《Game Of Thrones: Reborn As A Frey》


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1


    Title: Reborn?!


    ¡­..


    As I am currently going to my job when I look at the road I see a teenager with wireless earbuds pass at the crosswalk.


    I also see that a car is going towards her, well I would warn her but she probably won''t hear me... and then when she dies I will have to stay here for the ambulance because I called out to her. I would then be late for my job. Sorry but today is a crucial day I can''t let that happen.


    *BAAAM!*


    She gets hit by a car... I don''t look at her corpse from far away... after all, it would upset my stomach and I would lose some sleep, and that sh*t is bad for my health, what a dumb bit*h she just died for such a dumb reason. What a dumb way to die.


    ....


    Anyway, after some time I arrived at the building where I work. The building is a skyscraper building. The company I work at is a 10 Billion dollars business.


    Well, that might happen because the senior Engineer might have been seduced by an underage girl when he was drunk, and I might have made the whole thing happen and even had someone call the cops when I put it in their mind that the girl looked way too young.


    I know the bastard old pervert will probably get away with just a slap on the wrist, that f*cker is rich. But the company will still have to drop him, and who will get higher in the food chain... ME BABY!


    I am the most appropriate person after him, for the job. I have been working in this company for only four years but I will finally be at the top and with that, I will have certain control over the stocks and I will invest all my savings in it.


    Then I will get some great stocks and then lower the price by false information and buy all the stocks I can and after that, I raise the price as high as I can, and I sell big.


    I have made all of the necessary paperwork for my defense and my lawyer. I trust him he is an old friend that I met in college I also fu*ked his sister (not that he knows that).


    He told me I would have a better chance after I bankrupt the company. HAHAHAHAHAH... I will soon become a  millionaire.


    Ok got to keep my facade of being a nice helpful guy who can''t wait to gain recognition from everyone. AH, I think I am getting hard just by thinking of how good I will FU*K these people.


    Then as I go towards my office I see the HOT blond-haired and blue-eyed secretary... she looks at me with a worried look. I need a f*ck to calm my brains and who is better at that than my little cute secretary. "Mr. Smith you won''t believe what is happening today the Senior Engineer-."


    I am about to say our secret ''let''s fu*k word''.


    No warning was there about what was about to happen next.


    "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY DAUGHTER YOU FU*KERS!!!"


    *BOOOOOMMMM!!!*


    The last thing I felt was the flames ???k?n? my body and then darkness. The last thoughts I could think was of how reckless I had been, my death had been my fault of carelessness.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    "It''s a boy m''lady."


    What? Blurry? Hm?


    ....


    - Year 267 -


    It has been eight years since I was born here, all of my rage that I had lost everything just because of a small mistake. It humbled me.


    Just ?ssuming because the girl was a wh¨®re, her father was a deadbeat dad so much that he killed me. So here I am now, in a medieval world that is made even worse with inevitable doom.


    It already felt like a horrible death was a self-fulfilling prophecy for anyone in this world.


    Still, having been through a first life full of mistakes, I decided that from now on I will be extra careful. Especially in the world that I have been reborn. This new chance, even in a world like this could make me happy.


    My new name was Arthur Fray and I was one of the thirty-something children that Walder Frey currently has. I have been careful to not be seen as a genius. Because babies with genius intelligence don''t match up well in a medieval setting. Anyway, I have been trying to make myself seem a smart and curious child. Not too smart though...


    Also, my first words were ''Father'' to try and get on Walder Frey''s good side and kept bothering him when I was a kid. Even now I act like I want his approval... which I couldn''t care less, all of this just so I can get some resources for my future endeavors and get out of this doomed house. Even if Arya didn''t come and kill us, we would kill each other in a succession war amongst all the siblings. I was confident in winning the whole civil war thing in case it happened, but here¡­ risking my life wouldn''t be a good idea, especially due to how easily I could die. Hell, just a small scratch festering would kill me.


    Also heard that my new mother threw herself from a window or something like that. Well, it wasn''t that important anyway. Though I did act as a good son and shed some crocodile tears for the woman who I didn''t bother to memorize the name.


    During these eight years, I didn''t waste my time and trained with a sword since I was four.


    Obviously, I was not stupid enough to fight in the frontlines. Let the knights seeking glory do that, and then they will die like the useless tin cans that they were.


    Though the guards did say that I was a gifted swordsman. Not sure how true that statement was, since I am confident that beating other kids while I had the mind of an ?du?t was easy. Mostly because they can''t do a faint attack to save their life.


    Still, I have spent more time in archery and that is a way more useful skill in this time period. After all, a good swordsman won''t be able to kill twenty people, hell, I would bet Arthur Dayne wouldn''t be able to do that if they swarmed him. One could be as good of a swordsman as they wanted, but certain things just can''t be overcome.


    An archer can do that though, as long as he was a good archer, was a long distance away and he had arrows. Plus the battlefield was safer in the back than in the front of an army.


    With master Bam, I tried to learn the High Valyrian language. Even though the master is pretty incompetent by my standards, he still had knowledge that I needed so I learned the basics of medicine, history, economy... and many other things that would be useful for my future. Especially medicine, since I won''t be able to go to a pharmacy to get a bottle of antibiotics, so learning what that equated to in this world was best. For example, maggots could be used to clean a festered wound as they remove the dead flesh and cells around the wound. There were also so many procedures that could be done with hot wine and leeches, I have no idea how effective they were, but at least I won''t die from a scratch¡­ hopefully...


    Still, though, these eight years of mine weren''t wasted, every day I became more prepared for the next. Though that still wouldn''t stop a bandit''s arrow from piercing my head if they decided that I looked too good for a Frey. It just took one arrow and I would be a dead man.


    At least I have even become a squire to my eldest brother and heir to the Frey family, Stevron Frey. I have been doing a good job and as the heir, my brother has a lot of coins to go around. So many that even when I stole two Gold Dragons from his coin purse, he didn''t notice.


    He didn''t notice the two coins that he lost, he still had hundreds of them in his purse. I didn''t take more because I don''t want to break our good relationship if he gets suspicious. Wouldn''t want to get killed because my brother considered me a thief, nor did I want to get my hand cut off. Walder might even send me to the Wall, there were already too many Frey mouths to feed, so one of them going to the wall might make the money-grubbing Walder a little happier.


    When I came to this world I thought that one Golden Dragon had the buying power of 2000-3000$ but from discussions with the master it was more around


    Though I did spend my allowance of one Silver Stag a month since I was five years old to buy some medical equipment, herbs, and potions, after all, I don''t want to die from blood poisoning or something stupid like that.


    Also one silver stag for the allowance of


    lord''s child is a small amount. I mean even some Landed Knights allowed their children to have an allowance of 10-30 silver stags. I was Walder Frey''s favorite child. Most of the others only get coppers. So that said a lot about the Frey''s, and that it''s a health hazard to even be one.


    Anyway, with all these thoughts in my head, I need to go and meet up with my father for that new sword.


    ....


    A/N: This first chapter was mostly to just skip some annoying first years of his life and show a general overview of what he had been doing.. Also to get a good look at his character and what to be expected of him, he won''t suddenly find his moral parameters in Westeros of all places.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    Title: Bandits


    ....


    When I went inside my father''s office/lord''s room. The place was as dreadful as the rest of this castle, with stone walls that seemed to depress even the most energetic of people. I can''t wait till I get out of this death trap.


    Walder Frey looked at me and smiled, showing his yellow crooked teeth. "Well look who is here, my prettiest son. If your sisters were half as pretty as you, half of the Seven Kingdoms would be begging us for marriage proposals."


    I smirked at his comment and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. One thing I noticed was that the whole chair seemed the same as father''s, which wasn''t so as it had a lower proportion to make Walder seem bigger than he was.


    Also me, pretty? I would describe my looks as average at best, with black hair and dark eyes, a straight nose, and an oval face.


    Honestly, even in my last life, I used to be better looking and I wasn''t anything special even then. But still compared to a Fray, I was the most handsome Frey in the castle. There were still a lot of better-looking servants than me in the castle, so that said a lot about Frey and what was considered good-looking amongst them. I wondered if the other houses comforted their lesser handsome sons by saying something like ''At least you aren''t a Frey''... honestly wouldn''t blame them, some of my brothers have faces that not even a mother would love.


    All these idle thoughts went through my head in a split second as I smiled at my father. "Well now calling a Frey pretty is like saying that a Tully won''t sell his children to the highest bidder."


    When he heard that, Walder''s face changed into a frown, but then he smiled.


    "Bahahahah," he laughed, "this is why you are my favorite child Arthur. At least you have a sense of humor."


    I laughed along with him, insulting a Tully was the best joke to Walder. Even though he was being a hypocrite. After all, he does the same to sell his kids and all that. Then as the cherry on top, I added. "But it doesn''t matter how you look if you are rich, isn''t that right father? After all, you already have had four wives, so that must mean you are the most handsome bachelor in the Riverlands."


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" This time his laughter was so loud that even the rest of the castle probably heard us. "You should come to visit me more often Arthur, you just made my day."


    Well, I will say whatever you want to hear, you whore loving barbarian. After all, words were free, so why not use them as much as one needed to get people in an advantageous position to oneself.


    I still kept the smile on my face even while insulting this unwashed plebian a hundred times in my head. "Well, I can''t come here that often now that I am a squire. Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Father, can I ask you to get me a real steel sword now that I am a squire?"


    He smirked at me and nodded. "Take whatever you need from the guard''s armory."


    I acted excited at that, got up, and went towards the door. "Ok then, see you later father!"


    As I went outside I could faintly hear him saying with an amused voice. "Not even saying a proper goodbye to his handsome father~"


    ¡­


    As soon as I went outside the door I walked a bit and made sure that no one was looking at me.


    My excited act ended, and I have my natural cold-looking face. This new face was quite good because I had a natural cold appearance if I didn''t smile, though as a kid that isn''t gonna scare anyone. When I grew older I predicted that it would look more intimidating.


    ..


    Heh, now that I have Walder Frey in my palm. I was probably his favorite son. I could guide the conversation, I could easily manipulate him up to a certain degree. Though these acts of mine won''t work after my childhood is over.


    My biggest advantages were that I was a kid and had the facade of being a talented young man, though I had to still seem a bit naive sometimes. Wouldn''t want to have any of my new brothers getting any ideas that I would be a competition to their rule. Keeping a good relationship with over thirty siblings wasn''t easy¡­ were there more than thirty? I never quite counted them, and the names I never bothered to learn of the less important siblings calling them only ''brother'' or ''sister'' or other words that have that meaning.


    ....


    -Year 273-


    *Clung!*


    My sword clashed with another of the squires, he was a couple of years older, but even though I was only fourteen years old, modern body exercises kept me in a moderately better shape than most people of similar ages. We were fighting in the training grounds outside of the Twin Castles, some Frey men were looking at us.


    *Clang!*


    The squire tried to hit me with his blunt sword at my side, I could already see his telegraphed moves. It was easy to predict what he will likely do next, where he will attack, the obvious feints and tricks with his sword.


    I then sidestep his slash and get closer to him in his personal space, I hit his sword holding his hand with the blunt side of my sword.


    "Ouch!" He yelped in pain, dropping his sword on the ground. I then punched him in the chin, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, grunting and holding his mouth as blood came out of it.


    Seems like he bit his tongue, I almost felt sorry for the stupid young man.


    "Well done Arthur, that is the best swordplay I have ever seen," said my eldest brother as he clapped to congratulate me on my new victory.


    My eyes met his similarly dark ones and we smiled. Well, I could say that all Frey soldiers were terrible and very weakly trained. Or I could also have said that I used this time to spar because I knew the squires were either too drunk or tired.


    Instead of speaking my mind, going for the more diplomatic approach was better. "Well, I had a good teacher."


    His smile widened. "Your swordplay is perfect but now you just need some experience. I will go hunting some bandits. You wanna join me?"


    Well, this was interesting. My smile didn''t slip out of my face as I answered him. "Of course I will come, brother. Just give me some time to prepare."


    ...


    While there was no noticeable deception in his voice or body language. This was still a medieval world and Westeros, and him calling me to exterminate some bandits was a convenient way for me to have an ''accident''. Well if he tried anything then he would be the one having a so-called ''accident'', I wouldn''t mind killing a couple Frey if they got in my way.


    So I decided to get all my most loyal subjects. My most loyal ''friends'' were eleven Frey guards in total, they used to be some village boys that I met in the nearby village while buying some medical herbs. There was nothing special about them, neither were they too brave or strong, but they were mine and the people I had handcrafted to be my meat shields-... I mean loyal friends.


    These guys used to be orphans in the village, nothing special, orphans were everywhere in Westeros, with all the wars that went on in this place probably half the lands were made of orphans. Still, these guys had no one that cared about them, and so I appeared like their savior. Even gave them an allowance back then and spent a lot of time with them, fed them while they were hungry, helped them when in need, even went to the trouble of socializing with them to create a sense of belonging, comradeship, and friendship.


    People always made it sound so easy to create a loyal person that will give their life for you. But humans always were individual creatures who only came together out of convenience and each of them had hopes for the future and no one liked to die.


    Finding them wasn''t hard since as Frey soldiers they were meant to guard one of the gates. There was nothing special about their looks, except their armor was better than most since I bought it for them.


    "Oy! Guys! Come with me, we got something to do!" I called out at them.


    They looked at me and smirked. One of them waved. "Okay, coming right up."


    "Whenever he calls us, coins are always following us so we better go fast!" Yelled out one of them, while rushing toward me. Good, their enthusiasm will be rewarded.


    "Don''t forget to notify some other guards to take over your past," I warned.


    ¡­


    -General (3rd person) POV-


    After Arthus went to meet up with his brother, he noticed that his brother had six guards too, and they were all on horses, but so were Arthur and his men.


    Stevron Frey smiled. "Well, I thought that you wouldn''t bring guards so I brought some even for you. This might be a little much for a small bandit group, but whatever, let''s go."


    "One can never be too sure, brother. Who knows how many of them could be there. After all, the small folk can rarely be counted on to say the real numbers," expressed Arthur, showing a little half-truth in the statement.


    The eldest brother on the other hand teasingly nudged him. "Careful Arthur, some might call us cowards on this."


    Arthur smirked. "Well, cowards are known to live longer than brave men at least."


    "C''mon now little brother, you can''t be like Barristan the Bold if you act like this."


    "I never wanted to be like him either. I don''t quite see how being a glorified bodyguard would be good for me or my health. Plus King''s Landing never was quite appealing, it would be like sticking my ???k in a nest of vipers, even to the stupidest of men that wouldn''t be good."


    "Hahaha," Stevron laughed, "Well, as a Kingsguard you won''t get to stick your d??k in anything, so I still don''t see what the problem is."


    "I would rather stick it in a viper''s nest than in nothing," said Arthur jokingly, "But really though, the last place I would want to be at is a Kingsguard."


    "Even more so than the Wall?" Inquired Stevron, amused at their little banter.


    "....move being a Kingsguard to the 2nd worst position to be," he stated.


    ....


    They continued to banter all the way to the forest. Arthur, even though he had his guards protecting him, he was always cautious, if both threats outside his group and inside.


    "Should we leave our horses here?" Asked Arthur.


    "We could. But why?" Inquired Stevron.


    The younger Frey frowned as he looked around, his eyes narrowed at the shadows of the trees. "Well, if we go in with horses they will hear us galloping and that would give them a chance to prepare an ambush. Plus horses don''t do well on forests like there, if they trip in a tree root and land on top of us then we are done for. Also, they might get scared and run away uncontrollably."


    Stevron thought for a bit and nodded, seeing that his brother had a point. Plus horses were quite expensive and replacing them would have to come out of his pocket. "A villager close by said that he had sighted them around here."


    "How sure are you that this informant isn''t working with the bandits to lead us in a trap?"


    Stevron stopped in his tracks as he got out of his horse and tied his leash to a tree. ''I now see why Arthur is considered as quite the bright young man by maester Bam.'' He pondered. "I am not sure of that at all, so we better be on guard just in case."


    "Okay, me and my group should take the rear in case of an ambush," Arthur suggested, "Your group also is generally better at close quarters combat."


    Stevron nodded and his guards smiled at the compliment that the younger Frey gave them. As they moved their guards around, Arthur now had a clear look of his brother''s back, if he wanted, he could just pick up the bow he had on his back and it would be over for Stevron.


    ....


    It didn''t take long to find the bandit camp, it was just a couple of tents in the middle of the forests.


    "Their numbers should be small, but be on the lookout for more or a sneak attack," whispered Arthur, being as cautious as he could be.


    Stevron smiled proudly, while this was the first time Arthur was doing something like this, he still had everything covered and was careful, unlike some others his age who thought that only a swing of their sword was needed to end something insignificant like a bandit''s camp.


    ..


    But even then, Arthur had some other thoughts that he didn''t express. ''At least this means that one of the rival houses didn''t pay them or paid them too little to wreak havoc in our lands.''


    "Well, let''s go and kill them," said Stevron, puffing his ?h?st with pride.


    Arthur looked at him with deeply hidden spite. ''Dumb as a rock¡­ well, it was expected. Stevron wasn''t the brightest of the Frey bunch.''


    "I have a better idea." The younger Frey suggested, being careful not to anger his brother or seem like he was insulting his intelligence. After all, an arrogant man is like a pufferfish, it always hurts those around him, even the ones who tried to save it.


    "Well, we will follow your idea then. Since this will be more of a lesson for you." Stevron declared, "It''s your time now Arthur, show us that bright mind that the Maester won''t stop talking about."


    Arthur nodded, "Okay, I want you," he pointed at one of his guards that was a little smarter than the others, "to go and act like you are lost and call out to them. Leave your sword behind, don''t worry, we will have your back."


    "W -What?" The man swallowed hard in fear, he had done nothing like this before, "Can''t someone else go and do it?"


    Arthur frowned, "Two Silver Stags to the man who decides to go and do this for me."


    "I will!" Said the cowardly man who refused to do so before. The others also wanted to go too.


    "No, fate favors the bold, you had your chance but you lost it now." Arthur put his foot down on this, "Also next time, I don''t want to see your face and you will only get a quarter of what the others get."


    "Wait, m''lord Arthur, sorry about this I didn''t mean it. I will do this for free, sorry, I wasn''t thinking straight before." The man apologized profoundly, realizing that having a Frey be on his bad side wasn''t a good thing. Especially Arthur, everyone knew he had Walder''s ear in these matters.


    "I will accept your apology, but you will still get only a quarter of the rewards. Next time make sure that you don''t refuse my orders, no go out there before I decide to slit your throat." Arthur said coldly, his dark eyes seeming to look straight into the man''s soul.


    The cowardly man nodded rapidly and went forward, leaving his weapon behind.


    ''Every man has his fears, they won''t listen to someone like me just because I tell them to. Well, I built a friendship with him so he thought that defying me in front of these men was something he could do? Sadly for him, from now on he will be made an example of. Just because of my young age doesn''t mean that they shouldn''t listen to me. This is a medieval society, and might makes right.'' Contemplated Arthur, thinking about how to handle this situation. Still, he had his job to do too, so he went and climbed up one of the trees and pulled out his bow, and got ready to shoot.


    ¡­


    The cowardly soldier on the other hand was as nervous as he could be. He felt like everything was crashing down on him, his heart felt like it would beat out of his ?h?st


    "Is anyone there?! I am lost, can you help me... please?!" He yelled out, and his cries for help were quite truthful since he knew that he wouldn''t be having a good time from now on.


    "Who''s there!" Called out a voice from the tents as six people came out, they all had cheap leather armor and the one spoke seemed to have a better sword than the others.


    Arthur aimed and shot out his arrow straight at the leader.


    *fwish*


    It pierced straight through the eye of the one who seemed like the leader.


    The bandits looked around in shock, and before they could get out of their shock, another arrow came and hit another one in the throat.


    "There is a bowman around! Be careful!" Yelled out of the bandits, turning around to run away, but it didn''t last long as an arrow pierced from the back of his head and came out of his mouth. His corpse plopped on the ground.


    "Shi-"


    *fwish!*


    Another one gets hit through the eye, and by then the two bandits left had come to their senses and started to run off in the same direction.


    But it didn''t last long as he was pierced straight through the heart.


    "Surround him, don''t let him run!" Ordered Arthur, even though he could still shoot the last man down too, he had more use for him.


    With seventeen chasing after him, the man didn''t last long as he tripped and was caught.


    Then he was brought to Arthur who looked at the bandit with a strange gaze in his eyes.


    ''Well, then time for some experience.'' Thought Arthur, before taking out his sword. "Take out your sword and fight me for your life criminal, or my men will kill you."


    ....


    A/N: People sometimes will try to weasel their way out of dangerous things. Especially in this world, and the MC is still a kid with b?r?ly any reputation, because while his subordinate didn''t outright refuse him, he still made him look weak in front of his men and brother by doing something like that.. So Arthur had to make an example out of the man.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    Title: Start of the Journey


    ....


    When the bandit saw that there was no other choice he scrambled to grab his sword and looked at the people around him, all of them with their weapons out.


    Arthur smirked. If this was a battle, he would have attacked when the man went to grab his sword, but that wasn''t the case here. He wanted to see how his Swordsmanship would fare against a real opponent who wanted to kill him.


    Also usually Arthur covered his arrows in a self-made paralysis poison but today he didn''t do so. Still when he used that even he had to be careful with his poison, building tolerance to this poison or any poison was a hard thing to do. When learning this skill, Arthur had to be very careful, after all, if anyone got wind of it they would think that he was planning to poison his siblings and get the Twins as his inheritance.


    Of course, he would do something like that if the chance presented itself, but it was too dangerous at the time.


    "M''lord, p -please, let me go, I have a family." The man begged.


    Arthur raised a questioning brow. "So did everyone else you robbed and killed around these parts. You didn''t care about their families, why should I care about yours?"


    Some of the guards were about to make some derogatory terms about the man''s wife and how they would ''take care'' of her. But when they saw Arthur, their voices got stuck in their throat, remembering that he wouldn''t like their guards to be undisciplined.


    "If you fight and kill me, then my guards will let you go," Arthur told him, "So c''mon now, let''s fight I don''t have all day."


    Fwish!


    Arthur didn''t let this chance go and threw a dagger at the man''s throat, and the bandit, his eyes widened, and dropped the sword, his arms still up about to slash.


    "Your slash was too far overhead, it would give you more power, but left your throat exposed," Arthur lectured the dying man, looking at him as his body slumped on the ground and the life fleeing his eyes. The dagger was still in his throat and blood seeped out of it.


    ''I see¡­ this is the first time I killed someone in both this world and last. Though I killed this guy''s companions by arrows it was different. Or was it?'' He contemplated, after all, even as he saw the man bleed on the ground¡­ he didn''t feel anything special. He remembered that in his last life there were many stories about how people threw up and such. But no, he now saw that they were mostly stories because when he came to the forest, he knew what he came for and did it. True, the blood was a little off-putting at first, but with his mind already prepared for it, he didn''t feel anything special.


    In the end, Arthur just shrugged. "Well then let''s get their things and get out of here."


    To him killing didn''t feel special, he didn''t feel bad, nor did he feel good about it. Just like any other action in the world. But Arthur did learn something today.


    ''I hate fighting honorably... or even fighting at all. No matter how talented people say that I am with a sword. This thing could have gone wrong in so many ways if these guys weren''t panicked.'' Arthur considered with careful thought as he picked up the dagger from the bandit''s throat and he pulled out a cloth from his pouch and started cleaning the blood off his weapon. ''Thankfully it hit with the sharp side, sometimes it''s more of a fluke with these knives. A battle to the death wasn''t about skill as much as it was about luck¡­ so I will have to make myself the luckiest man in the world then.''


    As his soldiers and Stevron went to ransack the tents, leather vests, weapons, clothes, and any loot that the bandits had he couldn''t help but imagine what war could be like.


    ''I definitely won''t be fighting in the front lines of any war. Way too many things that could go wrong, or out of control. From a stray arrow, a random sword in your gut, falling on your sword, falling off the horse and breaking your neck, a small wound that could get infected and so much more.'' He envisioned carefully. Life was just too fragile, humans die too easily.


    After they packed the things from the bandit camp, they returned to the Twins. Arthur of course rewarded all of his soldiers with one Silver Stag, which was around fifty dollars in buying value.


    The one soldier who had disobeyed him had only earned a dozen Copper Pennies, enough for him to have some ale and get drunk. Well, in Arthur''s opinion that was better than having his throat slit, which he would have had to do if the man hadn''t come to his senses and followed his orders.


    "Still, he must be made an example of." He muttered before walking into the Twins Castle.


    Stevron waved him off with all the bandit loot. "See you later brother."


    The older brother had paid one Gold Dragon (210 Silver Stags) for all the bandit''s loot. Stevron would go and sell these things to a nearby merchant and get a bigger price for them, Arthur knew that but didn''t mind it. The earnings wouldn''t be anything above 300 Silver Stags.


    The guards were happy as each of them got paid one Silver Stag each for their troubles. They didn''t even suffer a scratch which was a good thing and this coin is the same as their wage for weeks.


    Overall, Arthur considered this day to be quite productive. He thought about making this a regular activity, but in the end shook his head, dismissing the thought. After all, that was all very dangerous work. It went well today, but other days it might not.


    Rather, he planned to build some taverns around here. After all, as the travelers passed through the Twins they would need an Inn or Tavern to rest. It wasn''t anything too big, but a good enough business venture that could earn him quite a lot of coin.


    ...


    -Stevron Frey I-


    Stevron would like to consider himself a good brother, after all, even with all the Frey children in the Twins, he always made sure to have them taken care of. Any coin that they needed, he would offer them, of course not too much, but still enough for them to have some fun.


    As he looked down from one of the Twins Castles'' windows, he couldn''t help but smile. While before outside of the castles the places were quiet, but a year ago, after a bandit hunt his brother had decided to build some taverns around, and that had earned him the nickname Coin Fu?ker amongst the siblings. They joked that he would rub two Silver Stags together and make a Gold Dragon.


    At fifteen name days, he had already earned so much. Walder Frey had even considered making him the Frey Stewart.


    ''The old man will piss himself to sleep when he hears about this.'' Thought Stevron, knowing their father always favored Arthur, the boy was both smart and very good with a sword. He would be lying if he said that he wasn''t jealous of his younger brother, but he kept these feelings to himself. Because even after all this, Arthur always was a loving sibling and even adored his siblings. Though he always was tough to the brothers, he would beat them to the ground during spars. But if you were his sister, Arthur would give you the stars in the sky if they asked him.


    "Well, well, well, how is my favorite brother doing?"


    Speak of the devil and she shall come. That was what Stevron thought as a smile came to him and saw Arthur smiling back.


    The younger brother had a growth spurt during the year so he had grown almost as tall as his Stevron. Black hair and dark eyes, with a straight nose, he also lost all of his baby fat and started showing a strong jaw. Arthur''s hair had also been cut very short so it couldn''t be grabbed during combat.


    "Hello there, Ser Arthur," Stevron called his brother jokingly, having knighted the young man recently.


    "Ser Stevron," he bowed slightly with a smirk, "Now as knights of the seven kingdoms, should we see which one has the biggest sword."


    "That''s not very knightly of you." Stevron laughed, catching the innuendo his brother made.


    Arthur on the other hand shrugged. "Well, we both know when it comes to swords, mine is the biggest in the Twins."


    "Well, you talk big, but never show it around."


    "You want me to walk with my sword out?" He asked with a mortified look, "That isn''t very knightly of you, it honestly makes you sound like a sword swallower."


    Stevron shook his head, "You always had that sharp tongue on you, Coin Fu?ker."


    The younger brother pushed his ?h?st up in pride. "Well, what can I say, even non-living objects can''t resist my charms."


    "You know that this nickname was made to insult you right?" The Frey oldest child said.


    But the newly knighted shrugged. "I know, but that doesn''t mean that I have to take it as one."


    "Heh, you and that thick skin of yours," Stevron shook his head in amusement. Then his look turned into a serious one and his eyes narrowed, "What did father say?"


    "Well, he was mad that I would be moving away from the family to spread my wings. But we already expected that." He sighed, as he went to the window to look at the taverns that he had built. "By the way, those things are all yours now, so take care of them and 20% of the earnings are paid to father as taxes. Also, Maria wanted a new necklace of the Twin towers embroidered in it. Can you buy her that? Since I will be gone for a long time, I will miss many of her name days."


    "Don''t worry, I will take care of everything on this side." The older brother nodded. "What about your men, how many are coming with you?"


    Arthur frowned at this, "Out of the eleven that I had groomed and helped with everything. Only seven agreed to come."


    "Those ungrateful fu?ks!" Stevron clenched his fist in anger, he knew that his brother treated those men very well. They should have all followed him to their deaths. ''Well, we will see how your lives will be without him around.''


    "Hey now, no need to be so angry." Arthur put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.


    "And you aren''t?" Stevron fumed, "After all you did for them?!"


    "No, I am not," his brother nodded, "I already expected something like this. Being angry at something you knew would happen is useless."


    "I am still going to make them pay. Because while you aren''t angry¡­ well I am!" Of course, Stevron knew just how much Arthur needed these men. And if his little brother died in his journey, these men who stayed behind shouldn''t expect a painless death.


    "Control your anger  Stevron, killing them would just be unnecessary trouble and a waste of time," Arthur reassured him, "Also I know where some of them are coming from. Since they have families and even children. I don''t necessarily see that as against them."


    "So what?! Men go to war even when they have families. It''s their duty to serve their lord!" Stevron couldn''t quite calm his anger, he knew just how dangerous going out there could be.


    "C''mon now calm down. After all, the men who came with me all have the best armor and horses that money could buy for them. Plus I even have a Hedge Wizard named Lyon with me, he will take care of any injuries that we might get. Also, did you know that I thought he might really be a wizard at first, but in the end, he was just a healer." Arthur chuckled, "That made me feel pretty stupid."


    This brought the older brother''s anger down a little and he smiled.


    A hedge wizard is a Westerosi local or traveling herb doctor who also likely uses traditional healing. The smallfolk think some of them use spells and charms to heal the sick or help the needy. Which was probably just usual medication but the peasants here think that that is magic or it could be magic.


    Like Hedge Knights, Hedge Wizards are quite poor and sleep in hedges on occasion. They are most popular amongst the smallfolk as they are likely to be more affordable and accessible.


    "Lyon is a pretty skilled healer too. As good as Maester Bam or even better." Arthur reassured his older brother.


    "Lords do not employ the services of hedge wizards as they see it beneath them." Stevron said, "Ask for a Maester, he would be better and if you offer them a huge sum of Gold Dragons, I doubt they would refuse. Plus, a Hedge Wizard isn''t trustworthy." Stevron tried to refute and make sure his brother had everything before he even set foot off on his journey.


    At the mention of betrayal, Arthur''s smile slipped out of his face and his dark eyes turned cold. "The Hedge Wizard accepted my request when I asked him. I don''t trust him obviously but I know he is not stupid enough to betray me."


    Stevron nodded, deciding to trust his brother''s judgment. He will be the first to admit, he had always been jealous of Arthur, and those feelings only grew as the years went along. But never hate, he could never hate Arthur, after all, he will always be his younger brother. The one who could have Walder even make him the next one to inherit the Twins, but didn''t.


    "Just be careful out there." Stevron walked off after saying those words.


    ¡­.


    -Arthur II-


    I looked at my eldest brother''s back as he walked away, his shoulders a little sullen down. He cared about me, I knew that much, but if I ever attempted to take over the Twins. Only a civil war within the family would ensue, of course, the others might not see this, but it was as clear as day.


    Plus House Frey had always been too small for my ambition. In some years Robert''s Rebellion will come around, and that should be the right opportunity. Still, the current me wouldn''t be able to get anything, I only have forty Gold Dragons to my name and seven well-armed soldiers. Pretty much nothing to change things on a grand scale.


    The taverns were a pretty good idea and more profitable than I thought. But it still wasn''t anything special, I had no army to speak of, and while everyone who lived here saw these structures as my own. I knew that they really belonged to Walder Frey. The man will never achieve anything too big, my new father was just too cowardly to risk things and let go of some others. Similarly, I will have to leave behind these buildings and the security of a castle to go out there and make a name for myself.


    I am a coward, but everyone is a coward. Whether they admit it or not doesn''t matter on the grand scale of things.


    Well, better get ready then. With that thought in mind, I got away from the window and went towards the stables where my men were waiting for me.


