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(Steffon POV)

We finally board our boat and are on our way to Storm's End. These couple of days were exhausting and while I could blame Robert for them, which I definitely do, it is not just his fault. I should have expected him to be interested in the city of Kings Landing and wanting to explore everything. His love for building newer and better things didn't go unnoticed by me.

When the boys went missing for over two hours I was worried. Somehow they managed to slip away from the guards and go out to travel on their own. I hate it when they do that. The amount of guards I had to swap out to find someone who could keep up with those two is embarrassing. 

But things were close this time. There were far too many things which could have happened. 

*Knock knock knock*

"Come in.", I say. 

The door opens and Robert walks in. 

"You wanted to see me, Father?"

"Aye, I did. I'm sure you understand what this is about."

"Aye. It might be time to discuss a few things."

"Good. Then tell me what it was that made you do what you did.", I ask him and sit back to listen to his reasonings. 

"Where to start ... let's start at the beginning. I would say things started when I went to visit the village of Storm's End with Jorry those moons ago. I saw the condition of the village and its people and was unhappy with it. I knew that there was so much more we could achieve and how it would affect our House should I be able to go through with all of those things."

"Like what?"

"Contrary to the world's belief, I don't look down on the smallfolk. On the contrary, I know the truth. It is them who carry us nobles on their backs. They fight for us, they work for us and it depends on their happiness, whether we prosper or not. 

Please don't misunderstand, Father, I am in no way a philanthropist. I don't enjoy doing good, for the sake of doing good. But still, when I see a homeless child, all dirty and hungry, I can't really look away very easily. And why should I? So I came up with the idea to change things. I love creating new things and to build, as you know. Therefore, I combined those things together. 

I asked Stannis to help me in that endeavour, to keep track of all my 'investments'. I started everything off, by gifting a few coins to those who needed it most. This way, I could help them and also prepare them for what would come later, which is what Stannis and I are working on currently. 

I spent a lot of Gold Dragons to start things off. Because I am both a Baratheon and 'generous', at least in the eyes of the smallfolk, they were more accepting of my propositions. I tasked the blacksmiths with teaching apprentices their craft and had them work on specific things to help the farmers and get them better tools. 

Using those tools, I created contracts with the farmers and taught them, what I believed, to be better ways of farming. The effectiveness of this could already be seen. The last harvest was not only much bigger but also better quality. Using this bigger harvest and the fact, that I had them be freed from taxes for a while, the farmers were able to sow more and will be able to harvest even more the next time. 

This cycle will continue until we charge the taxes again and earn more money.", Robert explained to me his ideas. And I have to say, I am impressed. I didn't expect this from him. I will have to make sure, no one learns of this. 

"But that is not all, is it?", I ask. 

"Of course not, Father. That is only the beginning. You see another reason why it is good to help the smallfolk and reduce poverty, is that many of our problems will be solved automatically. Not just economically, but also politically. Think back to Kings Landing. It is impossible to get more out of that city because there is so much chaos. And in that chaos, only a select few can prosper. 

One of those is Varys, the Spider and his army of orphans. Why can he do that? Because there are just so many orphans around who are begging for some food and clothes. Varys is more than happy to use them and give them what little they need. His power grows because he understands that there is nothing more valuable than information."

"What are you getting at?"

"I am getting at the fact, that if we manage to reduce poverty, increase health and take care of all our smallfolk, we will reduce or even remove the chance for spies for Varys. This is of course only one example, but it is also a window to much more."

"..."

"..."

"That is a very expensive idea though and time-consuming. The reward might not be worth it in the end. Spies are everywhere and just because there aren't any orphans, doesn't mean Varys won't get any information out of Storm's End."

"Well, that is only partially true. If the people of Storm's End are completely satisfied, then they won't be desperate to earn more coins. There will of course always be ambitious people, but I have another idea in mind for those, the Guilds."

"The Guilds? How will those help?"

"Simple. Instead of reacting to everything, we will be the aggressors. We encourage our smallfolk to accept bribes and then have them tell us who it was that bribed them. They may keep the money and because we helped them, they will be loyal to us. They get the money and recognition, while we the the names and information about our enemies. A win-win situation."

"How would the Guild accomplish this?"

"The Guilds are intended to further advance Storm's End at the start. But after a while, they will grow so much, that Storm's End won't be able to handle it anymore and we can expand. We may have the Guilds settle in other larger cities, like Winterfell, Lannisport, Casterly Rock, Kings Landing, Oldtown and so on. Once we are there, we will gain eyes and ears in those big cities and using bribes and the like, will slowly be able to use poverty in those cities to pull the smallfolk there to our side. 

Granted this is a very long-term plan, but a plan nonetheless."

I waited for a moment and let the information be processed. 

