Crabb Longbow

King's Landing, somewhere in the Red Keep.

Tyrion Lannister's brown-gold curls covered his forehead. He wore a soft leather tunic embroidered with a roaring lion. Just over a meter tall, he had a large head and a small body, a prominent brow, and an odd gait.

"Hey, big brother, didn't you notice me? Where are you off to? Has my lovely big sister appointed you her personal messenger?"

Jaime Lannister shrugged and slowed his pace.

Tyrion caught up with Jaime. "Jaime, you should learn to approach me first. My most important role in House Lannister is to stand beside you at all times, making you look magnificent."

Jaime sighed helplessly. "All right, you win. I'll come clean. I am going to deliver a letter."

Tyrion immediately put on a smile. "Has my lonely sister finally been unable to resist cheating? Come on, let me see."

Jaime's lips twitched as he held up the letter. "I'm afraid it's already been sealed."

Jaime's hand, holding the letter, swung aside and evaded Tyrion's bouncing attempts to snatch it. "It's not a secret. I can tell you what's in it."

"Oh, oh, looks like I guessed wrong."

"Mm. Don't always assume the worst of Cersei. She's your sister."

"Ah, should I expect my dear sister to kiss my little face? Not unless the Seven have nodded off."

"Tyrion, don't blaspheme against the Seven."

"The Seven won't care what I say."

Tyrion patted Jaime's thigh. "Go on, tell me."

"It's a little baron from Crackclaw Point. Cersei plans to bring him along to the Kingswood Hunt."

"That's unexpected. Our dear sister seems to be in a good mood?"

"The Little Baron wrote to her first. The boy's a flatterer."

"Haha, Jaime, you don't seem to like this Little Baron. Afraid he'll steal your sister's affection from you?"

"Rarely do you two agree on anything. I'm not that petty. Young men should spend more time on swordsmanship, not flattery."

"Then it's perfect, Jaime. As a Kingsguard, you can take the opportunity to teach him a good lesson and help him grow."

Tyrion paused, then continued, "Big brother, Crackclaw Point is a godforsaken place. You're a Lannister; you'll never understand what it's like to be short of money. When you can't even fill your belly, who feels like playing with a sword? The people of Crackclaw Point have a tradition of swearing direct allegiance to the Queen. It's an ancestral craft of theirs."

"Big brother, this is a good thing. At least the Little Baron isn't stupid. He knows the Lannisters have money, doesn't he?"

Jaime looked a little embarrassed. "You two have all the arguments. I'm better suited to running errands."

Three days later, the sky was clear and bright.

Inside the bowyery at Whispers.

Gryn picked up a finished longbow from the wooden workbench. It was about two meters long. He drew it to test its pull: around 110 to 120 pounds.

To survive, most of the people in Crabb Territory had to farm as well as hunt. Most of them knew how to use a bow, so this draw weight would make a good starting point and be easy to adapt to.

With system training, the long-term plan was to add bows with draw weights of 150 and 180 pounds.

The longbow was modeled on the English Longbow from his previous life. It was simple to make and had a long range.

"My lord, I can make three a day now."

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

It was the carpenters who answered Gryn. They had originally been bowmakers, and there were about ten of them.

Gryn had originally planned to divide the longbow-making process into several stages and set up a simple assembly line to increase efficiency.

Later, Gryn abandoned the idea. The first problem was the lack of a suitable factory manager. Without effective supervision and management, both quality and efficiency would decline.

Demand for longbows wouldn't suddenly surge in the short term, and the current production rate was enough. So he decided to let the craftsmen keep using traditional methods for now. They worked together, and each could see at a glance how quickly the others were working. That created a bit of healthy competition—a small step forward.

Gryn reminded himself not to overdo it. He had to take things one step at a time; if he moved too fast, he could easily strain something delicate.

Overall, Gryn was satisfied. He casually picked up several longbows to test them, then gave the craftsmen a few more instructions.

Gryn announced that the longbow would be called the Crabb Longbow.

Knight Pell was famous throughout the territory and completed the task quickly.

The hundred-member Survey Corps had begun basic formation drills.

Most of the Survey Corps soldiers came from hunting families and brought their own bows and short swords.

This fit Gryn's plan perfectly: the Survey Corps' standard weapons would be shortbows and short swords.

Gryn's vision for the Survey Corps was a light mountain infantry force in leather armor, tasked mainly with reconnaissance and surprise attacks.

Since the straightforward Survey Corps soldiers brought their own weapons, it eased the strain on Whispers' already understocked armory.

Everything else was fine, but Gryn noticed that the hunters' arrows were no good. Most had been made by the hunters themselves, and their quality varied.

Their arrowheads lacked stopping power, so the blacksmithy at Whispers was now focused on producing high-quality arrowheads.

Gryn felt like there was always more to do.

First, there was the problem of helmets.

There were certainly no spare helmets in the armory. The two hundred clan soldiers in Crabb Territory had only been fully equipped after turning the place upside down.

Gryn thought of the headscarves popular among pirates.

The storeroom had the most stock of gray linen. Cut into towel-sized pieces, wrapped around the head, and tied in place, it could serve as a temporary military cap.

A hundred soldiers wearing matching gray linen headscarves looked a little more like a proper army.

[Survey Corps cohesion +1]

Next came armor.

Gryn's goal for the future was to equip every member of the Survey Corps with standard chainmail covered by leather armor.

For now, that goal was too far off.

Whispers' storerooms had plenty of leather, but almost all of it was soft, with only a small amount of hard leather.

Hard leather was the main material used to make leather armor.

To provide every Survey Corps soldier with basic protection, Gryn mobilized everyone in the city who was free to help make leather armor.

Time was short, so they had to set aside details and appearance.

Cut, punch holes, thread the straps, and a simple leather cuirass was done.

Amparo's Thorn Legion couldn't be neglected either. As lord, he couldn't favor one group over another.

But if they used the original design, there definitely wouldn't be enough hard leather.

After thinking it over, Gryn made a firm decision: the new leather armor for Crabb Territory would do away with the backplates and keep only the front plates protecting the chest and stomach. That would nearly double the number of cuirasses they could make, just enough to equip the Thorn Legion.

Didn't their backs need protection?

As long as you always faced the enemy, was there any need to worry about your back?

Gryn's family motto gained a new addition for the time being—Never Turn Back.