    When I got there, Walder Frey was there too, he smiled once he saw me. "Finally you decided to show your pretty face."


    I smirked. "What? Are you here to stop me, father?"


    "Tch, you are a grown man now. Plus wipe that smug look off your face before I wipe it for you." He said annoyed, but Walder was always annoyed at something. He then threw a punch at me and I grabbed it. Hm? Around twenty Gold Dragons by the weight and shape of it.


    "There boy, don''t go around saying that your father is a penny pincher now. Also, don''t be stupid and try to be a hero." After saying what he had to say father walked away.


    If I didn''t know better, I would almost think that he cared about me. At least the time I spent manipulating his feelings didn''t go to waste and got me twenty Gold Dragons.


    Also, I didn''t need him to tell me to not be a Hero because there was no way that I would endanger my life for stupid things like honor, oaths, or chivalry. Though I also wasn''t stupid to say something like that out loud¡­ unlike my father, he just loved shaming himself and showing how little honor he had.


    The Starks were stupid at the Red Wedding. Catelyn too, trusting a man known as being without honor. The whole Stark family had no one else but their stupidity to blame for their demise. Ned''s honor made him go South when he knew that Starks don''t do good out here.


    Though I guess I shouldn''t expect anything too much from people who were born in their positions and didn''t earn it.


    Still, I will have to be on guard against these people if I don''t want a knife on my back from my most trusted ally.


    Anyway, enough thoughts about these things, it''s useless worrying about other people when I can''t even guarantee my safety. But I will have to learn from their mistakes. For example, NEVER trust anyone just because they gave you guest rights by bread and salt. Also, I should do the same thing the Frey''s did in the show if it''s beneficial. Though I will have to be better about it. Don''t want words like that flowing about me.


    "Where will we be going, Ser?" Asked Lyon, my Healer.


    I looked at his thin frame, brown hair, and eyes and smiled. "The Reach, that place has Tourneys quite often."


    Though I said that, the real destination was the Wastelands. More specifically Lannisport.


    But this all needed to be kept under wraps, not even my traveling companions needed to know.


    "Well, let''s set off then. Are you all ready?"


    """Yes!"""


    ¡­.


    Even though we traveled as fast as we could. It still took twenty days to reach Lannisport.


    Thankfully halfway we met some merchants who were going the same direction, so we went with them. Plus this acted as a way to make it seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision to my men. Which was good, because I don''t want any of them to know what I will be doing. Trust isn''t worth much in Westeros, so keeping my cards close to my heart was the best.


    As we arrived at the port town, I had to admit, the place looked pretty good. Better than the Twins at least. Once there, we got some rooms in a relatively clean inn. My companions all got some rest as they laid down in their beds.


    But while they rested, my body, though tired from sleeping in tents and the ground. I was still quite energetic and this was the best time to do the thing I came all this way for. "Guys I am going sightseeing."


    "Really after all this traveling... aren''t you tired?" Asked one of the guards.


    I just smirked at him. "Well, I am not an old man like you."


    He laughed also and waved me away. "Yeah, yeah, we know, just let old men like us rest. Do you need guards?"


    "No," I said before walking out and checking my punches. I had 41 Gold Dragons, around 50 Silver Stags, and 10 Pennies.


    When I went outside I covered a little of my face, not enough to be suspicious but just enough to make people confused about my identity¡­ just to be sure.


    While walking down the town roads I saw


    a bard and went towards him, putting all of the pennies in my pouch in front of the man.


    "Do you know the Rains of Castamere?" I asked him.


    He looked at me, smiled, nodded, and started to play his song. "Oh who are you~ the~"


    ....


    After he finished the song. I smiled politely at him and said. "So I am new at Lannisport, tell me are there any interesting things around here?"


    "Well of course Ser." The man nodded thankfully, 10 Pennies would be able to feed the man for a whole day.


    "I am no Ser. Call me Andy. I come from the Reach." Lying through my teeth I told him my fake story. Not even a trace of what was about to happen must be spread. Even if someone saw something strange, all hints I gave will point in different directions. Because while I spoke like someone from the Riverlands, my armor was made like someone from the Stormlands and I said this bard will know I came from the Reach.


    "Well Andy there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in here¡­" And so the man started explaining to me some things.


    ....


    "-and then there is the witch, Maggy the frog in the forest it is said that she lives in a cabin and eats children-"


    After some more talking I thanked him and turned in a corner before changing turns and going towards the forest. Without him seeing me.


    ...


    When I arrived in the forest I drew my sword and checked my backup knives which I had hidden in my lower back.


    I went towards the forest as I got deeper and deeper inside. I finally spotted a small hut that seemed to be covered by dirt with a straw door.


    This should be the place.


    Opening the straw door and going inside, there I saw a woman with long dark hair and a little bronzed skin.


    She had black lines under her eyes. The lines may be makeup or not. She also seemed to be sleeping on a chair that bobbled slightly.


    This was the witch of the Westerlands, it seemed like she was the TV version, not the old and warty witch from the books. Well then, I could work with this.


    "Maggie! Are you here?! Come out Maggie!" I called out, and the sleeping woman''s eyes suddenly opened.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    Title: Love & Betrayal


    ....


    -Arthur III-


    As the eyes of the woman sitting in the chair opened wide. She looked at me in panic and looked at my drawn sword, then she started yelling. "GET OUT OF HERE!!"


    Maggy got out of her chair and came towards me. Intending to push me out of her shack, in response to that I just put my sword back in its sheath and grabbed the woman''s hands by her wrists.


    "Excuse me, my lady," I apologized to her, "I didn''t mean to frighten you. I was searching for an evil witch in these parts. You wouldn''t happen to know where she lives, do you?" I asked her, feigning ignorance.


    Once she heard that, Maggie looked me in the eyes and I held her gaze, an unknown emotion passed her eyes before she calmed down. Since it seemed like she wasn''t going to attack me, I let go of her hands.


    She turned around and sat down on her chair."Well, you are looking at her boy."


    As expected, magicians were also humans. There was no need to fear them, after all, they were human¡­ meaning they could also be deceived.


    I just smiled at her gently. "That is funny my lady. But I am searching for a witch. I heard that she hunted children. Also, my lady... living here alone in the woods is not safe."


    She then was about to laugh but covered her mouth with her hand.


    ''That is right, be entertained you wh¨°re. Think of me as a naive young man.'' I thought but didn''t show that in my face and just looked at her worried. "Are you okay my lady?"


    "hehehehe," small chuckles and quiet laughs escaped her as she tried to hold back.


    "Are you okay?" I asked her again, with a worried look on my face. Trying to display how naive I was.


    When Maggie heard what I said that her body shook uncontrollably and she couldn''t hold back any longer. "HAHAHAHAHA." She just burst out laughing.


    Then she calmed down but still with a smile on her face. "You are entertaining, pretty boy."


    I had to hold my breath to force my face


    to blush a little, "Thank you for the compliment my lady but I am a knight, not a boy."


    Her smirk widened even more once she heard that as she played with her hair and her hand was at the corner of her lips.


    Maggie then got up and came close to me and put one of her hands on my cheek.


    I had to hold myself back from stabbing her in the throat with my knife.


    Her face got closer to mine and she whispered in my ear seductively. "Yeah but... have you ever even had a woman BOY."


    She said the last word passionately. But she wasn''t wrong, in the world I was still a v?r??n¡­ there were many reasons for it. The most important thing was that I didn''t want a bastard yet.  That would ruin my plans. I also was not a person in my first life who can''t control himself in front of women. Keeping those urges in control was easy, I just used my hand if necessary.


    Anyway, now let my journey to learning magic begin.


    ¡­.


    ¡­.


    The Defiance of Duskendale was what everyone was speaking about now. It has been a year since I and Maggie started our¡­ friendship. I am now sixteen years old, pretty much an ?du?t ready for marriage on this world''s terms.


    I have gotten to know Lannisport better this past year and was eating dinner at one of the high-end restaurants. As I ate some steak, my mind couldn''t help but wonder about my plans and how learning from people''s mistakes will be crucial to survival.


    .


    I was planning to stay far away from the Duskendale and the Crownlands. It''s not my time to step into the spotlight yet. I didn''t have enough power to do anything and only fools do things on blind hope and without thinking them through. Robb Stark won every battle he fought, but he lost terribly in the end. Why? Because he didn''t think things through, he was a man who let those around him dictate what he was and what he wanted. His subordinates made him King of the North¡­ that right there killed Robb, it''s the moment he became a dead man walking. Didn''t he think about Stannis? His bannermen? Who would sell him food if he isolated the North from the rest of the Realm?


    Also, why the hell would he marry some no-name girl? Was it love? Hell no! He was a teen when he got married, they could have likely grown distant years later. That was how relationships work, plus if they had survived, Robb would be under a lot of stress. War was one thing but governing a huge realm is a whole other deal.


    His army was without rations, he didn''t allow pillaging like the Lannisters, he wanted to keep his honor so bad. What did that honor do in the end? Kill his wife and unborn child, his mother''s throat slit, his sister brutally r?p?d by Ramsey. All that for what?


    Well, it wasn''t all his fault, Ned was up there too. Raising his son to be honorable after what happened to his father and brother? Honor was what got them burned by the Mad King.


    I shook my head out of these thoughts, in the show I liked the Starks quite a lot. Even admired the likes of Eddard and Robb, loved their characters. But here, when this all became reality. Yeah, it became a whole other deal.


    *sigh*


    If I remember correctly, the incident of Duskendale was about how Lord Darkly of Duskendale refused to pay his taxes, Aerys resolved to deal with the problem himself without Tywin''s aid and was captured like the stupid King he was because he went into the home of a desperate man to talk things out. No wonder he will get overthrown in a rebellion that b?r?ly lasts one year. The Rebellion had everything against Robert''s side, if only Aerys was sane he could have crushed them.


    Well enough of boring stories that probably won''t lead me anywhere. The real problem was how could I turn this Duskendale incident into something profitable.


    As I racked my brains on this, I couldn''t come up with something on the less dangerous side. So in the end, I decided to not take part in this. After all, Aerys could see this as me being part of the plan because of my profiting.


    Yeah¡­ I ain''t reckless enough to do something like that. The Mad King even knowing that I exist at all would be a bad idea. If something like that happened, I will be taking the fastest ship and going to Essos. Probably somewhere around Vaes Dothrak, that place would be good to lay down till the Rebellion. After all, no one can bear steel in there, and every Dothraki will be acting as my guard because as soon as someone pulls out steel they will be killed.


    Damn, why am I even thinking about escape plans? Hopefully, I don''t have to do something like that.


    After all, during the year, I participated in any Tourney that was available in the Westerlands. They are mostly small ones with the reward being around fifty or a hundred Gold Dragons. I also won every one of them, so I got a little fame for myself.


    Of course, the winnings weren''t always honest¡­ okay, no need to lie to myself. Most of my wins weren''t honest, I was good with a sword, but that''s about it, I wasn''t Arthur Dayne of the Kingsguard. Almost every Tourney that I took part in, my strong opponents. Like the Mountain, the man is a beast and I would never fight him in a field that would resemble a fair fight.


    The last time I ''fought'' him, he had enough laxatives in his body to put down five men. He fought well and got defeated even better by me. That was when people started noticing me after I easily took down the Mountain.


    The serving girls will do a lot for a Gold Dragon, and I mean more than serving people under the table. No one would suspect dear Bessie to do anything like that.


    Also, even the way I fight against some skilled knights plays to my advantage. The best tactic against any knight in armor, which was pretty much every knight.


    I learned that the best strategy was to throw dirt or sand at their helmet, it will get through their holes in armor that they use to see. Then they can''t scratch eyes due to the helmet, but my technique doesn''t end this as a kick between the legs as hard as I can. That will send even the strongest man tumbling on the ground. Now the enemy is blinded and on their knees, sure, some Knights might boast about their fearsome skills with a sword. But none of them would have a high chance of beating me in a fight, especially when I use my technique for the first time.


    In the end, by using these tactics I had won every one of those Tourneys. Sometimes by secretly putting a poison that dulled the senses in my enemy''s drink when I was meant to fight against an opponent I wasn''t confident in winning. Having to use poison on some Tourneys that I didn''t take part in were complicated phases. After all, this had to be done for no suspicion to raise about my involvement in the matter.


    The honorable Ser Arthur would never do something as dishonorable as use poison and cheat in most of his fights. ¨C that''s what I wanted people to think about me.


    Also, I made quite a name for myself as a knight. They call me ''The Undefeated'' Arthur Frey. More like a joke in the beginning because I kept betting on myself to win. But eventually, it started becoming a Legend.


    I had a hand in the rumors too of course. After all, I never planned to risk my life for glory, rather preferred the smart way of doing things. Gold can be amazing for such things, people won''t care if those rumors are true or not and they won''t be able to refute them anyway so it didn''t matter anyway.


    Though they have a truth to them, I never lost in any melee fights or any archery tourneys.


    I haven''t participated in any jousting yet. Though I was training my horse riding skills in preparation for this.


    After all, I was a lover of fanatical stories. Something like being called ''The Undefeated'' brings me great p???sur?. Not enough to get me hard on my success but still able to get me semi-hard.


    Also, Maggy had been convinced to teach me Blood Magic in the end. Though it still took quite some time to do so and required a heavy amount of seduction. She saw magic as a burden that people hated her for. So because I ''loved'' her I will bear this ''burden'' together with her.


    She taught me Blood Magic and even a little Divination, though the latter was like a buggy game and a double-edged sword. Knowing the future sometimes might set in in stone as your fate, and trying to avoid your fate would complete it.


    Future sight sometimes doesn''t even work, hell, it''s also confusing as hell too like riddles and representations. As a man who doesn''t believe in superstition, this branch of Magic was quite hard to change my mindset to suit it.


    Usually, I forget it after reading someone''s fate, I read Maggy''s once since one can''t read his own fate. What I saw was a bloodied hawk tearing out her heart, but the same bloodied hawk couldn''t fly anymore as it suddenly aged and was thrown in the water by an unseen bird.


    What did that mean? I have no idea, though I suspected that it showed Maggy''s death. But it could mean heartbreak or something similar.


    But I told Maggie a whole different thing, that I saw a frog swimming happily in the water accompanied by a lot of larvae.


    I played with my food absentmindedly as my mind went into these thoughts. By now I had learned everything I could from Maggy, so it doesn''t matter if she died.


    Magic was pretty bad in this world, and nowhere near as useful as I hoped it would be. In battle, it didn''t offer any advantage whatsoever. Plus no one must learn of it or all of my plans would be ruined, no one liked a Magic-User, not even other magic users.


    Probably would get burned to death by some religious guy, or a Lord might use my possession of magic as a reason to kill me.


    By now Maggy no longer had anything to teach me anymore. I could confidently say that my magic usage would be better than hers. But I use the thing very sparingly, as magic never came for free. Magic required sacrifice. Sure there might be some loopholes in Divination Magic that I could use, but in no way will I try to use them. Who knows what the repercussions of using them might be. Some more experimentation is needed to see how this thing could be used to my advantage. Because so far magic won''t be too much of an advantage in anything.


    I and Maggy fu?k?d a lot of times. Her husband had an ''accident'', he got too drunk one night, fell on the sea and drowned. Really tragic that one, but he had to go because divorces aren''t a thing in this world.


    Also better to visit Maggy one last time before I had to continue with my plans. A certain little gold kitten should have visited Maggy or will visit her soon.


    The hardest thing in learning magic from Maggy is to keep people from suspecting me of knowing it or finding out about it. After all, a secret is no longer one if two people know about it.


    "Would you like some ale?" A serving girl asked softly. She was smiling at me sweetly, and she had quite a pretty face and long blonde hair. This was very common in Lannisport.


    I smiled at her, "No, thank you. Water will be good enough."


    She nodded, though I could see the disappointment in her eyes. Both because I didn''t get the ale and never even made any signs of wanting to screw her brains out. I wouldn''t mind doing so, but s?x can wait, I have more important things than my ?ust. If Maggy found out that I did something like being unfaithful to her it would ruin my plans.


    Doing something like that just to get a new tight hole to fit my junk in would be the height of stupidity.


    I got up and left, not waiting for the water. Still, though, I did leave a tip for the waitress.


    ....


    When I went back to Maggy''s hut I found her as always in her chair knitting something.


    She noticed that I was back and smiled lovingly at me.


    "Welcome home," she greeted me.


    I just looked at her and asked. "So anything new?"


    She stopped knitting. "Yeah, I am worried that I might have to move away... I told the fate of a Lannister girl. I think it was bad because she splashed me with a drink on my face and ran away."


    Oh, so it was a prophecy that Maggy said but couldn''t remember.


    I got close and kneeled in front of her. I gently grasp her face in my hands. "So you are not hurt, right?"


    She smirked at my worried face and leaned her head on my palms, feeling safe in them. "I wouldn''t mind being splashed a couple times more just to see you make this face."


    I shook my head and smiled. "You are being silly, the last thing I would want is you being hurt."


    Her gaze caught my eyes and a mischievous glint appeared in them.


    "Mag, you haven''t told anyone about me, have you?" I asked her in a serious tone.


    "Of course not," Maggy answered without missing a beat.


    I then gave her a deep one-armed hug and I put my other arm behind my back. I took out a knife which I held in my lower back. And keep my arm behind my back.


    "I see."


    *Slash*


    Then I quickly slashed her throat.


    Blood spilled out of her throat, her eyes wide as she looked at me in shock, betrayal, and sadness with a smidgen of anger... it seems like she is in shock... oh well...


    I ready my knife again.


    *stab*


    And I stab again in her eye socket and twist it... killing her.


    I was not going to leave any loose ends. Maybe the chance might have been low due to the love she held for me¡­ but why take the risk?


    ....

 Chapter 5 - 5

    Chapter 5


    Title: Fight of the Flower Knights!


    ¡­.


    Looking at Maggy''s dead body my hand went towards a small pouch in my waist and I took out a cloth and started cleaning the short blade that I had used to kill Maggy.


    Her dead eyes were still open in shock and seemed to stare out into open space. If it wasn''t for the slit throat and the slow coming paleness of her face, one could have mistaken her for alive.


    ''Maybe she was alive?'' I wondered but knew that Blood Magic was dangerous and in this world, people could be revived.


    I knew the woman down in front of me would never see the light of day again. Her death would be absolute, and her body would be burnt. I wasn''t taking any chances on the matter.


    None of that mattered now, but what did matter was my next step. Should I go to the Vale? There would be Eddard Stark and Robbert Baratheon, it would be good to meet the young men soon to establish a good relationship.


    No, it would be too soon to do something like that, this year wouldn''t be the best either. So instead, I should go South. I need to go south to The Reach, the place where knights prance around in Tourneys. Will have to win me some glory there too before I start enacting a main plan to power.


    Also, the Reach is the place where if a couple of people went missing, no one would notice. After all, everyone is distracted by the tourneys. Having learned the most theoretical part of Blood Magic, now I need to get down to the practical part, and that requires the sacrifice of life and flesh. Something that I wasn''t willing to do in this place, after all, Tywin isn''t a good target to get on the bad side of.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    -General POV-


    The first detour he took was to the Riverlands, after all, that was the place where his father''s banner''s rested. He would never call the place home, but it still was the land that he knew the best. Arthur knew the people here, they were all a little not learned in his eyes, fighting for a land that will always be in the middle of the conflict. If the small folk knew of the lands outside their villages then they would go and live in the Reach, where food is plenty and no real war will take place on their lands. Unlike the Riverlands, where every single major war had ruined the lands.


    Still, though, the political side of things and the suffering of people other than him didn''t matter. Though if they were his people, then he wouldn''t let them suffer, because who knew when the next war came around¡­ or a revolution. Being needlessly cruel to those below you was stupid.


    People in power could never understand how the weak fought. That was the weakness that Arthur wanted to avoid at all costs. Thankfully, in his previous life, he always had been at the bottom of society. Only due to his shrewdness was he able to climb up the social ladder.


    As he rode toward a walled city, he smiled. "C''mon boys, we have arrived at Stoney Sept."


    Arthur lets his men go and rest while calling over the healer. "Let''s go to a tavern. There has to be some news about the happenings around here."


    The healer Lyon nodded and came with him. "Yes, m''lord."


    "No need to speak like the small folk here and no need to call me lord either," Arthur said as he walked in tow with his healer. Usually why he had his subordinates talk with small folk so no bandits would attack them at full power. After all, not only do Lords have riches, but they also had trained men. So anyone attacking those kinds of people would be able to kill Arthur''s entourage without difficulty.


    But while in cities, he didn''t like his subordinates usually calling him Lord. Because that would attract all different kinds of attention, plus it wasn''t like bandits were forbidden in town. Most of them were unknown since they killed anyone who saw them. Also seeing some Lord with so few guards might give men enough bravery to attack him for his riches.


    Still, though, he entered the tavern and acted as if he belonged there. "Can I get a mug of ale and a chicken?"


    "Yes sir-" he waved the serving girl off before she could say anything anymore. He knew that while most inns worked like normal inns, the real profit came from the prostitution on the side. Usually, the owner''s daughter or wife would spread her legs for some no-name knight that might visit this place.


    It wasn''t a good life, so what? At least they earn some money from this instead of the knight breaking his daughter''s face and then raping her.


    The world wasn''t kind, Arthur knew that. So living in this world as a good man is like playing a game in hell mode. There was no place for needless kindness. Though stupid cruelty was also not a smart thing, you don''t want people to hate you so much that they would give their lives to kill you.


    Still, though, Arthur amongst all the noise around him concentrated on any useful news the men were talking about.


    "Didn''t you hear? Some men have been forming a bandit group around here. The Lord has declared that he will capture them before the Night''s Watch comes around in the next cycle," said one of the men in the tavern. His hoity voice showed that he was drunk.


    "Seems like the Night''s Watch will get its new group of thrives and rapists."


    "Well, Lord Smallwood doesn''t have a lot of time for that, a week at best."


    "Peh! They are just some bandits in rags and kitchen knives, I doubt they could even last a day against well-armed knights."


    "So what? Even a knight in full armor can be killed with a kitchen knife if the blade stabs in the right place!"


    Hearing this Arthur immediately thought of adjusting his plans. But that wasn''t a desirable outcome. Also, he planned to have some Blood Rituals done soon, he couldn''t dwindle around here anymore.


    Still, though, he knew when a dangerous situation was about and how to dodge these pitfalls in life. After all, if he went and recklessly traveled, just one wrong move and he would die. Unlike movies where enemies attack one by one, in reality, they all attacked at once and humans didn''t have eyes on the back of their heads. Even the best swordsman could be killed by four competent men. They don''t even have to be good at using weapons, just be competent with them.


    That''s why Arthur had plans for a Blood Ritual to be made soon. Because while it wouldn''t make him someone unbeatable, he hoped that this would help him at least not die a dumb death for some dumb reason. Like a drunk farmer suddenly butchering him with a pitchfork.


    Still though, with these thoughts in mind. Arthur couldn''t just roll over and let things happen slowly. After all, there were benefits to be had here.


    "Excuse me, good sirs," Arthur interfered to two of the men talking on a table in a slurred manner. Showing that they were drunk already. They looked at him with annoyance, but Arthur''s friendly smile seemed to wash away any annoyance they might have. Or maybe it was the nasty long sword on his back?


    "Sorry for interrupting your drinks. I will buy you two mugs of ale as compensation." He half-heartedly apologized while offering them men new drinks.


    This made the rugged-looking me smile a little. "That''s good of yah."


    "I guess polite men aren''t a thing of legend anymore." Said the other man, while this one seemed rugged too, as Arthur looked closer he noticed that this man had experience dealing with nobles.


    "What can I say? Momma raised me to be polite to strangers. Who knew, maybe they would be polite to you too," Arthur mentioned. "If the good people of the seven aren''t here to help each other out. Then this world would surely be a bleaker place."


    "Hahahaha, ya right there lad," said the drunk rugged man.


    "Well, so can you be polite to me for another two mugs of ale. I am sure the serving girl can accommodate." Arthur smiled. "I am quite curious about these new bandits and how the town planned to deal with it. Did the Lord say anything about it?"


    The other less rugged drunk man chucked. "Lords? They couldn''t give a rat''s arse for


    happens down here. Those Lords think of themselves so high in the sky that they can''t even see the little folk like us. Sometimes it''s good for certain businesses."


    "And small-time bandits like this thrive on these blinded Lords, right?" Jokingly added Arthur, making the men chuckle. "Still though, I heard that some kind of local militia was being formed to combat the bandits. What''s that about?"


    "Oh, you know, the town people have rallied together to kill the bandits. Still, though, I wouldn''t trust these two-bit people with forks to go about killing bandits. One of those scrums could get rid of the whole of them."


    Arthur chuckled at the mention of the joke. He knew that the man before him didn''t know shit about battles, yet had the balls to insult others. Small folks, no matter how untrained, can be dangerous once you put a sword in their hand. Anyone can be dangerous with a weapon though.


    ¡­


    It took about ten minutes for Arthur to get the information that he wanted out of the drunk man. It was quite tiring. But he needed the info so he wouldn''t go into any situation blindly.


    Going in without a strategy was what got people killed. But still, Arthur thought about what he should do when he thought about looking for a pet shop around here.


    It didn''t take long for him to find a pet shop, it had dogs, cats, owls, even ravens, and other birds.


    Arthur wasn''t interested in any other thing and instead looked for a hawk, one that he easily got. It was a normal brown color and nothing seemed special about it. Well, it didn''t need to be special for what Arthur had plans to do with it.


    He looked around and saw many beggars on the streets, something that wasn''t uncommon in any city. Especially in a medieval world like this, many war veterans were maimed and couldn''t support themselves.


    So Arthur, with a smile on his face approached the men. "Excuse me, I have a friend who is writing a book about war. He is willing to pay 10 coppers for any injured veteran of war, so who would be willing to take the offer? We even have bread, don''t  worry we will offer you all salt and bread as your guest rights."


    ¡­


    A couple of hours later and corpses of homeless men were skewered in the outskirts of the town, in an abandoned warehouse. Arthur had surveyed this place over a dozen times and even bribed some of the guards to be a little laxer on their patrols for the day and they could go and get some ale with the money he gave them.


    Arthur didn''t care about guest rights or any other tradition of a savage world. He would rather look after himself and make a situation beneficial by abusing these people''s naive following of tradition.


    The corpses were over a dozen and there was b?r?ly any light in the warehouse. A strange pattern had been drawn on the ground by using the blood of the corpses. It looked like a star with a reverse question mark in the middle with a circle encompassing them all.


    Arthur then put the hawk that he had put to sleep in the middle and whispered under his breath in a strange language.


    The blood then floated from the corpses, turning them all into empty husks, with no blood left in their bodies as it floated away from their cut necks.


    The blood all floated towards the hawk and seemingly got absorbed by the creature, which turned slightly larder. Its feathers turned red and its beaks black as coal. The hawk''s eyes suddenly opened and they were white and looked at Arthur.


    This ability was similar to skin-changing, though Arthur didn''t have the talent for the Northern magic skill that was inborn in one in a thousand people. Still, though, that didn''t change anything for ambitious people like Arthur as an ability useful like this wouldn''t be able to escape his grasp.


    And once he opened his eyes¡­ Arthur''s smirk widened even further. Finally, he had something to call a special ability. A skill that could give him an advantage against other people and usable in a fight.


    ...


    -Arthur POV-


    I now have a Blood Animal Familiar. It wasn''t like your average animal companion, like the Stark''s dire wolves. This Blood Ritual allowing me to see from the hawk''s eyes is only a bonus because its real ability was something different.


    I concentrated and suddenly my vision changed, even though there was very little light around I could see through the cracks in the ceiling every detail on them.


    A hawk-like vision was my new ability. Nothing special, just enhanced vision to be as good as a hawk''s, maybe a little better. Now, this might not seem much but coupled with my archery, it becomes something incredible.


    I can''t measure exactly, but hawks can see small details in their prey even from 1.6 km (~1 mile) away. So pretty much, no bows in this age could even shoot that far, meaning within my zone I would be able to snipe people easily. Though I will need some practice first since I had never shot so far before.


    When a reliable accuracy chance is made, then the bow''s range around me will become a death zone for anyone who decided to attack with melee weapons.


    I was far from being invincible in battle or anything like that, but now I at least had some comfort at being able to kill some people and not be scared by some no-name bandits.


    Now I had something that gave me an advantage, especially seeing how many fighters the opponent had. Being able to see through the eyes of a hawk was useful too, even if it was just a side effect of the ritual.


    ¡­


    Three days later, and the bandits were all eliminated single-handedly by me, Arthur the Unbeatable. A title that would change as soon as I lost in battle, but something like that wouldn''t happen any time soon.


    After all, killing over twenty bandits by myself was quite the feat. Of course, people might be imagining some battle where I used skills never seen before. But the reality of it was that I picked them up one by one, killing them from a distance with guerrilla warfare. Never even meeting one of them in close combat.


    Of course, the bards sang about my legendary skills with a sword and how I slid the bandits that way¡­ which is perfect for me. Because the fewer people know about my skill set, the better it is.


    Also while experimenting, I discovered many things about my new ability. And it was way more useful than something like Flame Resistance, which is rarely ever useful.


    But my [Hawk Eye] ability could be used in every situation. Even close combat allowed me to see better and react faster due to how I catch on small visual hints before an attack even happened. A twitch of the shoulder armor is enough to show me how and where the slash will go.


    Still needs some work to stop myself from reacting to feint attacks too. But that will take some time to get at such a level. Still though, one on one, I doubt attacks will take me by surprise. Everything would be within my sight. Still, arrogance has been many people''s downfall, so I don''t wanna be one of those losers too arrogant to recognize my mistakes.


    I understand that I am nowhere near invincible and can easily be countered if not careful. But for my fighting style, these abilities are way better than Fire Resistance of the Targaryens.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    -General POV-


    In the Reach, a place known for its big yields in food and a huge army. Mace, the Lord Paramount of the Reach looked with excitement at the tourney grounds. He had heard Arthur Frey had come to participate in the tourney and that was something big.


    Recently the man had been to the Hightower and visited the Citadel. The Unbeatable Arthur, they say that no matter what fight, no matter the numbers, Arthur Frey would win. That title still stood strong, meaning that the man still hadn''t lost in a fight, he had built something like a legendary reputation.


    "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AFTER THE AXE THROWING WE HAVE THE MELEE!!" The announcer yelled out.


    Everyone looked at the fields and tried to spot a shield with a red hawk on it. And there it was, in a confident stride, a fully armored Arthur Frey came up. He looked at the stand Mace Tyrell and the Lord Paramount waved excitedly like a young child meeting his superhero in real life.


    "Pipe down you buffoon." Said Olenna, looking at her son in disappointment. "Stop making yourself look like a fool. You are a Lord Paramount, not some maid who wants to get on the sheets with a knight."


    Mace flushed in embarrassment and sat down with a shameful look. This made Olenna snort in annoyance once again, she wished her son at least had a backbone to fight back against her. But he didn''t have that either.


    ''What a disappointment.'' Thought the old Queen of Thorns. Normally she wouldn''t attend tourneys, she found them boring, to be honest. Yet, this tourney had a special person joining in. She couldn''t help but contemplate about such a man. ''The Undefeated, the Bloody Hawk, they call him many names. Except for Frey, it was as if he wanted to distance himself from the family, so what''s his goal? What''s he reaching at? Ever since he had come to the Reach, he hasn''t even entered a brother once. One might suspect that he would be into men, but in The Reach, there were brothels for that too. Yet he didn''t enter those either.''


    Arthur Frey was quite a dilemma to Olenna Tyrell. He was building a fortune by winning tourneys, one after the other. Some even joked that as long as he was in a Tourney, then it was better to aim for 2nd place. 1st place was already stamped for the undefeated man.


    Still though, that fortune, where was it going? Even while he had been in the Reach, Olenna had no idea where Arthur''s money went. Normally a man who lived by the sword would be wasting his gold in feasts and women. Yet he wasn''t¡­


    At the same time, by now Arthur had earned so much gold that he couldn''t just keep bringing it around with him sneakily. But that was it, even in the Reach where Olenna had many spies on Alex all day and night, there was no strange behavior that saluted to him annexing his gold somewhere.


    Olenna had contemplated asking the Iron Bank if maybe Arthur hid his gold there. But she knew that would be a fool''s errand since the Braavos Bank would never sell their clients out, or else their reputation would be ruined. That would also ruin their business and no one would want to make deals with them.


