The World Dragon Chapter 287: And Then There Were Bees

Chapter 287: And Then There Were Bees

At the end of the day, Dominic had a dozen pistols and fifty spears finished, all uncommon grade, all level five.

"Just enough to get the militia going." He decided.

Pops chuckled. "Any militia on the continent would be envious of those weapons. Most of the regular army units as well. You know that the Royal Forge is cursing our nas by now as they try to resupply all the units that we ard during our ti there with equivalent equipnt."

"Won’t they just downgrade them?" Dominic asked.

Pops shook his head. "When you turn in a damaged or worn out weapon, you get an equivalent replacent. It’s a military regulation to prevent favouritism."

"And because I gave out so many uncommon grade spears, they’ve got to make more to replace them, or hamr new shafts onto the old spearheads so they can send them back out." Dominic realized.

"That’s the usual way. The wood is sacrificial. As long as the spearhead is good, they can just keep recycling it in the damaged weapons departnt. But they get damaged, lost, or simply sharpened so many tis they wear out." Pops agreed.

"I will bring these to tomorrow’s training. It’s a bit late to be going around handing out weapons. Are you coming back for dinner?" Dominic asked.

Pops nodded. "I will be. You should swing by and check on the witches before you go ho, though. They’ve been surprisingly quiet, and I’m worried they might think that we don’t like them."

Dominic frowned. "Co to think of it, they did ntion that they would have potions to trade, but they haven’t been back into town since. I will certainly go check on them and make sure that they are alright."

He checked the sun as he left the forge, ensuring that he had enough ti before dinner to make his way to his old family ho and back again.

There should be plenty, but Dominic jogged the distance anyhow, letting mory guide him through the trees to the simple stone house.

It looked abandoned, but Dominic could sll the magic as he approached, as well as the brewing potions.

And then ca the bees.

Dominic raised an [Area Barrier] around himself and called out to the house.

"Would you mind calling off the bees? I have co to make sure you’re doing well."

After a few long seconds with the bees bouncing off his barrier, the attack stopped, but the bees remained in the area.

Dominic lowered the barrier and walked to the front door, which opened itself for him.

"Sorry, My Lord, we don’t get many visitors." Betty, the only one of the witches who could pass as generally human, greeted him.

"That’s understandable. I was more worried that sothing might have happened to you. Nobody has seen any of you in town, but we’ve had a number of caravans through. If you don’t want to co in to make sales, I can deliver goods for you." Dominic replied.

The witch shook her head. "The coven has been focusing on dicine, you see. The leader thinks that there might be an outbreak of so sort during the wet season, so we’ve been stockpiling every redy, plague treatnt, and curse breaking potion that we can find ingredients for."

Dominic smiled indulgently. "And the town will thank you for it when the ti cos. I am absolutely certain of that. A few healers in town are enough for simple injuries, but even a good troll isn’t enough to stop a plague outbreak.

Have you gotten enough out of your gardens? I can bring over more supplies if you are short."

Betty nodded happily. "It’s a very good garden. With our magic accelerating the process, we’ve managed to get a lot of food preservation done, and we’ve got a deer curing in the back shed."

From downstairs, one of the witches cleared her throat, and Betty looked horrified.

"Oh no, I wasn’t supposed to say that."

Dominic patted the panicked witch on the shoulder. "There is no law against hunting for subsistence in Cygnia. You can take what ga you find, as long as it’s no more than enough for your own ho. Anything that is sold must be fard."

Betty looked confused. "Oh, I didn’t know that. That is... big. That’s a big change. But if we don’t have to hide that we hunt animals, does that an we can trap and breed them?"

Dominic shrugged. "I don’t see why not. We used to keep rabbits and chickens. Now, there probably aren’t many wild chickens in the area. But there are plenty of rabbits if you can lure them into a cage."

Rabbits also multiplied at an astounding rate.

You just had to ignore how fluffy and delectable and...

Dominic realized that his claws and his fangs had both grown, and the look on Betty’s face said that the change hadn’t gone unnoticed.

"Sorry, sothing in here is triggering my instincts. When you ntioned rabbits, I suddenly got hungry. But dinner is waiting at the Manor. You’re welco to co ask for anything that you need, I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t afraid to ask." He explained.

The Swamp Hag ca upstairs with a bottle in her hands.

"An offering for you, My Lord. It’s from our first batch on the land, but it turned out better than expected."

The bottle was fired clay, with a wood and beeswax seal, so Dominic couldn’t tell what it actually was, but he suspected that it was wine.

The old Witch stared at him for a mont as he took the bottle and placed it in his storage item, then snapped her fingers.

"I know what the problem is. We’ve been making fever dicine, and it’s got Dragonberries in it. The fus must have triggered your instincts." She explained.

"Ah, that explains it. That sll is difficult to resist, and I was already hungry when I ca over." Dominic laughed.

The old witch giggled in a grating tone that sounded like rotted trees in the wind.

"Here, then have this to tide you over until you get ho. Dragonberry butter tarts are one of our favourites. They make the others a bit sleepy, but that’s perfect for a bedti snack."

"You are a great woman. Thank you. Now, I should rush off ho before the wife starts to miss ." Dominic thanked her, before taking a large bite of the small pie.

With the sweet berry taste in his mouth, Dominic’s fangs finally retracted, and he waved farewell to the witches, who were clearly busy with their work, and just getting started for the night.