Chapter 22

Domeric watched with a stoic expression as the various workers climbed on board of the Royal Fleet which would eventually take them to Dreadfort.

As soon as the King Robert had finished the war, he had started collecting men and women who knew how to build and sail on boats and large ships because he knew that he would be creating a navy for himself sooner or later.

And despite his dislike for the Iron Islanders, it was clear to him that there were few men who knew more about ships than these men.

After all, they live in an archipelago and have to rely on ships to travel from one island to another whenever they want to travel to another place.

So once he was free to do as he liked, he went with his men and gathered all shipbuilders and other such men from the other islands.

Some of them were too old and set in their way of the drowned gods. Even his heavy manipulations with the promise of gold and a good life as well as the compulsion charms didn't changed their mind so he left them to their own devices and took all the men that he could.

By the end of it all, he had collected some 3500 men who knew about building and sailing ships as well as boats and some 40,000 thralls and salt wives from these lands.

As decreed by the King, the Royal fleet and Redwyne fleet helped in transferring these men and women to Dreadfort.

Once they landed back in dry land at Seagard, he told his men to return home with the other men in Northern army while he went to a secluded place and Portkeyed back to Dreadfort where he quickly told his aunt to prepare food and temporary accommodations for the men and women about to arrive in his lands.

She was not very happy with such a decision on his part but he was sure of one thing.

There would have no shortage of miners once these thralls reached Dreadfort.

—————

A few days later

"The first batch of grain has been harvested my lord." Maester Wolkan said as he entered his solar.

"And?" he asked.

After all, he had spent a good amount of in magic and time in creating those HYV seeds and it would be rather sad if his hard work bore no result in the end.

"And… the results are amazing my lord. The farmers that you hired to work in your fields have produced thrice the amount of grain than the other farmers.

"I see. Send Locke to take the harvest and give each farmer the 200 silver stags just like I promised." He said and his aunt frowned from beside him.

"200 silver stags. Isn't that a bit too much for a single harvest?" His aunt said more than asked.

"It is. But I want people to know that they'll earn more gold and silver by working for me than they'll do by working on their own." He said as he stood up and looked at the large canals that his people were working on in order to take water from the the river irrigate their fields. It would take some time for these people to increase the size of the canals so he'll probably have to hire some more men to work in those canals.

After all, the more farmers that work for him in these fields, the more grain he'll have. The more grain he'll have, the more people in his lands will be free to work on other things like building roads, houses, mining, joining army, etc.

"So I'm assuming that you want to hire more men for other jobs?" she asked.

"I do. And I also need to talk with the Hornwoods and negotiate a contract that would allow me to take the timber from their lands."

His aunt scoffed at his words "The Hornwoods have never been friends of the Boltons. What makes you think that they'll sign a contract with you?"

"Gold." He said with a shrug. "And you know very well that I can be very persuasive when I want to be."

His aunt shook her head with mirth in her eyes "Are you sure that you would be able to create better paper than the ones created by the Citadel and the Braavosi Guilds."

He gave a shrug and said "Most likely. There is always the small chance that I'll fail at something but that chance is rather low."

"So once you create this paper mill and it starts producing paper, you'll be able to publish hundreds of books in a day with the help of the Printing Press. Is that what you're saying?" She asked.

"Yup. It shouldn't be…" His words were cut short as he felt something vibrate within his pocket.

"Who's that?" His aunt asked as he took out the Mirror.

"Merion. The caption of the ships that I sent out to Lannisport." I said "He must have reached Lannisport with the rest of the ships."

"That magical mirror of your is rather handy." She commented and he shook his head before he took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I need to go to Lannisport so that I could meet with Lord Tywin Lannister and exchange the Valyrian Sword for the men that I need."

"So. Wasn't this your plan from the start?" she asked and he shook his head.

"It was. But I thought that I had more time and would be able to make the deal with the Hornwoods and lead the construction of the Paper Mill. It seems like I have so much to do and so little time." He said and let out a sigh before he felt his aunt put her hands on his shoulder as she started massaging him.

"I can go to Lannisport and deal with Tywin Lannister in your place." She said but he shook his head.

"No. This is something that I must do on my own. And the Hornwoods would consider it an insult if I didn't went to negotiate with them on my own." He said "I'll do it on my own when I return with the men. Till then, you can focus on hiring more men and increasing the size of the Port so that we would be able to dock more trading ships and war galleys there in the future."

"Alright. Leave me behind to do all the hard and boring tasks while you gallivant around all over Westeros." She said with no bite in her voice and he let out a smile before he stood her and embraced her tightly.

As an 8 year old boy, he still only reached her stomach so she was easily able to wrap her arms around him without any problem.

He let out a sigh of content as she hugged him tightly. He had never known the love of a mother in his previous life. And this was as close to a mother's love as he was ever going to receive. So he basked in the embrace for a long moment before he let go of her.

"I need you to know that I'm very grateful that you're here for me auntie. Without you I would be rather lost and would have a far harder time ruling my lands and create the new innovations."

She just smiled at his words and cupped his cheeks "It's alright. Family is supposed to take care of each other."

He gave her a smile before he took out his wand and said "Accio Valyrian Sword."

The reforged Valyrian sword with an intricately carved pommel in the shape of a lion came flying toward him before he froze it with an arresto momentum and then put it inside his limitless pouch.

"I still find it hard to believe that you're able to use such magic. The old gods have really blessed you my nephew."

He remembered the Heartwood tree that constantly generated the ambient magic and released it in the atmosphere and smiled "That they have."

"Goodbye aunt." He said with a smile "I'll come back within a moon's worth of time."

"Very Well. Stay safe Domeric." She said with a sad smile and he said "I will" before he activated the portkey and landed inside a room in the trading ship that recently landed in Lannisport.