    ¡­


    On the other hand, as Olenna was thinking those thoughts, Arthur was inside the wooden colosseum-like structure. Where he and another nineteen men were in full armor and ready to bash each other.


    Arthur had a shield with a red hawk on a green and black field painted on it and a normal one-handed sword which was a little on the heavy side. His armor also seemed normal, and the only thing that seemed out of place was just how clean it was. The armor seemed to reflect the sun''s rays like a mirror.


    Of course, this just perfectly would hinder Arthur''s opponents when they fought against him. No one would believe that he did it intentionally, and if anyone said otherwise, people would refute them as Arthur was known through the lands as a knight of honor.


    This all fit Arthur''s agenda. He had helped people all around the seven kingdoms and even hunted down bandits for free. If anyone tried to refute that, then they would be outed as liars. After all, they couldn''t silence so many villages and towns that he had helped.


    Of course, Arthur never did anything that didn''t benefit him in some ways. The bandit hunts done in the name of the Seven and Justice were just another one of those things. Since no one seemed to question where the bandit''s corpses went. Due to this, Arthur always had some sacrifices on hand for his Blood Magic.


    "Begin!!" Yelled out the announcer, causing the crowd to cheer in happiness and the knights in the ground to start moving.


    Everyone got ready to look at Arthur, who was the biggest threat in the Tourney. But sadly for them, he had already moved to fight the knight closest to him.


    Arthur hit the knight''s hand with the wide part of his sword, causing the man to drop his weapon.


    Baam!!


    In that split second that the other knight was in pain, Arthur used his shield and bashed the man''s head, that even due to his helmet, it knocked the man down. He then kicked the knight''s sword away and went to his next enemy.


    Arthur saw a man approaching him and was grateful that these fights in Tourneys had the unspoken rule to not attack someone when they were already fighting an enemy. This rule was especially withheld in the Reach, after all, it would be an unknightly thing to do. That was why many Lords called Tourneys a knight''s playing war. Especially since rarely anyone died at these events.


    The second knight came running at Arthur full of ferocity, and he swung the sword. Arthur knew that if he tried to block it with his shield, then his arm would swell due to the strength of the hit. So in the split second, he sidestepped and as the weapon slashed in front of him, he used his sword with all the strength he could muster and hit the sword of the man who had slashed the ground.


    Clang!


    The other knight''s sword flew away, Arthur''s power was quite something to behold at this time as he trained by modern techniques and had a relatively modern diet. Both meat and vegetables were needed for him to get this kind of muscle strength. As he traveled, he bought quite some chickens from the farmers and hunted a lot of rabbits too.


    The fight wasn''t over so Arthur got ready to hit with the blunt side of his sword the man''s whose weapon flew away.


    But the man put his hands up and hurriedly said. "I surrender!"


    Arthur looked around and saw ten people were still left in the Melee Tourney. They each picked a fight against one person honorably. This was pretty much common courtesy, so fighters didn''t gang up on one man and weren''t staged. Staging a fight in this Tourney would be the same as spitting on the Tyrell''s face, so no one would do something like that.


    All these analytical thoughts went on in Arthur''s head, his body moved instinctively as he could see even the smallest of movements with his eyes and predicted where the next move would come from.


    Arthur''s next opponent was a man in full heavy and bulky parkour. Immediately Arthur could tell that the guy in front of him was an amateur, having this much weight during a fight while good for defense, it would tire you out way too quickly.


    During these Tourneys, Arthur mostly wore different kinds of chainmail. They were lighter and generally better for these kinds of situations, after all, this wasn''t a real war. Just some men fighting, and there was no need for heavy armor.


    "You seem tired already. Maybe you should take a rest?" Arthur mocked his opponent. Trying to agitate him.


    Arthur loved his eyesight, normally people wouldn''t be able to tell who was tired under all that armor. But with his eagle-like vision, he could see even the smallest details from the cracks of the armor and rigid movements.


    "Shut the hell up!" Yelled the man in anger, as he charged at Arthur. But the latter easily dodged the man''s swing and used his own momentum to trip his opponent.


    Arthur then pointed his sword between the crack of the armor of his downed opponent.


    "I give up." Said the man hurriedly.


    ''The Reach really has some wimpy flower knights.'' Arthur couldn''t help but contemplate.


    Arthur then looked at the other people left and immediately dropped his shield and pulled out another sword. Now, this has become a five-way fight. He needed to be going all out during this, and not concerning himself with defense too much.


    He immediately went on the offensive against another knight and he slashed at him with one sword. The knight blocked the slash with his shield but Arthur used that single second that the opponent was concentrating on blocking the initial slash. Then Arthur pointed his other sword at the man''s throat from the space between his armor and helmet.


    The other three men left looked at Arthur and then another one charged at him, ready to slash and dice. Arthur dropped one of his swords and stepped sideways. Then he grabbed his sword with both hands and used it like a baseball bat.


    Baaam!!


    He hit the man''s helmet, denting it and knocking his opponent out cold.


    Arthur could hear the crowd cheering for him.


    "Amazing!!!"


    "The strongest knight!!"


    "WoOhOo!!"


    Normally people would be distracted by the yells, but Arthur didn''t mind them and looked to use the yells to his advantage.


    He looked at the other two knights who were fighting amongst themselves and could immediately see critical flaws in them.


    Arthur was able to determine that the one with the light armor was going to lose. He didn''t have any experience fighting against armored men.


    By his estimation, to Arthur, the knights in this region were probably the weakest in the Seven Kingdoms.


    ''They really are just flower knights.'' Thought Arthur. ''They look good but are shit at fighting.''


    Arthur then found his shield and picked it up.


    After their battle was over, the armored knight came towards Arthur at a slow pace and he seemed to be careful.


    But Arthur ran towards him and feinted a slash he brought up his shield but, instead of slashing, he used his shield to ram into his opponent.


    Bang!


    The opponent fell to the ground and Arthur could see his opponent was immediately about to throw his shield on Arthur''s face but he used his feet to step on the man''s hands and pointed his sword at his opponent''s throat.


    "And the winner, My Lords and Ladies is... ''The Undefeated'' Arthur Frey!!!" Yelled out the announcer excitedly. The crowd went wild, but Arthur zoned them out. He had just earned 900 Gold Dragons from the Meele, and another 300 from the Archery Competition.


    Arthur acted like he didn''t care about the money and looked at Mace Tyrell and Olenna. They had their own stand with the best view of the Tourney.


    He could feel the old woman''s eyes look at him like a predator who was stalking his prey.


    The first thoughts that came to Arthur''s mind when he saw the Queen of Thorns were. ''What a dangerous woman.''


    ¡­


    A/N: Arthur ain''t some mythical fighter who can defeat his enemy with one slash. Instead, the fights are grittier and more realistic, as each fight, for them to end fast there needed to be a strategic win for Arthur and also a decisive blow. Still, though, he is planning something and Olenna has caught on to him that something was strange.


    P.S: Though Arthur is having a modern diet and exercise, this makes him strong for someone his size (by medieval standards). But it doesn''t make him someone as strong as the mountain physically.


    P.P.S: His Hawk-like vision is good in close quarters to combat too. And he isn''t helpless either, and has abilities that would give him a huge advantage. Especially his ability to look through the eyes of his hawk. This way he can tell how many people his enemy had and where they were moving.. Of course these abilities weren''t given, and he wasn''t born with them, instead Arthur earned these abilities by himself and his hard work.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    Title: Unlimited Scam Work...


    ....


    -Arthur (V)-


    After my victory, I was invited to the feast. This whole Tourney and celebration were being held for some Tyrell that was born recently.


    The chubby  Lord next to me continued rambling to my ear about something that I didn''t care about.


    I knew from canon that he will only keep getting fatter and fatter as he gets older. That was Mace Tyrell, the big oaf.


    "You know Ser. Arthur, you were amazing out there. I have never seen someone with such skill and chivalry," said the stupid oaf, even the way he spoke showed his stupidity. The person who is talking to me right now is a twenty-year-old Mace Tyrell.


    The guy just keeps talking endlessly about useless stuff but I just drone him out most of the time. Plus it is not bad to have a friend like him.


    "Thank you for the compliment Lord Tyrell, and I would like you to call me Arthur, even though we just met I feel like we have been long-time friends." I smiled at him in a friendly manner, it''s good to have friends like him. Who knew when they could one day be useful.


    He smiled like a dumbass at my words, and I smiled back. From an outside perspective, it would seem like this was the making of best friends.


    Olenna looked at me like a hawk. "How is your supper? My oaf son seems to enjoy it."


    "It''s very good my lady," I answered politely, but Olenna wasn''t as smart as she thought. Insulting her son like this makes her seem powerful, that''s true, but it also showed who was in charge. That was the problem, Mace Tyrell wasn''t a man who you should follow, everyone knew that. If the Tarly went into a revolt, who would win? That''s a good question, something that would be unknown.


    But the answer would be certain if Olenna was to suddenly die. She is already an old woman, and death was always just around the corner for people of her age.


    "Heh, I am no lady anymore." Joked Olenna at me calling her ''my lady''.


    "Yet we all call you so," a smile adorned my face. "I wonder why that is?"


    "Well, well, aren''t you a smart boy?" She asked, looking at me like a hawk.


    But my smile didn''t falter. "Thanks for the compliment, my lady."


    "It wasn''t a compliment." She clarified, and I knew that calling me a ''smart boy'' was her way of being demeaning.


    Olenna was trying to get a rise out of me and figure out what kind of person I was. But sadly for her, that won''t be happening. Who cared what people called me? I wasn''t some silly Lord with a silly mustache, like her weak son.


    "Well, it wasn''t an insult either. Because it only becomes an insult depending on how I take it," deciding to clear up some things I went on. "What people say isn''t important, it doesn''t matter. Actions do."


    After saying that, I pulled out a kitchen knife used to cut the meat and stabbed it on the table. The smile on my face and the loud music stopped anyone from hearing what we were talking about. So they ?ssumed that we were just joking or something along those lines.


    "Was that a threat?" Asked Olenna, her face growing colder.


    I shrugged. "As I said before, my intentions don''t matter. What do you interpret it as, my lady?"


    "I am not your lady, boy!" said Olenna, a little anger slipped through in her voice. No one had probably talked to her like this. Especially someone with such a low standing as myself. "Also what matters here is when my guards bash your head in the ground, should I tell them to stop or not?"


    The confident smirk was back on her face as she looked at me with a condescending look.


    "Well, you wouldn''t be able to tell them to stop. Or say anything at all for that matter, I am currently sitting at the head of the table with you and your son. I could slaughter you, your son, his wife, and his children. Before any guard could even pull out their swords I probably would have killed most of the Tyrell family by then," my smile widened. "The Tyrell house would enter a civil war to decide who would be the successor amongst the survivors, and at the end, a Tarly would take over. Yes, you could give the order, but your family would be destroyed. Let me give you some advice Lady Tyrell, don''t try to intimidate madmen, religious men, or men who are way too dangerous and with many secrets. It could end badly for you, and House Tyrell. Those kinds of people will drag you into their level, and you can''t win at their game."


    "Heh, that was quite a speech there," she dismissed my words. "I think you shouldn''t participate in Tourneys in the Reach. Who knows¡­ accidents in these kinds of sports happen very often. Even a skilled man like you could meet his end in an unfortunate incident."


    Oh~ she is threatening me. It seems like I have unnerved her more than I thought. Maybe the possibility of me having the power to single-handedly end the Tyrell house at this moment was a shock to her. Because she knew that it was the truth.


    Who could stop me in an instant close by? Her oaf son who can''t even hold a sword right? No, I would slaughter them all before the guards could even react. Also even then, there was a small chance of survival if I jumped from the balcony to the river down below Highgarden.


    Just because someone is called Lord or Lady doesn''t suddenly make them invincible. Even though it gives the illusion of being so sometimes. But that''s it, it''s just an illusion, people die what they are killed. That''s a fact of the world. Even Kings die like common men.


    "Welp, that''s quite late to learn such a thing, Lady Olenna. But a wise man once said that life is a learning experience." I said while getting up from the table and walking off. One look at Olenna was enough to stop her from doing anything stupid like send guards at me while I was away from public eyes. While she was very politically smart, she didn''t know brash men of war can be. They don''t give a sh*t about her logic.


    After that whole ordeal with Olenna, I decided to walk around a little. Mace Tyrell just became a useless friend because Olenna had his claws in him. He would be more useful if he was dead, but sadly I can''t go around killing him and it would be too hard.


    But as I walked on the outskirts of the party where there were only some sleeping drunk servants, amongst them was a pretty woman wearing an expensive dress and nice jewelry. She had brown hair and green eyes that stuck out, damn, these inbreed noble ladies are good-looking.


    When was the last time I laid with a woman? Right¡­ ever since Maggie, I don''t think I laid with anyone else. Kinda forgot about and lost such things once the amazing Blood Magic came around. Even s?x seemed something secondary in comparison to such power.


    By her wine glass and slouched appearance, the woman wasn''t in a good mood. Also judging by her clothing she was some Noble Lady or a Lord''s daughter. A pretty one too, so probably the wife or daughter of a powerful Lord.


    If my memory serves me right, this should be Lady Oakheart or the Lord''s sister. I believe she should have already been married to some knight that served her house.


    Well, whatever, it doesn''t matter. "Hello there, my Lady. You shouldn''t stay here with degenerates, let me escort you back to your family."


    The woman looked at me, and by the look in her eyes, I could instantly tell that she was drunk. In my 1st life, one had to learn to notice when someone was drunk, they would say many things and are easier to¡­ persuade.


    "Huh? Who the hell are you?" She asked, her face showed anger but her words seemed curious. A true lady, trained to hide her real thoughts, sadly that didn''t work once she was drunk.


    Judging by her demeanor, something is annoying her. In a party like this with Nobles and pretty maids around, it''s easy to guess what was happening. Probably her husband was messing around with a maid or some other Noble Lady.


    This woman would be better to do it with than some maid because servants can''t help but talk. But this noblewoman won''t speak or spread any rumors about me¡­ even if this night ended up with a child in her belly. She would just claim that it was her husband''s kid, especially since my features of dark hair and eyes were very common.


    "My name is Robert, nice to meet you, my lady. How is your husband doing?" I asked, intentionally guiding the conversation towards her husband. That immediately put a sour look on her face.


    "Damn it!" She banged her fist on the edge of the balcony. "What is so good about some peasant maid with rough hands?!! That damn idiot!"


    "Yes, he must be the idiot of idiots," I agreed with her. She looked at me in surprise as our faces got closer. "To not recognize your beauty, the greatest fool indeed. A maid could never even compare to you. I would kill a hundred maids to just kiss you."


    She looked me in the eyes and smirked. "Let me take you somewhere¡­ a place where we can have our privacy.


    Ahhh~ married and jealous women are so easy to get into bed with. Say some lie that makes them feel special and then they will easily fall in your hands. Welp, a pretty married woman so young is easy to find in these times. If I give her a child, could I use that as blackmail against her in the future?


    ¡­


    ¡­


    -Normal POV-


    One year had passed since Arthur''s Tourney in the Reach. Since then, he decided to move away. He might have said a lot of words in front of Olenna, but he wasn''t stupid to take a threat from her lightly. Though he liked for people to fear him to keep them in line, he also loved his life way more than that.


    Olenna was a dangerous woman with The Reach at her fingertips. So threatening her and staying in her house would be an invitation to disaster.


    So he did the logical thing and he decided to go to other lands that he had planned. That being the Vale, he had just arrived at the castle of House Arryn.


    Since Arthur was now eighteen, he couldn''t help but smile a little. His body had grown up quite a bit due to his good and nutritious lifestyle and regular exercise.


    ''Right, I forgot about the serving girl I took to bed yesterday.'' Thought Arthur as he pushed away the woman leaning on him and got up. As soon as he did so, his mind immediately wandered toward his plans.


    He wasn''t in the Vale to compete in any Tourneys, though the place had a lot of knights, the Vale didn''t have as many Tourneys as the Reach or Westerlands had. But that didn''t matter Arthur had come here to make friends with Robert Baratheon. This was a good investment that could have amazing returns.


    Though the plan had a few hiccups, as Arthur had just arrived in the Vale and Robert wasn''t here, and neither was Jon Arryn. The latter had a meeting in Gulltown and had taken his two proteges with him.


    Soon he should be able to meet with Jon Arryn. Though this had been a little bad luck, Arthur was glad that while they were coming here no Mountain Clansmen attacked him.


    Though these days waiting for them hadn''t been boring. Plenty of beautiful girls in the Eyrie, both noble and common. At least his reputation as a Knight helped get access to both kinds of girls quite easily. There were even some v?r??n girls amongst them. Their future husbands will be having a field day on their wedding night. Why? Because Arthur just taught their wives tricks from the modern world.


    "Leon!" Arthur called out to his healer. As if the man had been waiting behind the door, he immediately came in.


    "Yes, m''lord. The usual?" He asked.


    Arthur frowned as he and his healer walked off the room. Leaving the sleeping girl behind. "What was the name of the girl?"


    The personal healer cleared his throat and started to explain. "She is a high born girl, her mother recently-"


    "I don''t care about her life story, Leon. I need her name¡­ just her last name." Arthur didn''t care about the girl''s life, he already knew some of it from drowning out the girl''s conversation last night. Acting like he was listening to her troubles had already allowed him to pick up some things about the girl.


    "It''s Hersy, I believe. A high-"


    "Okay, then that''s enough." Arthur interrupted him again as they went to the kitchens to get some food. "Wait, doesn''t she have a sister too?"


    "Yeah, I believe so," confirmed Leon.


    "Heh, her sister had nicer t?ts." He said casually. Thinking back on a blonde figure that vaguely resembled the woman he had slept with last night. "Also get 105 Silver Stags for each of the men, you included. Today is payday."


    Leon smiled, working for Arthur was good. What a common folk would make in half a year, they made in one week. So it was quite good. Of course, none of them knew that Arthur paid them so well because he wanted them to become the best meat shields they could be. After all, he wasn''t arrow proof.


    Though he never said it out loud, Arthur''s current wealth wasn''t something too big. He had about 2200 Gold Dragons available for his plans. He had fought in over 20 Tourneys, but most of them had the reward of a hundred Gold Dragons or less. Only big families hold grand Tourneys with rewards above 500 Gold Dragons. So thinking about it now, back in the show when Robbert wanted a Tourney with the winner rewarded 50,000 Gold Dragons¡­ Arthur could understand why Ned Stark at the time considered it outrageous.


    Still, though, 2000 Gold Dragons were enough to buy a small castle. But at the same time, this was wealth that many people would consider worth risking their lives for. Also, the Tourneys were public, so there wasn''t a way to hide his income from determined people. Hell, Arthur sometimes suspected that some of his men might mutiny if he didn''t use sweet words to dissuade them. By now though, he didn''t keep his wealth on himself. Instead, he had his hawk pick up small pouches and hide them in certain places where no human would ever go to, and even if they wanted, they couldn''t.


    Though even through all this, Arthur made sure to use flowered words and promises of wealth that kept his men very satisfied. That way he could use them as sacrifices in case of an emergency.


    "M''lord!" Suddenly a servant rushed into the kitchens and rushed towards Arthur. "Lord Arryn has arrived."


    Arthur smirked. Having a good relationship with the servants was quite useful.


    ¡­


    -Arthur (VI)-


    It didn''t take long to get invited to some drinking party. Some woman that was flirting with Robert told me about it.


    "Cheers to Arthur ''The Undefeated''! The Red Hawk! They have so many names for you Fray. They say that you have never lost a fight since you were born, even during training against squires twice your age you defeated them." Said Robert in a jovial mood as he slapped my shoulder.


    I smiled at him. "What can I say. Titles seem to breed more titles."


    "Bah! You humble f¨´ck! Act at least a little proud or you will make me feel like a god damn¡­" it seemed like the future Fat King was about to say something. But he turned around and almost threw up. "Anyway, what were we talking about again?"


    He slapped my shoulder again, and I had to stop myself from wincing. Though Robert was doing this playfully, his strength was unmistakable. This drunk guy was pretty strong, I must admit that.


    Welp, time to fake drink something and become fake drunk.


    ¡­


    Two hours later and everyone was a little hammered, even the ones who didn''t usually drink. Jon Arryn seemed a little tipsy too.


    "Well, what can I say, Rob? I am just that good." I answered him with a drunken arrogant smirk on my face. "The baddest man in this world. I am undefeated!! Float like a bu??erfly, sting like a bee~"


    "Heh, so your ego comes out when you drink. Well, it happens to the best of us." Robert smiled back, his face flushed from drinking the same amount as four men. "Really wanna try then? I bet I will break your record in no time."


    I made a face like I swallowed a lemon and put my head on the table. "Listen Rob y -y -you are drunk that is unfair for me to fight you like that."


    And that is a lie I have been sipping on my 5th glass of wine but I have been spilling all of them under the table. I was not dumb enough to dull my senses in a world like Game of Thrones. If someone had my knowledge of the story and still got drunk then they should just slit their throats instead.


    He then pointed a shaking finger toward me. It''s a goddamn miracle he wasn''t dead by the time cannon came around, by the amount he usually drank.


    "Y -You are drunk too," reasoned Robert in a drunken manner while stuttering away.


    My eyes widened as if I just had a big revelation. "O -Oh yeah you are right... W -Well then let''s go outside and fight."


    I went outside, the guards gave me a blunt sword and a shield. They also give Robert a light metal hammer without spikes.


    Looking at the audience, I could see them snickering at us. Some people even seemed to want and see me lose this battle, breaking my legend of being undefeated.


    "H -Hey does anyone wanna bet? I will take all bets against me!" Saying so resolutely, I spread my arms and mentioning them to come at me.


    By the end, the people who knew Robert and of his monstrous strength, all together bet 800 Gold Dragons against me.


    Well, it is pretty logical on their part. After all, a drunk guy can''t dodge very well and Robert has the advantage of strength against me. I was known for my technique, which wouldn''t be any good in a drunk state.


    Oh boy, they are about to get scammed so hard~


    Jon Arryn, the white-haired man in his early elderly age came towards us. He just rubbed his eyes, probably having heard what had happened already. "Ok, I, Jon Arryn as Lord Paramount of The Vale I will be the judge."


    I could see the small smirk on his face which was filled with anticipation on who would win. Ok, now I was sure that Jon Arryn had a little too much to drink.


    Allowing us to fight while drunk and all that didn''t seem like him at all. He also said his title... it must be a habit.


    "Begin!" He yelled out of nowhere, without even counting down.


    Robert rushed at me without even a second thought in his mind. Swinging his hammer like a madman towards my head. He wanted to bash my skull on the ground, and the man was pretty fast too.


    Still, though, he wasn''t fast enough as I jumped back, dodging the hammer swipe easily.


    "Woah! Even while drunk, look at that perfect form," said one of the spectators while he pointed at me.


    "Ugh!" Robber grunted and swiped his hammer at me from overhead, this time I easily sidestepped and as the hammer landed on the ground. I stepped on the hammer, making Robert unable to pull it up.


    *Baam!*


    Then I bashed his head in with my shield. Blood came out of his nose as he fell to the ground, unconscious.


    "Well, I just became 800 Gold Dragons richer." Now I had 3000 Gold Dragons in total. That means having the buying power of around 30,000,000 Dollars. Damn, I love medieval societies, the small fold work and I just become richer.


    I looked at my earning.


    *hiccup*


    Still with my act on, after all, couldn''t have other people know that the righteous knight Arthur was out here scamming rich kids out of their money.


    "L -Leave my earnings in a pouch. At the side of the ring, I am not done yet," after announcing that, my gaze wandered toward the people around. A plan formed on my head.


    "W -Woah.." I suddenly stumbled and fell on my bu??, like a drunk who could b?r?ly stand up.


    I then looked at the gray-eyed young man helping Robert get up. "How about you Ned wanna give it a try? I will again take all the bets that are placed against me!"


    "What no way he beat Lord Robert so easily! I am not betting again!" Said a guy from the audience.


    "Are you crazy? Lord Stark is completely sober and he is a good fighter as good as Lord Baratheon. No matter how good Arthur is, I don''t believe he can beat Lord Stark drunk." Argued another audience member.


    Oh, thank you, random guy.


    Eddard frowned a little at the situation in front of him.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7


    Title: And the Nobel Prize Goes to...


    ...


    -Arthur (VIII)-


    Eddard looked around and didn''t know whether to fight me or not. But by now I had the hearts of the audience set aflame, they had already lost quite some money against me. They wanted to at least see my face bashed in a little.


    "C''mon Stark! Break that drunk''s face!"


    "Just look at that smug look! His face is pretty much begging to be punched!"


    "Go Stark! I just bet all my savings on you!"


    "I did the same!!"


    "Me too!"


    The crowd yelled out for a fight, they wanted it. People like this, with their blood had gone to their head, we''re easy to point in the direction I wanted.


    Eddard felt the peer pressure and walked forward after I did some gestures for him to come. He whispered something under his breath, but I didn''t pay attention to it as my eyes were on the money pile that had been bet against me.


    The healer in my group held up five fingers once he saw me looking in his direction. Meaning that I would get 500 Gold Dragons if I won this fight


    *Clang!*


    My shield fell on the ground as if it had slipped out of my fingers by accident. C''mon people! Can''t you see how ''drunk'' I am? Bet some more money.


    "O -Oops sorry, it slipped out of my hand," I sheepishly apologized and went to pick up my shield.


    Ned looked at this with a strange look on his face. "I don''t think it would be honorable to count this as a duel Lord Arthur."


    He was easy to read. Most likely he didn''t want to ruin my record of winning streaks, after all my fame would drop significantly if I lost as my whole gimmick was being unbeatable with the sword.


    Ahh~ it almost made me feel bad for using a guy like him. But sadly that''s how the world worked, usually, the good people would always be used by the bad. Well, I don''t make the rules on how reality works, I only abuse those rules.


    "H -Hey now Ned, no need with the f -formality, call me Arthur or just Ari for short. We are friends after all aren''t we?" I said to him while stuttering through my words. Acting drunk wasn''t hard, I just needed to think what I would do if my reasoning was lowered and the thought process hit the gutter.


    He smirked. "Yes, I guess we are friends. You can call me Ned too. Though you already seem to be doing so."


    I drunkenly smirked too and gave him a thumbs up. "W -Well we better start the fight before I piss myself."


    "Hahahaha¡­" Ned laughed, finding the situation funny. As his worries about my future seemed to disappear.


    "Begin!" Jon Arryn announced the start of the fight.


    Immediately after he said that I dropped my sword and shield on the ground before jumping into action.


    I ran towards him, and Ned slashed at me horizontally. But I ducked under his swing as low as I could. While running forward, Ned''s arms couldn''t move back fast enough to defend himself as he was holding into his sword. Also, he had never seen a situation like this, so his body couldn''t react in time as I extended my palm and pushed his chin while tangling my leg with his.


    I ended up sitting on his stomach, while his hand with the sword got squished by my leg. This made him unable to react as I did a stabbing motion toward him¡­ but then I looked at my empty hand.


    "Ah, right, I dropped my weapon..." I said jokingly and waved my hand around. Though as the fight wasn''t over, I looked at my hand and a look of realization drew on my face. "Oh well..."


    Baam!


    I punched Ned on the face, once, twice, and then he was knocked out. I felt a crunch while punching, did I break his nose?


    To finish my drunken act, I got up and started dancing and doing strange dance moves for this world. Like the moonwalk while singing around. "Another one bites the dust¡­"


    "Tu~ turu~ tun~" I even tried to make the beat of the song with my voice. But it didn''t sound well at all, and I noticed the people looking at me strangely.


    "Bahahaha~ look at him go! You''re an amazing singer!" Yelled out one of the audience members while he laughed along.


    "Hey man! I lost money to that guy! Can you stop celebrating?" But some people had lost a lot of money so they weren''t in a good mood.


    "Well sorry for you being a dumbass bro. Bahahaha~" some others laughed at the man''s misfortune.


    "Yeah, a special kind of stupidity is needed to have the brain to bet in a drunk fight."


    The people who didn''t have the money to bet on these fights mocked the people who did have the money and lost it.


    After I do some more stupid stuff to sell it off as I was drunk. I looked around and mentioned towards the other people around me."So do I have any other challengers?"


    I rubbed my shoulder slightly and stretched, acting as though I didn''t say anything the fatigue was getting to me. Playing myself as an honorable man who doesn''t know what to stop fighting was the best play I could make to earn me some money.


    ¡­


    I had another twelve challengers that night, each of them lost against me and my money pile only grew larger as at the end I no longer needed to fake the signs of fatigue. Yet I still defeated every single drunk man that came to fight me that night, not even once did I lose. Heh, fighting drunk people truly was easier than expected.


    Even though I wasn''t a martial artist in my real life, some moves could still break even the strongest of knights. For example, one fight was settled with me grabbing my opponent''s hair. Once someone does that they can guide the body of the opponent wherever they want so it was illegal in all forms of fighting sports. But there were none of those rules out here in medieval times.


    The night though wasn''t very profitable after Ned as already most of the people had lost their money. Still, there were quite some winnings and I decided to spread a huge sum amongst my companions to keep them loyal.


    The men were overjoyed, after all, that is an astronomical amount of money for them. They could live the rest of their lives relatively easily in any village they might decide to settle on. But by now, I was sure that their loyalty to me was hard as steel and they would follow me along, after all, instead of ending up as some farmer by leaving now¡­ they could live like Lords.


    Using their greed to my advantage wasn''t hard. None of them had any experience dealing with someone like me.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Time passed and I had to leave the Vale. I couldn''t stay here forever. My ambitions wouldn''t end with just being a glorified bodyguard. Now I needed to start building my army because Magic was something amazing, it wasn''t necessarily too strong. Twenty well-armed knights could tear me apart with no difficulty if it came down to it. So that was why getting a big army was needed.


    In this place, I had a lot of fun with a lot of young girls. Also, fu*king some Noble girls who were fostered here in the Vale. Probably some bastards will start running around now, but none of that mattered.


    Every lord had their bastard children when they were young. But of course, when they got older, they acted like the kids didn''t exist. I haven''t decided what to do with mine yet. Maybe I will take them under my wings? Or maybe not? That''s debatable, but I knew for sure I won''t be like Ned and create drama in the family because of his ''bastard''.


    The women of this world were also easy to trick, I just had to act as their knight in shining armor and use some cliche lines from some books. After that, they just pretty much threw themselves at me to take their maiden hand (virginity) before they got married to some old man who probably won''t even be able to get it up.


    In the end, I had to do my duty as a knight to always help maidens in their time of need. My delving into Blood Magic also became heavier as I started delving deep into the Prophetic side and started reading people''s fates after they got drunk. Apparently one of my guards would die before me, so keeping him to my side would be a good idea.


    Though something creepy kept happening every time I used divination, usually I forgot the visions that I saw and they could be highly inaccurate or a metaphor. But something stood out when I decided to write my memories before forgetting them, this was my little loophole for the Magic. Yet¡­ all the writings had something written in them on top of that person''s fate. Like someone was sending me a warning through a prophecy?


    ''Beware of who the true players of the game are.''


    These thoughts all ran through my mind and I saw the giant statue of Bravos in the distance. The ship rocketed due to the wave and the small slip of paper that I had read hundreds of times slipped out of my fingers and landed into the water.


    It felt like the future me was sending me a warning. And even though the Giant of Essos stood before me, one of the biggest statues in this world. My eyes tracked into the paper that fell in the water.


    The limit of Blood Magic was that one could only read a person''s fate three times in their life, and if the Magic User revealed too much their blood vessels would erupt. So I always had to write in riddles, even to myself.


    It was a shame a Blood Mage can''t read his own fate, but this warning had put me on edge. Still though, I knew that worrying about such things was useless, as Prophecies aren''t necessarily unbreakable. So my decisions will be my own in the end. But taking that into account, Bravos should be a good place to start. My Tourney fighting days are now over, time to start playing for real.


    ''East shall be your ghost''s fortune''


    That was another fate that one of the guards got. The Ghost here was obviously me as I was the one possessing a body. But if this fate reading led me in an illogical poath, I will immediately abandon it.


    I shook my head to get rid of such thoughts and looked at the city in front of me. Bravos, a city of trade. It is a place of trade where I could use my talents and modern trading knowledge to its fullest potential.


    ¡­


    A/N: Prophecies aren''t something people should mess with. Arthur knows that one mistake and his blood vessels would all rupture at once, essentially killing him. But he is using his previous life knowledge to give himself hints, like tricking the magic by using the word ghost, which he would immediately know would refer to him.


