the crowd. "Announcing the Duke and Duchess of Wistover."

Dominic bowed, while Alexis curtsied, and then they split up to greet their respective peers. They had made their statement, and now Dominic had to get down to business.

The announcement would give everyone a good reason to come up and greet him, without consideration for Rank.

Normally, it would be easy for one or two higher ranking Nobles to monopolize his time, and the others wouldn’t get a chance to talk shop at all. But with his heir on the way, it was expected that everyone would give way to the congratulatory greetings, and the lower Nobles who had business with Wistover could hand him a note at the very least.

"Wistover, congratulations. I must say, your success has completely decimated our betting pool," one of the other Nobles greeted him.

It took a second for Dominic to place the man, then realized that it was Duke Dovencrune, the father of Darrlys, the boy who had led the first group that he had gone out hunting Goblins with after he entered Wistover.

He had done his best to memorize the names and images of the upper Nobility, but most of the images were stylized, or much younger than the current Nobles were.

"Dovencrune, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I had a chance to meet your son once in the past, but I believe this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity."

The other Duke smiled and shook his head. "I was at a few other events, but never found the chance to speak with you."

Meaning that at the time, Dominic’s rank wasn’t high enough to have caused the Duke to notice him when there was so much else to be done during the formal events at the Palace.

"Have you met Earl Tarleigh?" Duke Dovencrune added as the older man came over with two teen boys following behind him.

"I have not. As was the case with us, I had met some of the younger generation first."

The Earl laughed. "Aye, my oldest son was in the running for the betrothal to Princess Alexis. However, he has managed to find himself a lovely bride from Rothleachia while he was on a trade voyage to their port at Causwest."

As Dominic recalled, Causwest was the capital of the nation, a city of half a million, and one of the largest ports on the East Coast.

It was a bit shocking to hear that the Earl’s oldest son was travelling with a merchant ship, but it might have been for a particular reason, and that would take too long to get into when they were surrounded by other Nobles, and waiting for the others from Stansia Province to be announced.

Earl Tarleigh shook Dominic’s hand, and spoke softly, "If there is a chance later, I need to speak with you about those delightful airships. The Guild flew one to me last week, and I am highly interested in purchasing one of the same model."

Dominic nodded. "Find me later, we’ve only got a few on the waiting list at the moment, so we should be able to get you one before summer."

It wasn’t optimal to make customers wait for airships, but these were a bespoke custom purchase, not something that could be completely premade. Every customer would want something slightly personalized, as well as different custom options added.

But compared to ordering a traditional ship, which often took a year or more to be ready after ordering, they still had a very short turnaround time.

"That is excellent news. Getting a high-speed trade ship for my fleet this year is a dream come true," The Earl declared.

Duke Dovencrune rolled his eyes, but remained silent. It was clear that while the Earl was a man of wealth, the fact that his city was best known for rough taverns, questionable merchants and prostitution did not make him a popular party guest.