Wizard Lord of Westeros

Outside of the Dreadfort Castle

POV of Villager Tom

"Tom. This boy's name is Rodrick. He'll come to your village and take the names and numbers of all the families in your village. He is personally being sent to your village by the lord and you're to follow all his orders and do as he tells you to do like the orders that came from Lord Bolton himself. Is that understood?"

"Yes." He said and the man gave a satisfactory nod before gesturing him to leave. He bowed in thanks before leaving the place with the dozen guards and the teenage boy who turned out to be someone who knew numbers and letters.

"Can I ask why you're being sent to our village?" he asked the boy cautiously once they were on their way and the boy gave a confident nod and said.

"Yes. I'm going to write the names of every person within your village and give that report to Lord Bolton so that he can know how many people are living in his lands. I'm also going to teach you a new method of farming called 4 field crop rotation that Lord Bolton himself invented."

"4 field crop rotation?" he asked, tasting the word in his mouth and the boy gave a nod.

"And last but not least, I'm going to read this letter in front of all the villagers."

"Letter?" He asked as he saw a page filled with words in the boy's hands and kicked himself in his mind once again for not learning the letters from Grandma Alba when he had the chance.

"What does it say?" he asked, and the boy gave him a feral grin as he said.

"It says that Lord Bolton is offering work to everyone from the age of 15-40."

"What kind of work?" he asked.

"Oh. Many kinds of work. Making bricks. Making roads. Mining. And lord Bolton is even creating a standing army of his own to fight against the growing number of bandits within his lands."

"Army?" he asked with childish fascination as he remembered the stories his father told him about war and glory.

"Yes. And the pay is quite good as well." The boy said and his eyes bulged open once again.

"Pay. I don't think my father was paid the last time he went to war." He said with some confusion and the boy nodded.

"Yes. Levies don't usually get paid aside from any loot that they're able to pick up from the enemy lands and loot from enemy corpses. But the army that Lord Bolton is creating won't be a levy but a standing army that would be taught how to fight and taught and trained with the sole purpose of fighting in a war."

"Is that so?" he asked, wondering if he should ask his father to join this 'standing army' that Lord Bolton was making. But then he thought of something and asked, "And how much will I get paid in this army?"

Here, the boy smiled mischievously at him and said, "5 gold dragons each year."

He would join this army even if his father tried to stop him from doing so.

After all, his father himself only earns 1-2 gold dragons per year and that too is spent on buying things for their house with almost nothing left to their name by the end of the year. If he could join this army, then he would be able to rise above his station in an instant.

"You plan on joining it?" the boy asked, and he nodded.

"And you. Are you not going to join it?"

The boy thought about it for a moment before he shook his head "I want to but I'm going to join the profession of a teacher once I grow up."

"Teacher?"

"A… a person who teaches others how to read and write. Something like a maester." The boy explained.

"Why would you want to become a teacher when the army has such good pay?" he asked while scratching his head and the boy grinned at him for a moment and then said.

"Because I'm paid 10 gold dragons for my services already. And, once I learn everything that I need to learn and become a teacher, I will receive 20 gold dragons each year for my services. More, once I get more experience."

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Dreadfort Castle

POV of Domeric Bolton

After playing chess constantly for an hour, Domeric moved his Hand (Queen), put it other side of the board, and finished the game the 7th time.

"And checkmate Auntie, again," he said with a mischievous smile on his face.

"You cheeky brat. Wait till I get some experience. And then we will play again." His aunt said through gritted teeth.

"So, what is your opinion about the game? It is entertaining, right? Do you think nobles and smallfolk like it?"

His aunt didn't answer immediately but clenched her chin with her thumb and forefinger and thought a little while looking at the chess board.

"It is not just entertaining Dom. It is more than that. It is like controlling battlefields with your own hand according to your own strategy. Like a general. No, like a king on a battlefield. It is mind-opening and intriguing. I think a lot of people like… no love it. Lords, maesters, generals, knights, master craftsmen, and many more. As long as they are an intellectual type, every man and woman will love this game. Some of them even might use it to educate their children and sharpen their minds. But leisure and less intellectual types probably find it boring."

"That's what I also thought. So, I created 2 more games. One of them is Checkers. Can be played on the same board with different pieces. It is simpler. The last one is Backgammon. Can be played on the other side of the board with the Checkers pieces but the number of pieces is different. In this game, you have to use dice. So, to win you have to be both sharp and lucky." He said while taking out some papers.

"These papers include rules of all three games. You can give them to maesters and other intellectual people to learn. When the time comes, I will send these games to every House in the North as a gift. Well, except Karstarks. Anyway, I will need people who can teach maesters at Houses in the North."

"So, you want to improve your relations. That's good."

"One of the reasons is that. Yes. But also, I want to improve my reputation and spread these games to other lands."

"I see. Improving your reputation is a good thing. It will cause other Lords to see you as more than a young kid. And spreading games, do you want to open another business for these games?"

"Kind of. These games are easy to make. So, they can't be luxury products. We will sell them at our bookstores that we are opening at Westeros and Essos at the moment. Their price will be cheap but also accept requests for custom-made games that are made from wood, silver, gold, and even glass. But more importantly, we will hold tournaments for these games."

"Oh, you want to attract intellectual people to your lands, right?" she asked like she understood his purpose.

"Exactly. But this is not today's talk. I want you to take care of the game gifts that I will send to other Houses. I want to send 10 boards including all three games as a set and one custom-made board of chess according to the House we will send. Oh, and don't sell any games till I gift them the Lords first."

"Don't worry I take care of it. But chess?"

"Oh, that's the short name of the game that we played first. It comes from trying to constantly make checks to your rival's throne."

"It is a weird name. What is the long name?" she asked.

"It is game of thrones." He said.

"Oh, a game between thrones. I like this one more."

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