The Warg Lord (ASOIAF)(SI)

[Argentis]

the first paragraph repeats it self twice.
I still fell like the characters don't speak as they should, too modern but still a good chapter. but in regards to Moat Calin maybe they should repair it SOME the thing is practically a ruin some repairs so it doesnt collapse on it self are in order.

 

[LazyWizard]

The bright rays of the morning sun merrily shone through the small window of Jon's room, making him aware that his plan of leaving before the first light had already failed. Knowing that it may be a while until they see him again, his siblings hadn't let him leave until very late into the night, which resulted in him not being able to wake up at his intended time since there were no alarm clocks in this world. It wasn't too bad though as the warmth of his brothers and sisters made the few extra hours in the sun more than worth it.


Jon was kneeling on the floor beside his bed with a small leather backpack in front of him, doing some last-minute packing. He had always had the habit of packing light since his first trip and only ever carried the essentials with him, things such as a few pairs of clothes, a cooking pan, some salt, a water pouch, some knives, and most importantly a handmade hard soap.


Even with all its magic, this was still a relatively primitive world, so people needed to plan a lot of things in advance before travelling anywhere if they valued their lives. They always need to make sure that the path they are taking is a well-trodden one, that there's always a source of water such as a flowing river nearby, and to avoid forests as much as they can even if it takes them longer if they don't want to run into predators or worse... bandits.


Thankfully, one of the best perks of being a warg was that Jon never needed to worry about any of those things. He never had to stress about getting lost no matter how deep inside the forest he was, and he never gave a second thought before taking untrodden shortcuts. And even if there were no sources of clear water in his vicinity, he had no need to panic as his trusty friend, Frost, could travel miles of distance to any stream in a matter of minutes and fill his water pouch for him.


He didn't even need to mention food. From the moment that he was barely more than a toddler, there hadn't been a single instance when Jon hadn't been able to find a game. Even if there was only a single alive animal in a forest, it was going to be on his dinner plate no matter how fast it ran.


So as a lone wolf, he didn't need a lot of things after his basic necessities of food, and water had been met.


Just as Jon was closing the final straps on his bag, he heard a knock behind him, "Come in!" he shouted while turning his head around to see Sam entering his room while carrying a not-so-small sack in his arms.


"What is that?" Jon asked with wide eyes while pointing towards the leather sack.


"Huh? Didn't you ask me to bring some warm bread from the kitchen?" Sam answered with a confused tilt of his head.


"I did." Jon slowly nodded his head, "But that can't all be just bread, Could it?" he said while sceptically looking at the sack that was almost spilling out of his hands.


"Of course not," Sam answered proudly while placing the sack beside two similarly packed bags that contained his stuff, "There are other necessary things such as spices, herbs, some vegetables, a pot—"


"Wait, a Pot? But why? I already got a pan in here..."


"How can that be? They're completely different things," he shook his head as if he was disappointed with Jon, "The taste completely changes depending on how you cook it and what you use to cook so we definitely need both of them for different things," he said as if he was explaining something extremely simple.


Jon shook his head helplessly at that as it seemed that the chubby kid was still a foodie even though he wasn't so chubby anymore.


Months of regulated diet, regular exercises and sparring, had quite a profound effect on the boy. His face had lost most of its plumpness, his stomach also shrank a lot and while he may still be in a phase which people here considered to be fat, there was now a firm layer of muscles underneath that fat.


"And pray tell how exactly are you going carry all of them? Because I can tell you right now, you will get no help from me..."


"Huh? What do you mean?" Sam asked while scratching his head in confusion, "Aren't we going on horses?"


"We are. But not all the way, there will obviously be times when we will need to carry our own stuff," Jon explained with an amused expression, "So choose. Which is more important, your legs or satisfying your tongue?"


A pained expression appeared on Sam's face as he agonised over the dilemma placed in front of him. It took quite a while for him to choose between the two equally valuable things but eventually, he raised his head, "I-I will do it," he said while putting on a brave face as if about to infiltrate a castle alone.


"Fine. Do as you wish," Jon said with an amused smile before a sudden realization crossed his mind. "But, leave that axe here," he pointed towards the axe on the boy's back, "I don't think you'll be needing that anymore..."


"What? Why?" Sam asked in a bewildered tone, his hand instinctively going towards the worn-out handle of the axe that had been his constant companion for months, "I-I know that I am not very good with it and that I am still very weak... but I-I swear I am trying very hard and I-I know that I'll get better soon, so please—"


"Ah! I think you're misunderstanding something here," Jon replied with a raised eyebrow while looking at Sam's flustered expression, "I am not asking you to give up your weapon... I am telling you to let go of that old one since you'll be getting a new one."


After all, how could he ask him to give up his axe? Considering the amount of work it had taken for him to go from being deathly scared of that weapon to becoming fond of it.


Jon could still remember the time during their journey to Winterfell when he had tried to teach Sam the art of fighting and killing... and it safe to say, that it was a complete disaster. The boy was so scared of weapons that it was almost absurd... he would start shuddering uncontrollably even if someone with a dagger just stood still in front of him. Shivering, shaking hands, flinching, stumbling back, crying, screaming, cowering, you could think of any adjective that would describe a coward and it would apply to him.


After fruitlessly trying for a few more days, Jon could understand Lord Tarly's frustration with his son, and somewhat empathised with him... just a little bit though. But Jon didn't give up just yet and decided that if conventional methods didn't work for Sam, he would try unconventional ones.


Over the course of a few days, Jon concluded that Sam's mind and his habit of overthinking were his greatest enemies. The first thing he needed to do was take it away from him. So he devised a simple routine for Sam with the main goal of completely draining his mind so that he wouldn't even have an iota of it left to think, let alone be scared.


The routine went something like this...


Instead of the usual exercise of this world that mostly involved sparring and swinging weapons. Jon had him start with modern-day exercises that focused on completely consuming his stamina, from running to push-ups to sit-ups to burpees and everything else he could think of.


And after he was finished with all that, it would be time for the second part which involved mindlessly swinging a weapon that he liked (which turned out to be an axe,) with repeating patterns, such as hacking, and slashing, as well a sufficient dose of footwork until his body remembered them completely.


Jon didn't give the boy a single moment of rest except for a few five-minute breaks in between and he made him continue like this until he felt that he was sufficiently dazed and his mind was entirely blank... and that would be when the third and most important part of this routine would begin... Sparring.


And his hard work actually paid off, Sam neither flinched nor shivered even when Jon stood in front of him with a sword, and when he aggressively attacked the boy, his sluggish mind was too slow to respond, making his bodily instincts take over and little by little he actually began to swing and dodge like a... Beginner fighter, which was quite an accomplishment.


