The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 540: Understatements

Now that he was through the financial part of the reports, and he had gotten through the most recent part of the situation reports from the army and airships, Dominic decided to take a short break and go visit the Trolls.

Two of them had shielded him with their bodies and taken the full brunt of the blast while he escaped through a portal, and he hadn’t even been back to thank them yet.

He didn’t make it far out of his office before he was intercepted again.

“Dominic, come and eat, we need to talk before you lock yourself away again.” Prince Fahad greeted him at the stairs.

“Of course. How have things been in my absence? Is your sister feeling better?”

Fahad chuckled. “Princess Poppy has been in a much better mood the last few days. The majority of the ladies that she had brought with her are now on the list to be wed, and that is what I wanted to talk to you about today.

What are you going to do about getting the new Barons settled?

It’s a matter of vital importance, given everything that is going on.”

Fahad got the same reports that Dominic had just finished reading, so he had the same concerns when it came to the futures of the ladies who had come from Axbridge.

“We have collected a large amount of data on the Manors in the Duchy. As you know, we have a rather large territory empty. What I am going to propose is that they don’t move close to the city, but at least ten kilometres out, where the Manors are largely untouched by past battles.

There will be some cleanup from the invasion, but that is simple enough to repair.

It will give the city room to grow without crowding them.

Then, I will pick the best available Manors to make available as Barony Manors with newly delineated territories based on the average land assignment given to them by the King.

With room presumed for ten knights under each of them.

It might not work out perfectly with the numbers we have, but we will get more Nobles of all sorts eventually, and I suspect that there will be Counts assigned to our north and south to start building new cities.

With the success of Wistover, the odds seem low that the Royal Family will not try to replicate it.

Once I have finished speaking with the Trolls, I will come back and start on the map.

There is some work to do, as I was away for a day, but I will get caught up soon enough.”

The food arrived, and Dominic smiled as he saw that it was accompanied by a thick vegetable cream stew. This one was one of Dave’s favourites, and he took it as a good sign that the Trolls were in decent spirits.

The cook came up to speak quietly to Dominic as she brought out a selection of cucumber and tomato sandwiches.

“The number of guests has forced a switch to very vegetable heavy dishes lately. Even with the shipments from the Guild, there isn’t enough meat to be having it with every meal. We have ordered another thousand chickens, but they won’t arrive until tomorrow.”

Dominic nodded. “Laying chickens, I presume?”

“Mostly. They are sending a whole batch of roosters to be cooked as the wedding dinners as well.”

“How have the hunters been doing? I know that we’re way over expectations lately, so game is likely sparse.”

Beth smiled. “That’s our saving grace. That monster ritual is still active, and it spawned Level five Irontusk Boars the other day. Good bit of luck on our part, as they’re edible.”

“And a thousand kilos.” Dominic agreed.

But even with monsters that large, they would be going heavy on the stews, curries, and potato dishes.

“How is the grain storage holding up?” He asked.

“Better than expected. We’ve sent the tractors out to harvest more of the volunteer fields, and Dave has been working hard to regrow crops during the patrol routes.”

Dominic smiled. “Well, that is excellent news. Even if we’re short on the roasts for a feast, we can still manage more than enough to eat well. I will be sure to find a suitable gift to congratulate them on all their hard work.

I’m headed over there after lunch to see how the injured pair are doing.”

Beth handed him another document, the kitchen supplies report.

“Take that and read it later. I know that the Princess takes care of that side of things, but it’s best that you keep up with the reports. If everyone knows what we have in stock, there is less of a chance of making a promise we can’t keep.”

“Got it. I won’t make life harder for you.”

Fahad rose to join Dominic. “I will come with you. It gives us both a chance to stop and visit with the soldiers who are training, and quite a few of them are marrying ladies from Axbridge, who are sure to be in attendance.”

“Ah, perfect. We can make our presence known just long enough to be polite and not look like we are ditching the event, but still get to see Dave before we return.”

Fahad was in excellent spirits when they left the Manor and headed for the yard, and Dominic quickly realized why.

When Dominic exited the house, he was immediately swarmed by ladies eager to get the details of his “Adventures in Dagos” as they put it. But the first thing that he noticed was that the ladies who had come from Staptontave were politely backing away, expecting the very worst.

It was clearly a trap to remind everyone that they were from a hostile nation, but Dominic was prepared for this exact tactic.

“Ladies, I’m afraid that it wasn’t nearly as exciting as you might have assumed. Battle is harsh at the best of times, and this wasn’t so much a grand adventure as an apprehension of criminals who attacked the people of Wistover.”

Prince Fahad was doing his very best not to laugh at that.

He had seen the reports.