The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 786: Waiting On The Response

It was not Katerina crawling that the two Princes were waiting on.

No, that would have been much too mundane.

They were waiting for the fallout of this decision to make it to them. The other allied nations were slowly deciding how to interpret the fact that Wistover had made new military weapons again.

And now that they had delivered them to Axbridge, in a grand formation of flying interceptors that landed in full sight of the capital before being moved to a hangar, the details could no longer be considered secret.

That would either spur them to come here and demand a fleet of their own, or they would begin making moves within their own factories.

There was no prohibition on making new weapons in their agreements.

The agreement was that new military technologies would be made available for the other nations to purchase if they exceeded the capabilities of what was already in use. It was put in place when Dominic had started handing out mortar tubes to scout teams, as a preventative measure.

Their patience paid off, and after a few more weeks of vacation, and playing with the baby, one of the younger Princes from Mitfield, and one from West Keria arrived with Duke Saldock of Bostoveria and an emissary representing the nation of Chip.

“Gentlemen, welcome to Wistover. Please join us all in the meeting room.” Dominic greeted them at the gates.

“Ah, Duke Dominic, it’s good to see you again,” Duke Saldock replied. “This won’t actually take too long, we hope. But formalities are formalities.”

“Of course. The others are in the meeting room.”

The new arrivals were about to move, and then someone flew overhead, coming in lower for a landing near the hangar. Either they had managed to damage their plane, but not so much it couldn’t fly, or it was in need of some maintenance.

You had to be proactive with that, as crashing was an expensive proposition.

Not much would go wrong with a magitech device, so as long as you kept it charged, it should be good for a long time. However, there was always the chance that a rough landing might shake something loose, or one of the moving parts might wear out prematurely.

That was a low chance, given that they had used magical metals for it all. But it was a chance.

“And there is the reason we’re here. They’re magnificent, aren’t they?

I must say that Wistover is perhaps the most guarded Duchy in the world right now, and I’m not even certain what you’re expecting to need to protect from.” The Duke added.

Dominic laughed. “That one is coming in for maintenance. Mostly they fly them to check for crop issues and travellers in distress. They can cover more ground than our Knights, but the Knights do the hard work of the rescue and formal census.

However, if there is an issue, we’ve usually got enough planes on patrol that we can have one there to assist within the hour, no matter where they are.

I’ve been waiting for the announcement of the new Nobles for Kinewen Province so that I can arrange for one of them to build an airstrip. Right now, we’re using a highway stop along the eastern highway as our overnight stop.

It’s run by the Merchant’s Guild, and a known location for our mages to teleport to, if we need to bring parts or supplies for the Knights.”

They walked as he talked, and Dominic stopped before the office door.

“This is us. Now, everyone should be prepared for your arrival, we walked slowly enough. My apologies, I didn’t ask for anyone else to introduce themselves, and I suspect that you’re actually important people.”

The men laughed, and a tall blonde answered. “This is advisor Marcus of Chip, Prince Jack of West Keria, and I am Prince Ron of Mitfield.”

“My apologies, Your Highnesses, I did not recognize you. Please come in and make yourselves comfortable. Prince Claudius and Prince Fahad are already present.”

Then, Dominic led the group inside, and found that there were documents already set out on the central table, waiting for everyone to take their seats and read them.

“Ah, the whole gang is here. It’s good to have you all here. I’ve finally received my toys, and now I suppose that they can start making time to get some to the rest of you as well.” Fahad greeted them.

The two other Princes laughed, while Duke Saldock gave him an eye roll that made it clear he did not share Fahad’s sense of humour.

He silently took his seat and began to read through the documents that had been prepared.

They were mostly just the design specifications of the biplanes, a guideline to their performance and requirements. Dominic read along, though he knew the answers to the questions. He hadn’t seen the document before, and he simply wanted to ensure that there were no mistakes that would put the production team in a tight spot.

However, they had managed to understate everything by just enough, and overstate the requirements on the pilots, that he didn’t have any worries that the planes wouldn’t live up to expectations.

The room settled into a comfortable silence as the new arrivals read the documents, and made noises of appreciation at various points.

Then, they got to the final page, with the cost estimates.

Purchasing the planes, maintenance, pilot training, pilot wages. It added up much faster than anyone would have liked. However, if they just wanted a single wing of them to protect their capital in case of attack, or to do protective patrols in the waters near the harbour, they didn’t need too many.

“Well, here they had us all worked up, thinking that this was some sort of super weapon. It seems that was overstated. Yes, they’re incredible, but they were clearly made with some sense of moderation and cost-effectiveness in mind.”

Dominic smiled. “Thank you, I’m quite proud of this design. I can’t claim credit, I was only one of many on the design team, but they did an incredible job of bringing the design to life.”