The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 601: They Approve

For a few minutes, each of the Advisors went over their own specialty, working to understand the basics of the situation here in Wistover. Then they switched spots and read the documents the others had been briefed on so that they understood more than just their own area of expertise.

If they were going to advise him properly, they needed to know everything that was going on in the Duchy, and not just bits and pieces.

The most important factors that they could see so far were the fact that Wistover now had two Academies, teaching both common children and mages. But teaching them different specialties so that there wasn’t a class distinction between the two, only a specialty distinction.

The actual mages and the techno mages were likely to see themselves as above the garden witches and alchemists, but the two specialties actually needed each other far more than they were willing to admit.

The Alchemists often relied on Magitech Orbs to cause the transmutations that they needed to generate ingredients, while the rest of the population needed their potions when they were injured or needed faster recovery in a high exertion situation.

Then there were the Garden Witches. Like the Techno Witches, they were usually considered odd.

Not because their magic drove them insane, but because they had a habit of running around barefoot in public and spending their days talking to and about flowers.

That actually made them popular with the trolls, which the academy apparently had plenty of. But they were considered to be frivolous and flaky by most of society.

Here in Wistover, the notes said that somehow that lack of work ethic had been overcome.

There were extensive notes on all the regions that had their crops enhanced with nature magic, and what regions were going to need it in the near future.

The tasks were marked as part of the duties of the Trolls, both on guard duty and in the village a day’s walk away. That village was now mostly surrounded by Baronies, but none of their territories came within ten kilometres of the town.

Dominic had made sure of that, so none of the Barons tried to claim the Trolls’ fields as their own.

If they could get along, the trolls would gladly take payment to help their crops, though. And that would be beneficial to everyone.

“It looks like, somehow, you have managed to build a relatively balanced population here in Wistover.

Not in a conventional way, but I expected as much. Still, the fact that you’ve found someone to cover all the essential tasks of improving and maintaining the Duchy is impressive.

Who made the notes on deployments of the Manor Guards?” Alistair asked, rolling up the sleeves of his mage robes.

Dominic raised his hand. “Most of those are in my handwriting. We sent Dave Trolls to the Baronies to deliver people, and they will have stopped to help repair houses as they passed.

That’s part of our project to get everyone settled without fighting.

The old farm houses were all stone to begin with, and had stone tile roofs. The trolls can fix that in a matter of minutes.

When they are warm and dry, with some food growing in the fields to get them through the next few months, the refugees are less likely to cause troubles for the Barons while they get settled.

Everyone is showing up at the same time, and we’ve still got more untitled Nobles to place as well.

Most of the Debutante Ball attendees came specifically because they’re hoping I will give them a house and possibly some farmland as a wedding gift.”

Jenna, the Accountant, smiled. “And have you?”

“Of course. They might not be titled Nobles, but I have plenty of land. Giving a renovated house and a virgate of cropland to them as a wedding gift keeps them here, and helps build up the city.

Most of them don’t want farmland, I suppose. They have moved into most of the new housing in the city to ply a trade.

I should likely hire someone to make a map of that soon.

There are so many new businesses in Wistover that I can’t keep up with them. It’s a good problem to have. But eventually, I’m going to be expected to do paperwork.” Dominic agreed.

Jenna laughed, her face wrinkling with mirth.

“Oh, you are certainly a matched pair with the Paladin Princesses. Neither of them has ever been fond of paperwork. In fact, they used to have their order call in false emergencies to escape it.

The number of times that they were scrambled out to supposedly save a village, only for us to learn later that the threat was a half dozen goblins, or a pair of monstrous boars, is entirely too high.”

Dominic winked at her. “Don’t assume that has ended. There are still both Goblins and monsters in the region, and they will occasionally threaten either the town or the outlying regions.

But now, she’s got hundreds of kilometres of Duchy to patrol when she hears of a threat.”

“And all she has to do is get the news and pack up before you do, right?” The Accountant confirmed.

Dominic tried to look innocent, while the other advisors laughed.

“You can’t fool an old woman’s intuition. She’s seen too much from the Royal Children during her time as a tutor. We had thought to try to recruit a few of her other tutors for the task, but they are entirely too busy to pack up and leave.” Lord Blackwell joked.

“That might be for the best. Miss Lucy and Lady Camilla are rather terrifying when they get into teacher mode. They were assigned to help me learn my duties when I was first promoted to Royal Sorcerer and Advisor.” Dominic explained.

“Well, we did at least get Jack.

He might not be a full-fledged Royal Paladin, but he’s trained more than a few young soldiers in his day, and there isn’t a better option to explain the subtleties of territorial defence and efficient patrol routes.

He’s even better than his son, who I see you have marked as a candidate for instructing the Royal Guard when General Alator stands down, or Merlot Junior takes over the Barony.”

“There is a younger Merlot?” Dominic asked.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Give it a few years, and I’m certain that there will be. My boy has spent plenty of years on deployment, and when you get a title, the battlefield comfort ladies come out of the woodwork with possible heirs.”