And that was how Jon was able to help the boy so much in just a few months when his father was completely helpless even with years at his disposal. Thankfully, Becca took over after he was gone and didn't let him slack and lose all the progress, which would have been very disheartening.


"What? Really!!" Sam's exclamation suddenly brought Jon out from his internal musings, "Are you really just getting me a new Axe?"


"Yes," Jon nodded with a smile before he caught sight of the position of the sun through the window, "But we need to hurry otherwise, we won't be able to leave before nightfall," he said while quickly going out the door.


"I am coming," Sam said excitedly and followed Jon after placing the worn-out Axe on the floor.


Both of them moved briskly through the Great Keep of Winterfell, taking shortcuts along the way, so that, except for the occasional greetings, they didn't run into as many people. It wasn't long before they reached their destination—the old but well-furnished smithy of Winterfell that stayed hot year-round, regardless of whether it was winter or summer.


However, instead of entering it, Jon bypassed the larger smithy without a second look. "Huh? Aren't we going in there?" Sam asked in confusion, pointing towards the smithy.


"No," Jon replied in a mysterious tone without looking back, "We're not going there but here," he said while pointing towards the much smaller smithy right next to it that seemed as if it had only just recently finished construction. Unlike the bigger smithy which was a bustling place with its constant sound of clanging of metal on metal, the smaller seemed to give a desolate feel.


Sam was quite confused as to why they weren't going into the main smithy where they would probably get the good stuff. Even though he had only been here in Winterfell for less than a year, he knew that Mikken was considered the best Blacksmith around here, so he thought they would go to him, but now...


'Maybe, Mikken's busy...' Sam thought as he followed Jon as he entered the door to the smithy. It wasn't as small as it seemed from the outside, and looked like a smaller version of the bigger smithy.


It was equipped with various tools such as anvils, hammers and tongs, but there was a stark difference between this and the older smithy. This place lacked the cluttered mountain of tools, armour, and weapons waiting to be repaired, which meant that they didn't get as much work.


There was only a single forge on the left side that was roaring with fire and a huge blacksmith was in front of it trying to stimulate the fire and increase its temperature further. There were two doors leading to additional rooms in here one on the opposite side of where they were and one on the right side, besides which there was a huge stack of ores lying in the corner.


"Tom," Jon called after he saw that the man didn't hear them come in.


"Hmm..." LittleTom turned at his name being called and almost immediately his face lit up when he saw who had arrived, "Jon! You're finally here."


It was only when the man turned around and stood up that Sam realised that he was actually sitting all along. He involuntarily gulped and stumbled back when he craned his neck to look at the man as he rose to his full height.


It was completely absurd, this man was almost two heads taller than Jon who was already considered a tall person. He had read stories that giants lived among the common people in the North some centuries ago and that there were giants still alive beyond the wall but...


"Sorry for being late, Tom," Jon said while patting the boy on his shoulder which he could barely reach, "I was stuck with something—Oh!" he stopped mid-sentence when he realised that Sam was stuck standing at the door with a pale face while looking at Tom with fear in his eyes, "Come on in, Sam. Don't worry, he won't hurt you and no, he's not a giant..." Jon chuckled while beckoning him.


Jon knew what was going through the boy's mind, in fact, it was the same thing that would go through anyone's mind the first time they saw LittleTom. The boy didn't go through puberty; puberty went through him. He was already tall enough before but now... as far as Jon knew, the only person in the North taller than him may be the Umber Lord, and even that wouldn't be for long as he was still growing.


Seeing that he grew up every few months that he saw him, Jon had jokingly asked him if there was any connection between him and the Umbers. And it was then that the boy had shyly confessed that while he didn't know for sure since his grandmother had never confirmed it. He knew that he had never seen the face of his grandfather and that his grandmother was a cook for the Umbers.


Knowing those facts and the non-existent restraints of the nobles in this world Jon didn't need anything further to connect the dots.


The blood of the Umbers may not be the only one... another reason for his unusual height that Jon could think of would be that being a Warg somehow simulated his body growing up more than usual. After all, even Jon was a lot taller than his canon counterpart and the only major difference between them was that he was a warg.


"Is he the one who needed the axe?" Tom asked with a gentle smile towards Sam which finally released the tension in the boy.


"Yes, this is Sam, the one in need of an axe," Jon nodded while looking around, "So do you think you have one ready that he could wield."


"I do. Raul!" he shouted towards the door beside the haphazardly laying ores, and almost immediately the door opened and a teenager came out with a piece of cloth in his hands, "Raul take Sam here and show him all the axes that we have..."


"Yes, Master Tom," Raul nodded while placing the cloth with which he had been polishing the weapon in his pocket while opening the door to the armoury and beckoning for Sam to follow him.


"Go on, Sam," Jon said to the hesitant boy, "Choose the one you're most comfortable with. I'll wait here..."


Only after Sam had gone in and was completely occupied with choosing his weapon did Jon turn to Tom, "Let's go."


LittleTom nodded and led Jon towards the other door in the smithy which was his personal room that only he had access to.


The room behind the door was a big but simple one with a large bed, a large desk, and a small window. Tom gestured for Jon to take a seat before he kneeled in front of the bed and took out a sword as well as a small notebook from under it.


"This is for you... the best I've been able to make until now," Tom said while handing Jon the bastard sword.


"Hmm..." Jon scrutinised the sword very closely, making sure to check every aspect of it from its sharpness to its sturdiness to its balance. Having seen all kinds of weapons made by the best blacksmiths during his travels, Jon was quite a qualified judge, "How close is it to 'his'..."


"About two-thirds, I think..." Tom said after pondering for a while, "I was only able to see him make this kind of sword about three times so there are still a few intricacies that I am having trouble imitating..."


"So you didn't have much luck over this period of time, Huh..." he said while placing the sword on the desk and taking the notebook from him next.


"Sadly no," Tom shook his head with a sigh, "He didn't get too many orders during the time that I've been watching him. So, while I've been able to copy most of the normal techniques that he had taught his apprentices, those secret ones—the ones he keeps to himself... I've only been able to take a glimpse of just a few of those," he said, pointing towards the notebook filled with vague processes, time stamps, and complicated numbers involving metal moulding.


"It makes sense," Jon nodded with a furrowed brow while looking towards Tom, "After all, Tobho Mott... that man is the best that King Landing can offer, so he probably charges the money that is equivalent to that which means that not a lot of people would be able to afford him,"


"That is indeed the case. He barely got three small orders during the whole of last month and except for when he teaches his students, he spends the rest of his time overseeing the smithy, so I think it'll still take a while before I am able to take everything from him."


