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Chapter 37: Ch 28 HOW MUCH?!!Chapter Text

"I see it! I see it!" The little girl's excitement was palpable as she jumped on the ship's deck, pointing towards the group of islands emerging with the dawn. The familiar sight of the Shield Islands, known as the protective barrier of Reach, stirred a mix of emotions within Tara. Overwhelmed with relief, she almost crumbled under its weight. "It's home, isn't it, Tara? Tara!"

"Yes, it is," Tara replied, her voice filled with warmth as she affectionately rubbed Alla's head. With a sweet smile, she repeated, "It is home."

Accusingly, yet playfully, Alla said, "You were wrong, weren't you? You said it would take us three weeks to reach home, but I counted every day, and I know only two weeks have passed."

"Yes, I suppose," Tara replied, forcing a smile as she glanced back at Jon who had swiftly started delivering orders to his crew the moment he had spotted the Islands from afar.

When she had estimated it would take them three weeks for their journey from Bear Islands, she hadn't been too conservative and had considered that the fastest time however, Jon had managed to defy her expectations.

No matter how she pondered it, the distance they had covered in under two weeks seemed absurd. She had witnessed their swiftness on her previous trip, but it still left her dumbfounded. Their ship wasn't particularly special, nor did they employ unique sails or any extraordinary techniques. In fact, considering the amount of cargo they carried, they were slower than her previous voyage. The only explanation she could find was that their ship sailed ceaselessly, day and night, with unwavering confidence in its course. It was akin to traversing a well-established path through a forest, rather than wandering without a clear direction.

Another observation struck her mind—how they rarely made stops at ports along the way, unlike conventional ships. They only made two stops: one at Flint's Finger a few days after the journey began, and then they somehow completely skipped the Iron Islands, only halting at Faircastle, a renowned port in the Westerlands. Moreover, these stops were brief, merely to replenish supplies within a few hours before resuming their voyage.

The weather was another factor to consider. They encountered fierce storms multiple times, which was expected during a sea voyage but somehow someway their captain was always able to bypass them by a long way by either changing their path in advance or by anchoring their ships at a nearby shore just before it hit them and they were able to watch the tempestuous rain and dark clouds receding in the opposite direction from a safe distance.

It was as if he had a set of eyes in heaven that was looking out for him and always telling him about the coming weather in advance. Tara had heard that some of the more veteran old navigators were somehow able to predict a storm about half a day in advance by looking at the clouds with a far eye and feeling the wind. But to avoid them completely was supposed to be impossible.

Lost in her thoughts, Tara was interrupted by Jon's approach. He stood beside her, gazing at the approaching port. "I'll need your assistance for the next part," he stated, nodding towards the harbour.

"W-What, my lord?" Tara inquired, tilting her head in confusion.

"I don't anticipate them easily allowing such a sizable fleet into the Mander," Jon explained, glancing at the ships trailing behind them. "Considering our ships have never ventured into this part of the sea, it would be advantageous to have a familiar face accompany me when we meet the port master, ensuring we aren't mistaken for an undesirable group."

Understanding his concerns, Tara nodded immediately. "Don't worry, my lord. I know the port master here. There won't be any problem."

"Excellent," Jon replied, offering a small smile. He then turned his attention to little Alla and asked, "Are you excited, Alla?"

"Yes! I can't wait to meet Margery," Alla exclaimed, her face lighting up as she bombarded Jon with stories. "She's my best friend, and we always play..."

Tara observed their interaction with a gentle smile before turning her gaze towards the islands ahead. The Sheild Islands, commonly called the Sheilds were one of the most important protection the Reach had against the Ironborn. They were located in the Sunset Sea just west of Highgarden and were charged with always protecting the Mander.

Whenever any sign of longships sporting an IronIslands flag appears, elder in the watchtowers light their beacon fires, which in turn cause the other watch towers to burn their own beacons and spread the warning to the settlement further inland so that they wouldn't be caught unawares.

...

"Would you please slow down, Marge?" Willas called out to his sister with a sigh. But the happy girl flitted from one stall merchant to the next without showing any mercy for her big brother, who was following behind her like a money bag.

Margery was in an exceptionally jubilant mood, a complete turnaround from the sombre expression she had carried a few weeks ago. And that was to be expected since she had received the news that her best friend, whom she had grown up with, had miraculously been rescued by a Northern ship.

Ever since then, she had been coming to the market at the port in Highgarden, sifting through the merchants that passed by every day, hoping to find an appropriate gift for her returning friend. Her sneaking glances at the ships in the port, searching for any Northern vessels, couldn't go unnoticed.

