Raymun stared at the floating words.
They remained.
He closed his eyes.
Opened them.
Still there.
“Of course,” he whispered.
Six years in Westeros without magic appearing in his life, and now this.
More text formed.
[STATUS AVAILABLE]
[APPRAISAL AVAILABLE]
[JOURNAL AVAILABLE]
[QUESTS AVAILABLE]
Raymun hesitated.
Status.
The display changed.
RAYMUN
Age: 6
Status: Commoner
Household: Innkeeper Family
Home: The Briar Hearth
Traits:
Diligent
Calm
Gregarious
System Points: 0
Raymun stared at the last line.
“Zero?”
[Correct.]
His eyebrows rose.
“You can hear me?”
No answer.
“Are you intelligent?”
Nothing.
“Why am I here?”
Nothing.
“Why was I reborn?”
Nothing.
Raymun frowned.
“What can you actually do?”
A new message appeared.
[Available functions: Status, Appraisal, Journal, Quests.]
“That’s just the problem rewritten.”
[Correct.]
Raymun stared at it.
Then, despite himself, laughed.
He tested Appraisal first.
His gaze settled on a wooden cup.
[WOODEN CUP]
Condition: Worn
Quality: Common
Ownership: Briar Hearth household Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Confidence: High
Raymun picked it up.
“That’s it?”
Nothing.
He tried the hearth.
[HEARTH]
Stone construction.
Condition: Serviceable.
Minor maintenance required.
Additional information unavailable.
No secret crafting recipe.
No magical upgrade button.
Good.
That was disappointing.
And strangely reassuring.
Then Raymun looked toward Garran, who was counting coins behind the counter.
Appraise.
Information appeared.
GARRAN
Relationship: Father
Occupation: Innkeeper
Health: Generally healthy
Several additional fields simply read:
Insufficient information.
Raymun blinked.
No thoughts.
No secret desires.
No loyalty percentage.
No convenient explanation of everything his father knew.
The System apparently had limits.
Good.
He didn’t particularly want a magical machine telling him whether his parents loved him.
He already knew.
Next came the Journal.
That interested him immediately.
Raymun thought about the Greyjoy Rebellion.
Information organized itself into notes based on what he remembered.
Not objective truth.
His information.
Rumors he’d heard were marked differently from things he’d personally observed.
Raymun’s expression slowly changed.
“Oh.”
This was useful.
Very useful.
Memory had been one of his greatest problems.
He remembered the broad story of A Song of Ice and Fire, but details were already fading.
Now he could organize what remained.
Events.
People.
Prices.
Suppliers.
Promises.
Questions.
He immediately created another section.
BRIAR HEARTH
Then another.
EXPENSES
Then:
SUPPLIERS
Raymun smiled.
Forget dragons.
This alone could save him years of headaches.
Finally, he opened Quests.
Only one appeared.
[HOUSEHOLD QUEST COMPLETED]
SEVENTEEN SACKS
Stabilize Briar Hearth winter stores.
Result: Successful
Reward: 1 System Point
Raymun stared.
A moment later:
System Points: 1
He smiled.
Then waited.
Nothing happened.
“No treasure chest?”
Nothing.
“No legendary sword?”
Nothing.
“No thousand gold dragons?”
Nothing.
Raymun sighed.
“Worth asking.”
From the kitchen came Mara’s voice.
“Raymun!”
The System vanished instantly.
“Yes?”
“Did you finish those tables?”
Raymun looked around.
Three remained dirty.
He glanced toward where the impossible interface had disappeared.
A magical System had awakened.
He possessed abilities no ordinary person in Westeros had.
His entire future might have just changed.
“Raymun!”
“Doing it!”
He grabbed the cloth.
Apparently magical destiny did not excuse him from chores.