The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 696: Up For Grabs

Dominic made his way back to the party, and rejoined the group from the three cities of Stansia Province, who were currently deep in conversation with a group of southern Barons from near the Mitfield border.

Both shared the pains of being assigned to a border region, though the Mitfield border had been friendly for generations.

Even at a friendly border, they were still the forefront of all sorts of issues, such as smuggling, bandit migrations to avoid prosecution, and even desertion during the war.

That last one had been the hardest for them, as the deserters were often the sons of Noblemen that the Barons knew well. The common folk were much less likely to flee the country if they deserted. They would feign injury and move to another territory.

It wasn’t like everyone knew some random farmer’s son from hundreds of kilometres away, so they could be essentially anonymous as long as they stayed away during days their own Lord was visiting.

Then, he noticed a familiar face in the crowd that shouldn’t have been there.

So, Dominic turned away from the group and went to greet the out-of-place guest.

"If I recall correctly, you should be the Duke of Staptondon in Dagos, correct?" Dominic asked, already knowing the answer.

"Indeed, though that may be changing in the near future, Duke Dominic.

You see, in the aftermath of the civil war, and the tragedy of the disaster that collapsed the capital city, and depopulated the north, my eastern allied Nobles feel that remaining part of a united Dagos is no longer in everyone’s best interests.

It would be better to separate the Provinces into five smaller territories, operating as a collective and not a Monarchy."

"Well, that is interesting. Though, I notice that you said five sections. There are eight provinces to Dagos."

"Bridhurst and Albroles Provinces are the core of Dagos. Wisham Province is stronger than most, and has good leadership. But the northeastern three are essentially depopulated north of Bamberbury, and the Lord Bamberbury is in charge of the rebuilding of the region. I have taken charge in Horstabia, but the Province has essentially been abandoned by the Crown for two generations."

Dominic nodded. "So, you have come to seek the support of the Cygnian King for the change? Somehow I feel like this is going to be more headache. But what of Kinewen Province? It borders both your province and Albroles Province."

The Duke shrugged. "There are no more people in Kinewen Province. Those who didn’t die left. Kinewen City is a ghost city now that the waters have receded, and not even looters dare enter with the amount of damaged magic in the buildings.

Just standing too close to them can be fatal.

The entire place is a tomb, a monument to the fallen of the disaster, and as far as I know, all efforts to rebuild it have been abandoned.

Our reports show fewer than thirty thousand survivors from the province, mostly already moved to Stansia Province, though some have been spotted in Witheton and Albroles. So few that it doesn’t really make a difference, except to Albroles, which lost a huge amount of its population to zombies, despite fending off the worst of the floodwaters.

I would imagine that if you asked the King, he would likely give it to you as a gift for help rebuilding the Capital."

Dominic smiled, and the Duke shrugged. "I’m not entirely joking about that. Kinewen City terrifies me. I was there already, intending to send crews to help rebuild it. But we couldn’t even enter the city without losing members to damaged spell work from ruined buildings."

"Now, that is interesting. I had thought that the city would largely survive the floods, thanks to the barriers on the buildings. I know that most of the farmhouses in Wistover would survive a flood, even if you had to shovel tonnes of mud out of them afterward.

The fact that the buildings collapsed, when the whole capital was made of solid marble, is a bit suspicious."

Duke Staptondon nodded. "That’s our opinion as well. That place is cursed and wants us gone. I swear, some of those buildings were intact when we first went back, but they’re collapsed now."

"Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past them. The mages who designed that city were an interesting bunch. But that gives me a lot to think about. I might actually ask King Gustav about the Province. I’m sure he won’t give it up cheap, but I can make it worth his loss."

The Duke laughed. "I actually meant to ask your King to negotiate it. But if you think that you can actually purchase an entire province, it might be the most amusing political disaster in recorded history."

"Well, there is that. However, King Axbridge isn’t going to object, the Cygnian King won’t object, and if I pay the King of Dagos, he won’t either."

"How do you know that Axbridge won’t try to claim it for themselves?"

"Because the river runs right through the middle of the ruins. If you think the place is cursed now, what do you think will happen if another group of outsiders tries to claim and rebuild it?

It’s likely better to either let the city remain as ruins, or bring back the original mages who built it.

And neither of the Kings can do that."

He likely couldn’t either, but that wasn’t information that the Duke needed. Especially when there was a chance for Dominic to reclaim the rest of Wavemates.

The Kinewen Province was much smaller than Stansia Province, but it had once had a much higher population than even the three major cities of Stansia combined.

Not just because Kinewen had close to two million people at its peak, but because it had fertile cropland that could support a city that size as well.

Now, that cropland was viable, but the farmers had fled or drowned.

Too many had tried to remain to the very last minute, assuming that because their farms had never flooded before, they would not flood this time.

They had been wrong.