The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 709: Trolls Need Tractors

It was two days before they had the rest of the convoys ready, and Rill came to breakfast, so that Dominic could follow him to the Trollish village.

The Trolls already knew that they were coming, Dave had warned them two days ago. But Rill still wanted a proper introduction, just for safety. So, Dominic, Amie and a group of four trolls accompanied him back to the convoys.

The mages who were going to create the portals were already there.

First, they would open one to the Trollish village, as it was a day away for the convoy, and then they would set up the array and send them to Albroles for the King of Dagos to take delivery of the goods.

"Is there anything else that you’re going to need right away?

Once I finish introducing you to the trolls, I intend to head directly back to the Manor, and catch up on some of the necessary paperwork before I check in with the Duchy’s businesses." Dominic asked.

"In fact, I have something for you. A group of Paladins sent from the Capital.

Not the Royal Order, a unit from the Malton Knights. The King has assigned them to bolster the forces in Kinewen Province, and perform roaming bandit patrols, but he has asked that either you or the Duchess give them some additional training.

The emphasis was on training

, so I suspect that he’s hoping you will give them some additional magic spells, beyond what they already know as Paladins."

Dominic smiled. "Oh, I think that we can do that.

There are a number of spells that we have gained recently that will be perfect for the Paladin Order, and then we can hire some extra men to go with them, unless they have their own logistics force."

"I don’t know the details, but it appears that they have brought their squires, though the entire force is mounted.

On actual horses, that is. Not mechanical.

As I understand it, the possibility of mechanical horses breaking in the middle of nowhere was deemed too high, and there are reports of freed horses from the northern region, which escaped the flooding.

I know how you feel about horses within the town limits, so I had them stay at the warehouse instead of following me to the Manor." Rill explained.

"I appreciate that. They can get to the Manor around the edge of the city as well, but I will come to them directly, and then send them to the mages. Even settled down, they are still a mercenary clan at heart, and they’re happy to let me hire them for missions.

If I send a couple with them, along with a supply truck, it will make their life easier.

It should also give the bandits the idea that the patrol might actually be escorting a high-value target.

And that might bring them out of hiding to at least scout the patrol.

Now, if we’re ready, we can get going to the village."

A small Trollish woman, barely up to the middle of Dominic’s chest, ran up to hug him the moment that he stepped through, which put the merchants on guard, but Dave was smiling.

"Thank you for the goats! They’re so much cuter than the ones we had from the south!"

"I’m glad that you like them. I’ve brought the merchants. The ones driving the trucks will be different most of the time, but this is Rill, the local branch leader. He’s the local big boss of the Merchant Guild, in charge of the deliveries."

The woman let him go and extended one gnarled hand for Rill to shake.

Her grip was surprisingly strong for such a small person, and Rill started to see through the happy and gentle act.

The Trolls might be the most social of monsters, but they were still monsters, far more physically powerful than a human was. And while she was short in stature, that one would be considered a level five monster, on par with a hobgoblin in strength, but much more durable.

"Alright, let’s get the trucks sorted. We grew all the potatoes for them this time, and we’ve got more coming for next month, then we will switch.

We talked to Dave, and he thinks that if Dagos doesn’t want the other things we will grow, we can sell them to the locals instead. Trolls are better than humans at growing crops of any sort, but the ground still needs to recover."

Rill gestured with his chin at the massive pile of potatoes, and the Troll laughed.

"Exactly. Now, we just need more tractors. We borrowed a few, but it’s not enough. We need at least two more, and some more attachments to make things faster. There is a specialty digging tool for potatoes that we only have two of."

Dominic nodded. "I have talked to Pops, and he will help with the attachments for you. The tractor shop is pretty busy, but they’re working on making more for everyone.

All the new barons need tractors as well, and there are thirty villages under them."

The Trolls sighed in unison. Thirty other groups was a lot of people who needed tractors. Even if they needed them the most often because they had the most growing magic, they couldn’t get them all.

Really, they only needed two more, and they would be able to just operate them in the daylight hours to get the crop up in its peak growth phase.

Everyone would want the same thing, and the trolls were generous by nature. It had caused the species all sorts of issues in the past, but now that they were in a territory where the Duke was protecting them, not treating them like a less hostile monster village, their willingness to share made them great neighbours.

Besides, they did manage to get all the crops out of the ground with just the two tractors, it was just hard to work in the dark, even with the lanterns.