5

285 AC, Winterfell.

I returned to Winterfell and was pleasantly surprised that the improvements I had ordered were already implemented and the farmlands expanded. I had to deal with another problem that would quit possibly affect all my plans.

The North was almost half the size of Westeros. Almost 80% of the available lands were abandoned with no population to sustain it. With a population of a measly 50,000 in a huge land, it wasn't surprising. I had to draw people into the North somehow. My answer to that was a new huge building built right next to Winterfell that would, in the future, be connected to my new Citadel. The Research Facility was built with my new 'invention' concrete, coupled with beams made of Damascus steel that I taught to the smiths. The whole facility was built in no time. A library rivaling the size of the citadel was placed inside. I 'invited' learned people who couldn't forge their chains, bound them using secrecy spells coupled with specific knowledge implanted in their minds and their loyalty was absolute. However, that was all for show. I couldn't very well introduce 50 inventions in a month and pass it off as intelligence. So with my concrete made, research facility finished, a census that was completely inaccurate and proper mapping used by ward stones placed all around the North, We began the North's (read; Lord Brandon's) revolution.

The wards provided us with accurate information and an interactive map of the entirety of the North. Exactly 60,000 able-bodied persons lived in the North. While I was in fact the highest authority in the North, I couldn't just introduce outlandish techniques and order them all to implement them with the threat of Winter. So in a fit of intelligence, and the not so subtle reminder of my first follower, I apparated back to Winterfell, charmed the farmlands with ridiculously basic Herbology spells, mainly spells that softened the brittle soil of the North. I sent a raven to uncle Benjen with specific instructions; the smiths were to make steel plows with blueprints I provided, pipes made of clay were to be installed to help draining the fields around Winterfell, the land would be divided into 3 fields; 2 fields were sown with crops using seed drills, also provided in blue prints, while the last one had turnips grown.

By the time I had returned, they had already harvested land and lo and behold, by the new techniques Lord Stark implemented, we had almost 3 times the output compared to the old ways. Farmers were praising me and I began preparing for the harvest feast.

It took almost 2 months for all the Lords to arrive, I used those two months, generally looking for unclaimed cattle all around westeros and slowly trickling it into the North, domesticating them and housing them in proper houses.

The feast was not just any feast; it was also time for the lords to renew their vows of fealty to me.

After taking their oaths of fealty which really was a formality, I asked them to settle down because I had some news to announce.

"Most of you know that I have spent the last year forging chains in the Citadel," I intoned coldly.

"And that is relevant to the harvest feast in what way exactly my lord?" whispered Roose Bolton.

I still have not decided what Bolton's fate was going to be. The Boltons have been rebelling against Stark Lords since the building of the Wall. On the other hand, Roose greatly reminded me of Lucius and could prove to be a valuable asset, a thought for another time.

"By implementing new methods and techniques, we have managed to increase the production rate of Wintertown almost three-fold," I continued "Should each Lord implement those methods to his lands, the North would become entirely self-sufficient and we wouldn't have to rely on those fucken southerners ."

I was met with a lot of skeptic look and elaborated, "Please compare the numbers of what a normal sized farmland equal to those surrounding Wintertown produce and ours this year."

While the lords almost had their eyes boggling out of their sockets one annoying mass of flesh asked, "If the Citadel did know about this yes why wouldn't they tell the other lords?"

I could see others murmuring their ascent as Uncle Benjen interjected, "Who ever said the Citadel made those techniques?"

Greatjon Umber roared, "What, do you expect us to believe you made those, Benjen?"

"No, I did," I interrupted.

"Ha! I did, he says! You're like what, 7-8 name-days boy?"

"One, my name is Lord Stark, Warden of the North and you will address me as such you imbecile," I answered coldly, I had enough of that bullshit, I relished his cowering. "Two, when the Warden of the North orders, his vassals does his bidding, and just because the Umbers can't read or count more than 10 doesn't mean the others vassal are dunderheads as well."