    P.S: He can only contract one animal to make a Blood Pact, like he did with the eagle. So he won''t be making those anymore. Arthur won''t try experimenting with Magic in this case either as he could end up as a horrible monstrosity or die. Magic can help the user, but it can also kill him.. Also while magic is a boon, it isn''t Arthur''s best strength or advantage he has in this world.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    Title: Unlimited Blackmail Works


    ....


    In a balcony of one of the lavish houses in Braavos, Arthur leaned on the railing and looked at the giant statue that could be seen even from here. He was wearing loose clothes and his hair had grown a little taller now, but he let it grow as he no longer would be fighting anyone anymore. What he needed now was to be charming, something that combined both physical appearance and personality.


    "Aren''t you coming in dear?" the voice of a woman revibrated from behind him as she got closer and hugged Arthur from behind. He noticed that she was still n?k?d, but didn''t turn to look at her. "I wish I had met you as soon as you came to Braavos. We could have spent so much time together like this."


    Arthur smiled, though the joy didn''t seem to reach his eyes. "I had short hair back then, almost bald. Are you into bald men?"


    "Hahaha~" she laughed gently. "No, but I would love to see you bald and bashing the heads of brutes. Weren''t you some kind of warrior from the other side of the sea? I heard some rumors of you being undefeated in battle."


    "Those days are long gone now," said Arthur, turning around and looking at the young woman who was around his age. She had dark hair and dazzling blue eyes, her body seemed to have been built for the p???sur? of men and her figure was quite voluptuous. "I came here to find a woman who wouldn''t be too concerned with my martial strength. Sure, I can fight very well and would fight if the woman I love was in danger. But it doesn''t mean that I am that brute any longer. Back then for me, fights were everything and even fu?k?n? was secondary."


    The woman smiled and leaned forward, giving him a kiss and Arthur reciprocated. Her eyes were filled with love, his eyes on the other hand were dark and unreadable.


    Arthur recounted what had happened since he came to Braavos, he had been in this place for about a year now, and he hadn''t made any moves yet. Instead, he observed how the market wrecked and how everyday people used it, each day was spent. After all, going into something headfirst without knowing how it worked was not a smart decision. He couldn''t just swipe a wand and make money, so he had to learn how the trade-in Bravos worked and how to make himself an integral part of it.


    The woman in his arms was the daughter of some big shot merchant here, though her status was quite low within the merchant''s family as her mother was a pr?st?tut?. Though the young woman knew quite a lot about secret things within the trading world, as her father talked about inside deals at the dinner table to her brothers and other siblings. Now she simply relayed those things to her secret lover.


    ¡­


    After spending some time in the young woman''s house, Arthur finally left around mid-day, he closed his eyes as soon as he walked outside, and immediately he could see from a bird''s point of view. After making sure he wasn''t tailed, he walked back to his modest house with a red hawk always tailing him from the sky and keeping an eye out for any suspicious people.


    Once Arthur walked inside his house, he saw his men doing their things, the healer was making some medicine, and the others were playing some Braavosi game that had the possibility to lose your fingers.


    ¡­


    -Arthur (IX)-


    "Kenas," I called out to one of the guards who had followed me from the village. He was the one playing the dangerous game while the others looked on. "Don''t lose your fingers, what will your wife have to p???sur? her if you lose them?"


    "Yeah, I mean with how small your d??k is I think your wife might still be a maiden." Added another guy jokingly. "Maybe I can help you with that."


    Kenas on the other hand shook his head. "It''s average size! Man~ I Knew I shouldn''t have told you about my insecurities."


    "Men are like hungry wolves, Kenas, once they spot weakness they will do everything they can to devious you," I advised him as a smirk slowly appeared on my face. Unlike the fake smiles used to charm some lonely wives, this was a genuine smile. Even in the worst situations, one must have a sense of humor about these things. "Also the size doesn''t matter to other guys, you ain''t fu?k?n? them. But what matters is how big you say your ???k is."


    "Listen to him Kenas, one day you might grow to be one of us," said one of the men jokingly. "We are the big d??k gang. We have conquered all the women of Westeros, so that''s the real reason we came East. Ah~ I wonder how the whores in Westeros cry out for my presence."


    "Shut the hell up Butch, all the whores call you the one pump chump, so stop bragging about your game, because you have got none," Kenas added, this being his turn to make fun of Butch.


    I only shook my head as the men''s argument continued and I just walked towards the basement where the winery was. Being underground and in the dark kept the place kinda cold, so the drinks and beverages were cold. Kind of like the medieval version of a fridge.


    The place was dark, and I didn''t bring a torch with me. Instead, I counted the steps and used my enhanced vision to find the correct place. Once there I took out my sword and dug it in the ground. About an inch or two deep on the ground, I felt some resistance.


    Yep, this was the correct place. Using my sword I easily took out the dirt and pulled out a heavy box that was attached to a chain. Opening it revealed to be a pile of gold inside, almost 5000 Gold Dragons. I don''t trust any of my men with this amount of wealth, so only I knew where this was hidden.


    After taking the box I put it on a small horse carriage together with my guards on tow as they sat together with me in the carriage while the healer drove. Since my house was in a well-populated area, no man would dare commit a crime here as the guards would be upon them in no time. I had purposefully chosen this place and spent quite some gold to get a relatively small place for such a high price. Sure, I had my guards, but they weren''t something that could fight twenty thieves.


    The best victories were those that are won without even fighting.


    As we arrived at the Iron Bank, my men carried my big box of gold inside the place. I looked at the men from the corner of my eyes and both Kenas and Butch who were joking as if we were all good friends, now they looked at the ?h?st and greed inevitably appeared in their gazes. But they knew they couldn''t do anything here. Also, I don''t blame them, this amount of money would set them for life. Most people would have the same look in their positions.


    "Sir, please come this way, banker Gillard has told us of your arrival," a servant came towards them and he was dressed smartly. He then led us all towards a private room.


    The room we entered wasn''t anything special, it had a simple desk and three men were already waiting there for me. I recognized the one sitting in the middle, he was a chubby man with a declining hairline and looked like he was forty when in actuality he was only twenty-five years old. He is the man known as Gillard, the other two, I had no idea who they were.


    "Welcome, Ser Arthur," Gillard greeted me and he had a giant smile on his face. "I hear that you must be here to make a deposit to the Iron Bank?"


    Immediately the two other colleagues gave him a pointed look. He had just inadvertently told me that the Iron bank had been keeping an eye on me. But Gillard didn''t seem to notice the men''s looks, whether he was faking his naivety or not was a mystery even to me.


    "It seems that you are well informed," I remarked looking the man in the eye. "And you would be half correct, good sirs, but I am also here to make a purchase."


    "Well good, that''s good for the both of us! I can guarantee you that the Iron Bank''s offers the best deals." Gillard stated enthusiastically, immediately earning his colleagues ire as they looked at him with anger. Bankers were usually very discreet about their emotions, and showing too much could lead to a loss of profit.


    "Anyway, what do you need to purchase, Ser Arthur?" One of the other men intervened. "I am sure that we can help you."


    It was easy to see that Gillard and the other colleagues of his weren''t as friendly with each other.


    But that was extremely weird. True, I had some backhanded dealings with Gillard and we have exchanged information in the past. Still though, showing a not unified front while in the presence of others was bad. The Iron Bank didn''t become the strongest bank in Essos by having people incompetent in their midst.


    Something was wrong here, and I needed to find out before things developed into an unfavorable situation.


    "I need a ship," getting straight to the point I decided to test how these people would react. "A mid-sized galleon that is suited for a merchant. I don''t know my ships too well, so I will leave the details to you guys."


    Though I said that, it was all a lie. Spending time in the docks looking at trade meant that I knew quite a bit about all kinds of ships and what one was better for what. Yet, none of this needed to be known by these guys.


    The man to the right nodded and spoke for the first time. "We understand, the Iron Bank will do its best to satisfy your demands. A budget of 800 Gold Dragons would be needed for the ship''s construction."


    I frowned at that and expressed my displeasure outwardly too. There was no need to hide my emotions this time. "800? That''s too expensive, even in Gulltown ships are cheaper. I thought Braavos had a good trade on ships, maybe I was wrong?"


    Buying a ship in Gulltown cost about 600 Gold Dragons, but saying something like that out loud would immediately impede my negotiations with them. Because that said that I would be okay with that price or something just a little lower.


    I needed to start on an equal footing with them in this negotiation. Also, Gillard was someone I had on the inside and we exchanged information countless times for each other''s benefit. But both of us will look after our own interests, so he will look out for himself and his profits first and foremost.


    "How about 785 Gold Dragons?" Offered the man on the left.


    I acted like my mind was elsewhere thinking about something before replying to them. "If you can wiggle me down to 400 Gold Dragons, then we have a deal."


    "In the whole of Essos, you won''t find the kind of ship you are looking for with 400 Gold Dragons." Said the man on the right, shaking his head as if to prove his point. "780 is the best I can do."


    Yeah right? As if you have traveled all of Essos and know that for a fact? He was short-selling me to raise his profits on this deal. They know that I have the money, so they will try to get me a deal that would require me to spend a lot


    "I know that this money might seem a lot," I pointed at the box. "But there are other things I need to buy too. So I can''t pay more than 410 Gold Dragons."


    "What would those things be?" Asked Gillard with an innocent look on his face.


    Now, this might seem like a simple question and many would answer due to how foolish Gillard had been acting. Many people would lower their guard against someone who seemed dumber than them. Sadly for them, ever since I entered this meeting, my opinion on Gillard was changed and he was suspicious.


    First, I already knew that he played himself to be more stupid than he usually was. Second, the Iron Bank had hundreds of bankers and employees under him, so why did he come to deal with me? After all, the chances of getting him were lower than 1% due to the hundreds of employees like him. So the end conclusion is that the Iron Bank knew of my deals with him, and he possibly told them, and now they want to use him to get a profit over me.


    Heh, keep dreaming. I had knowledge of the future and so many scams and illegal strategies that even the hundreds of banker''s minds combined couldn''t come up with. My strategies were hundreds, possibly thousands of years ahead of theirs.


    These thoughts all went through my mind in a couple of seconds and I answered. "Well, there are many things that a Merchant needs to conduct his trade. I am sure the Iron Bank knows these things better than me."


    Though their faces didn''t show anything, I could see by their rigid movements that they were annoyed by my answer that pretty much told them nothing.


    A slight tightening of Gillard''s fist showed that he was getting irritated. Yeah, I would be very irritated too. For these bankers, time was money they could be dealing with some more schmuck that would be easy to get money out of, instead of me.


    "Anyway, 410 Gold Dragons is daylight robbery, we won''t be able to make any profit with that." Said the man on the left. Gillard nodded his head too.


    Yeah, like I would trust anything that came out of you guys'' mouths. I doubt you would make a deal in which there is no profit. "I understand your predicament, but my money was hard-earned too. I risked my life every day on Tourneys, fighting and coming close to death many times. So I hope you understand how cheap I could be sometimes. So how about 413 Gold Dragons?"


    ¡­


    We continued our negotiations for hours until the sun was about to set. Hours upon hours passed and the bankers kept getting more irritated. I was increasing each offer with only two or three Gold Dragons, never too much, so this would waste time. A very inefficient method of negotiating that would only waste time.


    Time that I had to waste and these bankers would lose more money the more time they spent here. It was obvious how this would end.


    "Fine!! 500 Gold it is!!" Yelled out the one on the right, he seemed irritated by the deal and just walked out.


    After that, I deposited the money I had with me and we all went to our own homes. This was a good deal for me, 500 Gold Dragons for a Braavosi ship was something most people wouldn''t be able to get.


    Not many would think this was all so I could get a good deal. That''s exactly what I want them to think!


    While riding in the carriage, I closed one of my eyes and my vision changed. Initially, it was very disorienting, after all, I was looking from one of the eyes of my hawk and the other in the real me. It almost made me wanna throw up, the human brain wasn''t made to comprehend looking at the world like this.


    My hawk was looking straight at the Iron Bank''s backdoors where only the staff use.


    It took until I was comfortable and in bed for someone to come out of the backdoor. And the person was someone I recognized, he also had two guards with him. This showed that it wasn''t just some guy going out to get some dinner.


    My hawk followed him and I saw every movement the man and his guards made. Looking for any secret messages, spy contact, suddenly bumping into people, or anything like that.


    He went towards a part of Braavos that wasn''t popular due to the aggressive residents and a non-profitable area. This was called the Green Canal, and as he went there he talked with someone who seemed to run a ship making workshop.


    But this workshop wouldn''t be noticeable to any normal merchant or people. Who would anyone make a business in such a remote place?


    I cut off the connection with my hawk and opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling of my bedroom. The last order to the hawk was to follow the head shipwright, which was surprisingly a woman.


    Well, I didn''t care about gender if she made me good ships. But I would like to make sure if I could cut even more middlemen to get the best price possible.


    ¡­


    The next day, at the break of dawn, the Iron Bank sent me a notice that I would get my newly made ship in five days.


    It was surprising how fast they seemed to work. A ship in five days? Or were the ships pre-made? How long does it take to make a ship normally? For the average workforce, it would take around a month. I need someone in the know for these things, one doesn''t enter a business without knowing everything there is to know about it. Only then can one reduce the chances of failure.


    With those thoughts in mind, I put on some fancy clothes which consisted of some robes that looked expensive, and told two of my men to accompany me just in case. Also hiding some weapons under the robe was an easy task.


    If this meeting goes well, then I think my lucky break might just come smacking me in the face. I possibly found myself a golden goose.


    ..


    I went towards the shipbuilding place with my guards following me. The place was quite neat and I noticed many things that a bird''s point of view wouldn''t. Like the wood planks, ship keels all around with a couple of people working on them.


    "Hello, excuse me," I called out, trying to find the head shipwright of this place. Then a tall, slightly muscled tan woman came out of the tent. She was the one who talked with the Iron Bank employee yesterday.


    "What can I help you with, sir?" She asked, trying to sound polite but it was clear she didn''t care how welcoming she sounded.


    "I require some middle-sized merchant ships."


    She seemed to think for a while and finally said. "400 Gold Pieces for each of them"


    That should be somewhere around 370 Gold Dragons. Which was already cheaper than the 500 the Iron Bank told me. This was why people should cut out the useless middle man. But still, I wouldn''t be an aspiring merchant if I was not ready to negotiate.


    "From my calculations my lady."


    She just snorts. "I am not your lady... little boy."


    Oh is that so?... I stopped talking and just looked her directly in the eyes. "As I was saying, MY LADY. From my calculations, it should take only 80 Gold Pieces to make a ship. So why charge me so much?"


    She crosses her arms. "What do you know? I have to pay my workers and pay my taxes to the merchant guild. It isn''t that easy running a business brat."


    I then just smirked and said. "Yeah, and I don''t think you have much work... because well..."


    I looked at her ?h?st. I could see her face morphing into an angry scrawl. "And what is that supposed to mean BOY?!"


    "Well, my LITTLE LADY. If you get offended by such a small fire, you shouldn''t be in the forge. But what I mean is that you probably don''t have a lot of customers because people usually don''t trust a woman to be good at building ships."


    She smirked at my words as if she had her own secret. "Oh trust me, LITTLE BOY. I can get by very well, so there is no need to be worried about me."


    I just looked at her with a serious face. Ok, enough foreplay, time to get to the good stuff. "You mean the Iron Bank right?"


    Her eyes widened and her body froze in place. Well, it seemed like this was a bigger deal than I thought for her. "S -So what."


    I smirked well then, this is good. "Well, then the Iron Bank will lose its credibility if... some rumors started saying that they are using a woman to build their ships. They obviously wouldn''t want to work with the Iron Bank anymore and then the Iron Bank will lose money."


    She then calmed down and in a grave tone said.  "Don''t worry about me BOY I will get by..."


    Then she turned around and started going back.


    "What will happen if someone ruins the reputation of the Iron Bank? The Iron Bank will have its due..."


    She stopped in her tracks, finally caught on to what I was saying, and turned around. "So you are willing to risk your life for some gold?"


    Obviously not... I was 99% sure of how this would play out.


    "If I don''t risk my life for gold then what kind of merchant would I be?"


    "A living one," she replied without missing a beat.


    Damn, that was a good comeback.


    "No I would be a poor merchant, and a poor merchant is a fu?king beggar. If the Iron Bank tries to silence me well then they will silence you too. Also if you kill me here today I have already ordered some people in case I die..." I then smiled creepily. "...then I will drag you with me."


    Her eyes widened in horror, I could see the fear on her face.


    She also seemed kind of taken back by how I am so reckless with my life. But even if this failed, I could just scar my face, kill my traveling companions, and have a new start. No need for the Faceless Men to come after me. Though this will only be a last option kind of thing.


    She then let out a frustrated sigh. This woman would have probably had me killed if I didn''t have two of my guards here.


    "Ok, I will sell you the ships at the same price that I sell them to the Iron Bank... for 150 Gold..." she seemed annoyed and b?r?ly was able to get the words out of her mouth.


    Well then, let''s see how far I could take this.


    With that in mind, I put a questioning look on my face. "Who told you that I wanted a deal only as good as the Iron Bank? I want 100 Gold Pieces for each ship."


    "WHAT?! NO!! I WILL BARELY BE ABLE TO PAY MY WORKERS AND BUY TIMBER WITH THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY!!!" She yelled out loud, getting the attention of everyone around us.


    I then put my pinkie finger in my ear, damn she is a screamer that one. "Ok, I will give you 107 Gold Pieces per ship that should help you and that should help you stay afloat..."


    She frowned. "That is not how you make a deal."


    I made a bewildered face. "What? You thought we were making a deal? No dear..."


    I then put a bright smile on my face. "....I am blackmailing you."

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9


    Title: The Tale of a Lady...


    ¡­


    After finishing the deal with the woman, Arthur ordered 15 middle-sized merchant ships. The order wasn''t anything special, but as Arthur walked away, he had a smile on his face.


    ...


    -Mora (Female Ship Dealer) POV-


    As I was walking on to a certain place that I hated. My mind couldn''t help but contemplate the decisions in my life and how things had gone. Everything had changed once Arthur Redhawk had come last year and made an offer I couldn''t refuse.


    I was born a lucky woman to a rich merchant household. My father loved and doted on me, I also had three brothers. But¡­ I was still born as a woman.


    When he died, he left it all to my brothers. Who even to this day are so busy fighting against each other for that fortune. By now they had probably forgotten that I even existed or that they even had a sister.


    Still, I refused to be some weak little lady that will have to spread her legs for some fat and ugly merchant. So I started my own business. After all, living in Braavos, there was one thing that is always in demand but never enough supply. That was ships! Even my father had to wait in line when he wanted a new ship, and even then it would usually arrive a couple of days later than experienced.


    My business started like any other, I opened a workshop and tried to talk with some merchants to sell them ships. But like always, my gender got in my way. Even offering them half the market price, they wouldn''t accept.


    That was when the Iron Bank noticed my talents and decided to use me. Unlike others who only saw my gender, the Iron Bank saw me more than that and invested heavily in my business. The ships that came out of the workshop were not only less than half the price in the market when sold to them, but they were also a level higher than them.


    No one knew my name, nor did they sing me praises. But it was an undeniable fact that I am the best ship maker in Braavos. After all, I was making ships for the Iron Bank, of course, this was all secret.


    The Iron Bank was the strongest bank in all of Essos. The other banks were just credit men (loan sharks) compared to them.


    But recently I had learned that I might not be as smart as I liked to think I am. True, there were faults in every person and no one was perfect, I too accept my faults. But ''that'' guy, no¡­ that monster! He stripped me of everything I had!!..


    It all started one year ago, after that 1st initial deal. He came and got me to make some cheap ships for him. But he wasn''t satisfied with only that. After some time, a number of my workers started dying in random ways. Some of them even went to work for other workshops that would pay them better.


    I tried to keep them here with some enticing offers¡­ but soon, I started losing money and even had to take some loans from the Iron Bank.


    In only ONE year he had become one of the most powerful men in Braavos!! Currently, the only organizations that could challenge him in political power were the Iron Bank and the Guild Union of the Sea Lord. He had a fleet of 350 ships, 300 of them for trade, and 50 to protect these trades.


    He also got himself, 50 Personal Guards


    300 Guards for his business, 100 Accountants, 350 Ship Captains,3000 Sailors. He had become a powerful man in his own right.


    Also the person I suspected killed my workers was him. After all, he didn''t get rich just because he had three hundred fifty ships. No, he got rich because when he came in there were other merchant businesses. There was competition amongst them and only the best could survive.


    Then they started dying in random and mysterious ways like one of them died while walking and a vase was dropped in his head. Another slipped and fell into the canals, drowning to death.


    There was also this who got killed by his victim when he tried to **** someone, and they left a gap in the trade. Then conveniently Arthur, FUCKING, Redhawk came in to just nicely fill in the gaps.


    That reeked of foul play! Even if there was no proof, there was obviously an incentive that pointed straight at him as the biggest benefactor from these people''s deaths.


    .


    As those thoughts raged in my mind, I noticed that I had arrived at my destination. In front of me stood a large three-floored mansion with a large iron fence around it. The mansion grounds also had a large front garden with flowers and trees. The place was littered with guards patrolling the surroundings.


    As I walked to the front gates, one of the guards looked at me. Bet they were surprised, after all, there had been no notification of my arrival here. I wanted to take the owner of this place by surprise.


    But unlike I expected, the guard only nodded in my direction. "Lord Redhawk has been expecting you, my lady."


    DAMN IT!!! This was what I hated about Arthur Redhawk, he always knew what was happening! Like a little fu?k¨¬ng creep! He knew way too much about everyone and everything.


    Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down. This wasn''t too surprising, Arthur Redhawk might be a scumbag, but he wasn''t incompetent.


    But I was prepared this time. I remembered the aggressive approach he made during our first deal. Or as he called it, blackmail. Let''s see how he will like some of his own medicine.


    ....

 Chapter 10

    A/N: Chapters in advance in Patre¨°n


    Checkout My P.A.T.R.E.O.N


    Pa treon.com/HolyJoker


    (40+ chapters in advance)


    DISCORD: discord.gg/M9hghrm


    ...


    Chapter  10


    Title: Being Sure...


    ...


    At the front gate, a maid came and offered to escort me to her Lord. As I followed along I passed the fountain in the middle of the garden, it had the statue of an eagle in the middle and the thing seemed almost alive as its eyes shone red.


    After that uncomfortable experience, I went inside the mansion and the first thing I noticed was the banner on the wall. Something that would catch the eye of anyone who entered. It was a red hawk spreading its wings in a black and green field.


    This was Arthur''s banner, and also where his new banner name came from ''Redhawk''.


    He was more of a snake than a hawk. But the banner rarely represented the people that owned it.


    "This way my lady," said the maid as she pointed where we would be walking towards. Damn, that man, he still kept calling me a lady to this day and even his servants did the same. I knew he did this to spite me...


    As we went on the third floor, at the end of the corridor. I was guided towards a room with two guards outside. When I got closer I could hear the means of a woman.


    "Ah!... Ah!... Ah! Yes!... Fuck me, my King!!"


    Ah yes the two slave whores he bought, the degenerate already had three kids with three different mothers. Two were slaves and one of the women was a maid.


    "Cum inside me my King!" A loud screech followed after that demand.


    I heard a grunt and then. "Guards call for Elissa, the cute blond maid real quick... I need her for something."


    And there was the degenerate himself. It was almost unbelievable sometimes that a man as successful as him had so much free time.


    The maid who had guided me here shifted nervously next to me. "My Lord, Elissa is taking care of the kids."


    There was no answer initially and only the sound of some shuffling within the room. After that, the door opened, and out of it came Arthur. He was wearing only a pair of short pants and his surprisingly muscular body was quite a sight.


    I always ?ssumed that the tales of him being a Warrior were lies. But it seemed like there might be some truth to those rumors.


    But all of those thoughts of him being some Warrior disappeared from my mind once our eyes met. His dark eyes locked into my brown ones and an almost unnoticeable smirk appeared on his face. "Well hello there, my lady. I am truly sorry¡­ for you to have found me in such an embarrassing situation."


    I just snorted in annoyance at his lies. "You know everything about everyone so spare me the pleasantries, Arthur."


    For a split second I felt a chill go down my spine, as I looked at him, Arthur was still smiling.  "I let such a lady like you wait for me outside of my door. That is very rude of me¡­ please come inside, my lady."


    No way I was going to his creepy harem room. So I calmly stated. "No thank you. I only need a moment from you."


    He went back inside the room and came back out after not even a minute. Now he had put on some clothes and looked presentable, wearing black pants and a baggy aristocratic white shirt.


    "Follow me, my lady, let me escort you to my office." He said politely, the polite smile never leaving his face.


    As we went to the room closest to the bedroom he just f¨´cked two women.


    "You guys stay outside." He ordered the guards as we entered the new room that seemed like a normal office. Though it seemed a little too modest in comparison to the rest of the wealth displayed in the mansion.


    He sat on his chair behind the desk and then gestured to me to sit down too. I reluctantly sat down.


    "So tell me," he started the conversation first. "What do you want to talk to me about?"


    Heh, now it was time to play this man who thought with his balls and not his brain. Lover everyone else, even Arthur had a weakness.


    "I looked into the merchants'' deaths recently," even though I started the conversation like that. There was no reaction from him. "Not surprisingly, I have found some suspicious activities that might indicate foul play¡­ on your part."


    "Oh?" Arthur raised a questioning brow, seemingly unbothered by this. "Is that so?"


    There was an uncomfortable silence between us as neither said anything. Arthur sighed and leaned back on his chair.


    *sigh* "What are your... so-called accusations?" He asked in a bored manner, looking at his nails.


    This vile man truly knew how to annoy someone! I took a deep breath before I exploded at him. "There are accusations that you might have hired ?ssassins to deal with your rivals."


    He frowned for a split second, and then his face relaxed. In the end, he just waved off my insinuated threats. "I am sure they are all lies. After all, the Iron Bank has already investigated the problem, and even though the deaths may seem suspicious they were truly accidents."


    Yeah, I knew that he and the Iron Bank were as thick as thieves for some reason. They were always backing up and covering for each other. This was all due to after losing my business to Arthur, he started selling ships to the Iron Bank for the best prices, only 130 Gold for medium-sized ships.


    "Yeah, but I have been thinking lately." I drew on, trying to make him squirm. "Because someone might be ?ssassinating the merchants. I am planning to put this on the attention of the Sea Lord."


    His expressions didn''t show anything. But I knew that he was smart enough to know that he would be in big trouble if the Sea Lord, the voted ruler of Braavos, was to get involved in this.


    Arthur would be under constant watch if the Sea Lord got involved and the bastard wouldn''t be able to do anything. And in case he slipped up, he would be held responsible for his actions.


    I had everything planned and used all of the savings to hire thirty Sellswords. They would escort me to the Sea Lord''s Palace. When I got out of here, just in case¡­


    Of course, Arthur was undoubtedly smart enough to see what I was insinuating here. There was a way for him to get out of this.


    He just needed to bribe me to not talk. That would buy my silence¡­ temporarily. Until I eventually will come back and next time demand more. So let''s see, what will your answer be Arthur? You have already lost, all just because you underestimated me!


    "Go tell him, I don''t care." He shrugged, still acting unbothered by the situation.


    Oh, so that was your answer? Well then...


    "Excuse me," I got up and turned around, ready to walk away.


    "Oh yeah Mora you forgot something," Arthur called out to me, and as I turned around¡­


    *Swish!*


    Huh? I felt something piercing my neck, and it felt like hot liquid was spewing out. I looked at Arthur and saw the indifferent look on his face. Oh¡­ I get what was happening¡­ I could feel my vision going dark around the edges of my eyes¡­ but before darkness calmed me, I heard some words¡­ from my killer.


    "When you search for something, always be sure what it is that you are looking for. That way you won''t be led astray." His words felt strange for some reason.


    Then I heard footsteps, probably his. The sound stopped and I faintly heard him say something again. "Oh, and I never underestimated you just because you are a woman. That would be foolish, you were ambitious so that also made you dangerous and I always expected for you to bear your fangs at me."


    Then I felt him rubbing my hair. "But you were still very useful nonetheless..."


    A/N: CHECK OUT DISCORD FOR Arthur''s banner.

 Chapter 11 - 11 - Useful...

    Chapter 11


    Title: Useful...


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    [Arthur (MC) POV]


    I cleaned my knife with a white cloth as I looked at Mora''s dead body. While sitting at the table I couldn''t help but try to comprehend her thinking process. Did she think I wouldn''t kill her? True, this will leave many clues that would lead to me and many people saw her here too.


    Maybe she didn''t understand just how much power money had. Just a couple of gold pieces will shut up anyone and have them say that they had never seen her. Ah, maybe her mistake was trusting others to have her back.


    Sadly everyone around here wanted gold pieces and they wouldn''t try and f¨´ck over someone like me and risk their lives. The ones who thought themselves heroic would try¡­ and would die. Usually, those kinds of heroic people pulled the ones around them into trouble too. So their family will have to be killed also, after all, I wouldn''t want some son coming at me for revenge when I killed his father.


    Many people misunderstood and thought that this would start an endless chain reaction in which the wife''s family would then go after me for killing her daughter. But that wasn''t the case, after all, would they want to risk their whole family''s life for a daughter who was already dead? There were still other family members, so they wouldn''t want them dead too.


    People were cowards deep down, many spoke the talk but couldn''t walk the walk. Though being a coward wasn''t necessarily a bad thing, it would keep you from making stupid mistakes and not do something like going against people who could annihilate their whole family.


    I was a coward too, I am not strong enough to give my enemies a second chance. A truly strong man would have taken the chance with Mora and tried to reconcile things even after she did something like this. But I was a coward after all, and took the easy route, killing her off and eliminating my worries of her ever going against me.


    Looking at Mora, I couldn''t help but label her as a brave person. She had the guts to come and threaten me in my home territory. Sure, it was a stupid decision, but a brave one at the same time. She feared me, but overcame that and came to threaten me.


    *sigh* What a shame for her to end up this way. She was so useful with her determined demeanor and work. Because even when she worked for me, the ships she built were of very good quality. Her pride and honor wouldn''t allow her to ever give me a reason to ridicule her abilities or the ships.


    Look where doing all that got her, a corpse on the ground. I used to be something reckless myself, back in my first world. Monsters aren''t born, they are made.


    "Guards," I called out nonchalantly.


    In an instant, the door is opened and a dozen guards rush in. Their eyes wandered around, looking for an enemy. When they saw the body on the ground, the shock on their faces was visible. But they didn''t ask any questions.


    After all the gold I spent choking down their throats they better not ask or say anything. I grabbed a goblet of water nearby and drank some and started explaining what happened. "She tried to ?ssassinate me, chop her up, and drop the pieces in the sewers. You will gain three gold coins as a bonus after you get the job done."


    They nodded silently and took the body away. As they were almost outside, I called them over again. "Oh yeah, tell someone to clean the blood. If it stains, change the floor."


    After that, I went outside and entered the room close by. Or as many people called it behind my back, the ''Harem Room''. When I got inside, two women laid down on the bed, sweat glittering on their skins.


    One of the women had very distinctive Valyrian features with silver hair and purple eyes, Aldea. The other had olive skin and brown eyes, her name was Kura. Both were in their twenties¡­ I didn''t bother to remember their exact ages.


    Kura was tired, breathing heavily and she looked at me. "Did you kill someone again?"


    I only narrowed my eyes at her and she backed off and apologized. "Sorry, that was out of line, I mean did you allegedly kill someone again?" The smirk on her face was as close as she would get to a smile.


    "No, of course not," I replied politely. But her smirk was enough to tell me that she wasn''t stupid enough to not see such things.


    "Can you stop it with the boring stuff, Kura~" wh?n?d the silver-haired Aldea, "All this serious talk is bumming me out. Let''s continue where we left off.."


    "Shit it, s?ut," Kura was fast on her reply, not missing a beat and looking at the silver-haired woman like she was a bug. "The only thing you care about is su?k?n? and fu?k?n?, so don''t try talking too much."


    Aldea looked annoyed by this and puffed out her ?h?st, and her body shone with sweat, making her even more alluring. And the sly look she sent me made it obvious that this was an intentional move from her. She then looked back at her ''rival'' and opened her mouth, about to say something, and then stopped. "Oops, I forgot what I was about to say~ Arthur, you made me forget~"


    Kura turned her back on it and laid on the bed. "I am tired and sleepy, so have the s?ut do all the work this time. She will like it even if you break her."


