Dominic looked at the sad assembly of peasants in dismay.
While they might have resorted to banditry to survive, they clearly weren’t good at it.
They were all in threadbare clothes, their packs were empty, and they were all hungry. They were clearly all farmers, as they had brought essential tools with them, including more than a dozen donkeys.
Not as powerful as oxen, but good enough for a small plow and other farm equipment.
"Well, I had heard that you resorted to unsavoury methods to survive, but you don’t look like a bunch of hardened criminals to me." Dominic chuckled.
One of the women, a thick-armed demihuman with the characteristic misshapen face that spoke of Ogre heritage, chuckled.
"Near to wet myself when I heard that there was a Dragonkin Duke here. I thought the leader might be desperate enough to try something stupid." She insisted.
A masked woman nodded in agreement. "I am a Garden Witch of decent power, but fighting against a Dragonkin? Even if we had five times as many, it would have been bad."
Dominic smiled at the Garden Witches inflection. She had a voice that sounded a lot like a child explaining a profound truth she had just discovered, and somehow that made Dominic immediately want to protect her, though she was clearly a grown adult behind the mask.
"A Garden Witch, is it? So, you have nature magic? That will be very useful." He commented.
She nodded. "I can speed up the growth rate of crops, but I don’t have the skills to create food from nothing."
Dominic smiled. "I will pay you well for your skills. Growing enough food for all the new arrivals will save us a huge amount of money. We have a good garden at the Manor house, and many of the farm gardens still have vegetables coming in.
Now, how many groups are there among the fifty of you?"
The masked woman turned and gestured for everyone to split up, then counted them on her fingers.
Good with magic, not so good with math.
There were eight groups.
Captain Wilkes came jogging over from the manor while Dominic was meeting with the group, and arrived just as the Garden Witch finished speaking.
"It just occurred to me that these new arrivals might need healing. One of the boys went with Pops to meet the Khalil family, and they had some injuries." He explained.
Dominic nodded, and the Royal Guard cast a large area healing spell over all fifty of the new arrivals at once.
The masked Witch touched her face as the spell finished, and Dominic saw her smile a little as it finished.
"The headache is gone. That is good. Not many days without a headache." She sighed.
The big woman patted her on the shoulder and smiled at Wilkes. "Millie’s a good girl, but has the worst headaches that keep her from working most days. An injured horse kicked her in the head when she was young, and she’s not been quite right since."
That would explain the mask.
"Alright, you have donkeys and labour. There are more than eight fully stocked farmhouses on this side of town. Start here and work through the houses to my left. Only take the ones that are intact.
We will fix the others later and assign the lands with them then." Dominic explained.
Captain Brass gave Dominic a smart salute and bowed formally. "Thank you, Your Grace. We won’t let you down. Can we take one of the farms further out if they’re standing? If my guard years are over, I wouldn’t mind a side gig as a woodcutter.
If there is one thing that the enhancement spell gems of an old guardsman are good for, it’s moving firewood."
Dominic chuckled. "There will be a lot of work making roof beams as well. Many of the farms have magitech stoves in them for heating and cooking. So, make sure everyone checks before they start loading wood in them."
The farmers quietly celebrated their victory. If there was working magitech in the houses, they might actually have improved their quality of life instead of starting from nothing with a struggle.
Dominic and Wilkes watched as they inspected the various houses, and kept moving past some that were intact.
"What do you think they’re looking for?" The Royal Guard asked.
"They’re picking the ones with magitech stoves and intact gardens. Not always both, but the ones they passed over didn’t have either." Dominic realized.
It was all a matter of priorities. What was going to be easier for their group? Getting firewood for the stove? Or getting the garden growing again so that they didn’t have to forage for food?
Millie stayed with the ogre blooded woman and her five sons, though they were clearly not kin.
Before the others had even started to unpack their meagre belongings from the donkeys, the Garden Witch was working her magic, and the garden was growing at a visible rate.
Then, she simply toppled over, and the rapid growth stopped.
Wilkes sighed, and cast a healing spell on her.
"She doesn’t realize that she’s about to hit her limits. Someone has to watch her, or she might accidentally exhaust herself to death." He whispered.
"I will sort it." Dominic replied.
"Millie, is this your family?" He asked.
The Garden Witch shook her head. "Nope, but they’re good to me. See, I fixed the garden already. Good to go."
The matron gave her a sad smile and patted her on the head, while silently gesturing for Dominic not to say anything about the woman’s mental issues.
"Would you like to come meet our gardener? She could use a hand with the manor’s garden, and you wouldn’t have to share a room with a bunch of boys." Dominic offered.
"It’s a paying job as the gardener’s assistant, and the Duke’s in-house Garden Witch. Our Tena will keep her from overworking herself." Colonel Wilkes informed the older woman, who was looking protective.
Millie smiled. "A new garden? Okay, I will follow you."
The matronly demihuman chuckled. "Take good care of her. I’ve been watching over her since we left.
Her family fought back against the Lords when they razed the village. Her father was a pure-blooded Elf, and his magic was incredibly strong.
Shame he never learned to use it properly in combat."
Dominic nodded. "Don’t worry, we will keep bringing her around to make sure everyone’s gardens sprout properly."