Ch38. Hardhome

Braavos, the biggest financial institute. With that, control of many mercenary guilds. These guys took loans, are paid, and hired... The bank has control over them. Plus many influential debtors like the Crown of the Seven Kingdoms...

Belserion Trade. Complete control of sea trade, piracy, naval battles. The one who controls these may very well say he controls the entirety of Essos's free cities.

Trade across the Sea between Essos and Westeros. Meaning the western coast of Essos and the eastern coast of Westeros.

The Iron Islands. Meaning the western coast of Westeros.

Dorne. The southernmost kingdom of the Seven Kingdoms.

...

"Yes, our country only needs the North now and it will completely secure its superiority." Thomas told wide-eyed Dany.

The plan was almost crazy in her opinion! But... with the magical corps and Thomas's new magic...

He created this halicoptr... out of nothing! Daenerys was astonished as they flew towards the Wall.

After getting control over Braavos, they stayed at Iron Islands for a few days. Irene tutored Daenerys in fire magic and Bella in Fiendfyre. She had a blast! Literal blast…

Bella was gleeful by the crater it created.

But it was Thomas who made Daenerys swoon. She saw him create things! He said it is his new magic. Arc of Embodiment or something... IT. WAS. AMAZING!

Thomas only looked at the giddy girl in his lap. He and Dany were getting closer. It was obvious. The first thing she did when she entered the room, was to seek his lap, sit there, and straighten her back in demand of head pats. While cute, it was awkward when he was talking to the Braavosi nobles...

His eyes swept through the military helicopters he created. A hundred of them were flying straight to the Hardhome, piloted by specially trained Black Scripture members while Irene was sailing with Belserion Trade ships from Braavos.

The Black Scriptures were ordered to create a base in Hardhome. Then Belserion Trade with Irene would come, creating a trading outpost slash fortress.

Thomas's ability with weight and gravity was incredibly handy in building things. Not to say about his new Arc of Embodiment. At least, that was the excuse. To be honest, he went there to be alone with Daenerys.

Both Irene and Bellatrix knew the girl would eventually join them in the bond. They schemed a little and managed to 'help' Dany by letting her be alone with Thomas As if it was not obvious to him what they intended!

But Thomas will sacrifice himself for the team and enjoy Daenerys when she finally gets bold enough! He decided to not hold back anything due to seeing her as a child. That would not do, would it?

To be fair, she did behave like a child though… It was kinda awkward for him to start anything more than head pats. But he was also not a dense idiot. He saw the lust in the girl's eyes.

Bellatrix was... hunting.

Thomas needed a wildling to lead their new 'kingdom-beyond-the-wall' and he always liked Ygritte's character. The girl could be molded into a leader of her free folks with a bit of patience from Irene and the heavy hand of Bella. Thomas will happily watch from afar, enjoying the show, stroking Dany's hair...

As for persuading wildlings to stop being 'free'? Well... Thomas decided to make a few, ahem, shows of power to quicken their submission...

He could care less for the Seven, now Six Kingdoms. They will tear themselves apart from the inside while Thomas will have them surrounded by the fortresses of the Iron Islands on every side.

It already started. Irene's merchants reported that the Prince-Who-Shat legend spread through the entirety of Westeros... not like Irene didn't help it.

The rumors of Daenerys being pregnant with Drogo's child also reached Robert's ears... Thomas almost wanted to praise the Spider! He was such a good boy!

So, Robert was going up in arms. Ned was the Hand. Baelish was scheming. Cersei was playing with poisons. And Catelyn was fucking things up as always...

Thomas was amazed that his actions didn't affect the plot in Westeros whatsoever so far. Alas, it was going to change.

...

They reached the Hardhome, only to see a very poor imitation of a village.

"Well, this is sad..." Thomas sighed, pushing his gravity magic to its limits, flattening any structure, tree, or rock in his range. The Hardhome disappeared and only a flat ground could be seen in its place. The helicopters landed and Thomas pulsed his magic again.

This time a castle appeared. High black walls created from obsidian. Many cannons powered by magic mounted on them. Many defensive mechanisms are hidden in them...

High black towers reaching the sky with huge, house-sized magic gems on top of them that could act like sentries. Shooting bolts of lightning or balls of fire on anything that came to threaten the castle.

Unbreachable defenses... well, Thomas created many golems in the basement. Why have a castle without an army? It would be foolish. And Arc of Embodiment with bullshit magic reserves was really a cheat... Especially since he could harden the rocks to the extreme by pressuring them with gravity magic and lessening their weight to make the golems faster... hell, even their blades could vibrate at high speeds, creating fine-cutters from a rock.

Thomas marveled at the magic the castle contained. His magic. Almost 95% of his reserves were used. He and Bella were getting increasingly closer to Irene's potency and reserves. The castle was brimming with magic! Smug at his creation, he leaned on Daenerys after that feat in exhaustion.

"Well, I am still too new at creation." He told the girl sheepishly after she gave him an inquisitive look. While proud, he understood the castle COULD be better. But... whatever. The castle was made to withstand dragon wars Irene showed him in the fairy tail world. If something could threaten it in here, it could very well threaten the entire world.

And no. Some weak necromantic constructs are not IT. If anything, it will be the human factor that will fail! Yes, Thomas firmly believed his castle to be indestructible with the power of creatures of this world!

Dany nodded cutely and started supporting his tired body better but then her eyes shined in realization.

It was her chance!

Thomas barely managed to order the laughing Black Scriptures to build wards, traps, and prepare the port for Irene and her ships. With magic, they could do so in a few hours. He might have created the castle but the defenses... well, he was not THAT magically powerful yet.

Daenerys was happily dragging Thomas to the master bedroom in the castle and was very pleasantly surprised when she found black cozy sheets and pillows on a king-sized bed.

She was ready!

Bellatrix gave her the talk...

More importantly, Irene approved!

She was going to clai-, ahem, have Thomas claim her! With determination and her eyes set hard on her path, her Targaryen instincts flaring, Thomas was thrown onto the bed as Daenerys straddled him.

"Ma-make m-me y-yours!" She bravely shouted and kissed him.

Muuu, in her head it sounded much, much braver!