CHAPTER 258: NEW LAWMAN

Dominic laughed at the confused booing as Nate took the stage between shows and didn’t immediately begin dancing or performing a trick.

"I’m not going to hold up the show, I promise. I just wanted to introduce myself while everyone was here. My name is Nate, and Duke Wistover just hired me from the convoy to work as the Sheriff of Wistover.

If you have any issues or spot danger, you can come to me.

I am a skilled gunslinger, and I’m capable of assisting with anything from bandits to roaming Goblins.

Now, I believe that the ladies have a dance troupe routine for you while the trapeze swings are adjusted for the next set.

Enjoy." Nate explained.

There was cheering when he left the stage, but it was much more likely for the scantily clad women tossing candy into the crowd than for the prospect of a new Sheriff.

The dancing girls were always popular among the boys and men.

While the ladies danced, the Merchant Guild finished their work, and took orders from the shops in town that would need supplies again soon.

However, by the time that the shows were taking a break, and the locals were lined up for freshly fried mini donuts, the convoy coming from the other direction was already in sight.

And they had quite the prodigious convoy with them.

Alexis frowned as she saw them coming. "Did they uproot half a city and send them our way? And there are a lot of uniform jackets in that convoy."

Dominic looked closer, then nodded.

"Enlisted soldiers, or perhaps town guards? It’s hard to tell without any of the badges on them. They really might have emptied an entire village and sent them our way." He agreed.

The carnival saw that there was another convoy coming, and prepared to pack up and get on the road.

Those were all new customers, but they were also refugees that needed to be housed, and that would mean that everyone in town was about to be busy, and they would need to reopen all the shops.

The last to close up was the donut cart, which was hastily loaded when the last customer was served, moments before the caravan departed with the ringing of bells and cheerful well wishes from the villagers.

The incoming caravan was much less cheerful than the travelling carnival, but as Dominic and Alexis jogged over to meet them at the edge of the village, the exhausted atmosphere began to change.

"Princess, Duke Wistover. It’s a pleasure to see you in person. We have the rest of the new hires from your list, as well as numerous other volunteers." The caravan leader declared.

"You filled the entire list?" Dominic asked.

The list was all skilled professionals, and not an easy group to get to move to a rural Duchy.

The Merchant nodded. "You see... it’s like this..."

He paused, as if unsure how he should phrase the next part to make it sound a bit more palatable to the Nobles.

"The city of Grantbute suffered heavily during the war. These good folk are from the surrounding villages, and a few from the city itself. They were intending to make rafts and simply float down the river, knowing that it would lead them to you.

However, that wasn’t practical with everything that they wanted to bring. Livestock don’t do well on rafts.

There are farmers, and a number of other professionals, including most of the staff of the former Viscount’s Manor. The Cygnia Military dismissed them now that their former Lord is gone, but I believe they will be loyal enough.

Though... Your Manor is somewhat smaller than I had expected. Given the legends of the region, I had expected it to be more of a fortified keep." The Merchant explained.

Alexis winked at Dominic. "War stories tend to be told to make the winners sound more impressive."

"Well, the important part is that the Merchant’s Guild has fulfilled our commission, and we have made delivery of every professional that was requested." He declared proudly.

Alexis nodded, and handed the man a small sack of gold coins, which he weighed with an expert hand, then nodded happily.

"It’s been a pleasure doing business, Princess. We are intending to establish weekly caravans from Lympsbury in the near future, so I expect that I will see you again very soon."

Dominic shook the Merchant’s hand. "Now that I’ve got one Baron in place, and more to come, I will start improving the roads in the region as well. It might take years before anyone improves the whole three hundred and some kilometres to Lympsbury, but rest assured that I will start improving the region under my supervision."

The Merchant sighed in relief. "You have no idea how nice it will be to have even a little bit of road to work with. I don’t know if they simply shipped everything by river in the past or what, but this is ridiculous."

Dominic smirked at him. "This region was deliberately remote. The Merchant’s Guild came once a month, over land."

The Merchant mentally calculated the reasons for that, then realized that the most likely was that the Earl of Wistover was the Wavemates Border Station, and he was willing to overlook a few small discrepancies between what came through and what was reported to the King’s tax collector.

For a price, naturally.

That was just good business practice when you were dealing in everything that could fit in a wagon.

The Caravan Leader handed Dominic the list of everyone that he had procured for the Duchy, and Dominic nodded.

"Alright, I will meet with the head of every family and explain the process. Some of them can likely accompany Baron William and his group back up river. There is a Barony Manor there with more farmhouses than he’s got people, and the fields between here and there are in good shape.

Many of the good farms closest to the Ducal Manor have already been claimed, but it’s only three kilometres to the Barony Manor. There is no village to speak of, just the farms and the Manor, but there is room for more houses."

The Merchant nodded. "Perhaps a few of the farmers."

{I brought you an entire Witch Coven as well, six women, who will want a rural home.} He signed.

"Excellent. Baron William will be pleased."

{Send them to me, and I will show them the right spot.}