Chapter 69

Dreadfort was expending.

That was no secret.

By this point every other lord in the North knew about the rapidly expanding businesses in the Bolton Lands.

Paper mill, Brick factory, Steel factory, Shipyards, Glass Guild, Weapon Manufactoring factory, Printing Press Workshop, school building (still under construction), etc.

All these things and more have been built around Dreadfort over the past few years and the more his businesses succeeded and florished, the more people came to his lands to work for him.

All of this led to a rapid increase in the amount of people living around Dreadfort which resulted in them forming a sort-of-village around him.

A collections of temporary houses and tents constructed haphazardly with no care for asthetics or order.

This was the reason why he had called architectures from his lands to design the plans for a city around Dreadfort and the Weeping Water River.

It took his men three days to come up with a proper design and two more to revise it as the plans didn't held the numerous Weirwood gardens that he wanted in his town.

The architects warned him that having luxuries like Gardens would then force them to expand the size of the city which would in turn cost much more to build. But he knew that planting Weirwood trees was not a luxury for a necessity for someone like him.

Plus, with a Brick and Cement factory of his own along with ships that would transport the raw material from Skagos and Sisterton, and stones from the mines in Lonely Hill, the costs had already become far less than it would be for any other lord who had to import these things from outside sources.

The difference was so large that if some other Lord of the North wants to build a 2 story building for a tavern than it would cost him about 20-30 gold dragons but to him, it would only cost about 5-10 gold dragons thanks to everything required for the construction of a building already being present in his domain.

A week after planning and replanning the whole design, they finally came up with one that he was satisfied with.

The construction of the whole city around Dreadfort was going to cost him an estimated cost of 150,000 to 400,000 gold dragons. A number that his treasury can handle thanks to all the gold he stole from Petyr Baelish and the 1 million gold coins that he stole from Braavos.

But he cannot simply show the extent of his wealth like this as it would make the other lords wary of him.

Which meant that he would once again have to go to Braavos to get another 100,000 gold coins for loan as a show to other people.

Or maybe he'll send his aunt for this job. After seeing him gallavanting around Westeros and Essos, she had shown some desire to travel the world as well.

Of course, she didn't say any such things to him but he picked it up from her surface thoughts.

Going to Braavos and travelling the city and seeing it's culture and people would be a good change for her. Especially because she spends a good deal of her time being cooped up in Dreadfort.

It could be like a vacation for her after working for all this time.

Hmm… yes. That would be good. Though he would have to plan for the bodyguard detail that would guard his aunt in her journey to Braavos. Along with an emergency portkey and few other things that would protect her if something goes wrong.

She was after all, the only family he had and he would do everything for her safety.