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"Leaf, have your people ever made any other kind of fruit before?"
Satisfied with the effect of the ice crystal fruit, Robb turned and asked Leaf with a smile.
"Never. In all the long history of the children of the forest that I know, I have never heard of anyone making any other fruit. Perhaps because... there has also never been a direwolf with magic."
Leaf had also been shocked by the ice crystal fruit. Hearing Robb's question, she immediately shook her head and denied it, then finally looked at Bloodwind beside her.
Robb quite agreed with Leaf's last words. The reason they had accidentally obtained the ice crystal fruit was certainly Bloodwind, who had evolved through the blood pact into an ice direwolf.
He did not continue the topic. Instead, he urged Leaf, "Bloodwind's magic should still hold. Come. Keep making ice crystal fruits."
Hearing this, Leaf showed an expression as if she wanted to speak but hesitated. In the end, she gritted her teeth and began making another ice crystal fruit.
The second time she made an ice crystal fruit, Bloodwind's magic was indeed consumed by two points again.
Robb had already begun calculating in secret. If Bloodwind's magic allowed eleven ice crystal fruits to be made every day during this period, their effect on future battlefields would be enormous.
Robb, already thinking about how to use the ice crystal fruits, did not notice that Leaf's face had turned somewhat pale and that her condition looked poor.
When the third ice crystal fruit was finished, Leaf suddenly collapsed to the ground. Robb and the others heard the sound and immediately stepped forward to check on her.
Leaf's eyes were closed, her face was deathly pale, and even her eyebrows had tiny flecks of white frost hanging from them. White mist kept escaping her mouth, and she curled tightly with both arms wrapped around herself.
"Quickly, carry her beside the fire."
Seeing Leaf's condition, Robb immediately realized she had likely been affected by Bloodwind's magic. He quickly directed Sam and Gendry to carry her to the campfire they had just used to dry the fruit.
Warmed by the fire, wisps of white vapor rose from Leaf's head. Her body stopped curling into a ball and slowly relaxed.
"Mm."
With a soft groan, Leaf slowly opened her eyes. After regaining consciousness, green light flashed through her golden eyes, and she spoke to Robb.
"That wolf's magic is highly aggressive. My magic circulation went wrong just now, and I nearly had my body frozen by it."
"How is your body now? Can you continue making ice crystal fruits?"
Robb did not care whether Bloodwind's magic was aggressive. He cared only whether it would affect production of ice crystal fruits.
"No. I must at least recover until tomorrow before I can continue."
Leaf shook her head directly, indicating that her body could not endure more.
"So you can make only two explosive fruits and three ice crystal fruits per day?"
"No. Two ice crystal fruits. I do not want to be frozen by that magic. So, in addition to the explosive fruits, I will make only two ice crystal fruits for you each day."
Hearing Robb, Leaf shook her head and raised two fingers.
"Mm. Very well. Then today's production is complete. You have worked hard. Dacey, send Leaf back."
"Yes, Your Grace."
After watching Dacey and Leaf leave, Sam stepped forward and said to Robb, who was staring at the three fruits, "Your Grace, while she was making them, the herbs she used and the order in which she added them were different every time.
"And before she left, she secretly took some grass with her."
"Hmph. She is not one of our own. Of course she has thoughts of her own. Sam, assign more people to watch them. I will have Bloodwind assist you."
Hearing Sam report details he had not noticed, Robb nodded with satisfaction.
After speaking, he immediately turned to Gendry beside him. "Gendry, help me design a belt for carrying these fruits. It must make them easy to take out, and it must not easily damage the patterns on the surface."
"Yes, Your Grace. I will do my best to ensure the wearer's safety. After all, these fruits are too powerful."
Understanding that Robb wanted to produce belts in great numbers to use these fruits in battle, Gendry immediately nodded and agreed.
"Good. Clean this place up and store these three fruits properly. I will continue watching the Wolfguard train."
"Yes!"
Over the next few days, Robb's schedule became regular. In the mornings, he handled government affairs and wrote and perfected the new northern law that was about to be announced. In the afternoons, he trained the Wolfguard and watched Leaf make fruit.
Because he needed blood pact points to continue strengthening Bloodwind's Magic attribute and keep investing in the wolf pack, Robb took time to have Sam harvest another crop of criminals from the winter town.
