56. Oaths

All the lords were invited to the newly furnished and upgraded meeting hall. At the end of the hall was a big long white marble table for the Starks to sit and in front of them were various long tables and chairs of high quality.

When the lords entered, they were surprised by the grandeur and beauty of the hall. The beautiful stark banners on the wall. Wolf sculptures here and there made it look like they were really in a wolf's den. They all found a place and sat down.

Soon, Alexander, Brandon, Ned, and Benjen entered the hall from a different entrance near their table. As soon as they all saw Alexander enter the hall, they all stood up.

He went and sat down in the middle and the biggest seat, on his right sat Brandon and Benjen, and on his left sat Ned, Dobby, and Maester Luwin.

Poor Maester Luwin had no idea that the citadel was going to be destroyed soon.

"Thank you for coming here my lords. We'll start the meeting soon but let's enjoy the house Stark's new drinks first." He said and soon many servants came in. Butterbeer was served with large glasses and the Firewhiskey was served in small shots in shot glasses. A Butterbeer bottle was given to all of them and Firewhiskey for 4 people a bottle.

Suddenly Greatjon Umber stood up with his shot glass filled with Firewhiskey and roared, "To Lord Stark"

Everyone raised their glasses and downed them in one go. Many of them started to cough after it. The Firewhiskey was a strong drink, it gives a burning sensation for a while and then leaves behind warmth all over the body and it was aged 50 years with time cloth so its potency was even greater. It tasted a little spicy too.

"This... This is amazing my lord. This is a drink fitting for the north." Greatjon spoke in excitement.

"Thank you Lord Umber. I'll gift all of you 1 box of Firewhiskey. Now, let's try the Butterbeer," Alexander said.

They tried the Butterbeer and felt the sweetness and amazing smoothness of the beer. It left behind a sweet aftertaste.

"Such fine creations, may I know who made them my lord?" Lord William Dustin spoke.

William Dustin was supposed to die at Tower of Joy originally but he was one of the people whose fate Alexander changed.

"You are looking at him, Lord Dustin," Alexander said.

William Dustin suddenly stood up and rushed to Alexander's table and kneeled. "Such fine creation is enough to convince me that you are the best lord the north can have. I, Lord William Dustin of House Dustin, promise on my faith that I will in the future be faithful to Lord Stark of House Stark, never cause him harm, and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit. I swear it by the old gods and the new"

The sudden oath of fealty came off too suddenly. Lord Dustin had a great love for alcohol. Which was pretty clear now.

"Hahaha...And I vow that you shall always have a place by my hearth, and meat and mead at my table. And I pledge to ask no service of you that might bring you dishonor. I swear it by the Old Gods and the New. Arise." Alexander replied.

"Thank you, Lord Dustin. I can't give you the recipe for these two drinks but I can surely give you the recipe of another worthy drink. It's called Vodka, I have a small batch of it, you all can try some"

Then the servants brought bottles of vodka and poured it in shot glasses.

This time Alexander stood up for the toast. "For the prosperity of the North"

"FOR THE NORTH" they all roared and drank.

Once again, many of them coughed. "This is perfect, my lord. Not as flavored and unique as Firewhiskey and Butterbeer but still very strong and impacting. I can see it liked by people in the north. Especially in the cold winter"

"Then it's a good thing it's always cold here," Greatjon spoke again.

"Haha... Yes, this drink is not as costly to produce so I can see many smallfolks enjoying it too. Lord Dustin. Please send a blacksmith of yours to my workshop to learn how to make various tools for making Vodka." Alexander instructed.

William nodded and looked at his aide to go and get the job done.

Then Alexander got back to serious business. "Okay, now to the main business. But, let's get over with the oaths first, that is if none of you have any objection on me becoming your liege lord."

As expected, Roose Bolton stood up. "My lord, I am confused. You are not the closest in the line of succession to the ..." His words were interrupted by Greatjon.

Greatjon was a firm supporter of the Starks no matter what. It was his son who was dumb.

"What nonsense are you blabbering Roose?" he said loudly.

"Please let him speak, Lord Umber. Everyone has their right to speak here." Alexander said.

Roose Bolton continued in his cold plain voice, "My Lord, what I am asking is, why are Lord Rickard Stark's sons not taking the lordship."

His question was a genuine one. Many others also had the same question.

Then Brandon stood up.