Silence reigned in the Hall, until Greatjon suddenly boomed laughing, "Aye, you're a real wolf, boy."

I wanted to crucio the arrogant muggle for calling me boy again but as the tension diffused I decided against it.

"Most of the methods are easily done including the clay pots my lord, but how would you want us to make those seed drills and steel plows, my lord?" asked Bolton.

I smiled charmingly, "House Stark will provide steel plows and seed drills to its entire vassals lord Bolton. If, and I'm sure it will, provide the aforementioned results, each lord will simply have to pay 20% of the extra yielded harvest for 15 years, excluding winters."

Bolton bowed his head in acceptance and soon murmurs broke out, all the lords chatting excitedly. The North's biggest problem was its brittle lands and low harvest yield which made us buy crops from the Reach and the Riverlands. Should this project prove successful, we could have even enough harvest to sell to other Kingdoms. What they didn't know is that I spent the last month casting fertilizing charms and nutrients all over the North, a ridiculous effort that took up most of my time, but extremely rewarding.

But still, even with the all my improvements, we could perhaps farm 35-40% of the free land in and that's if every smallfolk took up farming.

My breeding facility has also advanced greatly, we managed to domesticate about every animal we captured. We now had 3000 sheep, 2500 goats, a 1000 aurochs and an average of 2000 for other less popular domesticated animals. The problem that they were all located in a 100 m2 barn expanded to accommodate them. Only those who were my direct agents were allowed inside for the breeding, I had to figure out how am I going to transport them without looking like an idiot. So, ridiculously large cowsheds, barns, stables and sheds were built right east of Winterfell, besides the White knife to accommodate our animals, Irrigation Canals were branched out of the fork regulary starting on both branches extending towards winterfell. I had placed notice-me-not charms on the Barn and decided to place illusion so it would seem that the animals were collected all around the North. It was easy to do. But the real transportation had to occur at night.

I had realized by now that it would take several years and a ridiculously large labor force to achieve the amount of canals I needed. While most people would've just gone on with it, I wasn't most people. I placed charms on underground brittle rocks all over the North, warding the area around the focus of the focus so not to cause damage to the surrounding castles of the North. Voila! A chain of strong earthquakes all hitting key points did almost all the work needed for the canals, splitting the earth. A series of canals all over the North seemingly erupted overnight. While I would've loved to take credit for them, we had to pass them off as an "act of the Old Gods". The smallest canal was almost 2 feet deep, while the almost finished Grand Canal, which passed through the Cape of Eagles right infront Moat Cailin – offering another strategically advantage for the North, and connecting Ironman's bay to The Bite, was almost 20 meter deep and 100 meter wide at its center, while noticeably thinner at the entrance and exit of the canal. That is as soon as I dispatch more filthy muggles to finish digging the flimsy part remaining.

Another noticeably happy development was the, unfortunate, destruction of the Twins, their crossing and their entire Argus Filch-like family. I did say I wouldn't damage the castles of the North, and Filch was a sworn enemy of the Noble House of Hufflepuff. Back at Hogwarts, he died before the badgers could exact their revenge. So I had almost a 100 Filch look-alikes and a grudge. I had to order four ferries built in place of the Twins so as to not block traffic, it was only a temporary solution, I still had to improve and fix the Kingsroad. While I would probably lay the whole thing with a combination of dirt, gravel and bricks, I had to limit the width of the road so as to not totally fuck up the military blessing that the swamps provided.

Unfortunately now I had to wait. I truly missed the days were you could build a castle with a few twigs and rocks and transfiguration.

