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Her Eternal Excellency, a Genshin Impact and ASOIAF crossover, Raiden Ei Reborn as Argella Durrandon, is 15 chapters ahead
DCU:Blacklist, a Raymond Reddington inspired OC SI using his knowledge for his own advantage, as well as the rest of the world, is 15 chapters ahead,
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—
Storm Kingdom
Weeping Town
10 BAC
Winter had been delayed by two years due to Ei's little push, but now snow was falling across the Seven Kingdoms—it was an ordinary winter this time, not a speck of the magic she felt previously—coating the land with a white veil.
Besides Weeping Town, of course, the construction was delayed enough as it is, and Ei did not feel like wasting three more months due to snow. It wasn't all bad because they had just received news from the border with the Reach, saying the enemy host had been disbanded due to the arrival of the late winter, delaying the war, at least for now.
But when they eventually realized the winter in the Storm Kingdom was shorter than the others, the Gardener King might change his mind.
Ei would be ready, naturally.
She had more pressing problems, though.
Just because there was no snow did not mean the same for the cold winter winds. The workers were dressed in whatever winter clothes they had, but Ei found them lacking and ordered fire pits to be lit across the construction site to provide additional warmth to the laborers.
In the future she would have to revisit her idea on power looms. If she could mass-produce fabric, she could ensure people had access to better and cheaper means of clothing themselves.
—
Argilac watched as the workers carried wood for the fire pits rather than fully focusing on the construction. He had allowed it, chalking it up to a woman's soft heart, earning himself a dry look from his daughter.
Ever since that day, he had been wary around her; the oppressive feeling crushing down on him had inspired a feeling of dread in his soul.
He had allowed her to do as she wished, both because of a desire to spoil her and as a way of making up for his lacking parenting. She had repaid it by defying him in front of the people, damaging his reputation.
"You know, if I marry again and you have a brother, you won't ascend to the throne," Argilac reminded her, wanting to know what she would think about it.
"If I wish for the throne, I will seize it with force; whether or not I have a brother would be irrelevant then," she said, stating it as a matter of fact rather than the boasting of an arrogant child.
The Storm King wanted to rage, to remind her of her duty to marry and have a child when the time came, but something clawed inside him whenever he thought to do so, stopping him.
He was called many names: Argilac the Arrogant, the Warrior Reborn, and his favorite, the Fearless.
But now, his daughter, a girl of ten years old, made him rethink the last one. No matter how much he wanted to believe he was sick and delirious that day, his instincts as a warrior told him the opposite, and he always trusted his instincts.
The Storm King, afraid to tell his daughter to marry.
His father and ancestors would either be rolling in their graves or laughing at him right now.
"The purple trees—you made them." One thing he realized was just how direct Argella could be, so he wanted to be direct to see if she would just come out.
"And?" she asked, not seeing his point and not denying the claim either.
He didn't know if this was the answer he wanted or dreaded.
Did she actually worship the Old Gods? Was she practicing sorcery? If so, where did she learn it from?
Argilac didn't know which one to ask. So he asked none.
"If you are worried about some sort of magical effect the trees might have, you need not worry; they are harmless as long as you do not try to harm them." She said, and Argilac decided to change the subject, unwilling to delve any deeper into this.
"What will you do after this?" He asked, wondering if she would go back to spending whole days at the library.
"I was thinking of increasing the production of fabric and decreasing the cost to make it available to everyone."
"Another one of your machines?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"When do you think this one will be finished?" he asked for the hundredth time, knowing while the war was delayed, it was not averted, and every man he could arm with something more than just leather and wooden pikes would be one more advantage over the Reach.
His daughter did not give him an answer any different than the last time.
—
There were three reasons why Ei was taking such a hands-on approach to the development of the Storm Kingdom.
First, to improve the bleak living conditions the people suffered.
Second, to kill her boredom.
Third and the most important one, to distract herself from thinking about all the people that were gone now.
Sasayuri, Chiyo, Saiguu, and Makoto are dead, only their memories remaining with her.
Aether, Miko, and all the other people she came to know were a world away now.
The God of Eternity, reborn in a foreign land with only mortals to keep her company.
Knowing that the Heavenly Principles was dead and Teyvat was no longer under her yoke was her only consolation.
—
Winter brought with it more than just cold and snow; it also brought shortages of all kinds, food being the most prominent.
Some farming machines were sent to the fertile lands in the Marches, but the small numbers would not make more than a local difference, though seeing as this winter was going to be three months long, the situation wouldn't be so critical.
What she had to do was to focus on finishing the Iron Works.
"Princess" A familiar voice greeted her, and Ei turned to face Lord Lucan.
"Grandfather," Ei greeted him back, though there was no affection towards the old man.
