[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Westeros.
...
...
Other changes had begun with the Royal Guard, which had been completed four years earlier.
Barristan Selmy had no longer been in his prime for quite some time. Even so, he was still a formidable warrior, a war hero known throughout Westeros and feared by his enemies. He had served the Royal Guard exceptionally well, becoming the one primarily responsible for protecting the queen, Prince Aegon, and the others.
Daemon still kept Sandor Clegane by his side. Although he was far more unpleasant than the other members of the Royal Guard, Daemon did not mind having him around. Whenever he needed to act alone, he simply left him grumbling while he went off to take care of something the large man could not accompany him on.
In any case, Barristan Selmy also helped evaluate who else could join the Royal Guard. In the end, they chose five other people who had fought in the War for the Dead and had also proven their worth throughout the first year of Daemon's reign, ever since he had begun the recruitment.
He did not choose anyone merely because they possessed a golden aura; he also did not want fools at his side, especially not in positions upon which his family's safety would depend.
He already had countless enemies simply because he sat upon the Iron Throne, for every king becomes a target. Furthermore, the way he had conquered Westeros had also earned him many foes. Even so, he managed to deal with all of them flawlessly.
Any red or black aura that appeared in King's Landing, related to him or his family, was immediately monitored and eliminated whenever the opportunity arose.
Revenge plots, people who were even willing to lose everything or even die, caring about nothing except their own vengeance, were quickly exposed. Many were punished, and even entire families were wiped out.
No one could understand how Daemon would simply begin throwing certain people into the black cells. Later, it became clear that many of them truly had plans, however futile they seemed, to create internal discord, beginning at court and then spreading it throughout Westeros.
In any case, Daemon dealt with all of them. He had proven himself to be a ruthless king.
Because of this, Daemon made sure to bring many Northerners directly into the royal court. He focused especially on strengthening trade between the North and King's Landing, as several northern lords had grown wealthy thanks to his actions. Lord Tallhart and Lord Cerwyn possessed gold, silver, and coal mines within their lands.
Daemon had personally visited each of those lands and shown them exactly where they should dig to find mineral veins that could last for years. This was the payment he had promised them for being the first lords in Westeros to kneel before him in the midst of a conquest, rather than after the entire North had already been conquered.
Among his new ventures over the last half-decade, another important initiative was the creation of companies in the Kingdom of the North, one of them dedicated to glass production. Using knowledge brought from Skyrim, he managed to produce glass that was far stronger and of much higher quality than the glass produced in Myr, while also being far more transparent than conventional glass. Within just a few years, this glass was being used as windows throughout all of Westeros.
The business was a partnership between him and the Starks, with seventy percent of the company and its profits belonging to him, and thirty percent going to the North and House Stark.
The lords of towers and castles were accustomed to using almost nothing but bare stone, with only curtains covering their windows. However, Daemon managed to introduce a new trend. After measuring every window in the castles, he ordered glass windows to be made so people could close their homes without losing their view of the outside, protecting themselves especially from the freezing night winds.
The business became highly profitable over the last three years, ever since Daemon managed to stabilize production. He had hired a large number of workers to meet the demands of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms.
This brought wealth to both the Royal Family and the North, while many Northerners found abundant work after the devastation caused by the war. The initiative proved to be an excellent choice. Daemon supplied the raw materials and placed trusted men in charge of the factories established in Winter Town, where it was safer to operate in the North. Even men from the Free Folk joined the manufacturing effort, bringing a measure of stability to the region and helping make up for the shortage of people the North faced after the invasion and pillaging.
Another company created by Daemon, together with the Mormonts, was dedicated to the ice trade. He owned ninety percent of the company, while the Mormonts contributed labor, and Daemon himself provided ships and the necessary equipment, including special containers capable of preserving low temperatures for long periods. All they needed was manpower to harvest the ice.
