The World Dragon's Heir

After a light snack, the Prince excused himself to go check on his soldiers, while Dominic went to see how Jasmine, the farrier, was doing with the horses.

They had most likely not been well serviced since the war started, and if they had been ridden long distances on stone roads, the shoes would all be heavily worn. That would mean four hundred shoes to replace, and that was more than a few days of work.

"My Lord. Good to see you out and about. I wasn't sure that you would make it back on time when we saw the convoy on the horizon." She greeted him, without slowing the steady hammering of her trade.

She was reshaping a damaged leg plate, not a horseshoe, but for mechanical horses, that still fell to the farrier's duties.

"I just wanted to make sure that you had what you needed, and that you didn't have to do a hundred sets of shoes." Dominic joked.

Jasmine shook her head. "No, they were all replaced recently. Most likely by the Royal Farrier when they were in the capital. They'll be good for months still, unless they're marching on stone."

Dominic shook his head. "They're going to inspect the territory for us. The King has seen fit to expand the Duchy, and they're here to make sure that it's not still inhabited by hostile Dagos forces.

I don't know of any villages, but there might be some settled in further from us, and they will inform them of the change in leadership when they find them."

"And that means you're off to make more weapons." Jasmine realized.

"Predictable, right? Yes, I'm going to make them some better spears so that they don't struggle against the wildlife. At this rate, I might have to build another forge in the compound so that I don't have to keep borrowing the other side of Pops' forge."

Jasmine laughed as she worked. "He doesn't mind. He's always in a better mood when you've been over for the day, and he had someone competent to work with. The Steam Fitter only has half a clue, and it drives the old man insane."

The steam fitter trade was more of an apprentice position to begin with, not focused on magitech or artistic craftsmanship, but on ensuring that steam vessels and lines didn't leak. They were the practical workers who made everything function, but they were not artisans.

"If you're good here, I will let you go. Remember, you can make the stable hands do the heavy lifting for you."

Dominic left her to her tasks and walked into town. A walk that was no longer much of an open area, as the new housing development took up half the open area between the old village and the Manor.

The Architect had tried to make them a bit more interesting, but they were still basic fieldstone rectangles with a tile roof on them. Well suited to the climate and the design of the rest of the town, but hardly interesting.

However, Dominic noticed that the warehouse they were erecting for the factory was much more detailed. They had designed it with a smooth sandstone surface, which allowed them to do some basic details on the block work.

It didn't match anything else, but it was a good-looking building, and it would be sturdier than fieldstone if things went wrong inside.

The chances of an explosion making magitech lights were very low, but the factory might not make the same products forever. Dominic had many more ideas for products that they could make, but all of them would have to wait until they had more skilled workers.

Even if they cleared out every single Techno Wizard looking for work, they wouldn't find enough unemployed workers in Cygnia to staff a second factory.

So, it was all up to who was unemployed and willing to move in Stansia Province.

And that was a huge unknown.

If you added the populations of Lympsbury, Causter and Wistfield, you had nearly three quarters of a million people. But the Dagos occupation had driven out most of their skilled workers, and it was unknown how many were going to be willing from wherever they had ended up to try starting over in Wistover.

"Oh, Lord Dominic, great timing. Can you come over here for a moment?" Sunni, their short and hairy architect, called from the factory's side door.

Dominic jogged over to see what the man needed, and followed him into the cavernous interior of the factory. There was a single row of stone pillars in the middle of the room, forming arched supports for the upper floor. It had been set six metres overhead, so the second level would be the shorter of the two, closer to residential roof heights.

But it wasn't intended to be a workspace. The second level was supposed to be nothing but catwalks and crane rigging, according to the plans.

"Are we anticipating larger products than lights?" Dominic asked as he realized the building was being set up for heavy equipment.

"Well, it's like this, you see. We've been talking to the people around town, and then we calculated the space we had designed. What we realized was that we could run the whole production line for the lights and the fireplaces along that wall.

See, we've already got them roughed in. That's the press for making copper sheeting from clay, the die presses will go there to cut rough shapes, and then the assembly stations.

Then, starting from the far wall, we have the clay moulds for the fireplace logs, then the blast furnace for firing the clay, and the painting stations, followed by the final assembly station, where the magitech orbs made on the other side will be inserted and tested.

But that efficient design left us half a building free.

We can't get too many caravans here to move the goods, so there was no point in doubling the setup down the other side. But the carriage maker suggested that we put in some loading docks and storage space, then leave a portion for farm equipment parts making.

There are some Smithy Apprentices in the last batch, and they've got travelling experience repairing steam carriages. So, we can start making parts and repairing the convoys that come to pick up goods from us, or even expanding the production of parts for the carriage maker, who is setting up his shop to make new tractors."

His tone was getting more excited as he talked, and Dominic couldn't find an argument against his logic. The production line that he designed was very space efficient, and his math was right. They would be able to turn out hundreds of pieces a day.

That was enough that even the wealthier Guild members would struggle to afford buying them out with weekly convoys.