The next few days were a whirlwind of chaos as representatives of the Defence Council, the Trade Council and the Axbridge Royal Military arrived, along with Crown Prince Fahad.

"Welcome back, old friend. Your rooms are ready for you, just like you left them." Dominic greeted the crown prince of Axbridge.

"I did not expect to be back here so fast.

Perhaps for a visit, as your city has such a lovely market. But certainly not for official business. However, I see that you’ve been busy, and the show that your airmen put on when they came to visit for the long weekend was quite something."

Dominic chuckled and shrugged. "The lads of the Natural Sons do love to show off, even if they are all titled Nobles now. The cooperation on this project should be good for everyone, I think.

When it comes to patrols, there are few things better than the biplanes, and we’ve even developed a modification to allow aerial spraying. I am told that much of Axbridge requires application of pesticides to ensure that the crops are abundant.

Doing that from the ground is dangerous, especially in shifting winds. From the air, it is much less of a concern. I will have a copy of the blueprints brought over if you wish to take a look at it and perhaps order a few sprayer setups for your own Royal produce fields."

"You seem remarkably open to sharing that new technology."

Dominic winked at him. "That’s because we’ve got trolls. With them around, we don’t have the same sort of pest problems that most regions do, so we don’t spend on pesticides here.

In fact, we don’t really even have a weed issue in our crops."

"So, it was never developed for Wistover, it was made for everyone but Wistover, and you’re counting on the fact that if we start flying biplanes with sprayers, more people will come to you for them."

"I’m glad that you catch on quickly, Your Highness. We developed them for civilian use, and they’re no more armed than a carriage with a driver and passenger. One rifle per occupant. What you saw the other day was a group of highly trained and equipped soldiers making the most of their equipment with magitech orbs and high mana consumption."

Put that way, it sounded much more reasonable.

"And I assume that you’re going to sell these to us so that we stop looking into what you’re making next for the Cygnian Army. Alright, we won’t pry too hard. But these are going to cause a lot of questions about the viability of air travel, as well as the safety of ground caravans.

Defending against attacks from above was difficult enough when it was just flying monsters to be concerned about.

Now that they have to be concerned about others using high-speed flying machines, it will raise many more questions. That is going to have to be factored into the trade deal, which will greatly limit the distribution."

Dominic nodded. "You’re thinking that civilian flight might not be a thing. The ones we have now are all in the hands of Barons and Knights, who are legally part of the Wistover Militia due to their position.

So, there is an argument to be made that they are already a military airplane, no matter the intention."

Claudius smiled. The banter between Dominic and Fahad was settling arguments that would have taken weeks if it was left to the negotiators, with egos and self-interest getting in the way.

Dominic just saw the potential to get a new toy, and didn’t really care who else got it, now that he had one.

"It’s good that you understand. Airships are one thing. They can have rifles, cannons, and mortars mounted to them. But they are predictable, and everyone has some functional plan to deal with an airship invasion now that it’s been done.

They’re huge, easy to spot, smooth moving, which makes them simple to target.

None of those things are true of the biplanes.

Our analysts ran the numbers, and they suspect that the biplanes could fly low to the trees and get within fifty kilometres of the capital without being noticed. That’s a fifteen-minute reaction time.

Not nearly enough for comfort."

Dominic nodded, knowing that they could actually do much better than that if the weather was on their side. Flying in a rainstorm might not be pleasant, but it would get them very close to a target before they could be detected.

With magical maps, there was a minimal chance that they got lost. However, the techno wizards had guidance devices for the airships that could be transplanted into the biplane.

It was an old trick that they had developed for vessels lost at sea. A simple direction finder that pointed toward the source of a radio signal. It let you find ships at sea sending distress signals past the horizon where there were no landmarks. But in an airship, it also let you find cities, simply by tuning to the local radio station.

The tower was in town, and once you got close enough, it was impossible to miss a city in any weather.

Even Wistover had a radio station now. It was at the Adventurer’s Guild house, and played a combination of music and weather forecasts, as well as ads for specials at local shops and the farmers’ market.

Dominic rarely listened to it, as his radio was always tuned to the channel used for vehicles.

But most of the town enjoyed it, and the local bards were finally making some money outside of playing on street corners or in the tavern.

Not that it stopped them from doing both. But now they were a bit better dressed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Your Highness, would you like to move to the negotiation room immediately, or should I have lunch prepared for the delegation first?" Dominic asked.

Fahad smiled. "I think that the others should get a chance to enjoy the concept of lunch in Wistover before we start. It will help them understand the logic of this place."

Dominic wasn’t sure what that meant, but Prince Claudius understood. There was no such thing as "out of season produce" in Wistover, the Trolls simply accelerated the growth of everything, so they could have anything at any time.

Including freshly roasted coffee.