This created a new source of work for the inhabitants of Bear Island, whose population was now composed mostly of women. Even so, many Free Folk men ended up marrying those women left alone by the war and began working alongside everyone else harvesting ice north of the Wall.
In reality, there was no need to travel that far to find ice, since winter had frozen almost everything. Even so, they prepared enormous blocks using molds crafted by blacksmiths. Thus, the islanders' work consisted only of removing the ice from the molds and placing it into the containers before shipping it south. Ice was harvested both on the island itself and north of the Wall, at the so-called ice farms, which were protected by Free Folk men who constantly received supplies sent by Daemon and Bear Island.
Many members of the Free Folk who had returned beyond the Wall also joined this business, finding a way to return to their homeland while ensuring food and resources for their families without having to raid. They simply took care of the ice farms, as they were called.
Daemon paid the Mormonts directly for every kilogram of ice brought from the north, and they distributed the payments among their workers and the tribes beyond the Wall. This also caused House Mormont to prosper tremendously.
On the other hand, this innovation greatly improved life in the south. Ice, which on hot days had been little more than a fantasy for most people, began arriving in one massive shipment after another. Life became much more pleasant, allowing everyone to enjoy cold drinks even during the hottest days.
Now that winter had ended, it seemed like a true marvel, especially to the people of Dorne, who had fallen in love with drinks served with ice even during the winter.
Daemon had foreseen that he could not conquer Westeros through fire and steel alone. In part, he had accomplished that through faith, thanks to the heroic act that saved the world. However, trade proved to be even more effective.
Soon, the few lingering ideas of rebellion began to fade away. He was the only one capable of providing that level of commercial prosperity, and the lords found stability instead of discord as reasons to support rather than rebel against his rule.
Of course, it was impossible to appease everyone. There were certainly still those who harbored anger and hatred toward him and his actions. Daemon had already executed every man who refused to kneel before him, condemning them for treason, or sent them to the Wall when there was not enough reason to execute them, merely because they refused to recognize the new king.
Another important trade emerged with the construction of a port on Skagos. The project had not yet been completed, but Daemon was working to help the island's people.
The Manderlys also came to oversee all trade along the North's eastern coast, managing the logistics for the lumber operations that had begun in the Karstark territories and on Skagos, as well as in the central regions of the North, transporting all the timber south.
Daemon did the same with the people of Skagos for ice harvesting north of the Wall along the eastern coast. While skilled sailors traveled as far as Hardhome to carry out this work, Daemon kept both groups harvesting ice for his company. As a result, both the people of Skagos and the inhabitants of Bear Island profited beyond anything they had ever imagined, as did their own people, who now received wages higher than those offered by any other job on the island.
The Manderlys also profited from handling the shipping logistics, and Daemon preferred outsourcing that service rather than taking responsibility for it himself.
Skagos also opened trade with the mainland. That had been the very purpose of the port Daemon was financing on the island.
In fact, he was already planning to grant Skagos to one of his sons. He was even willing to give one of the ice dragons to the child, even though he would not have his wife's Targaryen blood. His plan was to marry Brandon, his son with Val, to a daughter from Winterfell or another noble family of the North so that he could rule his own territory, while also having the dragon to travel to King's Landing whenever necessary, rather than using it as a weapon of war. Brandon would become the Lord of Skagos, and Daemon was already planning to prepare him for that responsibility.
In any case, that was precisely why the court at King's Landing was now filled with Northerners.
That was also a relief for Jon. Although he still looked upon all those political matters he had to deal with with a certain weariness and often tried to distance himself from the court, he felt much more at ease knowing that he was surrounded by as many people as possible whom he could trust, with the exception, of course, of the lords who needed to visit King's Landing to present petitions to the king, regardless of the issues they faced.
It was also a source of amusement for Daenerys. His wife frequently joked that he had needed to freeze the court before he could finally enjoy it, a clear reference to the number of Northern men he had brought to King's Landing.
