37 Noblesse oblige III
Warning
Aleksanteri plays with a severed head
a little of the torture is explained
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Friedrich von Roon POV
Quickly, I got back on my horse to return to the fortress, I was glad salt is expensive in the seven kingdoms and with so much production, a month we are likely to produce that the price will drop considerably, but the first thing is that all this production gets to the small folks under my king's rule the calmer the people are about the price of food the easier it is to manipulate their foolish minds.
But this meant we could export it to the north, such a cold climate will be much needed to help melt the snow from their roads in the typical summer snowfall they have or supply the salt production that mostly the Westerosis rely on rock salt extracted mainly from Dorne and the valley, but now they have competition and salt is not called the white gold for nothing.
Arriving back to Neu Danzig it was almost 8 pm the sun was already setting, and I decided to go and check the reports a bit before going to sleep tomorrow the day luckily will have no homework as many of my acts today are only once a moon.
I was welcomed by the knights of the fortress, who quickly greeted me.
Dismounting from my horse, I was greeted by a brother captain of the Teutonic order.
''report'' I said with a serious tone.
''all in order, my lord, Aleksanteri, has returned with the head of one of the rebel lords who remained in the north'' said the Teutonic knight.
''a rather strange gift for the king'' I said, a little displeased.
I entered the fortress and went to the king's personal chambers to check some administrative matters.
Entering the hall of the king's personal room, I found Aleksanteri sitting on the chair with his feet on the table, there was a severed head next to him
''Aleksanteri what are you doing here'' I said with annoyance.
''I was coming to give my king a gift, but it seems he already left the city, where did he go?'', Aleksanteri asked while cleaning his nails with his knife.
''to the north, but I guess you already know why you ask'' I said looking at his head.
''just to be polite, isn't it, my dear friend'' said Aleksanteri as he grabbed the head by the hair
''That's right Aleksanteri, you are very smart'' said Aleksanteri while playing with the jaw of the severed head
''have a little respect for the dead'' I said, showing a letter of disgust.
''the only respect traitors get is from a very painful death'' said Aleksanteri while showing his maniacal face.
''you should have seen him as he cried for mercy, I enjoyed every second I was hunting him, it was hard, but exciting, he hid for moons, I have to admit, he knew how to escape from me men for moons; however, he made a mistake he stayed in one place for a long time and in a matter of days he was already surrounded by my men when I finally caught him, he cried like the coward he was'' said Aleksanteri while looking the head in his eyes
''He said I would regret this, but his angry voice ended very quickly when I started torturing him, as he said don't remove my nails, please I beg you or don't break my thumbs nooooo, please stop, while I applied pressure with the thumbscrews'' Aleksanteri said and stopped when he saw my shocked face
''Wow Friedrich, always the Prussian nobles so horrified with torture, I only made him suffer a little, I pulled out his fingernails and toenails, I broke his thumbs, I whipped him a little, and then I broke his legs with a sledgehammer only, when he was almost dead I cut off his head and brought it to the king didn't I my dear friend'' Aleksanteri said showing me the head.
I don't know how the king tolerates you being a sadist without honor, whoever was the man who fell in the hands of this monster must have suffered unimaginable pain.
"Leave out the details who was the man you captured" I said trying to finish this conversation.
''lord kidwell of ivy hall was the last remaining resistance of the old nobility, you can breathe easy now, there are no more dangers for the moment for the king's government because I already did what is necessary, so you don't have to dirty your hands my dear Friedrich'' said Aleksanteri and threw me the severed head.
I tried to catch it, but I preferred not to get my clothes dirty with it.
''god, Aleksanteri, this head is rotten how long ago did you kill it'' I said retching.
''6 or 7 days the journey isn't that fast unfortunately, so it's normal that the head decomposed a bit, I didn't know that the king's favorite commander couldn't stand the smell of rotting flesh'' Aleksanteri said while stretching out
''one thing is the battlefield and another the king's fortress, give me a second I'll have her put on a pike on the fortress walls'' I said as I took the head and walked out of the room
''you, take this and put it on the pikes on the walls that will be visible to everyone'' I said to a Teutonic knight.