Half a month earlier, when Robb had just returned to Winterfell and restored order in the winter town, he had arrested many people and harshly dealt with a batch of criminal gangs.
After that first batch died, the winter town was quiet for two days. But once Robb led troops to Deepwood Motte, some northern and Westerlands scoundrels reemerged and began seizing territory in the winter town on a large scale.
After all, any world was the same. Too many people wanted to live without work by bullying the decent and weak.
This sweep of criminals gave Robb a total of two hundred and sixteen blood pact points.
He spent one hundred blood pact points on Bloodwind, raising his Magic attribute to twenty-five. Then he distributed sixty points evenly among the wolf pups in the pack. The remaining points were kept for self-defense.
After these days of continuous organization, Winterfell's middle-level officials and lower clerks finally finished counting the spoils from the southern campaign.
The value of gold, gemstones, jewelry, gold and silver coins, and other valuables alone approached one million three hundred thousand gold dragons. These valuables mostly came from noble families and castles in Lannisport, Casterly Rock, and the Twins.
There were nearly seven thousand sets of brand-new weapons and armor, and more than ten thousand sets of older weapons and armor, including reused gear stripped from corpses.
Then came the grain plundered this time: wheat, barley, oats, rye, and all kinds of other grain, counted in millions of bushels. Simply put, it was already enough for the North's present population to survive the long winter.
Finally, there was a resource that looked like a burden: people. The prosperous Lannisport normally had a total population of roughly two hundred thousand. Because of the effects of the war between the two sides, countless people had fled or died.
In the end, the Iron Fleet and the Northern Fleet had transported about one hundred and fifty thousand people to the North.
The North had always been vast and sparsely populated, poor in resources, and lacking much land suitable for farming. Now many idle people were piled up here. In the short term, Robb's two rounds of public punishment had cowed them, but over time, large-scale conflicts would surely break out.
Robb did not want chaos in his foundation after he marched south again, affecting the war.
After Robb's new northern law was finished, he spent a week repeatedly discussing it with Lord Wyman, the other nobles left behind, and officials of every level. Finally, beginning at Winterfell, it was gradually announced across the entire North.
Thormad was born in Lannisport to a family of jewelry craftsmen. Because he had loved listening to knight stories since childhood, he had no desire to inherit his parents' craft.
When he heard that Lannisport's garrison was recruiting new soldiers over sixteen, Thormad, already old enough, wanted to convince his parents to let him join the army.
But before he could convince them, the vast allied army of the North and the Iron Islands suddenly attacked Lannisport.
During the war, his family hid in their home. But a squad of ironborn broke in, looted their property, and killed his father when he instinctively tried to protect it.
Those ironborn had intended to kill Thormad and his mother as well, but a group of special northern soldiers arrived in time, arrested the ironborn, and comforted Thormad.
The next day, in a bloody pile of heads in the harbor district, Thormad saw the faces of that squad he would never forget.
Only after asking around did Thormad learn that the King in the North had forbidden his soldiers from killing and abusing people at will. Those soldiers who violated military law and discipline had been personally beheaded by him, one by one.
With the men who killed his father suddenly gone, Thormad felt lost and confused. In a daze, he and his mother were moved through several places until they reached Winterfell in the North.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Thormad, hurry! If we are late, we will not hear anything."
Urgent knocking sounded, accompanied by the anxious shout of a young man.
Thormad rose and looked toward the inner room, where his mother slept deeply after washing a great deal of clothing the previous day. Then he carefully opened the door and went out.
"Mael, you are always in such a hurry. If we really cannot hear the officers read it, we can ask someone who did."
Looking at a brown-haired youth about the same age as him, Thormad rolled his eyes and spoke.
"How can that be the same? For something this important, of course we need to hear it firsthand. Stop talking and hurry!"
Mael answered quickly, then immediately pulled Thormad by the sleeve toward the winter town's gate.
The two of them quickly left through the gate. At a glance, they saw the area around the execution platform outside the winter town packed with a dense crowd. The two young men exchanged a look and hurried over, squeezing inward from the edge.
After suffering countless glares and curses, they finally forced their way into the front half of the crowd. Just then, a commotion rose.
"Make way for the officer."
"Are you blind? Make way for the lord officer!"
An officer holding a parchment walked into Thormad's view and stepped calmly onto the execution platform.
