Ella, the lone female on Princess Alexis’s Royal Guard detachment, moved up to smack the Colonel on the head.
"You forgot to ask about the important things.
First, we need to know, did you manage to avoid a major scandal without your maids? Second, is it true what they say about Dragonkin and inhuman stamina?" She demanded.
Alexis rolled her eyes at the Guard, then shrugged. "It’s really not hard to avoid scandal when you just behave as a travelling lower Noble’s wife. Even the Natural Sons’ Regiment didn’t have any concerns about our arrangements after the first night.
But how am I supposed to know the second part? Who am I supposed to compare it to? You, going through half of a city guard detachment in an evening?"
Ella frowned. "You’ve got a point. Guard Recruits are adorable, but they’re terrible lovers. Perhaps we should get a few more of the boys married off, and then we can compare?"
Alexis chuckled. "We can have some girls time to catch up and compare notes later. But not in front of all these men. Let Duke Dominic brag to them if he must."
The Colonel raised a hand to stop that line of conversation.
"Thank you, but I don’t need the personal details of your love life, Your Highness."
The Royal Guards chuckled at the thought. It was good to see the Princess happy, but they had still grown up with her, trained with her, learned the sword and joined the Royal Order with her.
If anything, it would be more like hearing about their little sister’s romantic exploits than anything they could congratulate Dominic on.
"Well, if we’re being run out of the palace first thing in the morning, we should probably turn in early. Dominic, was there anything that you still needed to get before we go?" Alexis asked.
Dominic shook his head. "Nothing that we’re going to be able to get on short notice. As long as we are gifted with the basics to equip the manor, I should be able to take care of the rest.
I have the spells to make copper roofing and fieldstone walls.
Those will take care of most of the structural repairs. Then we can start recruiting residents the moment that we get settled in. Assuming that they don’t attack us on sight, that is."
Colonel Wilkes chuckled at the notion. "I don’t think that we will have as many problems as you’re thinking. Not once they find out who you are.
The real problems will be when everyone who is not a native commoner finds out who you are.
There are still quite a few Noblemen left over from the old Wavemates Kingdom, the ones who defected to Dagos before or during the attack and didn’t have any of the Dragonkin bloodline.
They are not going to be pleased to find out that you’re back, and that you outrank them.
There are no surviving Dukes in Stansia Province, other than yourself. So, you will be the highest-ranking Nobleman in the region, and the most logical point of contact with the King, as Princess Alexis is there with you, but it would be inappropriate for the men to approach her directly."
"So, not only do we have to build a Ducal estate from nothing, we have to do it before the other Nobles start showing up? I should have known that there was a catch. Alright, I can work with that.
A bit of magitech and some visual improvements will get us started well enough to put on appearances.
I just hope that the manor house isn’t in too terrible of shape." Dominic replied with a sigh.
"Apparently it’s quite well-preserved. The unit that was stationed there during the later parts of the war did some cleaning while they were in the area.
The real issue will be finding domestic staff before the first visitors arrive.
I would suggest stopping along the way to find them so that we arrive with all the household personnel that we need." Colonel Wilkes suggested.
Princess Alexis nodded. "We have to pass through Skipington, Darden and Castle City on our way. One of those three is bound to have what we need. There are always domestic servants out of work, or those looking to become one."
Colonel Wilkes hummed in interest. "How did Wavemates do it before? I never had a reason to study the topic."
Dominic shrugged. "The same as Cygnia. Noble servant positions are somewhat hereditary, in that the one holding the position is responsible for choosing and training their replacement if they work to retirement.
The head maid would choose the replacements for new hires, as most of the ladies would only work a few years before returning home to marry with their savings as a dowry. But the head maid herself, if she chose to marry and stay on, plus most of the outside staff, would just raise their own children for their positions.
It really is much easier that way."
The Colonel frowned. "So, you’re saying that there might not be many qualified servants along the way, only the rejects?"
Dominic shook his head. "No, there will be plenty of qualified staff candidates. Many will compete for the best positions, and only one can get them in every estate.
So, there will be maids who did their best to become head maid and failed, cooks who were replaced when they lost the position of head chef for an estate, and many others.
The most savvy will be employed already, but there is always hope to find a few qualified people within any city you visit."
Colonel Wilkes nodded. "That makes sense. My family home has only ever had four staff members, and we hire a gardener to come in. But I spent most of my life here in the Palace, where servants regularly come and go."
The employee turnover rate was mostly because they kept getting pregnant and needing to leave to start their family, but that was an entirely different matter.
In the Capital, it wasn’t hard to find more staff.
But in a smaller town, it was more likely that the local Lord would either be the father of the maid’s child, or willing to let them come back to work and place the child with a nursemaid or nanny.