27 27

289 AC

I sat in my father's office, a place I wasn't in for a few months, not after that...

Still, I shook my head from unpleasant memories, right now, I needed a clear head, not some hot-headedness, I'm Bolton, not Baratheon...

"You read the letter, I suppose?" No hello, no greetings, or how I fared, I almost snorted but held myself, it wasn't like I didn't like this, this was better than if father tried to be better...

"Yes, Ironborn finally fucked up." Snortingly I nodded my head, my eyes meeting my father's, both equally icy blues that would make lesser men shiver, it wasn't even intention, it was as if Bolton's features were made to be creepy...

"Mind your language, you are lord, not some uncultured sailor, but yes, Ironborn rebelled, something you, as I remember, was preparing for." Father chided without any real emotion, and at the same time asked me, making me just nod, it was true, I did...

"Then you should know that lord's Wyman's Manderly letter wasn't first before his letter arrived, I was reported from our scout's that was so surprisingly tasked to investigate shores, that they sighted an unnatural amount of small ships on our shores, especially in the location's of the vacated fisher villages... Something you ordered both, the evacuation and the scouting." Father didn't ask, he just told me, and I just again nodded, it was true, I did start sending double scout units around the shores, especially near the vacated villages at the start of this year, knowing it would come, just not when...

"In the same way, you warned other lords, more especially Stark's and Manderly's, of this beforehand." Father continued, now his eyes looked to the side.

"Do you know what that means?" What? Well, I knew, or at least I think so.

"That we are more prepared for the call of banner's King and lord Stark will soo make?" I asked, making my father chuckle, a chuckle, really...

"No, no, it means something other, even if yes, we are better prepared than others, but it means you made yourself a target, even bigger than before with this, once this will go out, and it will go out." What? I looked at my father, not comprehending what he meant.

"You don't understand? Then think, even if you warned all beforehand, and they didn't listen to you, seeing you as a paranoid child without any evidence, being lordling or not, they would be warned, but you didn't, and even if it isn't your fault, those who would be soon or were already raided will blame you, once the knowledge of your moves and warning to Manderly's and Stark's get out, it would be pointless blame, but then, more often than not, most of the politicking is pointless." Father told me with a cold face, even if his lips were curved into a smile, making me realize he was speaking the truth...

Fuck... Lannister's, I really hope Tywin wouldn't blame me for not warning him about the sacking of Lannisport and his fleet, but then...

Tywin wasn't the most rational person...

Fucking horse SHIT!

"Do not worry." I looked at my father.

"You warned Stark's, and that is the main reason that any blame would stay just like this, a blame, you done your duty in warning your lord, what your lord done with the information is no longer your problem, even if you possibly earned the wrath of some lords who wouldn't undeniably be damaged by Ironborn's rabid dog's attacks, you can't be, by the written law punished for not contacting other lord's." I nodded, calming down, yea...

But then, the law in this world was, is, and always by pretty paper thin...

Worse, if I wanted to better Bolton lands, I need a trade, and trade is all about faces, if you don't want to pay a horrendous amount of coin, you need reputation, something that could be damaged by this...

"What is your plan, father." I simply asked, making my father look at me.

"My plan, hm? I remember that this area belongs to you, always planning, enacting your plans, forgetting what far-reaching consequences these plans of yours could by..." Father chuckled again as my fist beneath the table tightened at the mocking words.

"But you asked, may as well answer you, Stark will call banners, and I will answer as it demanded of me, taking enough army with me, but not enough to leave my lands unprotected..." Father... Will leave, my eyes seemed to widen as father noticed my look, and smiled, but not in a good way...

"Yes... I will leave you behind, you are too young and precious for me to risk on the campaign, being my sole child..." There my father stopped and looked more deeply.

"You can take this as a test, yes, a test..." I did double-take my father's word, actually.

"A test?" I asked, making father nod.

"Yes, a test, you are capable child Domeron, something we both know, by the old gods, most of the people in our lands already know, but you lack experience in the true ruling, thus, you can take this as a test, one where I will judge your worth when I come back, I hope you will not disappoint me Domeron, are we clear?" Father asked, making me dumbly nod, I guessed it could be like this, but guessing and actually hearing it were two different things...

In some of my more wildly fantasies, I even imagined that I would be asked to accompany him or go in his stead, I was, after all, already nine years old, and this world wasn't kind to children...

