The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 692: The Man To Know

With talk of healers, more of the guests came over to join their group.

Talk of technological advancements and new vehicles didn’t interest the Nobles who were traditionalists, or who were strapped for cash. But talk of healers? That was something that everyone could get behind.

"You have a source of trained healers?" Count Darden asked as he joined them.

"Trolls. I’ve got an agreement with the Trolls, and I’ve collected a number of them, along with a mage sect that specializes in alchemy and nature magic. We’re already started on training a whole new generation of nature mages and healers.

I noticed that there was a rather severe shortage, as not every village has even one capable healer. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it."

Count Darden looked shocked. "You have so many healers and nature mages there that you can make a whole academy, using them for teachers?"

Dominic shrugged. "We’ve got more than enough. We’ve also got a few freelance nature witches, a full coven making potions, a few techno witches, techno wizards, and traditional mages.

If you haven’t guessed, I’ve been actively recruiting Sorcerers and other magic users for Wistover’s population.

It’s working well.

With so many magic users on the guard force, they can even help the farms with blight and crop issues as they pass, just spreading a bit of magic to keep things like root rot at bay.

It’s been improving the crop yields to the point that we had to build new storage facilities to hold pulse crops until we could sell them to the Merchant’s Guild. And that’s with the relief shipments that we have been sending out, and the pantries fully stocked."

"Now you’re just bragging," Count Darden complained.

His city had been hit during the war, and they were still rebuilding, mostly manually, as he didn’t have a huge magical force available, and the infrastructure team that the King sent him was mostly doing government buildings and the city wall.

There was so much to do in the region that the half dozen men couldn’t get to it all in one season. But if they were like Wistover and had thousands of magic users to help them out, it would be an entirely different story.

"I don’t suppose that you would have any of those healers still looking for work?" Count Darden asked.

"Not quite yet. The training program is a few years long. But if you’re in an emergency situation, we can send someone over for hire. I keep a bunch on staff for just that reason. I have been thinking that we could likely work with one of the customers of our new high-speed airships and the Duskblade Mage Sect to transport specialists to other Nobles who needed them on a short-term basis.

It’s a different worker model, but not everyone needs specialists all the time, so being able to hire them without having to convince them to move to you would make them much more available." Dominic explained.

"So, you will be running a worker exchange, for techno wizards, healers and experts? Now that is an expensive proposition." One of the Nobles noted.

"Indeed. But we’ve got plenty of work for them in Wistover, especially with the magical device factories. Just the magitech fireplace factory now employs over fifty people, all with at least basic Techno Wizardry skills.

Most are apprentices, but some are just skilled laymen."

"You made factories, like production line factories, for magitech?" Someone in the crowd asked.

"It’s quite efficient, we can turn out nearly a hundred magitech fireplace inserts in a day. At that rate, we can make them affordable enough that they can be shipped all over the region and still be cheaper than a bespoke custom option.

We’ve been shipping entire truckloads of them out with the Merchants’ Guild.

Some of them are even off to the far southern regions, where they get much colder in the winter. The demand for them is insane, as they’re not as heavily magitech invested as we are.

The Merchant’s Guild thinks there won’t be any shortage of customers for a decade, and by then, many will be looking to upgrade or replace, for more stylish versions.

We’ve also had many using them in place of regular logs in wood stoves, instead of buying a full magitech stove."

"That’s genius! We’ve still got wood stoves in the house that the chef loves. If I could replace them with magitech, we could save so much on ongoing wood purchases," a Baron insisted.

"He’s from down by Felscom, in the swamps. None of the trees there are suitable for firewood, and it takes forever to dry anything." Count Darden explained.

"Ah, that makes sense. A perfect usage case for a magitech upgrade. If you don’t catch up with me later, talk to the Guild here in the Capital, they’ll have a shipment coming soon."

"You’re certain?"

"They sent a high-speed airship once a week, on a loop of the region. The Capital is one of the first stops. They’ll definitely have them. In fact, they might have a few in stock."

Duke Seaveton patted Dominic on the shoulder as he came over. "Such talk makes us all jealous. Might I borrow you for a moment? Like Tarleigh, I am a man of ships, and I am interested in purchasing a few of your new style airships. Perhaps ten."

The Barons blanched at the comment. Ten airships could buy everything in their Barony, including their own treasury, and perhaps their wife.

That level of generational wealth was not something that they could compete with, and the Duke had a fleet of over a hundred trade ships already, plus the naval vessels that were officially part of the Cygnian Navy.

"Of course. Excuse us, gentlemen. The King is still busy, so business comes first. I will be back before dinner."

"Are you staying a few days?" One of the Barons asked.

"Overnight, and then leaving by portal in the morning."

"Wonderful, then I will see you at breakfast, if not later this evening. Enjoy your talk, Your Grace."