[THIRD’S PERSON POV]
Six full years had passed by since the very first visit of the royal family to the vast territory of Harrenhal, and a tremendous amount of change had occurred during that long span of time.
Starting with the royal family itself, they began to visit the ancient castle every single year.
Queen Alysanne stayed incredibly true to her promised words, as she chose to give birth in Harrenhal for every single child she had carried since that day.
Princess Maegelle and Prince Vaegon had been safely delivered inside one of the refurbished chambers of Harrenhal.
Both of the royal children were born at the absolute pinnacle of perfect health for a babe.
This miraculous effect was not just completely exclusive to the royal family.
Now, the royal retinue would once again travel down the Kingsroad to Harrenhal, as Queen Alysanne was currently carrying another child in her womb.
The massive castle of Harrenhal had also changed drastically over the past six years.
Princess Rhaena had launched numerous lucrative business ventures and established a highly profitable partnership with the royal crown.
Over the years, this brilliant economic strategy had brought immense riches to House Towers.
The newfound wealth allowed them to comfortably afford to hire thousands of loyal servants and skilled guardsmen.
Coupled with the miraculous agricultural effects that the Essence of the Healer had passively brought across the fertile territories, House Towers had quickly become one of the most prominent providers of fresh food across the entire Riverlands and the Crownlands.
Princess Rhaena had been able to accomplish this massive economic feat by strictly partnering with wealthy merchants who could swiftly transport her harvested products to other distant lands.
Princess Rhaena always demanded exactly five and eighty percent of the total profits for every single merchant venture, a steep but entirely fair price considering she was the one solely providing the high-quality goods and the protective escorts.
With the boundless newfound wealth of House Towers secured tightly under the regency of Princess Rhaena, she began to heavily increase the number of household servants employed within the castle walls.
She also massively expanded their private army of guardsmen.
She had successfully managed to hire an elite force of a thousand heavily armed guards specifically for the protection of the castle itself, while actively employing another full thousand guards simply to keep the absolute peace down below in the bustling streets of Harrentown.
Speaking of Harrentown, the permanent populace of this booming settlement had grown exponentially during that exact same period.
The incredibly low price of fresh goods and the constant availability of steady work for the common people had made the town a prime target for mass migration.
This was especially true for the smallfolk and the elderly populations coming down from the freezing Northern lands, as they desperately did not want to become a terrible winter burden for their struggling families.
Exactly what awaited these weary Northern travelers in Harrentown were endless acres of fertile lands that desperately needed tilling.
Those hardworking farmers could easily earn up to one solid golden dragon coin per moon.
This generous wage was considered an absolute fortune for a commoner, while the local price of basic goods remained exceedingly low.
This perfect economic balance successfully allowed more of the smallfolk to actually save their own hard-earned coins for the future.
Due to this boundless generosity, House Towers was extremely beloved by the smallfolk.
The people were especially devoted to young Aelor Towers.
It had quickly been established and widely popularized and accepted among the cheering crowds that the young lord was a living incarnation of a divine god.
However, exactly which specific god or religious belief he represented was always left open for a passionate debate in the local taverns. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The only actual reason why there was no bloody holy war breaking out between the followers of the Faith of the Seven and the worshippers of the Old Gods was due to a strict royal decree issued by Princess Rhaena.
She officially declared that any religion was completely free to be preached within their prosperous territory.
However, she also made a fierce promise.
If a violent fight were to ever break out between the two competing religions, Princess Rhaena herself would permanently banish all the guilty parties from their lands.
This severe punishment would completely deprive the violent zealots of the miraculous agricultural benefits, perfect health, and endless wealth that Harrenhal and Harrentown currently provided.
This terrifying threat of exile proved to be incredibly effective, and it successfully forced the two religious sides to maintain a perfectly calm and completely peaceful coexistence.
[THIRD’S PERSON POV]
Now, in the dusty training yards of Harrenhal, was an incredibly tall child.
If a stranger did not know him personally, they would easily think that the towering boy had already seen his tenth name day, or perhaps even his eleventh.
However, this tall and muscular child was actually Prince Aelor, who was currently only six years of age.
He was fiercely sparring against Rysio Relfo, a legendary warrior who was once the First Sword of Braavos.
Rysio was an elderly man who had faithfully served the Sealord of Braavos for more than a decade and a half before finally resigning honorably from his prestigious post.
The old master was specifically recruited and heavily paid to be the Master of Arms for House Towers.
He had been found and brought across the Narrow Sea by a stern Northman named Jory Cassel.
Jory was one of the many resilient Northerners who had migrated to Harrentown seeking a better life, and he had quickly proven his immense worth, rising to become the loyal captain of the guards for the household.
“Move your heavy feet quickly, young lord. You absolutely need to flow much more like running water,” Rysio stated strictly to Prince Aelor.
Rysio blocked the heavy, incoming wooden sword strike from Aelor with absolute ease.