I knew there was more to it, there always is, my getting to the control meanwhile father is away with the bulk of our soldiers wouldn't be so simple, especially not when Ironborn and gods know who more is raiding our shores, I would actually need to protect the land's with the soldiers that were left to me, with zero defense fleet, and at the same time, overseer all the project's that are going on, and to actually take matters of land into my hand's, like solving disputes, and meeting the smallfolk like the lord is supposed to...

Fuck...

Im just nine years old, and I knew that I would get gray hair from overworking if I didn't make some quick and hopefully simple adjustments in the system...

Fortunately, a lot of my more long-term projects can advance without my guiding hand, like the Eris Mapple syrup farm, Potato farm, and simple distillation of vodka that are in the capable hands of spirit boys as they named themselves and were instructed how safely make vodka, plus, I made the distillation warehouse out of the town, so no big fire if an explosion happens...

Just like the new mines, something people know how to manage were being found and opened in the Lonely Hills, there was a small deposit of ores, nothing big, at least not yet, but I hoped that they would find a large ore vein deeper down...

The cattle farms that were increased in size and number all around Bolton lands because of the abundance of the food that could be given to the animals too could go without my supervision, already sheep, chickens, cows,s and goats were being taken care of by the farmer's, thanks to this, I read reports that the hunting lessened quite a bit, making them more wild animals in our lands multiple and thrive, just like moose's, bears, wolves, and surprisingly a bison's, something that made me surprised, as I didn't know they were in there, that said, from what I learned bison were in small number's when winter came, making them rare animals in winter, but plentiful ones in the middle and late summer...

And with plenty of animals and cattle, even the leather working thrived, thanks to the new system of the piss jars that were collected each night, there was enough urine for the leather workers to work on newly abundant and rising leather...

Thinking of poop, another case I didn't need to supervise was a collection of the shit from town, as the workers, or the night men as they were soon started to be called, each night collected all the poop jars and transported them a long way from the town, to specially made holes and warehouses that were made into poop to fertilizer processing facilities...

There were some complications at the start, but the pay was good, making it into a more promising job, and thanks to the new lack of the shit scent in the town and villages, made people quite appreciative of the night men, making it into a more honorable job, thus no shaming was being thrown onto the workers...

Then came my Wheelhouse, or the now area, I supposed, as the Wheelhouse transformed from one warehouse with hammer's powered wheels into more of a complex of workshops, there were already three equally big warehouses that were using the river to power their hammers and air blower's, and around these three Wheelhouses, there a number of storages full of already made sword's, armor's, and other more simple items that could be mass produced in this way...

With the entire area being fenced off, with wooden sentry towers with guards, and patrolling guards with trained guard dogs...

That said, such action depleted quite the amount of iron ore we had in storage, making our lack of iron more prominent, as right now, they used the facilities to remake and recast swords rather than make new ones...

I knew where possible plenty of ore I could mine, a place that was now free of any inhabit and a good place for my future plans, the problem was it was a long way away and in frozen wastes...

I needed to send a scouting party, but the lack of ships and now the Ironborn rebellion made me stop...

Hopefully, Hardhome will truly have ore mines as I think it should have...

That said, another project I would actually need to manage, at least from the start, is the stone quarry, as what I want are solid block stones, similar to the ones that were pyramids made from, a big, solid pieces of rock that with some work could be transformed into the walls and buildings, just like my tries and mistake's in recreating cement, something that is harder than I thought at the start...

Finally, making up my mind, I looked at my father, who, until now, let me thought.

"Finally made your mind?" I nodded at my father's question.

"Good, now go, I need to prepare, if you want to help me go and prepare food transport." Logistic... Got it...

I stood up and walked out of father's solar, my mind full of what I could do with him gone, there were a lot of things, the problem was that I didn't know how much time I had...

First, I need to take a look at these ships that raid this part of the continent, there could be Ironborn, but not in big numbers, Ironborn just didn't have that big manpower and sailors, so these attacks came from somewhere other...

Were they from Sister islands, Stepstones, or pirates and opportunists from the Essos?

If they were truly strong, I think there would be more panic, but maybe they just converse their strength?

These were my thoughts as I started to prepare logistics for the campaign, the sooner, the better...