The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 582: Problematic Actions

Chapter 582: Problematic Actions

The King stared at Dominic, while the two Princes tried not to laugh at the startled expression on Alexis’ face.

She had not thought that Dominic had a better reason than wanting to be the one who killed Kaizon. In fact, she hadn’t even considered that he might have a different reason, much less a better one.

“I should have you censured for overstepping your authority in front of so many Monarchs, and for bypassing the will of the Tribunal.

But I won’t.

You are right, we do want a larger piece of Dagos. Everything that used to be Wavemates, and as much of the southeast as we can get.

West Keria and Chip, those bastards, are going to want their own part, and Chip doesn’t even border Dagos. Skiple will demand territory as reparations, and Axbridge will try to claim most of what’s left.”

“Respectfully, what does that leave King Gustav? Dethroning him will have repercussions among the common people, and unhappy commoners require military force to govern.

More than it will be convenient to spare.”

The King smiled at Dominic. “Your concern is noted, Duke Dominic. We do not intend to take his entire nation. However, that is not your concern.

And it is not the topic I called you in here for.

Are you familiar with the situation in Wistfield, Causter and Lympsbury?”

Dominic shrugged. “They’re under the governance of a group of Counts and Earls, as I recall. They transitioned relatively peacefully from Dagos to Cygnian rule.

They have had some refugee issues lately, but many have bypassed them to come directly to Wistover.”

The King stared silently at Dominic for a few long seconds, trying to decide if he was holding out on his knowledge.

“Yes, they have had a refugee issue. Not just inbound, but outbound.

I have learned many things about the situation recently, and about how Wistover has attracted talents.

You should have been made aware of the massive number of refugees who are coming over land toward Wistover. What you may not have been informed of is that the majority of them are not from Axbridge.

They are magic users from the cities of Wistfield and Causter.

The whole province is suffering a massive loss of master tradesmen. Shops are either closing or being run by junior journeymen and apprentices.

At first, it looked like a mass retirement. A stress response as the suppressed magic users were finally free to do what they wanted.

Only when we realized they were all rallying to you did we realize the issue.

The people of Stansia Province never gave up loyalty to the Dragon King’s bloodline.”

Dominic didn’t know what to say to that. “No shit, genius” didn’t seem like the sort of thing that you wanted to say to a King’s face. He also probably shouldn’t mention that half the Province had only gone along with the transition because the Cygnian Royal bloodline was distantly related to the Dragon King.

So he just nodded and waited for the King to continue.

“You seem particularly unconcerned by this situation.” The King noted.

“I can see how it looks like an issue, but I don’t see it as a major issue. Once they take over from the old generation, the young men who are now free to run their trades in their own way will soon produce their own batch of Master Craftsmen.

The loss of men past their prime is a huge loss for the old ways, but they have passed along most of their knowledge already.

With the Trade Skill Cores, it will guide the next generation right to the cusp of Mastery.

Instead of retiring, they are coming here to spend their final years spreading their wisdom and helping establish a new trade hub in Cygnia. If they feel that their loyalty is to the Dragon King’s bloodline, then they are loyal to Cygnia.

They are my people, and I am yours.

I am the Duke of Wistover, husband of Princess Alexis. By marriage and by oath, I am a noble of the Kingdom. Compared to the loss of entire Mage Sects that Axbridge is suffering, or the loss of the majority of their population that Dagos suffered, some internal displacement within Cygnia seems minor.”

Prince Alex cleared his throat. “Lord Wistover, I believe that you have missed one major fact in this situation. The Nobles in the three great cities are also Nobles of the Kingdom.

Those common citizens are the primary drivers of their economies.

Without the Masters to keep everything running smoothly, they are looking at a massive collapse of industry and trade. Only the fact that their farmers appear content to remain on their ancestral land has stopped them from petitioning to have their residents turned away and returned to their homes.

But that calm is quickly eroding as their trade income drops and the refugee influx from the Kinewen region stretches resources.”

So, the problem wasn’t entirely that Dominic was doing too well. It was that he was doing well at the expense of everyone else.

In his opinion, that was their own fault.

If they couldn’t keep their people happy, or give them reasons to stay instead of coming to a refugee flooded fledgling city, they deserved what they were getting.

Plus, it was just the older generation. The younger ones had more loyalty to their homes, as they hadn’t lived as long under Wavemates rule. Those who were children at the time hadn’t been old enough to truly see the changes.

But now, they were Journeymen with years of experience.

“I suppose that this is not the time to point out that we are preparing major industrial advancements in Wistover. They might have left at the expense of other Nobles, but we do need them here for our development.

Just to keep up with the civilian demand for new pattern airships, we’re going to need at least thirty more Journeyman and Master Techno Wizards skilled in airship engineering.

You simply can’t do what is needed if you can’t use level fifteen or higher magic.

Then, there are the requisitions for the army, the military weapons factories that have been requested, the truck and tractor factories being operated by the Barons, and the international requests from the allied nations under the Monarchs waiting outside.

In short, even with the talents coming our way, we still need more.

Even more than the ones that we have started to train at the Academy.

However, as the situation is detrimental to the three cities, perhaps we could work out some sort of arrangement? Perhaps a payment for the talents that were lured away?”

That might be enough to keep things calm until everyone realized just how far ahead of the curve Wistover was.