NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 6: bandits
The land he ruled over was forested and sparsely populated. He chose a village at the edges of Sea dragon point to be his seat of power. The commoners accepted him as their new lord rather easily. Some were unhappy but most liked the idea of having someone to bring justice to those who broke the law. Previously, they had to wait for the yearly visit of lord Glover for justice to be served but now, now they had someone to turn to when a thief was caught or a daughter raped. The commoners had built their homes in the ruins of the old, first men strongholds. Their houses were mostly made of stone, with some wooden patches where the stone walls had crumbled and thatch roofs. Harry made himself popular by healing the sick and injured. His medical jutsu were… limited but he didn't need to close up someone's stomach, cut open, no, he just needed to deal with infected wounds and the common cold. He lived amongst them, telling them stories of Konoha to keep them entertained. In the evenings, he taught the children to fight, both boys and girls. Only if they wanted to learn though. He taught them basic taijutsu and how to fight with blunt kunai. It took 2 months for the men and women to come. Which men and women you ask? Well, his staff of course. Maids, cooks, guards, stablemen, horses and even a maester.
"My lord", the young maester bowed his head, "I am maester Ry, I have been assigned to you by the citadel"
"Ry? What kind of name is that? Where do you hail from, Ry?" He studied him. The maester wore long robes and had four kinds of links on his chain, black iron for ravenry, yellow gold for money and accounts, silver for medicine and Valyrian steel for the higher mysteries. They have sent a maester who knows of magic… they probably want to learn why he still had magic, though magic was thought to have died with the last dragons. Interesting…
"I hail from Qarth" the maester said, fiddling with his chain, "and you, my lord hail from beyond the sunset sea, right? I would love to write a book with your help about these kingdoms to the west of us, it is highly fascinating"
"Why were you sent over anyone else?"
"I was amongst the few that volunteered to work under you. We were three who volunteered but I was the senior of us, with the most links, you see, we maesters forge a link when-"
"I know how you forge your links, one for each subject you have studied… you say you volunteered for getting positioned here and there were few who did so?"
The maester's face lit up, like an excited puppy, "yes, most of the maesters didn't want anything to do with sorcery, but I am of a different opinion. I say, if there is still magic in the world, it needs to be studied and understood, not buried. The warlocks back in qarth, they still had magic, even if it was way lesser than it used to be. The first link I forged was for the higher mysteries, even before medicine or ravenry. I know magic isn't truly dead, the truth that most maesters want to hide… can you show me? This magic?"
Harry watched the maester's face, looking at the micro muscle movements below his skin but he didn't see any falsehoods. In fanfictions, it was often portrayed that the maesters hated magic and maybe they did but this one? This one was truly fascinated by it. A smile came to his face as he turned towards the water. He had planned out his castle already. He had spent many nights sketching for the design. He took out the blueprints and weaved signs. The first thing to appear was a stone bridge, leading from the village onto the sea. A bridge 30 meters long. Next, he raised the entrance to the keep proper, a huge, stone room, with windows made of pure sand, which he then melted down into glass using a fire jutsu, though he had to keep it in shape using stone plates. When he removed the stone plates, there were glass windows, foggy sure, but they let light pass through easily.
"Making glass, just like that?" Maester Ry looked at the solid glass with amazement.
Over the next few days, Harry constructed a stunning keep, creating hallways and rooms, towers and secret passageways, sleeping quarters and even some gardens. Though they weren't exactly gardens yet, they were patches of dirt under open sky. When the keep was finally done, he assigned the staff to their rooms. The kitchens got cooks, the rookery got the maester and the maids were each given a room. Atop each of the towers was a stone phoenix. He had named the keep 'phoenix point'. He still went to the children each evening, teaching them how to fight.
The maester handled most of the paperwork, like the taxes.
It wasn't long before the first criminal showed up, a young boy, only a few years Harry's senior. He had been caught raping his own daughter. Harry looked at him with disgust. He hated rapists with a burning passion.
"You have defiled a woman through rape, you have a choice to make… you can either choose to join the nights watch or you can give up your manhood", he said in front of the crying man. He had lost all his dignity. The man looked up to him, tears in his eyes, "please… please no! I didn't mean it!"
"Choose" Harry remained stoic. This man was pathetic, scum of planetos. The man sobbed more, before speaking, just about a whisper, "I'll join the watch"
Harry was disappointed. He wanted to take his manhood but he had chosen his fate and the watch needed as many men as possible for the others were coming.
"Throw him in the dungeon, I will send a raven to the night's watch, telling them that we have one of their new recruits" he told his guard, who did as they were told, bringing the worm into the dungeons.
Harry walked to the maester's tower.
The young maester was sitting behind his desk, flipping through the taxes they owed the crown.
"Ry, I have a message for your ravens to deliver", he told him, holding up the letter, which he had already written.
