The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 741: Informed Plans

Chapter 741: Informed Plans

Dominic mentally worked through the plans for the Duchy.

“Once the teleportation arrays are made, we can start arranging regular pickups from the Trollish villages in Kinewen Province. We can pay them in cash, goods, goats, whatever it is that they want.

I suspect that the answer is goats.

The old common logic was that two thirds of the population needed to be involved in agriculture, either on the farm or making tools for the farmers. I don’t think we actually need that many anymore, with magic and magitech equipment.

However, since we have them, there is no reason not to leverage the amount of farmland that we can cultivate.

Axbridge is a desert, and I may or may not have caused the death of half the population of Dagos. So, there is a rather distinct shortage of farmers in the region. Then, we’ve got the rest of Cygnia, who lost a crop to the war, and was honestly kind of trash at it to begin with.”

Gordie chuckled. “They have the equipment, but not the magic. If you’re not using nature magic to rejuvenate the soil, it’s just going to get depleted with poor rotation and high yields.

Nobody taught most of the common farmers how to properly rotate crops so that they renew the nutrients that are being used.

So, they just grow the same thing, in the same field, until it stops working.

Then they starve for a few years until they find something that works.”

Dominic sighed. “I swear, there is more work than one man can do in a lifetime. But I also suspect that even if we told everyone about modern farming techniques, they would just disregard it for techniques that have worked for centuries.

It’s not easy to change people’s minds, especially about a trade that has been passed down in the family for generations.

It’s a bit like telling a mage that he casts fireball wrong.”

Gordie chuckled. “That’s an apt description. I know no fewer than five ways to cast the fireball spell, and every person I learned it from was absolutely adamant that theirs was the only correct way.

Any and all other input was immediately discarded as somewhere between ill-informed and blasphemous.”

“Well, we can only let our experience speak for itself. Once others see that our way is working, they may be willing to consider trying it themselves. But until that time, we can focus on trying to change our own lands, not the whole nation.”

Gordie smiled. “Even if your lands happen to encompass half the nation. At least in the role of Governor, with its limited powers outside of collecting taxation and setting policy for crown lands.”

Then, he took out a stack of documents, ones regarding the proper crop rotations, as determined by the Trolls.

“These are what I’ve managed to get from a dozen different villages so far, and they can be passed to your Barons, for distribution to anyone willing to listen.

I know that some might be, as the Trolls do so well with crops.”

All that conversation about how few would listen, and still, he had spent the time to make up a crop rotation and best practices workbook for anyone who might.

He really was as reliable as Asmodain had implied when he sent him here.

“Distributing them should be easy enough. There is a major holiday coming up, and it’s traditional for the local Lord to pass out gifts sent from the High Nobles.

Which means that I will be the one sending out gifts to be distributed to every family.

It’s still two months away, but making a lot of holiday trinkets, or having them imported, takes time. At least, it does if I’m going to send them more than just chocolates.”

At the door, Benedict, head of the Wavemates Royal Guard, cleared his throat.

“Forgive me for intruding, Your Highness. But people truly do look forward to those chocolates. Even if you want to send something else, you still need to send the chocolates.

You can send extra fancy ones if you want. But those are better sent to the Knights and Barons. They’ll at least appreciate them. Most of the other households use the chocolates for baking their holiday sweets and desserts.

Without the chocolate supply, it would be a holiday disaster.”

Dominic frowned. He had never had a stable place to live as an adult, so he was only vaguely familiar with the process. But he did remember holiday chocolate cake as a kid, and that chocolate had to come from somewhere, as it didn’t naturally to grow here.

It did now. The trolls in the village were growing some.

But that wasn’t enough for an entire Duchy, so he was going to have to get some, and that meant having it shipped in. It grew best in hot, humid climates, and that usually meant overseas.

Though, there were a few spots on the western side of the continent that grew it, and a few Royal Chocolatier’s shops in the capital.

Benedict smiled. “You know, I have a spell for that.”

“You have a spell to make chocolates?”

“It’s incredibly popular with the ladies. Most of the Royal Guards know it,” he confirmed.

“I’m surprised that you can even use it. Making wine and ale is pushing it for most people. But pure chocolate is well into nature magic territory,” Gordie replied.

“Well, I am half Elf. Not only can I use it, I can use it without a spell gem, so if you would like a copy, I can make you the gem.”

Dominic smiled. “I will take a copy of that. But I will also get you and the lads to make up a massive amount of chocolate. You’ve got until a week before the holiday to get it done, but that still means you’ll all have to work at it daily until then.”

Benedict shook his head. “It’s not that bad. I can make a hundred small blocks of chocolate at a time, totalling about twenty kilograms. With the ten of us, that’s a thousand at a time, give or take, and there’s only what? Maybe forty thousand people in the Duchy?”

Gordie shook his head. “Nearly twice that number, spread through the baronies. We’ve obtained numerous refugees.”

Benedict nodded. “In that case, it will likely take a full day to get the energy to cast it so many times. But still, it’s not going to be an issue. We can make all the chocolate for you.

Then, we can give a bunch to Miss Beth, and she can have the kitchen whip up something fancy for the Barons and Knights.

We’ve already been slipping her some to use in her baking, but that was out of our personal stash.”