Willas finally caught up to her when she was rummaging through a cloth shop. After quenching his thirst with water from a bag carried by a knight guarding them, he asked his sister in an exasperated tone, "Isn't it too early for you to be this excited? There's still more than a week left until Alla gets home."

"I know that," she replied while pointing at a blue dress for the shopkeeper to show her. "But I want to show them my appreciation and apologize for the suffering they had to go through because of me." Her expression turned sad at the end.

"That is very kind of you, Marge," Willas said with a smile as they left the shop, with another dress now carried by the knight behind them. Seeing his little sister being so mature filled him with pride that only an older brother could understand.

As they passed through an intersection, a loud shriek of "Margery" came from nearby. Before Margery could even turn around, she was suddenly hit by a small body with a head full of brown hair, similar to her own. Before she could make sense of the situation, the person started crying while hugging her tightly. "I missed you so much, Margery... Waah..."

"Alla! Is that you, Alla?" Margery exclaimed in astonishment, which immediately stopped Willas and the knight who were about to intervene. "It's really you!" she said and started hugging the little girl tightly as her shock turned to jubilance. The girls started jumping round and round, laughing and crying tears of happiness.

"Alla, where did you come from?" Willas was about to ask her to make sense of the situation when a few more people joined them. "Tara!"

"Lord Willas," she courtesied professionally, but she couldn't hide the joyful tears in her eyes. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you, My Lord."

"I am happy to see you too, Tara," Willas said, wanting to embrace the woman who had raised him along with his mother as her maid. Instead, he settled for squeezing her shoulder warmly before asking her in confusion, "But I thought it would take you a while to get here. How did you get here so fast?"

"Maybe the gods wanted them to reach their homes sooner since we had good weather all the way," said a man who had been standing just behind Tara, accompanied by a tall woman. The woman looked at home in her leathers, with a small Morningstar at her waist. The man was handsome enough, with curly hair and grey eyes that gave him an air of elegance despite wearing simple black clothes.

"You are..."

Tara immediately came forward and introduced them, "This is Jon Snow, the natural-born son of Lord Stark, and," she turned her hand towards the other person, "this is Dacey Mormont, the daughter of Maege Mormont, Lady of Bear Island."

"Ah... Jon Snow," Willas exclaimed, shaking Jon's hand. "Tara wrote about you in her letter. I must admit, you look a lot older than your actual age."

"I get that a lot, my lord."

"Call me Willas," he said with a gentle smile. "Not only did you save people who are precious to House Tyrell, but you also went to great lengths to get them home safely. House Tyrell is in your debt, Jon."

"You're too kind, my lord," Jon said, waving away the gratitude with a small smile. "I just did what any good man would have done in my place—"

"Then there are too few good men in Westeros, Ser," Margery suddenly inserted herself, giving Jon a blinding smile. "I am Margery Tyrell, Ser Jon."

She raised her hand toward Jon, who took it with perfect courtesy and kissed the back of her hand gently before saying, "I had heard a lot about your beauty from little Alla, but I must say she was wrong about it." Margery tilted her head in confusion before Jon continued with a grin, "You're even more beautiful than she said."

"Thank you, Ser," Margery said with a sweet smile and a cute blush, while little Alla jumped in with a cheeky smile and said, "I told you she was pretty."

"Call me Jon, since I am not a knight."

While Jon was getting acquainted with Margery, Tara was introducing Willas to Dacey. Willas suddenly turned to them and said in a formal tone, tapping his cane, "Jon, Lady Mormont, I would love to host you at our castle of Highgarden so that we can properly bestow upon you the courtesy you deserve and honour you for the service you have rendered to House Tyrell."

They exchanged glances with each other before Jon said with a troubled smile, "There is no need to go through so much trouble for us, my lord. We have already booked a good inn recommended by Tara." He continued quickly when he saw Willas about to counter him, "And besides, we are here on a business trip, so it would be more convenient for us to stay near the port."

"That would not do," Willas shook his head firmly. "It would be a disgrace as a Tyrell if we didn't properly repay you for all you've done."

Eddard had only asked a single thing of him on this trip and that was to stay away from Olenna Tyrell as much as he could and Jon didn't want to take the risk of going into the one place where he was sure to run into her, so he worked his mind and an idea quickly came to him that would make things a lot easier and quicker for him.

"You're giving us too much credit, but... if you insist on helping us, my lord, then there is one thing I could use your help with."

"Go on," Willas said, intrigued by what Jon was about to ask.

"I don't know if you've heard about it, but there is a special product from the North called Starkhorse..."

....

"Ladies and Gentleman of the reach, behold... THE STARKHORSE!!!"

The man's voice boomed with enthusiasm and excitement as he unveiled the product placed on the temporary platform in the middle of the busy street. The crowd erupted in awe and anticipation, captivated by the man's animated delivery as he skilfully heated the atmosphere with his excited voice, "This is an invention that is going to make your life countless times easier, it is going to save you so much time that it would feel like you got a second life..."

