The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 452

Chapter 452: For The Dwarves
The Dwarf who Dominic assumed was the spokesman for the group stroked his beard and smiled.

“Well, if we want to work on magitech trains after we finish with the airships, I don’t mind. We’ve been working on new carriages for ages, and a steam locomotive isn’t all that different from a good steam tractor.”

Fahad nodded. “It’s all about the infrastructure. We’re still working on getting good roads everywhere. Building dedicated railroads is likely to be put off until that is sorted out.

Even if it would be more practical, since the only ones who use some of the routes are merchants.”

The Merchant nodded. “It has come up, but the Kings feel that giving dedicated routes to the Guild, which require vehicles that cannot leave the tracks, or overtake other vehicles that might be using the route, is not advisable.”

Put that way, it made sense. It was a lot of land to give to the Merchant’s Guild. But more than that, it solidified their right to exclusive transport rights, over any other independent merchants who wanted to move goods in a region.

That was a problem on many levels.

Not just because of the lack of competition, but from the chance of sabotage by other merchants and even Nobles who didn’t have a good relationship with the Guild.

And it wouldn’t necessarily be unprovoked. Once they had control of a route, the Guild was known to raise prices, extracting as much profit as they could while they held a monopoly.

That was normal for any businessman, but it wasn’t the sort of behaviour that could encourage a King to give them more power.

So, until a Kingdom decided that it needed a national railroad system of their own, it was unlikely to become a reality. A shame, from a logistical standpoint. But utterly practical from a political one.

“How much do you think that you can improve the airships by?” Prince Fahad asked, hoping to get some solid details out of the newly arrived Techno Wizards.

“We should be able to make a doubling of the cargo capacity a reality, but we will have to study the design for the new turbine to see whether it would be worth it.

The major issue is structural integrity, you see.

The airship frames are lightweight, but they won’t hold up to high-speed travel, it’s too much for them. They also have a large amount of wind resistance, which increases drastically with speed.

However, even a twenty to thirty percent increase in speed would be worth the switch, assuming that the turbines are appropriate.

Simplicity is king in long-distance travel, after all.

However, with so many mages in one spot, we can certainly come up with something that will help.”

That was the same conclusion that Pops had come up with when Dominic first got the turbine plan, It was too complex for most shipyards to deal with, unless they had specialized training.

Prince Fahad smiled. “This is wonderful news. I didn’t expect that the team would be intending to improve airships, and not just make them to improve availability.

If that project is a success, the Kingdom of Axbridge might be willing to purchase at least ten of them from you in the new design.”

“Now we’re talking. Airships are good money. I’m sure that you understand the restrictions we might encounter if you ask us to load them with cannons, though. That’s a whole other negotiation.” Dominic agreed.

The Dwarves silently celebrated. They hadn’t even started work on the new design, and they already had leads on Royal customers.

“Let’s get you to the shop so that the caravan can finish their reloading procedures. I’m sure that you’re all interested in seeing your new workshop, and it’s got residences built into it, or you can stay in town and walk out in the morning.

I was warned that it was dwarves coming, so the dorms are near the forge.” Dominic joked.

The Techno Wizard who spoke for the group smiled. “I heard that you’re a Dwarf’s apprentice as well.”

Dominic nodded. “Journeyman now. Pops has taken a new apprentice since he arrived here in Wistover.”

“The Master from Cygnia City? Now, that’s a bit of good luck on our part. We’ll be able to get all the tools we need without having to explain what they are.”

They definitely knew Pops.

“We can certainly arrange for tools to be made if they’re something that you can’t make for yourself. I suspect that you can make most of the tools that you need for your work, but for the tools that you need to make the tools for airship manufacturing, those he should be able to provide quickly.”

The Dwarves smiled. “I knew that Wistover wouldn’t let us down.”

The whole group left for the new factory, while the Dwarves resisted the urge to ask about the group of Trolls that had followed them through town.

They were obviously Dominic’s guards, but they were armoured as if he were in the middle of a siege and expecting an imminent breach of the walls.

The nonexistent town walls.

But really, Dave just loved his armour and didn’t want to go anywhere in just his uniform now that he had it.

The uniform was still fully intact underneath, so in the minds of the trolls, it was the best of both worlds.

Plus, they got two name tags.

“Gentlemen, welcome to your new home. We will start here with the main construction area, where we’ve equipped the floor with multiple overhead cranes, as well as a boom and platform system for moving workers around the envelope of the airship as the construction is completed.

That should allow you to build much larger sections for efficiency, and lift them into place.

Now, the real trick will be in the magic and making it all work together with enough efficiency that we can actually sell these to the average Merchant Guild Officer.

Without requiring them to hire techno wizards just to fly.” Dominic began.

And then the Dwarves were off, still listening, but spreading out to see what the building had to offer without waiting for the tour.

“I don’t think that they’re going to say no to the job offer, that’s for sure.” Prince Fahad joked.

“Wouldn’t that be awkward? Bring them all the way here, and then find out that they don’t want the job.”

But there was no chance of that, they were shouting at each other about features they had uncovered, and the excitement was real. Dominic could only wait until they saw the marvel that was the hydraulic doors, which would allow the whole end of the building to open and let out the completed work.