"Maybe not as long as you think," Jon suddenly said with a cheeky smile while patting Tom's shoulder.


"Huh? What do you mean?"


"There's soon going to be a tourney in King's Landing thrown by our very own Robert for his son's name day or something. Anyway, this means that there would be a lot of wealthy nobles attending so this may be the best chance for you."


"Really! T-This is perfect," Tom exclaimed with an ecstatic expression, he had been waiting for something like all this while.


"It is. So you need to be ready to give it your best as this chance may not come again anytime soon."


"Don't worry," Tom boasted while patting his chest confidently, "I've been practising very hard all this time. I can warg now for almost five hours with some breaks with my crow so I'll steal all his techniques no matter how many they are."


"Very good," Jon said satisfyingly, "And be sure to pay close attention to see if he gets any Valyrian steel order, even if the chance of it happening may not be much... After all, he's our only source of Qohorik smithing techniques until you are able to expand your range or we are able to get you to Essos."


"Don't worry, I always keep a watch out for them."


"Good and that is not the only good news I have for you," Jon said with a mischievous expression while pulling out two pieces of paper from his breast pocket.


"These are..." Tom said while quickly glancing through the papers that seemed to contain some form of various kinds of directions towards different places.


"All of these are directions towards the best weapon and armour smiths available in Westerlands as well as the Reach. After all, while Tohbo may be the best in King's Landing, he is not the best at everything,"


Different places in Westeros are best known for different kinds of things. For example, the lances and spears of Reach are known as the sturdiest while the Westerlands are the ones best known for their smooth and intricate armours that feel as if they are clothes. "So you need to be prepared for the hard work ahead because I won't stop until I turn Winterfell into the place where the best weapons and armours of Westeros are made...."


///

To read ahead go to: patreon.com/lazywizard

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

Different places in Westeros are best known for different kinds of things. For example, the lances and spears of Reach are known as the sturdiest while the Westerlands are the ones best known for their smooth and intricate armours that feel as if they are clothes. "So you need to be prepared for the hard work ahead because I won't stop until I turn Winterfell into the place where the best weapons and armours of Westeros are made...."

Click to shrink...

Damn I hope to see some cool-ass armor in the fic. Like the ones in For Honor.

 

[ATP]

Risky.If he keep looking through raven at smith and somebody kill bird,he would be mad.

 

[Ahtu]

This was a good one, but interludes in general are getting a bit much. The story/plot itself is in need of some progress, to not get stuck in a rut forever. Time marches on, and a story needs to reflect that at some point.

Risky.If he keep looking through raven at smith and somebody kill bird,he would be mad.

Click to shrink...

Why would they? They don't even believe in magic. The interpretation of how exactly dying in an animal as a skinchanger affects you is... Vague(or perhaps I should say contradictory).

 

[LazyWizard]

"How much longer now, Jon?" Sam asked in a whining tone while trying to shift to a more comfortable position on his horse, but it seemed fruitless as he had already used every single part of his bum, and nothing was left unbruised.

He very much regretted their decision to take the kingsroad with horses instead of going the sea route through the white knife which would not only have been more comfortable but would have also taken them straight to White Harbor and be a lot faster.

"Not long now... We'll reach the city after we cross over that hill," Jon replied without taking his eyes off the book in his hands while pointing towards the hill in the distance. He had been reading that book since the start of their trip so Sam was already used to the scene of him riding his horse without looking at where they were going even though he was the one who was supposed to be leading and the one who knew the way.

The book in Jon's hand was a rare one with only a few copies in circulation around the world. It was called 'The Origins of the Iron Bank and Bravoos' and was written by Archmaester Matthar. He had borrowed it from the Citadel during his last trip there(though they probably had no idea that it was currently being borrowed).

This book not only detailed how one of the wealthiest banks in the world came to be but also shed some light on the interworking of the bank and how the Sealord and the bank's Secret Council controlled not only Bravoos but various other economies all over the known world, by lending their money to outsiders such as archons, tirachs, and the lords of Seven kingdoms.

While it was a very superficial book and didn't go into depth towards the real details, it was still a surprisingly good read if one wanted to get an idea of how the Bank operated.

According to the book, Iron Bank was founded by sixteen men and seven women who hid valuables in an abandoned iron mine shortly after the foundation of Bravoos.

As the mine's chambers filled with treasures, a bank was formed to utilize the wealth. Each of the twenty-three founders who had a key to these great subterranean vaults(previously the abandoned Iron mine), and their descendants—now numbering at least one thousand—are known as "keyholders". Among these Keyholders, who also have shares in the bank, the most powerful ones were elected to sit on the secret councils and have a voice in selecting who leads them.

"What is that?" Sam suddenly asked just as they crossed the hill— bringing Jon out of the book.

Jon looked up to see the only city in the North in all its beauty and magnificence. With houses built from whitewashed stone, and steeply pitched roofs of dark grey slate, it really looked quite pretty under the bright sun but that wasn't what Sam was pointing towards instead it was the long line of stables that had propped up outside the city that had gathered his curiosity.

"It seems they really used it, Huh..." Jon murmured to himself while looking at the novel spectacle in front of him.

He had sent a letter to Lord Manderly some months ago on a whim about the idea that the Citadel had come up with to reduce the population of horses inside the city but he didn't think that the Northern Lord would be so quick to apply it.

It was almost mid-day, the peak time for traffic to enter the city, but unlike the usual mixture of humans on foot and humans on animals, the main entrance of the city was mostly filled with traffic on foot as most of the people were choosing to leave their horses outside the city in the care of stables.

"Why are there so many stables outside the city?" Sam asked again when he didn't immediately get an answer, "And why are the people leaving their horses here instead of taking them inside?"

"I think... I think it's because the city is trying a new system," Jon said in an admiring voice— impressed with Lord Manderly's quick-wittedness, "It's a system where anyone who wants to enter on the back of a horse needs to pay an additional tax,"

"But Why? What could they possibly achieve by doing this?" Sam asked in a bewildered tone. He knew that a rich house like the Manderly's wouldn't go to so much trouble for this little amount of money.

"Mostly because of the shit," Jon said with a shrug.

King's Landing was not the only city in this world which had the shit problem— in fact, almost every single big city in this world had that problem. While the capital was unique in the sense that it had more human shit than animal ones, the rest of the cities still struggled with the shit of animals running like water through the streets no matter how many times they clean it.

