Ramsgate,
Anna was bored.
She was once nothing, one of the smallfolk living in the Stoney Sept. And now, she lived in a castle like a noble lady. She had fine gowns, jewelry, and all the comforts one could ask for. Yet, she felt bored.
Other than spending time with her twin sons, she didn't speak with others much, too scared of making a fool out of herself because of how little she knew of the world. Queen Rhaella and Princess Elia were one thing, but even Wenda and Ros had plenty to talk about the realm.
But she did not. She was born in Stoney Sept and lived her entire life there, until arriving at Ramsgate. She didn't know about noble houses or had gossip to share. So, she often felt inferior and out of place.
As the overseer of the maids and one tasked with deciding the dishes to be made for each day, she felt content in that work. But still, she often found herself dragged to sit with the rest of the ladies in the solar or somewhere else.
She rarely spoke even there. But she was glad Lady Lyanna was always so mindful of her. The true Lady of Ramsgate was always kind to her, embracing her every time they would meet, and urging her to speak her mind and ideas. Lady Lyanna even taught her a few things about using a dagger for protection.
Truly, she didn't know how her life would have been without Lady Lyanna.
Yet, she hoped for a different kind of attention. Alric and Alden were reaching two years of age, and she felt ready for more children.
She hoped to gain Lord Wylis's affection again, but she always failed to muster enough courage to speak. So, her days went by longing, hoping he would visit her chambers for 'that' specific purpose.
The last time they had shared a bed was a week ago, and back then, she had failed to ask him to give her another child.
She felt she didn't deserve it; that it wasn't her place to seek something like that from a man of his standing.
For Anna, life went on.
####
Wylis had too many things to do.
Ever since he had started extracting gold from the river, his responsibilities had only increased. It was not because he had to be there, but because of how absolute the quest guidelines were. Every time some smallfolk got greedy and tried to pocket some of the extracted gold, Wylis received a notification.
One look at the Fief's map, and he could see the new red markers. They were the smallfolk who pocketed the gold. So, he'd then have to send Chett or some other men to reclaim it, as it could lead to quest failure.
It was still the beginning, so the smallfolk didn't know that Wylis could sniff them out. He hoped that after a few of them got caught and then publicly punished with lashes and fines, the others would stop doing it.
Still, his attention was divided. Most of his time was spent either in the dungeons, working on new things, or in the industrial district, teaching the blacksmiths. Not just the physical aspects, but also the measuring. He had already developed all the tools needed to establish a simple metric system for measurements, so he taught that as well.
"No mystery in it. Ten millimeters form a centimeter, a hundred form a meter, and a thousand form a kilometer. Use this tape and mark it well. Weight follows the same order…"
He explained the basics to the father and son blacksmiths and five more lads from the town who wanted to become blacksmiths and start their journey.
"No more guesswork and hoping it holds. Things must be precise and kept the same. That way, we can turn them out by the thousands. If I want a carriage built, I can have one blacksmith make the wheels, and another make the suspension. If they each have tools to measure things evenly, they can both do their work, and the result would be the carriage. This stands true for more complicated things as well."
It wasn't easy. They understood numbers, but they couldn't be considered truly learned. So, Wylis knew he needed to establish a schooling system. For now, he hoped to bring in experts from outside soon.
"Learn well, and work safely. We have only begun yet."
The plan Wylis had plotted was completely drawn. Its draft was sitting in his solar. From the industrial district to shopping streets, a large arena for fights and events, large and small bath houses across the city that would use the spring below, small and large amphitheaters, schools of different sizes, mansions and smaller homes, an entire City Council building complex, and so much more.
It was all drawn. He planned to build the most important buildings using Earthbending, work on the foundation, and let the smallfolk do the rest. But he didn't have Master Masons yet who could read his blueprints and oversee the construction.
