Hello my dear sexy readers.....
Enjoy...
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Jon Snow stood in the center of the main floor, a piece of charcoal in his hand.
To anyone watching, he looked like a madman scrawling nonsense on the stone flags.
But to Jon, the charcoal lines were merely tracing the glowing blue schematics projected by his System Interface.
Distillation Apparatus: Model 1 (Improvised)
Requirement: Copper piping, Clay insulation, Sealed fermentation vat
"Copper," Jon muttered, drawing a circle where the boiler would sit. "I need copper and not the cheap alloy the smiths use for pots.... I need pure conduct."
He stood up, wiping the soot from his hands onto his breeches. Ghost was curled in the only dry corner of the room, watching a rat scurry along the rafters with lazy interest.
The heavy wooden door creaked open, letting in a swirl of snow and the heavy tread of boots.
Duncan entered first, shaking the frost from his beard like a wet bear. Behind him trailed two men who looked as if they would rather be anywhere else in the Seven Kingdoms.
"Brought the talent you needed," Duncan grunted, kicking the door shut against the wind. "Though talent might be a strong word for these two."
The first man was older, with hands like roots and a face weathered by sawdust and sun. He carried a heavy wooden toolbox over one shoulder.
The second was a nervous, twitchy fellow with singed eyebrows and fingers stained with soot. He clutched a leather apron as if it were a shield.
"This is Kegg," Duncan gestured to the older man. "Carpenter, built half the brothels in Winter Town before the coin ran dry and this shivering rat is Tobias. Blows glass when he isn't blowing his wages on dice."
Jon stepped forward, the charcoal still in his hand. He didn't offer a hand to shake; he offered a nod of assessment.
[Target: Kegg]
[Profession: Carpenter (Journeyman)]
[Skill: Woodworking (Lv 6)]
[Trait: Perfectionist]
[Target: Tobias]
[Profession: Glassblower]
[Skill: Glassworking (Lv 4)]
[Trait: Anxious]
"You have coin?" Kegg asked, his voice rough as bark as he squinted at Jon's fine clothes, then at the ruin around them. "Duncan says you have gold. I don't work for promises, boy and I don't work for credit."
Jon reached into his tunic and tossed a silver stag to each man. They caught the coins, biting them instinctively to test the metal.
"That's for the walk here," Jon said calmly. "There's gold if the work is good. Look around."
Kegg spat on the floor. "It's a shit-hole. Roof's sagging, floor's rotted in the east corner. You want this place liveable? It'll take a moon's turn and timber from the Wolfswood."
"I don't need it liveable," Jon said, walking over to the wall where the old tanning vats stood. "I need it functional. I need drying racks....hundreds of them. Floor to ceiling. Slatted wood, birch if you can find it, to resist the moisture."
He pointed to the high windows, currently boarded up with rotting planks.
"And those need to be opened...Louvered shutters. The air must flow, Kegg. If the air sits still, the rot sets in. I need a constant draft, pulling from the river side and venting out the roof."
Kegg frowned, scratching his beard. "Louvered? Like a sept's bell tower? Why? You curing meat in here?"
"Something like that," Jon said. "Can you do it?"
The carpenter looked at the roof, calculating angles. "I can do it. But birch costs extra."
"Get it done," Jon said. He turned to the glassblower.
Tobias flinched as Jon's grey eyes landed on him. "M-milord? I.....I make cups. Beads. Simple things. I don't have a furnace here."
"I know," Jon said. "We'll build one, a clay oven in the back, vented through the old chimney. But I don't need beads, Tobias. I need bottles."
Jon knelt down and drew a shape on the floor with his charcoal. It wasn't the typical rounded wine flagon or the crude clay jugs common in the North. It was rectangular, sharp-edged, with a short neck.... A modern whiskey bottle design.
"Small," Jon explained, tracing the lines. "Hand-sized with clear glass.... not that green, murky muck you usually see. I want it clear as ice."
Tobias shook his head rapidly. "Clear glass? Milord, that requires sand from the White Knife, and..... and flux... and heat hotter than a wood fire! It's impossible with a mud oven!"
"It's not impossible," Jon corrected, his voice dropping to a whisper. "It's basics that you wouldn't understand.....You're using too much ash in your mix. Use crushed quartz if you have to and for the heat..... we'll use coal, not wood."
Tobias blinked. "Coal? That burns dirty."
"Not if you feed it air," Jon said. "We'll build a bellows....a big one."
He stood up, looking at the three men.
"This isn't a tannery anymore," Jon announced. "It's a factory Kegg where stuffs are made, you start on the racks. Use the wood from the old stables if you have to scrounge. Tobias, sketch me a design for a furnace that can reach melting temp without exploding. Duncan...."
The giant mercenary looked up from where he was leaning against a vat, picking his teeth with a splinter. "Aye, boss?"
"I need copper," Jon said. "Lots of it. Old pots, piping, decorative plates....I don't care. Scavenge it, buy it, or steal it, but don't get caught."
Duncan chuckled darkly. "Stealing scrap...we've truly hit the big time."
"Just get it," Jon said.
As the men set to work...Kegg measuring the rotting beams and Tobias nervously pacing the area where his furnace would go, Jon retreated to the far corner of the room.
He pulled the bundle of Northern Widow's Leaf from his pocket.
The plants were limp now, the frost melting off the jagged leaves. To a layman, they were mosses but to Jon, they were something that could topple an empire.
He found an old, clean-ish clay bowl and filled it with snow from outside and let it melt, then added a handful of salt from his pouch.
Brining, he thought, countless series watches are gonna be useful now. It's full of chlorophyll and plant matter, so raw ones are weak.
He began to strip the leaves from the stems, his movements precise and methodical.
If I cure this in a brine solution first, I draw out the chlorophyll and then, a slow dry over indirect heat. It concentrates the resin. Increases potency by....maybe.
This was the grind, it wasn't glorious. It wasn't a sword fight or a dragon ride, it was just manual labor in a freezing shed.
But as Jon looked down at the dark, sticky leaves beginning to soak in the brine, a smile tugged at his lips.
Ned Stark ruled the North with honor.
"I'm going to rule it with supply and demand, I am gonna turn the entire seven kingdoms into junkies..... I am sure joffrey would love this stuff " Jon whispered to the leaves.
He looked up at the rafters, imagining the drying racks filled with product. Imagining the clear glass bottles filled with crystal vodka, stamped with a White Wolf sigil.
"Duncan!" Jon called out.
The big man paused at the door. "What now? You want a giant?"
"No," Jon said, wiping his sticky hands on a rag. "When you're out there.....find a painter. Someone who can draw."
"A painter?" Duncan sighed. "For the walls?"
"For something called label," Jon said, his eyes gleaming in the gloom. "If we're going to sell stuff, Duncan..... we're going to make it look beautiful."
Authors Note:-
Well.... Jon is in his breaking bad phase ...
It's only because most of you guys did want a break from smut that i haven't added yet.
He haven't taken jeyne's virginity yet....so that's there.
There is something....i am conflicted on....he can't give his precious sansa to joffrey....so what to do with him....make him a junkie and a slow accident...or..😏...use some stuff and make him a sword swallower....you know...😆... And ned and Robert finds him with maybe renly or a soldier.....
Tell me ...which one you want.....it's long way ahead....so no worry.