The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 735: Learning Wistover’s Ways

Chapter 735: Learning Wistover’s Ways

As breakfast went on, the new hires began to realize that Wistover was nothing like what the rumours had suggested.

Not the good, nor the bad ones.

Instead, what they found was a city that was both super modern, with only the highest tech of vehicles and home amenities, but also heavily focused on their agricultural sector, growing a wide variety of crops that seemed intended to provide some specific diet that they hadn’t quite figured out yet.

If they had a troll with them, they would have known.

The crops that were grown in Wistover were a combination of things that stored exceptionally well, like root vegetables and spices that could be dried, and things that went well when combined with them in a soup.

It really wasn’t that complex.

However, they were beginning to add more crops that weren’t soup related. Things that were more common among the various Royal household recipes so that they had locally grown versions of the dishes that the other nations’ Royal Families liked.

They had finally gotten a month to themselves, where they weren’t hosting any Royal Family members who didn’t live here in the Duchy.

But that was never intended to remain the state of affairs, and the agreement that they had between nations named Wistover as the central point for international trade. That would pull the Royals back here, even when they didn’t have issues serious enough that there were visiting Nobles pleading their case to the investment bank.

“Your Grace, I do believe that we are going to have an easy time adjusting here.

While many of the local dishes seemed quite exotic when I was touring the town last night, I now realize that we are fully able to stock a proper Cygnian kitchen as well, with all of the spices and herbs that we would have had back in the Capital,” one of the men noted.

His wife nodded excitedly, and then the man’s smile turned slightly concerned.

“But on that note, I don’t suppose that there are domestic helpers available in town? I didn’t see any signs of vagrancy, or a slum quarter where one might hire new servants.”

Alexis laughed and shook her head. “No, we don’t have either of those. But we do have domestic helpers for hire. What you need to do is put up a job notice on the job board by the market.

Anyone who has a child interested in the work, or who is looking for a long-term posting themselves, will contact you.

Our city is made up entirely of refugees, and many of them served Noble houses before. So, if you’re looking to hire a maid or chef for your home, that is something that won’t be an issue.”

A few of the other men were giving him sly looks. It wasn’t that they were inordinately wealthy, and simply couldn’t accept not having domestic help, though they did make enough from the job that they could comfortably afford to hire at least one person to help around the house.

The issue was simply that his wife could not cook.

Not “had never been taught to cook”, that would have been a much more simple matter. No, she was an absolute disaster in the kitchen, and if he was left with her cooking every day, he might not survive.

A few of the others would also look to hire a housekeeper, someone that would clean the place, but for most of them it would be a part-time position.

Only a few of them had chosen to move into larger estates, either because they were planning a large family, or expected to have family members move in with them at some point. Whether it was the husband or the wife’s family, it wasn’t uncommon to take care of the older generation in their retirement.

For the new hires, that would generally be the wife’s family. One of each pair had come from a titled family, who had an heir to take over, and would be staying on their lands.

But that was not true for all the people they had married.

Many of them were Noble blooded, but not landed and titled Nobility. So, if the other family members were either unable or unwilling, it would fall to whoever was left to take care of them.

But that was a bonus in the eyes of some of these Noble sons.

Having the in laws living with them meant that they didn’t need a chef, their mother-in-law would do it. They also didn’t need a nanny for the children, and they didn’t need a Castellan or dedicated host if they had a family compound, as the in-laws would help fill those roles.

Someone needed to greet the guests, and it was actually considered to be more polite to have the father-in-law do the job than to have a servant welcome guests.

Assuming that you could stand to live with them.

“If you would like, I can arrange a group posting, and have a small group of applicants come here for dinner today.” Alexis offered.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. If all of us who need help can meet with the whole pool, it will save us some trouble with trying to find the right match. I have a rather particular requirement for domestic help, so I do hope that I can find someone suitable,” one of the ladies insisted.

“Oh?” Alexis asked, starved for gossip after everyone left the manor.

The young woman smiled. “My husband’s family is well known for their wandering eye, and we have an agreement not to hire anyone who he may be tempted to disregard his marital duties with.”

The husband shrugged helplessly. “It keeps the peace in our home, even if I have had to change cooks twice in eight years, due to retirements.”

Alexis gave him a sympathetic look. “I am not looking forward to the day that our chef retires.

You may not know yet, but we hired Chef Beth from the Royal kitchens to come and cook for us here in Wistover. It is her expertise that we can thank for the quality of the meal today.

Replacing her is not going to be an easy task. No offence to her successor in training.”