The man went on and on about the Starkhorse as if it was the god's gift and was the most wonderful invention after bread. He also talked about all the usual uses for the Starkhorse that he had perfected in the North, of course, he had tailored that marketing gimmick a little bit to suit the taste of the people of Reach according to his boss's instruction.

"And mark my words, my friends, the Reach will embrace the Starkhorse even more passionately than any other region in Westeros. Why, you may ask?" The man leaned in, building suspense, and the crowd eagerly shook their heads in anticipation. "Because the Reach boasts the finest roads in the entire realm, does it not?"

"Yes!" The crowd erupted in agreement, their voices blending into a resounding chorus.

"Now, for those eager to secure this marvel before supplies run out," the man announced, running his hands affectionately over the sleek wood of the Starkhorse, "Come forward swiftly, for our stock is limited, and who knows how long it will last!"

The crowd surged towards the tables and chairs positioned behind the platform, where Jon's crew awaited to take orders. The product was not placed here to save on the cost of renting a space but instead, the people who paid would get a token when they paid the total price after which they had to go to the docks to get their product which also saved Jon the cost of Transportation.

Above the bustling street, on the second floor of an inn, Jon and Willas watched the spectacle unfold from a spacious room with two windows, "I must say, you have quite a capable subordinate down there, " Willas said with an impressed tone, "Where did you even find him,"

"In a bar," Jon said with a shrug, he continued when he saw Willas look confused, "He was a singer in a bar but sadly he had no talent at singing but he was able to make ends meet somehow, Can you guess how?"

"No,"

"It's because he was funny and was a good storyteller," Jon said with a reminiscing smile, "His stories sometimes left them laughing their ass off and other times had them completely hooked, so they often forgot about his bad singing and tipped him generously. I immediately recognised his skill when I saw him for the first time so I persuaded him to use his talents elsewhere,"

"I must say, it's been quite some time since I've been this impressed with someone," Willas said while patting Jon's shoulder like an older brother.

"I am quite happy to hear that," Jon had taken a liking to the older man, he had an aura of intelligence about him and more importantly he was a good man, which was far too rare in this world, "I just hope that they can be impressed just as much," Jon said while looking at the people gathered around the other window.

On the left window of the room was a group of about ten people, three women and seven men, whispering amongst themselves while looking at the show below them intensely.

Even though none of them were of noble descent, it would be easy for people to distinguish them from common smallfolk, because every single one of them was wearing clothes and jewellery that just screamed wealth. They were the favour that he had asked from the Tyrell beside him and he had done a wonderful job of it by bringing most of the top merchants available in the area into a room in just a few days.

"So tell me, Miss Violet, did that—" Jon suddenly spoke while waving his hands towards the window, breaking the group from their discussions, "Assauge all your fears about them not selling as easily in the Reach,"

"Hehe..." The woman gave him what she thought was a coquettish smile and said, "I hope you don't take offence, My lord but as a woman in this business I need to be cautious about all my investments,"

"Of course," Jon nodded nonchalantly, the middle-aged woman was a ruthless brothel owner that had already used the gender card more than three times in the hour that he had known her so he knew better than to take anything she said at face value.

These people had been given the same speech that Bill had given to the crowd below, it's just that Jon's presentation had been a lot more subtle and sophisticated but since they were both written by him, the essence was the same. He too praised the Reach between his words softening them, as well as embellishing his products to high heavens with words like it would reduce the time of travelling by five times to reach the same destination as well as it being ten times cheaper than a normal horse in the long run over the years considering the feed and care.

Basically, he had used all the marketing gimmicks he could think of from the modern world with all kinds of Bogus facts and calculations that they couldn't hope to verify even with a team of the brightest Maesters from Citadel.

But of course, it wouldn't be as easy as it was for his friend Bill down there since his audience was a lot shrewder and cunning than Bill's. They were all experienced merchants who wouldn't get carried away to buy things at their face value. So the moment Jon had finished his pitch all of them started taking turns in yanking the Starkhorse down, listing one disadvantage after the other in hopes of pulling the value down.

But Jon had decided from the beginning that he would be selling these here at ten times the price he sold them in the North. And the reason was simply that they could afford it.

Considering the technology in this world, one of the easiest ways to become rich would be either to sit on a gold mine or to have a lot of good farmlands. And while the Westerlands may have a lot of rich nobles, the Smallfolks in Reach were a lot more wealthy than the ones in other kingdoms, so Jon wouldn't shy away from leeching them as much as he could.

