The lost explorer and the summer war part 2

Later that day in Gerion's room.

"Let's start then, I know you have many questions but before that let start with presentations , my name is Aurelius Italicus, the tutor the royal brat you saw back there" I tell the dumb blonde

"First things first, we are in the "Brighthammer" the leading ship in the expedition to the summer islands, and the child you saw is the second prince and lord of the Easter lands, I know what you are thinking, how could a ten year old child be a lord, well, the child is pretty smart for his age… and spit curses like a sailor, so his father send him in this quest and I as his master had to come with him."

"Now I want you to tell me all about Westeros". His face when I told him the brat was a prince was priceless, his eyes seemed about to fall from his sockets haha.

Gerion's pov.

I just get off the bed and here is the creepy old man again, at least now I can see well, now that I see him well his face looks completely common, coupled with his black hair it's probably that I won't be able to remember his face when he turns his back.

After telling me some information about the general situation he starts asking questions, I wonder if I really should tell him about Westeros, as far as I know they would bring their armies, but what options do I have? It's not like I would like to taste their torture.

"Westeros is the home of the seven kingdoms, Dorne in the far south, the only desert of the continent, hot, arid and dry, protected by sea from three directions, south, east and west, and from the north by mountains, There are two major passes, the Boneway and the Prince's Pass, which go through the Red Mountains to the Dornish Marches of the stormlands. The Prince's Pass leads to Nightsong, while the Boneway leads to Summerhall. They are ruled by house Martell, the princes of Dorne." I thought this is what he wanted but he looks completely uninterested.

The he speak and everything becomes clear to me "no no Gerion, we know the general layout of your kingdoms, I guess I should have told you this in the beginning so you didn't waste my time, but whatever, our empire is located in the continent your people call Sothoryos, I know that your people don't really know the expense of our lands beyond the jungles in the coast, it is roughly half the size of your kingdom, but don't dwell on your ignorance, I'm asking about the yields of your lands, what sort of food your people produce, what sort of wine, animals, what sort of personalities your lords have, why want to establish trade routes and maybe if it brings benefits to both parties we can form an alliance"

Well that was unexpected I don't think no one actually knew there was a kingdom in there, and even worse when the seem so organized, but I feel relieved now that he tells me their goals, at least they are no savages.

"Dorne produces different kinds of exotic fruits, cloth and wines, their people are by far the more… liberal, not just in their sexuality but also in battle, they let women fight and more often than not use poison. To the north we have the reach, their leaders the Tyrells are ambitious people, the reach has the more fertile lands of the kingdoms and produce the best fruits and wine,, house Tyrell the lords of the reach gained their position after they surrendered high garden to the Targaryen's. Then we have the stromlands, even with their weather the lands are fertile enough to produce food, but different from the other regions they mostly inhabit fortress instead of cities, their lords are the Baratheons. Then we have the westerlands, the most beautiful and civilized of all the kingdoms, fertile fields, the most impressive cities and the most fairier ladies in the world, the seat of house Lannister. The vale of Arryn produces the most sweet fruits in the seven kingdoms, the Riverlands are fertile lands and also thrive on fishing and trade, the north, the frozen wasteland there's nothing there but ice and land, and of course we have the crownlands, the capital of the seven kingdoms, the lands of King Aerys Targaryen and the iron throne, I hope this information end up being useful for you".

I told him part of the information but I'm not stupid enough to tell him that the westerlands are the wealthiest land of the continent thanks to the gold mines, in sure they will find out eventually but the later the better, if by that time they see the might of our fleets, and at least I could warn my brother by that point.

Aurelius pov.

"I will give this information to the prince, stay here, unless of course you want to joint the infantry when we get to land" hahaha I couldn't help but chuckle seeing him flinch just for that, it seems the only place he has ever fought in has been a bed.

With that said I exit the room, it's time to plan an invasion.

"Achoo" why do I feel that someone is talking about me. After entering the command room I found the kid, the golden haired brat or if you prefer the blue eyed demon as his tutors called the kid due to his hair and his indifferent blue eyes, even if he's just ten he is already 5ft tall, Maximilian, discussing with the fleet commander Cato, and General Cassius, two 6ft tall black haired, square jaw and green eyed twin brothers, they train the child in the art of war, Cassius train him in the sword and strategy,while Cato train him in naval warfare, it would be a normal sight if I didn't know he will be the one giving instructions, this is his test after all, the empire has no need for the weak and he Isn't weak, he learns fast, pretty fast, at this pace he would learn everything they have to teach him in a few years.

Maximilian pov.

My name is Maximilian Holswig, second son of the emperor, said to be the greatest prodigy the empire has produced since my great great grandfather, but now I'm in the middle of the sea traveling to a sh*t hole ( oh don't get me wrong, I like to travel as much as anyone but if I have to decide between being in a ship and sleeping in tents or sleeping in my bed hugging a beautiful servant… well it isn't exactly a tough choice)but, because apparently nobody has the right to tell the emperor that maybe he should actually do something, but what do I know, I'm just a kid. But that didn't stop him to made me lord and after a year send me to "conquer" the islands of the east. After taking control of the coast the army found a lot of useful information, well as useful as it could be coming from wh*res, pirates and slavers, after that we started building a fleet and after a few weeks the firsts exploration ships were send to the nearby islands, first we started with an island to the west called Naath, it's good that we found out thanks to our "guests" about the disease that plague the island, if not the progress would have been much slower, we found out the cause, the butterflies in the island spread poisonous powder from their wings, after making a cure we enter the forest and mountains of the islands, the inhabitants looked weird flat faces, golden eyes and dark skin, the weirder thing was that there were no fighters in the island, when we told them that we were going to colonize the island in name of the empire and they would become citizens and live under our protection they make a festival, it seemes they where frequently attacked by pirates who wanted to enslave them. Some of those foolish slavers attacked after we gave them a warning, now their corpses are in the bottom of the sea being food for the fishes. At the end of the day it was all too easy after we got the cure for the disease, now we own a island full of workers to produce silk, what the man said was a delicious wine (because apparently it is fine to send a kid to war but no to let him drink) and in exchange we just have to give them protection, now with a few forts and villages being built across the island it seems that it is going the right way.

Then we sent fleets to the ruins of Valyria, there's something about the promise of wealth and relics that entice people, the first ship never came back, hundred lives lost, later we find out the reason, the lands were filled with some sort of toxic gas, odorless and colorless, kills slowly, by the time people realize they fall asleep but never awoke, in the end we developed an armor to block the gas, sadly they are pretty expensive, so there are only a few teams exploring the Valyrian coasts, but our guess was lucky enough to be found by one of them.

Now I have to plan the invasion on the Summer islands, different from Naat they have warriors and their own kingdoms, and from what we could gather a functional fleet, this might proof to be an actual challenge.

I wonder when the old man is going to come, it's not like I don't like being close to Cato and Cassius but I would rather not have to wait for hours for that old virgin to appear.

And speaking of the devil in that moment the door opened…