74 Towards Highgarden

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POV of Olenna Tyrell

The new republic of nobles is truly a honey trap of the Prussians to get us to kill each other.

I always had the feeling that all the events in oldtown were for the nobility to fight each other instead of the real enemy who now occupies our castles, controls our fields and enriches himself with the grains of our fertile home.

In oldtown there is a lot of infighting for positions of power, especially in the navy because the king's envoy was given several ships and because the Prussians don't have much naval skill they simply gave them to us to use and trade, and the Prussians would keep a share.

The fight to get positions in the oldtown navy was quite crazy, but we managed to get a great majority of them because the most skilled naval commanders were the Redwyne and they had many contacts with the merchants.

In time, we could manage to recover economically, but the problem was still taking root in the reach and it seemed that every day their control was getting stronger.

For a while, I had hope that the common people would rise for us with the support of the faith of the seven and so it happened quite a lot in some territories where the faith was very active, but the rebellions were crushed with a brutality worthy of king Maegor

And the few rebellions that are left are simply led by minor knights who seek to keep the lands that were taken from them and it is only a matter of time before they are totally crushed, since most who wish to rise are looking for funds to recruit soldiers not only their peasants because although the Prussians have reduced their huge army their men could crush any army that did not outnumber them.

But now that a time had come where lord Tarly gave an administrative recess to implement the new laws and ordinances, I took this opportunity to go to the Prussian capital to assess the stability of the Prussian government, as the few loyal servants who served some Prussian knights could not be trusted much as they were only saying positive things about the Prussians and it was odd

Besides, I needed to find out if Janna had been able to gain favor with her future husband, for the fact that her letters have been very evasive, every letter she sends says how her life is under the care of the Prussians, but nothing about her relationship with the young Prussian lord

If house tyrell wishes to re-emerge we must repeat the process with the Gardener's and slowly gain influence among them and hope for a mistake

For my ''luck'' a distant cousin of Helmuth offered to escort the future mother of his king and it would be a great honor for him to escort me safely to Highgarden

Only if I had known that this distant cousin of Helmuth's would be a giant of nearly two meters with arms as thick as heads and almost twice as wide as my clumsy son I would have declined more insistently

''Lady Olenna, Erich von bock, at your service, I thank you for allowing me to be your escort on your journey,'' said the Prussian giant lowering his head to enter the carriage with me.

''I could not refuse duke Helmuth's offer of such an honorable warrior as my escort'' I said kindly as I watched the Prussian knight fit very tightly into his carriage space.

''Rather small carriage eh... my cousin always so considerate'' said the Erich smiling as he struggled to get comfortable in my carriage.

''I hope you can be comfortable because the trip will be almost ten days, unfortunately my body could not resist in a good way to travel on horseback'' I said while keeping my friendly tone.

''Don't worry lady Olenna, a quiet journey is not a problem for me, anyway I must present myself to his majesty'' said Erich finally standing still as the carriage started moving

''I suppose you have work to do?'', I asked the Prussian.

''Yes the king has honored me by giving me a very important mission for the future of our peoples, I have been charged with a mission to negotiate with the paramount lord of the north for the purchase of grain because we have an estimate of the size of the harvest and can determine how much grain will be available to sell to the north, in addition to negotiating the prospecting of the northern territories for vital raw materials and if possible, building a port in the north to facilitate transportation''said the Prussian with much sincerity as he smiled

'So the rumors that the Prussians are either politically foolish or too honest are true, almost all Prussians act like it, but apparently Helmuth and Wilhelm and other nobles I have had the misfortune to meet do not follow that rule'

''It's good to know that my future son's servants are so proactive in doing their jobs'' I said smiling.

After our conversation the Prussian put away his smile, put on an emotionless face and began to observe our surroundings with great attention.

Almost during the whole trip he kept observing the terrain without saying anything and from time to time his eyes focused on me looking to make sure of something.

Luckily, on the second day of the trip Erich found it too uncomfortable to accompany me in the carriage and rode his horse, which like its owner was one of the biggest horses I had ever seen.

But something that had caught my attention was that in the towns that I had indicated where to stop and rest without having to sleep in tents were completely empty, in all the towns that we were visiting were abandoned without life and it was something that worried me.

