Ting!
[Hidden Quest Completed - Honor of Ramsgate
Description - Investigate the mysterious behavior of the town and purge the evil in the Tyrant's way.
Reward - Love, respect, and loyalty of the people of Ramsgate town.]
Brennard's head rolled as Chett's sword fell on the chopping block. The people of Ramsgate had gathered to watch, and the moment it was over, they rejoiced. A harsh chapter in their lives was finally past them. Their tormentor was no more.
But standing to the right of the chopping block, Wylis had something else on his mind. Seeing so much blood spilled on the town square's stage, and noticing how many children were watching, he wondered if it would psychologically change them. Make them more violent. Make them desensitized towards death and blood.
Better to hang people instead, wild west style.
Of course, he wasn't going to stop executing people. Execution kept people in line. But there were better ways to kill than to flood the entire stage with blood.
Probably should write down a law code.
That was Wylis' advantage. He had the mind of a modern man but the willingness of a medieval brute when it comes to violence. Perfect combination, according to him.
"What now? Ready for some ale, eh?"
"It's early morning." He glanced at the Wild Wolf beside him, now a resident of Ramsgate and the official Admiral of a grand total of one little cog. "I've got work piled on me. Take a walk through the town, meet folks, see to the ship. Tomorrow we'll ride through the fief, make sure the villages are sound. Best we see no Brennards are hiding in them."
Brandon snickered. "Uh, just what I hated about being a lord. Good luck with it, may your wits rot slow."
After making sure that the stage was wiped clean and the dead body was burned, Wylis walked back to the castle. He made sure to stroll around a little before, though. He had to calibrate his plans, and there were so many things he needed to do that even he didn't know how many things he needed to do.
One thing was clear, though. He needed to raze most of the town to make way for better and bigger buildings. Knowing how grand the Tyrant's Squire's plans were, he wanted to be prepared to scale everything when needed.
And that meant he needed to start planning some large institutions, based around education and step-by-step career paths. For example, he wanted to build a college for medicine and healing in general, and it would also work as a hospital. He needed to create a college for the Navy and the Army, so he could feed Tyrant's Squire bodies to man the fleet and many legions of men. He needed to create small schools for children so the higher-level schools wouldn't have to waste time teaching fifteen-year-olds how to read and write.
"The northern part of Ramsgate must go." He made up his mind. The northern part of the town was barely occupied; buildings were rundown, mostly abandoned. It was also close to the castle and main street, making it the best place for all the institutes.
Besides, he wanted to expand the town into a city, and that meant dividing the city into three parts. Core, walled part for Lord's Castle, the middle part where all the administration and institutes would exist, and finally the outer part where all the markets and houses would be. Each would be walled, not to create a class divide but to make things efficient.
In the end, it all came to planning, intelligently designing districts to ensure markets and housing didn't create a class divide.
"M'lord."
He passed by the guards and entered the castle, thousands of ideas crowding his mind. Though the biggest one was how the fuck was he supposed to use Earthbending? Really, now he was regretting not taking Metalbending. He could have made steel beams, pipes, all the scientific apparatuses needed, heck, even large ships.
But that ship had sailed already. Earth was his element. And it had served him well.
"What's with that grumpy face?"
Inside his solar on the ground floor, he found Lyanna, reading something. She walked up to him and kissed him before rubbing her hand on his budding beard.
"Too much to do, Ly—Ellyn. Ugh, I hope one day we can stop with these new names and just be us openly." He held her against his chest. "For now, your man must grow powerful."
"Coming from a towering man who makes the realm's fiercest warriors quake? That is truly frightening," she said with a chortle, finally returning to her cushioned lounge seats where Magnus was sleeping.
Wylis headed to his large table and began working.
Normally, a solar was where you worked, met other men, other nobles, other knights. But Brennard had spent so much money keeping the solar luxurious, and there was a warm, comfortable sitting area.
He honestly loved having company. Getting to watch Lyanna, or Ashara, or even Elia with all the kids. It warmed him up, made all the hard work worth it. Not that he hated being a lord. It was his dream.
Better start working on the castle first.
####
Underneath the castle, Qyburn had set up his sizable laboratory with Wylis' help. From alchemy desks to operating tables, a small study, and of course, a single small bed. Though he rarely used anything other than the study in those days.
"Marvelous!"
Holding a book about human organs, he touched his own body to feel the various things described in the book. From how the brain worked, the parts of the brain, voice formed, taste buds, all the hormones, enzymes, and even the sexual organs, the sperm, and what creates a boy and what creates a girl. It was all written by Lord Wylis, and he trusted each word in it.
He had already finished reading about human bones, and then the specialized subjects about childbirth, as he still wanted to be useful to the lord.
"Seven blessings! This makes the most sense," he muttered, reading by the candlelight. "No wonder the Targaryens went mad so often. The seed was tainted with incest."
But all that aside, Qyburn had another thing to do. He was tasked with the monumental job of creating a curriculum that could teach men and women with basic language skills how to become healers. It was supposed to be a tiered program.
"I truly need more hands," he muttered and put away the book to focus on the ravens.
Qyburn, while expelled from the Citadel, still had friendly relations with many maesters. So, at Lord Wylis' request, he drafted ravens. What Lord Wylis lacked was men with enough knowledge who could directly learn from him and then spread that knowledge to his chosen men, and then work with them to build beautiful, revolutionary things.
Hence, he wrote to a maester he knew who had earned iron links for smithing and metallurgy. He also added a small tease about a new type of furnace that Lord Wylis had suggested.
Then he wrote to someone who had earned a yellow gold link for mathematics and economics. Of course, once again, Lord Wylis had teased a rather interesting concept, something about division and labor.
Then came Brass, a maester who mastered alchemy and chemistry. Qyburn personally needed this man to make medicines. Then came steel for physical science.
Finally, with a sigh, he wrote one to an archmaester who had earned a silver link for mastery in healing, medicine, and surgery. He really didn't want to invite Ebrose as he considered the man a rival. But not being petty, and aware that he alone can't learn all the vast knowledge that Lord Wylis possessed, he wrote it.
Of course, he had warned Lord Wylis already. Maesters of the Citadel couldn't be trusted. Even less so with the women hidden in the castle, each worth a rebellion on her own. He had personally asked the lord to withhold deeper knowledge and bar them from entering the castle. At least until he could trust the maesters like the lord trusted him.
"Hmm…"
Finally, with crossed arms, he relaxed in his chair. There was one more man he wanted to write to, an archmaester, but he felt unsure. The man was an enigma, not liked by the Citadel either. Yet, the man had the most interesting ideas.
But the real reason he wanted to invite him was for Lord Wylis. Archmaester Marwyn, the Mage, had traveled the world, spoke languages most didn't know existed. Lord Wylis needed a well-traveled man.
Personally, Qyburn liked him. Marwyn was the only man willing to hear his thoughts on ghosts.
No harm in trying, I suppose.
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