The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 734: New Hires

Chapter 734: New Hires

Two weeks later, they had all of the new hires that they needed for the administration of the two Provinces, and Dominic had called them all to the Manor for breakfast so that he could see how they worked together, and assign them their first tasks.

Every new hire for the administration jobs was the son of a Nobleman, and some of them were from quite high-ranking families.

Dominic did wonder if they would be able to work together, and just how the decision had been made, but Jack had assured him that this was the best combination that they could have hoped for.

Still, Dominic had questions, and had called them together for one large group meeting before they started.

If it seemed like a disaster, he would find a way to replace some of them immediately.

As one should expect from the sons and daughters of wealthy Noble families, the new hires were incredibly well-dressed, much more formal than even Dominic was on most days.

There were also far more than the fourteen that they had agreed to hire.

Jack cleared his throat to get Dominic’s attention. “Duke Wistover, please meet your new administration assistants and their families.

They are all young, but we chose those who would be happy to settle down within Wistover, so none of them is in line to inherit property, and all of them are happily married.

Not all the husbands are the ones hired, some of these fine ladies have exceptional administrative skills, and have convinced their husbands to come here with them.”

“Greetings everyone. It’s a pleasure to see you all here today. How have you been settling in? I am informed that the last of you arrived yesterday.”

“Very well, thank you, Your Grace. If it’s not too forward, we did bring a small token as a baby shower gift.” One of the ladies suggested.

“Oh, I’m certain that the Princess will absolutely adore it.” Dominic replied.

That was the cue for everyone else to bring out the gifts they had prepared. Small things, intended for the baby to use in its first year of life, as there would be a need for nearly everything, as this was their first, and they didn’t have generations of hand-me-downs.

Not that anyone thought that Dominic was incapable of getting whatever he wanted or needed, but it was the principle of these things.

You made sure that your liege Lord had enough of the little things that he didn’t feel pressured to go looking for them. The lack would make his wife feel like she was being snubbed or neglected, and many got touchy if they saw that someone else had something they hadn’t managed to obtain.

Alexis came downstairs, fully prepared for a formal engagement, and dressed to impress.

The baby weight was already nearly melted away, a feat that Dominic found something close to superhuman, and the dress was one of his favourites from her closet.

“The young Princess is sleeping at the moment, so she won’t be making an appearance, but I will thank you all on her behalf.” Alexis joked.

The new hires bowed respectfully as she came down the stairs and into a side armed hug from Dominic.

“These are our new hires to help with the administrative work. I believe that you might know a few of them. They’re all children of titled Nobles, so they may have visited the Palace before.” Dominic explained.

Indeed, some of them were actually from the capital.

“Indeed, it is good to see familiar faces again. What sort of administrative work did you hire them for?”

“Someone needs to tour the rural areas to get the census, and track village populations, then others need to meet with the Nobles to collect grievances, inform them of changes in policy and other initiatives.

But mostly, I needed more people to handle all the paperwork that comes with governing two provinces.

They’re all loyal, trained and proven competent.

So, on the advice of my existing team, I had them hired. We will make time to introduce them to all the more colourful locals soon.”

Alexis laughed at Dominic’s description. Introducing the new hires to a village full of Trolls that were the Duchy’s primary method of paying off Dagos for Kinewen Province was going to be an entertaining event.

“Well, then I had perfect timing. Welcome everyone, have a seat and I will have someone bring refreshments.”

Dominic nodded for the waiting maids to bring everything in, and Benedict vanished down the stairs to go get some of the good stuff from storage. There would be honeyed wine with breakfast, obviously. But there was a stash of mead that had been made at level ten, and the Royal Guard was saving it for special occasions.

Ruining the palette of new hires seemed like just the occasion.

The food was brought out, and the new hires simply stared at it for a few seconds before accepting that Wistover Manor had much more luxury than they had expected.

The rumours about the Duchy were all over the place, with some saying that it was just a frontier Duchy being funded by the Princess to keep up pretenses, while others said it was actually the King funding it to use it as a trade post, and only a few would actually acknowledge the truth.

Wistover had been resettled for less than a year, and already it was at as high or higher standards of living for the residents than most of Cygnia.

They had realized that as soon as they saw their apartments.

However, seeing the assortment of dishes with ingredients from a half dozen different nations for a casual breakfast was something else entirely. Even if the Duke was flexing on them, it wouldn’t have been easy for most to get all of this.

Alexis could see what they were thinking, and decided to tease them a little more.

“Everything here is Wistover grown, with a little help from Trollish magic. Even the coffee is a grown inside the Manor walls.”

There were the expressions that she was hoping for.