And while the smell didn't propagate much here in White Harbor due to the cold, it was still quite a huge problem since animals were the only mode of transport in this world.

On average a horse would produce about 15 to 35 pounds of manure per day, so anyone can imagine the sheer scale of the problem. The manure on the streets also presented huge attractions to flies who would then go on to propagate diseases like typhoid fever.

His previous world also grappled with this problem during the 18th century. People at that time called it the 'Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894' and the newspaper at that time predicted... "In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.". Of course, nothing like that happened and the situation was resolved because of motor vehicles... but until something like that happened in this world this was the best solution to this problem.

"But won't the people be unhappy with it?" Sam asked in a confused tone, because as far as he knew there was nothing the smallfolks dreaded more than taxes.

"Not at all. After all, it's not a mandatory tax," Jon said with a shrug as they slowly approached the city, "If they don't want to pay the tax then they can easily use those free-of-cost stables outside the city provided by the House Manderly. So in a way, they are saving money since now they wouldn't have to pay the innkeepers in the city to take care of their horses."

"So only the wealthy people will actually be affected by it." Sam said while nodding with an understanding expression, "Well, that is...Unless you're someone who needs to be somewhere very urgent, then you would have no choice but to pay the tax..."

"Hmm... for now at least," Jon said with a pondering expression.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Tell me, What do you think about a Starkhorse Carriage that is available for people to rent so that they travel inside the city at a fair price..."

"Starkhorse Carriage? What is that?"

"You know about the regular ones, right?" Jon asked and after Sam nodded he continued, "Well, just add another wheel on the rear side and a sitting platform on top of it. It would be a carriage that could easily carry two people all over the city for cheap and could be manually cycled by a single person," he said thinking about the tuk-tuk carriages that were quite famous in the Asian countries in his previous life.

"Jon! JON! HERE!"

They were just about to join the long line to enter the city when they heard the shouts of someone calling Jon. Both of them looked over to an almost empty side entrance, in front of which stood a middle-aged man, waving and beckoning them over.

"Let's go!" Jon said to Sam with a smile and both of them rode towards the familiar Merchant, whom Jon hadn't seen for a long time.

"Uncle Sam, How have you been?" Jon asked with a huge grin as he dismounted from Peggy and hugged the man who was almost as tall as him.

"I've been more than fine, Jon," the Merchant replied while warmly patting Jon's shoulder.

"Ah! Sam meet Uncle Sam. He is Becca's father and the one in charge of all our ships on the East side," Jon said while introducing the merchant, "And this is a good friend that I picked up during my Adventures in the Reach, and coincidently he is also Sam."

"Good Day, little Sam," the Merchant nodded and shook the shy boy's hand in greeting before saying, "I am sure we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other in the future but at the moment we need to hurry along..." he said while leading them towards the small entrance.

"Why?" Jon asked as they passed through the door where the guards seemed to be familiar with the Merchant and let them in after a cursory glance at them.

"It's Lord Manderly..." Big Sam explained with a sigh while leading them briskly through the crowded streets filled with people from all over the North, "I accidentally let it slip that you were expected to arrive before noon and he immediately insisted on throwing a small feast for you."

"Ah! That man is too fond of his feasts," Jon said while shaking his head with a rueful smile.

Big Sam took a discreet look behind him to see that little Sam had fallen back while leading the horses and was out of their earshot before turning back and asking Jon in a low voice, "So what did you decide Jon?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Lord Manderly was too happy and excited for this to be just a social visit. A huge amount of money and profits have to be involved for a man of his stature to even quirk his lips," The merchant looked at Jon with undisguised curiosity in his eyes and asked, "So tell me, What did you decide to do with our Bravossi problem and why exactly is the lord so giddy to meet you?"

"Ah! You found out about that huh..." Jon said with a sheepish expression, "But nothing's done yet so I don't want to—" he stopped mid-way through the excuses with a wry smile when he saw the impatient inquisitiveness in big Sam's eyes, "Ah! Fine! If you must know then—I am... planning to sell it all."

"Huh? What do you mean sell it all?"

"It is exactly what it sounds like. I am going to give all rights to sell the Starkhorses on the East side of Westeros to Lord Manderly..." Jon explained with a shrug, "For a hefty price, of course. He can then sell as many of them as he wants to any city he can access, we'll no longer have anything to do with it."

From the very beginning, Jon had only started this to get some seed money and now that he had more than enough of that, he didn't have to constrict the sales anymore so that he was the only seller.

Unlike the West Coast where the North had no sea trade with the rest of Westeros, there was already an established house here with trade routes to all cities. The Manderlys weren't known as the richest in the North for nothing, they had many connections, merchants, shops etc in every small and big city on this side.

Lord Manderly was known as someone who had his finger in many different pies, so Jon knew that making use of his connections was essential to boost this business beyond its current limits.

Plus it had the added benefit of placing the Manderly's as somewhat of a buffer between Jon and those two shadows in Kings Landing.

Jon didn't want anything to do with those two until he was sure that he would be able to deal with them. In addition, while he knew that the world was better off with the likes of Petyr Baelish dead, he wasn't too sure if Varys was an enemy or not at the moment.

And it wasn't like it was easy to get rid of them sneakily—No, in fact, both of them were among the top ten hardest people to kill in this Westeros, right along with the likes of, Tywin Lannister, Olenna Tyrell, Lord Bolton etc. After all, they lived right next to their worst enemies every single— they would already be dead if they weren't constantly vigilant with threats to their lives.

Poison—the most obvious solution that comes to anyone's mind when thinking about assassinating someone—was completely useless against them.

They never ate anything that wasn't exclusively prepared by their own man, they almost always kept guards by their sides, and they had the weaknesses of every single person under their employ firmly in their grasp so that no one could even think of betraying them.

And even if Jon was lucky enough and managed to kill one of them— they would immediately realise that there was a new player in the game and it would spook the one left fiercely. And god forbid if one of them managed to escape somehow and went into hiding, it would be all over. Because even Jon with all his wargs at his disposal would find it incredibly hard to find someone like them with all their resources if they were adamant about hiding.

So it was better for them to be in the open and for him to be in the shadows until it was time.

"B-But that's just—" Merchant Sam's bewildered voice brought Jon back to the present, "Why would you willingly give up such a money-making business? And w-what about all of our investments and all the ships that we bought and all the sailors that we've recruited until now—Are we just going to let them go? Just like that—"

"Calm down!" Jon firmly told the hyperventilating Merchant, "No one's going anywhere, and while it may seem like it, this is not a spur-of-the-moment decision. In fact, it was always going to end this way... All the things we've been doing until now have been just to prepare for this moment—for bigger things,"

"Bigger things?"

