Chapter 39: Silver Mine

"Yes, my lord, this is indeed a silver ore. To be precise, it's argentite," Vido and Busso concluded after studying the crystalline structure of the mined rock samples in the cave.

Samwell's face lit up with excitement. "Do you know how to refine argentite?"

Vido stroked his beard with a look of unease, shaking his head apologetically. "I'm afraid not, my lord. Highgarden doesn't have silver mines, so we've never learned the refinement process."

"Where can I find someone who knows how to refine silver ore?"

"A maester at the Citadel would likely have the knowledge."

"A maester…" Samwell felt a momentary pang of reflection.

Had it not been for his arrival here, the original Samwell would have ended up as a maester himself.

Looks like I'll have to visit Oldtown, he thought.

"All right, noted. You're dismissed."

"Yes, my lord."

Samwell didn't instruct the two to keep the silver mine discovery a secret. Mining, refining, and minting silver involved too many people to keep hidden. In Westeros, privately mining silver was a serious crime. If Samwell were willing to take on that risk, he may as well have agreed to Lady Olenna's offer to go pirate-hunting; after all, the consequences for getting caught would be about the same.

Since the mine was found within his own territory, it wasn't something anyone could take from him. However, in order to mine it, he would need the king's authorization.

Most silver extracted was used not just for luxury goods like jewelry and silverware, but mainly for minting silver stags, the currency of Westeros. The right to mint was closely guarded by the crown. By law, Samwell had to obtain royal permission to mint silver coins, and the king would also send someone to oversee the minting process and take a share as a royalty fee.

Nonetheless, Samwell would still receive a significant portion of the mine's profits.

The reason House Lannister was the wealthiest family in the Seven Kingdoms wasn't just because of their vast landholdings but because of the gold mines beneath Casterly Rock.

This silver mine wasn't quite on par with a gold mine, nor did he know the extent of its reserves yet, but its discovery was still a great fortune for him. Until now, everyone had assumed the Red Mountains were barren, devoid of anything valuable; even Samwell himself had been relying on brandy production as his sole means of revenue.

Now, with the silver mine, the pace of his territory's growth would undoubtedly soar.

He had been worrying about the challenges of a population surge, but now he felt confident about supporting them. With this silver mine, he'd also have much stronger leverage for "Pulling in investors."

Yet, for Samwell, the silver mine's significance extended beyond wealth.

Based on his earlier theory, he suspected that the real source of his strength gain was the silver content in silverleaf grass.

Why not consume silver directly, then?

He grinned, hesitating slightly.

He had already eaten a fair amount of silverleaf grass, so his silver intake should be high; he felt no adverse effects, just an undeniable strength boost. His body seemed capable of processing silver, so he picked up a small ore fragment, contemplating taking a bite but then thought better of it.

The argentite was unrefined and full of impurities, so eating it outright wasn't wise.

Instead, he pulled a silver stag from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.

Gulp—

The hard coin scratched his throat painfully.

But the next moment, Samwell no longer cared about the discomfort because his strength attribute had increased by 0.01!

So it was silver all along!

This meant that roughly five stalks of silverleaf grass contained the same amount of silver as one silver stag.

But what about the golden-tail shrimp?

He had previously investigated these shrimp and found they were a specialty of Brightwater Keep, only found in a lake connected to the Honeywine River. This led Samwell to suspect that there might be a gold mine under the lake.

The shrimp's golden tails were likely due to long-term exposure to gold particles in the sediment, which caused gold to accumulate in their bodies.

If there really were a gold deposit under the lake, however, it wouldn't do him much good since the lake was part of House Florent's territory. Although Samwell's mother was a Florent, that family wealth didn't extend to him.

Still, there was a way to test his theory—by trying to eat gold directly.

Samwell took a gold dragon coin and swallowed it.

After a brief moment, his strength attribute went up again—this time by 0.02.

Ha! I really am a pay-to-win player now, he thought with a smirk.

Wait a second.

If silver and gold both worked, what about other metals?

He pulled out a copper penny and swallowed it.

He waited, but nothing happened.

Looks like copper doesn't work…

He decided to hold off on testing other metals for now, fearing the effects on his stomach. Plus, he doubted he'd see results. After all, this "Pay-To-Win" power-up was bound to have its preferences.

Now that Samwell was sure silver and gold were the keys to boosting his strength, he faced a happy dilemma.

The trouble was, these metals weren't exactly rare, but they were—

Expensive!

Not that it was silver and gold's fault. No, it was his own lack of funds.

He needed a stable income source, fast.

Thinking of the rapid boost in strength he got from simply swallowing gold and silver, he was fired up. If he didn't consider the law of diminishing returns, a hundred gold dragons could theoretically raise his strength by 2.0 points!

Of course, it wouldn't work that smoothly—repeated exposure to the same material led to resistance, and the effect would diminish with each dose.

Thankfully, gold and silver, while valuable, weren't rare. If he could accumulate enough over time, he'd eventually reach an impressive level of power. Someday, he might even be strong enough to wrestle a dragon!

The silver mine here would be his first step. He just needed to refine it.

Originally, he had planned a quick trip to Arbor Isle, but now he knew he'd also have to visit Oldtown and see if he could persuade a maester from the Citadel to join him.

Over the next two days, Samwell made a tour of the newly-formed thirteen settlements, calming his new subjects, appointing village leaders, stewards, tax collectors, and sheriffs, and addressing pressing matters.

Only after finishing these duties did he set off from his territory, taking Todd Flower and Chiman with him, along with twenty guards.

Bringing Chiman was a necessity—Samwell didn't trust this "mad dog," so he preferred to keep him close. As for Todd Flower, though he wasn't fully trustworthy either, Samwell didn't expect him to cause any issues. He brought him along because Todd was a Bastard, with ties to Arbor Isle.

Traveling along the northern shore of the Summer Sea, they quickly left the Red Mountains and reached House Cuy's lands—Sunhouse.

Initially, Samwell hadn't planned on stopping here and intended to head straight to Arbor Isle. But with the population surge in his territory, the food shortage was becoming urgent. He couldn't wait for grain shipments from Arbor Isle, so he decided to stop in Sunhouse to buy provisions.

Since he would be entering Sunhouse, he sent a soldier ahead to deliver a letter of greeting to House Cuy as a courtesy.

(End of Chapter)