The World Dragon's Heir

Dominic’s first flight turned out to be his last for quite some time.

Once they were back at the Manor, it seemed that there was always something that needed his attention away from the hangar. Either it was paperwork, correspondence with the Nobles, or Katerina being a tiny terror and demanding to be directly in his presence at all times.

She had been doing a lot of that lately.

There was just something about his presence that calmed her down, and not even Alexis could get the child to relax as effectively as Dominic.

However, the Princess was not going to let him take Katerina on a daddy daughter day to the hangar, so the work was being completed by the actual team, with assistance from Dominic’s Royal Guards, and some of the Techno Wizards who had learned of the project during the first test flights.

They were also eager to learn more about these new developments, even if they were not something that would be practical for them to make on their own.

And so, Dominic found himself sidelined, and returned to his proper role as that of a Duke and Governor, settling disputes that the Barons didn’t quite know how to handle.

Like today’s dilemma.

A local farmer insisted that the Trollish village was stealing his goats.

The Trolls insisted that they did not steal the goats, the goats came to them uninvited and were free to return at any time.

However, they were feeding the goats.

When the Baron had investigated, he found that the Trolls did not deny that the goats belonged to the farmer. They had not penned them in, and the animals were clearly ear tagged while wandering freely around the village.

He had brought them back to their farm, with the assistance of his guards and a truck.

But the very next day, the goats had left the farm again, headed to the Trollish village, which had now put out hay bales for them.

The Trolls refused to “be mean to the goats”, in their own words. So, they wouldn’t refuse to feed them or chase them away. And the farmer had not taken well to his subtle suggestion that he could simply keep track of them until it was time for breeding or slaughter.

The Baron’s wife had suggested that the man might want to consider chicken farming if goats were beyond his capabilities, and things had escalated to the point that a letter was now sitting on Dominic’s desk.

Dominic read through the complaints, including the four sentence one where the Trolls insisted that they saw nothing wrong with the situation. If he couldn’t keep his goats at home, then they became open air goats.

Clearly, this was a major issue to at least one of the three involved parties, but mostly it seemed to have made its way to his desk because of the appearance of favouritism.

Fortunately, Cygnian law had a section relevant to this matter.

If a farmer’s livestock escaped, and he required assistance for the recovery, he was liable for the costs. In short, he could damn well go get his own goats until he found a way to keep them at home.

That was clear enough that Dominic wasn’t going to make it his problem.

But it would also give the farmer a reminder that there was recourse if the Trolls refused to give back the goats. Or, if they harmed them. But that was far less likely on the grand scale of possibilities.

“Alright, what is next on the list?” Dominic asked, looking up from his stack of paperwork, only to find that the visitor wasn’t Castellan Julio, but one of the veiled maids.

“Next is dinner, Sir. You have thirty minutes to prepare. We have guests today, here to appeal to the Investment Bank for a development loan.”

Dominic nodded. “And where are they from?”

“Two Barons from Bridling. The far northeastern corner of the nation.

They have an urgent need for rebuilt housing, and wish to obtain financing to build a highway stop between their territories, on the main road to Readewentle.”

Dominic nodded. “Do you happen to know why they haven’t managed to get funding for something as simple as a highway stop?

The King should have sent relief funds.”

The maid shrugged. “They haven’t mentioned it, only a bit about their grand plans for a major highway stop and repair station, as their territories are right near the joint border between Cygnia, Dagos and West Keria.”

“Alright. Well, that’s the bankers’ decision. I will be sure to host them properly. Will the Princess be joining us for dinner?”

The maid shook her head. “She has requested to take the meal in her rooms.”

So, she either had an issue with these particular Nobles, or she was busy with Katerina.

It could go either way.

Dominic quickly showered and changed, ready to meet the guests. He wasn’t really looking forward to it, but hosting them was part of the duties of the Duke at any time that he was home.

Especially when they had business in the Manor compound.

When he exited the room, he saw Alexis in the nursery, reading a bedtime story to Katerina, who was having exactly nothing to do with the attempts to put her to bed.

However, if he went in, not only would he be late for dinner, he would only make things worse.

The little one simply wasn’t tired, and didn’t have the muscle control to properly exhaust herself yet.

Dominic entered the dining room, where a small group had gathered. The two visiting Barons, as well as Baron Keith, and Billy Bob, also known as Baron William Robert.

“Ah, welcome to Wistover, gentlemen. I do hope that you’re enjoying the accommodations.”

The two Barons nodded politely, the proper recognition of Dominic’s rank, though they were under the jurisdiction of another Duke.

“Indeed. Wistover manor is a wonderful place, far more luxuriously appointed than we had expected.

The council at the bank building will be providing rooms within their building for our stay. They say that it makes things easier on everyone, as there will be some sort of process before the application is approved or denied…”

The Baron trailed off, hoping for an answer, but Dominic simply shrugged.

“I actually don’t know the details. I haven’t had to use their services yet, so I don’t have the firsthand experience of what it takes to get a petition approved.”

The disappointment was obvious, but they also understood that Dominic was much more likely to be the lender than the debtor in this situation.

Now that they’d seen Wistover for themselves, it was clear that he was not short on money.