'Wildlings, huh. No, the Free Folk. Interesting folk with their unwillingness to live in a society, rather preferring wild and free.
Their whole morality is fascinating; I can even understand them,' Harry mused as he put his captives into the cells in the closest settlement after he had finished going through their minds.
The Free Folk were hard people, living in harsh lands that forged them into natural survivors. Many of their rules and beliefs were centered around their own survival, with very few limits if the winter became too deadly.
Even amongst them, there were cannibalistic tribes, but unlike the Skagosi, only a small percentage of the tribes have been mostly scorned by the others.
But their presence put him in a moral dilemma himself. He had no problem killing off the Skagosi if they didn't comply with his demand of signing a contract that forces them to live by his rules and prevents them from passing their cannibalistic ways onto their children.
On the other hand, these free folk he had captured had only done what they needed to survive and never turned to the truly vile ways.
At most, he could blame them for raiding other countries, including his own, and kidnapping innocents. For some of them, it was even their first raid. Only one of them had kidnapped someone innocent, making him the easiest case; the others could only be judged for raiding.
According to the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, he should put them to death, but these were pretty much standard medieval laws of execution or mutilation as punishment for a crime.
Sending them to the wall wasn't an option, even if they wouldn't just escape from there at the first chance. They had seen too much. While he could obliviate them, an obliviation could do permanent damage. And he didn't want them to just leave; they had still tried to raid his land.
The question was: what was a proper punishment? And would such freedom-loving people even sign a contract to uphold their punishment?
He had no interest in keeping them somewhere useless in chains or just killing them and turning them into Inferi. While he had a pragmatic view of the world and didn't hesitate to get his hands dirty or do something that others would view as evil, Harry had to solve all his troubles with extreme solutions like killing and enslaving at the same time.
Cannibals or other despicable humans were one thing, but freedom-loving people were completely another thing.
'Troublesome,' he thought as he left them for now in the cells, while leaving orders for them to be taken care of.
———
"Hmm, it looks nice. At least for the things I had available," Harry muttered as he watched his finished work. It looked like a relatively modern storeroom, with furniture made of the expensive Northern Ironwood, from which a few trees grew on his land.
In the center was a polished store counter, with a few chairs standing in front of it. On each side were some shelves that he had filled with different goods that he had available. A few skill essences he had gathered were sword mastery, spell mastery, shield mastery, and so on. Although they weren't too high of a level.
He had very few Expert-Level Mastery Essences at all, mostly Novice and Apprentice-Level ones. The Skagosi weren't really skilled fighters and relied more on the natural strength of their bodies and size. The only ones with master-level mastery skills had been the few lords on Skagos, and they didn't sign a contract.
They had chosen eternal servitude as Inferi instead and became nothing more than animated puppets without the skills of their previous lives and only a degrading level of their bodies' strength.
Inferi were pretty much cannon fodder that was hard to kill; they couldn't even level up. He had tried to level them in his Instant Dungeons, but it didn't work. Their level is determined by their strength during their lives, just lower.
Other things he had put on the shelves were different goods that he had available. In the corners of the store, there were barrels filled with different weapons, such as swords, spears, axes, bows, and similar. All of them are basic quality works made from steel.
The highest-quality weapons he had were bows crafted from ironwood. The sword Ice, on the other hand, was currently his best weapon besides his wand, which made his spells stronger, so he chose to keep it in his inventory.
Besides that, on the shelves were armor pieces made of leather or steel. Some pieces of clothing were made of wool or pelts. At his store counter, he had a list of foods that he was keeping fresh and ready in his inventory.
And lastly, there were some things everyone could need, like primitive fire starter kits, throwing knives, pots and pans, bowls, and other random goods that his people were able to produce.
It was trash in comparison to what was out there in the multiverse, but the best he was able to do.
He lived in a medieval world, and his transformation was limited to simple shaping if it had to be permanent, often worse than truly crafted objects.
What good was a temporary transformation if his customers would know he had ripped them off with them and probably never trust him again? The only way to enter other worlds was if the customer opened the door.
Anyway, finishing the interior and stock of the store had kept him busy and distracted from other problems. Like what he should do with the group of wildlings he had captured. They had been imprisoned there since yesterday, and he hadn't approached them since he simply wasn't certain to get the best outcome without having to do something he didn't like to do.
Also, it had distracted him from coming up with a castle design. While he had flattened the peak of Skagos's largest mountain, he hadn't come up with a plan for a castle with which he was happy yet.
There were simply too many factors to consider and too many inspirations he had. And even with higher-level transformation, it was a ton of work. According to his copy of 'Hogwarts: A History,' the construction of the school had taken years. Not only because it was a large castle, but also because of the complexity behind it.
There had to be many spells worked into the construction from the start to make it such a magical place in the first place. From different enchantments, for repair, defense, or simply strengthening the materials, to the Ward Scheme itself, all of them had to be incorporated from the start.
The Towers and Buildings of Hogwarts were actually part of a magic circle that was part of the Ward Scheme and placed in a specific manner.
These were things he had to consider when building his dream castle. He didn't just want a big fucking castle; he wanted a castle that empowered him, a magical place that he was proud of.
And that was currently outside of his skill level. His knowledge of wards and enchantments, even with the addition of Sirius's books, was simply too much to swallow. Sirius only knew the basics himself, which consisted of everyday anti-Muggle and different small-scale defensive wards.
The Wards of Winterfell had developed through the aging of the castle and weren't completely wizard in origin. It felt more like natural magic that had formed from intent.
That's how he avoided setting even the first stone for his castle beyond preparing the construction location and began working himself into the mountain. That was always part of the plan—to extend the castle into it.
He had set up a small home for himself that had all he needed to live comfortably, at least as far as was possible. And where it was unlikely for him to be attacked.
While this place was not hidden through magic, like the cave system where the Veil of Death was, it was only reachable through the air since he had started working from the top. Harry was planning to connect his future palace to the ground, but there was no need for it now since he was alone right now and his inventory could transport everything he needed.
In reality, he was mostly isolating himself from his people; they had their instructions and blueprints for things they could do now. They no longer could practice cannibalism, their human sacrifices, or anything similar; it was not possible even if they wanted, thanks to the contract.
All that remained was to declare his prepared room his store. As soon as he activated the skill 'Interdimensional Trader,' a holographic projection of a door appeared in his field of vision.
Through his teeth, he could move it around. Harry moved it to the wall opposite his counter and confirmed the plaque. With a bright glow of rainbow colors, the door materialized on the wall.
[ Interdimensional Trader (Active/Passive) has leveled up to Level 2. ]
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