The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 752: The Younger Generation

Someone turned on a magitech music box, and soon there was dancing and singing to go with the darts game, and the party turned from sedate to borderline rowdy.

Dominic took the chance to pull the Mayor’s son aside for a moment.

"Happy birthday. I know that I’m making everyone a bit nervous with the title and all. But it’s good to get to know everyone. You and your friends will be running Castle City within the next decade, and we’ve never gotten to meet."

The young nobleman smiled, his short blonde hair perfectly arranged, and in direct contrast to the disarray of his clothes.

"While that is true, you’re a bit of a legend. People like me don’t expect to meet you in person. I mean, you’re THE Butcher of Wistover, you’ve got a kill count higher than most regular army regiments, and you invented half of the gear that the army is implementing now.

I heard that you even showed up in some cool new party bus."

He gestured wildly as he responded, and Amie hid her laughter behind her sleeve, doing much better at it than most of the ladies.

"It’s not quite a party bus, though we do use them for public transport in Wistover. They’re a stretched version of the five seat light transports that are used often inside the city, for the military sorts."

For a second, his drunken brain stumbled on the idea, then the future Mayor smiled.

"That sounds pretty cool. Dad has those sedan cars that he uses to get around town, but we’re still getting rid of some of the old style stuff. The war destroyed a lot of property within the city, so it’s been slow."

Dominic nodded. "Well, once things start to stabilize for Castle City, the changes will start to come fast. I saw on the way in that the city is recovering well, and the refugee slums aren’t as bad as they were before the wet season."

"Robin, tell him about the rebuilding project," one of the other boys shouted from near the dartboard.

"Right. You see, father also didn’t like the slums, but it wasn’t like we could just run off refugees when this was the best place for them to get relief supplies. Again, mostly coming from your Duchy, and we appreciate that.

So, what he did was, he begged the King to send infrastructure teams.

They came, and we emptied the treasury. Then took up donations to help rebuild the damaged city sections, and expand the low side of the city. You won’t see it from the side you entered, but most of the people who used to live in the slums are now either within the city, or living outside the walls in new developments.

The walls of Castle City won’t hold the population anymore.

So, it’s a bit of a nuisance, as the walls were a vital part of the defensive strategy. But the new developments are helping the city recover.

It’s starting to look better, but we’re still short on farmers, and nearly everything else.

But at least the shanty town is gone, and replaced with a proper suburb. You see, I have a theory."

He paused, and the ladies groaned. "Not this again."

"Yes, this again. I swear that I’m right," he replied. "You see, I made a whole spreadsheet about crime in the city, and compared it to the types of businesses, and the income of the residents."

Dominic laughed. "And you found that there are more fights near bars, and more thefts in the poor district?"

"How did you know?"

"It’s not a secret. You didn’t need a spreadsheet to find that out."

"But I found that it was true, even in the Noble district. The Nobles in the smallest houses, or who had fallen from favour, were more likely to commit crimes and be caught by the magistrate."

Amie giggled at the naive young man.

"You’ll also find that the more money you have, the easier it is to make problems go away without the magistrate. But desperate people do dumb things to try to get ahead. I’ll have someone bring you a text about it when you’re sober."

Robin raised his glass. "Here’s to Duke Wistover, and his incredibly wonderful wine!"

The young ladies with Amie raised their glasses to join the cheer, then one of them asked the important question.

"How is that wine flask not empty yet? We’ve poured dozens of goblets of wine out of it, and still, it pours as if it is full."

That was technically because Amie kept refilling it.

"You see, the wine is magical. It knows when there is a properly exciting party going on, and keeps everyone from getting thirsty," Dominic insisted.

The answer was nonsense, but Robin was more than willing to go with it.

"You know, I really should have learned to use more magic. I would have been a great mage."

The woman on Amie’s left tossed a cracker at him and laughed. "You flunked out of the Academy during the intake exams. What nonsense are you talking now? There’s a good chance the table has more aptitude for magic than you do, with all that wine spilled on it."

"I was just having an off day," he grumbled.

His friends wrapped an arm around either side of him and dragged him to his feet.

"It’s better that you weren’t a mage anyhow. Otherwise, how would you have met us? Nobody could ask for finer friends, and we all went to the Knight’s Training Academy."

"That is true. The Knight’s Academy teaches much more about business and household management. I suppose it wasn’t a loss."

From the corner of the room, Dominic heard one of the maids mutter.

"If he could make his own wine, we would never have domesticated him."

She had a point. A young mage who could make liquor at the academy would be even more of a legend among his peers than Dominic was.

Fortunately, they all seemed to have forgotten that they were nervous around him when he first arrived.