Ry nodded, taking the letter to one of his ravens and letting them fly. How it knew where to go was a mystery to Harry, "you have three letters", the maester said, "marriage proposals"
"It was a matter of time", Harry sighed, taking the first letter.
'Dear lord Tensei,
I hope this letter finds you in good health.
You must be already searching for a bride to start creating an heir, it is about time. Seeing as you have no wife yet, I propose you marry my niece, Hannah Lannister, she has just flowered. Her golden hair is most beautiful and-'
He skipped past a lot of descriptions and honey coated words.
'- I hope you accept this proposal. I await your raven,
By Lord Tywin Lannister, lord of Castsrly Rock, warden of the west'
The old lion wants him in the family… he couldn't get him as his bannerman, so he tried tying him to himself in another way. Clever… marrying a Lannister would be advisable, they were an ancient and powerful family but he didn't like the idea of having a Lannister for a wife… it was a strong maybe. If he decided for her, he would need to scout out her loyalties first. But there were more proposals to consider.
Harry opened the next letter.
This one was from Lord Cerwyn, a northern lord, promising his 18 year old daughter to him. This proposal was sweet, the Cerwyns were amongst the most powerful northern lords. It was a possibility to consider. Next was a letter from the Stokeworth's. Their daughter Lollys was a simple girl and their family wasn't as influential as the other two, so he had really only to consider Cerwyn and Lannister…
He would visit the Cerwyn's first, if Jonelle was not to his liking, he would consider the Lannister girl, "send a raven to the stokeworths, telling them I politely decline their offer. I will venture to house Cerwyn to see Jonelle with my own eyes"
"Yes, my lord, shall I write them of your plan to come visit?"
"Yes… I might be able to get there faster than your ravens but it could be relaxing, going the slow route", he smiled, a ride to castle Cerwyn would take two and a half weeks.
He made arrangements to leave that very next day.
He took some guards and a few servants with him, only 10 men in all, to reach the castle faster. The larger the group, the slower they move.
On the way there, Harry entertained his host with some fire shows at night. It boosted morale amongst them, watching him create Phoenixes of fire that danced across the sky in beautiful patterns. It also helped ward of the wild beasts that would've otherwise attacked them.
One evening, when he was doing his usual show he heard a low, childish, "wow" from behind one of the trees. Hiding behind it was a young boy, maybe nine or ten, with his mouth agape, "boy, come here"
"Eep!" He came out from behind the tree and bowed, "I- I'm sorry for peeping, m'lord, it just looks so pretty…"
"You don't have to apologise. What is you name, boy?"
"I- I'm Garry, m'lord. I live in our village ten minutes from here on foot"
"Show me, I am your new lord, I have to greet my subjects after all"
"Y- you are the sorcerer lord we have heard about? Wow… was that how you made that fire bird? With magic?" He looked at Harry with wide eyes.
"I did indeed"
They followed the boy and came across another ruin of the first men. This one wasn't as intact as the town surrounding Phoenix point had been, there were a few stone homes but most were living in wooden huts.
"Look, look, I live there, my daddy has the biggest house in the village!" Garry pointed at one of the stone buildings. Inside it, stood a muscular man in his fourties, looking stern, " Garry, where have you been?! Your mother and I have been worried sick!"
"I brought the sorcerer Lord, I saw him! He really is magic! He made a bird out of fire!"
"The sorcerer lord…? Oh m'lord, I am so sorry for not adressing you right away. Do you want something to eat, to drink? I have some fish in the kitchen and some ale, it is not the best quality but…" he bowed deep looking around frantically.
"It would be my honor to eat with you, don't worry, I won't behead you for speaking the truth, so tell me, what are your concerns around here?"
"Well- if I had to say- it would be… well, the bandits around here have been getting pretty rowdy recently. They keep messing with our lifestock, robbing us and so on, they are poaching too and…" he talked for a few more minutes about how terrible the bandits were, so Harry decided to do something about them but that had to wait for the next day. Right now, it was time for supper. They ate fish stew and drank cheap wine. He even paid the good man five silver for the food, way more than what it was actually worth.
They slept in his home and the next day, they marched towards the last known camp of the bandits. It was abandoned but with his Sharingan, he could see their traces in the mud and snuck up on them. An hour later, he found their new camp and they attacked. It was a slaughter. They killed close to twenty bandits but lost one good man to an arrow in the back before they found the archer.
They took the leader's head and all their treasure and walked back to the village. Harry held the leader's head high above him and spoke, "My people, the reign of terror is over, I have killed the bandits terrorising you! We have everything they have stolen from you. We will take half of it and you can split the rest amongst yourself"
He sealed half the silver and copper(they had no gold) and gave the villagers the chest. It was more than enough to feed them for two years. The bandits had been at it, collecting treasure for a long while.
The crowd cheered, "Tensei! Tensei! Tensei!"