The old man then immediately countered, swinging a swift strike aimed directly at the back of Aelor’s knee.
The painful blow made the sturdy stance of the young boy falter for just a brief fraction of a moment, but that tiny mistake was more than enough for Rysio to bring his dull wooden blade up and rest it perfectly against the pale neck of his student.
“Wonderful focus today, young lord. It will not be very long before you become just as fast and endlessly nimble as me, but you will be doing so while carrying the immense size and raw strength of a giant. Perhaps you could become a fierce mountain that rides upon dragons,” Rysio praised Aelor warmly.
“You are just saying that flattering nonsense because you are being paid by my mother,” Aelor answered the old master.
Rysio just smiled widely.
“Well, are you not a brilliantly smart boy, young lord?” Rysio chuckled in response.
Aelor and Rysio quickly stepped back and reset their fighting stances.
They instantly began another brutal round of sparring.
Rysio did not even consider letting the young boy rest to catch his breath.
The old master knew perfectly well just how incredibly monstrous the physical stamina of the young lord truly was.
Rysio had once made Aelor chase wild chickens around the courtyard for agility training, a grueling task that Aelor did continuously for more than three solid hours before he finally caught a single one without breaking a sweat.
While they were intensely sparring in the dirt, Princess Rhaena arrived on the high stone terrace that directly oversaw the bustling training yard.
She was closely followed by her personal guards.
She was immediately approached by Jory Cassel. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Princess Rhaena absolutely loved to hear the daily progress of her growing son.
She had made this observation a daily habit ever since she had officially allowed Aelor to begin his rigorous martial training at the ripe age of five.
“How is he doing today, Jory? Is he finally giving Rysio some real trouble?” Princess Rhaena asked with a proud smile.
She watched closely as her son took a harsh hit to the back of his head, but the boy stubbornly ignored the stinging pain and was able to swiftly counter, landing a solid hit against the torso of the former First Sword.
“Lord Aelor is making exceptionally steady progress, Princess. He has also been successfully hitting Rysio much more frequently today, showing a massive improvement in his striking accuracy and his physical control. It will definitely not take very long before the young lord is fully ready to fight in the royal tourneys,” Jory reported to his lady with utmost respect.
The gruff Northman was extremely loyal to Princess Rhaena and House Towers.
This deep loyalty stemmed entirely from the fact that his own northern family had been able to easily survive the threat of winter starvation solely due to the generous chance that Princess Rhaena had provided for them in her lands.
“That is very good to hear. Now, how exactly is the progress of raising our own City Watch to a full two thousand men? Are there any hidden problems I should know about?” Princess Rhaena asked.
She smoothly turned their serious conversation to another major topic that Jory was directly handling.
The active recruitment of the new City Watch of Harrentown was currently underway, as the rapidly growing populace of the sprawling town made Rhaena heavily worry for the future safety of her profitable realm.
“The martial training of all the newly hired men is progressing without a single problem, Princess. Once they are properly tested and formally deemed worthy of the badge, we can integrate them into the four guard stations equally across the town,” Jory answered with absolute confidence in his harsh training methods.
“Great. Please see to it personally. I want the entire watch to be perfectly ready and fully operational before the royal family arrives to deliver the next child for my dear sister,” Princess Rhaena commanded Jory.
The loyal northern captain simply nodded in complete agreement and bowed deeply to his lady.
“It will absolutely be done, Your Grace,” Jory promised.
His firm assurance completely satisfied Princess Rhaena.
She then finally turned away from the lively scene of her son sparring, as she still had a tremendous amount of political things to actively prepare for the upcoming royal visit.
As she walked gracefully through the grand hallways of Harrenhal, the many physical changes that she had personally made became highly visible.
With her newly found wealth, Princess Rhaena had begun to lavishly decorate the grim castle.
She had also officially hired a master architect and a skilled surveyor to begin thoroughly planning the massive renovation of the ruined towers of Harrenhal.
Rhaena was firmly planning to begin completely rebuilding Harrenhal on the very day that Aelor finally rode upon the back of his massive dragon.
He had officially named the great beast Ancalagon, which brought a lot of deep confusion to Rhaena.
She certainly did not recognize the ancient-sounding name from any Valyrian histories, but she wisely chose not to interfere with the magical bond between a rider and his mount.
Speaking of Ancalagon, the deafening roar of the massive beast was suddenly heard echoing through the clouds.
The huge black dragon had just now come back from a successful hunt.
The shadow of the dragon covered the courtyard as he descended, effortlessly carrying a fully grown cow securely within his massive jaws.
The sheer abundance of large wildlife animals freely roaming across their lush territory was extremely prevalent.
Because of this magical bounty, neither Dreamfyre nor Ancalagon ever needed to be artificially fed by the livestock keepers.
The two dragons would simply fly out and easily hunt for their own plentiful food among the sprawling trees of the ancient Godswood of Harrenhal.