The North was not the only region to benefit from Daemon's businesses. Since glass production was concentrated in the North, he needed sand. For that reason, he assigned a large part of the fleet to trade with Dorne, both with the new Martells and with the other houses he had helped reorganize after installing a new ruler in the region.
He bought the sand and paid for its transportation from Dorne to the North.
There were also major ventures in the Westerlands. Just as he had done in the North, Daemon set out in search of new gold mines. After discovering that the Lannisters' mines had been practically exhausted, he openly declared it to all the kingdoms. Everyone finally understood the reason behind the lions' desperation during their final days.
But no one expected Daemon to discover more than four new gold mines scattered throughout the Westerlands. Even before beginning the search, he had signed contracts with several lords. If any mine was found thanks to his knowledge, he would oversee the gold extraction, taking only a percentage of the profits as payment, while the lord of those lands would keep the rest.
Some nobles, naturally suspicious, refused the proposal. Daemon did not force them. However, among those who accepted, he found gold on two feudal estates, in addition to the lands of the Lannisters themselves, which had become property of the Crown. There, Daemon simply appointed administrators, using Lannisport as a major distribution center and storage hub for the ice arriving from the North before it was shipped to the other regions.
The nobles who had refused the agreement felt a certain envy. Not because they had lost gold mines, but because the contract had already been offered. Those who accepted became immensely wealthy. Even receiving only a share of the mines' profits, it was a fortune far greater than they ever could have obtained without them. And they did not have to concern themselves with anything related to the mines—they simply received the money.
Daemon also opened several mines north of the Wall. During his journeys atop Winter, he discovered two promising gold mines, three silver mines, and four coal mines in favorable locations.
He offered to pay the Free Folk who wished to remain beyond the Wall without starving. As a result, these mines began to be exploited. While some harvested ice for his companies, others worked extracting ore.
Daemon also took another initiative. He purchased various highly productive animals resistant to the cold, mainly from the North, and brought them beyond the Wall so they could reproduce freely over the past few years, repopulating those lands and once again ensuring food for the Free Folk.
His business dealings with the Iron Bank also prospered. Daemon did not even need to use the money earned from the mines and companies to pay off the Crown's old debt. With his new tax system alone, implemented throughout all the kingdoms, he managed to balance the finances.
Within just a few years, by rigorously controlling expenses and practically eliminating unnecessary feasts and extravagant tournaments, like those Robert Baratheon used to hold, he managed to save an astonishing amount of gold without making a spectacle of it, making it clear that such things should only be done years later, after the debt had been paid off and Westeros had become prosperous and had begun to leave the war behind.
The Lannisters, of course, no longer held the Crown's debt. Even so, Daemon offered compensation to the other lords of the Westerlands by reducing their tax rates so they would not feel unfairly treated.
Daemon also did not want to be seen as a thief, despite having been responsible for the destruction of House Lannister for his own reasons. That was the policy he followed: never acting in a way that would make him appear to be a dictator in the eyes of the realm, always remaining subtle in his decisions.
Furthermore, trade with Braavos flourished. The ports of Westeros traded directly with the Titan's City. Even Yi Ti and other cities became involved in the commerce.
Daemon also maintained a close relationship with the bankers and with the Sealord himself. Over the years, he managed to pay for all the ships that had been loaned during the war, as well as settle the entire debt for the food Braavos had supplied during that period.
A large portion of that money came from the profits of his companies. Even so, Daemon kept very little wealth for himself.
The bankers, in turn, were pleased that they had chosen to support Daemon. Although the decision had become practically obvious when he had the Iron Bank itself appear before him at the very first meeting to negotiate, they had chosen the right man.
He paid all of his debts and was even finishing the debt left behind by the previous king.
The economy of Westeros was prospering as never before.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra chapters! [100%]
👑 HOTD: Jon Arctic! 30 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra chapters!
⚡HP - Jon Arctic as Severus Snape! 30 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! Finished! [100%]
⚡Danmachi – The Alchemist! [Coming Soon.]
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