Chapter 64: Roses are rotten
Robb was kind enough to let queen Deanerys go back to Dragon stone on a ship with a dozen men to guard her. These men are all sell sword who were promised a thousand gold coins upon delivery.
This was a risky move but since they are Northern people they wouldn't go against their king even as people who sell their services.
Deanerys is beyond infuriated at the actions of the king in the North. Robb on the other hand had to explain to his men that his sister had given him a gift a while back which is what led to the absolute protection of the North against fierce beast as long as a Stark seat on the throne in the north.
Another king from another bloodline would have to earn the protection of the north again.
These all happening without Olivia's knowledge as she is yet to be briefed on the happenings of the other kings. In the meantime she along with castle masters are sorting out teachable materials for the several schools including those in the red lands.
Many young boys and girls have registered for both the private and public schools what is left is to open the school after everything is sorted out. The matter of the uniforms have been established for every school.
She got a visit from Tyrell's old rose. Olivia doesn't like this woman after her actions of conspiring against her in Kings Landing.
"So old but you still like traveling around the world like a young lady." Olivia voice came with distaste that momentarily stunned the old woman.
"I see you still blame me about what happened on our last meeting." Lady Olenna Tyrell didn't seem to worry too much about Olivia's attitude.
"I don't blame you for that. I just don't like you and your shrewd eyes make me want to gauge them out." The tone is soft almost gentle but the cold words makes people shudder in fear.
"I don't know what to say." The old Rose became speechless hearing the crude words.
In fact Olivia had found out that this woman was the one who encouraged the gray rats at that time to kidnap and torture recipes out of her employees. She was responsible for the first ever attack from slavers in the true North, she had used her contacts with the scholars to provoke the masters into making a move against her kingdom.
In kings landing she conspired with the royal family to have her abused and tortured for her things. But Olivia still made a deal with her grandson and had his medicine delivered as soon as he had given her the copies of her mother and father's marriage agreement.
Olivia is in deep thoughts when the woman seemed to be uncomfortable with her stare. "The dragon queen is here now, shouldn't we work together to survive her wrath?"
"Why would her wrath be directed this way?" Olivia seems incredulous.
"Ow my, you are not naïve enough to believe your crystal walls will prevent a dragon from coming here are you?" She asked.
"I am ready for that. You should quickly tell me why you have come." Olivia dismissed her statement.
"I have come to negotiate a marriage between my Wallace and yourself. Join forces with us and your people in this cold place would never go hungry." The old woman said proudly.
Her alliance with queen Cersei went up in smoke. Literally as Cersei used some sort of smoke bomb to turn humans into walking dead in a church full of priests. She lost Margery and Loras that day.
"You want my dragons to go up against her dragons and you think food is enough to tempt me? That woman is the last of my father's bloodline and you want me to go up against her for a few crops?" Olivia laughed at her.
The old woman has to admit before coming here she had been very confident. But upon arrival her confidence wavered seeing the place not desolate at all instead there are even several fruit trees visible where farmers are actively picking fruits, several of which she has never seen before because they only grow in cold climates.
"This proposal of yours, I decline." Olivia said straightforwardly without missing a beat. The old woman stayed in the city to see if there is really nothing this place lacks.
What a joke! Ally herself with these despicable people? Then her careful actions of trying to bring Aegon and Deanerys so they can work together to crush these Southerners would be sabotaged by her own hands.
No ways, Olivia wants to see the so called powerful players waver under the absolute power of the foreign armies. With great anticipation Olivia wished to get a report that tell her the players of the game of thrones have been burned, beaten and bent in a 90 degrees angle.
Although she herself didn't want to rule over the seven kingdoms but her wish is to see them lose miserably to the point of crying to their mothers. For this, Olivia invented a magic mirror.
The materials are not too demanding but the spell needs her to have an anchor in each location so Olivia made several larger trees that will be like her anchor. She just needs to connect to these trees to see that is happening in the proximity.
This will help them and she can sit and watch with friends as if watching a play.
This idea sparked a new monitoring system in her kingdoms and the originally small mirror became a full length screen that can switch feeds and the crystal ball she painstakingly inscribed with runes can store footage that can be watched later was invented.
With this device, crime can be punished accordingly although the anchors can only be in public places, it is still better than nothing. Guards were quickly trained to use the device and Olivia added a new type of crystal anchor or a recorder in the public facilities such as the hospital hallways, medicine and material storage warehouse for schools, orphanages and hospitals. This one is made into a round crystal.
What started as a silly plan to watch a good show turned into a revolution idea. But soon the inventor came up with a camera inspired by the photographs machines and this new device.
The magic monitoring system is then exclusively used in the royal public facilities including the boarding schools to ensure there is no unfair treatment or anything against the rules being committed in schools.
When Olivia is bored she would browse through all these watching how her people are faring against the long winter.
The conquest of the dragon queen has caused a new round of immigrants influx. This result pleased Olivia to no end. She issued a statement that residents living in the harbor or other places with in the kingdom may apply for the capital city residency.
All those not living in the main city long to move in, not only is there plenty food but the standard of living will instantly improve soon after. This is because those living in the city work better jobs and earn higher income.
The constant influx of immigrants caused a visible decline in food. It is winter and farming will cause health issues so Olivia made a thick plastic boots with cotton material on the inside and warm clothing and an outer suit free for farmers. True North is very cold even summer so waiting for summer to farm makes little sense.
More land is prepared by Olivia for more farming. There is a need to expedite the residential area construction on all the small and big cities throughout the kingdom. The new commoners are also given a choice to go live in the red lands. Ships depart carrying many passengers.
