Chapter 33

After the Rock sent its Taxes, and the future Lords of the Rock were forbidden from entering the Capital, the King took the Opportunity and proclaimed the Conflict to be over, of course with the Crown being declared the Victor, much to the quiet bemusement of your Father and his Vassals. You yourself have honestly given up hope on ever making Sense of the madness around you a few Months ago, leaving the matters of Politics now fully to your Father and his Men, instead you used your not so limited time on finally obtaining the Knights you were promised.

Reaching your newest Goal turned out to be quite simple, so that annoying the right People, namely your Parents, did the Trick without a problem. Thus, to your great delight, you're once more free to explore the Westerlands, while you plan how you're going to bring the usual Misfortune to the Doors of House Lannister's Enemies. Already the Wildlings as your Father had called them have put your Gifts to good use, at least if the Letters from the Wall are anything to go by. It wasn't the original Plan, but mayhaps House Stark will see reason once they realise that the Crown won't be sending them the requested Reinforcements.

You truly couldn't see the Royal Army moving to help the North in the next Decade or so, for the King will never send his Troops to aid a Vassal that in his Eyes betrayed the Realm, but well, you could see a future in which a number of the great Houses like the Tully's and Arryn's send out their Men regardless. Which could see the King become so infuriated and unhinged that he finally loses his remaining seemingly Brain-dead Loyalists, for even they couldn't accept just doing one's Duty to the Realm as an Affront to the Crown, now could they?

They could as it turns out, they absolutely could, for of course they could, it wouldn't be any fun if the World would suddenly make Sense after all, now would it? So yeah, those Loyalists can't be helped anymore, you seriously thought for a moment that the Vows of this World could be enforced by Magic or the like, but there are enough Oath breakers around for you to scrap that Explanation. Instead you settle on something ridiculous or stupid, you can't grasp what it is beyond that simple Feeling of it not making Sense to you even if you knew it, so you guess that some Houses are just beyond saving.

Sadly this means that you have no Idea of how to procure equally loyal Vassals for House Lannister, not that the Men of your Father actually lacked Loyalty, no, they were nearly loyal to a fault in your Estimation. But would they remain so forever once their Sons were ordered to march into war under the Banner of the Lion, those were the Thoughts that worried you, for what would the future hold if everyone but the Westerlands had the same abundance of Fanatics as the Crown, the Realm of the Westerlands is one of a kind after all.

The Mines of the Westerlands brought forth Wealth without Equal throughout the Ages, and you know that such a great amount of Wealth doesn't breed the Bonds a History of shared Struggles and Conflicts might breed, which is to your current Understanding a rather reasonable Basis to doubt their inner Loyalty. A problem you sadly can't solve by throwing Stones at it, which was admittedly surprisingly effective until now, thus after you consider your Age you realise once more that your ways to approach these matters concerning you so are more than a bit rocky.

Moments after you finished that Thought, you had to strain yourself even more than usual to not show any of your Feelings on your Face, for once you realised what you thought you couldn't help but become massively annoyed. Now that you can finally leave the Rock again, you had no desire to see your Mind infected with Rock Jokes of all things. Thus you did what you always do if something you don't want to deal with appears, you focus on solving a randomly chosen problem with your Mind or with your Abilities.

The problem that had the Honor of distracting you was of course the Loyalty of your Father's Vassals, but you still remembered that holding onto the Loyalty of your Men in the long term was beyond your Abilities in your last Life. Thus, you're a bit undecided on how to actually approach the matter beyond cutting the problem into smaller Portions, so that you can finish them step by step as usual. You were quite happy that it took you a full six Days to get a satisfyingly decent first Idea, for you saw the Days spent as Proof that your way of thinking won't fail you as it did in the past.

To your Knowledge, most Nobles have normally the Wish to leave the World imprinted with their work and Deeds, and after looking upon this Wish in particular for Days on end, you're sure that you could make use of it. With the concentration of Might under the Lion, most Houses would begin to feel this Wish like never before, ever more desperately fighting to not be forgotten by History in the Shadow of their Master. And where there is Desire there is Gratitude to be had if one is capable enough, and you just so happen to know a perfect place that will endure throughout the Centuries, and can display their Legacy, and part in the World.

The City Walls of Lannisport before you were coming along nicely, and with around seventy Percent being finished they made for an imposing Sight in the light of the setting Sun. But the work slowed down massively once the Hands were needed on the Fields and Harbor, so that the remaining Workers had their work more than cut out for them, most likely not achieving much beyond simply maintaining the massive Wall as it was. So you supposed that with everything being as it is there was now no one that needed the work and would mind if you were to put in a bit of work yourself, thus your Knights were ordered to seal the City for the Night while you finished the Wall with an additional thirty-three Coat of Arms joining the Lions of the Rock, and now you hope that your future Vassals will appreciate the results of your work.