"Today, in the name of His Grace Robb Stark, King of the North, the Riverlands, and the Iron Islands, this new northern law will be read to all subjects of the North."
Standing on the execution platform, the officer did not waste words and went straight to the point.
"First, the first article concerns the household registry system. All original northern smallfolk will be elevated to the rank of northern citizen. They will enjoy the corresponding rights and duties of the citizen rank.
"Other smallfolk who have moved to the North will be registered at the northern commoner rank. They will enjoy the corresponding rights and duties of the commoner rank.
"I will give examples to explain what corresponding rights and duties mean. For example, when Winterfell recruits lower clerks, apart from testing whether you possess the proper ability, it will also require that you be of northern citizen rank.
"For another example, when the long winter arrives and everyone lacks food, Winterfell will distribute grain. Those of citizen rank will certainly receive more food than those of commoner rank."
"What? That is too unfair. Why?"
"Right. Why are we a level lower than them? Just because we came from the Westerlands?"
"What is unfair about it? We have contributed to House Stark for so many years. What have you contributed? Hmph. You still want to be the same rank as us?"
The officer had only finished the first topic when intense discussion broke out below the execution platform. The Westerlands smallfolk shouted that it was unfair, while the northern smallfolk fully supported the new law and considered it reasonable.
"Quiet! Do you want to continue listening or not?"
The officer had long expected this situation. He took a horn-shaped wooden speaking tube from his waist and shouted toward the crowd.
The crowd's noise gradually faded. Everyone still wanted to hear what the officer would say next.
"Corresponding to rights are duties. For example, during wartime, if Winterfell recruits new soldiers and a household of citizen rank has a person of suitable age, that household must obey the recruitment order. Commoner-rank households may choose voluntarily whether to join.
"For another example, when the long winter arrives and Winterfell needs to raise funds to purchase supplies, those of citizen rank will certainly contribute more money than those of commoner rank."
After these duties were spoken, the frustration in the Westerlands smallfolk eased slightly. After all, as long as they gave less than others, it felt as though they had gained a great advantage.
The northern smallfolk felt these duties were acceptable. In the past, when lords raised soldiers, the smallfolk in their lands had to obey as well, or their whole families would suffer.
As for donating more money, the supplies purchased would also give them more in return. Calculated this way, being always one level above commoners was no loss at all.
"Next, the commoner rank can be promoted to the citizen rank. The specific conditions are as follows: living in the North and paying taxes for more than two years, or earning promotion through major contributions and battle merit."
When the officer read the promotion conditions, the Westerlands smallfolk's frustration eased again.
Leaving aside the special conditions at the end, simply living and paying taxes for two years was a simple requirement. Even so, a crack would remain in their hearts between them and the northern smallfolk.
Robb had considered all of this. Even if he did not announce a new household registry system dividing citizens and commoners, would the gap and estrangement between Westerlands smallfolk and northern smallfolk cease to exist?
Of course it would exist, and it could not be erased in a short time.
Therefore, rather than leave it hidden, it was better to draw the line openly. This could both strengthen the cohesion of the northern smallfolk and their recognition and support of Robb, while also subtly pushing the Westerlands smallfolk to integrate into the North faster.
In Robb's previous life, there had been an old saying: people do not fear poverty so much as unfairness.
'Then I will lay this unfairness plainly before you. If you want to come to the privileged side, then work hard, contribute, and integrate.'
This household registry system had advantages and disadvantages, and in the future, its disadvantages would become serious. But no system suited all times forever. There were only systems suited to the moment.
For now, Robb believed this system would better strengthen cohesion at his foundation and enhance his overall fighting power. As for the future, that would have to wait until at least after the Seven Kingdoms were unified.
"Second article: the army will be reorganized. Titles such as squad captain, commander, and marshal will be removed.
"Ten men will form one squad, and the officer over them will be called a tenman. Ten squads will form a company of one hundred, commanded by a centurion. From there it continues upward: thousandman, ten-thousand commander.
"Finally, the commander of the entire army will be the Grand General. At present, only His Grace may hold the office of Grand General."
"Third article: the military merit promotion system. Promotion may be earned by reaching specified numbers of enemy heads in battle. At the same time, commoners may be promoted to citizen rank through battle merit.
"The highest promotion through battle merit can reach the knightly class, but beyond the required enemy heads, the candidate must also pass review by a council of nobles."
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