1 Year and a half later, 286 AC, The North

Thankfully by now, we had increased population a bit. I had asked Uncle Ned to send a missive to his friend requesting all the jobless beggars and residents of Kings Landing to the North, coupled with a hundred of my First Generation followers throughout the Riverlands, the Vale and the Westerlands sending long-ranged weak compulsions and inviting people to the North stating that every man has a job to do, offering a home for every family and a stable income. Thousands flooded into the North. Almost 35,000 homeless, jobless Westerosi were welcomed into the North. Employed in farmlands throughout the North owned exclusively by Winterfell, the lords technically had no hold over almost 60% of the free areas of the North so I took over them quickly, or dispatched quickly to gold, silver and iron mines all over the mountains of the North or a select few that worked in the Northern Factory right behind Winterfell.

The Northern Factory was my masterpiece for this pre-emptive world. 6-feet high semi circled divided into four parts just half a kilometer away from winterfell. The first, and largest part, was the steel mill. Conjuring a Bessemer Convertor and parts of an Open hearth furnace in the Temple of Knowledge, formerly Research Facility was a masterstroke. As soon as the building was finished, my workers quickly dispatched them both to the Steel Mill and in no time, we were producing enough steel to arm the entirety of Westeros, Essos and even the fish in the Shivering Sea. We ran into a few problems, mainly the people had no way how to work it, but transplanting the knowledge into 50 apprentices and the Steel Mill was soon working so fast that we had to lay our first rail network and move more people to the mountains to increase iron ore production.

I didn't know if the past northern lords were short-sighted or just plain fools. We had almost as much mountains as the Westerlands. All filled to the brim with Precious metals, gems and lots and lots of Iron. Perhaps they never had the numbers to sustain them. I had to conjure and place mines and make them look like they were abandoned so as to not waste precious time. Homes were built in the mountains to accommodate our new arrivals. We faced a bit resistance from the mountain clans. But giving them homes built quickly by concrete and steel and offering them food for their work bent them quickly enough. In almost 6 months, the mines of the North-West were fully working and pouring ores into my – or rather the North's, coffers. The mountains were mapped and divided into equal regions and awarded to each lord. They were responsible for their maintenance and their levies had to work in them, or for the unable to spare, mine did, for a percentage of the ores. Of course Winterfell got almost as much as all the Lords collectively had. But no one could actually complain, I gave them mines for free. The first steel railroad was placed into place from the mountains towards the large new Northern Trading Company that I built. The railroad, carriages and horses were owned by me. Each lord could pay a toll for us to deliver it to him to as far as Winterfell, and when they saw the speed and the amount of weight the horses could drag on rails; they all paid the special fee for the northern lords.

By the end of 288 AC, Every main trade road in the North would be laid with concrete along with Railways and huge carriages; all owned by the North so that tolls could be delivered even for transportation. Carriages and carts in westeros were primeval and unsuited for the roads, even the fabled Kingsroad. By connecting the entire North by rails, we could send supplies for armies almost anywhere. Transport merchandise to almost anywhere near the North and for the fancy lords whose daughters and wives rode in carriages, arrive as fast as they could in fancy carriages with a built-in bed, privy and servants, without being delayed by the slow carriage.

The second part of my facility was the concrete factory. The high influx of people into the North required us to build 4 floor buildings with 12 apartments in each floor to accommodate, every lord with ordering concrete and steel beams to enforce their castles or in some cases, completely renovate them. They were all near identical and each farmland, mine and harbor had a couple of them. The third part was the textile factory; it included cotton spinning mills powered by water and wind, cotton gins, sewing machines, dyes production and thread production; All of them inside of the factory. We began to provide clothes and breaches made of cotton to almost every small folk in the North. You would be surprised what a decent pay, roof over their heads and proper clothes are worth to most small folk. In time, the North would be the main supplier for clothes in the Seven Kingdoms, clothes in large quantities were hard to come by, and most people wore rags. I had to find a way to have a steady supply of silk to provide even more fancy clothes to the North, I had an idea already but it would have to wait. The small folk and nobles alike were entirely devoted to me. And any man with no job in the six kingdoms soon flooded the North; they were always welcomed and provided with a job.