"What brings you here, grandfather? You should be resting in a warm place instead of being out at your advanced age." The Electro Archon might be blunt and direct, but you did not spend centuries together with beings like Kitsune Saiguu and Yae Miko without picking up some things from them.
"I came to apologize," the proud Lord Penrose said, and Ei turned to face him.
"For what?" Ei asked to see if he was sincere or not.
"For insulting your hard work," he admitted, which meant either he was sincere or he knew what to say.
I was going with the second one.
"I accept your apology then," Ei said, seeing no need to drag it out.
He was old, and she was immortal, after all.
"Then if we may open the matter about your paper machine again"
And here it was.
"Hmmm. You see, I have no objections to building another papermaking machine; in fact, I intend to build an even better one as soon as the Iron Works is finished and starts churning out wrought iron and steel. The thing is, if I build too many of them, then the price of paper will drop and we won't see any profit. As such, I will build one on the lands of the lord with the most contributions to the construction of the Iron Works."
Argilac might have taken her seriously, but that did not go for the rest of the lords, so Ei decided to give them a nonviolent incentive to do so.
"There is one more matter; you told your father you would not marry." Lucan's voice was accusatory, seeing her refusal to do her duty as a crime.
"Yes."
"But it is your duty to marry and produce heirs, or do you wish for your line to end?"
"I already had this conversation with Father; if he wishes for the blood of the Durrandon line to continue, he is free to marry. I will not be discussing this matter any longer," Ei said with a finality in her tone.
Really, she, the Electro Archon, the Almighty God of Thunder, is getting advised about marriage?
If they had done this knowing the truth, Ei would not show mercy.
Lucan knew better than to push it, especially since Argilac refused to make her see sense.
He wondered how she had convinced that stubborn man.
—
Lord Tommen Whitehead watched the princess with trepidation. Ever since that day when she had caught him scolding a worker for being late, he felt as if his heart was going to burst every time he saw her.
Her words were gentle, as if she were teaching a child about how to treat people, yet
Her eyes glowed as if lightning came alive, and something threatened to crush him like an ant, and a primal feeling of fear had gripped his heart, as if one wrong word would send him to the embrace of the Seven.
He did not understand what was happening, but he definitely didn't wish to feel it again.
It made him feel even more foolish now, especially in light of her being the creator of the papermaking machine. He, like many others, did not believe it at first, but when Lord Lucan actually began to assist the construction in return for another one of the machines for his lands, he felt like slapping himself, for no one would expect a woman to create something like that.
The machine was too important to lose now, and Tommen would do anything to gain her favor, like most of the Stormlords, even if he had to mingle with the smallfolk.
—
Stormlords weren't the only ones curious about the princess and her inventions.
Reach, Dorne, and the Storm Kingdom were longtime enemies; as such, when something happened in one kingdom, the others would naturally want to know about it.
When paper began to flood into Reach from the domain of the Durrandons, King Garse Gardener didn't really care. They were on their last legs, and while Argilac had done well, he could only stave off the eventual fall of his kingdom, not stop it.
And Lord Manfred Hightower was notorious for his disagreements with Garse; as such, the king saw no reason to grant his request.
He did raise an eyebrow at the rumors of the machine being Princess Argella's creation, but, again, he didn't care, more concerned about dealing with the sudden arrival of the winter that was already two years late.
But more rumors reached his ears about how the heir to the throne of the Storm Kingdom was building something even greater. This time he did care, and knights were sent with the usual traders to gather information.
The workers were all too ready to spill what they knew after a bottle or two of wine.
Besides their unusual amounts of praise for the princess, they spoke of what she was building.
It was called the Iron Works, and while they did not know how it would work, apparently Argella Durrandon had claimed it would churn out more wrought iron than the rest of the kingdom combined.
Argilac was called arrogant for a reason, and perhaps his daughter had learned it from him, but for now they would have to wait and see.
—
Dorne's reaction to rumors about Argella Durrandon was more proactive. Princess Meria Martell wished to know more about her to plan for the future.
Argilac had kept his decaying kingdom together for more than two decades already, but when he refused to remarry and sire a son as was expected from him, that had left his daughter as the one and only heir to his throne, and knowing how women were treated outside Dorne made them wonder if this could be used to their advantage.
Records of a queen ruling the Storm Kingdom were extremely rare, but there were still two that existed.
Inexperienced and not ready to rule at all, their fates were extremely similar. The records said the Storm Queens had abdicated the throne as soon as they had a son, giving way to long regencies that saw the kingdom lose land and power.
If Argella Durrandon shared the same fate as her ancestors, they might just be able to put the final nail in the coffin and remove the Storm Kingdom from the board, which would leave the Reach and Dorne as the only rivals.
The rumors, if they were true, that is, would seem to indicate history was not going to repeat itself for the third time.
They would have to keep a closer eye on her.