"Yes, Much bigger things!" Jon said with a gleam of excitement in his eyes, "After all, that is why our next destination is Bravoos..."

...

Bravoos was a city well known for its mysterious foggy mornings... but today it was different. Today there were no signs of clouds in the sky and the sun rose quite early in the morning, it was one of those fine mornings which promised a clear, crisp and bright day.

Even the laziest of hawkers and merchants opened their shops early that day to earn money from people who came out to enjoy the rare fine morning. No one wanted to miss out on earning easy money, especially in Bravoss where money speaks louder than anywhere else. So the streets were already filled to the brim with people peddling their goods and customers moving from one shop to another trying to find the cheapest prices.

But the doors of the Iron Bank remained closed as the people in charge didn't care whether it was sunny or if it was raining, they would only open up when it was time to open and not a minute sooner even if a king was the one waiting at the door—Ehm—Unless there was a lot of money involved, of course.

People from all over the known world were standing in a line outside the main entrance hoping to be the first one in. Some were here to withdraw gold from their accounts, others to deposit but most of the early ones were here for only one thing... to try and see if the mightiest bank in the world would lend them some gold.

But things weren't quite so hectic on the other side; at the rear entrance which was exclusively for the use of bank employees. There was usually no penalty here even if the employees arrived a bit late, the only thing that mattered in this institute was if they were capable enough to bring in the gold, it didn't matter if they worked for an hour or from dawn to dusk, only results mattered here.

Two lazy-looking guards stood guard at the entrance waiting for the time when the traffic would start coming. They carried spears with them but they were mostly there for the show as it was almost impossible for someone to even think to challenge the Iron Bank in Bravoos.

"Were you out drinking all night again, Ray?" one of the guards asked the other with a fed-up expression when he saw his friend yawn for the fifth time even though their shift had only just started.

"Huh? Oh yeah! hehe... But don't worry, I wasn't there just for the drinks," he said patting his chest confidently before a lewd smile suddenly appeared on his face, "I also spent the night with that famous new girl at the docks..."

"That's even worse!"

"What can I do? She's just too pretty... I can't control myself," Ray replied with a dramatic and helpless sigh.

"Aren't you tired of it by now? Don't you think it's time for you to think of your future and start saving—"

"Argh! A married man like you can never understand the agony of people like me," Ray said while looking resentfully at the family man.

"Sigh! Just don't fall asleep on me will you," the guard replied while rolling his eyes, "Because I am not covering for you again..."

"What! Why not—"

"Shhh!!" the guard suddenly interrupted his friend's whining with a panicked expression and immediately straightened up with a sharp look on his face. Ray wasn't confused for more than a moment and immediately followed his friend's example and he too stood at attention with his eyes staring straight ahead.

Footsteps echoed as a man wearing a drab coat of brown and grey (clothes usually worn by people higher up in the bank,) appeared walking towards the entrance with a pompous air about him.

The thing which had actually sent the guard panicking was the decorative key worn around the man's neck. It wasn't just any normal key; it was a piece which denoted that the man was— someone they couldn't afford to offend—a mighty keyholder.

This key could only be worn by the descendants of the twenty-three founders of the Bank. And not every descendant (numbered in thousands) had the right to it. Only the most qualified ones were given this honour and there was a fierce fight every time one was up for grabs. But it was quite unusual for the man to wear it as it was supposed to be a ceremonial piece— only to be worn on formal occasions.

It was only when the man came close enough did the guards saw the face of the man wearing the key and their eyes immediately widened in surprise as they recognised who it was.

"Good work, Lads," The man said with a smirk, patting the guards condescendingly before he entered the premises while humming a merry tune.

Only after the footsteps had completely disappeared did both of them take a sigh of relief and slouch back towards the wall.

"Did you see the key?" Ray whispered, his eyes still a little wide.

"How could I miss it? The man was practically puffing his chest and shoving it in our faces." his friend replied with a snort.

"How the fuck did a fool like that Daario suddenly become a key holder." Ray asked while scratching his head, "I know that it hasn't been that long since the shit joined the bank..."

"Didn't you know about that recent election for one of the positions on the secret council?"

"Huh? Which one—Oh! Was it for the position of that Oldie who died while fucking in the brothel?"

"Yes, that one exactly. His uncle was lucky enough to snatch that seat and since he doesn't have any male heirs... he probably got the key as default of being the only candidate."

"Damn! What luck!" Ray cursed with an envious look on his face, "Ugh! I need a drink..."

"You're incorrigible..." his friend while shaking his head with a wry smile.

...

Daario Zalyne entered the room with a satisfied smirk on his face. He was quite delighted with all the envious glances that had been thrown his way, it felt... it felt like he was finally getting the respect he deserved after all this time.

He took a glance across the room towards the open window before going towards his desk. But just as he was about to take a seat, he suddenly frowned. He wiped his finger on the table and saw a very thin layer of dust.

"Maybe I should get a new assistant..." he murmured to himself. Now that he was finally moving up the ladder, he couldn't have this level of incompetence following him. "Ah! I can't let this ruin my mood," he said before shaking his head to forget about it.

After all, his uncle had finally won the much-coveted seat on the secret council and one of the perks that came with that position was that his uncle was now completely in charge of the Cheguy Port, the biggest and most important port of Bravoos.

Excluding the various small wharves and landing for fishermen and ferries, there were three main ports in Bravoos: the Chequy Port, the Purple Harbor and the Ragman's Harbor, also called the Outer Harbor.

The Purple Harbor was an exclusive that only allowed Bravoosi ships while the Ragman's Harbor, which his uncle was previously in charge of, was located in the west of the city and was the port where all the foreign ships docked, it was poorer, rougher and a lot dirtier than the other two and he hated working there.

But no more...

As one of the key factors in helping his uncle achieve this goal, he was obviously going along with him. And the best part was that his uncle had promised him that if the Cheguy Port came under him, he wouldn't forget about his contributions and would place him in charge of the nearby Arsenal—one of the most prestigious positions in Bravoos.

It was a just reward for all the efforts he had spent in trying to squeeze as much as he could from the regulars of the previous port to show a massive increase in revenue under his uncle. Of course, one of the major contributors to that amount was that small Merchant fleet from the North—his ever-increasing tax on those Starkhorses had been a great help.

