The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 589: Everyone Needs Something

Chapter 589: Everyone Needs Something

Dominic wondered just how many more people they were going to end up getting before this situation was all settled. There were still thousands more on their way here, from what the airships had confirmed.

No matter what they did, they were going to end up with a huge refugee camp that would take time to settle between the Baronies.

The small towns near each Barony Manor were normally a few hundred people at the most, it was what was easily sustainable in a lean year. So, they didn’t have an infinite ability to keep shuffling away new arrivals.

And that was even without considering the number of families who weren’t suited to farm or small-town living, and needed to be in a major city to practice their trade effectively.

That meant massively expanding the city, and even that was limited.

They had the river on one side, then the woods. If they weren’t going to start hacking down every tree in the region to create a sprawling urban area, they were going to have to start doing something that resembled urban planning.

That was definitely not his area of specialty, but they did have some here who did know the art.

“If you can arrange the horses, I will go find the infrastructure team to get started on the next urgent project.

I hope those guys are getting comfortable, we’re not going to be done with them for some time.” Dominic sighed.

Rill shrugged. “I don’t think that they’re planning to leave at all. There is a lifetime of work here for them. Even if they get the basics done, there is upkeep, linking to other cities, the likelihood that the city core will need upgrades or a city wall, then a Noble district as the city grows.

Starting a city from nothing instead of growing it slowly over a few hundred years is going to keep everyone on their toes.”

“At least they’re still happy. Presumably, anyhow. I haven’t heard any major complaints, except on the days that I load them up with more work.”

The Merchant laughed at Dominic’s assessment. Nobody was ever happy to be burdened with even more work when they already had more projects ongoing than they could ever complete.

The only saving grace was that so many of the new arrivals were mages, and they were actively upgrading housing according to the plans that the team was giving them.

That kept them from having to do all the work themselves, while still guiding the development of the city.

They had a theme going. The local natural sandstone was slightly yellow, and it was being used for the facing on most of the buildings, with gray slate roof tiles. It kept the look of the central city unified, instead of looking like an upgraded shanty town.

That wasn’t far from the truth, given that everything was being thrown up as fast as possible to get people moved in.

But it was a classy shanty town.

Julio was very free with the Duchy’s funding, as long as it was within his budgeted amount and the work actually got done. That was letting them upgrade most of the old houses that had been renovated after Dominic first arrived in the city.

Not into row houses or apartment blocks like the outer areas, but nearly everything had gotten a second and usually a third level.

Great for larger families, but also for having shops on the main floor and living above them, instead of having one commercial district, the way that the city had been designed when it was under a thousand people.

It was slowly changing the feeling of the city, but in a way that none of them could have expected when they started.

There was an incredible amount of magic going around, so magitech and purely magical decorations were everywhere in the shops, and even on the signs.

As Dominic made his way through the streets, headed for the Infrastructure team’s latest project, he noticed that neon lights were becoming the trend in many shop windows.

Some were magitech, some were magical copies of the magitech, but glowing signs behind the window made them easier to spot in the early and late hours of the day.

It made the whole city feel vibrant and lively, and Dominic noticed that there were a lot more people walking the streets than he had expected.

Many of the bachelors who had come for the event had already moved out to one of the Baronies, but many others had settled into the apartments as the extra men had vacated the spare bedrooms.

So, they were setting up shop, getting their new homes ready, and visiting the market.

Then, there were the ones passing through, who had just been married, and the refugees who happened to have something of value to trade, or a bit of remaining cash to get them started in their new home.

They were all exploring Wistover, giving it a big-city feel.

The only thing that he hadn’t considered was that the factories had already moved to a three shift rotation. So, no matter what time of day it was, there were people awake with errands to run.

The overnight hours still slowed down, and most of the shops closed long before midnight, but the essentials like the General store, some restaurants and the tavern had moved to being constantly open.

Dominic found the team working on a family compound in the northwest corner of town, which had already been surrounded by town houses and shops.

“Just the man we needed to see. Lord Dominic, welcome. We’ve got more development plans that we were going to give to Julio tonight, but we will give them to you now.” Engineer Marcos greeted him.

“I will take those. And then I’ve got another project for you.

There has been a request for a Royal Jousting tournament. So, we are going to need an arena, and I would like to build it so that it can be used for sports after the joust is over.

What sport doesn’t really matter. But I’ve got to get the grounds set up soon. There are mechanical horses coming that will be used for the event, then distributed to the City Guard and Knights.

If possible, I would like to have the tournament grounds ready in the next few days so that the event can begin.

If I wait too long, the Kings will start coming up with other ideas, or bringing their own Knights for the event. Actually, they’re likely to do that anyhow. Just, make sure that it’s a good field, with plenty of stands.

A simple stone amphitheatre with exits at both ends is fine.” He explained.

“Alright, we can do that in no time. It’s basically just making hills of dirt and transmuting them to stone. We’re pros at that. Are you sure you don’t want anything fancy?”

Dominic laughed. “Do we have a Techno Wizard making portable event toilets? Because the arena is likely to need some.”

Engineer Marcos paused, as if struck by an idea.

“No, we don’t. But we will. I know a guy who is looking for a product that will sell. If he makes magitech outhouses, Rill will snap them up in a second. You have no idea how many construction sites and travelling camps would kill for one of those.

They’re not always an included feature on merchant wagons, you see.

It might seem crude, but everyone needs one eventually.”