CHAPTER 273: BAD VIBES

They didn’t bother with the horse, and simply jogged out of town, stretching out their muscles for the morning. With the magical physical enhancements that both had, even a few kilometres was just a light warm-up.

Nate had his badge hung from his vest, making it immediately obvious that he was a lawman, while Dominic was in a red and gold coat that was impossible to mistake for anything but a Nobleman.

The fact that both had rifles slung over their shoulders was the part that made the convoy come to an immediate stop, though.

Looking at the refugees, it was obvious why the farmers had been suspicious of them.

They looked more like a bandit group than actual refugees. Some had rags on, and they all looked a bit too skinny, but some were wearing expensive jewellery that didn’t match their clothing, and the visible gang tattoos said that most of them weren’t upstanding citizens to begin with.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Wistover Duchy. What brings you all this way on such a fine morning." Nate greeted them with his hand casually on his pistol holster.

The closest of the refugees raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Sheriff, we mean no harm, we’re just looking for a safe spot to settle down. We came from Castle City when the food started to get low. The Merchant’s Guild showed up with relief supplies from up river, and you’re the first inhabited spot we’ve found that isn’t in a worse spot than Castle City." The man replied.

Nate frowned. "Are you willing to work for your keep? We don’t accept layabouts, beggars or thieves."

A few of the refugees looked amused at the thought. One sheriff wasn’t nearly enough to keep a town free of unsavoury sorts.

Dominic smiled. "The King has given me free rein to deal with criminals as I see fit. So far, we haven’t had many issues, but I have no issue reminding the world why they call me the Butcher of Wistover."

Most of the refugees went pale in the face at that announcement.

They had lived near this border all their lives. Half the population lived in fear that whatever cursed being lived on the other side of the border would come looking for them if they were out after dark.

Nate gave Dominic a strange look. Was that the sort of thing that you told people with your full chest? The Butcher of Wistover was a horror story you whispered by candlelight, with the windows shut tight.

Not someone who faced you with a smile and promises of violence in the morning light.

But Dominic kept speaking. "We do have a number of farms empty at the moment, for those willing to work the land. Housing in town is limited, but we are building more. If you would like to permanently settle in Wistover, you are welcome.

If not, we can help you along your way, though I can’t promise that there will be anywhere worth stopping. The cities in Stansia Province have the same issue that Castle City does, and the relief food shipment came from the Duchy."

The refugee group’s leader waved the others closer.

"So, you’re saying that all that food, three whole carts, came from here?"

Dominic nodded. "The King purchased a whole harvest to provide relief supplies for Castle City."

"That means the wild crops we found aren’t just luck? The other fields are still producing well?" He asked.

Dominic nodded. "Indeed."

The man paused, and someone behind him spoke up. "And no pretentious Nobles telling us how to live our lives?"

That made both Dominic and Nate laugh.

"What?"

"Did you miss the part where I am Dominic Wavemates, the Duke of Wistover? My rules might be less pretentious compared to some others, but there is very little mercy for those who break them." Dominic explained.

There was a lot of discussion among the refugees, and the group slowly started to separate into two factions.

Dominic pretended that he couldn’t hear the whispered slurs about demihumans pretending to be Noble, or about an upstart Duke who thought that the peasantry was something that he could control just by setting rules.

Alexis insisted that his innate bias toward the people of Wavemates clouded his thought processes when determining who was trustworthy, but this sort of casual disrespect was something that human nobles didn’t ever have to deal with.

After a few minutes, the arguments started to get heated enough that Nate was considering whether he should step in, but the refugee group sorted it out by themselves.

"Fine, if you want to stay here with some demihuman playing at being a Duke, you can. But we’re going to look for a respectable Noble Estate who can take us in. There was no shortage of casualties during the war, there has to be empty land." One of the men insisted.

Nate cleared his throat. "In that case, follow the river to the highway, then head west. There are entire abandoned villages there, which will soon have established Cygnia Nobles taking over their management.

You will have a place to stay, and an old blood family in charge of your territory."

He omitted the part where many of the people who were currently here in Wistover had come from the Causter area, a hundred and some kilometres west of the river, down the highway.

The situation there wasn’t great, but there were plenty of empty villages and tilled fields, ready to be taken over by new residents.

Assuming they didn’t starve to death before they could get a harvest in.

After the refugee group’s leaders separated the ones willing to stay and work from the ones who were either grifters or simply didn’t want to stay here, there were only ten remaining.

The others simply kept moving along, bypassing the village entirely, while the local farmers watched them suspiciously.

As they passed out of sight, the man who had first greeted them turned to Dominic.

"How did you know, Your Grace?"

Dominic shrugged. "That they were trouble? I didn’t, not really. I just went with the feeling that they were giving the locals.

The vibe that a group of refugees gives is actually pretty reliable. If they were looking for work, they would have been paying more attention to the land, looking for good places to settle.

But other than looking to fill their bags with wild vegetables, the group wasn’t interested."

The leader of the small group that stayed chuckled. "Well, it’s not like any of us know the first damned thing about farming. We’re all city folk from the outskirts of Castle City. Our homes were destroyed during the attacks, but frankly, we’re tired of living in an overcrowded slum.

The others, they all came from somewhere else, thinking they’d make it big with their skills. But there’s no work anywhere, and no empty shops to set up in, even if they had money for inventory."

Nate sighed. "So, now we get to find a spot for the lot of you. I don’t suppose any of you are family members?"

Four of the ten raised their hands, and the Sheriff smiled. "Well, that’s a start. That means we’ve got six singles, and no rooming house."

Dominic shrugged. "There are still a few empty houses until we get one built. Sharing a house with others is better than sleeping in the mud. Let’s get you all settled, and you can introduce yourself around looking for work.

There isn’t much here either, but there are plenty of new shops who might need someone who knows how to prove themselves."