Chapter 5: Six Months Fly By

(Author's Note:)

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This chapter is largely exposition since it's effectively a narration of what happens across six months. Kind of like an epilogue or interlude I suppose, but I'm saving the Interludes for important stuff, and this is at most an expanded and glorified time-skip.

On a side note, I hope y'all enjoy and continue to read this and to those who support me that you continue to do so.

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(Castle Cidaris, Duchy of Cidaris, Kingdom of Cidaris, Northern Kingdoms, The Continent, Witcher-Verse)

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(Time-Skip: Six Months Later

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A lot can happen in six months, and no one knew this better than King Aethan Jaenerys of Cidari.

Looking out from his tower window overlooking the city, Aethan was pleased by how vibrant and colourful Cidaris looked. Granted it had always been quite well off, but through the forming of a Trade League with Cintran merchants and guilds as well as his own merchants and guilds, Aethan had managed to increase his profits by as much as forty-five percent, and at least twenty percent of that was just through taxes and tariffs and taxing the increased imports from the competition.

It was no secret the trade league got favourable taxes and tariffs

The building of a tavern, brothel, and cabaret in the crossroads had led to a lot of renovations in the city overall. Aethan and his trade league had built up multiple warehouses with an excess of goods, these goods stayed in storage for about two months, before they released them for sale. Flooding the market with high-quality goods for more than fair prices had led to an increased demand and since only merchants in the trade league had access to his goods and the permits to sell them, that netted all of them a tidy profit. All of that profit was subsequently invested into various things such as the business they had, as well as various other businesses and shops in Cidaris. Additionally, Aethan was proudly observing the improvements to the Harbor.

Wasn't up to his standards, but then he'd not be able to rest easy for nothing short of a Grand harbour with a Harbor Chain as an extra security measure in order to satisfy his defensive needs, and with the extra features of Military Piers for the Flagships and a Cothon for important dry dock repairs or quarantines.

Ideally he wanted to have a Lighthouse as well, but Bremervoord made more sense for the location, and the Duke agreed which is why construction of the Bremervoord Lighthouse had begun in earnest.

The Lighthouse was a grand project, and would take around ten to twenty five years for completion. In comparison to real life, the technology value of the Witcher was a lot higher. So with enough support and assistance that timeframe would be cut down significantly. How significantly the timeframe was cut down was anybody's guess, but Aethan was willing to bet at least ten years minimum.

On another note, the Duchy of Bremervoord wasn't the only one to receive an expensive project. Vartburg and Formyre both had received an important update to their geography. Formyre was one of the two Border Regions that Cidaris had with Temeria before Gors Velen was given to Aethan as part of the Dowry for Adda. Nevertheless, it was still a crucial region for the Kingdom. And Aethan planned to build a Great Fortress there. This Fortress would be connected to a Large Wall that spanned the Length of the Cidarian Kingdom. Following the Second War it would also encompass the Kingdoms of Kerack and Verden. It would cost a fortune, but if it was done in blocks it would be less expensive. The Fortress would be the main headquarters and training ground for the Cidarian Army, with the Walls of Cidaris encompassing the Kingdom and its neighbours. As for Vartburg, a Grand Mausoleum would be constructed. It would house the dead of the House Jaenerys from now on, they'd still give their Kings and royalty a Sea Funeral, but a portion of their ashes would be interred in the Mausoleum. This Mausoleum would be enchanted to allow their spirits to rise and give advice to future generations.

An enchanted tomb, no doubt Geralt would wish it would be that easy in the hearts of Stone Aethan often thought of from his tower with some amusement.

But the Kingdom of Cidaris was a small Kingdom, so while that meant he had less income than say Temeria or Redania, it also meant the costs of the Kingdom were dramatically smaller. Additionally being a major stop on the Kovir-Ofir trade route meant that compared to Kerack's annual income via trade and exports the Kingdom of Cidaris was actually four times larger than Kerack, which given the size of the Kingdom, wasn't unusual…however, Kerack's import costs were five times higher than Cidaris or Verden.

Aethan turned away from his window and looked at the Highly detailed map before him. Tracing around Verden and Kerack, Aethan imagined how well his annexation of Kerack would go. There would be significant grumbling from the nobility and peasantry, but after a few months, most would likely fall in line. The Kingdom would find itself in a more advantageous and desirable place of economic stability.

Progress couldn't be stopped as the last six months had proved. But with great success comes great jealousy, and with jealousy comes envy, and with envy…fury. No small amount of spies had attempted to penetrate Cidaris. Be they a foreign Kingdom, the underworld, or a snobbish merchant trying to get an edge.

The spies were put on display for all to see, a notice pinned to them informing the public that they were spies trying to steal the success that Cidaris enjoyed and that he - King Aethan - left their lives in their hands. 

He wasn't executing them, he was burning whatever identity they had assumed and was letting their employers know it. While the employers saw the spectacle Aethan tightened his grip on the Intelligence part of Cidaris defence. The Internal Security Bureau had begun making use of nonhumans to spread its eyes and ears.

Cidaris had always been largely tolerant of nonhumans, and few people noticed them amongst the sea of peasants. Thus many were now tasked with monitoring duties and serving as couriers. And since a great many were incidentally couriers and runners for the trade league, they did their jobs twice as effectively as most.

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(King Foltest I Dezmoiden of Temeria POV)

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The time had come to marry Adda to King Aethan. Little more than a century past the Cidarians had married their own Adda to King Goidemar, Foltest's great-great-great grandfather.

Now it seems the time has come to renew those ancient bonds.

Foltest however could not shake his nervousness, this was his only child and heir and she would be marrying a Foreign King. With a Dowry of a Duchy and twelve thousand Novigradian Crowns it also carried a lot of potential issues. Adda was heir apparent to the Temerian throne. If he died without fathering another child, either Adda or one of his grandchildren stood to inherit Temeria.

What happened with his sister had all but destroyed the Temerian Royal Dynasty. In hindsight, Foltest could admit he should have married Vizimir's daughter if only so his sister might live. But there was nothing he could do about it now.

As he and the Temerian procession rode into the City of Cidaris, Foltest noted it had changed a great deal. In the six months since he'd been there the city was more alive and rich in colour.

At least Adda wouldn't have to call a dismal and lifeless place home. But this did little to shake off his worry and his gloomy disposition.

This was the last memory he had of his sweet sister, he hated being King, what it had given him wasn't worth the costs. But Aethan was a good enough lad and based on the changes and the intelligence briefs Vernon had handed him, King Aethan was a King who despite being ambitious had a bright future ahead of him. 

So maybe trying his daughter to King Aethan wasn't such a bad thing after all…

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Authors Note:

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Little disappointed with this chapter to be honest. Expected at least fifteen hundred words but I didn't even hit that.

Eventually I had the choice of bringing next chapters content into this one, but I decided that I'd only place Foltest's bit in based on the word count being under a thousand or so at that point.

Eh it is what it is, at any rate I've still got a chapter to get done.

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Thanks to Cody, Lewis Wilson, Luci alarra, Kunta, Jacob Hixson, Mitchell Howard, David Martinez, and Availon90 for their support on P-atreon.

The next Chapter is currently available on my relaunched and rebuilt P-atreon, to access simply search the following link, but without the dash between the P and A, Two tiers with the same benefits but different contexts. The chapters on P-atreon will be published when the chapters following them are done and dusted and ready to publish over here on this site.

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