Wizard Lord of Westeros

Hornwood Castle

POV of Lord Halys Hornwood

"This is preposterous." Halys Hornwood shouted and banged the table with his hand "I will not accept so few gold dragons for 3 coal mines and the dirt within my lands."

The young Bolton Lord, however, remained unperturbed at his anger and the boy even had the audacity to yawn in front of him. As if this was a matter of no importance to him. And despite his anger for the Bolton boy lord, there were times within his life when he wished that his own son was more like Lord Domeric Bolton.

After all, everyone knew how much the Bolton lands had prospered under their new lord. What kind of lord wouldn't want to see their own lands become more prosperous?

That was why he was so happy when the Bolton boy lord had told him that there were three large coal deposits within his land.

And that was why he was so angry when the boy told him that he'd take those coal deposits for a monthly price of 100 gold dragons. He was sure that he would be able to earn double or even triple that amount of money if he opened the new mines on his own.

The only problem was that…

"But you don't have 3 coal mines, do you?" The boy lord said while looking at him with his intense pale eyes. "In fact, you don't even have a single mine within your lands. And you have no idea where the coal deposits are. Isn't that right?"

They both already knew the answer so he simply glared at the boy, hoping to overwhelm him with his age and experience but he had failed once before when the boy came to negotiate the price of the timber within his lands and he very much doubted that he would succeed in intimidating the boy lord this time.

So, after a long confrontation of will, he finally looked away, accepting his defeat and secretly hoping once more that he had a son as capable as Domeric Bolton.

"You're right. We don't have any coal mines. And I have no idea where the coal deposits are." He had not wanted to say that but for some reason, Domeric Bolton's unyielding gaze seemed to force him to speak his mind instead of playing political games like he did with others.

"That is correct." The boy lord said "So wouldn't it be better to simply accept the gold I'm giving you? 300 for the mines and 200 for the clay. 500 each month and 6,000 within a year. Wouldn't it be better to simply accept that gold than have nothing at all?" Any other time he would have been stubborn and denied the boy's offer.

Any other time, he would have denied the offer and then used all his manpower to find the Coal deposits within his lands even though it was unlikely that he would find anything any time soon.

But for some reason, he felt strangely calm and rational at this moment and decided that having 6,000 gold dragons every year was a far better option than having nothing.

After that, they ironed out the details and signed a contract within an hour and the boy lord and his host of 50 men had left his castle before nightfall.

Leaving him with a contract that'll last for 20 years.

He looked at the box filled with 30,000 gold dragons which were the payment for the first 5 years and started thinking about the best way to use it.

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Dreadfort Castle

POV of Domeric Bolton

"Welcome back Domeric. How was the negotiation? Did you get what you want?"

His aunt welcomed him at the castle gate with people from his inner circle. He already told her that she didn't need to welcome him every time at the castle gate when he returned from a journey. But she insisted that this was the proper behavior for a Noble House.

"Thank you, Auntie. About the negotiations, how about we talk in my solar while we are playing a game? I want to show you my new creations." Domeric said to his aunt with a smirking smile.

On the way while returning to Dreadfort from Hornwood, he created some board games and wanted to show his aunt.

There was very little entertainment in this world. Noble ladies mostly knitted, sewed, read, or gossiped in their leisure time. And noblemen were even worse. Some of them sparred and read but most of them drank wine while bragging or went straight to a brothel.

So, he wanted to create some entertainment while making some gifts for other Houses and increasing his reputation in this realm. But first, he wanted to get his aunt's opinion. Because of his modern worldview from his past life, there was a probability that he might not have made the best decision in some situations.

"New creations of yours? Sure. Let me see what Old Gods had whispered to you this time."

'Ughh… She still thinks that I was chosen by the Old Gods. Well, whatever. It is not wrong, either. After all, I was chosen by Death as Death Champion.'

After a while, at the solar of Domeric Bolton.

Domeric was now playing a board game with his aunt after teaching her the rules. And the game was… of course chess. Well, he customized the game according to this world's customs a little.

He changed Rook's name to 'Castle' because nearly every Lord had a castle and with this name, they might embrace the game more quickly.

Knight's name was still the same, but he changed Bishop's to 'Mage' because he wanted to familiarize people with magical humans for his future identity as a wizard.

Queen's name changed to 'King's Hand' or just 'Hand' because in Westeros mostly King's Hand managed the realm in the name of the king.

Lastly, King's name changed to 'Throne', but it could be still called 'King'. Pawns were still pawns.

"About the negotiations with Lord Hornwood; everything went as I planned, and we agreed on a 20-year collaboration. Lord Hornwo..."

"Shhh… It is ok if everything went as you planned. Let me focus on the game, Dom."

Then Domeric closed his open mouth and let his aunt focus on the game. Looks like his aunt was a competitive gamer. 

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