-Chapter 57-

-POV Samwell Tarly-

Like every morning for the past two weeks we've all gathered for breakfast 'as a family' like a united house but the actual situation couldn't be further from the truth.

Although I am according to my father finally 'worthy' of wielding Heartsbane and becoming the heir to Horn Hill we do not get along at all especially since he chose to follow the Tyrells by swearing allegiance to Renly instead of Aegon.

He said as if it were nothing: "Today the king will open the doors of his court to all so they can attend the audience of the Dukes of the North"

"Yes father" I said in a detached tone without looking at him to manage to bury my frustration deep inside me without him being able to see it.

"Do you know what he intends to do?" he asked me, frowning.

"No Father" I said, continuing to focus on my food and trying to clear my mind.

"He has appointed me Grand Royal Judge" he said, expecting me to tell him why Aegon had done this which I honestly did not know.

"Congratulations" I said in the same tone.

"Why did he appoint me to such a position?" he said, seeing that I had avoided the topic by refusing to mention it.

"Who knows? maybe he's looking to thank you for your unwavering loyalty" I muttered softly in a mean-spirited manner.

"You have something to say my boy, because if that's the case I would ask you to be more clear" he said, taking a stern look that one or two years ago would have completely petrified me.

I looked up and met his gaze which wasn't as terrifying as that of a hungry Ghost and I said, stuttering slightly at first but nevertheless angry:

"I have so much to say that I think tomorrow at the same time we could still be here listening to me talk about it but I won't complain, I am the commander of the 10th Legion and I only report to one person the KING, if ever he were to entrust me with a task or a secret I certainly wouldn't come and repeat it to you like your little loyal pet"

We looked at each other for a few seconds and then he said in a dry and warmthless tone:

"If you are finished, you may leave"

I didn't need to be told twice and I stood up immediately with the sole aim of getting as far away as possible from my father who still scared me a little.

-POV MC-

'So what could I do to further strengthen my grip on the iron throne' I thought, watching my uncle Viserys unleash in the training yard against Ser Barristan who repelled him without any difficulty.

For now, I have control over all the territories of the Riverlands, the Stormlands, and also those of the Crownlands, I can build a sort of royal farm that will be in charge of managing all my farms whether they are livestock farms or agriculture farms.

With so many farms and centralized management, I could eventually solve the food problem in King's Landing and also make a lot of gold on the backs of other lords given that the Tyrells must continue to supply me with grains for the next decade.

I have won 4 fortresses in which I could control my territory and station my armies, Harrenhal first, Storm's End, Riverrun, and the ancestral fief of the Targaryens Dragonstone.

I have an army of 65,000 soldiers that will continue to climb again and again with the new recruitment offices and will soon reach 100,000 soldiers.

My biggest weak point is my nearly non-existent navy of 50 warships and 140 merchant ships, if I hadn't looted all the houses of the Riverlands and the Crownlands that sided against me I wouldn't even have a boat at this time.

There are only 2.25 million gold dragons left in the royal treasury while the renovation works are still far from being completely finished.

Luckily whatever happens and whatever crisis the kingdom faces I won't lose because I had the foresight to steal two dragons and a future dragon rider.

Now I need to completely win over Viserys otherwise he will continue to shit in my boots.

Betrothing Viserys to Sansa will completely fuck up the kingdom because it will be the second Targaryen Prince of the same sibling to have a Stark wife and this could cool off many of my allies and even embolden many of my enemies but whatever happens I must completely cut off any possibility that Viserys could betray me and it must start with marriage.

I'm not afraid he'll try but I'd like him to become my Rogue Prince, whom I can send like a nuclear bomb on my enemies instead of always making the trip and risking my life in unnecessary fights or sending with a second army to annihilate two enemies on two different fronts with the same firepower or attacking from two different sides.

All I'm missing now is a reliable intelligence agency, a competent order of assassins, and an implacable financial power like that of the Iron Bank which has a gold reserve estimated at about more than 5,000 tons of gold, which is equivalent to about 500 million gold dragons.

Hmm I could entrust the task of creating an order of assassins to Connor but he's too busy carrying out his mission, so now what I need to do is to rely on my best mercenary.

For the gold question, I think I should start centralizing Westeros' gold, I wasn't particularly good at economics in my past life but I can always create a central bank in this world, with it I would be the only one able to issue and change currencies across the continent.

I could also offer to keep their gold for my people so as not to tempt bandits and thieves.

I can finance all this by asking for loans from all the banks of Essos, I know they could all grant me anything to have a good relationship with me, I could even manage to get something out of an alliance with Volantis.

By calling on a dozen banks I could raise funds of 10 to 20 million gold dragons which I would of course have to repay with 20 or even 50% interest.

"Your Majesty"

Sandor's voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I raised an eyebrow at the newcomer who said:

"You asked me to tell you when it was time to go to the Throne Room"

"Thank you Sandor" I said.

He nodded without saying anything and I signaled Jaime to follow me lately he had become practically like my shadow probably because he managed to keep his tongue about Viserys' arrival.

I didn't need royal guards but my family did.

What happened to Valeria will never happen again.