CHAPTER 256: TRAVELLING LAWMAN

While the circus set up, Dominic noticed that one of the men was in an intense discussion with the Merchant Guild’s trader.

They were still taking customers and reloading their wagons with goods for Lympsbury, as most of what they had was sold out by the time that they passed Castle City. But it had to be important for the Merchant to not make him wait until after the deals were done.

Finally, the Merchant nodded, and the man turned to walk to Dominic.

"Duke Wistover, if you have a moment, I would like to make a request of you." He asked.

Dominic nodded. "Certainly. Everyone nearby is privy to Duchy business, so ask away."

The only ones still standing nearby as the circus got ready to start were Alexis and a few of the royal guards.

"I see that your Duchy doesn’t have a lawman at the moment. I have experience in that field, and would like to apply for the position of Sheriff."

Dominic looked the man over, wondering if he was simply incredibly gutsy, or if he really had the qualifications. A Sheriff wasn’t a town guard Captain, or any such mundane position.

The Sheriff was the Lord’s Left Hand, the enforcer of laws and tax collection orders. The boogeyman that criminals and debtors feared.

While the man was tall and powerfully built, being a common goon wasn’t enough. He also had to possess the ability to accurately calculate and track debts, taxes collected, fines, and to negotiate legal disputes between villagers.

Seeing Dominic’s doubt, the man pulled his necklace from his shirt, revealing the trade skill core of a level thirty Gunslinger, and patches of silver scales on his chest.

Then, he took out a tarnished silver medallion and handed it to Dominic.

{North Kinewen County Sheriff} the badge read. It also had the mark of Wavemates on the back.

"You were a Count’s Sheriff before?" Alexis asked, recognizing the badge, just as Dominic had.

He nodded. "Nate is my name, and for thirty years I was the North Kinewen County Sheriff. One year ago, that old wizard convinced me to come along on his fool’s errand, but now I’m ready to settle down again and return to a stable life."

Alexis stared at Nate. "You served for thirty years?"

The lawman laughed. "Dragonkin age slowly. I will be a hundred years old soon, but I’ve got a few solid decades left before I start getting old and decrepit."

That made the Princess reassess everything that she had assumed about the man. He looked to be in his later middle years, and she would have put him in his mid to late forties. A good age for a Sheriff, as the job was the pinnacle of a lawman’s career, and didn’t come early in life.

But he was nearly twice what she had thought, and had probably been a Sheriff since he was fifty, then spent a decade in exile after the fall of Wavemates.

Dominic waited for Alexis to make a decision. He might be biased due to the man’s origin, but Alexis should see things clearly. Fortunately, she smiled and extended her hand toward Nate.

"You have yourself a deal. We will work out the pay details and housing once the carnival is on their way." She agreed.

Nate bowed politely and kissed her knuckles instead of shaking her extended hand, which made the Royal Guards chuckle.

It was very proper, but the Princess was a Paladin, and normally insisted that everyone treat her as such, and not as some delicate or ornamental Princess. Seeing their new Sheriff being so polite was an almost jarring transition from the casually militant treatment she was used to.

Then Nate straightened, and Dominic cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

"As you’re at least partially dragon blooded, I will need to ask what abilities you have."

The Sheriff shrugged. "I can use a bit of external mana. Not much, but I can reload my pistol even if I’ve got a mana lock strap on. I’m not a Royal Dragonkin, I come from the Kinewen Family. Noble, but not Royal Blood.

How much of the Wavemates blood did you get in exchange for such an obvious mark of heritage, Your Grace?"

Dominic smiled. "I can use external mana well enough to cast all my spells, and I can use the [Arcane Blast] at will."

Nate smiled. "Oh, now that is impressive. I haven’t heard of a Royal with that much power since I was a child. If you said that the Arcane Blast healed you, I would think that we had another King in the making."

Alexis gasped, and the Royal Guards chuckled nervously, which made the Sheriff look at Dominic suspiciously.

"You do, don’t you? Heal when you kill with the Arcane Blast." He asked.

Dominic nodded. "Indeed I do. But that’s not common knowledge outside the Cygnia Royal Family."

"I understand, My Lord. I will keep the extent of your powers to myself. I am certain that there are enough rumours to keep the truth muddled for ages, so long as you don’t confirm it yourself."

Alexis smirked at him. "Why don’t you tell us a bit more about those rumours? I know that you were in exile. But surely, you’ve heard at least a few."

Nate chuckled. "Let me regale you with the grand tale of the Butcher of Wistover."

Then he paused. "It feels wrong telling this story in bright daylight. Dagos Nobles tell this to their children as a horror story, like the old Ghost Stories."

Alexis raised an eyebrow at Dominic, who shrugged.

"It’s become a Beauty and the Beast type story now, isn’t it? The kiss of a beautiful princess tames the feral monster of a dragon, and they live happily ever after." He suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

The others chuckled, while the Princess blushed.

Then Nate continued. "As I heard the story, it goes like this.

After the assassination of the Dragon King, ten thousand men were sent to the wild lands of the south to secure the last of his lineage. Every man an elite veteran, trained for years and battle hardened through border skirmishes and monster hunts.

Like a wind, they swept over the corrupt lands of the Sorcerers and Beastmen, until they arrived at the final fortress, the mighty home of the Earl of Wistover."

He paused and smirked as he looked at the actual building in question.

Not exactly an impenetrable fortress.

"That was where the expansion of the Invincible Army was halted. The mighty fortress of the Earl fell in a single day before the might of Dagos’ Army. However, their hubris turned out to be their undoing.

For what they found at the border of Cygnia was no mere mortal.

The attempt to cleanse the land of mixed blood Sorcerers had awakened an ancient Evil, an Evil that had been embraced by the last of the Dragon King’s bloodline.

A feral Dragonkin known as Dominic.

Kept bound by the magic of the Dragon King, and unleashed with his death, the feral scourge annihilated everything in his path. An entire Regiment fell in minutes, not even the children of the village were spared.

Then, the Butcher of Wistover truly broke free of his restraints.

No longer confined to the Wistover Estate, he rampaged through the Invincible Army, killing everything in his path.

Soldiers, monsters, refugees. Nothing survived where the Butcher passed.

In desperation, the King of Dagos redeployed his armies.

Ten thousand men were sacrificed to lure the rampaging Ancient Evil across the border, and decades of negotiations with Axbridge were sacrificed to force them to ensure that it never returned." He finished dramatically.