    The silver-haired woman ignored her completely and kept smirking at me and biting her lip sensually.


    I had bought them as slaves, but when I had come back to Braavos, I released them to become ''free''. Obviously, they came back to me even as free people, it wasn''t out of some sense of gratitude or love. Because even if they were free, what were they gonna do? Become bankers? They were p???sur? slaves, at best they would become pr?st?tut?s if they didn''t follow me. So rather than going to brothels to be beaten and abused by strangers, they would rather come to me, where they got the best treatment and only needed to satisfy my urges and give me kids.


    Braavos was a free city, slavery was illegal. Money was useless in this matter too. But just like Daenerys freeing slaves didn''t work, this was also the same kind of situation. Just going and telling them that they were free didn''t mean anything, if one wanted to collapse slavery as an institution it needed to be done by someone who knew the dirty deeds like the back of their hand. Even killing their masters wouldn''t be enough.


    "Uhm~ Arthur~" the Valyrian woman called my name, bringing me out of my thoughts while looking at me like a vixen. She was always playful and ready whenever I  needed her.


    They have both been good at their job and given me children. One of them was Oliver, he had my dark eyes and his mother''s silver hair.


    The other woman in my bed had also given me a child. His name was Tray and he¡­ Well, he looked like a mini-me.


    I also had another child and that was with the maid. We only did the deed once during a fest when I was bored.


    As I laid down on the bed with them and purple eyes looked straight at mine and she pulled my pants down. She had a smile on her face as she swallowed my shaft.


    Well, I knew I was a good Master to them and inspired loyalty¡­ loyalty with gold of course.


    While laying down, my mind worked on new plans. After all, only those who always plan and are adaptable can succeed in life. Aldea seemed to get the signal and didn''t make any noise while bobbing her head up and down.


    I knew that the Iron Bank had some spies in the mansion, so it won''t take long till they learn of this incident. I already told everyone who served me that if they were offered a bribe, they should take it. Then they can come and tell me about it, with that I will be able to come up with some false information to feed to my enemies¡­ and friends.


    Also for every spy, the Iron Bank had on me, I had ten on them. Humans or otherwise¡­


    Suddenly the door opened, bringing me outside of my thoughts, and saw that it was the maid. She had green eyes and dark hair.


    "My Lord," the maid bowed slightly, making her braless br??sts jiggle. That right there was a reason I chose her amongst all the other maids. "You called for me?"


    I did? Oh¡­ right, when the now-dead female shipbuilder came to my door and called her over. "Yeah, you must have been tired taking care of the kids, they can be quite a hassle sometimes."


    Wait, I think it was a different maid I called here. The guards probably don''t know who Elissa even was, well she resembled a Lannisters, probably some bastard of that bloodline. After all, with how many Lannisters there are, I don''t doubt one of them came to Braavos sometime in his life to spread his genes.


    She smiled happily at the mention of the kids. "No, no, my lord. It''s quite nice taking care of them, though young Oliver always seems to be a little harsh. Maybe he took after your Warrior side? But did you know that Tray can crawl the fastest? Also, Gerold''s face as she tries to figure things out is so cute..."


    I just zoned out the rest, two of those babies weren''t even her kids. But she always took care of them and she bragged like they were her own. Well, Kura and Aldea wouldn''t be good mothers anyway, it didn''t matter that she took care of the kids.


    Oh yeah, this maid''s name is Flitz, I forgot that for a second. "Okay, so they are all impressive," I interrupted her. "But the reason you were called here was to have some fun."


    Previously she had been a maid but now was a Head Maid. Her duties were taking care of the children and ordering the other maids around. Though I had another head maid to manage the maids. Flitz would be too soft on the workers and let them laze around. Being kind wasn''t always a good trait, one needed to know when to put their foot down.


    "B -By fun," she stuttered and her ears turned red as she blushed, "do you mean have¡­ you know¡­" she then looked at Aldea who was still enthusiastically su?k?n? me off.


    I wouldn''t have noticed that Filiz was even pregnant if I didn''t get a signal from my Blood Magic that I had another child of my blood in her. So Gerold would have been just another kid in the streets if it hadn''t been for my Blood Magic.


    "Come on now, now it''s time for you to relax," I mentioned towards her and the maid shyly nodded while looking at the silver-head swallowing my shaft like a champ. "Having you burn out there and get too tired, who would be able to educate the youngsters? So please, take care of yourself."


    My words made her blush slightly again. She swallowed her nervousness and took off her clothes, the giant br??sts that were hidden under that maid''s uniform spilled out. The flush that came to her face was something that always confused me, after all, we have had s?x multiple times, yet she always seemed embarrassed. Was she faking it? I doubted it, her emotions were always too pure.


    "Come on now, don''t be too embarrassed," I encouraged her, but she looked at the silver-head, Aldea just continued her nocturnal acts. "Ohhh~ so that''s what''s bothering you? Don''t worry, I won''t force you to kiss her or do something with another woman."


    "Thank you, my lord," she sighed in relief.


    "No," I smiled gently. "There is no need to thank me," and waved off her kindness.


    I patted her silver head and she looked at me. Immediately Aldea got my signals and started crawling towards me. The maid, Flitz, looked at us from the sidelines while Kura was asleep.


    "What are we going to do to me now?" Aldea whispered in my ear, her hands tailing my body, she was about to saddle me. She always knew what I wanted. "Are you gonna split me in half with your ???k while the innocent young maid watches us?"


    I pushed Aldea to the side and pinned her to the bed. Her br??sts bounced beautifully due to the movement, and the vixen smile on her face made her irresistible. She then leaned forward and whispered, "Destroy me," as her legs locked in around my waist and dragged me closer to her.


    Aldea''s hand trailed and she touched the dagger that I had just used to kill someone before coming here, and let her know while picking it up and putting it in my hand. "Well, that dagger seems quite sharp, how about we play a little game?"


    Taking a hold of my hand she slowly dragged the dagger towards her throat. The smile on her face was an excited smile and her eyes had an intense look as she gazed at me.


    "Be careful please~" she said playfully, as I penetrated her. Her nether hole perfectly hugged my shaft, her insides warm and tight. "Don''t get me too excited or else, if my body jolts the dagger will rip out my throat."


    This wasn''t something I had ever done before, having someone endanger her life just for the thrill of it. "If you keep this up¡­"


    Fwish!


    The dagger stabbed right next to her face, sinking in the bed down to the hilt. "Only I control when you die, even if you yearn for death unless I want you to¡­ Aldea, you aren''t allowed to die."


    With that, I grabbed her by the h?ps tightly and impaled her with my shaft, each thrust going deeper than the other. Her surprised m??ns rocketed the room as a crazed smile adorned the beautiful face. "Yes¡­" she agreed, but it came out more like a m??n.


    Her eyes wandered towards the n?k?d maid every now and then, and with a smirk, I asked. "Do you like it when someone is watching you get fu?k?d like a two-bit s?ut," I


    murmured. "Do you?"


    "Yes!" she m??n?d, not bothering to suppress her voice, trying to use her feet that were locked behind my wrist to drag me even closer to her.


    I picked her up, our bodies mashing together as I was still inside her as her back slammed against the wall. Her insides got even tighter from the pain, and she hungrily kissed me. "Let''s make another child and have that dumb cow take care of them!"


    The agreement that she was expecting didn''t come, and she seemed a little disappointed. But my answer only came with the fastening of my thrusts, till I felt her insides clench even tighter this time making my junk almost feel pain from how tight she got.


    That was my limit as I spilled my ?um inside of her, and the horny look on her face didn''t subside at all.


    "You are my favorite girl," I complimented her and kept thrusting in her, not even bothering to have her clean my seed out of her.


    I ignored that proud smirk that appeared on one face due to me calling her my favorite.


    ¨C¨C¨C¨C


    Hours passed as our bodies were connected as one for hours, though I used the maid sometimes, she wasn''t the same as Aldea. The latter always got up no matter what and seemed to become even more excited the more control I expressed over her and the more demanding I became.


    In the end, though, both ended up in the bed with my seed spilling out of them.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I put on some clothes and went to see my kids. They were playing together in a children''s room, and a maid was always looking after them. Gerold, the son that I had with the maid. He was alone, trying to mix some shapes and Oliver was bullying his other brother.


    "Oliver, what did I tell you?" I picked up my silver-haired son, getting him away from Tray who looked like a mini-me, with dark hair and eyes. "Never hurt your family, we are all that we have. Blood is thicker than water, always remember that."


    He just looked at me and smiled, a baby wouldn''t understand anything I said anyway.


    "Dada!" He called out as his hands extended towards me, it brought a smile to my face. I looked towards the maid and she was standing over Gerald, trying to teach the annoyed kid about shapes that he wasn''t getting right.


    Tray on the other hand just went back to playing with his toys, not caring about any of his brother''s actions.


    *sigh* "What am I gonna do with you all?" I sighed and as if on purpose, Oliver grabbed my hair. His grip was quite strong for a baby.


    Kids, I had opened orphanages around Braavos and other cities to care for the children. I also took a page off Varys'' book and started training the smallest orphan boys and girls.


    I had ex-thieves train the children how to climb buildings. Some sailors and shipbuilders were brought to teach them how to get a profession or even fight in case they want to become guards. There was an unspoken deal with the orphans, that they must spy for me to repay them for taking them off the streets and raising them. Also, they would get rewarded if they got any important information.


    Places like Lorath, Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys, Volantis, Elyria, Tolos, Meereen, Yunkai, Astapor, New Ghis, and many more had orphanages sponsored by me. Braavos had five places like that. Every city that my ships went to trade had places like that, and the captains of my ships would bring news back to me.


    I could say that even Varys doesn''t have as many spies as me. I had more wealth and resources than him dedicated to building my spy networks. When the time came when the new orphans grew into ?du?thood, my spy network would be the best in the world. While Varys was smart, he didn''t have the modern knowledge I had for spy networks.


    ¨C¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As I played silly games with my kids and hearing them laugh made me happy too. But that moment was interrupted when a guard came in. "My Lord, we have disposed of the¡­" he noticed my kids in the room and chose his words wisely. "Red trash."


    That meant that the guards had gotten rid of the dead body. "Did it cause a stain on the floor?" That was my only worry now. I didn''t need to waste any thoughts to feel nervous about a dead enemy.


    "No, my lord," he answered and I waved him off. But as soon as he went away, another guard came in, and this time I recognized him as one of the people in charge of reporting important news to me. "My Lord," it got tiring to hear people call me that. "The informants have reported that the Myrish Merchant, Odinos has gone against you and started trading glass with Braavos directly, and even openly challenged you to beat him in trade."


    "Good, I will beat him in trade," I nodded. "After his corpse rests at the bottom of the sea he won''t be able to trade, so it will end in my victory," after saying that I looked at the guard and the maid standing by the side and taking care of the kids. "You can both leave."


    They gave a slight bow and left the room. As soon as the door closed, a red hawk landed on my shoulder and I gave it a small cloth ball. It was concentrated salt, something made by magic so even a grain would kill this man by making him over consume salt causing his kidneys to shut down. The gawk can enter his halls and quietly wait in the darkness till it''s dinner time and then drop this silently after the food taster did his job. The good thing about this was that it didn''t leave any traces of Magic in it.


    The hawk flew off to do its job, without me needing to tell it anything. It already knew my orders due to the telepathic-like bond we share.


    While the spy network costs a lot to keep up, it already gave me useful information on my competitors and who needed to get their throats slit, or have a bird ''accidentally'' fly and knock over a vase from a roof, bringing it down in their heads, killing them. Magic was quite the neat trick if it was kept a secret. There wouldn''t be a clue leading to me being involved with any of the murders either.


    Sometimes I even use hypnosis to control a drunk to kill someone for me. Though I couldn''t control someone with a strong will or intelligence. So this method had become kinda outdated lately, it wasn''t worth using. Too risky, what if there was another guy like me out there who only acted drunk?


    Though the spy network by itself wasn''t perfect yet and there have been some hiccups. But one of them stood out the most, and that was Asshai, the place didn''t have any kids. So I had to send some ?du?t spies to get me some reading material. I also killed the spies after they brought what I asked for. But the news that they brought was creepy, everyone in Asshai wore cloaks and masks.


    The Books on the usage of Magic were phenomenal though. And while there wasn''t any magic that would allow someone to rule the world or allow someone to kill a hundred people in one spell. Much new magic became available and useful. Just watching the marvel of this supernatural phenomenon was amazing. For someone like me, Magic was better than s?x could ever be. Though I can''t use magic too much or I will start losing lifespan, so that was a bummer.


    "Bye~ bye~" I waved off to my kids and called some maids to take care of them.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When I went to my office, a smile came to my face at the cleanliness of the place. Also, no blood had stuck to the floor, and neither did it smell like blood. Paying those maids so much was worth it after all.


    I saw the goblet of water on my desk and picked it up and threw the water in the air. But instead of falling, the water just stood there as if it was stuck in time. Simple tricks like this, something that wasn''t even generally useful except to stop small amounts of water from falling on the floor, was amazing. I could spend all day just playing with this.


    But the biggest change now was that this wide knowledge of magic had given me the confidence to experiment with it a little.


    Everyone wanted to live forever, even those who didn''t would want to live a little longer at the end of their lives. Sure, some might say that it would be devastating as one would have to handle losing people they love along the way. But most of them didn''t understand that time heals everything, if someone dear to you died, then four years later that feeling would be dull till you no longer thought about them. Life always went on.


    But when the time came for me to try and become immortal¡­ there was no perfect way. Even the Undying Ones have had their minds changed and morphed by drinking shade of the evening. That was no life, because if one wasn''t oneself with all his memories and experiences in life, then what was the use for all of this.


    The Blood Raven had connected his body to tree roots, that was even a worse method than the Undying Ones.


    In the end, the solution I came to wasn''t to zombify myself where I would lose my mind. Well, maybe I would do that later in life if there was no other chance.


    But my main spell was called <Blood Descendant Body Resurrection>... it was the reason I had started wanting to have more children, bastards, and legitimate ones.


    Though this method was extremely risky, it was the only one where I would be able to keep my sanity and power at the same time. I also had the chance to grow stronger too.


    How this worked was that after my death, my red hawk familiar would come and touch my body, picking up my soul and then transferring it over to one of my blood descendants. Then I take control of their body, my thoughts and sense of self should stay the same. Ironically, changing bodies was the only way where I could be myself.


    My existence from now on will be like a snake eating its tail. I will be the head, while my sons will be the tail. To live on I had to continue with a form of self-cannibalism.


    This was sad, I loved my children, even if they were only born to become my future bodies.  Well, it doesn''t matter, they will live the best life they can, I guarantee it.


    I will try to hold on to this body for as long as I can before taking them over. Let them experience life fully, eventually, they would die anyway.


    Though this was all speculation and there had been zero tests done on this spell, so I wasn''t sure if it even worked. Plus there were many other risks too, for example, if my hawk got shot down while carrying my soul then I would die too. What if the body I went to was infertile? After all, the spell was intended for me to possess my descendants. So if the new body also became ''myself'' then would I only be able to possess the descendants that I will make with that body?


    Ugh! Just so many uncertain things. Why can''t this world''s magic be more certain and simple? Every spellbook that I read always had some parts that contradicted another book. There was no definition of a ''good'' way to use magic without hurting the user in some way.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As night came around, my spy before-dinner reports came in. A man dressed in rags walked into the office with no one bothering him. "My Lord, Westeros doesn''t seem to have anything too big going on. Also, the Spider might be onto us. Getting any information out of King''s Landing has become impossible."


    "Did Varys find out we were the ones behind the spies?" I asked while shuffling through some letters. "Did he capture any of our guys?"


    "A couple of the child spies have been drowned under suspicious circumstances," well that wasn''t surprising, after all the bald eunuch did cut off children''s tongues, I wouldn''t put it past him to kill a couple of kids. "But don''t worry, neither the young nor older spies in Westeros know who the real ringleader is. So even under torture, they won''t say anything about us."


    "Okay, then stop trying to put spies in King''s Landing for the moment, no need to send our informants to the chopping block," that bald bastard was good at this. While I had been able to play on equal footing with him and even surpass him in some places due to the huge amount of money I put in the network. But in King''s Landing, no matter what, no spy of mind has been able to live past a week in there. "What other news is there?"


    "A tourney has been organized in Harrenhal," he reported and I could sense that he was uncertain about something. "Also¡­ rumors say that the first Prince is planning to use the gathering as a meeting of Lords and organize a takeover. After all, the owners of Harrenhall couldn''t afford this Tourney."


    Well, it seemed like Robert''s Rebellion was about to start soon. Now is my chance!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

 Chapter 12 - 12: Back to Westeros

    A/N: Chapters in advance in Patre¨°n


    Checkout My P.A.T.R.E.O.N


    Pa treon.com/HolyJoker


    (50+ chapters in advance)


    DISCORD: discord.gg/M9hghrm


    ______


    Chapter 12: Back to Westeros


    ***


    After a long and daunting journey, the kind that reminded me why medieval times were so bad. But finally, I arrived at my destination, Harrenhall. The ancient castle still stood up there like a daunting fortress. It was quite an amazing build, and as an Engineer in my past life, I wonder just how much manpower and time it took to build such a monstrous castle.


    "Sir, where should we set the tent?" one of the twenty men I had brought with me for the journey asked. They were here for my security and just in case I needed a meat shield against arrows. Thankfully we hadn''t been attacked at all during the journey here. We were in horses and fully armored too, so any bandits that wanted anything to do with up would know that we were trouble.


    Usually, armored men on horses meant that they belonged to some lord or another, plus the House Frey flag on the ?h?st of my armor said just that too. Bandits might be stupid, but they knew that if they went after noblemen they would be eliminated and someone like Walder Frey would even lunch their families just to send a message.


    Even before we entered the territory of Harrenhal we could see the hundreds of tents put up by the different families who came here for the Tourney.


    "Make a tent on the outskirts, but keep all of our things packaged and always make sure to feed the horses well," I ordered the man, who knew when this place could turn into a bloodbath and we needed to run. It was better to be prepared than to hope that the Mad King doesn''t act¡­ mad.


    **


    We entered the perimeter the guards patrolled, one of them saw us and I nodded at them. They nodded back and didn''t stop us.


    When I got closer, it was even more cramped than it felt from far away. All around Harrenhal, I saw a lot of tents with different banners of all the houses of Westeros from the North to Dorne. All of the noble houses were here. Blacksmiths had opened small workshops and people rode on horses too, almost trampling others if the ones without horses weren''t careful.


    A man''s life here was cheap, even if a nobleman killed someone, they wouldn''t get punished. Even in the Vale it was the same, and then was the place where ''chivalry'' was practiced the most.


    When I rode to the Frey tent, I saw someone stand outside as a guard. It was a high chance that the weasel-looking guy was my sibling, and with his crooked teeth, he had that ugly Frey appearance. This was a reminder that even with my average looks, I was considered good-looking in that family.


    "Hello there, brother," I smiled at the guard and stepped down from my horse with a smile. "How have you been?"


    "Who the fu?k are ya?" he asked crudely. There were bad intentions in his eyes as he then caught sight of the Frey banner on my ?h?st. His gaze turned suspicious at that. "I haven''t seen you around here."


    "You don''t even remember your brother, halfwit?" I said to him jokingly, but if I was being honest, I didn''t remember him either as it had been around five years since I left home at sixteen.


    "Wha? I¡­" he stopped and seemed to think for a bit and then realization slowly dawned in his eyes. "Oh shit, it''s you, Arthur. I thought you went and died on a ditch somewhere. Where have you been? Do you remember me? I am Yellow Walder."


    Why do they call him that, because of his yellow teeth? But no, I don''t remember him at all. Though I used to teach each of my younger brothers how to use a sword. "Yes I remember you, how are you with a sword now?"


    "Heh," he smiled. "I can beat everyone else now, though Steveron and Black still whoop my arse every now and then."


    We shook hands and hugged each other. His name still didn''t ring any bells, but I kept acting familiar with him and even put my hand around his shoulder and asked a very generic question. "So, how are things with that girl?"


    "Which girl?" He seemed genuinely confused, but I didn''t let him think too much about it and continued.


    That was when his gaze turned sour and he looked at the ground. "Ah, so you knew about Jamia¡­ Well, father ended up marrying her."


    Ufff¡­ I just hit a weak spot right there. I will keep this in mind just in case I could use it later. But still, I didn''t have time to talk with him all day, so I put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with a sincere look. "Never forget that I am still your brother, so if you need anything just tell me."


    He nodded soberly and I gave him a Gold Dragon and winked. "I am sure some lonely lady of the night out there could use the company. They don''t usually get any during the day."


    He smiled happily and ran off. "Thanks, brother, I will never forget what you have done for me today."


    I only waved at him and didn''t mention anything about how he just abandoned his guard duty and how father would punish him for this later.


    Opening the tent flap, I saw my father, Walder Frey, sitting on a high wooden chair. There were young men in their twenties talking to him and many among them I didn''t recognize. Though, probably most of, if not all of them were my siblings.


    At first, they turned towards the newcomer and saw who entered the room. None of the people recognized me at first, after all, the slightly long hair didn''t do me any favors. Back then I always had short hair and was smaller.


    Walder looked at me intently, more so than the others, and squinted his eyes. There was a trace of recognition in my father''s eyes and he smirked amusingly. It seemed like he had figured out who I was.


    But the same couldn''t be said about my siblings, who even after seeing the banner on my ?h?st piece, didn''t diminish their suspicions.


    I looked at the idiot who talked and he had the same weasel-like appearance that most of the Freys had. Who pulled a sword out so casually, weapons made people nervous, and pulling one out without the intention to use it could end up with your throat slit.


    To prove that, I pulled out a pouch of coins the size of my head and threw it on the ground before the guy could react. Gold coins spilled out on the ground, taking everyone''s attention. Except for Walder Frey, my father, and the man who will probably die after eating his son''s flesh grounded into a pie.


    "Last I heard you went to Essos," said Walder, taking a glance at the stack of coins too. He couldn''t help himself.  "Did you make some money there too? How? Your own Sellsword Company?"


    Well, he was horribly wrong on that. But I won''t ramble on uselessly here to try and change his mind. Only fools bragged about their accomplishments out loud.


    Like saying that you won the lottery, that''s asking for disaster to happen to you.


    "Yeah, something like that," I agreed with him, content with his ?ssumption. Walder Frey didn''t have a spy network, he wouldn''t know of what I did. Rumors also weren''t trustworthy.


    Because going by rumors, Joffrey was a wise and gentle kind.


    With that said, I walked towards my father and sat in front of him while my siblings stared at the small fortune that I had thrown in the ground.


    "So, how are things going nowadays?" I asked Walder with a trace of a smile on my face. "Did you get a new wife?"


    "Oh you know, here and there, nowhere too important," I said vaguely. Deciding to not mention the small case of Monopoly I was making on the other side of the sea. "I heard a big Tourney was coming up, and you know me, that was a temptation that was impossible to resist."


    **


    After that, my lies flew out like water, building a background and adventures that I hadn''t been to at all.


    Entering into a death competition in Essos was different from the Tourneys here. I wasn''t stupid enough to risk my life out there.


    Fighting for your life wasn''t a smart way to earn money. It might seem like you would get a big sum of money initially. But that would be a waste of my time, the real money came from the monopoly I had built. Something that was unfamiliar in this world and there were no rules against it.


    My ships were all positioned into strategic locations, essentially it was a chokehold into the trade. And when one had a monopoly, they could price their goods whatever they wanted and people would buy. Why? Because there was no other place to get them and no one else would be able to provide such products.


    Well, they could, but they might find themselves dead like many others who had crossed me have ended up.


    Also, I was mostly dealing with medicine, spices, and other everyday things that were essential to life. I got the idea from the College Debt in America, so I tried to monopolize something essential. Just like how colleges raise their tuition, I could continue raising my price as much as I wanted. Why? Because things like medicine and education were something essential that people would pay any amount to get. At least medicine in this time, as now education wasn''t something they cared about.


    **


    I only smiled contentedly. Who would need the welcome of a father like him? If it had been profitable, he would have been the first guy to be killed by me here. He was a sh¨¬tty father all around, I knew what he did with some of his daughters behind the scenes. Now, this was the medieval world, so no one cared. And I wasn''t any different, I wouldn''t fight with Walder for something that didn''t affect me.


    **


    After that, we talked some more. It was mostly just Walder Frey who kept throwing shots at me and trying to play some power plays. But I just acted dumb like I didn''t understand them.


    Playing dumb can turn a powerplay on its head. When someone has to explain exactly how they are threatening you, it becomes either laughable or plain evil, both of which are more easily resisted.


    Anyway, Walder didn''t go into the evil way on how I got so much coin on me. That was what I wanted them to concentrate on, the coin and nothing more. With that done I got up and he asked me. "Where are you going?"


    "To register for the Tourney," I said and walked out of the tent, waving at my siblings. Some eaves back, some didn''t. Maybe I should get rid of them all and get myself the Twins, I had the means to do that now.


    No, that would be too suspicious and invite needless trouble. Especially during the war, if Walder picked the wrong side, he would be done. Also escape from this place was virtually impossible in case the enemy was close.


    Going outside of the tent I breathed in the fresh air, which mostly smelled of fire, meat, or generally sh¨¬t. Didn''t these soldiers have a procedure where to defecate? Because if they didn''t, then that would be bad, disease could run rampant. Well, it wasn''t my problem. Plus some people dying here would only be beneficial to me in the long run.


    I walked towards Harrenhal Castle, where the person who registers people should be.


    What was that? From the corner of my eye, I saw a child looking at me intently even though he seemed like a beggar. Well, it appears that some people had me on their radar now.


    Was it one of Varys'' little birds? Probably. Well, the spy will probably get bored looking at me after a while.


    What many people misunderstood was that these spies were human too, and if you didn''t do anything or just stood around for a while, they would get bored eventually.


    Once people understood this, they would know that a spy network wasn''t something that made you all-knowing. Also, spies have greed, ?ust, envy, and all the other normal characteristics that define humans. So that can be taken advantage of, and turn them to my side.


    Sadly most of them just became double agents against me so I had to kill them. They thought they would be smart getting paid from both sides, but every man with a brain knew that spies could turn double agents at any time. That was why I had my families within my grasp¡­ just in case they do something stupid.


    Still, though, I acted like I didn''t notice the spy looking at me and just kept walking. Maybe I should send a couple of my soldiers to kill that kid. Letting Varys to his schemes uninterrupted wasn''t a good idea, who knew what he might come up with.


    Walking towards the castle I stumbled upon a merchant, one that had a slight accent. Unlike with the child spy, I stopped here and stared straight at him.


    "Ser, do you want some armor?" I heard a merchant talk to a novice knight. "Fights always depend on armor and a good sword. How could you display your skills without the best armor and weapon? You are putting yourself in-"


    That was when the merchant looked at me and noticed I was staring at him. Immediately he dropped the weapon he was trying to sell on the ground and he stumbled in fear.


    "You okay?" asked the knight and the merchant smiled professionally and went back to doing his trade.


    As expected, the Iron Bank also sent their spies. But I was feared in Braavos so any spy would just stumble away in fear as soon as our eyes met. They knew the horrible tales about me, I won''t kill just him, his family will be on the table too. Many men can risk their lives recklessly, but not their family''s lives, that was something no man would risk.


    Even though I had an alliance with them, I was still expecting the Iron Bank to send some Faceless Men against me and try to take control of my Monopoly or copy the methods and principles behind it.


    I welcome them to try.


    With that thought in mind, I continued going towards Harrenhall and searched for the Tourney registration.


    ***


    I registered in the archery competition and the melee.


    After I took care of my registration¡­ I went to the Stark''s tent. It didn''t have any guards outside as no one would dare attack the Starks. Or maybe the Starks were naive enough to believe that people would fight with honor?


    Well, it didn''t matter to me, and I won''t be getting into a confrontation with them about this.


    When I went inside I saw a young girl who I ?ssume was Lyanna Stark. She seemed to be nursing a young man. Then I  noticed the big guy in the room, he was probably Brandon Stark, then there was the kid teen, I ?ssumed he was Benjen Stark and finally there was the only guy in this tent who I knew... Eddard Stark.


    "Well, well, well if this isn''t the Wolf pack altogether~" I said in a villain''s voice.


    They turned and looked at me. Ned immediately covered his face and sighed when he saw me. Like he had a memory he wanted to repress, yeah, I knew a lot of things he did in the Vale that his family didn''t want him to know.


    Brandon Stark looked at me with a hard face like it was carved in stone and he asked. "Who are you?"


    I turned towards Ned. "Hey c''mon now Ned¡­ you couldn''t have forgotten this face now could you?"


    Ned just looked at me, I could see that he knew who I was. His twitching lip also showed that he was holding back a chuckle. "I am truly sorry but... have we met before?"


    I then make a face like I ate a sour lemon and say."It''s me, Arthur Fray."


    Then his eyes brightened a little. "OH... I remember you..."


    Ned su?k?d at lying. Also, he acted like he didn''t know me? Well,


    "How have you been Arthur?" He inquired and did some hand signs, meaning to tell me something.


    Sorry Ned, but our friendship isn''t good enough for me to know whatever the hell you mean.


    "Well pretty good. I traveled all over Essos from Bravos and all the way to Asshai."


    That was a lie. I was way too paranoid to travel like that. I loved my life way more than adventuring. Then immediately I started joking around with Ned. "So how is Bettie? Bessie? What was her name-"


    *COUGH*


    Ned did a fake cough and shook his head with eyes filled with despair. I shrugged back. Again, sorry Ned, even if I know what you mean, in reality, I will act like I don''t know what you mean.


    And I was better at lying than him. So I was about to make up a lot of stuff and tell it to his family.


    "Bessie?" Lyanna inquired, looking at her brother and then at me. A mischievous look adorned her face.


    Brandon smiled too. "Oh~ seems like my brother wasn''t as good of a boy as I thought."


    Well, time to start getting to know the soon-to-be-dead Starks.


    ***


    After separating from Ned and his family after half an hour and Ned having to do a lot of explaining. Right now he might curse at me, but after this, these memories will become things that he will remember his family by.


    Dinner came by and a feast was prepared for all the lords that had come here. I too sat at the table where the Lords of the Riverlands discussed different things. I mostly kept to myself; they don''t have anything useful for me.


    Instead, I secretly observed the sixteen-year-old Lyanna Stark. Even though almost every important Lord from the Seven Kingdoms was here, she was the one who would play the most important role in this part of history.


    "Then I hope your night will become more enjoyable with my music." Suddenly a soft-spoken man said, though his voice was low, everyone in the feast heard him.


    I look at the man. He was on the inside balcony where the singers were. Then he started singing some sad music. It was pretty good... for a medieval barbarian prince like him anyway...


    Lyanna even started crying at the music. Benjen laughed at her, then she took a cup of wine and poured it into his head.


    Robert Baratheon was dancing around and acting like a fool. I also saw Rhaegar secretly glancing at Lyanna.


    Ok, so he already had his eyes on her. I knew how this would end. He will easily manipulate the dumb Lyanna and then put a child in her. Then do a classic Targaryen madness turn and make it seem like he kidnapped her.


    Then they will be in so-called love tragedy, a dumb and naive sixteen-year-old kid and a twenty-year-old man. These gross barbarians knew how to fu?k things up, don''t they? I mean in their unintelligent minds how did they think their so-called love was going to end?


    Did they think it would be like the stories where the Prince took the princess away from an arranged marriage and they live happily ever after?


    Well obviously with her brother and father being massacred. I wonder what expression she will have on her face when she understands that her actions did that to her family.


    God, just trying to comprehend what they were thinking makes me feel stupider. Madness and naivety, not a good combination.


    Well, enough about that dumb stuff like that, it will just make me angry at other people''s actions.


    My eyes wandered and I noticed a woman dancing with Barristan Selmy.


    She was a young, beautiful, tall, and fair woman, with haunting violet eyes. Her long dark hair tumbled around her shoulders¡­ I just found something that might calm me down a little.


    ***


    A/N: Arthur likes to look at other people''s mistakes and make sure he doesn''t do the same. His modern mindset makes him understand how things are and not make mistakes that historical figures made. Ex: Napoleon''s try to conquer Russia and such.


    P.S: Also WTF is wrong with the American education system? Especially college. It''s so expensive!! Now I am sure that some other countries probably have the same problem but U.S is the most well-known about it. It''s a shame since I met some American exchange students and they were very nice people.


