Chapter Three
….
"Bring that stone over there, and find me that carpenter from before!" Delianah commands to the foreman who bows his head repeatedly before running off to follow her order.
It had been six months, six months ever since her rather large amount of payment from the Lord of Casterly Rock. Part of her of course had expected that the Lannister Lord might back out of the deal and instead send assassins or an army to reclaim what is his. She had heard and read enough about Tywin Lannister to know the man's reputation and brutality on those that he felt had slighted him. Two million five hundred thousand gold dragons after all was no small sum. In her state as a six year old, her magic was not yet strong enough to sustain heavy usage in the event that the Old Lion sent an army. So she did some countermeasures of her own just in case to avoid the eventual fate of poor Rhaenys Targaryen who was stabbed a hundred times by Armory Lorch. She sent missives and messages to every surrounding House about the fact that she found Brightroar buried at the waters of the Green Isle.
That was an out and out lie of course. She personally had no idea where Brightroar came from, only the fact that it was encased in cold magma and she had spent nearly an entire night chipping away the hardened covering with Reductos before it was presentable again.
Color her surprised that the reply of the Lord of the Rock came not two days ago. Nearly a small army of Lannister Red Cloaks with Tywin's brother, Kevan Lannister entered Harrenhal's ruined courtyard sending the few terrified smallfolk that call Harrenhal home skittering to the countryside in fear. With them however is three wagons full of gold dragons and other expensive items that can be translated to the promised amount. While part of her was relieved that the Old Lion sent the money instead of an execution squad, she did not however expect the rather large bonus of another five hundred thousand dragons from the Old Lion. As Lord Kevan Lannister so aptly stated:
"We Lannisters pay our debts and giving to us Brightroar and not simply any Valyrian Steel Sword owed our House to you a lot. Also my brother wanted to extend this gift as a courtesy that in the event you luck out on any more Valyrian made weapons and stuff, he would be willing to purchase it,"
Suffice it to say that she gained respect for the Old Lion. Yes, he might be manipulative, cunning and an all around evil bastard when it came into dealing with his enemies, but he did honor his debts. As far as Delianah is concerned, that only made him human. It was what any human might do also if given power to fight against those he recognized as enemies.
The Old Lion plays the game of life well and he plays to win. Delianah can respect that for she also plans to play the same way.
Still with the money she gained, she had every excuse now to create her own gold through Transmutation and no one would be the wiser about how she got her money. It would be hard to argue the investment returns of a woman who just got three million gold dragons after all.
Now one might ask as to why she simply didn't create a Philosopher's stone to make her own gold. The answer was simple. It takes an absurd amount of time (three years to be exact) to bind the spirits that would be used as fuel in the creation of a Philosopher's stone. There were equations and glyphs that needed to be followed during the continuing spell binding and fueling that must be done continuously and meticulously. Any mistake on her part during the process would result to a mushroom cloud explosion that would flatten everything around Harrenhal in a twenty kilometer radius. There's a good reason why anyone other than the mad genius, Nicholas Flamel had attempted creating one. He, Harry the Great also had one but not after nuking himself three times on three different islands of the Pacific. Mind you, it attracted enough attention that the eye of every world power navy was aimed there.
Thus transmutation is the key…. for now. Why bother exploding yourself up so soon when it is a simple flick of the wrist and a screaming poor sod of a soul is consumed to transform a pile of broken rocks into gold? Harrenhal fortunately has a lot of rocks simply littering and many of them are larger than her. Simple Reductos tend to break them up nicely and voilah, gold.
Back to the present though, it never surprises Delianah how amiable and obedient the smallfolk of this world are compared to the sheeple back home. Here if a person of power commands them to jump, their answer would be "how high?" instead of the usual "Why should I?" back home. Frankly for Delianah it is a bit refreshing to be obeyed without grumbling.
Thus the next facets of her step to being the Great again are taken. One might have expected that she might follow the usual tradition of those having the luck of inheriting fertile lands from their ancestors. Deliahan however isn't like anyone. No, she is Harry the Great and where everyone sees in one direction, he/she will take the road that no one sees or expects.
…
Quinn is a simple young man and he lives a simple life as his father, and his father before him. Their family is farmers throughout the generations. They live and serve whoever is the Lord or Lady of Harrenhal tilling their fields and giving the majority of it to the castle while taking a tithe for themselves to live by. He has seven brothers and two sisters. Together they work one of the largest fields near the castle proper while being protected by the men-at-arms there against any bandits and raiders. In a way Quinn knows that his family is one of the lucky ones. Lady Sheila Whent is a gracious lady and tend to leave the small folk on their own devices as long as they don't cause any trouble. Not many lords are like that who usually takes pleasure of making the life of their small folk hard.
