Storm Kingdom
Shipbreaker Bay
11 BAC
There were many stories about the Shipbreaker Bay, from it being cursed by the gods to the bay being created as a defensive measure by the use of magic.
Ei didn't believe any of them, but the fact was there were a lot of sunken ships in and around the bay.
Ships that would no doubt contain riches.
She dived, cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter in a single stroke, approaching the ships saturating the seabed.
There were a lot.
Ei approached the sunken vessels, swimming slowly this time, and began to inspect the most recent-looking one.
She entered through the hole in the ship's hull and swam through the entire ship but found nothing worthy of note besides some of the human remains stuck on the ship.
The Electro Archon granted them one last mercy and incinerated their remains with a burst of elemental energy rather than let them rot.
She visited the next vessel and had some luck there, having found a chest full of gold. She swam up and tossed the chest to the shore before diving again.
By the time she decided to end this little treasure hunt, Ei had incinerated the remains of over two dozen people and had more than enough wealth to build the Iron Works.
She decided to surprise Argilac by discreetly leaving half of the gold inside the treasury.
I was meditating when Bessie came in excitedly.
"Princess, you must come quickly; the King is calling for you!" She said with a spring in her step.
The Narukami Ogosho opened her eyes and followed the excited maid with a "Very well."
"See? Even the gods are with her!" Argilac said, taking a handful of gold from the sea-smelling chest and dropping them back.
"Your Grace, first those mysterious trees, then chests full of gold appearing in the treasury? The gods are never this direct; please think about this again," the king's godfather advised, actually worried about the whole thing unlike Argilac.
"Bah, enough with those damn trees, old man; we are using this gold, and that's that." Argilac dismissed his godfather's advice again. He had seen those trees, and upon learning what happened to the poor sod who was ordered to cut them down, he ordered the trees to be left alone.
In truth, they had taken him to the day of his daughter's birth, and whether a blessing or a curse, Argilac thought it best to leave them alone.
She would have agreed with her grandfather if it wasn't for the fact she was the one responsible for both events.
"Father, what happened?" Ei asked, playing the ignorant.
"You won't believe this, Argella, but chests full of gold and other valuables appeared in the treasury! There is more than enough to build your Iron Works!" Argilac said, his jovial tone infectious.
Lord Lucan wanted to appeal to the Princess, hoping she would make her father see reason, but trying to do it in front of him would be received badly by the man.
"Fascinating, I will start the work immediately then." Ei simply said she didn't feel like pretending.
—
Her grandfather found her after the court was dismissed.
"Princess, do you not find it strange, all these random events happening right under our noses?" the old man asked, hoping she could advise her father to be more cautious.
"I do actually; however, unless we can find a culprit with ill intent, there is nothing left for us to do," said the culprit.
They continued to talk, with him expressing his interest in the Iron Works, wondering if one could be built for his lands too.
—
Orders for materials and workers were sent to Weeping Town, while Ei headed there with a procession to personally oversee the work. There were complaints against sending a nine-year-old girl there for something so important, no matter how intelligent she was, but as she was the only one with a complete understanding of the plans for building the Iron Works, Argilac agreed to send her, with great reluctance.
This society's beliefs on women were becoming more annoying to Ei as she grew. She knew most had complained solely for the fact that she was a woman and thought she wouldn't be able to handle something so important.
She was beginning to rethink her soft approach towards a fundamental change in this land's culture.
The construction had begun with the waterwheel near one of the rivers flowing to Weeping Town.
It was the easy part.
—
Weeping Town
10 BAC
A year had passed, and Ei, for all her immortality and the patience that came with it, was beginning to get irritated.
The construction faced many challenges.
The first one was the storms. Ei did not want to mess with the weather of the Storm Kingdom; after all, nature ran on balance, and if one part was broken, then the others would follow soon.
After the second time a storm damaged the construction site, Ei had enough and dispelled all the storms within the kingdom.
Next was just how slow the shipment of the materials was. The low population density of the kingdom was a problem that affected every part of it. They couldn't call as many levies as the other kingdoms, nor did they have their workforce. As such, materials took time to arrive, and the construction suffered for it.
Buying the materials from Reach was an option, but an extremely expensive and undesirable one.
Which left Ei with no choice but to go and find ways to increase production, from waterwheel-powered saws to buying horses and other beasts of burden to carry the loads, further delaying the work.
She couldn't do anything about the large metal parts necessary for the Iron Works, as Iron Works itself was the solution, so things were still extremely slow on that front.
Perhaps the most annoying thing was the squabbling and disregard for her orders.
House Whitehead, the ruling house of Weeping Town, and its Lord Tommen Whitehead were naturally involved with the construction, and the man was problematic, to say the least.
Constantly cutting her off and questioning her, Ei had almost struck the man down with a lightning bolt, but apparently word made it to Argilac about his conduct, and the man had received a letter.
Ei didn't know its contents, but whatever Argilac told the man had him silent as a whisper.