    I was reading one day about it and got the idea for Arthur.. After all, I wanted to explain what he monopolizes the most important things for the time, like medicine, spices, and other important essential things (for the time).

 Chapter 13 - 13: Ashara Dayne

    Chapter 13: Ashara Dayne


    ....


    -Arthur (XIII)-


    I stared at a woman dancing with Barristan Selmy. She was young, beautiful, tall, and a fair woman with haunting violet eyes. Her long dark hair tumbled around her shoulders. A beauty like no other, she probably broke many people''s hearts today. Ashara Dayne.


    Could I seduce and fu?k her tonight? Probably a hundred guys had tried by now. Handsome, muscular, tall, strong, thin, short, ugly, all of these kinds of people she had probably met and already gotten bored of. Everyone most likely talked to her politely and tried to get into her good side by showing how honorable, cavernous, and nice they were. Of course, those were all acts, people, in reality, weren''t like that and the nicest person had a dark side too.


    As soon as Barristan Selmy finished dancing with her and got a refusal, I went in and smiled at her. "Care for a dance my lady?"


    She put on a fake smile, no longer even bothering to hide just how tired of this she was. "Of course. Ser¡­" But she politely accepted.


    "My name won''t matter tonight," I grabbed her hand and we started dancing. I could feel the gazes at us. Was this how she felt constantly? No wonder she is tired and bored of these people.


    "Oh, is that so?" she seemed surprised by my answer. "Then what''s your plan for tonight my nameless knight?"


    She frowned, but I noticed the small twitch of her lip. This was probably the only entertaining thing she had heard tonight. "That was very impolite and not knight-like of you."


    "Oh~" I had a mock surprised look on my face. "Then should I lie like the others?" My eyes then wandered towards her dress. "I will also take your dress after having my way with you. It looks expensive, and since you wore it some perverted ''Noble'' Lord with pay a hefty sum for it."


    She looked at the ground to hide her face for me, but I noticed her voluptuous ?h?st shaking. So she was trying to hold in her laughter.


    After a couple of seconds later, she looked back up and stared into my eyes. "That was very unfunny of you Ser. Please be more of a respectful gentleman towards ladies. Saying such crude things is very untasteful."


    Though she said that, I could see the amusement in her eyes that she couldn''t hide. "So how long would you like to dance? I am sure some other ''chivalrous'' knight would like to dance with you." I got closer to her and whispered. "By chivalrous I mean boring and probably very old."


    As I pulled back, she only smiled at me politely. "I wouldn''t mind a couple more dances with you, my mysterious knight."


    She was trying so hard to seem lady-like that if it wasn''t for her appearance she would be the dullest and most boring woman here. Thankfully, those good looks of hers are something special. "Well, you have to loosen up a bit my lady. Or I might just find you boring during our dances after your charm wears off. Also, I am very close to being bored so tell me something interesting about yourself."


    Now I had to speedrun a date here and try to get her to tell me something real about herself. Because I wasn''t willing to waste too much time and court her the usual way. Unlike most people here, I wasn''t looking to marry her, just get a quick lay.


    "How about my brother?" she asked. "He is Arthur Dayne, the greatest swordsman in the world."


    Also, the main reason I didn''t tell her my name was her brother. Because it was the same as her brother''s and that would immediately put me in the no-smashing zone. Having a lover with the same name as a family member just made the situation very weird.


    "Arthur? Oh, I know of him," I smiled. "Wasn''t he the guy who beat his sword instructor the first time he picked a sword?"


    "No, that''s the other Arthur," she frowned, seemingly offended. "You are annoying."


    Well, annoyance is better than boredom because without having the latter it meant that I still had a shot. "So? Do you want me to lie and say that I and your brother are as tight as thieves and we swallow each other''s swords?"


    "What?!" she said, exasperated by my behavior. "No, it just makes me feel like you might be stupid for not knowing who Arthur Dayne is?"


    "Well honestly, I didn''t even know who you were till a couple of minutes before. You and your brother just weren''t the center of my life, so why the hell would I know about him?" I had intentionally started a small argument and I could tell that she wanted to win it. But she couldn''t see that this was my intention. The more she wanted to argue the more her lady-like behavior would slip and she might start saying something real beyond her act.


    She was very determined to win the argument, so she won''t leave either. I loved headstrong people, the ones like Ashara Dayne were just too proud and easy to trick. By now, I knew she won''t leave my side for the rest of the fear. I was more patient and calm-headed than her, so she won''t be able to win an argument over me.


    "You should know him, it''s basic knowledge in Westeros," she whispered harshly, her eyes no longer holding a trace of amusement and she was righteously furious.


    "So? What if I am not from Westeros? Your view of the world is narrow, little lady. And honestly, kinda boring." I shrugged, my eyes wandering toward the other ladies in the room.


    "Creetin? Is that even a word? I might be from Essos so I don''t know that word." I said nonchalantly, this enraged her even more. Which was good, since angry people always would say more things than they intended.


    She huffed. "Ughh, you are so irritating."


    I chuckled at her behavior and suddenly realization dawned on her. "Wait¡­ don''t tell me you were just messing around?!"


    "Hahaha," I smiled softly, leaning my head on her shoulder as we danced, trying to keep in my laughter. It wasn''t that entertaining, but I was playing a character here that I had to keep up. "That was so funny, getting angry over nothing. You looked like a kitten whose tail was stepped on."


    She stepped on my foot in anger, making it seem accidental but the vengeful smile on her said otherwise. "Oh~ is that so entertaining to you?"


    I chuckled. "Yes very," and then winced as she kept stepping on my foot. Well, it didn''t hurt as I had steel coverings on my shoes. But he didn''t need to know that. Ashara needed to win sometimes too, or she might become too angry and leave for real. "Hey, now. That''s not very lady-like of you."


    She smirked mischievously. "I will show you lady-like!"


    By now the whole room had noticed that there was something between me and Ashara. Though she was so entwined in her world that she didn''t even seem to care about any of that. The only thing she was worried about now was getting back at me.


    ***


    While I had been nervous at the beginning of the dance with Ashara Dayne. My hands were shaking even after the dance. I think the dance went well, I didn''t step on her toes or anything like that and she even smiled while I told her about my life. If I had embarrassed myself I would have buried my head on the ground.


    I felt like we connected by talking about our strong older siblings and the mischiefs of the younger ones. I was drinking some wine and thinking about the dance when my older brother sat next to me with his cup of wine in his hands. "How did it go, Ned? Did my little brother get charmed by a lady? The lady that I had to ask to dance with you."


    I look at my brother Brandon, he has a knowing smirk on his face.


    "Y -Yeah..." I tried to say it casually but still stuttered.


    Brandon was about to say something when he suddenly frowned and pointed with his head towards the dancing floor. "Though it seems like you have some competition."


    I saw Ashara now dancing with someone else. Now I wouldn''t mind that, after all, every man here was enamored by her and had asked for a dance. But I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces once I looked at her face. When we were dancing her smiles were pretty and polite, and just now I realized that they were fake. She was doing what was expected of her and being polite. Because now Ashara was genuinely laughing and putting her head on her current dance partner''s shoulder just to hide her laughter. I felt like an outsider just looking at them.


    "Her current dancing partner is Arthur Fray, also known as the ''Undefeated Knight''. They say that he was never defeated ever since he picked up a sword. I  heard that even the first time he picked up a sword he beat his Master-at-Arms in just four blows..." Brandon informed me, though I knew all of that already. "Then again, you probably know this better than me, Ned."


    Arthur then whispered something in Ashara''s ear and she nodded towards him enthusiastically. I can''t stop a frown from appearing on my face when I saw her kiss his neck secretly. By now neither of them were bothered that others had noticed their showing of affection. For Ashara, an unwed maiden, this was scandalous.


    "I know him... he is my frien-... he is an acquaintance of mine," I said, knowing that Brandon understood that I and Arthur were friends. Our talk in the Stark Tent had shown that he knew a lot about me and we seemed like friends.


    "This is different!" I yelled at my brother without even meaning to. It''s just that my heart feels clouded and confused. I didn''t know what to do.


    "Big words for a small puppy, the prissy southern lords sure taught you some fancy words." Brandon wasn''t having any of it either and put a bottle of wine in my hand. "Get a little drunk first, then we will talk again later."


    Then immediately I had to stop myself from getting up in anger. That was when I saw Arthur and Ashara sneak out of the party, holding each other''s hands with smiles on their faces.


    **


    -Arthur (XIV)-


    I grabbed Ashara by the hand and we tried to stealthily go outside. But taking a girl like Ashara away is bound to be noticed. But the other Lords were in no place to intervene, so they didn''t.


    Seeing the looks people were sending us, I jokingly whispered to her. "C''mon now my lady we get away from here. I will take you to a tower to protect you from all the evil lords."


    She just smiled at me, damn, she even has perfect white teeth.*giggle* "Well maybe you are the evil knight who kidnaps me."


    Ashara chuckled but didn''t say anything. She couldn''t help herself, this was probably the first and last time in her life she would ever get so close to an ''adventure''.


    As we were climbing the stairs of the tower she suddenly stopped and looked at me. I saw her blue eyes now had uncertainty in them. "Should we¡­"


    "It''s your choice, we only live once," I reassured her, but it wasn''t a reassurance. Because saying that we only live once would make her anxious to try new things. In my last life, this would be called socially pressuring someone into doing something.


    ''Try drugs, because you only live once. Do you want to die without ever knowing what being high feels like?'' - the number of times I had heard something like that push even the nicest and naive people over the edge.


    I was 90% sure Ashara wouldn''t refuse this. After all, she only lives once. Does she want to die as just being the wife of some old lord that only cares about her appearance? Or would she live her life a little before that?


    She kept looking at me and we leaned closer to each other, and our lips touched.


    "Maybe I want to live..." Ashara whispered. "With someone like you."


    Yeah¡­ sorry lady, but you are the kind of girl that gets pumped and dumped. There was no way I would want to be with a naive woman like you. We have only known each other for less than an hour.


    Also, I had a lot of secrets that she would not like. For example, I already had kids of my own.


    What Ashura and I had was puppy love, which seemed too good to be true. And it was because after tonight I don''t think we will ever see each other anymore.


    But those things should be forgotten for tonight, and I wasn''t going to refute her words and ruin the mood. Instead, I took the initiative and started using some tongues in our session.


    After a little kissing, we separated and gazed into each other''s eyes. The love and ?ust in her were clear as day. But Ashara seemed unsure of what to do next. She was uncertain how situations like this could develop.


    So I just took the lead and kissed her once more. When we separated this time for some breath, I took her hand and led the naive lady to the top of the tower.


    Through it all, Ashara was quiet and just stared at me with a smile on her face. Even when we arrived at the top, she just leaned on the edge of the tower and grinned at me.


    "What''s wrong?" I asked her.


    She just looks unsure at something. But in the end, she just shook her head and leaned forward, kissing me aggressively. It was the first time she took charge tonight, and I welcomed it. Her hand even slipped towards a bulge in my pants.


    **


    (Sex Scene)


    I was mere inches from an incredibly beautiful woman, and it wasn''t strange that I had been hard already. The glint in Ashara''s eyes even showed that she was pleased.


    I couldn''t help it as my heart was pounding pretty hard as her fingers delicately slid along my cheek. We separated our kiss and her lips were close enough that I could feel her breath.


    "I like this aggressive side of you. Taking your life in your own hands." She was manipulated into her current decisions, but she didn''t know that.


    Her lips curl up in a lopsided grin. "That''s true," she says, fingertips sliding along my lips. The movement was intimate, unique, and she seems to like my response, her smile only grew broader. "We should have some real fun together."


    I smiled at her, now she started acting however she wanted. She was high on her freedom right now.


    "Well, how do you want to play this?" I asked


    her, already knowing her answer.


    She lets out a soft laugh at that, her finger trailing down my ?h?st towards my groin, quietly popping the bu??on as she stares me in the eye, pulling out my shaft in a slow, teasing movement. I put my hands on her shoulder and started undressing her.


    She was hot; a beautiful face, framed by wavy, dark hair, and an incredible physique, lithe and flexible. Her haunting purple eyes only added to her charm.


    I took off a cloth that acted as her bra and tore her p?nt??s aside. I was interrupted from admiring her body as she started to ??r?ss my shaft and I let out a soft groan in response.


    She smiled, or rather, her existing smile grew even broader showing her ivory white teeth.


    "This is nice," she said, as she strokes and ??r?sses my length putting it between her th??hs but not quite in yet.


    Her tongue runs across my upper lip, and she fishes it out in short order, my hard ???k pointing straight at her.


    The expression she wore as she looked at my shaft appeared was absolutely s?xy.


    Her eyes widened in surprise, her eyebrows going up, and then she curled her lips back into a confident smile. "Very nice," she said as she started to stroke it faster.


    I grab her in a quick motion and pull her down to the ground with me. I was laying in the back and she was sitting on top of me. Her body glistered due to the moon. The beauty radiated even more by her smile as her ?h?st moved up and down as she breathed heavier.


    Swallowing as she shifts her weight, teasing my ???khead against her s?x. I can feel warmth against me, soft lips ??r?ssing my tip, and my fingers ball up into fists on either side of me.


    She smiled confidently, her uncertainty all gone now.


    Then she begins her descent. Soft inner walls ??r?ss every inch of my ???khead, her wetness ??r?ssing and coating my d??k as she slides down my length. She twisted her h?ps, left and right, undulating her body with perfect form, a smile on her lips as I ?r??n?d in response to the feeling, my h?ps bucking up towards her, several inches getting swallowed in a moment.


    She doesn''t complain, just letting out a soft breath herself. Even though I could tell by the look on her face that this wasn''t easy on her.


    Ashara''s hands reached for my ?h?st, pressing against my stomach and slowly sliding up my shirt.


    "You look good," she breathes out, ???k?n? her lips, clearly enticed by my b?r? ?h?st. "Mmmn..." she ?r??n?d, as she took me fully to the base, her head casting back, a soft throaty noise escaping her throat.


    My hand slowly slid up her th??h while the other groped her hanging br??sts.


    Her body was surprisingly tense as she gently started to move up my ???k again. Before my fingers arrived at her ???t, teasing and brushing at it. She m??n?d gently at that, her eyes fluttering as she looked at me.


    "You like that?" I asked her sensually, as she got down and stared me in the eye.


    "I do," she practically purred, her movements continuing on my ???k, projecting easy confidence as she slid up and down. The movements were a slow curling one that twisted my ???k around inside her. Her hands continued to run along my ?h?st, her br??sts bouncing in a strangely eye-catching way. They''re not the biggest pair, certainly, but they''re quite a bit more impressive than most of the ones I had seen, and the first to belong to a woman bouncing on my d??k.


    I got my other hand away from her ???t and grabbed both of her br??sts.


    I could feel it, the softness, just the right size to cup my hand around. She smiled down at me, enjoying my touch, my expression, or at the very least something I was doing, and she started to move faster on my ???k.


    "Do that again with your thumb," she whispers down at me, and it took a moment for me to realize her meaning, shifting my hand on her groin so my fingers teased at her taut stomach and my thumb could play with her ???t.


    ***


    I lose all track of time, distracted by the movements of the beautiful woman in my ??p. She squeezed her insides around my d??k intermittently, adding a unique flavor to impassioned pumping, and eventually she leaned down over me, meeting me in a kiss.


    Her pace has long since passed ''sensual'' and moved on to ''manic'', as she slobbered and drools into my mouth.


    With one hand, I reach for her ?ss, squeezing the supple thing, enjoying the way it hardly reacted at all, and that provokes a soft hum of approval from her. So I started to run my hand all along her back, fingertips brushing slowly up her spine as she kept pumping her ?unt up and down, slurping and su?k?n? and drooling into my mouth.


    I rub and tease at her ???t,  and she ?r??smed before I did. Her s?x squeezing and milking at my ???k hard as she shuddered and m??n?d atop me, br??sts pressing against my ?h?st.


    I come too, naturally. I may have some experience, but girls like these were always too enticing. I just splattered her insides with one of the thickest loads I had ever let out. She ?r??n?d in my mouth as she felt my hot seed fill her insides.


    I sighed as I found release, collapsing utterly in the aftermath, and she quietly rolled off me rising to her feet. But she buckled and just laid next to me on the cold floor.


    "That was top tier for a first go," I complimented her.


    "You knew?" She asked.


    "Yeah, I could guess. You were too tight and inexperienced." I smiled, ??r?ssing her face gently. "Though you probably tried something with another girl right?"


    She blushed in embarrassment and didn''t look me in the eyes anymore. Seems like I was a bullseye on that one.


    Getting up, I positioned myself behind her and asked. "Ready for round two?"


    "What?" She looked at me with confusion, until I slid my shaft straight into her s?x that was still dripping with my juices. Her eyes widened and a loud m??n of p???sur? left her throat.


    *


    For hours we did it like rabbits. When she got tired, we would rest, when I got tired she would re-energize me.


    For one night, we were each other''s company. I don''t know how long we were up there in the tower, but by the time we came back down, the feast was already over, and only drunk sleeping people were around.


    We separated there and she went to her room that she shared with Elia Martell. I to my tent.


    It was a good night overall.


    ***


    When the next day came about, I lazily was woken up by the sounds of horses galloping about and people talking.


    "Leon!" I called out for my healer and immediately I heard rushing steps.


    "Sir," Leon came into the tent and looked at me seriously. "You won''t believe what happened yesterday! Even the Mad King appeared!"


    I somewhat remembered what had happened from the books. But I was curious if anything had changed.


    "Tell me a general summary of what happened," I told him, going to the corner and picking up a certain kind of stick that was used to clean the teeth nowadays.


    "Jamie Lannister has become a Kingsguard," he then looked around and got close to me, silently whispering. "Also the Mad King''s appearance is, as they say, long nails, unwashed hair. He looked more like a beggar than a king. If he didn''t have the crown on his head, everyone would ?ssume he had drunkenly stumbled in the feast."


    Well, I was glad I hadn''t been there last night to see such a gross sight. Instead, I was doing something more fun.


    "Also, m''lord, the melee event for the Tourney will start soon." he reminded me.


    I nodded and waved him off. It seemed like there wasn''t anything that had changed too much. At least the big events hadn''t changed that much. Like the mad king making Jamie a Kingsguard. He will regret that later.


    Putting on my well-woven armor, with a red hawk engraved on it.


    I also put some hidden knives and certain potions on my pouch.  I was ready for the melee and set off. My guards were around me like usual, and even Leon had come this time. Just in case of an accident, he will always be there to make sure I didn''t die due to some infected cut.


    *


    Once we arrived at the Tourney grounds, the guard nodded at me. "Arthur Redhawk, you are on the list."


    I didn''t even need to tell him my name. Maybe fu?k?n? Ashara Dayne brought about a lot more clout than I had initially thought. After all, I wasn''t known for much on this side of the sea.


    Entering the stage, the place was big and full of knights in armor. Some wore light armor, some heavy and there were ones who even wore just plain leather armor.


    As expected, most were using swords. So there wasn''t anything strange about it.


    But amongst the midst of that, one man stood out. He had silver-colored glittering armor with the Targaryen dragon engraved on his ?h?st plate. The man was looking straight at me.


    Ohhhh¡­ I know who he is. Shit, that Arthur Dayne, also known as the best swordsman in the realm. Due to my good eyesight, I could tell that he was frowning. Yeah, there was another fact that he wasn''t that well known about¡­ that man was Ashara Dayne''s brother. The same girl I had fu?k?d all night.


    I hope he doesn''t know what happened between me and Ashara. Or at least believed that his sister was a good girl and wouldn''t do something while.


    But my hopes were crushed when he noticed me looking back at him, and his frown turned into a look of hatred.


    Well¡­ he knows what happened yesterday night. This was going to be even harder than I thought.


    *************


    A/N: Hope you like it. I don''t usually write smut, but s?x scenes show the dynamic between characters too so I can''t skip them. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã).... yeah, a lot of¡­ dynamic¡­

 Chapter 14 - 14: Melee

    Chapter 14: Melee


    ***


    -Arthur (XV)-


    Arthur glared at me with a hateful look, now that was unavoidable. If he knew what I and his sister did, then it wouldn''t be surprising that he might even go for the kill here since I dishonored his sister. Now, this might seem kind of over the top in a modern world, but here it would bring shame to him if he didn''t at least do that much.


    It would make it seem like someone could just go and fu?k his sister and he wouldn''t say anything about it. This world was ruled by fear, you wouldn''t want anyone to start having any silly ideas.


    Though there was another big problem in the Melee, there were eighty-six people participating in it. While the stadium was open and big, it didn''t mean much, because if I stood out as weak, then I might get swarmed. If I stood out as too strong, I might get swarmed too since I would seem as too big of a threat to handle alone.


    I looked towards my healer> "Give me the greatsword."


    "Yes, my lord," he obliged and handed it to me. It was a beautiful sword with a red hawk carved at the end of the handle. It wasn''t valyrian steel, but it was very well made and kept in perfect condition.


    This weapon was mostly to draw attention because if I was in a real pinch, I still had two daggers hidden under my armor in the lower back.


    Immediately I felt the potion travel through my veins like molten lava attacking my muscles. I immediately took a pill after that, which lessened the pain. This was a Strength Potion, it increased my physical strength by quite a lot.


    Initially, the potion would cut off a huge chunk of lifespan for an increase in physical strength. Essentially it was useless as it couldn''t even be mass-produced and took too many precious ingredients to make.


    The lifespan drainage was taken care of by the pill I made myself. Still, it was a shame that the pill also weakened the Strength Potion''s effects too, but it was better than being in pain while fighting and losing a chunk of my lifespan.


    "Ugh¡­" I winced and almost felt like throwing up. I took another pain-soothing potion and the excruciating pain disappeared. Now I was in perfect fighting form, and confident in beating Arthur. But the potion''s effect will only last for half an hour and after that, I will be weakened for the next three days. So I had to finish this as fast as I could.


    Only I knew just how much of a lie the Undefeated Knight facade was. My natural fighting power at best was around that of a good Kingsguard, but nowhere near the likes of Barristan Selmy or Arthur Dayne.


    This reputation was something I had planned to build ever since a young age. Even when I was a kid, I always chose to fight with the other squires when they were at their weakest, drunk. I even made the advantage myself by putting weakening and sleeping medicine in the food of anyone I wasn''t certain of beating.


    *


    It didn''t take long for the others to get ready and the melee to begin. With this many people fighting, it was bound to be a bloodbath. Especially since we were using real weapons, after all, dull weapons were for children''s training.


    As knights, they "obviously" knew when to not cut their enemy with their sword. Having them not use real swords would be an insult to them. At least that''s what the knights believed here.


    "A -Ah!" he yelled in panic and stumbled back. I used my greatsword and tipped him by hitting his foot with the bling side.


    When he was about to get up, I just kicked him in the head with all my strength. The sound of his helmet meeting my steel boot rang out and he was knocked unconscious. I kept the greatsword in my hand and pointed it around and looked out for anyone who might try and attack me.


    An armored knight came toward me, his movements were a bit sluggish and he had a normal sword. But I used the size and weight of my great sword to smash his sword aside, and hit him with a strike that caved in his helmet.


    Clang!


    He dropped to his knees and fell unconscious too¡­ or he might have died as in that strike I didn''t hold back at all. Having this enhanced strength was amazing because as long as I hit my enemy, techniques become useless and even detrimental. I just needed to bash at them, whether they tried to parry or block, it would be the same as they would stumble and give me an opening to beat them.


    No matter the hit, or where it landed it would incapacitate them. Since my hawk was sitting in one of the high trenches, it was looking straight at me and by sharing our vision I could see my back too.


    A sword came from behind me as an opponent thought they were being sneaky, but the attack failed as I swung backward and hit his neck, instantly dropping him to the ground dead. Oh well, accidents like this happen all the time and from his armor, he wasn''t anyone too important.


    "Uaahhh!!" Three guys charged at me, and I pulled all of the strength I could muster into a two-handed swing. The power behind my attack pushed the men back and knocked down two of them, the crowd went wild once they saw that.


    "WOOAAHH!!"


    "Wait, so the rumors were true then?!"


    I charged on the one who was left standing but an enemy swung at my midsection from behind me. I su?k?d low, dodged the swing, and punched the attacker in the face with an iron gauntlet. The man hadn''t been wearing a helmet so half of his teeth broke with that punch, I felt the crunch under my fist.


    By now, I was unbeatable by the rabble as they panicked when getting close and it made them easier to put down. Also looking at the sharp giant sword in my hand, scared some men as they didn''t want to "accidentally" die during the competition.


    Seeing that not many were approaching me anymore I looked around and smirked. "C''mon, are you scared? Don''t be, it will make me look bad if I don''t fight more here."


    Though I said those words of provocation, I didn''t want to fight anymore because while my strength was increased by the potion, my stamina stood the same. I was carrying a heavy greatsword and heavy armor, I would get tired very fast if I moved recklessly.


    One of the younger men was brave enough to stand forward and try to fight me, he had leather gear and was very poor as even his sword seemed to be second hand. "I -I will take your challenge, Ser Arthur."


    I looked at him like a hawk and my gaze sharpened, he flinched back fearfully. "H -Here I come." he stuttered fearfully. He was not experienced in real battle.


    Taking advantage of his inexperience, I charged at him and he instinctively stepped backward.


    I must make an example out of him, or else these fights will tire me out. By now anyone else would have been tired, but I wasn''t. Though it wasn''t long till I will be.


    *Clang!*


    Our swords clashed and mine broke straight through his, also getting straight through his arm and yet not stopping. The young man was bisected just right up from his belly bu??on.


    "I -I don''t want to die! Mother!" He cried out in fear as his body fell to the ground and his intestines spilled on the ground. Looking at me fearfully and tears in his eyes, the light drained from his eyes. The heavy smell of blood adorned the stage.


    The rest of the people who planned to fight me stepped away in fear, I had shown my monstrous strength now and they didn''t want to fight me. As planned, the young man''s death had pushed any competitors away from me.


    This was good, the other fighters wouldn''t dare and try to fight against me. Still though, unlike I, other fighters fought against each other and even Arthur Dayne was swarmed by a couple of people. If he defeated one, two others would take his place. Seems like he wasn''t as aggressive as I had been and that was good for me.


    ***


    At the end of it, as expected, only Arthur Dayne was left as one of my last opponents. He had taken care of any man who got too close to him. Sometimes he was swarmed by two or even three people at once, yet he had taken care of all of them.


    "Fuck!" Suddenly a yell brought my attention to another opponent who had survived in the field. It was Robert Baratheon. He had some shallow cuts all over his body and he seemed to be very tired. Unlike Arthur Dayne, he couldn''t block all of his opponent''s attacks with his hammer.


    Amongst us, the one who was the least injured seemed to be Arthur Dayne, that fu?k?n? monster. He had fought most people yet was able to come out unscathed, the only thing he seemed to show was that he was breathing heavily and seemed to be out of stamina. Even I had a light cut in my hand. Still, though, his ability to take on three opponents at once was remarkable.


    I trained with modern exercises and yet, this guy''s inefficient methods surpassed me. To me, it was a clear show of who amongst us trained the most. The only way this guy was probably even gaining stamina was to train a lot during the day since he didn''t know the basics of how to build cardio and muscle intensity.


    Though he was still tired, I could tell due to the movements of his throat as he seemed hungry for air. Normally no one would be able to notice that, but my hawk vision could be used in many ways other than just looking far away.


    Still, another problem had arisen, I only had around ten minutes in my strength potion. I can''t waste time like this.


    Taking a deep breath, I charged toward Arthur. Robert, like the predictable brute he was, wanted to join in and I stopped mid-charge, immediately changing direction and attacking Robert.


    Clang!


    He b?r?ly blocked my sword with his hammer and I could tell that he was tired too. It was only his sense of pride of wanting to win that was making him still stand up.


    Jumping back, he pulls back his hammer and his gaze wanders towards Lyanna for a split second, and from that Robert seems to gain a renewed vigor.


    Clang!


    His hammer hit my sword, and my weapon snapped in two like a twig due to the power exerted into it. Shit. I paid a lot for that sword, so I knew it was hard to break, but this just showed just how Robert''s brute strength was commendable. Also, he seemed to want to show off in front of Lyanna.


    I might lose against Robert as I had no weapon at hand. He swung his hammer at me, and it was only due to my good eyesight that I was able to lean back. I felt the wind of his after blow came through the openings in my helmet.


    No, losing was unacceptable for my image. I had worked too hard for my title as the Undefeated Knight to lose it here.


    "Hehehe~ seems like you don''t have a weapon," Robert commented friendlily, though we were still fighting, it didn''t mean that he doesn''t consider me as his friend.


    "Fuck. Can''t you be an honorable ?unt and let me pick a weapon from the ground?" I joked back, trying to sound equally casual and as if I wasn''t in a pinch.


    "Nah, I wanna show my betrothed my warrior side." He seemed amused by the situation, as he kept swinging at me and I kept dodging. Due to his armor, I knew that punches wouldn''t do any good and would just leave me open for a hammer to the ribs. "Also I heard you calling me a ?unt. I am a little drunk, but not deaf. Bahaha~"


    "Well, ready to get beat again then?" I said ?ssertively. Seeing no other choice, I whispered under my breath. "Athmovezar."


    My words came out like a snake crawling in my ear. Even I, as the user, got a chill down my spine. Even during all this, I kept eye contact with Robert, hypnosis was easy to use when the target was drunk and the action ordered wasn''t something unnatural, that he wouldn''t do.


    Robert swung at me again, this swing to the outside eye would seem like one of his normal attacks. But I knew exactly where it would go, as I had hypnotized him to hit my left shoulder.


    He was attacking quite fast, for his hammer''s weight. Just as his attack was about to land, I sidestep and his hammer hits the ground. I put my foot over the hammer and pulled out the knife I had hidden in the sheath on my lower back.


    Swish!


    Within an instant, my knife was pointed at the crack of his throat, the opening where his ?h?st plate and helmet meet. Attacking my shoulder was a "good" idea in the eyes of anyone as it was a clear weak point. Sadly the move kind of loses its effectiveness if one knew about it already, any kind of move loses effectiveness if someone knew about it.


    .


    "Fuck," he swore, annoyed at this.


    I smirked at him and kept the knife in place even as he raised his arms in surrender. "You owe me a good brothel whore¡­ you ?unt."


    "Fuck you," he cursed at me again. But this time I could see the smile he tried to hide while taking off his helmet. "But yeah, I will pay for five of the best whores in the Seven Kingdoms. Also, now I am a soon-to-be-married man, so I can''t be seen doing that anymore."


    At the same time, I kept an eye on Arthur Dayne, but the man hadn''t attacked while we were fighting. "Well, don''t worry, Robert. Think of this loss as losing to the best knight in the Seven Kingdoms."


    "I actually have quite a lot of money bet on him, so¡­ we are good friends, but money is still money." He said jokingly and walked off.


    "Wait, what?"


    "Puahahaha!! I can''t hear you now due to the sound of the crowd."


    He definitely could hear me. But it seems like I should have bet on myself more. After all, I was going to win this match no matter what. Turning towards Arthur, I clenched the dagger in my hand tightly. The swords in the ground were all poorly made so they might shatter if they clashed with Dawn, the sword of House Dayne. Better a reliable dagger than a shitty sword.


    "Ready to fight?" I smirked at him, changing the grasp on my knife into a reverse grip. Since Arthur had left the face part of his helmet open, I could drop my dagger as soon as the clash between our weapons happened and then punch him in the face.


    He only looked at me and then the dagger in my hand. He knew just how important it was to have well-made weapons and any properly made weapons wouldn''t have been abandoned by the contestants and left in the ground.


    "Ser Darry!" Arthur called towards one of his fellow King''s Guard. He was next to the Mad King who seemed to gleefully anticipate our battle. "Give me a sword!"


    The fellow Kingsguard seemed to get the message and threw a sheathed sword on the melee grounds, just right between us. "I want to beat you at your best..." said Arthur, taking out his dual swords and getting ready for a fair fight.


    I nodded and went and took the sword, pulling it out of its sheath, it was quite amazing. Probably even better than my initial; sword. Where did he even get this? It isn''t valyrian steel, but it was still quite good.


    The crowd goes into deafening cheers at his honor and sense of fairness.


    "Amazing!"


    "As expected of Ser Arthur!"


    "Well, he is the most honorable knight in the Kingdom."


