The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 740: A Chat With Gordie

Gordie, the assistant sent by Asmodain, and currently the one doing the majority of the bookkeeping and accounting for the Provinces, came to visit Dominic that evening.

That wasn’t unusual. But the expression that the mage had when he entered the office said that this was about something more important than the possible budget shortfalls from their shipments of relief goods to the Provinces and Dagos.

"If you have a moment for a private conversation?" He asked as he closed the door and activated the soundproofing.

"Of course, what is on your mind?"

"Lord Asmodain asked me to obtain a clarification from you. He wants to know if you intend to go to war to take back the Wavemates ancestral territories and place yourself as King."

Now, that was a question you couldn’t ask in public.

Dominic considered his long-term goals for a moment, then shook his head.

"No, the territories are nice, but ultimately, they are just land. The important part is the people. We’ve managed to bring back so many magic users, sorcerers and Trolls, all our old allies, that the Provinces are looking like Wavemates again.

The fact that they’re under the King of Cygnia makes no practical difference when I’m the Governor, running the day-to-day policy. So, unless the King changes his mind on official policy and wants to act against our citizens, I see no reason to change how things are working.

When the Dragon King ruled, he had fake friends on all sides except the one with enemies.

But look at the territory now.

We’ve got proper allies on three sides, a charity case of an enemy on the other, and we’re under the protection of the Cygnian Army, which is larger than the entire population of the two provinces.

If someone wants to act against us again, we’ve got their guaranteed backing, on top of the improvements in weaponry.

I don’t think that there would be a large benefit to trying to break away right now. Not from a political standpoint, and not from a societal. There really isn’t anything that the King of Cygnia is doing that is bad for the people of Stansia Province."

Gordie nodded slowly. "So, you intend to remain as Governor, and what? Build up the territory for a generation?"

Dominic shook his head. "Build up the entire region for a generation. By the time that I pass this title on to my children, I fully expect that even the people of Axbridge and Skiple will be clamouring to get the newest of Wistover made magitech.

The old Capital is gone, a monument to bad decisions by the humans.

Wistover is taking over now, and the territory is on a new path. Instead of building up just Wavemates, I intend to make the entire region reliant upon us. I want the name Wistover to be so powerful that the thought of being blacklisted is enough to make Kings behave.

But we can’t do that alone, we need the backing. If we don’t have it, someone is going to come for us, wanting it for themselves.

Building up Cygnia is no downfall to us. I fully intend to drag Mitfield and Axbridge along for the ride as well. If they’re doing better than they were, they won’t have much to complain about.

We’ve got the trade deal now, we just need the production to push things on a much larger scale."

Gordie made notes as Dominic spoke, clearly intending to forward them to Asmodain.

"Any other questions?" Dominic asked.

"Nothing major. You’ve got the Battlemages here now. You’ve got me as an advisor, so I think that he just wants to keep up with what your intentions are, in case you might happen to need an entire army later.

If it comes down to it, he would likely send back entire regiments of Trolls and Giants to come assist you in retaking the territory."

Dominic shook his head. "That would be a disaster on more levels than one.

I can only imagine how the Kings would react to it, and we’d end up starting a second Dragon war over the issue. It’s just not worth it. Look how happy the Trolls are."

Gordie laughed. "I swear, they’re using stone transmission to call more of their kind to the Provinces every day. I’ve been seeing strange trolls everywhere that I scry, looking for bandits and trouble.

The spell is attuned to changes in emotion.

Normally, the strongest emotions are fear and despair after a bandit raid, especially when I’m searching remote regions.

But I keep coming across random groups of Trolls setting up camps and villages in the middle of nowhere and singing about goats."

Dominic laughed. "That reminds me. We need to start a husbandry program. Wistover needs more goats. A few thousand more goats.

Not only are they the best friends a Troll could ask for, but they’re also exceptionally popular in stew, and what the Axbridge desert nomads call Lamb Kabuli. That dish with rice and raisins and carrots."

Gordie nodded. "I know the one. The Duskblade Sect makes it fairly often. Good stuff, and simple to make for a thousand people at a time, since you just make the mixed rice, and drop a chunk of meat on top."

"Now, you can let Asmodain know what the plan is.

The rest will be up to us, but if you’re finding groups of Trolls, let me know where they’re settling so that I can add it to the map, and have the patrol groups go looking for them to welcome them to the Provinces.

If they’re on the map, they’re somewhat official.

And if they’re official, nobody will try to run them off. I will just have the Knights tell them how the taxation system works, since there aren’t any Trollish villages that will be short on food.

Rill might want to strangle us if we add even more Trollish villages to his bulk pickup routes, but eventually, we will get it all worked out.

If we have too much, we can ship it to markets through Cygnia and Axbridge. It’ll crash their market prices closer to ours, but as the Merchants say, all money is good money.

And the locals in the cities won’t complain if their food prices tank.

Probably, the farmers won’t either. Since it will mean that the local Lords won’t be coming after so much of their crop to keep the cities happy."