Chapter 351: Messages From Home
Dinner brought them back to the main room, and to a stack of documents that Dominic had not been expecting.
"The Royal Messenger arrived only moments ago. We’ve got two weeks to finish the upgrades to the Manor before Crown Prince Claudius arrives to inspect the facilities’ suitability for use in international negotiations." Alexis announced.
Dominic sighed dramatically. "This is the end for me. It had to be him."
Prince Fahad nearly choked on his drink, while the other two Princes looked confused.
Alexis rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything, leaving Pops to explain the situation.
"Prince Claudius disapproves of his sister getting married. Not just to Duke Dominic, but in general. He was a leading voice in the movement to convince her to take an oath of celibacy to remain with the Royal Paladins." He explained.
"At least we will have most of the improvements finished by the time that he arrives.
The convention centre is doing well, and the officers have been quite approving of using it for their meetings. But the expansion of the Manor is nearly finished as well. All we need is to do the landscaping and some final decoration." Prince Russel replied.
Alexis nodded. "Millie, our Garden Witch, will do the landscaping, and I have the stored items for the decoration of the extra courtyards.
By the time that he arrives, it will just be the rest of the city that needs to be finished."
Dominic shrugged. "The factory will be ready to make their first shipment by then, and if we push, the school will be ready as well. Should we arrange a grand opening ceremony for the school for after his arrival?
Some sort of public event to distract him from domestic affairs?"
"NO!" Every one of the Royals replied at the same time.
"Alright then. I take it I misunderstood his affinity for social events?" Dominic asked.
"Not at all. It’s the rest of us who don’t want to be at a social event with him. They’re never grand or well-organized enough for his taste, but he never wants to be part of the planning or any of the event but a speech." Alexis replied.
"Well, that was not the response that I was expecting, but it seems that he has a reputation nearly as well known as my own."
Prince George turned to stare incredulously at Dominic. "How do you even come to that conclusion? He’s simply known by his fellow Royals as an escape artist when it comes to social obligations. Your reputation would get your title recognized anywhere on the continent by even common shopkeepers."
Prince Fahad nodded. "We had an envoy from Flokwar in for the New Year’s ceremony last year, and he already knew the story of how Dagos had been sending envoys to demand searches for you. They’re on the other side of the continent, and they don’t even speak our language."
Prince George nodded. "The story of the Butcher of Wistover is being told to scare noble children into staying out of the woods in Atford. They claim that you are living in seclusion there, looking for Noble children to vent your rage on."
That was also on the other side of the continent, but the far south, and not the west.
"Fine, I get the point. Perhaps I might have underestimated my own fame. It’s not like most people recognize me in person." Dominic sighed.
"That is likely to change. Now that you’re the Duke of Wistover, more Nobles will start to visit, and you will have proper portraits and artists renders spread, so that those who might be doing business with Wistover won’t mistake someone else for you." Prince Russel noted.
Alexis smiled. "They’ve already started. We do a lot of business with the Merchant’s Guild, and they all recognize him right away, even when he’s wearing a Smithy apron. So, while some of the Nobles might be behind on receiving the message, those most likely to come here surely know by now."
Prince Russel smiled. "But that’s also to your advantage. Nobody will believe his reputation after having met him once. However, it will remain in the back of their minds when they’re doing business with the Duchy.
I don’t think that the Crown Prince will be too upset with the state of the Duchy when he arrives.
You’re doing far better than any territory established a single season ago has any right to be doing. Even if your names pulled the finest of settlers to you, I still hadn’t expected the Duchy to be doing so well.
Even the common farmers are talking about being overstocked with preserved goods and bulk food.
Do you have any idea how rare that is?
Never mind that Dagos is in a massive famine, even Axbridge rarely has seasons that good."
Prince Fahad nodded in agreement. "That is part of the reason that we chose this location. The geography is most of it, but the Wistover region never seemed to suffer from famine or civil unrest in the past.
It’s simply too remote to be affected by other regional issues."
Dominic shrugged. "I can’t argue with that. Even if the major cities need food, it takes significant effort to get it to them from here. Even the old Cygnia farms end close to a hundred kilometres from the border.
There isn’t anything else here to draw residents."
Elder Manif smiled as he listened to the Royals joking around with each other. The fact that members of the Royal Families of four, now three, different nations were all getting along at one table proved to him that they had made the right choice in coming to Wistover.
Duke Dominic was easy to work with, but even more importantly, both him and Princess Alexis had good relationships with the Royals closest to their territory.
With that level of cooperation, the chances that this Duchy would falter under political pressure and start bleeding the citizens dry to maintain their influence seemed incredibly low.
The Elder had also heard them mention that the factories were not privately owned, but property of the Duchy.
That would help their coffers immensely.
Too many Nobles had no head for business and simply taxed the businessmen of their territory to fund their lifestyle.
In regions where that was not the case, the missions that their Sect was called to complete tended to be much lower risk, and have targets who actually deserved the protection or elimination order placed on them.