The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 635: How To Advance

Jack Merlot surveyed the battlefield, where the soldiers were checking bodies to ensure that none of the Goblins survived the assault, and sighed.

“I suppose that we should go back to our seats before someone truly misses us. The lads got their outing, and they’ve made a bit of coin to supplement their wages, so they shouldn’t mind doing the rest of the cleanup.” He suggested.

Dominic nodded. “Good point. They will miss us if I’m gone too long.

Just make sure that they don’t leave the weapons here. Bring them all back, and we will smelt down the metal for the forges. The monsters are our largest source of base metals these days.”

It also allowed them to keep making more magitech items without depleting the entire river of clay.

“I will open the portal, and we can bring the Duchess back with us. I’m sure that her brothers are missing her by now.” Amie suggested.

“Why do you think I’m out here?” Alexis retorted.

“While that is a valid response, I am sitting behind them, and don’t intend to take the fall if we return without you.”

The Acolyte rolled his eyes at the Doppelgänger. The girl was fearless, or perhaps she held some special position within the Duchy that allowed her to backtalk the Princess to some extent.

Neither was true. She just lacked a filter, and had little respect for Royal Protocol or the trappings of station.

Alexis patted the mage on the shoulder. “Fear not, I have a dress in the clothing orb, I can make myself presentable for a formal event.”

Amie smiled up at the taller woman. “I would go with a dress and partial armour. Not only would it be more fitting for the situation, it would make your sister and Dave happy.

Dave gets quite upset when he sees Paladin type women without armour on. He feels like it’s deceptive.”

Alexis turned to the trolls, who shrugged, then nodded.

They had decided to view Alexis as two people in one. “Work Boss Lady” in armour, and “Event Boss Lady” in dresses. It was the only way that it made sense for her to not wear her armour outdoors sometimes.

Alexis wasn’t quite sure how that would work with ladies’ fashion. There was a version of it that she wore to meetings, though. “Military Formal” for men and women was rather different.

However, she did have a layered skirt that went with her full armour. It wasn’t a dress, just the skirt that attached under her chest plate.

But it gave her a mix of formal and military fashion that worked well in meetings.

“Amie, fix my hair, will you? I am sure you had a spell for that.”

Alexis took off her helmet, and the mage waved her hand, arranging long blonde locks into a braided work of art.

“There you go. My apologies to the staff who has to take that back out again later.”

Then she opened the portal back to the Arena, outside the main entrance this time, so that the crowd would see them coming back in. That would let the audience think that Dominic had left to go pick up Alexis, and not to join a fight.

“Lord Dominic, you might want to freshen up as well. At least change shirts, so you’re not returning with your hair matted and your shirt sweaty.

Some might get the wrong idea.” Gordie informed him.

Dominic smirked, and Alexis smacked him on the back of the head.

“Listen to your advisor. The sober one.”

Because Jack had no problem with letting people misunderstand. It was easier to let them think that you had stepped out for an intimate moment than to question what you had actually been up to.

Unfortunately, he now had to make himself presentable again if he was going to return, so it would be easier if he just stayed with the soldiers and missed the rest of the day’s preliminary rounds.

“Go, have fun with the Royals. I will keep an eye on the lads here.

They’re not pure green, but they’re still fresh to Wistover, and we’ve not fully broken them in yet.”

The soldiers weren’t sure that they liked the sound of that.

They were all veterans of the war, but it was starting to look like life in Wistover might not be all that much different. They might not be targeted by the monsters, but clearly there were more than enough around to keep everyone on their toes, and then they would be dispatched all over the Province to help with everyone else’s monster and crime issues.

It certainly wasn’t looking like an easy assignment.

But it should be one that would allow them to make their names known to the local Nobility, at least for the Officers. And that would help their careers and their family’s business opportunities in the future.

The only thing worse than being known as being bad at your job was not being known at all, and this far from the Capital, that was a real danger.

Getting to know the Advisor would be the first step to getting to know the Duke. Once they knew the Duke, they stood a real chance of being assigned missions by name, and not based on an availability roster.

The new Regiment had a provisional Commander, but that was likely to change in the near future based on who earned the Duke’s trust or proved themselves in combat.

When they arrived, they thought it might be through impressive reports.

They now knew that they were mistaken.

At any point during a mission, it was entirely possible that the Duke could simply show up with a gun in both hands and start solving problems directly.

That was not the type of Noble that they were used to in the Capital.

But they couldn’t count on the Duchess to temper his impulsive nature, either. The reason they were called out today was because she had encountered more trouble than expected while leading a patrol with her Royal Guard.

That wasn’t the sort of Duchess that would tone down anyone, in their opinion.

They were wrong.

They just didn’t know that Dominic and Amie were both prone to inventing new war crimes when left unattended. Alexis was actually a good influence on Dominic, and reminded him that he had responsibilities.