    The yells of the people about his honor quilted down until they were but simple whispers. I nodded thankfully and got in a fighting stance. Since I fu?k?d his sister, I didn''t think he would still be honorable.


    Time to fight the best knight in the Seven Kingdoms¡­


    ***


    A/N: In the next chapter of GoT: Reborn as a Frey, who will win? Will it be the honorable and fair Arthur? Or the other Arthur who fcked the first Arthur''s sister will win. Maybe a whole new situation might develop? Who knows¡­ oh wait¡­ I do¡­


    P.S: If we go by pure skill, Arthur outclasses Arthur.. (You guess which one). ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)

 Chapter 15 - 15: Arthur vs Arthur

    Chapter 15: Arthur vs Arthur


    ***


    As soon as I grabbed the sword, my grip on it tightened so hard that it would break the handle of most swords. But my eyes never left Arthur, as he slowly walked towards me with two swords in his hands. I knew that one mistake and I will be on the ground.


    As he got closer, I immediately took charge and attacked him, doing a wide slash. He jumped back just the right distance and charged at me. One of his swords made some scratches on my heavy armor, while the other only could bash against it, but did no damage.


    He frowned. "Heavy armor? How the hell aren''t you exhausted yet?"


    Well, it was due to my strength potion who could handle armor at this size easily. After all, usually, the bigger the body, the more strength it has. But also, the market armor would be needed to cover that big body. I had the strength, but my body wasn''t bigger. So heavy armor like this felt normal for someone like me.


    "Well, maybe I train harder than you," I added jokingly. That was the logical explanation most would arrive at. I obviously wouldn''t tell him about my magic.


    He didn''t say anything and just got closer to me. Swinging his sword in a powerful wide slash, I decided to dodge and not take my chances here if he could bisect me.


    I swung my sword overhead, he blocked it with his other sword.


    Clang!


    He winced at the clash as his arm almost crumbled due to the power and he jumped back. Though he hadn''t dropped his sword on the ground, I knew that arm would be fu?k?d for the rest of his fight. Not only was I swinging my sword with two hands, but my strength was above his. If it hadn''t been for his quick reaction, his arm would have broken.


    I attempted to slash at him, my sword cutting through the air like a whip. But Arthur''s reaction time was perfect like always, he dodged back, smiled slightly, sidestepped my next slash, and used his swords to hit me four times.


    Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!


    I blocked one hit with my sword and the other three landed on my armor. Once again, the heavy armor protected me. Seems like using heavy armor was a smart idea. At first, it only tired me out while I moved against the small fry.


    Due to my hawk vision, Arthur was also unable to hit anywhere lethal as my vision could see his hits. Though dodging them was a problem sometimes, it didn''t mean that I couldn''t position myself to move slightly and let it hit a thick place in the armor.


    Seeing that strong and wide slashes weren''t working against him, I started using quick jabs and lighter, but faster slashes.


    Clang! Clang! Clang!...


    But still, Arthur always seemed to move away by a hair''s length and dodge the attack. This was nothing short of raw talent. He was someone that people called a natural fighting genius, his body moves without thought and dodges the attack.


    **


    The battle went on for some minutes, with my heavy armor, and his fast reaction time. We were in a stalemate. I wasn''t winning, but I wasn''t losing either. Well, at least until my strength potion ran out and I entered a weakened state.


    But suddenly Arthur stumbled due to a rock on the ground, he would catch himself within a second. But I wouldn''t let such a chance go, I wasn''t honorable like him.


    Clang!!


    Somehow, impossibly, the man had used his sword and busted his arm, trying to direct my sword. I cut straight through his shoulder pad.


    Fwish!


    But unluckily, I wasn''t able to draw blood. My goal there was to try and cut his shoulder or even whole arm. The deflecting had been impeccable, and even with my strength, Arthur had adjusted his body and not fallen on the ground.


    Clang! Clang!


    Two hits landed on my ?h?st plate again. By now I could notice that the place he was hitting was the same. I had seen a lot of movies and anime where someone continues hitting the same place. A normal person from this world would think that it was an original idea that no one had done before.


    But to me, it was so predictable, that I used those attacks he landed to try and cut him up.


    I wasn''t beating Arthur Dayne¡­ but I wasn''t losing either¡­ at least not yet...


    Finally, my strength potion''s power started running out and with each clash, I was giving more and more ground. Even though I was cheating majorly here, I was having such difficulty here, this sucks.


    It''s like installing hacks in a game and yet having other players beat you because they are just better. Fuck.


    His sword was so fast that I had difficulty keeping up. Just how the hell can a human be this good at swordsmanship. It''s unnatural as hell. Though I wanted to say that it was foul play on Arthur''s part, I knew that wasn''t the truth.


    Our weapons created sparks as they clashed against each other, my stomach suddenly started churning and it felt like I was going to throw up. This was the first sign that I had about less than two minutes left of the potion and I was going to drop down on the ground like a potato after that.


    We were both trying to injure each other, but it all failed. His reaction time was too fast and my heavy armor was blocking all of his hits.


    Fuck it. I can''t hold this any longer, this bastard will beat me if this continues any longer. I already gave the audience a fight to remember. Using magic openly was a big No, even if he had to lose. But small, unnoticeable magic wouldn''t be a problem as no one would be able to notice.


    Running a bit back, just out of Arthur''s sword distance, I looked at the ground where he would have to step on and I whispered under my breath. "Movereterram." The words that came out of my mouth were unnatural and unknown, it felt like I was being crushed by the earth even as I spoke them. Every magic in this world had a price.


    Once Arthur''s feet stepped on the ground as he walked towards me, my heart jumped in elation. I forgot all the pain and almost wanted to scream in joy. But I held myself back, and instead, my gaze sharpened to inhumane levels.


    If I had my helmet off, people would have seen my eyes go from dark to yellow and then dilate to an inhumane level. The ground Arthur stepped on shifted slightly, and as soon as I saw him start tumbling I charged the man. Such a small move had broken his whole sense of balance and given me a chance.


    He shifted his body to jump away from the blade and then he would have a chance to reposition himself.


    Baam!


    I body-slammed him on the ground as if I was a wrestler, my heavy armor took the breath out of him and he dropped to the ground, motionless. I immediately had my knife pointed at his throat, but Arthur did not react.


    Immediately my heart stopped.


    Did I just kill the Sword of The Morning? I could see the Mad King looking at me gleefully, that one expression on his face said a thousand words. I took off my glove and used my fingers to sense the pulse in his neck. Breathing a sigh of relief, I could feel my heart start beating again loudly in my ear and I smiled, taking off my helmet and throwing it in the air.


    Killing a Kingsguard in front of the Mad King would have been a terrible ending to this event and I would have probably ended with my head on a spike. The chances of escaping the middle of this ring were impossible, as I was surrounded by knights on all sides. People don''t care about the rubbish knights, but those of Noble Families could earn you a debt that will be paid back in blood.


    I looked at the referee and pointed towards the unconscious Arthur. "He is down. Do your job."


    The man finally came to his senses and smiled widely. "The winner is Arthur Frey!! The Undefeated Knight!!"


    His voice boomed through like lightning and the crowd cheered loudly. I could b?r?ly hear anything, though I noticed Robert throwing ale from his cup and towards me. He tried using the liquid to hit me, but he was failing horribly, though the excited smile never left his face.


    I only smile at them and stab my sword on the ground, leaving it behind for the Kingsguard I got this from to come and pick it up. I bowed towards the King, and surprisingly he seemed in a jovial mood and waved at me.


    With that, I went back towards my corner and into the fighters'' rooms. As soon as I was out of sight I started taking off my heavy armor as fast as I could or else this thing would pull me to the ground once my strength potion wore off.


    *


    After taking off my armor, I sat down and waited for the after-effects of my potion to hit me. It felt like my stomach was already churning and burning as if I had drunk lava. Suddenly, I felt bile raise up my throat.


    *bluegh*


    I threw up on the ground strange red and green liquid that slowly sunk in on the floor. A feeling of weakness, nausea hits me like I hadn''t slept for days and had no caffeine either. Every muscle in my body had been ripped apart and that would take a while to heal, I was at my weakest right now.


    *sigh*


    The things I do for power...


    After a few minutes, the pain in my body calmed down and I looked at my hand, it was still twitching but I could now clench it into a fist. I felt like a baby again, b?r?ly able to move anything.


    By leaning on the wall, I was able to get up and I took a deep breath, straightening myself and fixing my disheveled hair. Showing weakness wasn''t something I ever planned to do in a cruel world like this, or it will eat me alive as soon as I do so.


    In the fighting rooms, there was only me and as I went outside, there were two of my soldiers keeping guard and my healer was there waiting for me. I had left them here since I didn''t want anyone to see my weak state.


    "Arthur!"


    "The Undefeated Knight!"


    The people around took notice of my presence and cheered, it seemed like the stories about me had already started spreading. I wonder what kind of legendary figure I will be made into a hundred years from now?


    Of course, with the normal people, the Lords came in too and they were even more annoying since I couldn''t refuse their ''kind'' gestures.


    "Lord Arthur. Have you met my daughter? They say she is famous in the Riverlands."


    Famous for what? Sucking d??k? I never even heard of her. But I could already guess what kind of boring girl she would be. Plus she probably was nowhere near Ashara Dayne either. But of course, while vile thoughts crossed my mind, on the outside I was all polite smiles. "Oh, Lord Shawney. It''s a p???sur? meeting you here."


    His face brightened once he heard me, seemingly surprised that I even knew of him and his small house. Well, I had a spy network for a reason, and remembering things like this was a basic need in this world.


    ***


    I spent over an hour greeting Lords of minor houses, they introduced their daughters and some had even brought them along. I only smiled, fu?k?n? Ashara Dayne was different from messing around with some Lord''s daughter. Well, technically Ashara was a Lord''s daughter too, but there was no indication of her using our time together to try and honey trap me into marriage.


    As a man from modern times, I knew a honey trap when I saw one. Just like many things, people in the future were better at honey trapping too, and honestly, these girls that were being offered were amateurish at best.


    I just smiled and waved through the conversations with ease. Leaving room for negotiations and not closing anything. While at the same time letting the Lords dispute amongst themselves. I was the prize here after all.


    It was such a shame, I truly wasn''t made for fighting. Cheating people like this with words was way easier for me.


    *


    When I finally arrived at my tent I was left alone and finally relaxed my already overly abused body. The tend was like a small house and I had everything that I would need here.


    "My Lord!" yelled out my healer as he interrupted me. Two guards were also with him.


    Ah¡­ I see now...


    ****


    Arthur looked at his guards and healer like always, with a nonchalant look and unguarded demeanor. "What is the problem? Hopefully, it''s something good."


    His words were softly spoken, but there was an undertoning threat there. But the men didn''t seem bothered by it and they smiled. "We got some news of the Iron Bank starting to act up," said the healer with a happy smile on his face, expecting some kind of reward.


    "I see¡­" said Arthur, in a calm but hurried voice. He had a frown on his face and seemed to be in deep thought. He then took a long cloak from the clothing compartment on his tent and put it on. Getting he walked past his guards hurriedly and rushing towards the exit of the tent. Suddenly he stopped and turned around, opened his mouth to say something, but before even a word could come out...


    Fwish!


    A dagger was stabbed straight into his heart, the ?ssailant was the healer. Arthur''s eyes widened in shock and he looked down, flowing out of him like hot life liquid.


    Fwish! Fwish!


    But it wasn''t over though, as the two guards also stabbed him, one in the eye, having the dagger come out of the other side of the skill. While the second guard went for a more brutal attack and stabbed him in the groin area.


    ***********


    A/N: Good old fashion Game Of Thrones betrayal. I miss these moments. But what happened here? His personal retainers betrayed him? Or did they? Who was the real culprit behind all of this? Is Arthur Fray truly dead? What happened to him? Find out in the next chapter of Dragon Ba-.... I mean Game Of Thrones: Reborn as a Frey.

 Chapter 16 - 16: Playing with the Shadows

    Chapter 16: Playing with the Shadows


    ***


    Blood dripped out of Arthur''s body, poling down on the ground. He coughed out blood, and blood also came out of his nose.


    The three men took out their knives at the same time with clear glamour. Showing that they were professionals. They didn''t make any silly movements or anything too flashy, a simple kill that went for a man''s weak spots, heart, balls, and brain.


    They silently started cleaning their blades, no words were exchanged between the guards and the healer.


    Then they got ready to clear the body, and the first one to go forward was the healer. But as soon as he touched Arthur, the body on the ground started to disappear into specks of red light, like the crimson webs of a spider.


    "What?" Asked the healer with calm confusion. But the surroundings around them shifted and changed, and the next thing they knew they were all tied up.


    ***


    -Arthur XVI-


    I stared down at the tied-up people in front of me. Using a weak Hypnosis spell worked on most humans, and even would be able to put 1-5 people to sleep, depending on the potency. Though it was a weak-class spell, it was very useful.


    Its drawback was that it could be resisted for some time and victims of the spell could also grow resistant to it after some time. So it had quite some drawbacks, but as long as it was used smartly, then its effectiveness was undeniable.


    But I had started using this spell as soon as they had come into my tent.


    Sighing I walked towards my dead ''subordinates'' and started unclothing them. I completely stripped them n?k?d and even checked if they had any weapons hidden in their mouths or any other place normal people wouldn''t check.


    After doing that, I take out three vials from my pouch. Magic had many uses in this world, and this was one of them. The Drought of Living Death¡­ had another name in a high Valyrian language, and it had a different meaning too. But by now I had learned quite a lot of strange potions names and changed their names into something simpler in my mind. Something that would help me remember their functions.


    I had to remember these things by heart because writing them down or having books about them around wasn''t too good.


    I dropped the vials down the three ?ssassins'' throats. The Draught Of Living Death, without the antidote, they will never wake up and their bodies will eventually die from hunger and dehydration.


    Magic in this world might not be the army-destroying kind, or even anything close to that. But even then, it didn''t mean that it wasn''t a useful tool when used correctly.


    Baam!!


    I kicked one of them on the ?h?st, probably cracking a couple of ribs. Then I slapped the others as hard as I could. This was done in an attempt to try and see if serum worked.


    Magic is an untrustworthy power, it will decline, become stronger or even go away completely sometimes. Trusting something like that was the last thing I would ever want.


    Still, none of the men showed any signs of being conscious. I extended my hand towards my healer''s face and like an invisible mask, the ''face'' of the healer was pulled off and it showed a whole new face behind it.


    I had always been on guard against these guys as even with my magic I couldn''t notice them. But they were still human, and although they copied the two guards perfectly, they missed one thing. The healer, they had copied him very perfectly too, but the way he walked while he was in my presence wasn''t the same.


    When my healer sees me, he always walks a certain way and radiates a certain vibe around him. Something that they didn''t copy. Pretty much, the healer was a kissass, someone who always tried to please me.


    Normal people wouldn''t probably even notice the minuscule change in behavior. But due to my hawk-like eyes, everything was laid in front of me. I ?ssumed the worst when I noticed the small change, and it was the worst kind of situation¡­ faceless men went after me.


    Normal people wouldn''t even notice but with my Hawk Like vision, I could see it. And immediately ?ssumed the worst-case scenario, which was the worst.


    I can already guess who ordered the Faceless Men, not a lot of people have this kind of power. So the options on who did it were limited, but that didn''t mean that I would let them go. No¡­ I will take care of this problem and rip it straight out of the root.


    Immediately I went towards the side of my tent and pulled out a large cloth and put all of the faceless men in the middle and made it into a sack with all of them inside. They might die, but I didn''t care about it that much. I went outside and made sure to intensify the angry stride on my step.


    "Guards!!" I called out, and immediately some people around looked at me curiously. But my guards immediately came towards me. "Notify all of my men that we will be returning to Essos."


    They didn''t question anything and just nodded. I then went back inside my tent and took out a quill and started writing a letter. My eyes suddenly flashed and my hawk showed another one of my men moving suspiciously. Oh, I know that guy, he was the spy sent from my ''friends'' if I am not mistaken.


    As the hawk flew off, I smiled a little regretfully since now my eyes in the sky would be gone. But this was necessary, as its wings flapped and it flew up high in the sky without anyone noticing anything.


    As I saw this, I couldn''t help but rethink some of my plans to stay in Westeros any longer. It seemed like watching the Mad prince Rhaegar Targaryen sealing his fate by doing something dumb wasn''t something I would be able to witness.


    ***


    After five hours I had everything ready and went towards the Ravenry of Harrenhal, there was another job that had to be done here. As I entered, I saw one of my soldiers, the only one who hadn''t gathered yet and was supposed to be in the shitter. Good excuse, I will give him that since no one would question it due to the gross details.


    I stalked him like a cat and my steps were silent and just as he was about to tie a letter into a raven''s leg.


    Fwish!


    I stabbed him on the back of his neck, the tip of my knife came out of the front of his jugular. He tried struggling, but it was for naught as strength was drained out of him and his body lost all signs of life.


    I grabbed the letter from his hand and smiled. As expected, it was a notice sent to-


    I quickly copied the handwriting from the letter and changed the message and with one look into the raven''s eyes, I subtly hypnotized the creature and sent off the note. Looking around, I pulled out my sword and looked around cautiously.


    "Come out, I know you are there," I called out toward the pillar and a figure slowly came out.


    _____


    A/N: Arthur''s hawk vision is very helpful in the general gist of things. It helps with archery and even noticing things that no normal human would. For example, the birds were already distressed due to him killing someone, but the small distress they showed due to another presence in the room wasn''t something anyone else by Arthur would notice.


    Now the stakes will rise even higher as enemies who Arthur¡­ Well, I won''t spoil it and you will see in the next chap who the enemy/enemies are/is.

 Chapter 17 - 17: Grand Manipulation

    Chapter 17: Grand Manipulation


    ¡­


    -Arthur (XVII)-


    The person in hiding came out and I was surprised about who it was. Robert Baratheon. Immediately I started calculating the risks of killing him.


    Ah. This sucks, if it had been anyone else I would have killed them too and cleaned up this mess. Now, this just became way more troublesome than intended, if my hawk had been here then such a problem wouldn''t have arisen as he would have noticed Robert and notified me. But there was no use crying over spilled milk and I had to think of something new on the spot.


    Right now, even if I wanted to kill him I wouldn''t be able to do so. Because he had his hammer in hand and while he didn''t seem to be on guard against me, I was severely weakened due to the aftereffects of the Strength Potion, and even with the help of magic right now there was a good chance that the one dying would be me. This would develop into a mess that I won''t be able to clean up.


    Instead of taking a violent approach, I sighed in exhaustion. Then with a sad smile on my face, I said to him, "You know when I went to Essos I had it good in the beginning. Fighting, fu?k?n? and all that¡­ then these little snakes start coming around and spying on me."


    He didn''t say anything but just smiled at me. "Heh, maybe I should come there and help you."


    No, you will have a war to fight here. Though I thought that, I didn''t say anything about it. I contemplated using magic, but once again decided against it. Though the Magic I had been using today was of the weak kind that mostly just consumed stamina, if I continued using it then it would start taking away my lifespan. Or as it was known in this world, as Life Fire, that was the term most Mages used.


    I was not ready to sacrifice that, I wouldn''t put this body that I had worked so hard to build. Plus the reputation wasn''t copyable either. Unless it was a last resort, I would never use Magic too much as it will start delving into dangerous territory.


    But also, I was worried about another thing. Would my resurrection spell even work? I hadn''t tried it on anyone and in theory it should work. Magic in this world wasn''t a math problem, 1+1 in Magic didn''t always equate to 2.


    If this body dies right now the hawk was nowhere near to pick my soul either. Though it would turn immediately once it felt that I had died, would my soul be preserved? Would I lose my memories? Maybe the hawk will be shot by some hunter while it was carrying my soul. Nothing in this world was ever guaranteed, less so something as wild as Magic.


    Even if this succeeded and I took over one of my children''s bodies, then due to people no longer being afraid of me they might hunt down my family to take my riches.


    "Sometimes it feels like I am surrounded with vipers out there," I complained to the man who I had manipulated into thinking he was my friend. Since this situation had come up, I better set up the foundation and deepen the friendship between us. "If one day you become someone with authority, you will see that the people you can trust lessens the more powerful you become."


    I could see Robert''s instincts and posture relaxing as he was listening to my story. He understood that I didn''t kill someone recklessly as soon as I said that. Robert even had the gall to joke. "Heh, the most authority I will ever have is managing the Stormlands. Which I will leave to someone else and just go and make a Sellsword Company."


    "Heh, then I will be your first client," I joked back with him, even though I wouldn''t ever let him become that. I had put in too much effort in this friendship for him to end up as some nobody on the other side of the sea. I looked at the body of my dead subordinate and kicked him hard.  "Fucking piece of shit," I swore at the man, trying to show that I was still angry to Robert. "I gave this guy shelter when I found him n?k?d in the roads of Pentos¡­ and this is how he repays me? Sending letters to my enemies."


    Robert came close and looked at the body, he gave a mighty slap on the back that almost knocked me over. I was still weakened, so that slap was quite powerful in comparison. He didn''t seem to notice that and just smiled at me. "C''mon now, it was just one bad apple, no need to think all of your soldiers are scum like him."


    "I just gave them so much and they betrayed me. *sigh*... I will take care of the body, you can go to the other lords, Robert. I will take care of this." I said sadly as if I was still getting over the pain of this guy betraying me. Well, his family will be toast now too. I will make an example out of them.


    "Are you sure you don''t need help?" he asked, offering me to help get rid of the body. I shook my head in denial, there was no need for him to get involved.


    Then I just stared at Robert''s back as he walked away. Does he sympathize with me? Because it seemed like he did. It seems like the friendship I built with him might be quite stronger than I had initially thought. Which was a good thing.


    It was good that he was inexperienced at these things. I also learned something today, pity was truly a powerful weapon. If someone pities you, then they are very easy to mold into the shape you want.


    After making sure that no one was around I crouched down and touched the dead body and used a spell, the corpse turned into a strange dark liquid that soon evaporated. It was truly a shame to lose such a skilled young man.


    Sighing, I stood back up and did some stretches to try and ease my muscles that were still in pain.


    I should go and take care of things on Bravos, some things required one to do them by himself, and by now everything should be in place.


    Walking down the Ravenry Tower, many plans came into mind and I tried to think of a way to execute them.


    ***


    -Aman (Iron Bank Council Member) (I)-


    Some people were born lucky and some were lucky to be born. That was what my father used to say. Looking around, I was sitting in a dark room with eight other people. We were the main council members of the Iron Bank, we controlled it from the shadows.


    Even while meeting each other, we all wore masks to protect our identities from being discovered. Just in case one of us got captured and tortured for information. This was mostly an old tradition from the old times when Valyria was still around. Now, it was more of a traditional ceremony as I knew some of the identities of the members here.


    We must continue keeping up with the times as now the Valyrians are no longer around. Instead, we now use spies and try to get an advantage against each other. We were the game masters and the others were tools, they just didn''t know it yet.


    Suddenly the doors of the room opened and the last member needed for the meeting to start came. Each of our masks had a number carved on it, from one to nine, of course, there was a 10th member that always only joined from the outside. He was the guy who we used as an excuse that even normal people could achieve a high position. Though in reality, this was something that could only be inherited.


    "Sorry, it won''t happen again," number ten apologized sincerely. We all understood that time here equals money and we couldn''t waste time as that would be the same as throwing money away.


    "Finally that scum is dead. I say we immediately kill his family before they have a chance to escape," said number five, the irritation was clear in his voice.


    Number five had always been mad at that upstart, Arthur Fray. Or should I say Arthur Redhawk? I guess it doesn''t matter now.


    . "We must not act recklessly. We know that even though Arthur Redhawk had enemies¡­ he had even more friends," uttered number one, with a raspy voice that truly showed his age,


    Number eight snorted. "Well he killed his enemies, that is the only reason he had more friends."


    Some of us laughed at the joke but others didn''t. Then number ten interfered with his usual calm voice. "Was the death confirmed."


    Then I took this chance to speak. "Yes, my spy confirmed it."


    "My spy in his mansion also said that they got a message that he is dead," number two added wearily. He always was overly cautious at these things, afraid that his enemy would come back from the grave.


    Still, though, number two was impressive. I thought I was the only one with the spy in the Redhawk mansion that hadn''t been killed.


    I must concentrate on taking over his shipping system, which would make me the most powerful man in Braavos. Finally, I could also kill these guys and finally take over the Iron Bank and have it controlled by only me and my family.


    ..


    A dozen minutes passed and we were discussing how we would separate the ?ssets "equally" amongst ourselves. Meaning we won''t be giving number ten anything and then the east was each for themselves.


    "I paid for the ?ssassins," number two remarked, trying to make a case for himself.


    "And I made sure that none of the staff or his spies got any word of this. You think that was free?" I needed to be headstrong with what I wanted and I don''t care if it took years.


    I will get my hands on those ships. Even if everyone else wanted them too, then I will outlive all of these fu?kers.


    Then in the middle of the discussion between me and number six on who will take over, number ten intervened. "I think you guys should calm down. I have a proposition¡­ let''s just take this slowly¡­"


    We calmed down a little and looked towards number ten to listen to what he had to say. I don''t give a crap what he had to say, I just had to act cordial so the others didn''t use it against me later on in an argument.


    Then number ten takes a flask from under his robe and puts it on the table. "You guys don''t need to argue, because you are all going to die here."


    *fwosh*


    Gas came out of the flask, soon I felt my vision start getting blurry, darkness claimed me¡­. nNONONONONO I CAN''T DIE LIKE THIS!!!


    Baam!


    I fall on the ground and even head some other bodies fall too. This isn''t fair¡­ life is so unfair. We were supposed to be the dragons, the predators, how can we die like this...


    ***


    -Number Ten (I)-


    I looked at the others falling and the sense of joy I felt was exhilarating. Just some time ago I used to be nobody, but here I was now, killing the strongest people on Braavos.


    They thought that it would be smart to not bring guards here, that it was unneeded since we were deep within the premises of the Iron Bank. We were deep underground where the most secure vaults were so nothing was happening down here. These men had worked a lot to keep all of these meetings secret.


    Seeing their dead bodies on the ground, I couldn''t help but feel like my worries were washing away. The nervousness before I did this had been unsurmountable, but right now I am relieved like never before. This was the start of my story.


    He ?ssassinated the previous number ten and put me in charge. I went from an unsuccessful merchant to the soon-to-be boss of the Iron Bank. While I will still be under Arthur but as the boss of the Iron Bank and the public not knowing about our secret partnership, he still can''t give me orders that I don''t want to follow. So the relationship was one of equal partners.


    As I walked out of the chamber, the big hallways with high ceilings greeted me with the light b?r?ly able to get. But as I did so, dark clouds appeared in front of my eyes and my legs lost their strength


    *Baam!*


    I fell on my knees, losing all the power in my body.


    What is going on?!


    A strange liquid came up my throat and I couldn''t help but cough out something in my hand.


    *Cough!*


    Looking at the palm I used to cover my mouth, it was covered in blood. What?... Am I poisoned? But before entering the room I drank the antidote given to me by¡­ Arthur¡­ Redhawk¡­ that bastard!!!


    *Cough!*


    I spit out blood and tried to get up, but I only face-planted into the ground.


    Damn it. Damn you Arthur Redhawk!!


    I b?r?ly turned my head, and when I did so I noticed a red hawk, the one that had delivered Arthur''s orders had landed in front of me. The bird stared at me with a strangely intelligent gaze.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    -Arthur (XVIII)-


    Through the eyes of my hawk, I looked at a man''s dying face and confirmed his death, before disconnecting our sight.


    I returned to my body, skin changing was a truly convenient branch of magic. The smile that came onto my face as I docked my ship was exhilarating, taking a deep breath I got ready to go back to Braavos, not to kill my enemies but take everything they have.


    Now I was just going there to take over the Iron Bank that they worked so hard to make richer¡­


    "Hahahaha~" I chuckled a little and went back into my room on the ship.


    All according to plan.


    ************


    A/N: We see that Arthur isn''t going back to Essos to fight against his enemies. They were already dead in his eyes, he is returning to Bravos so he can effectively and efficiently take over the Iron Bank with no one meddling in his affairs. If they do¡­. Well then¡­


    P.S: His plan was initially different but it changed due to the faceless men.. But this is only the beginning of what he will do.

 Chapter 18 - 18: Back to Essos

    Chapter 18: Back to Essos


    ¡­


    -Arthur (XIX)-


    I arrived in Braavos within one day by using my ship. Of course, I used wind and water Magic as much as I safely could to speed up this journey.


    These are the moments where this world''s magic truly shows its value. The crew was exhausted and I was too. But I didn''t show any weakness as my ship landed on the docks of Bravos


    Some blood dripped out of my nose, and the nausea was no joke and as I stepped out of the ship it felt like I was going to pass out. But I stood tall, straightened my back and my eyes were concentrated even though everything felt blurry.


    These were symptoms that probably meant that I had lost some lifespan, but it was something I had to do or the void left in the Iron Bank could be filled by someone else if I didn''t move fast enough.


    Hundreds of guards were on the docks, and people were pushed out of the way. They wore green armor with red hawks painted on their ?h?st plates.


    They have spears and round shields on them.


    """WELCOME BACK MY LORD!!!""" Their loud yells revered through the docks, and people immediately understood that something was about to happen and scattered away.


    My eyes sharpened at this and I looked towards a certain building that could be seen even from the docks.


    "To the Iron Bank!" I ordered them loudly, talking out my sword and pointing it towards the mentioned building. Immediately they turned around and started marching.


    ***


    None of them questioned my words, just as I had trained them. They simply escorted me to the Iron Bank, and immediately I could see the people around the bank get nervous and try to get away.


    I couldn''t rest at all or someone else will take over the Iron Bank. Which would be disastrous.


    I do own some percentage of the Iron Bank, something like 10% of it. But I was in no position to even become a member of the Council in the Iron Bank.


    The Iron Bank never had just one leader with absolute power. The institution didn''t work like that, but it truly was a shame for them that I had the bigger army. So I made the rules now. They only had two choices here, comply or get themselves and their families dead.


    They weren''t exactly in a position where to refuse me.


    This was a medieval world, there were unspoken rules around here. Well, this would work in the modern world too, so it doesn''t matter which time I was in. Certain things would never change.


    That absolutely, and unspoken rule was that if you have the bigger army you can have anything you want.


    Just like with America in my last life. The country that spent the most in their military, even the next ten countries that spent the most in military combined couldn''t match it.


    Fuck. I wasn''t even American in my last life, and while the country was far from the best for its people''s life. It undeniably had the most powerful army, and the country itself was unable to be conquered due to each of its citizens being essentially a soldier. After all, they had a lot of guns.


    There was a reason no one went to America and told anything about the debts it had. If it was a weaker country, that would be a whole different story.


    As I stood there in front of the mighty Iron Bank, I smiled, looking at the people around me, daring the accountants here to do anything suspicious.


    I entered the building, and my soldiers protected me from all directions. They are very dedicated. After all, when I get control of Braavos I will make them live luxurious lives and inspire my other soldiers to be like them.


    I just entered the Iron Bank, no one dared to get in my way, and I just casually went to the meeting room where all of the people who owned any percentage of the Iron Bank would discuss who would be the next members of the council.


    The Bank doesn''t have a standing army and usually hires some Sellsword Company to protect them when Bravos was ever in danger of being invaded. They also had the Faceless men do their dirty work so there is that also.


    When I entered the chamber. Some people looked at me, a couple were shocked, showing that they had gotten news of my death.


    "What-"


    "Kill them all," I ordered, not even waiting for anyone to say anything.


    The guards immediately went to kill them, the people tried to fight back, some begged, but it''s a shame. I don''t like leaving any loose ends and their families will soon be killed too.


    From the children to the elderly. I don''t hate them or their families, it''s just business.


    After killing them I split my guards into groups led by my most trusted personnel to go and kill the families of the people who had a part in the Iron Bank.


    But I still took half of my guards. And went towards the Sea Lord''s Palace. The Ruler of Braavos.


    It was a sprawling building that houses a menagerie of exotics beasts and birds. I knew that as I had been here a couple of times before.


    The Sea Lord was the leader of Braavos, the Sealord is a non-hereditary, elected position. Once elected, they serve for life.


    We are taking over this place. He has around 60 guards that protect him and I had half of mine. Which is 450 soldiers, so for every soldier he had, I have more than seven. I must say, I liked my odds.


