Chapter 343: Watchful Maids
The next week passed in a whirlwind of chaos.
The Princes had managed to finalize their requests for the new buildings on the first afternoon, and somehow, the design requests hadn’t even gotten any major objections from the Engineer, or the household staff.
That had let them get started the next morning, and the Manor was very close to becoming a five building complex around a large central garden.
There was a fancy new fountain in the garden, mostly decorative, but it did have a large cistern under it, so it could be used as emergency water reserves for the Manor, should the wells be compromised.
The final part of the puzzle was the defensive fortification enhancements, which should allow them to call the Manor properly suited as a fortified residence.
The decision from Alexis had been to make it into a star fort with rounded walls, so cannon fire wouldn’t easily get a direct hit.
They would also have enchantments placed on them by the gentlemen of the Purity Sect, and the wall would be backed up by piled rocks all the way to the inner wall ring, then topped with earth, so they could plant gardens on the slopes.
That was Millie’s idea.
At first, Alexis had objected, as the walls were a defensive structure, not a garden. But Prince Fahad had supported Dominic’s assertion that it would be brilliant psychological warfare to send soldiers out for fresh veggies during a siege.
So, there would be designated pathways to the outer battlements, but the majority of the upper level would be converted to food, with four towers to help them spot threats in the distance.
The Manor wasn’t the only spot in town that had received major upgrades, though. The whole village was beginning to look like a small city as the teams rebuilt the old houses, and then expanded the housing options with long, narrow villas and a few more apartment blocks.
Once the convention centre had been finished, the team working on it had moved to building roads around town, and they had become great fans of the simple roadwork machine that Wistover had been using.
They had commissioned two more of them, along with tractors to pull them.
That meant they weren’t going to be leaving in airships, but that wasn’t surprising. There was too much work for them to be hopping around between cities with minimal equipment.
Dominic was sitting on the bedroom balcony, watching the work progress when a maid silently approached from his left.
"Do you have a message or a request?" Dominic asked, not looking back.
After spending time around them, he could tell who was who by their magic, and this was one of the girls of the purity sect. Definitely one of their own and not a threat.
"A message. I think." She replied quietly.
That got Dominic’s attention, and he stopped channelling mana into his spell book to focus on her.
"Alright, that sounds interesting. What do you have for me?"
"We detected mages approaching. The Sect always had us scry for danger three times a day, and we continued the practice here. The mages don’t appear to be a direct threat, they just have the potential to be dangerous, because of their skills.
Here, this is the vision that we saw." She replied, speaking softly enough that her voice wouldn’t carry away from the balcony.
With a surge of mana, a short vision appeared on the surface of the metal tray that had carried Dominic’s snacks. What it showed was a group of people, young and old, in tattered mage robes, following a floating stick through the woods.
"What’s with the stick?" Dominic asked.
"They’re also scrying. But not for a vision. They’re using the stick to guide them to something."
Dominic stared at the final moment of the image, then nodded. "To us, presumably, or your vision wouldn’t have detected them. Do you recognize the robes?"
The maid shook her head. "No, My Lord. But while they’re designed as mage robes, with a hood, I believe that they’re made for practicality and not fashion. Did you see the waist wraps?"
Dominic nodded. "Common enough in the deserts of Axbridge. They keep the sand from blowing up your clothes, and give you somewhere to store stuff."
"Exactly. I don’t know of any mage tower or sect that wears such a practical outfit. Those a travelling robes, most likely for a nomadic tribe of magic users. The fact that they keep their heads covered even in the woods suggests they’re most likely not humans." She agreed.
"Then it’s almost guaranteed that they are coming for us. I was warned by Prince Fahad that word of our little Duchy has gotten around to the Nomads, and some are looking for somewhere to settle.
There aren’t a lot of places that a demihuman can go to make a living and not end up getting chased by guards or shot at."
Dominic saw the maid’s eyes narrow as she smiled. "Didn’t you only get shot at and chased by guards in Cygnia City because you were looting a recycling yard?"
"Minor details. I still had a terrible time trying to get work there until I met Pops."
The maid nodded. Alexis had told her a bit about Dominic’s past, though she suspected that that Princess had glossed over most of the less pleasant details.
"Should we send someone out to meet them?" She asked, instead of following that train of thought.
Dominic shook his head. "I will take a team to go see them. The sheriff and some of the guards should do the job."
The maid nodded. "Lady Alexis will insist that you take some of the Royal Guards with you as well, as backup."
"That is understandable. You never know what sort of reaction you’re going to get from strangers until you actually meet them."
Though, if they could foresee the most likely outcomes, then this should be a relatively low-risk adventure, as the nomads were intending to stay in the Duchy to begin with.