The main course came out, and the table ate in silence for a few minutes as the rest of the room buzzed with anxious conversation.
"So, what is Wigin like? It’s a large city, isn’t it?" Dominic asked, trying to salvage the conversation.
General Wigin nodded. "A quarter million now, with a fishing fleet of nearly five thousand ships. We’re leaders in magitech shipbuilding as well. The whole city has been changing ever since the new steam assisted ships were introduced.
Keeping enough coal on board to drive the boiler has been difficult, but Dagos doesn’t have the number of mages that Cygnia or Bostoveria do."
General Modbury nodded. "We had recently changed from building conventional ships to building airships in my hometown, though it is currently under siege. The adaptation to new designs and technologies has been a real boon for industry.
Tell me, how does Cygnia handle the shortage of copper?"
Princess Alexis sighed. "Not well, I’m afraid. We’ve instituted large recycling programs, developed new mining tools to extend the lives of the few copper mines that we have, and we have been working on trade deals to import more."
General Wigin tapped at the table. "If the situation was different, I would offer to have our merchant fleet bring you more copper, for a moderate commission, of course. However, with the battle of the two Heirs, I don’t see a way that the struggle for the throne is going to end with anything resembling normal trade relations."
Dominic shrugged. "Well, I suppose if things get bad enough, another option can be found. You never know where there might be another Dagos Royal hiding in plain sight.
But I do have some hope for the Viscount.
He has proven to be a pragmatic leader in the past. Not like some who would throw their entire army away for a slim hope of victory."
That clear dig at Prince Kaizon didn’t go unmissed by any of the Nobles who were listening carefully from the nearby tables.
Those who were familiar with the lineage knew that the Cygnia Crown Prince’s wife was a Princess, but accepting him as their monarch would be a last resort, and only after a civil war.
However, Advisor Dominic’s words suggested that there was another Royal alive that they had all forgotten about.
Or perhaps they had been lied to? If one of the other Princes was still alive, it would throw the whole succession into chaos.
They didn’t know it yet, but there were actually two of them still alive, and willing to support Cygnia’s Crown Prince Claudius for the throne of Dagos if it became necessary. They had no intention of taking over where their grandfather had left off, but they also weren’t willing to support Kaizon.
While the Dagos Generals and Advisors were unaware that the two Princes were alive, Dominic was unaware that Kaizon had told everyone that they were dead so that he could recruit support for his faction.
If support was split four ways, Viscount Boscom would be forced onto the throne, whether he wanted it or not.
Prince Kaizon looked like he was ready to explode as he returned to his seat. But when the servers brought the next course, his glare turned to a smirk.
Like that wasn’t suspicious at all.
The servers weren’t wearing the same white gloves as the rest of the staff, the ones that they had on looked like some sort of magitech, and when they put down the plates, they immediately retreated.
General Modbury instantly rose to his feet. "Seriously? Twice in one night? Are you trying to start the siege of Albroles tonight with your idiocy?
I, General Modbury, heir to the Dukedom of Modbury, hereby demand that Prince Kaizon be removed from consideration for the throne and stripped of all Noble status for the attempted murder of visiting dignitaries."
The Prince leapt to his feet, about to speak, and the sound of blades being drawn filled the room.
"Attack!" The Prince declared.
The staff and guards began attacking indiscriminately, aiming for every Noble in the room.
The Generals all drew weapons and moved to surround the Princess and their wives in a defensive formation, so Dominic crossed his fingers for luck as he cast [Mage Armour] on the three of them.
With a thought, Arcane Blast took out a Guard as he charged for the Generals, but when Dominic turned to where Prince Kaizon should be, the man was gone.
Not moved off to attack someone, simply vanished.
"Mimic spell. He was never really here." Viscount Boscom shouted.
His blade was in his hand, and covered in clay, as he must have stabbed the fake Prince Kaizon in the back.
More soldiers were pouring into the dining room as the guests drew weapons from their storage items and tried to fight back.
"Now we know why that bastard was so smug. The coward abandoned his people to have mercenaries do his dirty work." Someone from the Prince’s table shouted.
"Everyone retreat to defensive formations, centre of the room." Prince Alex called.
The Nobles who couldn’t fight immediately retreated, and Prince Alex raised a defensive barrier over them. That would prevent hidden archers from targeting them. But going by the number of soldiers entering the room, Dominic didn’t think that subtlety was the order of the day.
"Princess, please retreat to safety with the Generals’ wives." Dominic requested.
Alexis was going to argue, but she didn’t have any of her spell gems on, or armour. By the time that she was equipped for battle, the fight would be over.
But Dominic didn’t suffer from that limitation, and he hurled a [Fireball] at the main doors of the great hall, scorching dozens of soldiers.
He smacked a mortar round on his horn, lighting the fuse, then threw it at the upper balcony, where more mercenaries were entering, and then frowned as the blast shattered all the stained-glass windows in the room.
That was a powerful detonation in an enclosed space.
He would have to remember that for later.
[Arcane Blast] rescued a downed Nobleman from Chip, and then one of the Princesses from Bostoveria who had been separated from her family.
The Second Prince was casting some sort of grand magic from the centre of the room, but Dominic ignored it as he continued to target every mercenary, traitor staff member and hostile guard in the room.
It looked like they had started the attack by assassinating the guards arranged along the walls by the other nations’ Nobles, and there wasn’t much resistance, other than a few well-trained swordsmen, like the Generals.
Then, the Second Prince’s magic washed over the room in a wave, and every one of the intruders collapsed, bleeding from the eyes and nose.