The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 693: The King’s Ideas

On their way to the sitting room, Dominic and the others came across the Second Prince, Axel, who was clearly waiting for them just inside the door.

"Gentlemen, welcome.

I believe that I will join you for your meeting. I would assume that the Duke of Seaveton and the Earl Tarleigh are both after the same thing? Airships made to the new design standards by Wistover Duchy?"

Dominic nodded in agreement. "There are others waiting to do business as well, but they decided to hold off on joining us at the moment, as they were looking to make a much more moderate purchase than a brand-new airship."

The Prince gestured inside, not wanting to say too much until they were in a soundproofed room.

Clearly, it was something more important than basic trade.

If it were just that, it would have come up a month ago when he was in the Duchy. Meaning, it had to be something new and important enough that he couldn’t wait for Dominic to finish his trade deals.

Possibly because he intended to monopolize a large portion of Wistover’s workforce for some reason.

Once they were settled and the doors were closed, with only a few of the Palace Maids inside, preparing a light snack for them, the Prince began his explanation.

"It is the opinion of My Royal Father, and the Crown Prince, that an expansion of international trade is in the nation’s best interest.

The over reliance on the Merchant’s Guild, a foreign organization, has been a necessary compromise to keep goods flowing in and out of Cygnia. However, we can no longer maintain that status quo.

It has been requested that our largest trading ports, as well as our merchant vessel manufacturing plants, would begin to study the feasibility of increasing the share of goods that are moved directly by the Nobles of Cygnia across the borders.

For this purpose, he is willing to fund a feasibility study, and should the results appear favourable, provide interim funding to expand manufacturing, as well as spread the purchase cost of such vessels across multiple years of taxation," the Prince began.

The two Nobles shared an excited look.

They were of the same opinion, for their own personal benefit, naturally. But if the King was willing to work with the airship factories to help get more vessels moving, it would be a huge strain off their finances.

Of course, they fully expected many of the airship manufacturers to say that it was simply impossible to expand their operations, and that they could not afford to have the payment spread over multiple years.

That was not good business for them, they needed the exclusivity to keep their workers going at full capacity.

If they expanded to push out more ships now, once the surge was over, they would have many expensive professionals sitting idle. And then they would be the ones facing financial ruin, not the King, and not the Nobles who had the ships they needed.

Even Dominic looked dubious.

"Well, I can certainly expand manufacturing to some extent, but more than two ships a month would be an issue.

It takes years to train the professionals that we need, and the quality control for the new design is extremely stringent, with a high magical aptitude requirement. If they can’t at least use their trade specific spells at level ten to fifteen, they’re essentially worthless to us in the factory.

However, two ships a month is still twice what we have been producing, so there is that.

But I suspect that what His Majesty wants to hear is that I will prioritize orders by the Nobility instead of the Merchant’s Guild."

"That’s exactly it. They got the first few, and then Shersdonia and Axbridge both took one for their armed forces.

Now, the King wishes to have these new design airships in the national fleet, moving cargo for those loyal to the Crown. More money staying in the nation, among the taxable Nobility. The Guilds are notorious for making wealth disappear before tax time, and the more that they make, the less revenue there is for everything else.

The group here couldn’t be better, actually. With Tarleigh on the north coast of the peninsula, and Seaveton on the south, having them as way stations for trade to the regional powers on their sides of the country should stabilize our influence in the region.

Naturally, the Capital will want in on the action, but I haven’t picked the right Noble to approach about this matter yet."

Dominic chuckled at his annoyance.

"You know, you could do it yourself. You’re a Prince, you’ve got the funding and the information. You could set up a trading company and purchase a few of the new airships to keep goods flowing on behalf of the Crown.

Or would that cause too many issues with the political balance in the Palace?"

Prince Alex shrugged. "Most likely. I’ve already got high magical power on my side, so I get called on for all the specialist tasks that need it. If I was making more money than the other Royals as well, it would definitely cause some friction.

I had thought at first to have Russel do it, but as he’s been stationed in Wistover, it would look like you were the one benefitting from it the most.

And that will definitely annoy the Nobles out in the garden."

The four men all sighed, knowing that no matter what they did at this point, they were going to be seen as unfairly favoured by the King. Even the Second Prince knew that as the messenger, the Nobles would assume that he was playing favourites, and not simply picking the only logical cities to operate mass trade from.

"I will have a proper report on the viability of expanding production made up by the end of the week and sent back to the Palace. The advisors and construction team might have some insights into the matter that I do not.

In fact, I can almost guarantee it. Plus, if I start making promises without letting the Dwarves at the airship forge yell at me first, they’ll really kick up a fuss." Dominic decided.