And just as things were starting to go well, she was recalled to Storm's End to meet a potential betrothal of all things.
She blinked and flat out refused, telling the messenger to go back and inform her father she had no intention to marry.
Naturally, the man panicked, not knowing what to do. He couldn't force her to come, but he had to obey the orders of his king. Seeing no other way, the messenger went back to inform Argilac of her refusal, but Ei had no intention of listening to the Storm King, so she had to stop him from coming and bothering her.
That's why whenever the man attempted to leave the castle, a violent storm appeared out of nowhere, forcing him to turn back. He seems to have gotten the message after the ninth time it happened and had sent a letter, saying she didn't have to return as the talks failed, but even through the letter, Ei could feel the man's displeasure at her open defiance.
Not to mention the assassination attempt on her, though she was the only one aware of it. Someone had poisoned her dinner, and while no one else would have noticed the tasteless and odorless poison, it was a simple matter for Ei due to her divine nature.
She wasn't sure who was responsible, though Dornish were reportedly fans of using such methods. At any rate, it wasn't going to work on her, but that didn't mean she wouldn't find the one responsible.
Eventually.
So here she was, with less than half of the whole project done, directing workers.
This whole experiment about understanding the hardships most mortals faced every day was eye-opening to Ei.
Most lords did not pay proper salaries, but people had no choice but to take up the work to feed themselves and their families. Ei, on the other hand, lacked the desire for wealth, unlike humans, and had no problem paying much better salaries to workers.
Which attracted more workers when the news spread.
But of course it just brought more problems. The smallfolk did not know how to handle all the extra coin they suddenly had and began to develop bad habits. Gambling, drinking, and buying unnecessary luxury items were becoming a problem.
He could have simply banned drinking and gambling, but humanity never did well when they were forbidden from doing something.
That was why she gathered the workers every day before their shift began, teaching them how to spend their earnings wisely in simple terms. Whether they would listen was up to them.
—
"Daughter," Argilac said, voice as frosty as the Northern winds.
"Father," Ei said, not even bothering to turn to face him, still focused on the drawings.
"You defied me, your father, and your king in front of people." Argilac crossed his arms, trying to glare a hole into Ei's head.
"And?" Ei's uncaring tone only made Argilac's fury boil more.
"And? AND?! Do you think this is a joke?! I have let you do as you please for too long; we are going back now, and I will find you a betrothal!" Argilac ranted, about to drag his daughter back to Storm's End.
Ei lowered the papers she was holding and turned to face him. There was nothing threatening in her stance; she was as relaxed as she could be.
No narrowed eyes, no thinned lips, nothing.
Yet Argilac stopped cold, feeling as if he was choking, and sweat began to gather on his forehead.
He looked at his daughter but saw something else. She was still there, but floating above her was the silhouette of a giant maiden dressed in finery the likes of which he had never seen before, holding a sword just as foreign, ready to strike him down.
The Storm King felt as if he was being judged by the divine and was found lacking.
The pressure he felt made him fall to his knees, and he felt weak, like he never had before.
It all disappeared in an instant, like it never was there, leaving Argilac gasping for breath.
"No, we are not doing anything of the sort. If you wish to continue the Durrandon line, feel free to remarry." Ei commented, returning back to her work.
"What? What was that?" Argilac stumbled, rubbing his dry throat.
"What do you mean?" Ei asked, deciding to play the ignorant.
"That thing above you." Argilac stood on unsteady feet, watching her warily.
"Perhaps you are coming down with something? You should go and see the maester." Ei looked up, seeing nothing.
Argilac was sure of what he saw but had no explanation for it.
He left without saying anything, his mind wandering.
—
For the next week Argilac was reluctant to interact with her, which didn't bother her, to be honest.
She had bigger problems.
Iron and coal are two materials necessary for the forges. There was an iron mine near the Bronzegate, which supplied all the iron ore to the kingdom, but there were no coal mines, and the people used the more expensive charcoal, which required cutting down trees and burning them long enough in an oxygen-free environment, compared to coal, which you just had to mine.
Ei had given out orders to the Maester of the Weeping Tower to get in contact with the Maesters of other keeps and castles to see if there were any records of coal discovered in the kingdom. If she was lucky, they could find at least one, and if not, she would have to create something to search and dig for coal throughout the kingdom, which meant more work for her.
For now she had ordered an increase in the charcoal production to stockpile for when the Iron Works was ready.
Which was taking a lot longer than she would have liked, but at least it was steady progress now.
—
Ei had brought the Painted Realm with her to make it easier to transport Kage and the Thunder Dragon.
Switching places with her shadow, Ei snuck out again, just as she had done for many nights, leaving far away to not be seen by anyone, all for the sake of training.
She had no sparring partner, no one to engage in a practical exchange with, and as such was left with training by herself, which made her remember how alone she was in this world.
The Electro Archon missed her friends, both the deceased and the living.