The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 550: Barons Breakfast

Chapter 550: Barons Breakfast

The next morning, Dominic opened his eyes to the strangest sight.

Wings. Or, one golden wing, wrapped around both himself and Alexis.

That was new.

Dominic flexed his wing, pulling his wife closer to him, and decided that this development was actually quite beneficial. It was an extra limb to cuddle with, and doubled as a blanket, as the wing was actually quite warm.

A twitch informed him that the other one was extended straight behind him, and Dominic wondered if he should focus on transforming back.

And why he had transformed in his sleep.

That should likely be more concerning than it felt. But Dominic put that all aside, as they had breakfast guests this morning, and that meant that he only had two more minutes to…

“Dominic, put your wings away and give up on whatever you’re thinking. It’s time to get out of bed.”

“I knew that I should have done it as soon as I thought of it.”

Alexis smiled, knowing that he couldn’t see her face from his angle.

“Relax, there will be more chances. Now, we need to form a proper game plan for how we’re going to arrange all the new Barons. Do we go by their former military rankings and merits?

They all hold the same rank now, and their titles were assigned in alphabetical order.”

Dominic focused on looking human and felt his body shift as the wings retracted into his back. It couldn’t be called painful, but it was definitely a strange feeling to have his body alter itself that much.

Far more disturbing than feeling claws or fangs retract.

Dominic got up and saw the strange expression on the face of the maid who was waiting by the door.

“Good morning. Is the shower ready?”

“Yes, Your Grace. Perhaps we could start forming a new morning protocol? Attempting to get Her Highness out of bed on time is becoming increasingly difficult when you get protective in your sleep.”

Dominic shrugged. “There is a simple solution to this.”

“We tried to wake you as well, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to poke you when you were growling at me.”

Alexis laughed. “Just wake him up first, he deserves it.”

Dominic placed his hands over his heart with an aggrieved expression.

“Even you, my dear wife? Did we not deserve just a bit more sleep?”

The maid laughed and activated the curtain pull to bathe the room in light.

“That works too.”

Now that they were up, both Dominic and Alexis got clean and dressed for a proper formal breakfast meeting, a precaution to ensure that the new Barons didn’t think they were taking this all too casually.

It was a big day for the Barons, as important as the day that they were given their Title.

Today, they would find out where their new home would be, and what sort of land they would get.

Only, they hadn’t been told yet that they would actually get to pick, instead of having Dominic simply assign them a territory, as was common practice in more established regions, where it was likely that only one or two unclaimed holdings were available.

Either because a Noble family had been left without an heir, or had fallen from grace.

“Ready?” Dominic asked, with one final check of his outfit.

“As I will ever be. The Barons are going to go crazy once they find out what we’ve got planned for them. Now, are we both on the same page with the plan for choosing names?”

Dominic smiled. “One hundred percent. Names on paper slips and a random draw. It’s the most entertaining and fair way to do it.”

Any other way would leave at least one or two feeling that they had been screwed over by procedures. This way, all they could blame was their own rotten luck if they had to wait until last to pick.

The Barons were already gathered at the table by the time that they made it downstairs, sipping coffee, and wondering what sort of day this was going to be.

“Good morning everyone. First, I would like to say thank you all for coming on such short notice. Second, we will begin breakfast by having everyone write their names on the card stock that the Maids are passing around.

Once you have done that, fold it in half, and they will collect it.

It will matter later.” Dominic began.

“Brother, you can’t do that to us. Teasing a man with an emergency meeting about land, then just leaving them hanging until the end of the meeting us simply cruel.”

Dominic shrugged. “If we do it first, then everyone will be too excited to eat, and I know that Miss Beth has poured her heart into this morning’s celebratory feast.”

The Barons laughed as the food was brought out. They were all going to be too nervous to properly enjoy the meal anyhow.

Seeing that everyone was only picking at their meals as they filled out the cards and handed them back to the maids, Dominic decided to get things moving.

“Alright, as you’re all clearly waiting for me to tell you. I thought that we would make the order a matter of luck.

You’re all Barons, all raised on the same day. So, I am going to put the names in a bag and draw them. Then, on this map of territories, with the Barony lands outlined, you will come and place a marker on your chosen estate.

We will record them as you do, so no fear of errors later.”

Alexis laughed at the shocked silence that fell over the room.

“I thought that might be the response. You’re all veterans, every one of you has excellent luck to have made it this far. But we didn’t want age or name to decide who had to wait until the very end.

There are more than enough estates, even once we are done, it won’t be close to half the available territory. In fact, I expect that it will be closer to a quarter, unless some start picking the more remote northern grasslands, which are larger in space, lower in yield.” She explained.

They were also the furthest from Wistover, and the closest to Dagos. Not prime real estate by any means, even if one of the Barons was a cattle rancher.