So when the new Lady of Harrenhal is announced, you can say Quinn is a bit worried. Change of the seat of power always results to something bad. Still, he can do nothing. He is part of the small folk of Harrenhal and his place to serve his lord or in this case lady. Like everyone else, they know who Lady Delianah Tully is though. The beautiful bastard daughter of Lord Hoster Tully who is said to be a genius and even went to the Citadel to learn the secrets of the Maesters, beating many of them in terms of brilliance. She also is the interim Paramount of the Riverlands for a time and word among the grapevine is many of the Lords prefer having her around rather than Lord Edmure Tully.
Still, she is a woman and as far as Quinn is concerned, it is unnatural for a woman to be trying her hand on the things meant for men. Women are supposed to be just good mothers and housewives, submitting to the will of their husbands. Just like her mother who raised and cared for all of them.
Barely a few weeks after Lady Tully came to power though, the thing that Quinn dreaded started, change. She introduced to them new plants and new tools that they would use for planting. She introduced to them the use of the plow, something called irrigation where one must build small waterways on your fields so that water might flow from the nearby river so that there won't be any need anymore to carry buckets full of water when irrigating the field.
It all made Quinn's head spin alongside many of the head farmers attending. The guards beside Lady Tully are simply nodding their heads to her words but he gets a sneaking suspicion that they are simply putting an act judging by their cross-eyed looks. They are as confused as he is.
It is the new seeds though that made Quinn apprehensive. Many of the farmers are confused as she ordered them period to plant these new seeds instead of the usual wheat, rye and barley that are the main staple food for Westeros. These seeds are nothing they have ever seen before and when they started asking, she explained to them that they are something called "spices" something that will be extremely useful for flavoring and preserving food. Quinn of course mentally frowned at that. He has never heard of a plant preserving or giving another food taste before. She also introduced to them something called "rice" a new kind of plant that would be a substitute for their usual fare as farmers.
Of course being she, the lady of Harrenhal, they cannot simply say their worries and protests. Besides it is the lords' and ladies' prerogative to do the thinking and the small folk simply do the working. They would have followed anyways. They earn their living after all for their produce rather than their opinion.
So when the Lady Tully declared that they keep majority of their produce and only give a tithe to the castle as tax, it caught everyone off guard. Even with Lady Whent's kindness, life as a small folk is hard. With majority of your goods donated to the castle and only a tithe remaining for yourself, it is extremely hard to make do and at the same time pay the tax demanded by the Lord of the Riverlands. Many times when harvest is poor, Quinn would be hungry with his family. The Lords after all do not lessen the demand despite the lean harvest. It is how things are in Westeros.
Now here's the new lady declaring to do the exact opposite. She asks only for a percentage of their harvest but gently remninding them that they pay their usual tax percentage according to the success of their harvest. She also declare that she would be the one to buy their goods once harvest season come. Quinn almost cried at that. No more long journeys to large markets where your goods might spoil, you might get raided by bandits and killed or worse, some uppity noble might steal your stock while passing by and leave you with nothing.
Thus of course, many of them left that day in a favorably jolly and hopeful mood despite the new plants they are ordered to plant. It is not everyday after all that you are told that your entire way of life has been turned upside down.
Quinn just hopes that all these new changes that the Lady Tully is implementing about spices, rice, tools and new market system not backfire on her badly. He would hate to see the noble that just freed him from the daily dose of hunger be replaced by someone worse.
A year later, Quinn Basil would be raising his crystal made glass filled with wine in blessing to Delianah Tully's name every time. He's rich after all.
…
"…..and be careful with that stone. Make sure you wipe the cement well before placing it above the other," Delianah orders watching the nervous workers gingerly apply the wet cement between the bricks before gluing them with the next.
So far she had multiple projects running together. Of course first and foremost of those is her investment about the new crop that she plans to exchange for the usual barley and wheat grown by the Westerosi. Why bother after all growing crops that have a high probability of competition with the Reach and the rest of the Riverlords when she can grow crops that no one in Westeros have any idea would turn their world upside down. Spices after all are excellent food preservatives and extremely important in food cooking (something that this hovel world sucks about). She timed her introduction of spices to the farmers of course perfectly just in time for the Harvest Festival of Riverrun when she can make her Grand Reveal. Of course for now it is her secret.
She knows of course that it would be a great success. The things she's planting, Chive, Thyme, Cumin, Mint, Bay Leaf, Turmeric, Basil, Coriander, Parsley and Saaffron continues to be of great demand even in the Modern Age. Earth history had shown that during the introduction of spices to the Europeans from the East, their worth is weight in gold. That's the reason why she "offered" to buy all the produce from her farmers. This way she would monopolize the trade and control the prices. She's not planning for any thieving lord getting her goodies and dividing competition, no sir.
Her new implementation of the double farm system across the farmlands of Harrenhal for spice and rice production is fueled by two things. One, of course for market of spice; two, rice is extremely durable and does not spoil if kept well in a dry place. It would serve as a replacement for the rather plain barley and wheat which is the staple food of the land. It can be stockpiled in great amounts and can be used as a pair for any sort of meat. It would also go very well in partnership with the spice presentation he will do for the harvest feast.
