Chapter 356: Deliberate Placement
The inside of the convention centre was simple, with no furniture except a few long tables and benches that were currently occupied by officer from the Axbridge army.
There was another table on the other side of the room, but it was currently unoccupied, and presumably reserved for the Mitfield Officers.
"Lord Dominic, good morning. Are you coming to join our game?" One of the Captains called as they entered.
"Just showing Crown Prince Claudius around the town." Dominic replied.
Everyone turned to bow toward the Prince. "Forgive us, Your Highness, we didn’t recognize your uniform."
The Prince was wearing the uniform of a Royal Paladin General, but you didn’t salute a foreign soldier, so they hadn’t been concerned about his presence.
"How are the rooms on the upper level? Sufficient?" Claudius asked.
"Indeed, Your Highness. Not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but the bags are decently soft mats on large enough cots that my feet don’t hang off." The officer who had spoken first replied.
He was a large man, so Claudius nodded in satisfaction.
"What are the mats stuffed with?" He asked.
"Coarse wool stuffing. Mostly local, some imported from the city. We don’t have a textile mill here yet, so all of our cloth comes from the cities, but we’ve got a sheep farm." Dominic explained.
A wool mat wasn’t anything impressive compared to a Royal feather bed. But compared to a bare cot, or a spot on the floor? It was a huge upgrade. Hard stretched canvas was the soldiers’ basic sleeping arrangement, but the cots were not anyone’s favourite.
Especially when it got cold overnight.
"Is this building heated?" Claudius asked.
"It is. There is also running hot and cold water upstairs. The rooms don’t have individual fireplaces, but there are large ones in the common areas. If you leave your door open all day, it will be fairly warm for the night.
Though, if you trust your comrades, you can leave it open overnight and stay warmer." Dominic agreed.
"Did you want to see, Your Highness? We’ve cleaned for the morning," the officer suggested.
Claudius nodded, and followed the Captain upstairs.
There were a few officers sitting on pillows on the floor, gathered around a low table and playing cards.
"We didn’t have sofas." Dominic explained with a shrug.
The Officers looked up and smiled at him. "It’s better this way, anyhow. One man falls asleep on the couch, and he blocks it all. But if he passes out at the table, he will just tip backward, and the rest of us can still play."
Prince Claudius was more interested in the fireplace than the officers’ relaxation time.
"Is that one of the units you will be selling from the factory?" He asked.
"This is a custom item. The ones from the factory are made for a smaller, standard hearth. You could fit two of them in a fireplace this large. We thought that larger fake logs looked better with the size of the fireplace here, and it gives the soldiers more space to lay out wet gear.
There are also thermal fans built into the fireplace there at the corners.
When the fireplace is on, they blow hot air through the room."
Technically it was not a magitech item, as there was no magic involved, just science. But they were becoming incredibly popular among the farmers. If you put one on an iron stove, the whole house would warm up in minutes.
You could also point the fan toward another room, in case you wanted to heat a bedroom without lighting a fire in there.
As most farm houses were only three rooms, it was perfect.
"Alright, I’ve seen what I need. No complaints from me about the convention centre accommodations. Even if the Adventurers Guild takes it over after the meetings, it will still be a perfect spot for letting the out-of-town sorts stay." Claudius decided.
That only left the Manor, and when they made their way toward the walls, there was already a convoy of Royal Paladins and workers bringing crates inside.
"You really went all out, didn’t you?" Dominic joked.
Claudius laughed. "Some of those are gifts for the other Princes, the rest is decorations for a Royal Suite for the duration of the meetings. Since Wistover is being rebuilt as a central hub for international meetings, he thought that we should have a permanently established residence here.
Building the additional courtyards, with privacy and outdoor spaces, was a brilliant engineering choice. We can claim one for the Cygnia Crown without cramping the interior of the Manor.
Then, when any member of the Royal Family is visiting, they can be placed there without it being an insult to their status.
Even if we’re sharing, as long as there are enough rooms, protocol will consider it the same as an Embassy or minor Palace. No loss of status for multiple Royals to be housed together."
Dominic sighed dramatically. "All good news. I wish that I could take responsibility for the decision, but most of it was the Royals and the head of the Infrastructure Team. They’ve really gone all out on the improvements lately.
We’re beginning to feel like a small city already, and we’re only just getting started."
Dominic followed Claudius to the northeastern villa, where the staff were escorting all the incoming equipment.
That was when Dominic realized that everyone had been placed in a specific order.
Cygnia was on the northeast of the Manor, while Mitfield was on the South, and Axbridge was northwest. They hadn’t been placed to be evenly spaced, they were placed to represent the location of the city that they came from.
Cygnia was actually due east of Wistover, but the gate was east of the Manor, so there were no villas on that side of the compound.
Depending on how things went, that wouldn’t last, as there were a lot of small nations to the northeast. But for this meeting, it was perfectly symbolic.
If they met in the central garden, everyone would be walking toward their hometown when they finished the meeting.