"You are a very ambitious boy, Robert. I didn't know that you were so interested in power and money."

"Truthfully, I am not. But I realise that there is no way, I won't be involved in the Game of Thrones one way or the other. If I don't want to play, others will use me regardless and I will end up worse for it. To keep my peaceful life, I will have to be ready and prepared. Being one step ahead of others is the best way and it all starts with money."

"A very astute observation for a 10-name day old boy. Sometimes I forget that you are not a grown man. Your stature sure doesn't help. But tell me, if you planned everything to this extent, why did you go to Flea Bottom with Stannis? Why did you not take your guards with you? That was more than foolish."

"Aye, it was foolish. But I never intended to enter Flea Bottom fully. I only wanted to get a feeling from it, by standing at the 'entrance' of the area. We were caught by surprise, though. Thank you for getting us, by the way. I was starting to run out of jokes."

"Hah, is that so? Well serves you right, for doing something like that. What did you do, anyway? What did you tell them? Did you just give away money?"

"Of course not. They simply took it. That was to be expected But I was just honest and friendly to them. They were after the same things everyone is. Money and recognition. I gave them those things and then some. It also helped that I could capture their interest with tricks and some jokes."

"I am sure there is more to it than that, but you always had a way with words and people.", I say. 

"By the way, Father. There is something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?"

"When did you notice that we were gone? I mean, how long did it take you to start looking for us?"

"You were gone an hour, maybe a bit more. Afterwards, I asked King Aerys for help and he asked Varys."

"But you didn't come for about 3 hours after we left the room, we stayed at Kings Landing. So I assume that Varys didn't tell you where we were, correct?"

"Aye, he didn't know where you were, why?"

"Don't you find it strange, that the Spider who is known for knowing anything and everything, suddenly doesn't know something? I for one am certain, that he knew where we were because there were many different eyes watching us walk through Kings Landing."

"So you're saying-"

"Aye, the fat spider, has played with our lives ..."

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(Varys POV)

The plan didn't work. Somehow the crooks in Flea Bottom didn't kill the two kids or try to sell them for ransom. The Baratheon boy, Robert Baratheon, has a gift. A most dangerous gift. Should he plan to play, and he most certainly will, then he will be someone to keep an eye out for. I will have to up the amount of little birds I keep in Storm's End. 

Knowing everything is how I rose from a homeless eunuch in Essos to one of the most powerful men in the realm.

I am not the only one who realised the potential the young stag holds. His intelligence seems to be high but he knows to hide it well and only use it subtly. His brother has a stone mask, similar to the one Tywin has, but Stannis Baratheon seems to have it naturally. Finding out more won't prove to be difficult. Where there are poor people, there are children and orphans, which is an information outlet for me. 

I have to make sure to keep the realm safe. And the way Aerys is behaving right now, things should go in the right direction. The one I am worried about is the young Dragon, Rhaegar Targaryen. He hides behind a chivalrous and charismatic face, but his ambitions are as high as anyone who sits in court. 

He doesn't care about his mother and even less about his father. The first chance he gets, he will amass a following to help him in his quest to ... ah, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Otherwise, I will make the same mistakes many a King do, getting paranoid to an unhealthy degree. 

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(3rd Person POV)

The Baratheon's all made it back to Storm's End. After the talk with Robert, Steffon understood that it was best to let Robert go through with his plans. He had nothing against the ambitions of his son, but he wanted to keep an eye on things. After all, Robert was still a child in the political game. 

Robert continued to do what he did in the village of Storm's End, with the help of Stannis. The younger Baratheon slowly grew into the role of Robert's partner or second in command and understood Robert's way of thinking the longer they worked together. There were little secrets between Robert and Stannis. Robert kept a few, but he would never tell them to anyone in this world. 

As time passed, the village of Storm's End saw change and most importantly, improvement. Hygiene rose tremendously, reducing sickness and bad smells to almost nothing. The overall quality of life improved so much, that there was no other place one would want to live in, in the entirety of the 7 Kingdoms. 

The economy was going very well. Robert and Stannis had founded the three Guilds he had planned. The Builder's Guild included construction workers, farmers smiths and the like. The Merchant Guild had different merchants from all around the Stormlands who were all loyal to both House Baratheon and most importantly to Robert. These merchants would travel across all of Westeros to acquire the best goods and sell them at the best prices. But most importantly, the merchants gathered information and planted spies across Westeros. 

Finally, the Martial Guild. This included a group of fighters Robert selected after testing their martial prowess and observing them for a long time to see where their loyalties lie. But Robert didn't trust them that much, which was why he selected young men and women who were interested in training the sword or other weapons. In the future, they would become Robert's forces' protectors and most powerful fighters. 

...

- 3 years later -

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No chapter tomorrow