Olivia just revived her lands and all sorts of surprises sprang up. There is even an oil fruit that cries oil instead of fruit juice, a bush of grasswith seeds when dried and drinded can be turned into flour and its grain is bigger and better than rice. Olivia calls it ground rice.
It's crazy that it taste like bread but has protein. With this type of plant that can exclusively grow in cold temperatures Olivia will soon have fat people in the north. It is filling and nutritious.
The kingdom grew its own type of food and for some reason, Olivia's soul companion has started giving her food recipes. It must be a form of upgrade. She doesn't question it but instead goes out regularly to check if there is a plant that can be planted as food anywhere in the kingdom.
This woman has come when the bustling of the kingdom is at the peak because they have started building a main road. That's right, her kingdom is done with all the residential buildings and minor lords castles and therefore the major road construction has started and is on full swing.
Olivia has started a side business of shaping soft wood then have it cut and used as mattress and couches after painting and styling to sell. The poor of her kingdom can afford such furniture and as a result, no one even thinks of sleeping on stone beds and every household has at least a small family table.
The residential area comes with basic built in wardrobes in bedrooms and cardboards in the kitchen. This includes a simple oven with low quality warm stone for cooking and water supply in the bathroom and kitchen.
Every residential area has a few conservation tanks for the sewer that are regularly emptied with the waste devouring powder that can eat anything filthy such as rotting food and dirt inside water to the sewer tank.
The places are very clean as a result promoting health standards. No matter what there is always a project to employ people so at least for the time being, they are able to earn coins. Olivia has also accounted for the time when they won't be able to make such money and offered a large patch of land near each residence where joint farming can take place and the yield can be divided according to labor provided at the time.
This way they can feed themselves if they don't have food but children under 17 years of age are all expected at school learning various skills. If they are without adults they can move to the orphanage and later apply for a residency in the apartment buildings when they reach 20.
Only those 20 or above are allowed to register for marriage and anyone forced to marry against their will, will result in serious punishment for the parties responsible.
Parents are not allowed to sell their children, if they feel too burdened with raising their child, it is recommended to sever ties and let the child live in the orphanage.
They will not be allowed to take the child back. Once in the orphanage, children are minor adults, able to make their own choices as long as they go to school and graduate. If a child proves to be very intelligent and capable, they may apply for a certificate of adulthood even when they are still young.
The kingdom has finally commenced school and the first week went smoothly. Olivia is still going to have an opening ceremony. Several teachers across the schools are used to the program by the end of the week. Olivia is very satisfied with the product of her labor.
The most troublesome one is the imperial school in the true north and the one in the red lands. Because they are boarding schools it is far more tiresome running the place than the several public schools.
A month later after making several adjustments in the schedules and allocation of resources, the two schools settled down in a steady pace.
The two grand dukes and Olivia were so exhausted they wanted to relax and take a break for a long time after but the work is not done just yet.
Olivia has a big idea to build a relaxation resort in her kingdom because everyone works hard and she will be able to charge a lot of money here. However this plan still need to be postponed.
The road construction for both places required immense labor for manufacturing of the materials such as cold / warm stone to the upgraded concrete powder and not to forget the railings for the sides made from heavy wood and installed in strong cement and painted with the colorless fire proof paste.
The work seems endless as a result many shocking events took place after the arrival of one Deanerys Storm born in Westeros and Olivia is oblivious to them all.
The one she was informed urgently about was when Deanerys sent her men to take the iron islands away from several dukes and a bloody war took place.
Olivia sent a letter warning Deanerys to not use her dragons but let the armies determine who gets to keep the Iron islands. Deanerys was obviously very upset about this letter but she is bedridden and can not ride her dragons for the time being.
One day Olivia received an invitation for a wedding at Winterfell. Apparently Sansa was getting married to a princess consort. She has a massive castle in dragon point and has several farmlands in glass houses for the few families she will rely on for harvests in the future.
Sansa is planning on building a harbor but the resources are not enough and the coins are running out now that her king brother has finished her castle, she is not given an allowance for further construction.
This is why she has agreed to a marriage with the Reed family which one of the most wealthy families in the North due to Olivia's decision to grow rice in their damp swamp.
Princess Sansa's castle is very large and beautiful but her brother had two other castles to build so he was frugal. Sansa was given the first castle to be complete because she is 'not getting any younger' according to her mother.
When she chose a husband, she didn't need one who is too influential so she chose the second born and made him a princess consort. This is the wedding Olivia is asked to attend.
Thinking it over, she told Bree to send a gift but apologize for her on her behalf. Olivia may be a powerful person but her feelings about the Starks are very complicated and she would rather not get entangled with them.
Most importantly what are the Starks doing organizing weddings and building castles when there is a massive army with three dragons knocking on their door? Are they looking down on the dragon queen or is Robb scheming something again? Whatever it is she is not getting involved.
What she doesn't know is that after Deanerys was injured she has sent three attacks on different fronts but every time it's as if they are aware of her upcoming attack. Her armies always find the North waiting in ambush for them at every turn.
In the end, her advisors recommended she put the subjugation of the North on hold and take over the rest of the seven kingdoms. Most importantly because it is winter and this kind of winter will last for a long time, the attack was concentrated on rich lands such as the Reach which is why they came to bother Olivia with promises of marriage and food provisions.
Olivia only sneered in distain. She is not Ned Stark who laid with snakes and scorpions. If she is to sleep next to a snake, it better be one of a kind. Someone strong and foolish for her. She really can not stand schemers. Of course Olivia knows that a good plan is necessary if you don't have overwhelming strength.
....