This was largely thanks to the considerable fortunes Danyla had made from war over the years, along with the two moneymaking machines supporting her: Braavos and Holy Flame Island. The establishment of the Holy Flame Bank had also raised an enormous amount of working capital for Holy Flame Island.
Otherwise, Danyla really could not have sustained an operation of such a scale. Of course, her extensive infrastructure projects over the years had also given a tremendous boost to the economies of Westeros and the Nine Free Trade Cities.
The economic center of the entire world had begun showing signs of shifting from Qarth and Slaver's Bay toward the Stepstones.
Holy Flame Island's various new products had siphoned immense amounts of wealth from Essos and Sothoryos.
With so much land and so many cities on Holy Flame Island needing people to fill them, and an even greater demand for highly skilled talent, most of the skilled slaves from Slaver's Bay had been sold there.
In the territories governed by Holy Flame Island, anyone with ability had a chance to rise in the world, regardless of their background.
Through the joint efforts of the New Faith of the Seven and the New Citadel, education had also become widely available throughout Danyla's territories.
Of course, this access was divided into tiers. Ordinary people could only learn literacy and various vocational skills. Only exceptionally gifted geniuses could enter the otherwise expensive Citadel free of charge to receive systematic, specialized education.
This was the fundamental reason Holy Flame Island had so many talented people and continually produced technologies ahead of the rest of the world.
The expense involved was staggering, of course. More than thirty percent of Holy Flame Island's annual profits went into education, second only to its investment in infrastructure.
Infrastructure work had