The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 584: Debatable

The King and the two Princes flipped through Alexis’ documentation, and made a few notes before stepping back to let her pick them up again.

“Alright, that’s good enough for us. You’ve at least got a plan to keep things from getting out of hand here.

We will have monitors left behind to keep an eye on the Duchy while the new arrivals are still flooding in. But I don’t see a reason to put any restrictions on their arrivals at this time.

Just be aware that we will be monitoring for the establishment of Great Families who are not loyal to the nation, and for unrest. If we need to send troops, we will.” The King decided.

Alexis smiled at her father. “Of course. If we need them, we will be happy to call for them. In fact, we might even be able to outfit them soon. There will be a rifle factory opening soon.”

Dominic nodded in an agreement. If she said it was happening, it was happening. He would make time in his schedule to train the new gunsmiths to make the shorter cavalry rifles.

They were better for nearly everything, as long as you had the magical talent to use them.

Used even by moderately skilled soldiers, they would nearly replace conventional artillery. An explosion magitech orb in the butt of the rifle would be enough that they could skip on the cannons and just shell the target with cavalrymen, or infantry riflemen.

It also opened up a huge number of new ambush techniques that weren’t part of standard military doctrine, but which had proven themselves in the last war.

He would add that to the top of the list of things to do so that his father-in-law didn’t think that he was slacking or holding back on military developments. The sooner that they could make all the good stuff for the Cygnian Army, the better.

There were countless concerns about Wistover and its residents, and Dominic was certain that it wasn’t only the King of Cygnia that was concerned about the situation, though the others’ reasons were likely different.

So, making his Duchy indispensable to the nation would be the best option to keep them in the King’s good books.

“Alright. I will send some military advisors to do quality control checks for the rifle factory. They will ensure that the standards are met, though I doubt that will be an issue when the Duke is a Journeyman Gunsmith, and there is a Master Smith in town.” The King agreed.

“More than one now. We’ve managed to recruit a few more Master Smiths and related Masters from further away already. There is one working at the Airship factory.” Alexis informed him.

He gave her a proud smile, then nodded. “Excellent news. Alright, it is time to face the others. Remember, unified face. If you have questions about my responses, save them for later.

That means you, Alexis.”

The Princess winked at her father. She was well known for her outspoken opinions, but this was international policy, not some Nobleman speaking against female Paladins or in favour of forced marriage arrangements.

She knew when to play along and when to speak up.

The Royals straightened their outfits, perfecting their appearance for what came next. Dominic did his best to look decent, though he wasn’t dressed for a formal event.

He did toss one of his better robes on over his outfit. That was good enough for a meeting with the Royals, as he was a secondary party to what was coming next.

They led the way, and Dominic followed them out. The room had been cleared, and someone had moved the body of Prince Kaizon to a metal coffin that was so cold it was developing frost on the outside.

They must have used magic on it to preserve the body before burial, or possibly to ensure that it didn’t rise as an undead.

The atmosphere was already tense when Dominic took his seat among the audience, and it was clear that all of the Royal Guards were expecting some sort of trouble.

Whether it was trouble that would involve them wasn’t clear, but Dominic wasn’t particularly concerned.

The Royal Guards of every nation present could all use some level of magic. But for most of them it was highly limited. If he started throwing around mortar rounds it wouldn’t be long before there were no functional barriers in the room.

It would cause a gigantic regional war, but if it came to indoor artillery practice, the situation was already too far gone to be salvaged.

From Dominic’s left, Wilkes nudged him.

{You’ve got a look like you’re calculating the appropriate level of violence. Relax, it’s not going to get that spicy today. They will shout and argue, make grand threats about sovereignty, and then leave to make their plans in private.}

The Guard Commander’s whisper only carried to Dominic’s ears, and he winked back at the fully armoured man.

{What can I say? Pessimism is my job.}

The tribunal table had been rearranged into a circle, and the Kings were speaking in hushed tones, with their advisors behind them, while Dominic and the Royal Guard in the audience caught only the more vocal points of whoever was speaking.

Not being able to clearly hear everyone’s commentary with the Advisors while someone else made their point and proposals was a bit of a pain, but he was fairly sure that he had gotten the majority of it.

From what Dominic could tell, Skiple definitely wanted reparations from Dagos, as did Chip and West Keria, who blamed them for the massive damage to their nations done as the storm came ashore.

King Gustav insisted that natural disasters were out of his control, no matter how insistent that everyone else was about them being related to a curse on his nation.

He also had massive recovery to do, as the storm had hit Dagos directly, and didn’t just pass by. So how could he offer reparations?

Interestingly, it appeared that nobody was trying to forcibly take the land from him.

Dominic had definitely expected them to parcel out Dagos, or at least propose it. But that appeared to be the last option.

Even the King of Cygnia, who was definitely considering it, was only eyeing a mission to send relief forces to the lands that used to be Wavemates, and that was causing some tension with the King of Axbridge, who had suggested that his men could come help the region recover.