CHAPTER 290 Family Problems
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CHAPTER 290 Family Problems
297 AC
POV THIRD PERSON
After making sure the Free Folks and Night's Watch wouldn't start warring. He made sure Skadi was patrolling the far North to act as an early warning system, but he had to finish up in Vale and create a buffer zone. So he could deal with the Free Folks, and he had to find a way to catch some wights, but that was going to be the hardest part.
He talked with Ned and made sure he was going to send everyone to the Temple, so Aermir could teach them how to create a core. He healed the sick and maimed to collect some loyalty among the Night's Watch and teleported to Moat Cailin. It had been two weeks since he left the Vale, so he didn't have much time. He had to give some direction to his people and go to Vale right away.
First, he inspected the magical armory, and production was going as he designed. He had found a way to imbue runic magic into jewels. This way, he could just imbue them when he had free time, and the smiths could use the mana-imbued jewels like etching tools to make the runes themselves, even if they didn't have magic.
When he inspected the axe he got from the Mountain clans, he learned a new thing about runes. Even though the rune etching got absorbed by the metal, it still left marks on his weapons, but Valyrian Steel didn't have that. By inspecting the older proto-Valyrian Axe, Aermir realized the weapons were created with blood magic and more powerful ones could be created by dark magic.
He had to experiment and research more, but he was only one man, and he had too many things to do. The bright side was that he was going to have more casters under his rule, and he could teach the talented ones about alchemy and magical smithing and let them work on them in time.
When he reached Moat Cailin, Rickon, Dacey, and Adrew were already there. He called all of his wargs to the Temple and made them take a new oath not to teach manaheart creation to anyone else without his permission.
...
After a day, he returned to Moat Cailin and attended the council meeting. All his advisors were there, including Adrew, the representative of the Temple and the wargs. Usually, it was Jorah's work, but he had to create his manaheart, so Adrew was here in his place. As Aermir entered the room, Torren, Artos, Eddard, and Adrew got up, saluting him respectfully.
They started to discuss the dire situation that had befallen their lands. Famine had struck, relentless and unforgiving, persisting for months across a wide expanse of territory. Even if Aermir worked on this tirelessly as a level 6 druid, he couldn't fully mitigate the devastating impact of the famine. He might be a powerful druid, but he still couldn't win against Mother Nature; he could only weaken the effects.
Maester Torren Reed began the meeting with a heavy heart, "Gentlemen, the situation grows increasingly dire with each passing day. Despite our best efforts, the famine continues to ravage our lands, and smallfolks' reserves are dwindling rapidly."
His brow furrowed in concern, Eddard Snow spoke up, "Indeed, the campaign to invade Three Sisters has only exacerbated our food shortage, depleting our already strained reserves. My lord's efforts to create aqueducts have helped, but even they have proved insufficient in the face of such widespread devastation since 40% of our farmable land is on elevation and water can not reach there with aqueducts."
Aermir was deep in thought as his advisors informed him. After listening to all of them, silence settled into the council room. After a minute, Aermir slammed his hand onto the weirwood tree table. "Open up my personal silos and the winter reserves. The fire element aura in the air is still strong; the summer will continue. In the long run, we will be able to replenish our reserves."
Aermir tapped his finger to the table and added, "But do not give it for free; give it for cheap but ask labor in return. This way, we will be providing jobs to the people and getting something done at the same time. We cannot make the smallfolk believe help will come free, or they will grow complacent and become lazy. I cannot work on the Channel project for a long time, so raise the workforce to four times."
Eddard added in a panic, "But my lord, this will bleed us dry. We wouldn't have anything else left, and we might not be able to recover for the winter."
Aermir shook his head. "That is a possibility, but we can always buy grain, but we cannot by time. Our products are selling well all around Westeros. I will have money to spare, but the Channel project cannot be stalled. They will not be as fast as me, but they will make some progress. Are there any products that are lower in export?"
"Artos looked into his papers and said, "Charcoal export is not as high as before. It dropped by 20%." Aermir nodded, "That is to be expected; all of the lords bought what they would need, and until they used it up, they won't be buying in bulk since, in this weather, it is going to be a lot of time until that happens."
He thought for a bit and said, "Now we most likely have small-time buyers like forges and bakers. Let me see." He asked for the papers and inspected them. "So we were earning around 10,000 a month before the drop. We need to expand the reach of our trade to colder climates. South wouldn't buy more until the weather gets worse. How much surplus gold do we have?"
As the master of coin, Artos looked through his ledgers and used his abacus: "Around 150 thousand dragon gold."
"Okay, then buy ten big trade carracks that can travel up to Lorath and even Ibben. We need to establish trade routes with them. We can sell large amounts of charcoal to those locations."
...
After the meeting, Aermir was walking toward the courtyard. Everyone around him was bowing respectfully and saluting him as he passed, but suddenly, someone slapped the back of his nape. Aermir turned in anger and was just about to throw a punch when he realized who had made this audacious move. Now that he thought about it, there was only one person who would dare to hit him in these walls.
"Look at this boy. Are you now going to beat your Aunt?" His Aunt Brise was looking at him with angry eyes. "After six months, you come home and leave without saying hello to your pitiful aunt."
Aermir rubbed his neck embarrassedly. "Aunt, please, don't berate me in front of all those people. I am sorry for neglecting you, but whenever I come to you, you always smother me to marry."
Brise smiled like she had managed to pull Aermir into a trap: "Now that you opened the topic, as the lord of the house, you need to sire an heir. As long as you don't have an heir, it means the future of House Drasil is in danger. You are already 23-name days old, let alone having an heir; you are not even married."
She put one hand on her waist and started waving a stack of paper and drawings of ladies toward Aermir. "Do you see all these? They are all marriage proposals. Look at them. There are 20 of them all over the kingdoms, and there are 20 more in my study. You have to marry and sire a Drasil child."
Aermir smiled mischievously and changed the subject. "Aunty, if you want to produce a child, just marry Jory Cassel. He keeps coming here with every excuse he can find and never leaves without visiting you."
Upon hearing this, her beautiful face turned crimson red, and she started hitting Aermir with the stack of paper. "What are you talking about? How could a widow like me marry a younger guy? Now that you have grown up, you are making fun of your Aunt."
She stopped hitting him with the papers, and her face turned solemn, and with a serious tone; she said, "Aermir, my smart boy, just because you declared me your Aunt and gave me your surname, you know it doesn't mean I am a Drasil. In this world, blood means everything. I love you as my real nephew, and I will do everything I can to continue helping you, but you need to build your own house."
Aermir pinched her cheeks and said," What do you mean, a widow? You are only 33, Jory is 30, and he is a widow, too." Jory's wife had died in childbirth 6 years ago and the baby was a stillborn. For the next 5 years, he didn't even look at a female fly, but he and his Aunt have been growing closer since last year.
He showed an impish smile and said, "If you want to, he will jump on the chance to marry a beauty such as yourself. Do you want me to talk to Lord Stark and Ser Rodrick?"
She raised the stacks of paper and continued to chase him. Aermir really wanted her to remarry someone who would treasure her, and he thought Jory Cassel was that someone.
He visited Moat Cailin more than Aermir. It took him two days to reach here from Winterfell, riding at an average speed. He was honorable to his core, and it was obvious he was in love with her.