Today, Max had decided to stay in Winterfell. This was because he was having a difficult time justifying staying in Winterfell and not shifting permanently to Reinhardt.
At first, he could justify it by thinking that Reinhardt was not as safe as Winterfell but this was becoming less and less true day by day. His troops had already increased to 30 units and a general in a relatively short period not to mention the fact that since they would continue training they would soon be far more experienced than even the royal guards.
Also he would be continuously upgrading his buildings and expanding his city, therefore his troops would also be increasing. Plus it was winter now, thus any possible invaders would not be likely since nobody invades in the winter after all this wasn't Europe and the generals weren't like Napoleon. Which left another threat animals, mainly wolves and other carnivores but even they would likely be hibernating till the winter.
All this meant that he was relatively safe until summer, meaning he was good on the defense front.
The other concerns he had previously like lack of food, gold, wood were mostly solved by now.
Max was also aware that this sudden thought of permanently relocating was partly enhanced by the new castle built in Reinhardt, the castle satisfied his urges of vanity and the cute maids were not a bad sight to look at too. But the fact was also true that Max was considering moving for a while since he wasted a lot of time everyday traveling between Winterfell and Reinhardt.
Thus, for today first he entered the training map, there he told Alexander to train for the day and convey to Chanakya the message, that till he comes to the city he should continue spreading his legends and monitor the citizens, in the meanwhile make the citizens harvest wood.
After that he exited the training map, as he returned to the real world he wondered what happened to his body and the body of his soldiers when they are in the training map, do they just disappear, he hadn't considered this since till now he had only gone to the virtual map while in his city center. It seemed he would have to ask Chanakya what happens to the environment around him when he transports.
After this, he decided to go talk to Catherine but he was informed that she was taking care of Bran who in this world had fallen from the tower by himself despite not being pushed by the Jamie Lannister.
Thus, he decided to pass some time by taking a stroll in the city.
The city of Winterfell was unlike what he had imagined, the city had a bustling market, was defended by tall walls and had a pretty good water management and sewer system. Even in the winter the people still roamed the streets and did some work and unlike the other cities the most important thing was that the nobles and commoners lived among each other meaning unlike the capital city were the nobles and the lords reside in the inner city which was then covered by a wall outside which lived all the commoners and the poor people in the city.
Maybe this was the reason that crime was relatively low and the nobles a lot less cruel in Winterfell than in the capital city. After all, even researchers on earth had proven that when people of different backgrounds lived together social cohesion was strong in that community.
This was a good learning experience for Max since he was considering making his city like that in the attack of titan, three different levels of the city separated by a wall.
The most important thing was the fact that the economy of the city was good enough that people were out even during winter while in other parts of the kingdom most people would not even leave their houses afraid of being robbed. This was mainly because the city had the starks as a ruler, although they were no saints, the most morally upright people in the world they were still a lot better than other lords in this world, for example- they didn't abuse their citizens, didn't treat the treasury as their own purse and etc.
In fact they were so uncommon that most lords considered them the weird ones and called them pretentious and hypocrites behind their backs. However they were massively popular with their people and their fame was very high in the minds of common people even in the kingdom. That is the reason that many other lords growing displeased with the starks popularity had started putting pressure on the king to control the growing power of Ned Stark, the most vocal of which was the Lanistars.
Although the king had immense trust in Ned Stark he couldn't just ignore the other lords, even in his mind the power of starks was starting to become a threat, after all, Ned stark would never be around forever, and his next of kins had no bond with his sons like the one existed between Ned and him. Therefore he had called them to the capital in name to control their power, but in reality to create a bond between his sons and Ned's sons.
Max also knew that he also wanted to propose a marriage between Sansa and Joffrey but that was in the novel, but he was not certain whether that would happen in this world or not.
Max continued to roam the city and observed some interesting elements that he decided to incorporate in his city. It seemed that this world had a lot to teach him and he had missed a lot by just going by to and fro to Reinhardt.
After some time he ran into Arya who was playing around with little children of the slums. Her appearance was ragged, her clothes all dirty, her hair messed up, at first he didn't think it was her but he was convinced after looking for a little closer.
This was the first time he was interacting with Arya, while he had talked with Arya before that was John but now he was Max. Although Max was a little introverted and had almost zero interactions with a lot of people. This did not mean that he could not talk to people but rather that he could not be vulnerable to them, even in his previous world he had a hard time talking to other people, the main reason for this was that he did not trust anybody and was also suspicious towards other peoples intention when they approached him and this was heightened to the point of paranoia when he had been transported to this world. After all, since he never trusted anybody when he had nothing how could he when he had something to lose, everybody he had talked till now were people that would always be loyal and when he spoke to people that he couldn't trust he subconsciously adopted a persona that could be best described as "NOT GIVING A FUCK".
It was sort of a unique persona to him, mostly authoritative but parts of someone who was trying to convince you and someone who was looking down on you mixed within. While this mostly came off as arrogant, even he knew that he was just trying to adopt a mask of confidence to hide his shyness and fear and while this sort of personality had come off as condescending and closed many for doors for him given his social background and status in his previous world, in this world this mask suited the current role of a ruler he was playing perfectly.
But always children were the exception, he trusted them more easily since they trusted them more easily and were a lot more innocent than adults. Therefore, he went up to Arya and started talking to her.
