Celestial Hymn11 (Patreon)

Celestial Hymn
Chapter 11

-VB-

Brownspear’s denizens settled down.

My new trouble came from my neighbors.

Sorry.

Troubles.

See, my little fiefdom was surrounded by very powerful houses of Stormlands. To my north and south were the three lands of the Penrose, my western neighbors were the Errol of Haystack Hall, and the island off the coast was Tarth.

To convert those words into numbers, the Penroses each had retinue numbering in thousands. Errol had about as much as all of the Penroses combined. Tarth was Tarth; Tarth only came under Stormlands’ control because in the ancient days, they married their daughter to the Stormlands’ king. Tarth was powerful enough that political marriage of alliance was preferred by the Stormlands, the premier land-based warrior kingdom, over outright conquering it. They lost very little of that power, and the fact that they held trade ports used often by merchants crossing the Narrow Sea only made Tarth stronger and richer.

And my unbelievable misfortune that led to the death of a septon was reason enough for the Penroses and the Errols to start prodding into my affairs while Tarth began to eye me warily.

See, Westeros was not like the 21st century but directly comparable in many aspects to medieval Europe, which was a period of time when everyone was getting involved in everyone else’s business. There was no such thing as “national sovereignty” or “his lands, his rules,” an extrapolation of the “his lands, his religion,” which came from the Peace of Augsburg.

In medieval times, everyone eyed each other for a hint of weakness so that they may use their neighbors in their rise to dominance. In the Stormlands, a land dedicated to warriors, I was a foreigner without the right skills; I came from the Vale and was not a warrior, which were reasons enough for the Stormlands lords to hate the fact that I had a lordship.

And my neighbors saw my execution of the septon, no matter the pardon I was granted by the Lord Paramount, as a weakness and began to poke.

Errols, for example, decided to “pass by” my land to reach the Penrose for a formal meeting, and the Penroses “happened” to chase bandits into my land even though I had no record and rumors of bandit activity anywhere near our lands.

“Need I go on about how my neighbors are being assholes?” I grumbled to myself as I inspected the construction of the aqueduct. Currently, my levied workers managed to construct a whole five hundred yards out of stone bricks and mortar over the course of a month. So far, the construction was helped by the gentle slope and a stockpile of materials I have already procured prior to the construction.

However, I may have miscalculated the material cost, because I had more than a thousand yards to go but I have already used up two-thirds of the bricks.

I needed to acquire more. There was only three brickmakers in all of Brownspear, which meant that even at their peak production rate, they couldn’t supply me enough of bricks and mortar to complete the aqueduct in a reasonable time period, even though they were also part of the town’s levy and were working all day making bricks.

So.

What could I do?

I could slow down the construction speed, employ the levies elsewhere, and wait for the stockpile of bricks to increase to a sufficient level before increasing the rate again.

Or I could spend my well-earned money to fund the aqueduct construction for a town that almost rebelled.

… Many other lords would call me too lenient. I knew that I was. For daring to raise a weapon at their lord, my neighbors would have put all involved men to death. Such was the medieval way.

However, I did this because water was a necessity I chose not to hold back. I remembered too many man-made droughts from my past life, saw the devastation they caused, and lamented my inability to help beyond sending money that may or may not help.

Being here changed nothing, except it did. I now had power, so I used it as how I saw fit.

I chose to be kind instead of wrathful. What would I get by being wrathful to the uneducated peasants?

Nothing, that’s what.

In the wake of my wrath, I would have a people fearful and resentful of me. Truth didn’t matter to these people, only their perceptions of reality. The fact that they nearly attacked their lord would matter little; only the deaths of their husbands, brothers, and sons would.

No, I will educate these peasants, instead. I will force them to think. I will force them to see the world rationally. I will force them to be skeptical.

At the very least, I could properly punish those who are well aware of what they are doing from start to finish.

You don’t beat up a dog for being a dog. The same logic applied here, however crude to compare humanity to animals.

I lifted up my parchment megaphone towards the workers out in the field. “BREAK TIME!”

The levied workers hurried from the construction site to where the supply tents were, where I was.

I met the eyes of those who I remembered being there that day with the septon. I didn’t glare or judge, but they turned away in shame. Others nodded and grinned as they passed by me, bowing in respect, because they knew what was coming.

Lunch.

And not just any old lunch: a proper meal.

See, cheese was a big part of the Westerosi diet, so I decided to see if I could make a dish with melted cheese.

Lo and behold, I taught the cooks how to prepare something decent with just melted cheese, flat bread, tomatoes, onions, and just a tiny bit of chicken.

The workers loved it. The guards loved it. The townspeople, once they learned how to make it, loved it.

It was my way of extending an olive branch. Sure, I had to punish them, but we need not continue to be angry or wary of each other, and sharing food (or recipes) tended to bridge gaps easier than most means.

I winced when the Celestial Forge reached out.

It’s gonna miss again, wasn’t it?

I watched mentally as it reached … and brought down a star.

I stood there with wide eyes as something settled into my chest warmly.

There was a mental click as this new power settled in. Then it paused. Rather, the Celestial Forge paused and asked me how much I wanted to invest into this power.

Though bewildered, I gave it the impression that I wanted it to be strong.

It did something, drawing from a well before … was that everything the well had? Compared to how much the well could hold, that was nothing! But it poured it nevertheless, and the power swelled. The Forge then resumed piecing the new power into the mosaic of powers in my possession, however small in numbers.

As the piece fit in, my mind exploded into nova and then coalesced back together. I saw how all of the powers interacted with this power.

Oh.

Enchantments.

There was potential in this.

-VB-

Skills Enchanting
World of Darkness - Sorcerer Enchantment (500 CP, top rank bought)

The sorcery of creating items with magical abilities and properties. Five ranks, top rank cost 500CP. Examples of each rank below. [1] The Enchanter creates a minor item with limited use only and a tight area of influence. Such as a jacket that works as abnormally good camouflage in a crowd, or glasses that never fog. [2] The Enchanter creates a more powerful talisman that is noticeable as magic. A flask that blocks three bullets and no more, objects that increase a mundane skill by a noticeable amount when used. [3] The Enchanter creates a talisman whose function is obviously magical. Shoes that double running speed, a charm that can protect its wearer from magic three times a day. [4] The Enchanter creates a talisman that is able to defy several of the limitations of the Consensus. Clothing that grant superhumanly impressive but otherwise mundane abilities, a throwing knife that never shall never miss. [5] The Enchanter creates talisman with almost miraculous powers. A golem, or a ring that hides its user from magical detection.

-VB-

A/N: Celestial Forge has been voted three weeks in a row, so it won’t appear on next week’s vote.