5

285 AC

The journey to Stark's was a quiet one, there weren't any bandit attacks, nor many problems on the way, even bandits probably weren't so stupid to attack an entire convoy of fifty men-at-arms, fully clothed in hard leather armor with iron plates, with poles showing Bolton sigil of flayed man, either from fear of retaliation and being skinned alive for attacking Bolton heir, or just being clever enough to know that being a bandit in Bolton lands just didn't pay off...

That said, I made a decision to depart sooner than father said, not because I was giddy to visit Winterfell, even if I was, as there were some opportunities for me to witness, no, the reason we departed sooner is that I wanted to visit some villages on the way, see how the people fare there, and get to know general populace happiness or unhappiness so that I could do something with it, after all, happy subjects make happy ruler, something this world nobles rarely know or practice in.

As such, our first stop was in the village after Bolton town, yes, a Bolton town is what stands near the Dreadfort, with just some five thousand souls living in, not too big or small by this world standard of towns, still, I could visit that town whenever I had time, so on this journey, I ignored it, even if I got some good farewell wishes from the townsfolk, they seemed to like me more than father, which, again, wasn't a very high standard, but I will take anything I get...

The first village name is Creakfold, a bad name, like, I know I had no right to shame others naming senses, but a fucking bad name, still, the village had around hundred souls in it, again, not too bad, maybe it was because it was near Dreadfort, thus much safer, of course, its wasn't on the main road, with was a muddy road in the forest, something I need to look into later, the Creakfold was around half hour from the main road by horses that didn't sprint, so it was so so as things go, the welcoming we received was tense, very tense and full of fear and anxiety, that was at least until I said that we would camp outside of the village, making the village elder, the supposed leader of village sigh in relief with others who listened to us and didn't hide behind closed doors, this was very different welcoming than I usually get in Bolton town, well, I supposed the rumors about me didn't reach there.

And after the men left to build a camp, leaving me with just four guards, I had a conversation with the village elder, what I asked wasn't anything strange, nor unreal, normal, how things were going, if there were any problems, what he would do if he could change village for better, how is the weather, any interesting things that happened in there and such.

At first, the elder's answers were given in tense and short words, but after I showed any bad reaction, he little by little opened up, making write notes of things he said that could improve, I didn't add the unrealistic ones such as lower tax, from what I looked, Bolton tax was already fucking low, which was surprising, so I chose another way, help the village earn more money, or gold, this world wording is still something I'm getting into...

"Wolves?" I raised an eyebrow, at first, it seemed to be strange to have such a mature conversation with a child, but it seemed that the elder was more open-minded, or rumors of my being Blessed by the Old Gods arrived in there, or probably both.

"Yes, Milord, these beasts kill our cattle, and hide in shadows, making it hard for our hunters to kill them." Elder said, as I nodded, not surprising, wolves were clever animals.

"Not humans?" I asked, making the elder nodded his head.

"Yes, our hunters or farmers weren't hurt or even managed to glimpse on these beasts." That is interesting information, it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility, at least not in this world, for wolves to reach such intelligence to evade human hunters, but it still was surprising and something I couldn't do anything about, at least not now.

Still, the day and night flew by after having a meal in the elder's home, something he invited me for, and something I made people again surprised was my no-nobility behavior, eating from the same table and same meal as the peasant villagers, and after bidding good night too early, explaining I still need my sleep, and over heating someone saying that they almost forgot I'm still a child, I went to the camp and slept for the night, thankfully there wasn't any problem, as I made it clear to my men what will happen if they tried to get their hands on the smallfolk women, something I seemingly didn't need to as Bolton men-at-arms were quite professional, which made me smile...

And after bidding farewell to the villagers who completely changed their behavior for me, from being scared and fearful to bidding me farewell with smiles, I left...

It was strange how simple... These people were...

Maybe it was better this way...

After that, days flew by as our journey continued, stopping in any near village on our way, which was mostly the same as the Creakfold, even some taverns, which there were quite a lot on the main road, where I let men have some fun, of course with conditions, not enough drink to make them into animals, they were still representing Bolton family, or rather, me, and I didn't want any smear on my already shake reputation, of course, some men paid to some whores, which were quite lookers, which was surprising...

That made me remember, or rather think if there was actually some HIV or AIDs, I didn't remember from serial, or other sources such things, in all sources the most dangerous and famous sicknesses were always the black death version of this world that already happened in the past, and the greyscale, this was something that I needed to look into once I'm back.

Still, I enjoyed the bard's music, even if the tavern was tense because of my presence, that is until I made the tavern wenches or serving girls smiled when I gave them small tips into their hands, making one more mature wench almost squeal, saying I'm cute, something she immediately regretted as the tavern went silent, and the wench was almost about to apologize when I thanked her, telling her that she looked too beautiful for mother of two girls and being a such hardworking woman...

Delivering that all with a soft tone as I bend my head down, not in shame, or being shy, even if I wanted to be seen as shy, the reason for me hiding my face was because I fucking didn't want to destroy my tries in earning positive rumors by my fucking terrifying face that looked even worse when smile, so I just played shy little boy...

And it worked, as the tavern blown up in cheers and a more happy atmosphere...

After that night, we again went on the way, but not before promising to visit on our way back, something that made the serving girls smile, I didn't know or really care if it was because of my generous tips or the fact that they probably wished for me to take them for myself after acting as easily manipulated little boy...

It was both blessing and a curse that I had no lustful urges, at least not yet, and not for years.

Again, the days flew by, and we finally arrived at the borders of Bolton and Stark lands, something I knew by the two watchtowers on both sides of a primitive wooden gate, which probably served as taking tolls, I think? Or just to make sure who comes out and in, I suppose.

We weren't stopped or questioned, probably because of the rider we sent before us and who now joined us, and we probably even would by even without forward warning as the sigils of the Bolton family were carried by the men, showing all who we are, and who needs such protection...

Our tempo quickened, we still had time, but I did want to spend a lot of time in Bolton lands and any village or tavern, which did somehow added on each other, making our time travel relatively more prolonged than it was supposed to, still that was a reason I wanted to depart earlier...

In Stark lands, I had no such plans, and so we mostly stayed on the road with few tavern visits, somehow, even if still in Stark lands now, the people were the same, with the same problems and same fears, maybe there more as Bolton's were viewed as evil by most Stark smallfolk, well, I think that is mostly true for entire North, Bolton family wasn't liked, something I honestly had no right to say that I didn't understand why...

I mean, skinning someone alive is quite extreme...

Not that Bolton family members' actions helped our already poor reputation outside of the borders where the rumors became myths...

And days flew by, and the road became too repetitive, I couldn't help but smile as I heard the lead man say.

"Milord, we arrived." That was one fucking big castle, I couldn't help but whistle, but all that left my mouth was steam from all the winter cold...

Still, one BIG castle...