Other than the field of agriculture, Delianah also expands in the field of construction and mining. Years of untapped resources(thanks to lack of knowledge) of the empty lands of Harrenhal have made the land extremely fertile in terms of soil resources. It is not much effort in her part to introduce Cement to the builders, the Hammer and Stone Guild she hired from Braavos to slowly redesign and repair Harrenhal . The Guild is well-known for keeping their mouth shut when it comes to their employers and Delianah is hell-bent on keeping the ingredients for making cement or "liquid rock" as the Braavosi and the rest of the Small Folk workers started to call it. Of course no questions are asked about how she got the idea for it. She was after all, a proven genius already. Most credited this invention of hers as something that her great intellect comes up about out of nowhere. She plans on selling this liquid rock later at absurdly high price once she fully opens to the world.
Still despite her start up project on making Harrenhal livable (this time with plumbing and the correct restroom qualities for good measure. No more privy for her sir!), it would take at least a couple of years before it is done. She had to enchant the stones beforehand to be more lightweight else it would take a lifetime to finish.
While the castle is still ongoing, Delianah moves on however to her last target and probably the most important currently.
The spice harvest will generate great dividends, however its success would not be shown till after the Harvest Feast. Even then, the money she needs for the rest of her projects to come into fruition needs to be more, more enough to cover the fact that she can turn stone to gold. That's why she needs another set of income. One precious enough that will attract enough attention and reasoning of Harrenhal's sudden booming wealth.
Usage of point me and sensing spells about any possibility of gems, silver or gold within the territory of Harrenhal has come out empty. It's not actually surprising. Harrenhal territory is composed of plains, large tracts of forests and swamps. Its geography is not simply suited for mining but agriculture. That does not stop Delianah though. As said before, she loves to be unconventional when it comes to such things.
Proper usage of application of Arithmancy and Transmutation at a hill not far from Harrenhal created basically what is a deep cave full of crystal diamonds. Unlike the regular diamond though, it is multi-colored in color and reflects light like a thousand rainbows under the sun. At night it would shine like a blue lantern as long as it is under the moon. It would be her unique offer to the Westerosi and be one of the pillars of the foundation of her wealth and prosperity. She plans to call it Delianite in honor of hers truly (there is a good reason why naming things tend to be Hermione's field since Harry, great or not suck at it).
She mentally cackles of course. It is the beauty of magic fooling Muggles all the time. As far as Delianah is concerned, there is nothing wrong with cheating, it is only wrong when you get caught doing it. Life is not sunshine and roses and as far as Delianah/ Harry is concerned. Long and bitter experience had taught him that during his past life as an Auror and part time Dark Lord cleaning volunteer. If the board is stacked against you and you find yourself push to the side, he learned that it is always better to rearrange the board instead of trying to find your way through it.
"I'll take my leave now master builder," Delianah nods to the foreman in charge who bows once more to her before leaving.
Right now, the design for the upcoming soon-to-be castle of Harrenhal is yet non-existent. The builders are simply repairing the foundation which is the most important part. The castle is humongous and even the work in five months' time even with the help of secret magic can only afford the almost finishing of the foundation simply. Personally, Delianah is still wondering what type of castle will she design for the new Harrenhal. She can either go full fantasy on it or simply follow the old designs of humanity when building one. Despite all his experiences after all, his knowledge of castles is simply non-existent. Maybe it's time to raid the Citadel again for books about castles. The last thing she wants is to be squashed flat like a Pinata by a broken wall due to bad design.
Prioritites first though, Delianah needs to prepare for the Harvest Feast. It is four months from now and the enchanted soil of Harrenhal (which costs her twenty ghosts during the ritual of blessed life) would then be ready for the first spice and rice harvest for presentation.
She frowns though as she looks at the mirror. She also needs to be ready for the presentation and she can't do that looking like a cute unassuming child of six. No, if she needs to be ready for the lords, she needs to look at least a little mature for her age that the Lords will not coddle her and disregard her before she can speak. It would be a balance of looking a bit like her age but be mature and awesome at the same time permanently. She would be a bombshell in the future years (which she looks forward to, probably with a large mirror in front of her), but what she needs is to look mature and ready in the next four months. Being Harry the Great before deserved no less. Delianah fortunately has the answer for that and one that is found aplenty on the magically saturated shorelines of the Green Isle.
What Delianah needs now is potions.
…..
Author's Note: So that's Chapter Three. I'm not rushing the story cause I love the world building. Also I'm stuck as to the Harrenhal issue. What type of Castle would be best for it? The first thing that came to my mind is Minas Tirith but…..really? Second is Cair Paravel but I forgot it's not beside the sea. It sucks if it would still be Harrenhal design since Harry would never approve that it would not be on her image.
So guys ideas please. Grand but powerful.