The World Dragon's Heir

Now that he was separated from the Princess, more people came to greet Dominic, and the next few hours slipped by in a rush of laughing dancers and friendly faces.

Then Alexis returned, looking pleased with herself. "We should head back to the house for dinner before our evening plans. The ladies think that we should get a good spot by the river before sunset so that we are in place for the show."

That was a subtle way of saying, "Don't show up at the ribbon dance and intimidate or distract the girls."

While Dominic wasn't stupid enough to think that it was a good idea, it wasn't uncommon for Nobles, especially Dagos Nobles, to take multiple concubines, and also bed most of the maids in their employment.

If they got pregnant, there would be a significant payment, so many lowborn and impoverished girls saw it as a steady job with a chance at a huge bonus. And none of their mothers wanted to encourage that sort of thinking by having a married Noble at the singles' event.

That was a large part of what the ladies had talked about while Alexis was gone.

The rest was a discussion of how money and supplies were coming along, now that they were getting ready for the rainy season, where wet roads, high winds, and frequent childhood illnesses would keep nearly everyone around the house for months at a time.

The men had already prepared, and the lowland fields were planted to rice, which grew perfectly well in flooded fields. By the time that the rice was grown, the weather would be better, and the fields would naturally dry.

A perfect crop for otherwise unusable fields.

There was only one more thing that they were hoping for, and that was glass jars for canning.

The Elder Mrs Alator had mentioned that she could can and preserve much more if they simply had more jars. However, shipping empty canning jars wasn't cheap, and the jars weren't expensive.

So, the Merchant's Guild only brought a few cases at a time, just enough to keep up supplies in the general store. Not nearly enough for a large expansion of the storage style.

"I think that we can sort something out. With the [Transmute Stone] spell, you can make glass. It's not normally considered the best, or even a good way to use the magic, but glass is a form of volcanic sandstone, so it is possible.

If we fill a form with dirt and transmute it, we can make plenty of jars, then they'll just need copper lids and seals. Someone should know how to do it, but until the buildings are finished, I don't know if we've got enough mages.

I can ask the Artificer and the Steam Fitter if they have the spare time. They're not idle, but they're less busy than most of the others." Dominic suggested.

Alexis smiled. "I was just going to suggest paying the premium to fill a whole caravan wagon with jars. But if we can make them here, that's even better. From what I'm told, the old women of the Stansia Province are soup people."

Dominic chuckled. "You have no idea. For most of them, seven hundred and thirty jars of soup is their canning goal. Two a day, every single day of the year. If a meal other than breakfast is served without soup, it's either a light snack, or they're nearing starvation."

As if speaking of it had manifested soup, the first thing that Dominic smelled as he approached the Manor was potato bacon soup cooking.

Alexis noticed a few seconds later, and began to laugh.

"That doesn't count. Palace dinners start with soup, they're not just soup and bread."

Dominic shrugged. "Same thing, just fancy."

However, as Beth knew they were headed out for the evening, and almost everyone else was already out of the Manor, it was soup and sandwiches for dinner before Dominic led Alexis down to the river to the hidden Elven tree fort.

He smiled as he saw the familiar old wooden fort in the trees, with the carefully grown steps grown out of the tree trunk itself leading upward.

"Here we are. Would you like to go first? Or should I lead the way?" He asked.

Alexis looked around, then upward.

"Where are you even going?" She asked.

"To the tree fort?"

Dominic gestured up, and Alexis waved her hand.

"There is nothing up there. It's just an oak tree." She informed him.

Dominic winked at her. "In that case, climb on my back and I will lead the way."

Alexis laughed as she wrapped her legs around his waist and threw her arms over his shoulders, letting him wear her like a backpack. But the laughter stopped five steps up the tree, when the whole view changed, and there was a massive and ornate tree fort immediately above their heads.

"What the? It must be hidden with magic. How did you even know this was here?" She asked.

"Well, that explains why nobody else has found it or claimed it. I used to play here as a kid." Dominic explained.

The tree fort had been built as a fire watch, Dominic realized. He hadn't noticed as a child, but it was at the top of one of the tallest trees, which had been grown with magic to support the weight.

There wasn't much in the old tree fort, but Dominic had prepared. A padded mattress, soft sheets, blankets, and a low table to place their evening snacks on.

Alexis smiled as she saw him setting up the preparations for a 'romantic' evening, complete with small magitech lights set in the corners of the upper floor, where they would watch the fireworks, before retiring back to the interior level for the evening.

It was just a low glow, setting the atmosphere as they looked out over the trees and grasslands of the Duchy.

Dominic wrapped an arm around Alexis as the sun vanished beneath the horizon, and the last of the residents of the Baronies hurried home. They should still be able to see the show easily enough, but they didn't want to be caught on the road after dark.

The first explosions of the fireworks show gently shook the forest, as the mages used explosion magic to add impact to the sparkling lights.

"Not a bad plan, Lord Dominic." Alexis whispered in a sultry voice as the fireworks drowned out the sound of the celebrations.

"You know, with the disguise spell on this fort, nobody can see us..."