    Anyway, I needed to take control of Braavos in one day or my enemies could band together and might hire some mercenary group or something like that. After today I must have zero enemies in Braavos, that was the only possible alternative.


    I go towards the Sea Lord''s palace. I saw that the guards at the gate were not nervous. The news must have not reached him here. So I took this chance and ordered my soldiers. "Charge!"


    I stayed in the back and saw them go through the palace like a hot knife through bu??er. Killing anyone in sight, children, servants, women, elderly¡­ it doesn''t matter. Any of them could be someone disguised and could escape from here. This was the safest course of action for me.


    ...


    I take over fifty of my guards, together with the three of the faceless men on a carriage inside cages.


    Then we all went towards the House of Black and White.


    Since the building sat by itself on a small island in Braavos we all took my boats and surrounded it.


    Then I together with my guards and the imprisoned faceless men. We all arrived there and one of my guards knocked on the door.


    .


    Soon after a couple of seconds, the door was opened and a man covered in a black robe came out.


    He had a pale face and blue eyes with blond hair. He just stared at me emotionally, saw my guards behind me but still spoke with no emotion on his face or voice. "How may the man help you?"


    I just gazed at him and gave a signal to my soldiers, with a wave of my hand.


    My soldiers brought three faceless in chains, in front of me.  I kicked their back of the knees then they fell with their knees on the ground and I just looked towards the House of Black and White. "I want you to stop taking orders against me or else."


    *gurgle*


    The man with the slit throat choked on his blood as he grabbed at his neck, to try and stop himself from death. But in the end, he died.


    Then I just kicked the guy that I killed down to the ground. His dead body laid there without any emotion on his face and his eyes wide open.


    And with the bloody knife still in my hand, I shrugged casually towards the man that had come out of the house of White and Black. "Listen, I am a nice guy. I don''t want to kill needlessly. I mean you guys are really useful and I don''t want to get rid of you."


    The guy at the gate narrowed his eyes a little, I noticed that with my hawk vision.


    "Then what is it that you want?" The doorman just calmly asked.


    I just smirked a little. "Well, now from you I want to not send any more ?ssassins after me. So I don''t wipe you out and you don''t kill me. That sounds fair right¡­ I mean to me that sounds fair. Right, friend?"


    Before he can answer I just pat one of the chained faceless men on the head like a dog. "I mean I was going to torture these guys to learn your face stealing techniques, but I thought; Hey, that seems kind of rude to my... soon-to-be friends. So I didn''t do it. We are friends right?"


    The guy at the gate still had a calm face and muttered. "We accept your proposal."


    I climbed up the stairs by myself and arrived in front of the door where the faceless man was standing. Then I¡­ just hugged him. "Welcome my friends, it was nice to know you all."


    He doesn''t hug back or have any emotion on his face. Then I look at my soldiers. "Hey release our new friends, we are all together here, c''mon now, don''t be rude."


    The Faceless Men were released from their chains. They have emotionless eyes, as they went forward towards the House of Black and White I started walking towards my soldiers with a smile on my face.


    When the previously captured faceless men arrived at the doorman. I just look behind me and see.


    *fwish*


    Their throats are slashed by the doorman.


    As expected of the faceless men, failures aren''t exactly rewarded.


    Anyway, now that I solved this problem I just had to take care and stabilize Braavos. Then I was going to get some benefits during Robert''s Rebellion.


    A smile appears on my face as I think. -''I kind of like playing this game.''


    I sent a look toward the doorman. C''mon bitch, I dare you to act. Do you have the balls to risk it? I will slaughter your whole house of Black and White. You might be ?ssassins, the best amongst your kind. But they were still human, and armies would crash and burn the House of Black and White to the ground before they could do anything.


    Also, if they aren''t useful, I could destroy them then too. Keeping an entity that didn''t listen to me here would be disadvantageous. So they better listen and understand what was good for them.


    *****

 Chapter 19 - 19: Roberts Rebellion

    Chapter 19: Robert''s Rebellion


    ¡­.


    -Arthur (XX)-


    After the business with the House of Black and White, I immediately started walking back to the mansion that I had in Braavos. I needed to rest or I would pass out from the overexertion.


    Magic was a bitch.


    As soon as I reached my mansion, the maid was there to greet me. "Welcome back, my lord."


    The head maid, the pretty thing with green eyes and dark hair looked at me lovingly. I smiled back and nodded. I and this woman had a child, but honestly, except for her background we rarely ever did anything more than fu?k?n?.


    I just walked past all of the maids, whispering to one of them. "Bring a new maid to my room," and so I went to my bedroom and immediately laid down on my bed.


    Today would have been a good chance to kill off all the faceless men and get it over with. But sadly, things weren''t that easy. How many faceless men were around the world? As soon as I destroyed their headquarters each of them would be out in the hunt for me and that would be tiring. They might even decide to kill off my whole bloodline.


    This was why I hated situations like this because I had an army and could wipe the bastards out. It wasn''t beneficial at all, especially at such a time. So instead, having them as "friends" would be better. They didn''t want their headquarters destroyed either, but if they dared to try and ?ssassinate me once more then I had no other choice but to go and slaughter them all. I will burn their Gods to the ground if I have to.


    They knew that, or at least they should figure it out soon. I wasn''t someone they should mess with. Though once I have enough power, then I will still kill them all. Having an enemy who tried to kill me still alive made things very uncomfortable. Though technically, I did kill the men who attacked me, this wasn''t something that could be solved by a technicality.


    I winced as my heart suddenly started beating rapidly like a rabid dog. It hurt from how fast it was beating. "Fuck, this bitchy magic. If you are gonna be such a pain, at least be more useful."


    It felt like I was going to have a heart attack at this rate, so I took a deep breath and went towards one of my drawers slowly, making sure that excessive movements don''t raise my heart rate.


    Taking a flask that contained a small dose of strange liquids I took a sniff of it and a heavy sense of sleepiness hit me. This was something I had made in case I was ?ssaulted in my room by many people and I had to run away. I would have used something stronger than a sleeping bomb, but this was the strongest "poison" I could build a tolerance to. After all, throwing thin in the ground and knocking myself out too would be silly as hell.


    The sleeping potion slowed my heart rate down considerably and it stopped hurting. Having lost lifespan was a little regretful, but the return had been worth it. By the end of the day, Braavos will become mine and so will be the Iron Bank. Now saying that I had infinite money would be a lie, but with the Iron Bank and the Monopolies I had managed to make until now, it was pretty damn close. Even the Lannisters who have had time for thousands of years to store their money and lived in a gold mine were poorer than me.


    Okay, I need to calm down and not get excited or my heart rate will increase. Let''s think about something other than money.


    Yeah¡­ how about Magic? Such a mysterious and complicated thing, but at the same time it was a very simple thing. I could feel my physical fatigue and my body felt like I had run a marathon half to death.


    I almost overused my magic and tapped into my lifespan while rushing here, if I had been two days later they would have made their decisions and I would have had to quietly ?ssassinate them. That would have taken a lot of time, and by the end, I might have even lost.


    Plus I had to keep Hypnosis on my ship''s crew for them to not notice me. The amount of Mana¡­ well I call it mana from the terms of the RPG games I used to play. But it was more like a fire that allows you to affect the world in certain ways. Like physical stamina, but in a magical way. And it took a long time to regenerate it, this will take me weeks before I am back at full capacity.


    Magic in this world truly is a flawed thing.


    ¡­


    Then as I am lying down on my bed. I hear the creak of a door. I saw that it was one of my maids.


    She had blond hair with purple eyes and a nice and busty body. Those types of eye colors weren''t natural back in my first world so I do have quite a liking for them.


    She just looked at me with a smile on her face and said, "How have you been, my lord?"


    If a girl seems too out of your league¡­ then she is. I had learned that lesson from fu?k?n? the guy''s wife. Honestly, I wasn''t into fu?k?n? other people''s wives, but if they had pretty wives and the opportunity presented itself, then I was okay with that.


    Though, this world was different. I had learned from my first life, don''t fu?k with people you know nothing about. So while I was tempted, first I asked the maid. "Are you married?"


    I don''t wanna fu?k?n? die from some jealous husband. Still will fu?k her though, but I will also kill her husband and make it seem like an accident so he doesn''t get in the way.


    "No, my lord," she bowed politely and started taking off her clothes. "I am unmarried and have no family. I was picked up from the streets by your people and brought here to work as a maid. I only have a sick mother at home¡­"


    "...'''' Damn, I didn''t ask for her life story and I don''t care about it either. So I decided to interrupt her before she could continue blabbering. "I have had a tiring day, so you will be doing all of the work. If I fall asleep halfway through it, then don''t wake me up."


    Honestly, I just wanted to have some fun before sleeping and the maid in front of me was pretty, but not someone worth my attention, and I had my hawk keep an eye on things in case anything happened.


    The maid looked at me with a frown, insulted that I would fall asleep in the middle of a session with her. Sadly, it''s the truth because today was too tiring."If you can make me lose the past 20 minutes without sleeping with p???sur?, then you will get a year''s salary as a reward."


    Once she heard that, she smiled ?ustfully as a greedy look appeared in her eyes. "Let''s have some fun, my lord."


    Yes, that was it, young lady. Get more excited so that way I can suck off some of your life energy. There was a technique from Asshai, that should help me get rid of the fatigue and help regenerate my Mana. It had some side effects on whomever it was used on, meaning the maid in this case.


    ¡­


    After spending some quality time with my new lover. She was the one to get tired first while I su?k?d off her life force. She probably lost a couple of years of life span just so I could regenerate my Mana faster.


    I just looked at her, lying n?k?d on my bed. If she was born in my last world with her looks she would have been a top-class model. It was such a shame.


    Then I just got up, put some clothes on, and got ready to call a meeting. I was already fully dressed, and now¡­ it was time to prepare for Robert''s Rebellion. Only a couple of days have passed since I left Westeros, but things there right now are already in a complete mess.


    First and foremost I must hire Sellswords and let them be meat shields in this war. No way I was sacrificing my men needlessly in this war. Also if the whole Mercenary Group is eliminated, then I won''t have to pay them.


    After all, who would I pay if they all went out and died? Their ghosts? I don''t have that kind of ability so I will keep their money safe with me¡­ even if any of them survive, they can have "accidents". Though I was rich, those who waste money needlessly will not have it for long.


    ***


    After taking care of something in Braavos, such as killing anyone who dared speak against him, Arthur was able to rule the richest free city with an iron fist. Anyone who got in his way was tied to an anchor and dropped on the sea. Rumors started spreading that the bottom of the sea was filled with men who had opposed Arthur.


    His ruthless demeanor, especially of even exterminating the families of anyone who dared go against him put everyone in line. Power¡­ absolute power, that was what made the people obey.


    ***


    It took one month to eliminate every uncertain factor in Braavos and Arthur''s ruthless ways had earned him a lot of authority and fear in a short amount of time. But Braavos had never been better before as Arthur used his knowledge of Civil Engineering in the past to revolutionize the city at breakneck speeds.


    Hundreds of years of improvements were done to the city within a month. While in his previous life Arthur had used a lot of tricks to get up the company ladder, as a Civil Engineer, he wasn''t the best out there¡­ but he was good. Good enough to become the head engineer after the previous one got fired in a big company.


    Cement, ceramic, porcelain, etc. Things that should have been discovered yet, but were aesthetically pleasing were poured into Braavos endlessly. With tens of thousands of people as a workforce, things were built very fast and people worked around the clock.


    In truth, to Arthur, this whole Rebellion was a big gamble as it could go both ways. In canon timeline, Robert had won, but that wasn''t something guaranteed as even then he had b?r?ly won and was heavily injured. Also, this was a war, he might die before he was able to even do anything.


    Arthur would choose Robert''s side, he was the man he had bothered to create a good friend. But if this Rebellion failed, his backfall would be Braavos and he was preparing to hole himself here to survive the Mad King''s wrath if that happened. Also, newly made ships were pouring out of Bravos rapidly, and some were even new models that were never seen before. Especially¡­ ships for war.


    By using Magic, Arthur made sure to create certain machines that could be hidden from the public eye. Though due to the Magic, it was something no one else would be able to create unless they knew modern Engineering and Magic on top of that.


    Since he had control of the faceless men, he made them find out the spies that were in Braavos and offer bribes. If they didn''t accept, then it was just another body added to the bottom of the sea. His hawks were also joining in the spy mission, slowly like a puppeteer, Arthur was able to control everything within Braavos, and anything that happened in the city he would know about it. So no matter what, his workshops weren''t getting monitored and his secrets weren''t going out there, he made sure of that.


    By the end of it all, Braavos had grown a little bigger, and Arthur had gathered ten thousand soldiers with him and hired another ten thousand sellswords. Five thousand soldiers were left in Braavos to keep the place under control and keep the peace. Just in case anyone got any revolutionary idea, he would crush them.


    -Jon Arryn POV-


    Staring at the walls of Gulltown, I couldn''t help but feel a sense of uncertainty in my heart. Could we win this war? These doubts reign over my mind and I couldn''t even sleep sometimes, visions of the Mad King burning us all alive predominated through my thoughts.


    Only a fool wouldn''t feel afraid at times like these. But¡­ At the same time, this wasn''t a battle that I could abandon so easily. Too much was riding on our victory. But first, we each had to settle our disputes within the North, Riverlands, Vale, and Stormlands before we could do anything else. We wouldn''t want our enemies to attack our backs.


    When the Mad King requested Robert and Ned''s heads, I contemplated sending them. Who wouldn''t?


    The Targaryens were a feared dynasty for almost 300 years now. But, they didn''t have dragons any longer, their source of fear wasn''t something that could be brought back any longer.


    Marq Grafton, that son of a whore, was the main problem here and the army he had fathered in Gulltown. Eddard was supposed to take a ship here and go North, but instead, he now had to go and make his way home. Hopefully, he isn''t killed by bandits on the road or captured by any rogue troops.


    We had to break the Gulltown defenses if we wanted to win this war. But how? After all, leaving this port alone would mean that the Mad King''s army could be transported here. That would be an obvious weakness we wouldn''t be able to do anything about unless we take back the city.


    Sighing, I went back to camp, with my guards following me. Turning towards one of them, I said. "You, go and notify the other Lords that-"


    "Lord Arryn! Lord Arryn!!" Suddenly, a soldier''s call interrupted him.


    But the soldier got on his knees. "My Lord, I am but a scout. I have big news! There are hundreds of ships around Gulltown, my Lord!"


    My heart dropped at that. Had the Mad King somehow gotten even more ships?!

 Chapter 20 - 20: Battle of Gulltown

    Chapter 20: Battle of Gulltown


    ***


    As soon as Jon Arryn heard this he was a little panicked. Even though he had confidence in breaking through Gulltown''s defenses with time. If they got an influx of soldiers and supplies he would be the one at a disadvantage. But he still looked at the scout and asked. "What banners were the ships flying?"


    "A red hawk in a dark and green field, my lord," answered the scout a little nervously. The man was just a peasant who got roped into this war thing that had nothing to do with him.


    He even had three sisters to take care of back home. His father also died in a war like this and he wasn''t exactly enthusiastic about fighting, that is why he accepted being a scout. But what choice did he have?


    When he hears this, Jon Arryn frowned in confusion. He had never heard of a banner like that.


    Then suddenly another soldier comes into the strategizing tent. "My lord, an envoy from the ships has come to speak with you."


    Jon Arryn just covered his map with military plans on it,  and then he said. "Let him in."


    The guards nodded and one of them went outside. Then a man in full light armor comes inside. He had short, almost all gray hair and a gray trimmed beard.


    He just looked at Arryn, bowed, and said. "My lord, my name is Davos Seaworth, I am sent here as an envoy of Arthur Redhawk, he was also known by the name Arthur Frey here in Westeros. He has said that he is here to help Robert Baratheon, he has brought 500 ships together with twenty thousand soldiers to help you all."


    When Jon Arryn heard this he became overjoyed. Having the number of ships and men that Arthur offered could be a decisive factor in this war.


    Though on the outside, Arryn only had a small smirk.  Even though Jon was a little skeptical of this. He still asked the question. "How does Arthur Redhawk plan on breaking through the defenses of Gulltown?"


    Davos just looked a little unsure as he tried to explain. "Well my lord. Lord Arthur hasn''t said anything about the strategy to me. But he did say that he will hand over Gulltown to you by tomorrow. I was just mostly sent here to reassure you that we don''t have any hostile intentions."


    ¡­


    -Arthur (XXI)-


    I sat down on the chair in my cabin on the ship. My room was as minimalistic as it could be, there weren''t a lot of accessories. Just a simple bed and a simple wooden desk and a chair that is covered in wool and made comfortable.


    Gunpowder, also known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur (S), charcoal (C), and potassium nitrate (saltpeter, KNO3). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer.


    I will not introduce this world to any gunpowder or anything like that. Not even my soldiers will be equipped with any type of weapon.


    That was way too dangerous. I was pretty much asking people to use it against me if I ended up doing something stupid like that.


    But will I still use gunpowder to my advantage? Obviously, yes. I was the smartest man in this world just because of the knowledge that I possessed. Well, maybe not the smartest, but certainly the most knowledgeable.


    Well, that was unless other people were reborn here. In which case I will kill them all. Because they would be a bother to my plans. I don''t care if they were even a close friend in my last life, people change with time, and I wasn''t taking a risk.


    Anyway, I will use modern tactics to deal with this problem.


    I might not know everything about politics and such. But I knew that Magic had been my crutch during these times. Though, if I do know something really good from my past life. It was physics, buildings, and destruction. Essentially, Civil Engineering, which was my job.


    Humanity in my last world created weapons with the ability to destroy a city in the blink of an eye. If I didn''t know how to destroy a wall I would be a shame to the last world.


    ¡­


    Then I started explaining to them the job that they would do during the night and how they should do it. Where to put the support wooden pillars and all that. They all had a little experience in digging and mining that is the main reason why I chose them.


    Also, they were stupid enough and wouldn''t notice the small traces of Magic that would be used to dry the earth so it wouldn''t cave down.


    ***


    Then they went to the shore by boat to dig.


    I followed them by looking through the vision of my hawk. When I saw that they started digging I called my army and got ready to attack. Soon I just notified the whole army to be ready for an attack.


    I only took fifty of my guards and the ten thousand meatshields¡­ I mean Sellswords. They are the expendable soldiers that will be bleeding for my benefit.


    **


    As darkness came about, and the moon rose in the sky. We all got ready to attack.


    At night time they all get ready. We landed on the shore and went to attack Gulltown at its North wall.


    I just smiled at them.


    ***


    As the miners were digging underground, they were happy. Soon they will finish this job and be done with it and Arthur would pay them a hefty reward. As they were digging.


    *Ciu!*


    A bird loudly chirped, then the workers turned around to see what it was and. They saw a bird holding a candle no. At least that was what it seemed to them, a sizzling red candle that was burning quite fast.


    "What the hell is that?"


    Anyone with modern world knowledge would be able to tell that it was dynamite. None of them knew how dangerous that small "candle" could be.


    *BOOOOOOOM!!!*


    The explosion wasn''t big. Because Arthur doesn''t truly know how to make anything truly lethal like a real bomb or a stick of stronger dynamite.


    People can''t see something like an explosion at all, so there is no way they would figure out gunpowder just from that, or


    even know about it.


    Arthur was making sure that no one knew about gunpowder and erased all traces of it.


    ***


    Above ground, in the darkness, the sellswords were waiting for something to happen and even the people in the walls were confused.


    They had everything ready for a siege and even if they attacked they would be losing their lives.


    *boom*


    Suddenly, the walls just fell as if they had no foundation. Arthur''s smile widened at this and thought.


    ''The medieval walls were strong at the time they were used. But their foundations aren''t deep, so making them fall is just too easy.'' - he contemplated before unsheathing his sword and yelling out. "Kill the enemy!!"


    Two of my men blew into some trumpet horns, giving out a signal to the rest of the soldiers to move. My orders weren''t heard through the army, but this would give them the signal.


    Ten thousand men rushed past me like a raging wave, I could see their bloodshot eyes and everything seemed to slow down as the smell of battle pricked my nostrils. The first to die were the men that had been atop the wall when it had crumbled down.


    My men yelled out like barbarians to pump up their spirits and I noticed that the Sellswords were calmly cutting down people.


    Their war cries could be heard even from far away. I was at the back end of the army, with my fifty personal guards. The real reason I was even here was to give my men the impression of me not being afraid.


    I was sending in mercenaries and didn''t care how they felt. But I for sure do want some of them to die while taking over the city.


    The Sellswords were made up of smaller groups of Sellsword Companies that came together to get the job that I had offered them. After all, I do pay quite the hefty price.


    I just watched all of this from the ground far away from the battle. Gulltown only had around a thousand soldiers holding it. So my mercenaries outnumbered them ten against one. I liked these odds, plus attacking them at night where they weren''t expecting an attack or their walls to suddenly crumble. Yeah, the odds were overwhelmingly in my favor.


    This battle should be over in around half a day. And after half an hour, the mercenaries will start raping women, and after another couple of hours then they will be back to their senses.


    **** was a cruel, but normal thing during war. That was true even in my last world. During the wars, there was a lot of it going on behind the scenes, the things that the media wouldn''t report.


    Even though it was night, I could see the killings and the blood of people painting the streets red. I saw the panic of the civilians, the screaming. Some were begging on their knees for the soldiers to have mercy, some good men didn''t do the unspeakable. Then others r?p?d and killed indiscriminately.


    Evil and good, how ridiculous, they were both the sides of the same coin. The world isn''t black or white, but a disgusting shade of grey.


    When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. So that is why¡­ I will use cheat codes.


    ***


    DISCORD: discord.gg/M9hghrm

 Chapter 21 - 21: Battle of Gulltown (Finale)

    Chapter 21: Battle of Gulltown (Finale)


    ***


    -Arthur (XXIII)-


    Just like I had predicted after the sellswords I had hired entered Gulltown, in a couple of hours they were able to completely take over.


    It wasn''t as easy as I made it look, after all, Gulltown was a city surrounded by mountains in almost all of the directions and the only way to put a real army on land was in the farms around it, then there are the strong walls that protect the city in case of that too.


    I was able to take over this city so fast because I was using some modern tactics to deal with it, plus homemade dynamite.


    Also, I told the mercenaries not to destroy too much. Golltown should still be intact by the end of it, if not¡­ well, heads would start rolling. Those mercenaries were paid for this, and if they couldn''t follow orders, then I will use this as an opportunity to make an example out of them and their families.


    I don''t care if they **** or kill civilians, even Jon Arryn, who was such an "honorable" man wouldn''t care by the end of it. After all, even Ned Stark, in the original timeline after the sacking of King''s Landing, was mostly worried about Elia Martell''s children and how they had been killed.


    So even now, if the ports and ships were burned, or the rich merchants died, then Jon Arryn would care. As long as the whole city wasn''t massacred, then he wouldn''t care too much.


    Everyone had a price, and some people were easily replaceable. That was reality. Especially for the people high up, if a celebrity died, the news would cover it, and many people would be sad. Someone else dies, and the world won''t care.


    Reality was cruel, but it couldn''t be changed. So I will simply use it to my advantage.


    "Lord Arthur, Gulltown has been put under your control," a soldier came and bowed in front of me to report the matters. He was one of the captains in the Sellsword Companies I had hired. "Also, as you have requested, we made sure that nothing was looted, or burned."


    "Good," nodding at him, I walked and my guards followed me. "I will check for myself how good of a job you did. Make sure I don''t see anything unsightly¡­"


    I didn''t need to threaten them, they knew the reputation I had built up by now. He wasn''t the only one in danger, but their families and loved ones too.


    ***


    As Arthur entered Gulltown, the streets were littered with blood and bodies. Mostly dead soldiers, but some civilians were amongst them too.


    The buildings were pretty good too, in comparison to the rest of Westeros. Arthur made sure to try and memorize the weak points in the buildings. Just in case he needed to destroy this city in the future. He didn''t have qualms about the Vale always being on his side, so instead, he planned to pick his fights and make sure he had an advantage whenever he fought.


    Surprisingly, the damage done was very little and the people could easily be replaced. So up to this point, it was all good.


    But as Arthur was walking, suddenly a child, who couldn''t have been more than twelve blocked his way. He had a hateful look in his eyes as he glared at the soldiers in armor.


    The child had tears in his eyes, and he used his bloody sleeve to wipe them off. The child pulled out a small kitchen knife and charged toward Arthur with a determined look. "You killed my mother!!"


    His voice was filled with despair. Due to his young age and voice, the child''s gender wasn''t something Arthur could tell. But even with his bravado, before the child could even get close, one of the guards went and pulled back his spear.


    Fwish!


    The spear pierced the child''s eye and exited the back of their head. The corpse fell on the ground as the soldier pulled his spear out of its eye and blood oozed out of the hole.


    Arthur stared at the perpetrator, it was one of his fifty personal guards. He narrowed his eyes at the guard and the man seemed nervous under Arthur''s gaze and was about to apologize.


    But before he could say anything, Arthur put a hand on the man''s shoulder and took out a gold coin, putting it in the man''s hand. "Good job, that''s how you are supposed to protect me. Even the smallest threat must be guarded against."


    Arthur knew of the child ?ssassins in the world, and there were people like Varys who used children as spies. Now he wasn''t here to tell of how morally wrong that was, but Arthur wouldn''t punish his guards for killing a kid either. After all, he didn''t want them to hesitate when a child ?ssassin came after him. He even rewarded the behavior and incited the other guards to learn from the guard.


    The guards nodded and some of them smiled greedily at the promise of more money.


    ''They would kill a child for money? As expected of savages. But they are my savages, so they are very useful to me, useful enough to keep around.'' - thought Arthur, nodding at them encouragingly.


    He didn''t care if they were child killers. Why? Because they were HIS child killers. He didn''t need guards with morals in this world. What Arthur needed was greedy and cold-blooded killers.


    ***


    The enemy soldiers who were left alive had their weapons confiscated and were brought in front of their lord''s keep in chains. The Lord of Gulltown, Marq Grafton, was also already on his knees, with his hands tied behind his back and a cloth sack over his face, so he couldn''t see anything.


    The rest of his family were the same too, from his youngest children to even his wife.


    But while the situation was bad, it could become even worse. Everyone knew that. Especially Arthur as he walked, with his sword drawn towards Marq Grafton. "Lord Grafton, do you know of your crimes?"


    "What crimes?!" The man yelled defiantly. "I am just following the King''s orders and nothing else. I demand a trial by combat!"


    "The fu?k you do. At least have some shame in front of your men who died for a mad king and take death gracefully." Arthur raised his sword, he didn''t care for the rules of this world and this was a war, he didn''t have the time to dilly-dally and play around now. If he gave every lord their trial by combat, he would get gray hairs until the war was finished.


    There, he saw Jon Arryn on a horse with some guards accompanying him on their horses too. The Lord Paramount of the Vale went towards Arthur and looked at him. "I thank you for your help, Lord Arthur."


    While this sounded polite to the outside eyes. Arthur could see where this was going, and what Jon meant by this. So he smiled and sheathed his sword. "It''s nothing, I am just helping my friends, Rob and Ned. Though in no way am I a representative of House Frey, that is why I have now changed my name to Redhawk."


    Arthur stopped for a couple of seconds, observing Jon and making sure the old man understood the graveness of the situation, before continuing. "I wouldn''t want to drag my family down if things go wrong."


    "I must thank you for that. Putting everything on the line for Robert, or anyone isn''t that easy," said Jon, sincerely. He could see that Arthur was risking everything and the side he was backing up didn''t have any advantage against the Royal Army.


    Arthur had even gone so far as to abandon his family name. Which was something no one else in Westeros would do.


    At least that was how Jon Arryn saw it, but to Arthur, it was a whole other deal. Since he already knew the outcome, to him this was just a chance to get some benefits without any big risk. Also abandoning the Frey name was something that he needed to do anyway, while from other people''s eyes that family was strong, but in Arthur''s perspective weak and an unnecessary leash around his neck. Being bound to them would only bring problems in the future.


    He knew House Frey would fall, whether Arya hastened that destruction didn''t matter. But they would fall within this generation of the family, and he didn''t want to be anywhere near it. The management su?k?d.


    Though Arthur knew how his actions made him look like a good friend, who was very selfless. He didn''t bother to change other people''s minds and played along with it. This had been his intention all along, clouding everyone''s eyes from what he was doing behind the scenes as they stared at his accomplishments.


    "Once again, I am very thankful to you and glad that Robert has a friend like you. So what are your plans for the rest of the war.?" Jon Arryn smiled politely.


    Arthur saw this and smiled back. "Well, first I will have to try and take care of the Royal Fleet. That should stop the loyalists from banding together. Then there is the Reach to take care of, and hopefully, I can take care of them."


    Jon Arryn nodded, he looked a little worried at the mention of the Reach. With an army of a hundred thousand, they would be the biggest contributors to the Mad King''s reign.


    If Arthur was able to take care of the Reach and keep it occupied for the rest of the war. It would be the same as if he would have handed them the victory. Of course, this at least would even the odds a little.


    Arthur of course knew better, as he understood that the Reach would just go to starve out Storm''s End. If they had joined Rhaegar in the original timeline, then he would have easily won the war. It didn''t matter how strong Robert''s hammer blows were because a war between humans was mostly based on numbers. And the strategies Westeros used weren''t anything groundbreaking enough that would allow armies to defeat those of major higher numbers.


    Jon Arryn just nods his head while seemingly contemplating something. "That is a good decision. You should use your advantage and try to keep the Reach out of the fight for as long as you can."


    "What about you Lord Arryn, what will you do now? How will you handle Gulltown?" Arthur inquired while his gaze wandered towards Lord Grafton. The message here was clear between them, Arthur wanted the traitor dead, while Jon didn''t want to kill the captured Lord. Not only had he known him for a long time, but also because that would create bad blood between the House Arryn and House Grafton.


    Arthur noticed Jon Arryn frown, but he was insistent and still carried on. "I would suggest you deal with this in a... more permanent way. We don''t want any daggers in our backs while fighting the royalists."


    Jon Arryn''s frown deepened and courtly answered. "Don''t worry Lord Arthur¡­ I will take care of my people."


    Arthur just nodded towards Jon Arryn with a solemn face. "I understand, then my armies will be pulling back to Essos," which made Jon anxious at the mention. But Arthur wasn''t done as his gaze turned sharp. "I don''t know how you handle traitors amongst your midst, Lord Arryn. But I am not willing to fight in a battle that would have me always looking at my back and being paranoid." he sighed and shrugged. "Then I guess taking Gulltown will be my gift to Robert. I can''t participate in a war where we will just let our enemies go."


    After saying what he needed, Arthur walked away and so did his guards. Leaving Jon Arryn with an ultimatum as he looked at the tied-up Lord Grafton and his family.


    Not even an hour later, just as Arthur had promised, his soldiers were pulled out of town and after resting, they would set sail in three days. Whether they would return to Braavos with their fights over or go to the Reach to keep them occupied depended on Jon Arryn''s decision.


    ***


    Next day. News of the execution of Lord Marq Grafton reached Arthur''s ears as he was eating breakfast. A small smile appeared on his face when he heard the news.


    ''Seeing things going my way is a nice start to the day.'' - he thought, taking another bite of bread. Schemes were more up his alley than strategic warfare. The Rebellion would have lost 20,000 troops if Jon Arryn hadn''t killed Lord Grafton. Whether the Lord of the Vale had seen through Arthur''s scheme or not didn''t matter.


    Also, Jon was checkmated too, because schemes like these couldn''t be admitted publicly. Because then Jon Arryn would just be admitting that he sacrificed one of his vessel lords for a foreign army.


    Now Arthur''s animosity with Gulltown will be overturned by their hate towards Jon Arryn. The former was from the other side of the sea so the hate of the family that ruled Gulltown would eventually be stridden away. But their Lord Paramount was always close, just the perfect distance to hold a strong sense of animosity against.


    Arthur took a sip of water and he couldn''t help but think what he would have done in Jon''s shoes. - ''Probably would have killed the whole family. But Jon Arryn''s honor will never let him commit such acts. Causing the death of a thousand men in battle is okay in his sense of honor. But killing five people was somehow dishonorable? Well, that was stupid.''


    Now, it was time for war, and Arthur couldn''t help but contemplate that the battle of Gulltown would be nothing in comparison to the fight he would be a part of soon.


    *********


    A/N: Arthur won''t give an inch. While he will fight in this war, it isn''t because of charity. Now he has the power to make some "requests" which people can''t exactly refuse.. He has power now.