33 Deals with the crown
This is the chapter that you will have this week,next week you will have another one
survey, about lothar in essos, i have 2 options that I spoke with the intellectual author, lothar makes a butchery in essos(many chapters about torture and bloody battles or lothar seeks to generate a crusader state in essos in the service of his king(his government will be very cruel against the heathens).
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Charles of Orleans POV
my mission was simple, it is to deliver the proper tributes to king Robert that my dear king owes him for his commercial activities and the sale of grain, our journey through Roseroad was smooth especially for the fact that much of the road was now made with cement and not by stones joined by mortars making the journey by wagon to the capital more expeditious
we do not expect an attack according to the Finn, the roads are safe, but the amount of gold we carry could make the men lose their fear for greed, that is why my king in his infinite wisdom ordered 1000 knights to escort the convoy.
The second mission, although it is not my competence, is to facilitate diplomacy between the junkers that the king has chosen to negotiate on his behalf, taking advantage of the fact that the king is very interested in my stories of battles, getting permission to cut down the trees of the royal forest is a necessity if my king wants to have a considerable naval force.
The road was calm, god has been taking care of us since we left, only in 10 days we arrived to the capital, we sent a messenger to inform the king and his hand of the king about our arrival, although they were warned by crow that we were already coming.
After waiting almost 30 minutes, a small host of knights came out to greet us with the heraldry of house Arryn.
''ser Charles we awaited your arrival, allow me to guide you through the city,'' said lord Arryn.
''thank you, lord hand, I hope you have a good day'' I said smiling, although thinking about it I have my helmet on, I quickly take it off.
''Tell me ser Charles, lord Hohenzollern, is he well, I thought he would be the one to deliver the taxes'' lord Arryn said a little tiredly.
''my lord Friedrich is on a journey, that is the reason why he has not come personally to deliver such a valuable cargo'' I said as we advanced towards the city gates.
''oh, I see, your caravan is quite long, has it been a good year?'', Lord Arryn said in a friendly manner.
''I haven't checked the books, you will have to be you or your master of coin to determine that'' I said, lifting my shoulders.
Entering the city, we were greeted by the remarkable smell characteristic of the capital city.
Lord Arryn, noticing my annoyance at the smell, prepares to say something.
''I'm sorry ser Charles, the problem of the city's smell has not yet been solved, no matter how hard we look for the city's drainage plans, they are still not found and very few want to go in to clean them, no matter how high we put a high wage'' said lord Arryn with an apologetic tone.
Don't worry Lord Arryn, I know it must be hard to have to clean up the mistakes of those who came before you and I hope you can give this city a new chance with a new sewage system'' I said with a kind tone.
Something that caught my attention was the great amount of beggars and children that were begging in the streets of the capital.
''Lord Arryn, I am surprised by the enormous number of people begging in the city'' I said with concern.
''the faith of the seven used to deal with that, but sadly with the shortage of funds the faith has recently, it is not possible to help them'' lord Arryn said twitching his lips in disgust
My lord would be delighted to be able to put a church here that could help with feeding and teaching them some way to make a living and to find a job,'' I said, smiling.
''ser Charles, that is impossible, the faith of the seven is the official faith of the realm, another temple would be seen as a grievance with the supreme septon, but I appreciate the offer and your concern for the people'' lord Arryn said with a kindly tone.
''a pity, it hurts my heart to see so many people who need help and not being able to do anything, wait a little Lord Arryn'' I said as I got off the horse.
I took out my pouch where I had some coins that the king had given me to buy what I needed in the capital, I am not in favor of giving coins to the needy, I prefer to teach them a job, but this is all I can do to help the poor people now.
I distributed my coins among the poor souls who must beg, finally giving the last coins to a woman who was begging with her son.
''thank you ser, may the warrior bless you''said the woman as she quickly left.
I returned to my horse with an empty purse, but with a full soul.
''a very noble act ser Charles; however, unfortunately, many of these people beg by profession, you only waste your coins'' lord Arryn said as he shook his head
''you may be right, but I wanted to do something to help these people, besides they are only coins, I will not take them with me when I die and when the final day comes and the sons of Adam must give an account, where body and soul will seek their union, god will call every man to judgment to account for their ways'' I said as I climbed onto my horse.
''It seems your god likes to judge his followers'' said lord Arryn.
''God is the true justice. Judging nobles and commoners alike, we will all be accused by our guardian angels, we will have to answer for our bad life, there will be no apologies and no excuses for our bad deeds, even the most just and righteous will tremble with fear because if the guilt is serious, the hell is more'' I said, looking at Lord Arryn with a smile.
''But your lord has acted many times in a dishonorable manner, would he not be affected by his god?'' Lord Arryn asked.