The fourth and last part of the factory was the brewery. It was a booming success! Vodka production was so high that we had to expand to accommodate. The northerners loved it; a drink that can get you drunk and keep you warm? I felt like this mudblood wizard dude from the middle east- Jesus was his name, who transfigured water into wine and the people revered him as the son of god. Beer was also famous among the commoners. Whiskey, gin, ale, cider and even champagne for the really rich was pouring out of the brewery and soon, the wines of the Reach and Dorne would be largely ignored in favor of my new alcoholic drinks for the rich and the poor. Teaching them how to produce sugar from beet was another great advantage to the north, as sugar canes were hard to plant in the North.

The Factory – which was almost 5 times as big as Winterfell, the Temple of Knowledge and a large part of the farmlands and empty land for future expansion were surrounded by three layers of walls. The first layer and the tallest at almost 60 feet tall and 10 feet thick, was surrounding the castle itself. The second was surrounding the factory and the large newly built storages, I planned that Winterfell could withstand a siege for 50 years if it had to and still produce meat and grain alike. The third wall was surrounding the farmlands. Each wall was encompassing a huge circular section and ascending upwards towards the hill that housed the castle. Guarded by several metal gates and each of them had a retractable wooden bridge for extra protection. The initial moat was buried and we dug 3 larger moats surrounding each wall for extra protection. The castle of Winterfell was almost impregnable. And unless blackpowder and cannons were created without my knowledge –Unlikely with my plans for the Citadel, it would never fall.

I had to delay renovating the Castle as it would require a ridiculously large amount of money and a huge labor force, and my smallfolk were stretched thin all over the north as it was. Our coffers were almost running dry as we didn't heavily engage in trade as of yet but I guaranteed that before 290 AC, the North would be the new power of Westeros.

The most important part of trade was ships. The north had a large amount of lumber, enough to cover the narrow sea in logs. Harbors were built all over the North. I wasn't going to put my faith in Lord Manderly and his flimsy disgrace of a fleet. Harbors were built at Cape Kraken, Cape of the Eagles, Widows's watch, Sea dragon point and the Bay of Seals. All emulating the fabled docks of Braavos. Our first priority was trading ships, each dock was producing 3 huge ship per week all with reinforced hulls, triangular sails, speed and expansion charms, charms to reduce water resistance and all manned with captains with superior knowledge of the seas. I planned to have almost 500 trading ships of the North with a 150 battle ships that were armed with explosive scorpion bolts that could sink a ship 500 half a mile away. The northern ships were all privately owned by me, flying the Wolf Banner and their superiority allowed them to sail to as far as the Jade Sea and travel all around Westeros in almost third the time, evading pirates and delivering goods for all of Westeros. I was going to make the north the trading hub of the World and control the seas.

289 AC

After 4 years of work, the North has changed almost completely. Each castle in the North could sustain its own lavish food throughout the summer, and through a 3 year-long winter if it had smallfolk in the north had a roof over his head, clothes to help them through the winter and never spent a night hungry. Lords had rebuilt their castles, raised towers and reinforced their walls. We distributed to each lord initial seeds modified to endure the harshest of winters and cattle so they could grow them inside their barns and castles.

Roads made of concrete were connecting every Great House, Harbor and Mines in the north; all of them passing directly through Winterfell and the surrounding areas. Each road had a railroad track built alongside them, run by the Northern Railroad Company exclusively for transportation of cargo, goods made by the Factory and from the mines, valuable stones.

Each lord was getting richer than they ever was and had no reason to worry about any sort of winter, if they ran out the food bank in Winterfell could sell them some. Ships were selling our goods all around the world and bringing back exotic food, wine and silk from as far as Yi Ti; all passing through the North as a major trading stop from Essos to Westeros.

