The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 359

Chapter 359: No Repeats
Dominic watched as more families of adventurers disembarked, or had one member disembark to come greet him.

“Duke Wistover, it is a pleasure to meet you. Did you have a map of the available farm plots? Do any of them have legacy buildings?” One of the men asked.

“Everyone gather around. It’s easier to just say this once.” Dominic began.

“Most of the farm houses here remain intact and unlooted. You can spread either north or south of the river, it is all within the Duchy, and there are houses on both sides.

If you look a little, many of the farm houses will have a magitech stove. That is obviously the prime choice if they are still intact.

I have also instructed the farmers not to loot other houses. They were moving into fully stocked homes, in need of renovation. So, there should be dishware, furniture and much more already in most of the houses.

If you have your own, you can donate what you find to those in need.

All that I ask is that you send someone back to town within the next three days to inform us of the plot that you have chosen, and that you do not try to claim more than you can work.

We do have magitech tractors here to assist with the tilling, but most of the fields have volunteer crops in them, and many of the gardens are intact.

You will be best off to harvest what is there and prepare for the rainy season.

It is possible to grow a second annual crop here, but the wet season is colder, and the harvest won’t be as good. Which means that the dry season crop is the more important of the two.” He finished.

The new arrivals waited through his customary speech with growing anticipation. Even if they had to fix an old farm house, it was better than nothing. It wasn’t easy to bring everything with them on the trip, but none of them knew what they would find here when they arrived.

So, they had packed everything they could, including some building materials that would be difficult to get locally.

Much of that wouldn’t be needed, except to renovate. But it was still good to have it all.

The new arrivals stopped to shake his hand on the way out, and then the vehicles began to spread out in different directions, with groups of families guessing what direction might hold the best farmland.

Dominic noticed that the tractor pulling the trailers where Wiz and Bella’s family were waving to him was a newly purchased one, still shiny at the fittings, where they would get dull after a year or two of exposure to the elements.

But they had brought a fair bit of equipment, including the thresher that Dominic had repaired the last time he saw them. The one that the horse had kicked into submission.

Half of the wagons were still stationary, arguing about what direction to go, as each tractor pulled a half dozen families worth of goods, and not all of them had the same idea on where they wanted to settle.

But they all wanted to get there first.

Unfortunately for Dominic, that was still the case when the Merchant Guild Caravan arrived.

“Merchant. Excellent timing. The new arrivals were just about to head out and look for farms. Let me catch a ride with you, and we can head for the factory.

Julio, can you help the Adventurer’s Guild Master get settled? We still have prices to negotiate for the factory goods.” Dominic noted.

Julio bowed, but the Guild Master was already gone. He had taken off the moment that the farmers started to move, as he was eager to see his new Guild House, and the amenities that Dominic had promised.

The trip to the factory was a short one, as the route had been designed to be easy to traverse with a trade caravan. But the look on the merchant’s face when he saw that there were indoor loading and staging areas was worth the effort of riding over with him.

“If you send the empty wagons to the far side of the building, that’s where the goods are staged today.

Any of the others can pull inside at this end for repairs or inspection.

We’ve got a fully stocked carriage maker, plus Techno Wizards and Steam Fitters. Anything that your equipment is likely to need can be either made or sourced here.” Dominic explained.

The doors were rolled open, and the merchant clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention before shouting orders to move.

“This is perfect. We’ve got a damaged wheel spindle that we’ve been putting off for a few days now, as we didn’t want to fabricate something on the side of the road.” He explained.

“Even if it’s a large repair, you’re fine. We’ve got water storage tanks and a gantry crane that can lift a full pressure vessel. So, if you need a bracket repaired, or an axle swapped, it’s not a problem.” Dominic added.

The carriage maker and his assistants rushed over as the merchants pulled into the bays.

They got the repair list from the drivers, and brought it to the boss for approval, as he would be the one paying, and they didn’t want to do anything he hadn’t approved.

“That’s all fine by me. It’s better to do it here than to wait again. With Castle City in such a mess, we don’t want to get repairs there, and that means Darden or Skipington at the earliest.

It might even be the capital before we find another shop that can get us in immediately.” He agreed.

The Carriage Maker nodded along in agreement. The worse that the backlog and mess in the other cities got, the better it was for him. They might be in the middle of nowhere, but that was where parts always broke.

Fixing tractors kept them going, and they could sell a few new builds to the farmers. But a nice long list of maintenance items on a merchant caravan was a never-ending supply of well paying rush work.