"Haha... I think I should answer your question, Lord Bolton. I am sure that many of you have heard the recent rumors. Claiming that our dear uncle here has forcefully taken the lordship from us with some trickery. They are all bullshit. I owe my life to Uncle, he came to the damned King's Landing all alone with Ser Dobby to save me. He not only saved me but also saved the smallfolks from those Lannisters. I saw how the people looked at uncle there. They had true respect in their eyes. I knew at that moment that he could be a better lord than me.

We all know that I have more muscles than brains and that is not a good thing for a Lord, even less when he's the Lord Paramount. But Uncle has more brains and muscle than anyone in this room, so I surrendered my lordship." Brandon sat down after saying that. Alexander had the urge to clap for him but controlled himself.

But then he heard a faint clapping from behind his chair. He looked and found little Rina hiding there. She suddenly realized that she was caught and tried to run away but Alexander caught her in his arms and tickled her.

Her cheerful laughter brought the room's mood to normal and everyone smiled.

Rina then looked at his face while sitting on his lap.

"Sowy" she knew she should have not entered the hall without permission.

"Haha... And you are forgiven. You should not sneak around places like this. If you wanted to come, you should have just asked me. Okay, let me introduce you now."

"Everyone, meet the lovely little lady, Rina. I saved her and her mother from robbers. She and I have really kicked off well. I never had children, so I treat all children like my children." Alexander said.

~Yes, I never had children. I had demons~

"Oh, Uncle Red Beard," Rina exclaimed, pointing at Lord Dustin. He was with them on the ship back home.

"Haha... Yes, it's me little Rina." He laughed loudly.

"Okay, Rina. We are having a serious discussion here. Why don't you go and play with Eric, Robb and Jon." He said.

Rina quickly got down from his lap and ran back to play with the little ones.

Ned stood up and started speaking, "After Brandon, the Lordship fell to me and I also rejected it. The reason is simple, I spent most of my life in Vale. I have no experience in dealing with northern matters. Uncle, on the other hand, has been here all this time. He's even managed to convince the wildlings not to attack, except some cannibal tribes. He's the best Starks can offer you all"

Then it was Benjen's turn to speak but he never spoke. Alexander turned his head and found him happily drinking Butterbeer.

When Benjen noticed that everyone was looking at him, he said, "What? I'm the third son, I never even had the chance to become the Lord. And even if it did, I don't want it. I am happy as I am"

Then he poured another glass for himself.

Alexander laughed seeing that and said, "There, you have the reason. Now let's get this over with."

One by one, they all swore fealty. He looked into Roose Bolton's head. The guy had wished to become the new Warden and Paramount of the north by any means possible. They were also flaying men in their dungeons.

~Well, I'll deal with you soon. For now, I don't want any infighting~ he said to himself.

After they were done, he announced his plans. "My Lords, I am going to start some new projects for the north in the future. They are related to mining and some other things. The plans are still in the initial stage but I can guarantee that they will bring immense wealth to us all. I'll prepare a plan for prosperity for each of your houses and visit each of you personally in the near future to discuss them. Till then, I ask you to focus on as much food production as possible.

I have found some much more productive ways of growing food that can not only make us self sufficient but also leave extra. When you leave, I'll give each of you some equipment and someone will show you how to use it. With it, we can make hard soil soft and grow food." He said.

Then he went on to explain to them about crop rotation and its benefits. Also the use of animal dung as fertilizers. They were all skeptical about it but a slight use of magic made sure they wholeheartedly did it. Another charm made sure that they understood not to reveal the methods so soon. Still, even if they did, nothing would change as the main reason for the soon to be crazy crop growth would be Alexander's magic.

"With this, I conclude the meeting. Let's have some food now." Alexander said.

Tens of servants brought food on trollies and prepared the tables. Most of the food was normal, with various kinds of meat and better wine. It's just the method of cooking and various spices used in making them were different. Alexander had made a humanoid Nanny bot and made it in charge of the kitchen. The bot knew all the dishes possible and could even quickly grab stuff from his pocket dimension if needed.

The whole hall erupted in loud chewing sounds and praises for the tasty food. After that, just as promised, he gave them all a crate of Butterbeer and Firewhiskey as promised.

Now all he needed to wait for the night and travel the whole north on his magic carpet he just made. He was going to make the whole north fertile for all kinds of seeds. He was also going to meet his Freefolk friends and tell them about his offer.

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