The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 755: Guide The Conversation

Dominic did his best to guide the conversation, as everyone was looking to him and the City Lord for leadership.

They were the wealthiest, highest ranking, and the best connected of the Nobles present. Everyone wanted to know what they were thinking, and everyone wanted to stay on their good side, so they were reluctant to suggest things that either man might not be interested in.

To Dominic, that was absolutely exhausting.

However, there were more Nobles showing up every hour. It was already more than should live in the city, so they must have come in for the birthday of the Earl and the City Lord.

While that was true, hearing that the Duke of Wistover had come to the party was a large draw for them.

Getting noticed by him meant a chance to pitch their territory’s products, so they could work out a deal to trade directly for things that Wistover made at a reduced markup, compared to the Merchant’s Guild.

That was the primary purpose of most of these gatherings.

The fact that they happened to have a justification to meet up was just that. A justification. Really, they were all looking to build their own wealth, or find something that their territory needed for the people to live better.

Which, ironically, also built their own wealth.

Nobody came to these events without some level of self-interest involved, unless they were good friends with the person in question, and that was a fleetingly rare thing, unless they had served in the military together.

Even if they had gone to school together, that usually meant that they were rivals, not friends.

Watching them interact was an enlightening experience for Dominic. He had always just seen them as potential customers, or perhaps peers. But today, it was clear that he was the dragon in the room, hoarding all the wealth in his territory.

Dominic remained near a convenient bench in the garden for most of the afternoon, as he could use the excuse that the other party looked tired to sit down for a while as the continual stream of Barons, local merchants and others approached him for a short conversation.

Unfortunately, most of them were just that, a polite introduction to the Duke of Wistover.

It was only later in the evening, after a never-ending parade of snacks that took the place of a proper dinner, that someone finally came to him with a topic that was a bit deeper than just asking him about the general state of things in Wistover, or if certain products would be shipped to their region soon.

"Lord Dominic, if you have a moment to speak in private?" A dark-haired Nobleman that Dominic didn’t recognize asked.

That was a bit odd, as normally, someone would introduce the next person. It was the customary way, if you weren’t certain that the higher ranking guest knew them.

However, nobody introduced this one, and Dominic didn’t recognize him from any of the study materials he had gone over.

Dominic nodded and followed the man into the sitting room, where the staff brought them both a fresh drink. The man settled comfortably into the chair as if he had been here a hundred times before, and perhaps he had.

"It appears that your organization has been making great inroads into the markets in Cygnia," the man began. "That poses a bit of a problem for me, you see."

Dominic smiled. Was this guy going to try to intimidate him? That could be entertaining.

"You see, my organization has not received its proper dues from anyone in the Wistover Duchy, and by my reckoning, there is an overdue operational fee for the transfers made of over a hundred thousand gold coins," the man finished.

Dominic shook his head. "I believe that you have misunderstood something about the nature of our operations. You see, I have a contingency fund for just this scenario."

The man smiled for a moment, before Dominic continued.

"You see, I have a working arrangement with the Assassin’s Guild that I will pay one hundred gold coins per head of anyone who attempts to interfere with my business.

In exchange, if the problem is too large, I have agreed to assist them in completing the task with a thousand magitech armed Knights and five hundred Mage Sect members. I believe you are aware that the Butcher of Wistover is more than just a hollow title."

For a moment, the man was frozen.

"You wouldn’t."

Dominic smiled in a way that made the man’s hands tremble. "If I give the word tonight, I can have a hundred heads by morning."

The man set his cup down, and quickly rose to shaky feet.

"It has been a pleasure meeting you, Lord Wistover. But I’m afraid that I have matters to attend to."

And then he was gone, simply vanished out the door.

Once he was gone, a maid stepped from the shadows, and flipped a necklace out from under her robes. It was the Assassin’s Guild token, marked with nine notches, for nine confirmed kill missions.

{Would you like for us to erase their organization? Petty mobsters, but they operate in most of the region.} She signed, using the Merchant Guild’s hand language.

Dominic nodded and signed back. {Just send them a message. One hundred heads. You can leave them at one of their strongholds, or just in a public place if needed. As long as they are confirmed.}

The assassin nodded, and Dominic passed her a bag full of gold as she passed by on her way out with the drink tray.

He had no idea who those people were, but they had no idea who they were messing with.

This outing was much more expensive than he had planned on. But keeping goods flowing smoothly was important, and not letting local thugs take a cut off his profit margin was vital to ensuring that the goods Wistover shipped made it to their destination.

Nothing less was acceptable.