The World Dragon's Heir

Alexis laughed as Dominic kissed her awake the next morning.

"You are incorrigible. What are people going to think if I head back to the Manor at dawn, limping?" She teased.

"That we actually found that monster fight you were hoping for?" Dominic replied with a smirk as his hand traced idle circles on her stomach.

"Speaking of which, we should head to the top floor and make sure that there really aren't any monsters coming. This place is actually perfect as a watch station. You can see the whole Duchy from here, if you've got sharp enough eyes." She insisted.

"Speaking of seeing the whole Duchy, there is an incoming caravan from the Cygnia side of the border, and it's not a Merchant Guild caravan.

Two trucks, plus a hundred cavalry riders. Definitely military, but I can't tell who from here." Dominic noted as they reached the top of the stairs.

Alexis turned to see what he was looking at, but couldn't make out much more than movement on the horizon until she took out a spotting scope.

"It's one of my brothers, I think. The lead truck has got the Royal Emblem on it, but I can't make out much more than that." She agreed.

Dominic turned to scan the woods and grasslands, searching for anything that might have been attracted by their light show last night.

There wasn't anything obvious, but there were a lot of places for monsters to hide, and even the best vision couldn't see through trees.

If they had an airship, they could scan from above, Dominic realized.

That might have to be their next project, unless they wanted to make some magitech river barges. Those would be valuable as well, but to the west, the closest major city to the river was Causter, and it wasn't directly on the river. So, they were actually the last stop on a river barge tour, unless the Merchant's Guild put a trading station at the highway north of Causter.

But downriver, they had Castle City, Darden, Skipington, Burton and Cygnia City all easily accessible from the water. Assuming you crossed the lake and took the Fihulton River to Burton, that was.

That would make the plan to sell the barges financially feasible, even if they weren't in the best spot for trading.

But that could wait until they had their first factory online. Getting shipbuilders to Wistover to make either the airships or the river barges would take some time and steady access to resources.

Neither of which they had in abundance.

"We should head down and get freshened up to meet with your brother.

Or, it could be one of your sisters. But it does seem more likely that it will be one of your brothers come to visit with a cavalry unit to search for the leftover Dagos miliary units and the herded monsters." Dominic announced with a sad sigh.

"You say that like you're not looking forward to clearing out any sign of Dagos soldiers that you find." Alexis retorted, with heavy sarcasm in her tone.

"Oh, that's not the issue. Just that they're going to want me to work when I've got so many better ideas on how to spend our days."

Dominic blew a kiss at Alexis as she arranged her clothes, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Single track mind."

Feeling the steps vanish beneath her hands as she got too far down the tree was an odd feeling, and Alexis ended up needing to heal her fingers after she slid the last five metres to the ground.

"Well, that was unexpected. Even though I know where it is, I still can't get to it without assistance. It looks like it's only accessible to certain people." She commented as Dominic followed her down.

"That is strange. But now I know that it's the perfect hiding spot for us to have a quiet night out. Nobody will bother us because nobody can bother us."

"That's actually a good point. Having a hiding spot that is hidden with magic is a huge advantage when we're trying to ambush something, or keep watch for threats. Even if Dagos sent spies, it won't matter if they can't see our lookout." Alexis realized.

"In that case, I should put it on my daily route. It doesn't take me long to get to the top and look around for threats, and that's a bit better than nothing.

With the river and the grassland, we have a pretty good line of sight to the east, but that's not the most likely direction for threats to approach from." Dominic agreed.

"Just family members and merchants. Now, we really need to hurry if we're going to be ready to greet them when they arrive."

She wasn't joking. By the time that they got back to the Manor, showered and Dominic had tossed a robe on, the caravan was already nearly at the gates.

"Trucks are too fast. If we hadn't seen them when we did, I would still be in the shower." Dominic grumbled as he prepared to meet them at the gate.

"Stall them for time, the Princess is still changing." Julio agreed.

She had the veiled maids to help her, but she also had much more work to do to get ready for guests than Dominic did.

Dominic didn't recognize the heraldry, but if his memory was right, it should be for either the sixth or seventh Prince of Cygnia. Either way, the man who stepped out first was not someone that Dominic recognized.

"Introducing the Sixth Prince of Cygnia, Lord of the Northern Marches, Commanding General of the Sixth Royal Reserve Cavalry, Prince Russel Cygnus."

The Prince stepped out of the carriage, short blonde hair and icy blue eyes marking him unmistakably as a member of the Cygnia Royal Family. Nobody else looked quite like that, but the Sixth Prince in particular looked nearly identical to his father.

"Prince Russel, welcome to Wistover. It's a pleasure to have you here. Please, do come in out of the sun." Dominic greeted him.

"Is my sister preoccupied?" The Prince asked in a cold tone, barely looking at Dominic.

"Yesterday was the Solstice Festival, so her schedule started a bit late this morning. She will join us in a few moments." Dominic assured him.

The Prince simply nodded and strode past him, headed straight for the house, while the staff scrambled to get everything ready for a Royal visitor. If only they had sent word ahead, it would have all been ready. But now that they were travelling by truck, there simply wasn't a faster vehicle in most convoys.