I went back to the room to continue talking to Aleksanteri
''anything else you have to report, any information I should know?'', I said asking Aleksanteri
''mhhh information on the intentions of the Hightower and the tyrell'' Aleksanteri said, putting his hand to his jaw.
''what the Hightower snakes are planning'' I said with annoyance.
''well, Lord Leyton is buying a lot of dresses and make-up, so he must be getting ready to offer his daughter in marriage to the king or at least that's what the spy I managed to place among his servants told me'' said Aleksanteri looking at his book
''ha ha ha ha, hell would freeze over the day the Hightower manage to marry their daughter to our king, he is just a cowardly cape shifter, he must have realized that it is a lost cause to keep supporting the Tyrell or even the Florent over our government and now that he saw that under our guidance the reach is prospering he has decided to jump on the victors boat by giving his daughter as a bargaining chip'' I said while laughing at how ridiculous Lord Hightower's idea was.
''don't laugh so easily, the king could marry that man's daughter, she is very pretty and breathtaking'' said Aleksanteri, interrupting my laughter.
''Aleksanteri you know much better than me the king's personality and we both know that he is the kind of person who doesn't think with feelings, he is cold minded calculating, do you think that a pair of tits and a pretty face could change our king's personality completely?'', I said almost surprised
''no, I wouldn't even doubt it, but I'm just telling you a small almost tiny possibility that the king would consider marrying her just because she is pretty, well, the tyrell's also have a similar idea'' said Aleksanteri while he took out the alcohol that the king has kept for his guests
''the only daughters mace tyrell could offer are married unless they seek to divorce them or something similar I don't see how they would do it, besides it's ridiculous what they can offer, they have no land and hardly any supporters, only the Redwine support the tyrell because of Olenna's influence and the Hightower must be sick of them by now'' I said looking at Aleksanteri to see if he would offer me some of that drink.
''you forget the newest onein fact, you captured the castle of Highgarden the same day she was born she Margaery tyrell is who I think they will offer to the king, the benefits of this union are few as you say, but there is something that much more important for our neighbors' legitimacy, nothing would give more legitimacy to the government of our king that the old ruling house is united to the new ruling house, do you want?'', Aleksanteri said pouring 2 glasses with alcohol
''thanks, hahaha, what good memories the conquest of Highgarden in 2 hours already had its walls turned into rubble and seeing Olenna tyrell's angry face, but I don't consider necessary the marriage with the tyrell we rule with the maximum possible legitimacy, the steel one the only one that matters'' I said drinking the alcohol
''then who would the king marry, everything has its pros and cons, especially the resistance there would be from the Prussian nobility to a foreign queen who does not know German and does not profess the protestant religion, the nobles are such idiots with their traditions'' Aleksanteri said while drinking
''I can't force you to understand our way of behavior, but the nobility obliges us to have an excellent behavior, we are not only superior to the rest of people, we must seem it and that contracts a specific code of conduct, the Prussian virtues we can't have a life found of virtues, and it is totally sure that someone foreigner can't understand it that's why there would be so much resistance to a foreign queen'' I said a little annoyed.
''and what are you proposing the king can't be unmarried all the time, remember we only have one Hohenzollern if he dies, and we will have a political chaos the likes of which we have never seen'' said Aleksanteri with concern.
''I don't think we should continue talking about this, this is a personal matter of the king, and it is not right for us to try to plan his life'' I said, closing the conversation.
''well then I'll leave you luck with Lord Tarly I can't tell you anything about him, since the bastard is very closed with everyone he hardly speaks'' said Aleksanteri leaving me alone.
Finally, I started to check the accounting books of the day and I took the opportunity to finish the king's alcohol because it was Aleksanteri who opened it, if the king asks about the bottle I will only point it to him.