What he had was just one man, Old Harwin, who was once a fisherman, then worked to clear trees, and by now had learned to be a somewhat competent construction overseer. But Wylis needed experts for mass construction. Especially for larger structures like the arena, which was pretty much a colosseum but a bit smaller.
After explaining things outside, he retreated to his dungeon and continued working on multiple things. They were small, but their net effect on society was supposed to be significant. For example, he created Hand Crank Winches. They would help with moving heavy things.
He created tooth-cleaning tools, such as a twig brush. He also made toothpaste using salt, baking soda, and mint.
After that, in the list was a heavier Iron plow for farming, so it could dig deeper. But that was already done outside in the blacksmith's shop. He instead worked on safety matches. Little thing, but with great usability. Qyburn was most intrigued by it and learned how to make them himself.
At that time, Wylis's intention wasn't to mass-produce them. He was just building things left and right and recording them. Every step, procedure required, and refining it for the future when he would actually start mass producing things.
After those few things, he focused on the more theoretical side of things.
Running a fief wasn't easy, and running one that he knew would grow rich and populous was even harder. So, he developed record-keeping systems, double-entry bookkeeping, inventory systems, and standard contracts for certain things, such as opening a shop in the future city. All that knowledge was then handed over to Elia, who was rather interested in such subjects.
Finally, the next item on the list was the most complex but useful, a clock. He didn't bother trying to make it small. Since it was his first try, he went for a large grandfather clock and a simple wooden casing for it.
It wasn't an easy thing to make, considering the components required and how small they were. He had to make them with his hands, using steel. But it wasn't impossible at that point for him. He designed the gear train, taking him more than a day to accurately settle on the sizes.
Then came the escapement, which controlled the release of energy from the mainspring, which allowed the gear train to move in small and regular steps instead of spinning freely. After that came the pendulum, and finally the weights.
It was wrong.
He tested the clock, and it was off. So, he recalibrated from the smallest part, checked everything. Once he was sure it worked, he added the dial and hands and built the wooden case.
He had already used the sun to mark days into hours. He considered that Westeros and that planet itself followed the same cycle as Earth. Still, he used the pole star to calibrate, observing how stars rotate around it.
After that, he built a timekeeper, an hourglass, and started it at noon. He measured the flow duration and marked intervals. Finally, when he finished the grandfather clock, he started it at noon as well, and compared it to the sun during the day, the hourglass, and the stars during the night.
He finally adjusted the pendulum length until one swing was as close to one second as possible. But still, he needed days of continuous calibration to make it as accurate as possible. It was a fucking headache, so he put Qyburn on it. Making small adjustments was an easy job.
He was sure that in a week or two, he would have an accurate clock which he'd use to make more.
I should train a handful to craft pocket watches. Costly work, but I can pass them off as rare luxuries. They'll pay tenfold the cost, no a hundred.
Rubbing his hands, he looked at the clock and frowned. It was close to midnight, past supper time. It was great to know the exact time, however.
"Qyburn, repeat the calibration for two weeks."
"Understood, my lord!" Qyburn nearly saluted, he would have if his face wasn't frozen on the clock. The ex-maester was fascinated by it. A miraculous device to measure the great law of nature, time itself.
Wylis left the man to work and headed to the kitchens alone. He didn't bother the servants cleaning it and just grabbed whatever was there to eat, drank a cup of milk, and headed to his bedchamber.
"Archmaester Marwyn should depart for Essos in two days."
Even on his way, with tired eyes, he kept thinking about work and the next day's plans. He had plenty of ships now, and with Ironborn fucking up his Western shore's business, he had a few ships lying unused. They were perfect for Archmaester Marwyn to take across the sea.
Knock! Knock!
He gently knocked twice on the door to his own bedchamber out of habit and opened the door. He hoped to find Lyanna already asleep in the bed, sprawling like the queen she was, taking up space for two on that large bed.
"Finally! I was getting tired of waiting."
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Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 12 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 45-50 Webnovel chapters.
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