Usually, he wouldn't have been able to unilaterally increase taxes like that without any backlash but he had chosen his targets very carefully. He only collected outrageous taxes like this from the softest of targets; Targets like those savages from the North, because he knew that they would never even be able to come up with the notion of complaining to the relevant departments. And even if they did, it would only work if they went to their competitors otherwise he knew how to make their complaints disappear.

After clearing his desk, he started to through the list of people whom he had to meet today— when he came across a name which made him stop.

"I thought I told them... No one from the North," he grumbled with irritation while crossing the name of one Jon Snow, North from the list. He knew that the man probably wanted to meet him to discuss the issue of tax but he didn't feel like dealing with it today.

Initially, he had decided to raise the tax just until the election and was going to remove the excess after his uncle won them, but now...

'It feels like such a waste...' Darrio thought with a sly smile.

...

It happened just around noon...

Darrio was just about to get up for lunch after finishing up with some work when there was a sudden knock on the door.

He looked up with a frown on his face as he had expressly told his assistant not to send anyone close to lunch hours.

He was just about to open his mouth to deny entrance to whoever was on the other when the door suddenly opened without his consent. His mouth closed shut as he bewilderedly looked at the handsome young man who nonchalantly entered the room.

"Who are you?" he immediately asked with a glare while trying to project a deep authoritative tone he had seen his uncle use.

The man didn't answer him immediately— instead, he slowly closed the door and looked around the room as if searching for something all the while ignoring his glare—and that pricked his pride more than anything.

He immediately raised his hand to pull the rope beside him that would summon the guards to his room when the man suddenly turned to him after having finally finished his inspection of the room, "I am Jon Snow." he introduced himself with an easy smile

"Jon Snow?" It took a while for Daario to remember where he had heard that "From the North?" he asked and let go of the rope when the man nodded. He didn't want any unwanted attention now that he knew who he was, "How did you get in here?"

"Oh! I have my ways..." Jon Snow answered with a shrug.

"Whatever ways you have, you can keep to yourself, Jon Snow." he snorted while swearing that he would definitely fire the assistant who had probably taken the bribe to let him in, "I know why you're here... but I am very busy at the moment and can't—"

Jon abruptly turned away from Darrio and started walking towards the window while ignoring whatever Darrios was saying. He went towards the window to pull up a small pouch from outside.

"What are you doing?" Darrio asked in an alarmed voice as he looked at the man retrieve a pouch that he hadn't seen before that moment. His hand instinctively started going towards the rope when the man abruptly swirled.

Darrio flinched as he felt a whoosh of air and a thunk. He slowly opened his eyes and involuntarily gulped when he looked down to see that the knife that Jon Snow had thrown just inches away from his hand finger.

"Let's talk, Shall we?"

///

If you want to support me or want to read some chapters ahead, you can go to: patreon.com/lazywizard

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

"So tell me, What did you decide to do with our Bravossi problem and why exactly is the lord so giddy to meet you?"

Click to shrink...

"After all, that is why our next destination is Bravoos..."

Click to shrink...

Bravoos was a city well known for its mysterious foggy mornings... but today it was different.

Click to shrink...

No one wanted to miss out on earning easy money, especially in Bravoss where money speaks louder than anywhere else.

Click to shrink...

They carried spears with them but they were mostly there for the show as it was almost impossible for someone to even think to challenge the Iron Bank in Bravoos.

Click to shrink...

Excluding the various small wharves and landing for fishermen and ferries, there were three main ports in Bravoos:

Click to shrink...

Didn't know Braavos had a sister city.

 

[ATP]

Why not just made Dario accidentally die? i read,that KGB had normal agents,which could just murder people in other countries,and special agents,which made them died in accidents with many honest witness who could confirm that.

It would be ideal.

 

[LazyWizard]

"W-What are you doing? Don't come near me!" Darrio warned Jon while swiftly retrieving his hand from beside the vibrating knife stuck in the table, "You won't be able to get away with this. I am telling you." he said with a fierce expression, "Do you even know who I am?" as Jon came around the table but the tremor in the banker's voice gave him away, "Just one shout from me will have guards swarming this place and you will be done for—"


"Do it, then," Jon interrupted Darrio with a shrug while leisurely taking a seat beside the knife on the table right in front of the banker.


"W-What?" Darrio creaked out incredulously, thinking that he had heard wrong, but the Northerner sitting in his face didin't react, as if he didn't care about his threat to call the guards at all, "You!— I am not joking. I will do it."


"I know."


"G-Guards," Darrio tried but only managed an embarrassing high-pitch squeak that didn't reach very far, "GUARDS!!" he tried once again with a proper shout but the madman didn't even flinch and maintained his poker face which made his stomach fall to the ground.


"Everyone knows that Bravoos is a place where information is almost as valuable as gold." Jon said in a calm conversational tone after the banker had finished with his futile shouts, "So of course, they are going to make sure that their information stays only theirs... and to that effect when this Bank was made they made sure that rooms were as sound proof as they could them." Darrio had a shocked expression on his face as if thinking how the hell does this outsider know about this when even most of the people working here didn't, "And sadly for you the only guard who could have heard you is right now sitting on a privy and he probably won't be coming out any time soon... So basically you're stuck with me," Jon finished with a smile.


The Iron Bank was supposed to be one of the most secure places in the world. They have guards around every single corridor and room in the establishment. And not to mention the strict surveillance they have at the gates and how they never let anyone, no matter who they are, carry any sort of weapon into the premises not even a little fork.


But somehow this man from Westeros managed to find a loophole and not only feed his guard a laxative but also find a way to smuggle a bag of knife inside.


"W-What do you want from me?" Darrio finally asked with a gulp, his false bravado having completely left him, "If all you want from me is for me to lower your taxes then there was no need to go so far, I would have— Argh! No! Don't kill me!" Dario flinched and ducked in terror when he saw Jon suddenly jerk the knife out of the table surface.


"Ah! You're mistaken," Jon said with an amused smile at the man almost pissing his pants, "I was just a bit hungry and wanted to have an apple. I can... can't I?" he asked while taking one from the fruit basket nearby.


"O-Of course," Darrio replied hesitatingly while thinking, 'As if I am in any position to deny you'.


Jon nodded his head and rubbed the red apple on his shirt before he started slowly and skilfully peeling it. Darrio peeked at the man calmly skimming the apple and slowly lowered his guarded hands as he was sure that the man didn't intend to kill him... At least for the moment.


"W-What do you do you want from me?" he tried once again after a minute when he saw that the man was completely focused on the apple and was ignoring him, "Because if it's money then you didn't have to—"


"Oh! No, No, No!" Jon shook his head with a smile, "I am not here for the pennies you have in your account. What do you have like 150-something thousand in there..." Darrio involuntarily nodded his head with his eyes completely wide at the eerily accurate amount, "Yeah I wouldn't do this much work for so little..."