Damn every time I look at these books we spend more and more only 6 moons ago we were spending 10 million golden dragons we are already going with a yearly spending of almost 18 golden dragons and I thought I got a lot of gold when I got 3 million golden dragons from the richest merchants in town at the end I got funds for 1 moon of spending, the king is spending too much speeding up the construction of his projects, but it makes sense the prosperity that has been achieved is because of his spending policy everyone is getting richer for it, and he has managed to turn Neu danzig into the new trading center of the seven kingdoms let's hope everything goes well with the trade deals, and we can make our expedition to the summer islands
Finally, I went to sleep
during the following week my routine did not change at all I had to constantly check the arsenal to verify the ships and check the industries that work directly for the king, I had many meetings with the local merchants, since we were establishing a purchase price for the salt, like many of the king's companies they offer a preferential price with a discount to the Prussians to encourage them to get more profit margins than the rest of the foreign merchants, when I went to get my watches the damn store is completely full, apparently the rumor spread and all the merchants were trying to buy some luckily this increase in demand made the watchmaker hire assistants, and he could produce more watches taking my order I was ready for my meeting with lord Tarly.
You can never start a good negotiation with a nobleman without a gift according to his position and a good piece of Prussian engineering would be enough, but the price of the watches increased a lot I bought them at 15 dragons, and now they were selling at 80, and it seems that the price still does not stabilize, since everyone wants to be able to see the time in his pocket for busy people who like to control the times in a very good investment.
Being already in the hall, I was with lord Tarly eating a good meal, I always appreciate the banquets they do for the guests because they can't control the food like the doctors do with all the personal meals of the high commanders
Tell me Lord Roon when I will be able to talk to the king about the investment you have asked me for'' Lord Tarly said looking at me fixedly.
The king is unavailable, but he has given me all his powers to conduct this meeting'' I said looking back at him.
''well, how much gold does the king need so that he can train my men'' he said with a serious tone
''the king needs you to invest as much as you can because it is very important that our expedition to the summer islands goes well'' I said smiling
''I will deliver the gold that the king gave me in our negotiation, I fully trust that this will go well, because it depends on the improvement of the training of my soldiers'' said Lord Tarly without much interest.
''it pleases me that you make such a wise investment, but I would like to discuss something else'' I said as I signaled to a knight who handed him the gift I had prepared.
What is this?'' Lord Tarly said as he opened the box.
''remember our clock tower, our engineers have improved the blueprints and created a clock that fits in your hand'' I said looking at Lord Tarly.
Lord Tarly stared at the clock for a while, but his face didn't change at all, he was still as serious as ever.
''a good gift, what is the other thing you want to talk to me about'' said lord Tarly very serious.
''Lord Tarly I want to know you will be loyal to my king as you promised'' I said seriously.
''House Tarly knows its duties Lord Roon, and we will never break our promise, House Tarly will be loyal to the end to House Hohenzollern'' said Lord Tarly looking at me with fierce eyes.
''that's good to hear, but the king doesn't want a noble from the reach, he wants a Prussian, another brother for our great family'' I said with a serious tone.
''and what difference does that make?'' said Lord Tarly.
''when the king pardoned the lords of the reach they kept their old feudal contracts, outdated and obsolete, we want you to change your old feudal contract to a new one, to the iron pact, the feudal contract of the kings in Prussia'' I said smiling
''why I will change the oaths that my ancestors made for a new one that probably limits my freedoms'' Lord Tarly said a little annoyed.
''it is simple if you wish to keep your contract, well, you are free to do so, but you will always be a foreigner to all Prussian soldiers and officers, but if you change and join us you will not be a foreigner, you will be a brother, you will have access to all engineers, weapons, officers, books, and you will always have a voice in the Prussian military high command, since as befitting your position you would be high nobility'' I said looking him in the eyes.
Lord Tarly remained thoughtful for a few minutes
''I am not going to convert to your religion,'' Lord Tarly said.
''we will not force you, you must only learn to read and write in German and obey the rules of conduct of the Prussian nobles and you lord Tarly will be one of ours, since all is based on absolute loyalty to our monarch without exceptions'' I said with a serious tone
''what does it change with my liberties'' said lord Tarly
''not much as you are nobility with lands in the reach you will answer the same tax, you will be obliged to render military service when the king orders it only exempting yourself for being very sick, your sons must attend the future officers' academy that will be built soon you must answer to the Prussian laws and protect the king's name always'' I said while I put my hands together.
Lord Tarly sighed and began to move his lips.
''Well, I accept the conditions'' Lord Tarly said in a serious tone.
I signaled for several books to be handed to him.
''all these books must be learned lord Tarly, legal texts and rules of conduct, welcome to the family brother'' I said as I smiled showing my teeth.
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