The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 732: Dominic’s Schedule

Sometime around midnight, Dominic returned to his room, hoping to get some sleep before the sun came back up and things got chaotic.

Everyone was going to start sending congratulations, though the custom was that the baby wouldn’t be shown to the public for at least a month. If they were feeling protective, many Royals would keep the child in their home and away from public events until they were officially announced at age five.

Dominic was under no illusions that he would actually be able to keep their child indoors and under supervision for five entire years.

They would be lucky to make it one full year before the little one could speak and move well enough to demand to see more things. People called it the terrible twos, but Dominic was certain that it actually started the moment that they learned to walk.

As predicted, Dominic was called out of bed early the next morning to take care of the leftover matters regarding the Duchy’s operation, while the staff quietly took on as much of the workload as possible.

Some things, an Advisor could sign off on, or forward to someone else for resolution.

Others, they could arrange a meeting date for, as they were in charge of Dominic’s schedule anyhow.

That didn’t technically need his input, unless he wanted to cancel at the last minute.

Initially, they had treated the operation the way that they would have treated the running of any other Duchy, but now that there were two entire Provinces under his jurisdiction, this was very much an underpopulated country again, and not just a Noble estate where the Duke could handle it all himself.

Benedict, the leader of the Wavemates Royal Guard, sat with the other Advisors for an early breakfast before they woke Dominic.

"What are the odds that someone is going to try to make Wavemates an independent Kingdom again? We should likely start preparing for the separatist rebels now." Alistair suggested.

Benedict shook his head. "I don’t think that is going to happen, honestly.

They have the Wavemates Prince in charge, the way that they wanted, and the territory is, in essence, still what they want it to be, but as a vassal of the Cygnian Kingdom.

That works out well for the people, as long as the King doesn’t start getting too involved and messing with their system of governance. But it also works well for Dominic, as nobody is going to come for him the way that they did the Dragon King, as long as he’s technically just a Duke.

Yeah, he’s running the country here, even if we call it two provinces.

But you can’t attack them without attacking Cygnia as a whole, and they’re not only better trained and armed than anyone else in the region, they also have hundreds of thousands of battle tested veterans.

My guess is that the first attempt will be political.

Once young Princess Katerina starts to grow up, or perhaps one of her brothers, the factions within the Palace will start pushing for a change in Governorship. Most likely to someone unrelated to the family, but possibly to some favoured young Nobleman that could be married to the Princess.

That route doesn’t put them on the wrong side of a civil war, but it would also grant them Governorship of the entire region, through the Princess.

I don’t know how things will be in twenty years, but when an untitled woman marries a titled man, he inherits any obligations she holds, such as the succession to future titles, through their children.

That would be the safe way for them to try to remove him.

But as far as those pushing to be independent of Cygnia, I don’t think it will happen unless he pushes for it himself. Our Lord seems quite content letting someone else hold the title of King, while he runs Wistover and its territories.

That might lead to the King changing his mind and trying to appoint a new Governor.

But that’s a matter we will have to deal with when Dominic’s power grows large enough that it matters. Really, that’s more your department than mine.

I’m in command of the Royal Guard, you are the advisors, so you are the ones responsible for solidifying his political faction."

Jack Merlot sighed. He was afraid that someone would say that.

He had just arrived here from the Capital, it seemed. And now there was talk of political factions, secession, and civil war by the end of the generation.

He had been hoping to get away from all that.

No matter. If he could get other Nobles on their side with a "Keep the King happy with our loyalty" sort of plan, then he could keep those silly notions of troublemaking on the very back burner.

Already, they were in the King’s good graces, because of their magitech and food production. As long as they kept shipping farm produce at reasonable rates all over the country, it would be difficult to argue that they were not loyal, or that they were not willing to help their fellow Noblemen.

On that note, he had a suggestion.

"Why don’t we push for the mages to make a permanent portal array for the Merchants’ Guild? Set a fee for use, but keep someone there full-time so that they can always send caravans directly to their destination.

It will help keep the Academy funded, it will keep the shipping costs and times down, and it opens up all new markets for us.

If we set regular portal times to Wistfield, Causter and Lympsbury, we can gather the produce from the rest of Stansia Province, then have the Guild forward it to Castle, for the central region. I’m thinking Biverlow for the southeast, and eastern Mitfield, then another to the Capital to keep us connected.

That plus our once monthly delivery to Albroles, and it should keep the city fully connected.

Just convince the mages to keep the portal to each location open for one full day, once every week. That’s six portal days, and one week turnaround is still faster than travelling by wagon train to any of those locations, except in the middle of the dry season."

Alistair smiled. "You Sir, might be a genius when you’re sober.

Yes, the mages might charge an exorbitant price for a caravan sized portal every day. But the free movement of people and goods for that time period will be totally worth it.

I would add Witheton to the list, though.

The capital of Axbridge is too far from us to conveniently send caravans into Cygnia, and it’s part of our trade agreement. Adding a portal day for them to send people here, half the distance to the capital city, would be huge for their trade.

Especially if we are going to be running portals to the Capital anyhow.

Jack, write up a proposal, and get it ready for Dominic and the mages. I’m sure that they will approve, and it will just be a matter of deciding the fee to use the portal. That’s not against our trade agreements, as it’s not a tariff on goods.

The accountants can figure out the exact amount, you just write the proposal in a way that will make the Duke approve it."