Darrio would have normally felt offended at the way the man was belittling his life savings but he wasn't in any position at the moment so he kept all that out of his expression, "Then what—"


"What I want from you is... You!" Jon said while pointing towards the banker with a smile.


"M-Me!" Darrio squeaked involuntarily while pointing at himself with a dumbfounded look on his face.


Jon nodded with an earnest expression on his face which immediately sent the banker's mind down the wrong path as he looked at the dashing young man with gray eyes telling him that he wanted him. Fortunately (or maybe, Unfortunately) Jon explained himself before he could misunderstand.


"Yes, I want you," Jon nodded while putting a slice of apple in his mouth, "To be exact, I want you to be my helper, my spy, my subordinate, my... pawn. I want you to obey every single order of mine, whenever I ask you to do something, you will set everything aside to do it... you'll work for me, you'll steal for me, you'll kill for me—Basically, you'll... live for me."


"Are you kidding me? You—" Darrio's indignant retort almost instantly died in his throat as he looked at Jon's raised eyebrow and remembered the situation that he was in, "I-I mean Yes! I will be your puppet. I will do whatever you want me to do, Sir," his tone quickly changed to a fawning one but... 'Like hell, I will obey you, You Barbarian! The moment you step out of this room, I'll call the guards and have them capture you for me. I'll drag you through the streets. I'll skin, I'll flay, I will torture you until you're begging me for death, You Bastard!!!' he screamed internally but the only thing visible on his face was an awkward smile.


"You know... I can almost hear the thought jumping inside your head," Jon said with an amused smile on his face, "But don't worry I am a very persuasive guy. I assure you that by the time I leave this room not only will you agree to it... you'll almost beg me to be my puppet," he said those absurd words with such eerily calm eyes that it immediately sent a shiver down Darrio's spine.


"W-What are you going to do?" Darrio asked in an alarmed tone as his mind started conjuring all kinds of tortures this madman could inflict on him to "persuade" him.


"Oh, No! Don't make that face. I am not going to do anything bad to you," Jon assured with a nonchalant wave of his hand, "I am just going to tell you some of my secrets and explain to you what I am and why it would be in your best interest to follow me..."


"What... you are?" Darrio parroted with a puzzled expression, wondering what he was talking about.


"Exactly!" Jon nodded his head as if agreeing with him, "Hmm...Now, where to start... Ah! That would be a good place," he mumbled to himself before looking at the banker, "Tell me, What do you think about magic or sorcery... Do you think it exists?"


"Magic?" he mouthed with a weird expression on his face.


Jon asked because he knew that sorcery was a little-known force in this world. How much you believed in it was heavily dependent on where you were. In Westeros, particularly the Citadel, most people doubt its very existence. It has been so long since magic was truly potent that most understanding of it only lives on in superstition and rituals of questionable validity.


Only in a few places like Quarth does magic still remain a potent force, particularly in House of the Undying where the enigmatic warlocks were said to possess great powers. Not to mention the even more mysterious blood mages, spell singers, necromancers and many more that are said to gather and practice their arts in the lands by the Jade Sea and Asshai by the Shadow.


"Yes, Magic!" Jon nodded while explaining, "You know, like in those stories about witches and priestesses who can control flames or are said to be able to sacrifice blood and life to summon shadowy creatures to act as their assassins. Not to mention the ones said to possess the ability to divine the future by looking into flames or those who give you a prophecy about if you're going to have golden children just by taking a little bit of your blood... Have you heard about them? Do you think they are real?"


"Umm...No." Darrio answered awkwardly, trying to guess where this madman was going with this. 'Was he perhaps trying to tell him that he was a witch,' he scoffed in his heart.


"No? Hmm... That makes this a bit difficult," Jon said with a troubled face before his eyes suddenly lit up, "Oh! I know! What about something close by like those from the House of Black and White? You must surely believe in them, right? After all, the mightiest assassins in the world, Faceless Man, are trained there. And they obviously have magical powers given to them by their Many-Faced God, which enables them to take on any face that they wish to, whether it be an old smallfolk man, a woman or even a lord."


"Yes... I-I mean Maybe,"


Of course, Darrio knew about them, there's no one living in Bravoos who wouldn't know about them, but the number of people who actually went in and knew what happened inside would be very few. He was also one of those who only knew what he did about them from the stories he had been told as a child and the only thing that stayed in his mind was the repeated warning from adults about never going anywhere near that place unless you want to give up your life.


Even the Iron Bank had a policy of staying out of the temple's way, and it was one of the few places in Bavoos where the Bank had no control. Even though the temple was near them, the bank was very rarely known to use their services as it was well known how costly they were and that it was almost always way cheaper to just hire normal assassins and if it was someone well protected and in a prominent position... then it was still better for them to fund their opposition.


"Well... just like you guys have your mysterious assassins we have legends of our own in the North. Legends like the Children of the Forest, Giants, Mammoths, Direwolves, Ice Spiders, Ice Eagles, and much more. And... I am also someone from those Legends," Jon finished with a straight face.


Darrio looked sceptically at the Northerner, wondering if the madman was going to tell him that he was a half-giant or if he was a descendant of the Children of the Forest and had magical blood.


"That's right. Similar to those red priests of R'hllor who got powers from their Lord of light, I have also been given powers by the Old Gods..." Jon said spouting bullshit without flinching, but inside he was cringing at himself fiercely. He felt that his performance wouldn't lose to those cult leaders of MLM schemes from his previous lives, "What powers you ask?" he continued luring in the banker, "Basically, I am someone who's been given complete control and command over all creatures of this world, whether they be a four-legged beast, a bird or even an insect. I can make them do anything I want, from mundane things like delivering letters for me to fetching a fruit for me to spy for me and even... kill for me. You don't believe me, do you?"


"No, I do," Darrio quickly nodded his head with a forced smile. He would agree to anything... even accept the man as a god as long as he wasn't killed today.


"Hmm... Looks like I need to give you some live demonstration," Jon said with an understanding expression, "I know! How about I introduce you to one of my friends, I am sure you'll be convinced then," Jon said before pointing his finger towards the only window in the room, "You just need to turn your head and look there..." banker looked sceptically at the man before complying with his request.


Darrio silently looked at the blue sky while pessimistically wondering if enough time had passed for someone to notice something wrong or if the guard was finally done with his business and was coming to rescue him.


