The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 620: Honoured Jouster

Chapter 620: Honoured Jouster

The Infrastructure worker left, and Dominic returned to the gathering around the arena.

Now that he was certain that it contained everything that they were going to need for the joust, there wasn’t much to be concerned about, and he could focus on greeting the Knights and the locals who had come out to see them.

Dominic turned to the other side of the arena from where he had been exploring the first time, and found a large group of Knights gathered around one tent. That looked like it might be a fun place to visit.

To have that many knights gathered around his tent, he was either the life of the party, or someone highly respected.

Either way, worth meeting.

Dominic made his way over to the crowd, but didn’t announce himself at first. It was better to wait and see what the situation was so that he could greet whoever had attracted this much attention properly.

The initial chat was mostly about the upcoming tournament, and everyone arguing about how their odds were based on who had arrived already.

Naturally, there was a lot of self-promotion and bragging going on, but it didn’t take long before Dominic knew who was supposed to be in that tent.

The Third Prince of Mitfield, a Royal Family member senior enough that Dominic was surprised that he hadn’t been invited to the events in the Manor, had signed himself up for the tournament, and he had brought a small group of his personal attendants as well.

They were the local equivalent of Cygnia’s Royal Paladins, only they were all sons of higher ranking Titled Nobles.

It was a Mitfield tradition for sons to serve in the Royal Order before they took over from their fathers, so they were all minor celebrities, that everyone wanted to get closer to, before they took over their home territories and became unreachable for the lower Noble sorts like the jousting tournament knights.

The Third Prince’s name was Damien, Dominic learned, and that was enough for him to come forward and greet him.

“Prince Damien, it’s an honour to have you here today. Good luck in the tournament.” Dominic greeted him.

“Ah, Duke Dominic, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Forgive me for not joining you at the Manor, such events are dreadfully stuffy, and not at all to my taste.”

Dominic laughed, “Well, you could always spend time with Advisor Trionne of Shersdonia, or your Uncle George.”

The Prince rolled his eyes. “That’s not the right type of entertaining either. It’s better to be here among my peers on the tournament circuit.

Let me introduce you to my escort.

I have brought only four men today, all of whom will be entering the joust. These are Lars, Niall, Korath and Nick. All of these fine gentlemen are sons of Dukes and currently in line to inherit after they have served their time in the Order.

Lars and Korath both have border territories, so they will be frequent customers and visitors to Cygnia. Nick and Niall are from the southern reaches, but with the advancements in airship technologies, it might not be impossible that they are also going to be dealing with Wistover in the near future.”

Dominic nodded and shook each of the men’s hands as they were introduced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Welcome to Wistover, if you need anything, send a runner to the Manor and my men will make sure that we find it for you.

Without disturbing the King’s entourage.”

The Knights patted him on the shoulder as he greeted them, and the Prince laughed.

“At least you understand the hardships that come with formality. Showing up at the Manor while the King is in attendance requires formal approvals, meetings, and paperwork to justify why I am in attendance while both my senior brothers are as well.

The hierarchy is not so flexible that they make it easy for a third son to try to get a leg up on the Crown Prince.” Prince Damien explained.

“As I told the others, if there are issues with your gear or your mounts, we have specialists here to take care of them. Master craftsmen, no less.”

Damien nodded. “I have heard. You have assembled quite the array of magic users here in Wistover, and I have heard that you’re still getting more.”

Dominic shook his head “Not so many more. Most of the ones who were on the move have already settled in the uninhabited regions of the Province, and many of those are beyond the Duchy itself.

However, there is a chance that we might attract another mage tower or two.

We’ve become a peak destination for them, and we’ve got a steady supply of the materials that they need for their work. It’s the same for the Techno Wizards. The abundance of mages who have transmutation and gem creation magic makes their lives so much easier.

We are also teaching a new generation of them at the Academies.

Starting next semester we will have two operational, with classes for Techno Wizards, Mages, Nature Witches, and many other small specialties. I haven’t started the recruitment push yet, but if you happen to know some youngsters who might not have made the cut into a local academy but have the talent, they’re welcome to enrol here.”

It was common for the children of Knights, who were barely considered Nobles to begin with, to have a hard time getting into an elite Academy, and instead learn from a home tutor, followed by an apprenticeship in their chosen trade, or a stint in the military.

“I will keep it in mind. The top academies are always a challenge for the sons of untitled Nobles, but the Mitfield line does boast of many talented Techno Wizards.”

It was the polite political answer, but the comment wasn’t as much for the Prince as it was for the Knights who were listening in on their conversation. They were the ones who would be looking the hardest for a way to have their children do better than they did.

The Third Prince already had a solid future for his own children as bureaucrats in the Mitfield Palace.