I had also sent a rather large gift to Uncle Ned at Moat Cailin. Large amount of concrete enough so that he can rebuild the 20 towers at his castle and fix anything damaged and 5 Ballistas with explosive scorpio bolts. Never let it be said that I wasn't generous. I, however, was worried about that wife of his, Catelyn Fucking Tully. As soon as they arrived back at Moat Cailin, my uncle had built a Sept for her. A fucking Sept, in the north. I was irritated as hell. The Old Gods were nice and everything and while they weren't as worshiped as the New Gods, they still were way less susceptible to corruption.

The Seven-Who-Are-One are the Father, the Mother, the Maiden, the Smith, the Warrior , the Crone and the Stranger. The knowledge that my old friend death was called the stranger was amusing, which reminded me that I should probably check on him soon. You would expect a primordial being to live lavishly and not need anything, but generally being feared by other gods and men alike he had only me for companionship.

Any way the Faith of the Seven was a religion that had arrived with the Andals, they burned the Weirwood trees which filled the South, declared the Old Gods as false and proclaimed all around Westeros that the Seven Gods were the true gods, Introducing along the way The Seven-Pointed Star and other ridiculous teachings. Bastardy was preached against, since bastards were apparently born of sin when it was just finding someone to blame shit at. As they couldn't blame the Noble lords whom promoted their religion they had to blame someone right? Causing a large faction of the country divided against them, and naming the bastards; Snow for the North, Flowers for the Reach, Sand for Dorne, Rivers for the Riverlands, Stone for the Vale, Hill for the Westerlands, Pyke for the Iron Islands and Waters for the bastards of the Crownlands.

Of course, they couldn't conquer the north and we remained the only kingdom of seven that kept the Old Gods. So when my uncle who was married to a pretty southern lady who viewed the North as savages and most likely only heard of the North from her septa, build THE FIRST FUCKING SEPT inside the north for his wife. Suffice to say, none of the lords were happy and I, in particular, was pissed.

I didn't actually care about religion; I could elevate myself to a God amongst people if I wanted to with my magic. Although I could feel a magical essence inside some of the weirwood trees, I was inclined to believe that the Old Gods were more real than the Seven. But the main problem with them is that a sept was a disaster waiting to blow up in my face. The High Septon, The Most Devout, septons and septas are around the world had a huge amount of political ammunition. They were the voice and the connection to the gods and before the Targaryeans, the Faith Militants were an absolute nightmare. It was too restricting and annoying; too many sins and rules and people to be revered. The Old Gods were much simpler. You want a connection with the gods? Here, have some cool looking trees. What do you have to do? Why would a god want anything from you, you stupid fuck? Just belief is enough. Only slavery was forbidden and that was it. So, I couldn't, in good faith allow a Sept inside the north. It was going down. But since I didn't particularly want the attention of the High Septon at the moment, I again had to pass my actions as an act of god. It would all happen when I would visit Uncle Ned again.

As for Uncle Benjen, I planned to assign him to an expedition and trading fleet to buy grains and seeds from all over the world to plant fruits and flowers in our new greenhouses and sell them all around Westeros, and hopefully to get him away from Winterfell and more importantly, do something productive instead of sitting here. I even caught a stray thought while he was passing by that he was considering taking the Black. I couldn't obviously let my first real family like that; I almost felt love- more like a certain fondness towards all of the Starks. He was rotting away in Winterfell. There were no new whores in the North, he must have fucked all of them, and I must have cast charms to prevent him from catching STDs almost every day. So I told him that he could fill 5 ships full of pleasure-slaves from all around Essos –freed the moment they touch the North and if he would like, he could be the manager of several exotic whore houses all over the North. I felt that he could almost die happily now and then from that ridiculous grin that was on his face. He should hopefully be back in less than 2 years. Superior speed and charms aside, he was going to have to roam the cities of Essos and find anything of value.