"What are you doing here," said Max
"You know, just playing," said Arya
" I can see that, but look at yourself, your mother is going to scold you a lot," said Max
"Well what can she do but scold, she scolds so much that I do not even notice it anymore," said Arya said smiling
"Also what happened to that fighting lesson you promised me," said Arya
"It is cold outside even soldiers aren't practicing, don't tell me you want to practice in this climate," said Max
"You know father doesn't allow me to learn how to fight, now that he is gone for some time I might as well bother you while he is gone," said Arya
Max was amused by this so he said
"Say what, come to my quarters tomorrow, I will see what I can do," said Max
"You promise but swear that you won't just make me watch while you practice," said Arya
"Yes, Yes," replied Max
"Ok, I will come tomorrow," said Arya
After this Max left and Arya continued playing
As Max walked even he was surprised that he offered to train Arya tomorrow, this would not only waste his day tomorrow but this might also create some kind of attachment between them, this was problematic especially since he was considering leaving Winterfell. Who knew why he had done it, was it because there was still some part of John remaining deeply in his subconscious or maybe because it was just because he liked children and didn't like to say no to them who knew. The only thing for sure was that this was going to create some complications.
It was almost evening when an attendant informed Max that Catelyn was free to see him now.
Therefore, Max immediately went to see Catelyn. As he arrived in the lords chamber he was invited by Catelyn to sit.
While Ned was gone Catelyn became the regent and had been managing the city since then. That is why she was now in the Lords chamber and perhaps why nobody had bothered him since Ned had left, the only people who cared about him were gone, bran was crippled in his bed now and while Sansa may not hate him she did not like him either, thus all the other people ignored him fearing Catelyn.
Max sat down in front of Catelyn.
Catelyn spoke "Tell me why did you want to speak to me about, is it related to where you have been sneaking off to everyday"
Max was surprised was this and he took a defensive stance, although he was sure that he knew nothing about Reinhardt since made sure to send scouts to patrol every once in a while and the citizens had also not reported anything.
Catelyn continued" You are old and mature enough to know why Ned had to go to the capital, my sister has written to me about the wave of chaos that is going to descend on Westeros soon, don't tell me that even you want to test the waters."
Max was starting to get a little pissed off, even though he was supposed to be a bastard, after Ned was gone she was treating him much worse than before. The way she was looking at him it was like she accusing him of attempting a coup.
Max spoke "I know my position here in the city and I know that I have the surname snow not Strak, therefore I have no intention of entering a chaos, like a snow, I just to get lost in the winter"
"Well your attitude seems to have changed all of a sudden, then tell me where have you been going to all this time," said Catelyn
"I have taken some refugees with me and have decided to establish a small village a little distance from here," said Max
Catelyn was surprised by this and said "What are you going to do with a small village, it will be better if you just live as a bastard here at least you won't die in the wild, or do you like the power that much"
"It is not about power, since father has left the city I shall not allow myself to be humiliated here, I will make a small village and try to make sure that the refugees have everything they need to survive, it will give me a purpose," said Max
Catelyn seemed to at least buy that explanation."Then do you intend to leave Winterfell," said Catelyn
"No, if I leave Winterfell it will greatly displease father when he comes back and he would also get displeased at you for allowing me to leave. Also, Arya and Bran will get angry at me if I disappear out of nowhere, therefore shall not leave Winterfell but rather split my time, but you have to give me your word that you would not interfere" said Max
Catelyn was convinced by this since it had matched with the information she had, which said that he had talked to 25 refugees, and what could he even do with 25 refugees, but also in her heart she knew that Jon would never do something to harm anybody of Stark blood.
Thus she replied " I agree"
Then Max got up to leave.
After he had left the lords chambers, he decided to pay a visit to Bran.
He visited Bran who was lying in his bed,
As Max entered Bran's room Seeing Max Bran suddenly said " So, you finally got the time to visit your crippled brother, do you"
Max instantly liked Bran due to his personality and the fact that despite him being a bastard he was calling him brother, Arya calling him brother was not a big deal since she was a girl and had no chance of inheriting the kingdom but Bran was the second son and had a rather high chance of inheriting the kingdom but it seemed that he didn't saw Jon as a bastard competition but rather a brother.
"Well, you know your mother has forbidden me from seeing you," said Max
Bran knew this was true since she blamed Jon for Bran's fall at first.
After that, they got to talking and soon time passed and it was night.
As Max was getting up to leave Bran said "It was nice talking to you Jon, it was good to see something else than mother's worrying face. Please come by more if you can"
"Yes, I will" replied Max
After this Max went to his room, as he lied in his bed he realized that till today he had been treating this world as something that doesn't concern him and like he was still reading a novel, but today through interaction he was now accepting the fact that this was a real-world and he should try to become a part of it and start treating Jon's family maybe a little bit like his own family.
He instantly rejected that idea but still it had taken hold of somewhere a little deep in his subconscious.
Notes-
Date- 23rd November
Day- 23
City- Reinhardt
Resources-:
Food- 1000 units
Wood- 6000 units
Gold- 5000 coins
Daily Maintenance- 300 gold coins (200 Military units, 100 Lord's Staff)
Citizens- 30
Troops- 31(7 Infantry, 8 Archer,3Raiders,2 Ballista,10 Cavalry and 1 General)