Celestial Hymn 35 (Patreon)

Celestial Hymn

Chapter 35

-VB-

Despite the occasional accidents, the construction of my frigate came along well at a steady pace, and I expected to have it done well before the War of the Five Kings erupts… which shouldn’t be too far away now.

My mage-apprentices - really, they were closer to enchanters than fully fledged mages - also improved and learned. My best student proved himself by making a staff topped with an obsidian seven-pointed star that shot fireball!

I showed him off, and now, I was getting a politely lettered “cease and desist” from the Citadel.

I, of course, promptly ignored it, because the people still considered me a “Saint of the Seven” and that had far more political power than that of the maesters.

“Rosia, can you bring me the reports on the holding?” I asked my servant without looking up from the financial report of my business. My enchanted Damascus steel business was not in full swing, but there was enough business and trade in operation that I still needed to keep track of where and what said business used and sold.

The second business I had in operation was a young one, and it was the sale of potions.

Yes, I was brewing potions using the herbs found in my tower garden. Unfortunately, I didn’t know much about potions using the herbs I found in that garden outside of vague memories of my youth, so more often than not, the potions I brew were not good. As in they were failures that tasted like shit and gave everyone a stomachache.

I, of course, only sold the ones that were successes.

Tywin Lannister was my biggest customer on that front. So far, he’s bought a lot of Minor Healing Potion, buying four packs of half a dozen of them for one hundred Gold Dragons per pack. It was the same price as a young nobleman’s ransom, and he’s paid it four times over for potions that do not work on poison.

I told him as much.

He also scoffed and told me that he acknowledged what I said - even as he bought himself two pairs of enchanted Damascus sabers as well - but also informed me that I was too focused on direct profit to see the bigger picture.

Fool, he didn’t know that I was the one who saw even more than he did.

Westeros was simply one continent. With a single frigate equipped with even 21st-century weapons, I would have the entire world.

Whatever.

“Here you go, milord.”

“Thank you, Rosia,” I hummed as I took the papers.

“... Milord?”

I paused and then looked up. “Yes, Rosia?”

She looked upset? No, anxious. She looked anxious. Why did she look anxious? Was som-?

“I… I would like to be wed.”

I blinked before facepalming.

I completely forgot that lords had a say over which courtier could marry who! I mean, I didn’t like it, mostly because it was more work for me to do. It was, however, the custom of the lord of a lordship to be in charge of arranging advantageous marriages for his courtiers, courtesans, and whoever else came to work for them. This was limited to servants who were directly tied to the castle, not servants who came into the castle from surrounding villages or castle towns to work there.

So, let’s say a cook would not be part of this.

This was also an old tradition that wasn’t used everywhere in Westeros but prevalent enough that it was normal for a servant of a keep to ask.

“Rosia, you’re not a servant bound to the castle,” I told her slowly.

She blinked and then looked at me in surprise. “I’m not?”

“No?”

“But you pay us all so much…?”

“Ah,” I said as I leaned back into my chair. “No, that’s just me being me.”

Of course, having the lord have control over their lives also came with compensation.

Which… wasn’t necessary here?

I mean, I knew about all of this before I became a lord and hadn’t implemented any of it, but the fact that Rosia, of all of my servants, seemed to think she was a servant of the castle?

“Oh,” she muttered and now looked thoroughly embarrassed. “May I…?”

“Yes, yes. Go and get hitched to whichever knight, man-at-arms, or farmboy you had your eyes on. I always knew you were the aggressive one.”

She shot me a half-hearted glare before bowing nad leaving.

This … left me a little upset. I mean, I wasn’t upset about Rosia. I was rather happy that one of the first servants I’ve hired was moving along her life.

No, I was upset about the fact that I was betrothed to Myrcella and thus unable to get married until she came of age.

I could go visit some whores or even seduce someone like Rosia.

… But sex was time spent, temptation I’ll risk, that drained effort from other ways I could become better.

Besides, I wasn’t even in my thirties yet!

I’ll… I’ll worry about woman and marriage later.

Right on time, the Forge activated and drew my thoughts away from my insecurities.

I narrowed my eyes as I felt my mind expand in a way that was … fitting. Logical. Seamless. I now knew more than just the four Ph.D’s I’ve gotten as a result of one of the Forge’s previous pulls. I just knew more and saw more connections in fields I hadn’t considered before (hello, theology and demonology).

… But most of what I now learned remained irrelevant for the majority of my work because most of the new knowledge was fundamental rather than specialized. I knew how to operate a profitable business. I knew how to seduce and sway political peers (mostly through hefty quantities of gifts and money). I knew how to manage my land.

I just needed to wait more.

… Ugh, I hated waiting.

-VB-

I woke up one day and found a letter waiting for me.

It was from Renly.

Still in my nightclothes and in my room at the crack of dawn, I sat on my bed and opened the letter that was labeled “urgent” and “confidential.”

As I read through the lines, my eyes slowly lost their sleep and opened wide.

“Ah,” I muttered. “So it’s starting soon.”

Renly was suspicious of the current heir’s heritage.

I quickly left my chamber.

I wanted my frigate completed within the year.

-VB-

Power Acquired
17.04 Inconsistencies Without End