Chapter 143: No Backing Out
Dominic returned to his room in the Apprentice portion of Pops’ suite and found the old Dwarf sitting with his feet up in the main room, drinking whiskey from the bottle.
"Rough day?" He asked, but Pops didn’t even look up.
The old Dwarf sighed as he drank. "It’s been an entire rough month. But I probably should have expected it. Dagos put up a great front when they pretended to be allies, and their agents infiltrated everything within the Palace, and some spots within the city as well.
All through apparently legitimate hiring processes.
We’ve been weeding them out since you left, and let me tell you, there was some real chaos when they realized that the Princess was gone.
Your trick of sneaking her out as your girlfriend worked amazingly well. It took them two weeks to realize that they weren’t missing a staff member and that nobody had quit to go on the run with you.
Now, the battles have calmed down, and we have to put up with idiot Nobles demanding everything under the sun as rewards for their contributions, and all the ridiculous requests that they can think of as so-called security upgrades to their estates.
Naturally, they want them all expedited by the crown, in case Dagos doesn’t agree to the Armistice."
Dominic nodded. "So, there is a lot of work to do, and I’m assuming not nearly enough people to do it."
"Exactly. But that’s not your problem today. There will be visitors for you later, I assume. Every time there are awards for military merit, the vultures come crawling from the woodwork, looking for a leg to hug.
They will want you to pick something that benefits them, and might possibly benefit you later.