Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories you can read advanced chapters in my patreon page: patreon.com/Samael61
Her Eternal Excellency, a Genshin Impact and ASOIAF crossover, Raiden Ei Reborn as Argella Durrandon, is 15 chapters ahead
DCU:Blacklist, a Raymond Reddington inspired OC SI using his knowledge for his own advantage, as well as the rest of the world, is 15 chapters ahead,
Geek's Guide to Thriving in a Low End Fantasy World, a Robert Baratheon OC SI in an AU, is 15 chapters ahead,
Commander Shepard, The Greatest to Ever Live, a Mass Effect story where Shepard is greater than ever, is 15 chapters ahead,
Loki: The God of Magic , an OC-SI into Loki who is not aware of the MCU, is 4 chapters ahead.
By supporting me, you can read advanced and special chapters, as well as vote on how you want the fanfiction to proceed.
Note: Apple store payments will be refunded, because of the company's 75 day hold policy.
—
Braavos
Docks
"Do visit again, my friend; I am sure we both can stand to profit from further cooperation." Ferrego shook Robert's hand as the dragonrider was getting ready to leave, having concluded their talks.
"I'll be sure to, but you know how busy our jobs are. Stay well." Robert gave his good wishes and mounted Obelisk; the ships were already sailing.
They would head to King's Landing first to sell their wares and then make it to Asgard to receive the first shipment of wood from White Harbour.
Work on the prototype for the newly dubbed Merchant Class ships had already begun a month ago and would take around three months by the estimates.
By this time next year they hopefully would start constructing about a hundred ships per year with the amount of gold and time he was going to invest in it. It was a stretch, but he was going to build bigger shipyards than ever seen in this world and basically build a school to train more shipwrights.
Expensive, but invaluable in the long run.
The winds were favorable to the ships in their voyage back to Westeros.
—
King's Landing
Red Keep
"She confronted Robert, and none of you thought to do something about it?" King Rhaegar Targaryen questioned the Small Council and the King's Guard he had left behind, as well as his family.
He had left for Summerhall shortly after Robert's letter arrived to see if any new insights could be gained from the diary, as the vagueness of the writings had been driving him up the walls, and he wanted to clear his mind to not cause any problems during the triple wedding they would be having.
He did not find anything new, but the journey had cleared his mind, but now he had to deal with his wife's impulsiveness.
They were all silent, avoiding eye contact with him, besides his brothers.
"We did counsel her to not do it, but your wife isn't one to back down when she sets her mind on something." Aegon tried to placate his elder brother. They had truly tried, but "she-wolf" wasn't exactly the compliment most people thought it was.
"Everyone but my wife out now." he ordered, looking at his wife, who held a defiant look in her eyes.
They were quick to leave to avoid their king's ire.
"What were you thinking, Lyanna? Better yet, were you even thinking?" Rhaegar scolded his wife, and for all that she had been educated by his mother, the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms still acted like a child sometimes.
"He threatened you, and you did nothing." She retorted back, icy cold to his scorching fire.
"I did nothing because he has three dragons, Lyanna, in case you forgot. He can just burn down the Red Keep, and we would be powerless to stop it. So yes, we will do our best to avoid any confrontation with him until we are in a situation to deal with his dragons." The irony of what he just said wasn't lost on Rhaegar.
They, the House of the Dragon, were preparing defenses against the dragons.
Their ancestors must be rolling in their graves.
"You don't have to like it, my love, but you have to accept it." Rhaegar tried to make her understand with a gentle tone, as she would get more confrontational if they continued to bicker.
"Promise me you won't do something like this again." He knew how effective his melancholic smile was on her and didn't hesitate to use it.
"I…" Lyanna hesitated, not knowing if she could keep it.
"Please?"
"Fine. I won't confront him again." She caved in, incapable of resisting him.
"Thank you, my dear."
—
Docks
A Week Later
Davos had already begun to offload the wares and receive payments. His smuggling contacts, merchants mostly, were lining up to buy silk, spices, and accessories, while knights from all over the Seven Kingdoms who were visiting the city were interested in armor and weapons.
It felt good to actually trade without having to look over his shoulder every time to watch out for the Gold Cloaks.
Lord Robert had already returned to Asgard, and they would join him as soon as they sold the goods and loaded up with construction material. He also arranged for passages of the crews they temporarily hired at Braavos in addition to their pay as it was discussed and was looking to hire new crews to man the four other ships.
