The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 621: Ladies and Knights

Chapter 621: Ladies and Knights

Lars smiled as Dominic mentioned the Academies.

“You know, I’ve got a younger sister who could use a bit of proper training. Father shelters her too much, and I’m afraid that it might be spoiling her.

Do your Academies accept ladies?”

Dominic placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially.

“Not only do the Academies take ladies with magical talent, but Princess Alexis runs a comprehensive military training program for young ladies with potential.

If one of the two can’t whip her into shape, nothing will.”

Lars laughed. “My father would kill me if I suggested that she become a Paladin.

He’s firmly of the opinion that military matters and ladies should not extend past the theoretical. They make excellent advisors and strategists, but he doesn’t field any in his armies.”

“That’s a bit sad, really. The ladies of the Cygnian Army are much more fearsome than the gentlemen.”

“I suspect that you might be biased, but you’re not entirely wrong. The ladies have to work three times as hard to prove themselves when they can’t keep up with the men in the early physical training.

So, the ones that actually make it to service do tend to be the best of the best.”

Prince Damien snorted in derision. “Yet, the other nine out of ten end up as camp followers. The last time that we fielded a mixed army, half the ladies had to be sent home early for pregnancy outside wedlock.”

Dominic shrugged. “The hazards of the occupation.”

The Knights gathered around the Noble group laughed at the comment. More than one of them most likely had children with a camp follower or female soldier from their younger days.

In fact, more than one of the Knights who would be attending the joust had married a soldier after serving or training beside her.

It wasn’t the prim and proper thing that the Royal Court would approve of, but it worked out well enough for the rest of the population. At least if you married a soldier, you knew that she had at least basic life skills, not like some of the pampered Noble Daughters.

While they were pretty, and would produce beautiful children any Nobleman could be proud of, you still had to live with them, and even for a Knight Errant, half the year was usually spent at home.

It simply wasn’t worth the tradeoff, or the staff’s suffering, to pick based on a pretty face alone.

“Will there be Royal attended gatherings for the Jousters? I’m not certain that I have anything appropriate to wear.” One of the men asked.

“Likely for the victors, and perhaps the final few contestants. But most of you should be able to get by with what you have. It’s not as if the King has never seen a Knight before. In fact, all the Wistover Knights are from the Natural Sons’ Regiment.”

The Knight smiled and nodded. “Well, there’s that. After so long on the circuit, I had almost forgotten that so many of the young Cygnian Knights would have just come back from war.

I might have done my time as a sell sword, but that’s a far cry from the Natural Sons, who were tasked with the security of the Dagos Capital from the invasion all through the civil war.”

Prince Damien chuckled at the eager expressions on all the other Knights’ faces. The thought that the rough nature of the Cygnian soldiers raised to Knighthood might make them all look a bit better was going to come back to bite some of them.

Sure, the Knights might be rough on the surface, but they were all sons of Noble families.

They had been trained in Noble etiquette, even though they weren’t going to inherit anything. One of the best paying roles for younger sons was helping their older brothers manage the estate, and that meant that they had to avoid embarrassing the Family name.

So, the idea that they would be shabby or crude was unlikely to be true, unless they were in such a destitute state that they couldn’t do better.

And from what he had seen of Wistover, that was unlikely to be true unless Duke Dominic had kept all the good stuff for himself, and had left them all as little more than homesteaders with a title.

“Lord Dominic, tell me if you could, what sort of situation are your new Knights in? Will they be able to compete, or are they still settling into their new homes?” He asked.

Dominic shook his head. “They should be settled in by now. There were enough surviving Noble homes in the region for them to all settle without needing to rebuild an entire estate.

The homes have some basic level of magitech, as they were Wavemates Noble homes, but we’ve also sent out teams to help with the repairs.

Whether they can compete will depend more on their skills with a lance, and the situation with the influx of commoners who have come to live in their territory.

Not everyone is going to have an easy time with them, despite our best efforts.”

The Prince nodded. That was what he had expected.

“I do hope that we can get a few top contenders from the local Duchy. It really keeps the fans involved if there is a hometown hero in the running right to the final day.” Sir Morton, the Knight from Bostoveria, noted.

“I hope so as well. If all else fails, we can likely get old Lord Jack Merlot up on a horse.” Dominic joked.

The Prince laughed. “That old battleaxe is here? He was training Royal Paladins when I was a small child. Is he part of the King’s entourage this time?”

“Not quite. He was appointed to the Duchy as an advisor when I was made the Governor of Stansia Province. I am told that there is no better military strategist.”

Prince Damien, and a few of the other Knights, nodded.

“It was a sad day to hear that he had retired. Many of us had hoped to learn a bit about how to hold a blade from him. If his health is still good enough to get down the tilt, I daresay that few of us could outclass him in pure technique.”