The World Dragon's Heir

Unfortunately for Dominic, the outcome was inevitable.

A subtly cast slowness spell took a second to break after hitting him, and that gave the ladies a chance to get both of his arms, while a third one tackled him by the waist, taking him to the ground.

"Excellent work, ladies. A bit slower than we had hoped, but you get the idea now. You just need to restrain them enough to get them on the ground, and then you can properly control the troublemaker to remove them from the room.

Most of the time, the combatant will be drunk. That is when the problems usually start. But drunks can be unpredictable, and if there is one positive thing to be said about Lord Dominic's fighting style, it is that it is never predictable." Alexis congratulated them as Dominic got up and brushed himself off.

"Alright, everyone hit the showers, and if your duties are done for the day, you can go join the festivities at the town site. It is the equinox festival, and I am told that they are setting up a number of games and events." Alexis announced.

Nobody needed a second reminder, and they all rushed inside, eager to see what sort of events the townspeople had come up with.

In some of the wealthier regions, it was customary for the local Nobles to set off fireworks in the evening, but Dominic had completely forgotten that there was a holiday coming up, so if nobody else in the house remembered and ordered them from a caravan, there would be none this time.

Well, perhaps not.

He could alter the munitions spells to create the equivalent of a coloured flare that he could fire straight up in the air.

With ten Royal Guards, they could fire one after another and make something of a fireworks show. However, he would need to test that in advance, and that would ruin the surprise.

"Will your festival plans be finished by dark?" Alexis asked. "The men of the Purity Sect are planning to put on a show with magic, and I expect it to attract either monsters or wild beasts."

"They can be. It's just a matter of timing. I was planning to watch the sunset, though." Dominic suggested.

"Oh, not bad. Did you have a properly romantic spot in mind?"

Dominic winked at her. "An old Elven style tree fort by the river. Rumour says it was made and enchanted by an actual Elf. But it's got a great view down the water to the sunset."

Alexis smiled. "And I take it that Beth prepared snacks and such already?"

"But of course. I put them in my storage cube this morning so that I didn't have to sneak over to get it if we ended up delayed in town."

"We can make that work. If we're in a tree stand at sunset, looking over the river, we should have one of the best views of any potential monster attacks. It might hinder our response time, but we might also see the movement in the distance first, thanks to the higher elevation."

Dominic chuckled and kissed her on the cheek. "Such romantic notions. Now I almost hope that we do get to go pick a fight with some monsters in the dark."

Alexis laughed. "Well, you might get your wish. Now, why don't we get changed and go visit the town? They should have a surprise ready for us."

Dominic could already hear the excited voices of children, though the town didn't have as many of them as would normally be expected.

If the kids were excited, then he knew that there was something fun prepared in town, but he hadn't been in Cygnia long enough to actually see one of the equinox parties in action.

The first thing that he noticed when they reached town were the makeshift stalls. It was set up like a carnival, with simple games giving out simple prizes. In a big city, they might be fancier prizes for a fee to play, but here, it was all candy and the games were either being played by children or young couples trying to impress each other.

Someone had collected a bunch of finger sized trout from the river, and people were trying to catch them with nets made of thin paper.

It was a nearly hopeless cause, but it was fun and infinitely repeatable. That was the important part.

Dominic and Alexis strolled past the first few games, arms linked while children ran up to say hello, and the locals made polite greetings.

"Is it just me, or are there a lot of new pregnancies?" Alexis whispered after a few minutes of walking through the crowd.

"Everyone wants to celebrate their arrival at a new home, right? It's an inevitable side effect." Dominic joked.

But the number really was shocking. It wasn't just one or two, close to a quarter of the young women were beginning to show. The midwife was going to be incredibly busy soon, as even if they had attempted to organize such an event, it would have been highly unlikely to get this sort of result.

Dominic stopped to buy them some strawberry filled pastries, while Alexis was swarmed by young women asking for blessings.

It was custom in many regions to ask the local Nobles to bless your pregnancy, either because they actually had magic that might help, as Alexis did, or because it would let them know that a child was coming, and that nothing untoward had happened that people were trying to hide.

The bigger the town, the less personal these things were. But with only a few hundred people in total, and a Noble Family of only two recently arrived people, that generational disconnect didn't exist yet.

While Alexis was busy, Dominic went to help a group of young boys, who were determined to get a fudge square for knocking over all five targets with small beanbags.

The trick was that there was sand in the bottom of the vases, so you had to hit them just right on the top to get them to tip. It was a classic carnival trick, and the stall normally made a fortune when they were charging.

Today, it was free. They would eventually give the kids the fudge, but pride demanded that they manage to knock down at least one or two of the targets before they would accept it.