The Prussians were characterized for being extremely compassionate with the common people, where commonly a lord would kill, rape and steal, the Prussians did almost the opposite, they forgave all those who surrendered and took a part of their food so they would survive until the next harvest, that is why it was strange to see completely empty villages in the first place, there has not been a massacre in this place.

The good thing is that everything could be solved by asking

''Lord Erich, excuse the question, but what happened here, if my memory serves me correctly, this village was inhabited when we traveled to oldtown'' I said to the Prussian as he and his men erected tents.

''Oh lady Olenna... this town was deemed to generate too much administrative burden and it would be more efficient if its inhabitants were relocated so that their labor force could be used in more efficient ways... by decree of General-Feldmarschall Friedrich von Roon approved by his majesty all towns south of the mander that did not meet more than a thousand inhabitants were to be mobilized and resettled in the towns being built in the mander to leave the fertile prairies available for farming'' Erich replied

''All the small towns?'', I asked with interest.

''That's right lady Olenna, all the villages under a thousand inhabitants, although not immediately it was done in waves, at first, it was mandatory for the villages closest to Highgarden, but as our policies started to be applied in the territories the small folks have started to emigrate voluntarily... although it has generated that the mayors of the new villages are collapsed and do not have enough houses to give to the inhabitants'' Erich said while scratching his head

''Are they giving houses to the small folks...for free?'', I asked in surprise.

''That's right lady Olenna, it was a recommendation from the king's council of doctors..... excuse my manners, but to our way of thinking you live... savages... your villages were constantly covered by their own waste which made very likely an outbreak of diseases, besides considering that you allowed rats to live quietly in your barns without caring about the risk of the grain being contaminated, it was something we could not allow and a drastic policy was needed to change the habits... unhealthy of the small folks before they suffered more''said Erich a little nervous while playing with his hands

''I see, thank you for clarifying this fact lord Erich''I said and turned to go to the house I would use to rest for the night...''.

'We are... savages to the Prussians...'

There was not much to think about, I wanted the day to be over soon and to be able to continue on our journey.

Already on our fourth day of travel we came across a wandering Teutonic knight traveling south, no one was accompanying him in whatever he was doing, when my carriage was passing near him, I noticed that they were doing some sort of ritual

Erich had taken off his helmet and kept his head down while holding his hands together, the knight showed a wooden cross to the group of Prussians and they quickly formed a line.

Erich kissed the cross and then the gauntlet of the Teutonic knight and lowered his head even further, all the Prussians did the same and knelt down to listen to what the Teutonic knight was saying in the Prussian language.

When the ritual of the Prussians was over the Teutonic knight went on his way and our escorts returned to their posts as if nothing had happened.

I had to understand Prussian culture very well if I wanted my family to be able to participate in their society and gain influence, and I decided to ask Erich what happened.

When Erich was near the window of my carriage I caught his attention

''Lord Erich, could you explain to me what happened, why you were kneeling before the Teutonic knight'' I asked very kindly.

''Well, not every day we have the time to listen to the sermon of a priest, since most of the Teutonic knights are dedicated to administrative jobs, we can only attend on Sundays to sermon because the other days the Teutonic knights are too busy working with paperwork or helping small folks'' said Erich very gladly.

''The Teutonic knights are priests?'', ask the Prussian

''All of them, the Teutonic order has its origins as a religious order for the defense of the pilgrimage to the holy land, with the passage of time and what happened for the rise of the kings in Prussia, the Teutonic knights became the protectors of the Prussian kings and who better to serve the representative of god on earth than an order of warrior priests'' said Erich while looking at the horizon.

''God's representative on earth?'', I asked, a little worried.

''Yes, you must be very honored that your family will be joined by blood to the Hohenzollerns, to whom god has given the mandate to care for his people, since King Wilhelm is the head of the Protestant faith'' Erich said smiling at me.

''Yes very honored... I suppose the church is influential in Prussian politics, isn't it?'', I said a little nervously.

Erich just shrugged his shoulders

Well, what did I expect to ask someone so clumsy in political matters.

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