Chapter 48

Halys Hornwood POV

"This is preposterous." Halys Hornwood shouted and banged the table with his hand "I will not accept so few gold dragons for 3 coal mines and the dirt within my lands."

The young Bolton lord however remained unperturbed at his anger and the boy even had the audacity to yawn in front of him. As if this was a matter of no importance to him. And despite his anger for the Bolton boy lord, there was often times within his life when he wished that his own son was more like Lord Domeric Bolton.

After all, everyone knew how much the Bolton lands had prospered under their new lord. What kind of lord wouldn't want to see their own lands become more prosperous.

That was why he was so happy when the Bolton boy lord had told him that there were three large Coal deposits within his land.

And that was why he was so angry when the boy told him that he'll take those coal deposits for a monthly price of 100 gold dragons. He was sure that he would be able to earn double or even triple that amount of money if he opened the new mines on his own.

The only problem was that…

"But you don't 3 coal mines do you." The boy lord said while looking at him with his intense pale eyes. "In fact, you don't even have a single mine within your lands. And you have no idea how where the coal deposits are. Isn't that right."

They both already knew the answer so he simply glared at the boy, hoping to overwhelm him with his age and experience but he had failed once before when the boy came to negotiate the price of the timber within his lands and he very much doubted that he would succeed in intimidating the boy lord this time.

So after a long confrontation of will, he finally looked away, accepting his defeat and secretly hoping once more that he had a son as capable as Domeric Bolton.

"You're right. We don't have any coal mines. And I have no idea where the coal deposits are." He had not wanted to say that but for some reason, Domeric Bolton's unyielding gaze seemed to force him to speak his mind instead of playing political games like he did with others.

"That is correct." The boy lord said "So wouldn't it be better to simply accept the gold I'm giving you. 300 for the mines and 200 for clay. 500 each month and 6,000 within a year. Wouldn't it be better to simply accept that gold than have nothing at all."

Any other time he would have been stubborn and denied the boy's offer.

Any other time, he would have denied the offer and then used all his manpower to find the Coal deposits within his lands even though it was unlikely that he would find anything any time soon.

But for some reason, he felt strangely calm and rational at this moment and decided that having 6,000 gold dragons every year was a far better option than having nothing.

So he agreed.

After that, they ironed out the details and signed a contract within an hour and the boy lord and his host of 50 men had left his Castle before nightfall.

Leaving him with a contract that'll last for 20 years.

He looked at the box filled with 30,000 gold dragons which were the payment for the first 5 years and started thinking about the best way to use it.