''Ruling and a pure soul can never exist together, a good ruler has to commit unthinkable acts for the welfare of his people, I have never liked that my lord act that way, but one cannot understand the burden on his enlightened rule, but I know what he is like and if he did not have the burden of government he would be the most honorable person in the world a perfect Christian knight'' I said as we approached the red keep.
Jon Arryn did not answer, but he did smile at my reply
as the last wagon with the chests entered the walls, we began to hand them over to the king's hand men with the ledgers, chests full of gold and silver for King Robert to put the taxes to good use to improve the lives of his subjects.
''wow, it looks like your lord did quite well with his business'' Jon Arryn said as he looked at the books with a smile.
''my lord has always had a good sense for business'' I said, smiling.
''Yes, too much'' said Lord Arryn with disgust
I was surprised by the change in attitude and I walked over to watch and saw how the crown spent a huge sum to buy my king's alcohol
''almost everything Lord Hohenzollern paid us is going to pay for the food and alcohol that Robert uses for his personal use'' Lord Arryn said as he rubbed his head.
''the king will have his reasons for his spending, sometimes my lord spends on things that don't seem necessary, but have a hidden agenda'' I said trying to calm lord Arryn down
''Ser Charles, Robert and Friedrich are nothing alike, as they spend.....''said lord Arryn
but we were interrupted by a member of the royal guard, the oath-breaking scum.
''ser Charles, King Robert has requested a meeting with you as soon as possible'' said Jaime Lannister.
''I apologize lord hand, but apparently Robert already has plans for me'' I said laughing as I turned around.
I took one of the new gifts I had been commissioned to give to King Robert and looked back at that miserable man.
''lead the way ser Jaime'' I said trying to be polite.
I was led through the corridors of the fortress until we came to a courtyard where he was sitting watching two guardsmen practice.
''CHARLES, long time I haven't seen you'' said King Robert.
''Same here, King Robert'' I said as I looked him in the eyes.
''tell me Charles how many have you killed since the tournament ended'' said Robert as he invited me to sit down.
''luckily no one'' I said, smiling.
''I thought the trident monster would live up to his name more'' said Jaime Lannister with a serious tone.
''shut up king slayer unlike you, he was the one who won the war by killing that Rhaegar bastard while your only achievement was stabbing a madman in the back or do you think your fight was as hard as his?'' said the king with contempt.
Jaime did not answer, he pursed his lips and the king continued speaking.
''Tell me Charles to what do we owe the honor of your visit'' said Robert.
'We come with the intention of securing the payment of taxes and to secure some deal with you,'' I said as I smiled.
''what does lord Hohenzollern want?'' said the king doubtfully.
''well first I give you this is the new creation of my lord's distilleries, I hope it is to your liking, as it is quite strong'' I said as I handed him a bottle of vodka.
Robert quickly opened it and took a sip.
''Damn, no doubt the Prussians know how to make a good liquor, dorne or arbor wine seems like sweet urine compared to this'' said the king as he wiped his mouth.
''now tell me Charles what deal you want with me''said the king as he continued to drink from the bottle.
''my lord seeks the right to be able to cut trees in the kingswood and to have the contract to make the new royal fleet galleys'' I said to King Robert
''that's all?, there should be no problem'' Robert said in a friendly tone.
a junker that accompanied me came up and quickly talked about the treaties with king Robert, he seemed upset about having to negotiate it himself, but after a little negotiation the king signed 2 contracts about the logging rights and a contract to build 100 galleys for the royal fleet.
''Good work Charles, our lord will be pleased'' said the diplomat as he left.
''what a way to kill the atmosphere that man of yours'' said Robert a little annoyed.
''I think so too, but he is my lord's favorite diplomat, I have always been a stranger to diplomacy, so I don't understand why he decided to negotiate now instead of with lord Arryn'' I said looking at Robert with raised shoulders
''hahaha well you want to make a competition of who drinks more, relax I've already drunk a bit, so it won't be so extremely difficult to beat me'' said Robert raising an eyebrow while smiling
''with all due respect king Robert I doubt you can beat me at drinking'' I said smiling.
''aahh I like that attitude, BRING ON THE LIQUOR'' shouted King Robert.
We were drinking for almost 3 hours until finally King Robert burped very loudly and was almost unconscious from drinking so much, but the alcohol still had no effect on me.
''it's the first time I see someone who beats Robert in drinking, it's always the other way around, the one we have to take to the room is always his opponent'' said Barristan Selmy while he looked at me surprised.
''You should see a drinking competition among the Prussian nobles, this was a good warm up, let me help you with taking the king to his chambers.
Finally, I took King Robert to his room while he was completely drunk.
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a commentary of the work so far is appreciated, as this is what motivates me to continue.
leave your stone so that more people can find my work.
