CHAPTER 260: THE KING’S MAN

Dominic stopped to check on the new woodcutters, hunters and some of the new ranchers that had moved in closest to the river before he returned to the Manor.

The lowlands weren’t great for crops because they flooded a few times a year. But with the houses up on the hill, it was still a great spot for animal pastures, and the plants grew back with astounding speed.

"Lord Dominic, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is John Mackay. I was once a friend of your Uncle, my condolences on your loss. Unfortunately, work took me out of the country during the invasion, and I was unable to get back fast enough to fulfil my duty.

However, I am thankful to have gotten the opportunity to see the Wavemates Family redeemed and returned to at least a portion of their ancestral home." The sheep farmer greeted Dominic as he approached.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, John. You’ve brought quite the herd with you." Dominic replied.

The sheep farmer nodded happily. "Part of that is my wife’s doing. Her father was a sheep rancher as well. Most of the farm went to her older brothers, but with the money I had, we chose to stock up and move here when we heard that you returned."

{King’s Man Number 1 has returned to Wavemates.} The farmer signed as he spoke.

Dominic smiled and shook his hand, clasping his forearm in the way of Wavemates soldiers.

"It’s good to have you back. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time today to socialize. I was asked by the Princess to check on all the new arrivals after I settled the Witches in.

They’re over in the woods, and prefer privacy, but they don’t seem like the sort that will be upset if a few sheep or goats wander near their house." He explained.

John chuckled. "They’re an interesting sort. Did they tell you they’re garden witches?"

Dominic shook his head. "No, and I wouldn’t have believed it if they did. Their leader is a Swamp Hag. They do have strong nature magic, though. So, they can do the job of helping the crops with their magic.

We do have an Elven Garden Witch at the Manor. She took a horse hoof to the head as a youth, and needs someone to watch out for her, but she’s good at her job."

John made a protective gesture, wishing her well. "That’s unfortunate. Elves are excellent with garden magic. My wife and I both have a little magic. Mine isn’t really suited to farming, but she’s got a natural touch with animals."

"Well, that will make life easier. I suspect that many of the common folk who have come to live here have at least some measure of magic." Dominic agreed.

"And that was why we were so eager to move away from the Dagos corrupted city folk. Life is sure to get better when we don’t need to hide who we are, or the fact that we have magic.

Many survived on the brink of starvation because things were so bad in the north, drought and all. But they didn’t dare to use much magic, as it would bring the Nobles down on their heads."

"It was that bad?"

John nodded. "If you can pass for human, they will call you a Wizard, maybe a Witch, and you’ll get extra scrutiny from the guards. Even the Techno Wizards, whose magic is totally different, get that treatment from Dagos, and it’s no secret that the Kingdom needs their skills.

But those of us with actual innate magic from monster blood? Dagos doesn’t tolerate that sort of impurity in their humans."

Dominic sighed. "That’s what I heard from the Techno Wizards in town. They’re shooting themselves in the foot with that tactic, but they refuse to change.

Well, maybe they will begin to change under the new King, but I wouldn’t hold my breath."

The bleating of a sheep drew John’s attention, and the two men parted to finish their work. Dominic scouted a few more of the farms, asking around to see if they were missing anything essential.

In most cases, that answer as no. The farm houses they had chosen were still intact and complete. At most, they only needed a few little things that would either come from the Mercantile or from Pops.

They would get to know everyone in town after a little while, and from what Dominic could see, they were developing a rather healthy village.

Most of the surviving buildings were already full, not even a month after they had moved into the Estate.

He was going to have to start rebuilding.

Dominic returned to the house, and found Alexis sitting at the table with a stack of papers open, going over some sort of charts.

"Did you find anything out of the ordinary?" She asked.

"A few interesting characters. I moved the witch coven into my old family house, and there is one of the Dragon King’s Men living on the farms. Other than that, I noticed we’re running short on houses in town.

We’ve got a nearly complete village already, and I suspect that we’re going to quickly end up with a small city.

Everyone with magic wants to be here. Not just from Kinewen Province, but from the cities under Cygnia control. The people without magic have started taking on the Dagos attitude to magic users, and it’s no secret that we’re taking them in here." He replied.

Alexis pinched the bridge of her nose. "I was just running crop production numbers to see what we needed to support the village, I didn’t need to hear that the numbers are going to change that quickly."

Dominic shrugged. "If it helps, we got two more steam tractors today, brought by new arrivals with money. We might be nowhere near full use of the cropland, but with so much technology, we might have to increase the allotment from forty acres to eighty for many of the larger families.

That’s still easily workable for them when they’ve got steam tractors. Also, the ranchers have moved in down by the river, with a few fields up the hill, for the spring flood season."

Alexis slowly closed the folder full of data and frowned.

"Julio, I will look at these later. After we update them again. For now, just let me know if there are any rumours that we might be running short on food of any particular sort."