As expected, an hour wasn’t nearly enough, and the maids were pointedly ignoring the state that the Royal couple were in when they brought the baby for a feeding.

"I’ve hired a wet nurse, but we alternate. I swear that this girl is a bottomless pit. The wet nurse is part troll, and even she can’t keep up." Alexis explained as Katerina made greedy grabby hands at her.

Dominic gave Katerina a double thumbs up, and the little girl giggled, unaware of what was going on, but sensing the amused, yet slightly annoyed, tone in her mother’s voice.

Dominic grabbed clothes and headed for the shower, leaving Alexis to her tasks.

By the time that he got downstairs, there was a group of older men waiting for him in the sitting room, led by Rill, the local Merchant Guild representative.

"Duke Wistover, these fine gentlemen urgently requested a meeting. I do hope that you don’t mind." Rill greeted him.

"Of course not. Being available to the people is an important part of keeping a Duchy running smoothly. Now, who might I have the pleasure of meeting today?"

"Your Grace, these three men are the Cygnia division leaders of their respective Guilds.

This is my superior, Count Duntamers of the Merchant’s Guild. I do trust that you can remain somewhat discreet about this matter. It’s not good for business if everyone knows that the Count and his port are directly affiliated with the Guild.

Then, we have Lord Shadow of the Assassin’s Guild." The man nodded politely, and Dominic realized that the man’s face was a transformation ability. Similar to Amie, but he wasn’t a full-blooded Doppelgänger, and the transformation wasn’t perfect.

"And finally, we have Ragnar Ironbeard of the Innkeeper’s Guild. Of note, he is also an Elder of the Brewmaster’s Guild. His identity is not so much a secret, though you won’t see him at court."

The Dwarf laughed, and Dominic chuckled. "No, I suspect not. He doesn’t seem the sort to volunteer to be tortured."

"I’m glad that you understand, and I do hope that we can work out an arrangement, in your capacity as Governor."

Dominic nodded. "The region does need many of its highway stops rebuilt, and there are no Inns that I know of in most of the Barony towns. I don’t know the state of affairs in the three cities, but if you need an introduction, I can arrange one."

The Dwarf shook his head, making his beard sway. "No, I have already made contact there. Moving the locals between branches isn’t a big deal. Mostly, I just need to speak with you about the situation here in Wistover Duchy.

One Inn simply isn’t enough."

Dominic nodded. "I agree. We do need another. There is also space for another in multiple parts of town, and I’ve reserved a few spots for workers taverns in the residential areas.

Every few blocks, there is a small group of shops, so that people don’t have to go all the way across town for essentials. Well, in theory. Most of them are actually specialty shops, so people come from across town for them.

I don’t micromanage things, I just approve zoning for new developments.

Now, how should we arrange this?

If Innkeeper Ragnar is just looking for approvals, I can refer him to Castellan Julio, who can show him the open spots for taverns and Inns, which both fall under his Guild. That’s not an issue.

Don’t run away after, though. Chef Beth makes the most incredible dinners."

Ragnar smiled. "We can make time to chat later. There are other matters to discuss, other than new business."

"Alright, I will have the maids prepare rooms."

"Count Duntamers should go next. My business can wait until the end."

The Count nodded to the assassin, and Dominic noted the way that they appeared to be familiar with each other, but the Count wasn’t used to seeing the assassin’s face.

Or perhaps just not this face.

"Well, what I have to say is no secret to either of these men. So, I will go with it.

The Merchant’s Guild has a standing order for airships, to be purchased by our members as they are produced. I know that you have one factory dedicated to our orders, and the other to the Kingdom’s orders, as well as other customers.

That works perfectly for us.

The part that we needed to confer with you about was the fact that we will be using them for overseas shipments as well.

You see, a sailing ship going to the east is fairly fast, as there are prevailing winds running east and west to various points along the coast.

However, the shipments by sea are still subject to storms and doldrums. Times when they can be delayed by weeks on top of an already two to three week long trip. Having the airships maintain steady speeds has already improved our profits by an incredible margin.

That is just the tip of the potential, though.

I know that the King has made plans to do much of his own shipping. It’s been going well, from what I know. Both Seaveton and Tarleigh have received airships that they’ve used for their ports.

Seaveton is playing nicely, he shipped to a port that we control overseas, so his works can be integrated into our network without the King causing any trouble, and without any customers raising a fuss.

However, I do hope that you can talk to Tarleigh.

That man shipped his first three loads of produce and magitech directly to the Free Port at Tortollan."

Dominic laughed, and the Merchant’s Guild leader frowned.

"That’s not funny."

"No, it really is. Did you not know that Port Tarleigh was a Pirate Port? Sure, he puts a pretty face on it for the King, but he still takes Pirate shipments at his docks and normalizes them before they leave.

I don’t know if that counts as a direct competitor to you, but I would be a bit concerned about the safety of your shipments if he wasn’t trading his old airships to me.

However, even if he’s trading airships to me, the pirates are eventually going to find a source of interceptors to deal with merchants flying overhead."

Count Duntamers sighed. "And that’s why I’m annoyed that he keeps selling things to them. If we could bankrupt them, it would make life so much easier. And that brings me to the second reason I needed to speak with you today.

I am on the King’s War Council, and it has been determined that we need interceptors of our own. Something that can be carried on airships for defence, or stationed at major ports to prevent aerial bombardment more effectively than the standard defensive airships."