So Jon had immediately taken these merchants to the window to show them a live demonstration of how popular his product could be and how easy it would be to sell them and make quick money. And he could see it in their faces that most of them were already sold on the idea.

"So are you all ready to place your orders?" Jon asked, breaking the silence and bringing their attention back to the matter at hand.

The oldest-looking man among the merchants calmly spoke up, addressing Jon, "My lord, the people down there were just caught in the excitement of seeing a new thing. I am sure that after they go home, most of them will realize that they spent a lot more than they intended and may come to regret buying it. So it would be hard to sell them at the price you're quoting after the furore dies down."

"Yes, My lord," Another one piped up immediately after, "Most of them would go back to preferring a normal horse,"

"It'll be hard for us to sell them unless you make it a bit more affordable,"

Jon knew that they just needed the last push before they bent completely so he looked out of the window and said, "Do you know what the best thing about Starkhorse is?"

"You already told us a lot of its advantages, My lord. I don't think another would make any difference—"

"Do you know who that person by the fountain is?"

All of them looked at the fountain in confusion to see a couple of kids jumping around while a girl rode the very product that was the topic of their discussion. A relatively younger female merchant who mainly dealt in clothes suddenly exclaimed, "Isn't that lady Margery?"

"You're right," Jon nodded with a smile, "She is indeed the famous Rose of the Reach. And do you know when she got that Starkhorse," Jon continued before anyone of them could answer, "Just this morning and she's already riding it quite skillfully, so what I am trying to say is that, anyone can learn to ride, from a ten-year-old commoner child to fifty-year-old farmer anyone can learn it in a few hours... Can you say the same for a normal horse?"

The scepticism in the room slowly transformed into greed as they envisioned the wide customer base they would have to sell their product to. The oldest merchant, who had been the most hesitant, finally stood up and said, "I would like to place an order of 150 Starkhorses."

His decision caught the rest of the merchants off guard, and they looked at him with a mix of surprise and betrayal. It was easy to deduce from their expression that they had some kind of an agreement between them to not buy at all until he budged on the prices. However, a single crack in their united front shattered their strategy.

Jon swiftly took out a small notebook from his pocket and noted down the man's name, while the merchant paid the down payment. "I'll make sure you can gather your order from the ships at the port at any time."

It didn't take long for the second one to stand up, "I concede to you, My lord," Miss Violet said ruefully, "I think it would be the first time in my life that I am buying something without negotiating a lower price," she thought for a moment before saying with a smile, "I'll take 200 of those if it pleases you,"

And like a domino, the rest of them started to fall in line one after the other and started shouting over each other to get their order first.

"I'll take 120,"

"I'll take 100,"

"Me 80,"

...

Finally, the last one of them, who was also the most hesitant, stood up, "I-I'll take fifty,"

"Ah, I am very sorry to say that you were too late, my friend," Jon apologized, causing the man's face to fall with regret. The other merchants beside him shamelessly gloated at his misfortune. "But don't worry too much, as it won't be too long before we arrive back with the next shipment. You need to be prepared for the next time."

After paying their down payments, the merchants quickly left the room, eager to get home and gather the rest of the money. They were aware of the advantage of being the first in the market with such an innovative product.

Only Jon, Willas, and the old merchant remained in the room. Jon put his notebook back in his breast pocket and smiled at the old man. "You did a very good job, Gary."

"I was just holding my end of the bargain, Milord."

"Don't worry," Jon reassured him, patting his shoulders. "You'll have a ten per cent discount on the market price with me."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Milord," the old merchant said, leaving the room with a skip in his steps.

"That was very smart of you," Willas said after they were alone in the room, "Buying an insider from the beginning. I think that alone earned you quite a few dragons,"

"It's just a trick I learned from my merchant friend," Jon replied modestly. "But I wouldn't have been able to do that if you didn't introduce me to—"

Before Jon could finish, the door abruptly swung open, and Dacey rushed in with an excited look on her face. "Jon, I saw them leaving—Ah I didn't see you, My Lord,"

"I was just leaving, Lady Mormont," Willas nodded politely and said to Jon with a satisfied sigh, "That was one of the most entertaining hours of my life, Jon. Thank you for that."

"I should be thanking you, my lord, for all the help you provided," Jon replied gratefully.

Willas waved away his gratitude and left the room with a nod to Dacey. Once alone, Dacey couldn't contain her excitement and leapt in front of Jon, asking breathlessly, "So?"

Jon decided to play along for a moment, hiding a smile. "So what?"

"Don't fuck with me here, Jon," Dacey said, "I am dying from suspense here, how much did we make?"

Jon rolled his eyes but he didn't keep her in agony for long and whispered the amount with a smug smile, "We made...10,000"

"HOW MUCH?!!"

"10,000 Dragons"