Luckily, in a city of half a million people, finding crews out of work was easy; ensuring they were good sailors, less so, but not impossible.
He would never imagine himself in a position like this, where crates of gold and silver poured into the ships under his command, with him earning one-tenth of the coin brought by the wares shipped by Black Betha.
A single trade voyage and he had more gold than he earned in a year as a smuggler. Not to mention Black Betha was repaired free of charge at the docks of Asgard, reducing the amount he had to spend.
But perhaps the most important part was that his wife and children wouldn't have to worry about him falling afoul of the law and ending up in a cell, or worse.
Fortune had come knocking on his door, and Davos never felt more grateful for it.
—
Asgard
"My lord." Tyrion greeted him as he landed on the solid ground after a while, stretching his leg to get the blood circulation going.
They never mentioned in the books how numb your legs could become while riding a dragon.
"Tyrion, how are you doing?" Robert could see the bags under his mismatched eyes.
"Well enough, my lord. You'll be happy to know there was nothing out of the ordinary to report."
"Where is my grandmother?"
"She left for Storm's End yesterday, my lord, to assist in preparations for the marriages of King Rhaegar, Prince Aegon, and Princess Shaena." Robert raised an eyebrow at this.
His grandmother is going to King's Landing to attend their wedding?
Weird.
"Ah well. How is Tysha? Still bored?"
"Yes, my lord, but she makes do. I have been teaching her how to read, and she has been taken with it." Tyrion was happy to have a wife who shared his passion for reading, even if she was still learning.
"You know, I just happen to have a new business idea and require a trustworthy person."
"Perhaps we should discuss it inside then?"
—
Inside his temporary house and workplace, Robert finally sat down and put his feet up. He had changed out of his armor, cleaned himself up, and finally could relax.
After finishing his business, of course.
"So what groundbreaking business idea do you have, my lord?" Tyrion asked, putting down the report papers he had.
Robert held out the sack he had brought and pulled out a cocoa pod.
"This is a cocoa pod. Eaten by itself, it is bitter, but if it is processed correctly and mixed with sugar and milk, you have a sweet unlike any this world has ever seen. One that we can sell to the nobility at exorbitant prices, claiming it is very expensive and hard to produce."
"Is it, my lord?" Tyrion asked, wondering if he was actually going to scam the highborn.
"Maybe the sugar part, but the rest? Not at all, hence the need for a trustworthy person to oversee it."
"And since Tysha is usually bored at home and we are both grateful to you, you want her to take part in it to help you rob the wealthy?" The Dwarf of Asgard asked with a tone one might consider as offended.
"Exactly."
"When do we begin?"
—
Tysha was quick to agree, especially since the offer came from Robert, and they began to plan.
A warehouse had been cleaned after a second floor was built to let the cocoa beans ferment in a clean and dry area and to avoid rodents. Manual grinders had been brought to the first floor along with large ovens outside to roast the beans.
Robert, as the only one with the knowledge of how to make chocolate, basically trained Tysha in it. She was quick-witted and did not take long to get the hang of it, though practice would have to wait until the beans fermented for a week and Davos came with the sugar.
That week was tough for Robert. He didn't really think of chocolate before finding the cocoa pods, but now that he had, after not eating any for more than six years, he was craving it.
The smell of fermented cocoa beans was strong, to say the least, enough to give Tysha doubts about whether it would work. They had roasted them in the ovens after that and separated the shells.
Grinding it up with some vegetable oil and sugar, they let them harden in the basement in steel molds.
So here they were, as Tysha carefully peeled off the chocolate from the mold. They had buttered it so it wouldn't stick, and now was the moment of truth.
She cut the bar into five pieces and served it on a platter.
They all examined the brown pieces for a while before Robert took a piece and popped it into his mouth, slowly chewing and enjoying the taste.
Seeing how he had closed his eyes to fully immerse himself, the others hesitantly took their pieces too.
They all had their own way of expressing their emotions, but Robert could confidently say they enjoyed it.
"I had my doubts, especially with how it smelled after fermenting, but I'll admit we can gouge the nobility with this." Tyrion admitted.
Nobles gouging each other for coin was nothing new; gods knew Reach did it when winter was approaching if they were left unchecked, and Tyrion was sure they could succeed.
"And we are going to. We just need to promote it as a sign of wealth and prestige, and they would line up with their coffers open just to earn the right to boast." Robert already had an idea how to do that.
