Chapter 53

"Ser Jorah Mormont recently sold some prisoners as slaves. Lord Stark found out about this and when he went to dispense justice, he ran off with his wife are bankrupting the Mormont family." His his new spy mistress informed him and he took a moment to absorb the information he had just heard.

"Ser Jorah Mormont. The person who earned his knighthood from the king after the battle at Pyke and then won the Jousting Competition in Lannisport as well as the hand of that Hightower girl there?" he asked and his spy mistress nodded.

"What would promote him to sell men to slavers. And how did he bankrupt his family?" he asked curiously.

"His wife had expensive tastes." The spy mistress deadpanned and he looked incredulously at the woman for a long moment before he burst out in laughter.

"Wow! I've heard about husbands being devoted to their wives. But to think that he bankrupted his whole house in order to impress his wife." He said and shook his head, not liking this Mormont fella at all.

"Do you want me to put a bounty on his head?" his spy mistress asked and he shook his head.

"No. The life of a disgraced knight who has lost his home will he harder for him than a quick death. Plus, how long will his wife remain with him now that he doesn't have any money to spend on her." He said with a snort. "Not to mention that it would improper for me to put a bounty on him as he didn't belong to the Bolton house."

After that, they sat in silence in his solar as he wondered what he should do next.

"Lord Jeor Mormont left Bear Island in order to Serve the Nights Watch a few years ago. So who is running the Bear Island right now?" he asked, remembering the stoic old man who had greeted him at Castle Black.

"Jeor Mormont's sister Maege Mormont." His spy mistress informed.

"A woman?" he asked with some amusement.

After all, men in Westeros had the tendency to think that women are only good for running household duties and nothing else. But if there are no other men left in House Mormont to run the house then such a thing would be understandable.

"House Mormont's women are said to be fierce warriors." His spy mistress said and he gave a nod in return.

If his people are constantly harrassed by the Wildlings from the North and Iron Islanders from the South then the women within his lands would learn how to wield an axe as well.

You need to adept in order to survive.

"Send them 20 ploughs, 20 seed drills, 40 oxen and 4 bags of HYV seeds." He said.

"My lord?" she asked with some surprise.

"Did I stutter?" he asked with some amusement as she shook her head calmly.

"No. But you've never given the High Yielding Variety Seeds to anyone else." she pointed out and he gave a shrug.

"I'm feeling charitable today." He said. Left unsaid was the fact that the Boltons had a rather bad reputation thanks to the actions of his ancestors and he wanted to change that reputation within his life time.

"I'll see it done. But I'm afraid that they won't accept charity. The people of Bear Island might be bankrupted and be desperate for help. But they have a fierce pride of their own." She informed him and he nodded.

"If they don't accept it as charity, then simply tell them to pay me back when they have enough wealth of their own." He said "And don't charge them too much as it would defeat the purpose of helping them."

The spy mistress gave a bow and he expected her to leave but when she didn't, he looked at her with a questioning glance.

"The Whaler ships that we sent out in order to hunt the whales in the Shivering Sea got interference from the Ibbenese people."

"That is understandable." He said "The Ibbenese people have a monopoly on the Whaling business and wouldn't like it if someone else interfered with it."

"I'm guessing you already know how to deal with this problem?" she asked and he gave a nod.

"Send Muron to hunt down anyone who tries to interfere with my ships." He said. "Tell him to take the new war galleys that the Shipwrights from the Lannisport and Iron Islands made."

"You mean the war galleys that they made with your designs?" she asked with some amusement and he gave a nod.

"Yes. Muron is and excellent caption and should be able to deal with them on his own. But if he fails then I'll go to Ibben and deal with this situation myself."

His spy mistress nodded and bowed her head to him before leaving the solar.

As she left the room, he sat down on his rotating chair and looked outside the Castle where the men were digging the foundation of the building which would serve as a school for his people.

His men had already bought 'learned' slaves from across the Essos to his lands. By now, he had more than 200 people within his lands who were literate and he was already putting them to good use by giving them administrative work or having them teach the new generation of his citizens.

The blackboards and chalk that he invented as well as the new books printed by the Printing Press helped matters as well.

Now he just needed to deal with the bandits and poachers that have propped up in his lands.