"But nephew, wouldn't it be more prudent to buy shipwrights, masons and builders instead of 5 ships full of whores?" He asked hesitantly. I could see that it pained him on the inside to say that, and while he would most assuredly wanted to buy all these whores, he still felt it was his duty as an uncle to advise his '9 year old' nephew.

"No need uncle, just make sure you come in one piece." I replied. The knowledge I had transplanted into the muggles who have become the Masters in each of their different occupation was much more efficient than bringing slaves and having to teach them to build using concrete and steel instead of rocks. The apprentices seemed to learn fast enough, and more free work here meant more levies from the Six Kingdoms that I would have and they won't.

"Okay then." He grinned, and in a grey Stark blur he was across my solar and outside presumably in his room, to pack for his voyage across the Known world.

Finally! No more nagging and constant watching over his 'precious nephew'. I knew the man felt guilty for what has befallen his family but this was ridiculous. Now I could move a little bit more freely.

I started walking toward the Northern Citadel or as it is now called. Archmaesters and maesters in-training alike were allowed free boarding aboard any Northern ship that landed at Oldtown harbor and afforded as mush space as they needed to transport books and alike. Archmaester Marwyn has already moved inside permenantly much to the chagrin of the other Archmaesters whom usually came here twice or thrice every year. They have benefitted immensely from the printing machine and as such, every book the Citadel had in addition to books from all over Essos and as old as the Wall was available in what was now the largest Library in Westeros and probably the world.

I did want to destroy the citadel but I was waiting for an opportunity to present itself. After the chain of earthquakes that occurred in the North it wouldn't be truly surprising that one would happen at the Reach but still, perhaps a better opportunity would occur.

Archmaester Marwyn and my followers whom still remain nameless usually convened in a Fidelius-hidden Building right next to the Temple. So far their numbers were only 100 as it was hard to find someone with the right mental and physical capability to endure a magical core within him without exploding into bits and pieces. Their jobs were mainly maintaining the mines and pulling out the minerals and valuable rocks closer to the surface – a taxing effort which requires them going almost every day, and re-applying charms all over the fields of the North. I will probably use them in guerilla warfare and generally easing up war for me and the North but since we were living in relative peace. They could focus on their day-to-day work.

I was going to check on their progress and assign new duties.

"Greetings my lord," Marwyn said.

"Archmaester," I nodded "and… colleagues"

"We call ourselves the Winter Mages my lord," said one of the acolytes.

"How creative," I said dryly "Are all the acolytes here?"

"Most of them are, my lord. Almost 5 are still at Essos, scouting. We have been able to locate a hidden fortress in Slaver's bay outside of Astapor. It seems the fortress was hidden by the same wards that our own building is using and others we haven't identified yet."

"Keep me updated on any findings and if they face a dead end with the wards, I shall go and personally do them," I said absentmindly while thoughts whirled all over my head and contingency plans for dragon attacks being arranged.

That was surprising. I would most likely be able to unravel most of those wards but it was a long trip from here across the Narrow Sea all the way to Slaver's Bay. It would have to wait. But the confirmation that Valyrians did indeed use magic similar to ours was worrying. Oh, I knew they had magic. How else would you control a Dragon that, according to rumors could fit a carriage inside its mouth. Dragons back on Earth were much much much smaller than that. While I truly was the greatest wizard of all humanity, I couldn't actually ride a dragon and control it. Damage it? Sure. Kill it? With a spell or two. But to ride it and force it to obey your commands like the stories of the dragonlords of Valyria? That was impossible. Dragons were sentient beings of magic in fact. While I could communicate with them, a parselmouth can't order them around and even if it lived its entire life from birth to death inside captivity it couldn't be tamed. While I could use my will to bend other creatures to do my bidding, most of these blasted reptiles were pure untainted magic that cannot be overcame be sheer will. The magic would overwhelm anyone or backfire rather tremendously. I was dying to know how they did it, but it could wait. All of the dragons were dead for a century anyway and the last remaining Targaryeans were reportedly begging all around Essos for food and a roof above their head in exchange for 'generous gifts as soon as they take back the Iron Throne'.