"We need a place where the nobles will gather and make chocolate known to as many of them as possible." Davos offered, a bit disappointed they didn't have more. He was sure Marya and the children would love it.
"And it just so happens the Targaryens are getting married, and most of the realm will be there." Sandor joined in, grinning. He might not have the interest in business as they did, but he still could see the opportunity.
"Exactly. Now Tyrion and Tysha, find workers, make sure they won't talk about this business, and start making chocolate. The ceremony is in a week, and we need to hurry." They already had some made, but more would be needed to send to the wedding.
The Targaryens were proving to be useful to Robert again.
—
After the chocolate bars were ready, Robert had taken it upon himself to go and deliver them to his friends and family in King's Landing. By friends, he meant the Stormlords and Arryn, as other bridges were burnt.
Dressed in his black and gold outfit, he landed in the courtyard at noon on the wedding day, as the feast was going full speed.
Robert headed inside, greeting the lords he was familiar with on the way, and stood before the door to the Great Hall. The guards, upon seeing him unarmed and carrying gifts, let him in.
"Lord Robert Baratheon, Lord of Asgard" The court herald called out loudly upon seeing him.
Cheers and merriment slowly died as people expected a commotion. Robert was going to have to disappoint them this time, but what can you do?
"Get the hell out of here if you are going to cause trouble." His least favorite Targaryen, Daeron, rose from his chair, with fire in his eyes.
"Trouble? I am hurt, cousin. Here I went into the trouble of inventing a new dessert as a gift to the couples, but you are accusing me of foul play." Robert gently shook one of the chocolate boxes he was holding to emphasize his point.
"How generous of you, my lord, but we already had dessert." Rhaegar said, a half-eaten apple pie in front of him.
"Really? Well then, I'll just pass these along and be on my way before you even know it." Robert smiled cheerfully, heading to where his family was seated.
"Here, Grandmother, I believe you will like this." He passed a box to her and to each member of his remaining family, hugging and making small talk all the while.
"We can talk later; I still need to pass the remaining boxes." This time he headed to where the Arryn's, including Denys and his family, were to spread his gift.
"You brute, you couldn't even send a letter to me?" Denys, Darling of the Vale, said, getting up to hug him. Light brown hair, brown eyes, a square face, and a fair complexion did make him rather handsome to ladies everywhere.
"Why didn't you come yourself? Not like you are busy." He rebuked, gathering him in a bone-crushing hug.
"So you decided to be a chef now?" He asked as Robert let him go.
"I am a man of many talents, Denys." he joked, before hugging Jon and Elbert and giving the future Lady Arryn a kiss on the knuckles.
"Anyway, I don't want to hold up the wedding too much. Drop by Asgard if you want to talk." He patted the old man and the man he saw as another brother on the back.
A couple more boxes were passed to the Stormlords before he spotted Elia and Baelor and approached them, offering greetings and giving out more chocolate.
Elia opened the box immediately, curious as to what he made, before her eyes widened and she shouted.
"You made chocolate?!" She had a sweet tooth before, and the simple desserts of Westeros did not exactly cut it for her.
"Yep."
Elia took a huge bite from the bar with a clear snap and began to chew, and before they knew it, it was gone, and she had her eyes on her husband's box.
"Are you going to eat that?" She asked, looking as if it was the last drop of water in the world.
Baelor, taken aback by his usually calm and collected wife's actions, opened the box and slowly took a bite. His mouth was overwhelmed with the taste at first, but he got used to the taste very quickly and nodded.
"I must say this is good. Rich, sweet, and smooth, it melts in my mouth."
Elia and Baelor's reactions spurred the rest of them into action, and they slowly bit into the sweet bar. Their reactions were more or less the same.
He passed the remaining couple of boxes to the wealthiest of houses, including the Tyrells, and headed to the exit.
"Anyway, I'll be going now to not disrupt the wedding any longer, but remember, my lords and ladies. You were some of the first people in this whole world to taste such an exquisite and expensive delicacy. If you want to buy, please send your requests to Asgard. A box of it, due to how rare the ingredients are, costs a hundred gold dragons. Oh, and I wish the couples here a good and happy marriage." Robert left, shutting the doors and leaving without explaining himself further.
"Baelor, we are buying at least ten boxes of this every month." Elia turned to her husband, challenging him to say no.
"Yes, my darling." Bealor knew that the key to a happy life was a happy wife.