Chapter 29

"How are the troops coming along?" he asked Walton as they looked at the thousand men running laps around Dreadfort early in the morning just before dawn.

It was rather cold outside but these men needed to prepare for cold if they were to be of any use to him North of the wall.

"They aren't worth the food they eat." Walton grunted and he almost let out a sigh at the man's bluntness and his bad review of the men he was training.

Because regardless of what Walton said, a simple use of legilimency told him that the men were coming along well and that Walton was secretly rather proud of them.

"How long until they're ready for the expedition North of the wall?" he asked.

"You're too impatient." Walton retorted without any heat and he felt the need to chastise the man before he realized that Walton was not wrong in saying that.

"Yes. I'm a bit impatient. Things are always so slow in this world." He murmured to himself and rued the amount of time that took for things to happen in this world.

Even travelling from Dreadfort to Winterfell took a whole week of his time if he didn't use magical means of transportation. A journey that would have hardly taken a day for a modern day human with access to car or a bike.

"Don't worry. Give them two moons worth of time and they'll be ready for the expedition."

"And if they're not?" he asked.

"Then they'll die." Walton said in his brutally honest way with a shrug as if the lives of these men weren't worth a damn.

But he couldn't blame Walton for that kind of thinking when more than 95% lords and ladies think the same way when the look at the smallfolk.

Something that would only change once he started educating the smallfolk. And that was not going to happen in a fortnight.

"Did Lord Stark replied to my message?" he asked to his aunt who had remained strangely silent up until this point. Maybe because she was pissed that he woke her up so early in the morning.

"Yes. He asks for the reason behind your expedition." His aunt replied frostily and he added 'waking her up in the morning' to his list of things that he would not repeat again.

"Then send him a letter telling him the reason behind the expedition." He said and could see Walton trying to listen on to their talks. It was understandable as aside from him and his aunt, no one else knew why he was preparing for the Expedition to the North of the Wall. 'The real reason.'

His aunt's gaze fell back upon him as she scrutinized him for a long moment before she asked "Are you sure. I don't think Lord Stark would believe us if that's what we tell him. And even if he did, it's likely that he'll think of us as fools more than anything else."

"Let him think what he will about us as long as he gives the permission to travel North beyond the wall." He said without any worry.

"And if he doesn't?" she asked

"Then I'll pay him a visit myself." I replied "But he knows better than to deny me my request. Especially when I named his son Bran Stark my heir in case I perish North of the wall."

He could see that his aunt was worried about him so he simply put a hand on her hands and gave her a sweet smile "Don't worry. You know what I'm capapble of. And we both know that nothing will happen to me."

"Do we?" she asked as her worry turned into anger at his reckless behaviour.

"Yes. Even if we are ambushed by the wildlings North of the wall, I'll just use my portkey to come back here." I said with a smile and she gave him a hesitant nod which was followed by a shaky smile.

As we were talking, the recruits, quite a few of whom were the veterans of the Greyjoy Rebellion and Robert's Rebellion finished their lap across the Dreadfort and were then drilled even further by Walton and his men.

"Any other news for me auntie?" he asked and she gave him a nod before she climbed on top of her horse and told him to follow her.

He gave a nod and climbed back on Black's back and followed behind her as she led him toward the section of the river where he had built the Water wheels and the Blast Furnace.

"You were right." She said after a long silence as they reached toward the large furnace that was currently empty at the moment.

"So they completed it?" he asked after a long silence and the look in her face (which reminded him of someone who had eaten a sour lemon) made him laugh at her.

"They did." She said bitterly "The first day when Master Tobho Mott ran the Furnace, he produced 40 steel ingots within six hours. 40 steel ingots. Can you believe that?" she asked with a slight fascination and he had a feeling that she had a love-hate relationship with the blast furnace.

Love because of how beneficial it was for them. Hate because it proved her wrong.

And despite all her good qualities, he knew that his aunt was a woman who could hold her grudge for a long time over really petty matters.

So instead of egging her on, he simply gave a nod and asked "How many steel ingots have they been producing everyday since then?"

"About 150 steel ingots over 3 shifts per day." She replied curtly.

"Hmm… and the quality of that steel?" he asked.

"I don't know much about such things but Tobho Mott informed me that the steel produced here is ever more sturdy than Castle forged Steel and armor and weapons made from it will be highly sought after once they are released in the market."

"I see." He said and hummed a little before asking "I believe that even all the blacksmiths in the castle combined are not able to deplete our Steel ingot supply?"

She laughed at his words. It was not a derisive laugh. But a laugh filled with amusement.

"No. They are not even able to finish 1/3rd of the Steel Ingot that we produce everyday. And now, instead of pig iron our warehouses are filled with High Quality steel."

"Not for long." He replied and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, asking him what he meant by those words and he smiled back at her before taking out a parchment from his bottomless pouch and gave it to her.

She unrolled the parchment and looked at the diagram drawn in it before she looked back at him once again "I don't understand what it is. I can see that it will be using the power from the river judging by the Water Wheel drawn in it. But I don't know what the rest is all about." She returned the parchment to him "You might as well tell me what that is."

"It's a Water wheel powered hammer." He replied "The water wheel will supply the power to raised the large hammer before letting it fall on the steel ingot. This will save the smiths hours of time in forging armor and sword along with other equipments. It'll definitely take some time for them to set up this design and even more time to get used to it but in the end, it'll increase the supply of Steel products created by us by a huge amount."

As he finished, he could see that his aunt was enamoured by the whole idea.

After all, high quality steel was better than Pig Iron. And High quality weapons and armors were better than high quality steel ingot.

The more armors and weapons that they produce in Dreadfort, the more easily they'll be able to arm their men. And once they've armed all their men properly, they'll be able to sell the remaining steel products to the other houses. Gaining more gold which will lead to more prosperity.

She was right in her views, in a way. Except for the fact that even if gold did brought prosperity to the people of a kingdom, there were other ways to make a place more prosperous.

"Give it to Master Tobho Mott when he wakes up in the morning." He said "He'll understand what to do with the design."

His aunt gave a nod and then carefully pocketed the design in her pocket as he wondered how long it'll take for the blacksmiths to forge these Waterwheels.

Maybe a month. Maybe less. Maybe more.

The point was that when it does, he'll start making steel ploughs and other such things for the smallfolk in huge quantities so that they'll be able to increase their harvest even more in the future.

That would definitely be more useful to him than making weapons and selling them to other houses.

"You're leaving already?" his aunt asked sadly and he realized that he had indeed not spent a lot of time with her since the start of the Greyjoy Rebellion.

"Yeah. Sorry about that auntie." He said with a bitter smile but knew that he needed to leave in order to search for ingredients that would allow him to create a better and more powerful wand for himself.

He also planned on searching for priceless artifacts like Valyrian Steel blades and Dragon eggs once he was out there on his search but knew that he had to use his magic wisely as there were few Weirwood trees below the Neck.

Regardless, having a simple breakfast with his aunt wouldn't delay him too much.