Chapter 53

It was hard to believe that someone could be as dense as your preachy little Companion, if she dragged your Siblings through the Mud like that in front of your Father your Number of Friends would fall back down to zero in the blink of an Eye, or you guessed that you would still have Dallin. But you really wished that Marie would show a bit more common Sense from time to time so that you could benefit from her properly working Mind once or twice a Day when it didn't serve to put your Actions into a bad light as usual.

At least the Warehouse under the Guildhall contained what you were looking for after you searched for a bit, so the Day and your Mood didn't remain completely ruined by the Incident. The Goldenstars Merchant Guild had pretty much anything one could normally find near the Docks of Lannisport stored up deep underground in the Heart of the City to guarantee that any change in the Market could quickly be exploited. Thus, even after being more or less blockaded, there were around seven Chambers under the Guildhall that held a satisfyingly interesting Selection of Books for you to pick from.

Given that the Guild was supported and largely financed by your Family, there was always a great Stockpile used to guarantee that no Commodity would ever be truly unavailable in Lannisport to ensure that Smugglers and the like would never gain a Foothold in the Lands belonging directly to House Lannister. So you were sure that your Selection of a few Books wouldn't shake anything up, given that all seven of the Chambers that caught your Interest were part of that Stockpile and as such were filled with Bookshelves concerning all kinds of Subjects from all around the World, bought more or less in bulk by the Guild to serve as simply another Reserve of Luxury Goods.

Knowledge always held some Value after all, and who knows when a Lord or Retainer not of House Lannister would seek Knowledge foreign to the Realm, yes, you could see how there was always a Profit to be made from a good Book especially seeing as they could be stored for Ages in the right Conditions, meaning the Guild had all the time in the World to wait for the perfect Buyer. But that being said, you truly weren't born to be a Merchant for even if you could indeed see the Logic behind hoarding Books and Knowledge in such a way, it felt overall just immensely wasteful to you how only a few dozen People will ever read one of these Books before they cease to be.

And even though very few People have the Ability to read in your part of the World, that wasn't something you could bring yourself to agree with, all things considered. But your Visit gave you something new to focus on, a way to cheer Marie back up and some good Books to read, so you would still say that your Visit was an overall massive Success. You had of course no Idea if said Books would actually affect the Population of Lannisport in a beneficial way considering that most People never even held a Book in their Life, but that wouldn't stop you.

For if there was a House that has the Wealth to make it work it would be yours, so there was little Reason to not at least give that Project of yours a small Chance, at least as far as you could see. Especially if one considers the lack of shipping, you couldn't imagine that the hiring of a few hundred Merchants down on their Luck from across the Westerlands to teach the basics of reading would present a genuine problem.

But most importantly, your House required more than just Bodies for the expansion of the Army, for even the mighty Host currently assembled in the Rock represented only the standing Core of the Army your Father was planning to raise for the conquest of the Continent, so there was a lot of Paperwork to be had. And while you never encountered that problem in your last Life given that the Nobility was already a Shadow of its former self long before you were born, your Father would soon come to see that he simply had not enough Nobles to keep that Beast he plans to create securely supplied.

For reclaiming enough Land to actually produce the required Foodstuffs for the Hosts of the West was just the first step in your long Journey that was the creation of your unbreakable Supply Chain. And seeing as you had more time on your Hands than you actually liked, you wouldn't budge on the necessity of that Project anymore. The feeding of an Army consisting of a hundred thousand Soldiers is after all far more than just ten times harder than feeding a mere ten thousand Men which you had hoped your Father would know, but you weren't blind to his Flaws, he simply isn't all knowing, no one is.

And even if one resorted to pure raiding, a large Village with a Population of five hundred could at most grant an Army of a hundred thousand a measly two Days of Provisions. Hence, no Lord or King would usually deploy a Formation of such Size to the Soil of the Enemy without a Genius to manage the Logistics for a marching Army of such Size wouldn't even leave a Road behind it. So literally constant repairs would be required which would of course take up hundreds of Carriages that couldn't transport a Morsel of Food, while the Horses drawing said Carriages couldn't be left to starve.

Thus, while it certainly wasn't the most entertaining work to think about, it couldn't be ignored, and you couldn't do much about it with how paving the Roads of the Westerlands was the only thing that you could do directly. Meaning things were generally up to the Minds of the Army, and even a Genius couldn't make much use of unread Minds, which is where your Idea comes in, why not pay some unfortunate People to both teach and learn, it would after all only cost you Gold and that wouldn't be a problem. And in exchange you would create a sort of Soldier that could fill the Void between Your Father, the Nobles, and the Men in the Field, not what you had originally planned, but it's all things considered not that bad of an Investment.