Progressin All Around

All of it from the world to most of the characters belong to George R.R. Martin. Only the OCs and the differences belong to me. Have a good reading.

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5 Years Later 

205 AC

These last years have been a hellish nightmare for me. The reason is that I started my page duties for my uncle. Since he saw how I was still up on my feet after a few hours of training, he kept me going more and more. Yes, I am complaining but I can't deny its effectiveness. Because my cousin and I are of the same age, we started our training together, yet I am so much bigger than him. Both height and weightwise. If there were 5 of him against me I could beat them all. The difference was that much obvious. 

And in our horse-riding lessons according to my uncle I was a natural. The thing he doesn't know is that the first time I rode a horse in this world was not my first time riding a horse for me. Because one of my exes' father had a horse farm. And we usually hangout there all the time. So yes I already knew how to horse-ride. I was pretty good at it too. The difference between my cousin and I was made more obvious by this as well.

Though I was thankful that he was not jealous of me. And he even admired me. And always strive to be like me. He had a good heart. And if we come to the Maester Harmond's lessons I already went through every book of the Maester Harmond. And he didn't have anything more to teach me anymore except for the languages that I was still learning, while my cousin was still learning the things at a normal pace. 

That is why we had my mother buy books for the Maester's Tower constantly. It was not cheap but we weren't poor either. And one thing I was surprised about was some of the books was coming from Winterfell. It seems the library of Winterfell is unnecesarily big. I guess they can't keep up with rewriting the rotting books. Thankfully Maester Harmond's scribes and servants dedicated to his position could still keep up with the books and their normal duties. 

My and Maester Harmond's efforts for the hygiene of the smallfolk was going smoothly as well. Except for the soap though. Yeah we can mass-produce it but what is cheap to me was not cheap to the smallfolk. That was something I overlooked. That is why we were focused on producing for the rich people of the city. But the other things were followed perfectly. And I must say people smelled so much better and the city was cleaner as well.

My duties as my mother's shadow was going pretty good as well. I was learning how to deal with the smallfolk and the merchants of the city. How to solve the disputes. How to hold court. Etiquette or things like that. But I don't think that a High Lord dealing with petty crimes or the like was effective. Those guys were coming from villages kilometers away. A waste of time both for the smallfolk and the Lord. That was something I intended to change. 

I already talked about this with my mother, yet the thing she said was "Hundreds of years traditions shouldn't and wouldn't change son. You are still young and have much to learn. When you grow up you will learn." Hah. Only if you know the truth woman. Those barbaric traditions and stupid laws. 

Guess what she said about my other idea of changing the customs office's and tax books to having a two entry points to stop corruption. "Hundreds of years traditions shouldn't and wouldn't change son. You are still young and have much to learn. When you grow up you will learn." This woman was acting like an NPC sometimes. At least change your words. Yet I can't do anything about it at the moment. So I will focus on improving myself as much as I can.

Oh I and my cousin started our marine trainings as well. It seems that it is a tradition for the Manderly members to start to learn to sail at the age of 10. Thankfully I didn't get seasick on the sea. But it may be because of my blessing. And I had the idea of improving the ships. Then I suddenly realized that I had no idea how to do that. I am not a ship builder mind you. The only thing that I know is copper sheathing is something I had to do. Yet how to go about that. So much to think so much to do. 

Anyway we started our training as a cabin boy or something like that in House Manderly's bigger fishing ships. Learning how tie a know. How to manage the sails. How things are done. Oh and I learned how they cook in a ship full of burnable things. There was a kitchen below the deck and the furnace was covered with stones all over it. So that was how. So my days went like that. 

In the morning I would eat something and then I would train my body and fight with the other squires that was older than me until I can no longer continue. After that was done I would eat again and go for my language lessons with Maester Harmond. Those were the most boring but what can I do. But I must say I was getting really good. Because sometimes I would see some merchants from the free cities and try to have conversation with them with mixed results. Then I and my cousin would go for our sailing lessons. And when we return it would be nearly evening. After reading some books I would sleep. 

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I am already 10 years old. Today I was officially made a squire to my uncle. Yes I was a page to him for years but I was already doing what a squire does as a duty. So as I said it is a formality. And as if I was not doing what a cupbearer does, my mother made me her cupbearer. So, all in all nothing changed. When I was made a squire, my uncle called me and he said "From now on you will start to train with the much older boys." 'As if they are not already 5 years older than me.' I thought amusedly.

"You! Boy come here." He called out to a big boy. Well he is not bigger than me but anyway. "From today on my squire will spar with your group. Is that understood?" He asked authoritatively. The boy was nervous. "Yes, sir." He said to my uncle. My uncle when it comes to training is an absolute menace. So it is understandable why he would be so nervous.

He would break the trainees until we wouldn't be able to continue any longer. That is why my blessing felt like a curse for this very reason. Because while other couldn't continue I kept going. And when I am finally exhausted, I would rest for a few hours and I would be up again. But my uncle liked that I was strong and agile enough to be able to fight with men 6 years my senior. And I wasn't even grown yet. What can I say I liked it too.

"Willard, get up. You will spar with him." He ordered me. "Yes ser". I said. And picked my blunt bastard sword. Bastard swords are my prefered swords. That is because it is long enough and can be used with one hand and a shield. In case you lose your shield, you can use to hands to wield it better.

My squire armor was not much but it was better than nothing. According to my uncle a good armor and a strong horse is a sign of a knight. That is why I should wait until my knighthood to get my own armor. And I was still growing anyway. The thing I would buy would be useless for me in 3 months at the very least.

So I was wearing a riveted long sleeved chainmail hauberk and underneath it was a gambeson to absorb the blows better. On my head was a halfhelm. There was not much protection but as I said I was still growing. And I was still better equipped than many of the household knights' squires. So there was that.