The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 639: Early Departure

Chapter 639: Early Departure

Dominic tried not to laugh as the rather drunk General tried and failed to escape from the techno Witch with her collection of sobriety potions.

Instead, he followed Alexis inside to greet the guests.

“You know, this might be the biggest event that the Duchy is ever going to host? Six Monarchs all in one spot hasn’t happened in generations, even for the ascension of a new King, it is usually only the Crown Princes, and perhaps one or two of the neighbouring Monarchs who attend.

Yet, we’ve manage to get so many of them here for a mere trade alliance.” Alexis noted.

“Don’t jinx it. Things have been going so well. I will be happy if we can get through the tournament without any more major attacks, political manoeuvres or attempted assassinations.”

Alexis laughed. “There aren’t many major threats left among the gathered nations, but if you think that there are days without an assassination plot, you greatly misunderstand the nature of being a King.

There is always someone plotting to poison the Royal Family members, to kill one of them off for interfering with a scheme, or simply to put themselves further up the political ladder.

How do you think that you found a position as advisor open when you met me?

Advisor Morgana was my personal advisor, but one of the King’s Advisors met with an untimely end while examining a dam construction project, and she was promoted.”

Dominic sighed. “You’ve likely got a point. Though, I suppose that makes it even more important that we get a properly trained guard for you.

The Royal Guard and the Veiled Maids should be enough, at least when you’re in the Duchy. However, I don’t really expect that you will be able to remain here most of the time.

The more wealthy we get, the more calls there will be on our time.

Not all of them will be within the Duchy, and that means travelling. Mostly by portal these days, but if we need to go further than the Mages can take us in one hop, it will likely be better to keep taking airships.”

Alexis nodded. “Everyone is starting to upgrade their defences against portal intrusion these days. Soon, they’ll have half the nation locked down, and it will be impossible to portal anywhere but the rural areas.”

Beside her, Dave snorted with amusement.

“Took them long enough. Mages coming and going everywhere, and they just let them. Now, the get smart and try to stop them, and we all need to start walking,” the troll joked.

“Just wait, soon we will be able to fly there instead,” Dominic countered.

Dave’s laughter only got stronger.

The thought of a whole family of Trolls flying was absolutely hilarious to him.

There were many things that Trolls were good at, flying was not one of them. Trolls did not belong in the air, no matter how you looked at it. They were even heavier than a human or Ogre their size, just to remind others that they belonged on the ground.

Inside the main hall of the Manor, the Kings were gathered, socializing, while guards lined the walls, chatting quietly while subtly keeping an eye out for trouble.

It was relatively calm, compared to what Dominic knew would be coming tomorrow.

Once the first round of eliminations was finished, the winners would be invited to the Manor to celebrate, which meant social networking, and their chance to impress their King’s advisors.

They didn’t have long before the dinner started, and everyone moved from the social area to the dining room.

The atmosphere shifted immediately to one of formal decorum, and the first rounds of dinner were brought out. As suspected, the menu had been adjusted to be easier on the stomach. Things that would be easier to digest when you had been drinking all day and eating stadium snacks.

“Duke Dominic, join us?” The Necromancer King requested as the dinner service ended.

“Of course, Your Majesty. To what do we owe the honour?”

The Necromancer King waited for him to be seated, and then brought out a bottle of wine.

“I’m afraid that I can’t remain for the entire tournament, I need to get back home and take care of my responsibilities. So, I wanted a moment to say farewell, and to pass you some information that Advisor Trionne has gathered about Stansia Province’s history.

I will be taking her with me for now, though I suspect that she will be back sooner or later.

She has a particular fondness for this place.”

Dominic smiled as he accepted the glass of deep red wine. “Yes, she has been truly enjoying her time here. I think that it was more like a vacation for her, away from the day to day drudgery of being trapped in an office.”

That made the King laugh. Trionne was never in her office. She simply showed up when she was needed and was nearly impossible to find when she decided that she was not.

He had seen more of her since he arrived here than he had in the last two years. At least, if you measured total time. Normally, he saw her for ten or fifteen minutes a day. But lately, she had been around twelve or fourteen hours a day, always somewhere nearby.

“It’s a bit unfortunate that things won’t run themselves without oversight, but I see where you are coming from. It’s just good governance to review things personally.” Dominic added.

“It’s even more troublesome when your whole governing group is undead. They’ve had decades or centuries to build up plots and establish subtle corruption.

When you’ve had power for that long, you start to get creative about how you use it.

Perhaps it was a tactical error on my part. But there is a level of stability in knowing who you’re dealing with and their tricks. At the very least, I have a good idea of what they’ve been up to while I was away.”

The King lowered his voice. “And that’s why you make the Royals nervous. They don’t know what sort of thing you’ll get up to, or what strength the alliances you inherited carry.

They might not show it, but they’re fond of you. Just keep building on that base, and you’ll have a strong future here in Cygnia.”