Chapter 229

Domeric sat in the carriage and looked outside at his domain. The carriage was surrounded by 20 horse riders, the procession being led by Varko and Baka.

He had wanted to lead the procession himself but when he came out of Dreadfort on his horse, his well wishers and fans swarmed him and it took a few hours to get everyone to move aside so that he and his small entourage could continue their journey to Winterfell.

After that single incident, Varko had told him to enter a carriage and not show his face around so that they won't be accosted by a mob once again.

He wanted to tell Varko that he would be perfectly alright but didn't for two reasons. 1. Varko wouldn't have listened and 2. He didn't like to be accosted by a fanatic mob and be delayed by them either.

So here he was now, hiding inside a luxurious carriage, enjoying the benefits of a proper road and noticing the prosperity of his domain after a long time.

He looked at the farmer using two buffaloes and used the steel plough to tilt his land while the water from the artificial canals filled his field. He turned to Ygritte who was watching the same thing with fascination and spoke "Do you know. When I came to this world the first time, these farmers used wooden tools to work on their fields. They had no buffaloes to lightened their loads, no proper clothes, no proper sensitization, the soil's quality had worsened with overuse and they had to fetch water from the river to water their fields. Even after all of that, they could only make use of 1/4th of the field that they do now."

Ygritte nodded and turned to him "Are the farmers of your world as prosperous as these ones."

He smiled and shook his head "No. They're far more prosperous. They have things called farming machines that they use to work over a large amount of land. Each farmer back there is easily 10 times prosperous than the richest farmer in my land."

"Then couldn't you give these machines to these farmers as well?" she asked.

"No." He shook his head "I do not know how to create those machines. For now, those things are beyond me."

Ygritte nodded and crossed the carriage and came to sat on his lap. His put his arm around her waist and they both looked out the window at the growing villages around the roads with interest.

"There were only about 400,000-500,000 people in my lands when I first took over the mantle of the Lord of these lands a decade ago." He said as his gaze went over the tree under which a teacher was teaching the younger children. Some of them were listening attentively while most others looked bored out of their minds.

He chuckled as the sight reminded him of his own time in Hogwarts and how he and Ron didn't really liked studying all that much. It seems like humans don't change so much even in other worlds.

He was suddenly overcome with nostalgia and wondered what Hermione would be doing right now. She and Ron didn't got along so well because of their many differences but stayed together for their children.

He wondered how his own life would have turned out if Ginny had not decided to betray him.

His hands clenched at the thought of that woman and he shook his head, not wanting to ruin his mood.

"What is it?" Ygritte asked and he gave her a wry smile.

"Just… some bad memories."

Ygritte didn't ask and he was thankful for that.

They remained silent for a while before Ygritte finally commented "You know, these horse carriages are not that bad."

He chuckled and kissed her cheeks before looking out once again.

This time they were going through some kind of hastily set up market with merchants who were most likely working under Celly.

The shops were of Clothes, Rice Wine and Whiskey, Steel Utensils, Cattle, Toys. He noticed a few figurines that resembled him and some that even resembled Varko, Baka, Ygritte and his aunt.

Huh… he didn't know that such things existed in his realm. He really should take his nose out of his books and take some time to travel through his domain and talk with his people.

They traveled at an easy pace for the next few days during which he would take out his books and start reading alongside Ygritte who had nothing better to do either.

Then they finally reached the White Knife river which signalled the end of his territory and the start of his own.

He left his carriage after that along with Ygritte and they both rode their horses for the rest of the way to Winterfell.

A few days later, they finally arrived in front of the ancient castle.