"How goes the temple?"

"Very well indeed, all the Archmaesters have been here and expressed their desire to relocate but are bound by house Hightower influence over the Citadel." It might have something to do with the fact that the Citadel was built on their lands. "But most maesters have already travelled here and we're accommodating 3 times the number of acolytes that are at the citadel."

"Good, Keep me informed," I said, turning away back towards Winterfell to look over the last reports of harvest of the North and trade.

"If I may my lord," he asked hesitantly "A man named Qyburn has arrived."

"So, you need me to hold his hand through the gate?" I asked irritably.

"No-no my lord, it is just… Qyburn was initially studying at the Citadel but was stripped of his chain by the Archmaesters for engaging in some unethical human experimentation…"

I raised my eyebrow waiting for him to elaborate.

"He had been vivisecting men in his pursuit of medical knowledge, he is of the belief that the death of a few men is justifiable if it would lead to the saving of many more. He is also one of the foremost leaders in the field of medicine and a talented healer." He finished swallowing.

That sounded interesting.

"Where is he?"

"I'll show him to you right away, my lord."

He looked like an unremarkable man. Short, with black hair, wearing the same cloak that the maesters wore except his was black instead of grey. But his eyes held the same curiosity and thirst for knowledge he had himself when he was younger.

"Lord Stark," he greeted

"Maester Qyburn,"

"It's ex-maester, actually."

"No, it's maester now. You will retain your chain and are allowed to share your medical knowledge with the rest of our acolytes, while I doubt you could ever be assigned to a castle, perhaps you may stay here as a teacher and researcher and rise to Archmaester in time?" I delivered the whole speech without a pause and with every word I said the man's eyes kept bulging until they almost fell out.

"I...-I Thank you, my Lord. A most generous offer. May I ask why are you're offering this to me. You're aware of the reason I was expelled out of the Citadel correct?" He asked, almost not believing what the young lord, and prodigy, in front of him said.

"Indeed I do, while I most certainly don't approve on experimenting on live subjects we may be able to provide some concession under certain…. circumstances." I said with my signature creepy grin. It looked slightly out of place on my 9-year old face but it got him intrigued.

"What circumstances exactly?" He asked skeptically.

"Follow me."

I led him inside into my solar along with our accompanying maesters or rather Winter Mages as they call themselves and sat down.

"Now I am aware that experimenting on live sick subjects may provide more information about the disease and how to battle it. However, we have a way to allow you to experiment on live subjects and not harm them at the same time." I said taking a seat down at my chair and motioning him to do the same. "What do you know of magic, Qyburn?"

"I'm afraid I'm a man of medicine, my lord. I haven't particularly taken interest in the Higher Mysteries." He said, not really understanding where this was all going.

"Well we are all capable of using magic," I waved to my companions. "Therefore, we might be able to put the body on stasis as you experiment, and heal the subjects completely after you're done."

"Magic..?" He said incredulously.

I hated that question. I transfigured him into a monkey, fish, and snake and back to human so that he can get to work, and I stop feeling like Dumbledore on the annual muggle-born students introducing meeting to the magical community.

"Incredible," He murmured.

"Yes. Yes. If you have any questions, you can ask them to Archmaester Marwyn and don't do any experiments without one of our mages beside you." I said, looking back to the stack of letters and reports from the lords, farms, mines, harbors and factories all around the North that seemed to grow in size every time I looked away.

"Of course, thank you for this wonderful opportunity, my lord. I swear you will not regret this."

"I'm sure I won't. Make sure to teach the maesters and acolytes alike all your findings and focus on developing surgery and potions for healing instead of wasting away experimenting."

He bowed his head and I hit him in the back with a secrecy spell as he scurried out of my solar.

I looked painfully at the stack of ever-growing layers of parchment and sighed, "I really need a secretary."