He was absentmindedly scouting when he saw something suddenly flash by, something that made his eyes widen in disbelief. He immediately rubbed his eyes in doubt while thinking, 'There's no way what I saw was real...'


"Did you see it?" Jon asked while looking expectantly at Darrio but the banker just shook his head speechlessly, "Oh, was it too fast?"


"I-I just saw some b-blue flash outside the window..." Darrio answered hesitatingly as he felt that his mind was just playing tricks on him before and he refused to believe that any creature could be that big.


"Let's try that again then... I'll ask my friend to slow down this time."


And this time Darrio had his eyes completely peeled open, which meant that he was able to see the horrifying huge blue eagle-like bird in full clarity as it slowed down. His face immediately paled as he saw the icy creature pass by the window. The ethereal creature had crystal-like sharp feathers, fierce yet gentle blue eyes and gleaming claws, it was something straight out of legend—a fairy tale.


"She's called Frost..." Jon said quietly to the deathly scared banker, "One of the rare legendary creatures that I mentioned... Don't you think she's quite beautiful?"


Beautiful wasn't exactly the word that Darrio had in mind while looking at that otherworldly eagle, instead all that stayed in his head were those knife-like claws that he was sure could easily twist his neck and pluck his eyes out and with the speed that he had seen he was sure that she could do much more... And to think a creature like that was under this man's control...


"And she's not the only friend I have nearby," Jon said cheerfully, breaking Darrio out of his reverie, "I've got another smaller one here who's dying to meet you," he said before turning his face towards the empty room, "Come out, Gan."


Almost immediately squeaky sounds echoed through the floor and before Darrio could recover from the shock of what he had seen out the window, he saw another "friend" of the Northerner.


A small brown mouse quickly and skillfully climbed the table and scampered across to a stop right beside Jon and started rubbing the man's clothes as if it was a pet dog or a cat, and what was even more unbelievable was that he actually saw the little thing look straight towards him with a human gleam in its eyes and wave its small claws at him as if greeting him.


"He's a very cute little critter isn't he," Jon whispered with an indulgent smile while gently rubbing his finger on the mouse's back, "He's quite intelligent, you know. The perfect little spy."


He didn't want to but Darrio had no choice but to start believing what the Northerner had been telling him from the start. He still didn't think that he was a god or anything like that but... it was getting harder and harder for him to deny that the man had magical powers probably given by those heretic Old Gods.


Still even with the little spy mouse, and massive killer eagle, there was a small bit of resistance left inside of him that told him that he could still find a way out of this situation as long as he was somehow able to get away from him for a while...


Unfortunately for him what happened next utterly destroyed his last bit of defiance...


"And last but not least, I want you to meet my newest little friend," Jon said looking up from the harmless-looking mouse that seemed to have relaxed the tense nerves in Darrio, "She's quite a unique one, as in there's not a lot of her species left in the world. At least not in any places inhabited by humans. I found her in a very remote forest in Westeros, a place where all kinds of creatures thrived without interference from humans but that's not the most unique thing about her." Jon said with a sneaky smile, "The most special thing about her is her lethality, her ability to kill. Even though she's quite small, no bigger than my finger, she has the ability to bring down any creature a hundred times bigger than her in a matter of minutes with just a small bite... Yep, you guessed it right, she's a spider."


Darrio involuntarily gulped and his eyes started frantically looking all over the room in search of the spider wondering where it would jump out from.


As he was looking around the corners of the room, he suddenly caught a mischievous smile from the corner of his eyes and when he turned towards Jon he saw him staring at his right hand which was placed on the arm-chair. And almost instantly a shiver of revulsion ran through Darrio's spine as he understood the implication of his gaze.


Just as Darrio was about to fling his arm out and hopefully dislodge wherever the abomination was hiding in his sleeves, Jon's hand clamped upon his wrist like a pair of steel forceps rendering his right hand immobile.


"Uh! Uh! Uh!" Jon shook his head while clicking his tongue, "You can't make sudden moves like that. What if you scare my friend into biting you, she's quite shy, you know." he said in a light admonishing tone before he ignored the banker and looked down, "Come out, Widow."


Almost immediately Darrio started to shiver and shake in terror as he felt something crawl up his arm. If Jon wasn't holding his arm in a vice grip the banker would have already been jumping and screaming like a little girl.


His mind was completely overwhelmed with fear as he closed his eyes and started praying with tears hoping that he didn't piss himself. It took a while, but thankfully for him the crawling finally stopped when the creature reached his wrist.


Breathing heavily, Darrio slowly opened his eyes to see a grotesque arachnid sitting on the back of his palm. Its body was a sickly combination of mottled black and deep crimson, and its dark abyss-coloured beady eyes stared unblinkingly towards him. Its long sinewy legs were covered with tiny hairs arising a deep sense of disgust and terror in him.


The spider jumped from his wrist to Jon's and almost immediately Darrio snatched his wrist from Jon's hand, cradled it in his left hand and started rubbing it fiercely, hoping to somehow get rid of the goosebumps.


"Ah! Are you perhaps afraid that she bit you," Jon asked with an innocent tilt of his head, "You don't need to worry, because she won't do something like that unless I ask—Eh? What? What are you saying?" Jon suddenly stopped mid-sentence and looked down towards the spider with a shocked expression on his face, "But why would you—Oh! Are you saying that he shook too much and you accidentally bit him... That makes sense," he said with an understanding expression towards the arachnid.


"W-What?" Darrio suddenly interrupted with a hysterical look in his eyes, hi stomach dropped at hearing the words "accident" and "bit", "What is spider talking about!!"


"Well... It seems there's been an accident," Jon said with a sheepish expression on his face, "My little friend here got scared when you shook too much a few minutes ago and unintentionally bit you...But don't blame her too much you know, she's still a bit young—"


"DON'T BLAME HER!!! Are you out of... you..r...mi..nd..." Darrio's outburst was cut short as his tongue suddenly started going numb and before he could make sense of things his other bodily organs followed soon after.


His arms and legs got locked, his neck went stiff and he started shaking as if he was experiencing seizures. His face started going purple as almost everything in his body stopped responding to his brain's command. His senses started to dull and everything seemed foggy as if he was looking out of a thin screen of water. His veins were burning with fire as if a swarm of ants were moving inside him.


"Oh, my...It seems the poison's already started to affect you," Jon said with a troubled expression that didn't seem too sincere to the banker, "It's so sad... You didn't even get a chance to say if you agreed to my proposal..."


"S..av..e...me...pl..ea..se..."


"What? Are you asking me to save you," Jon asked with a tilt of his head, "I mean, I guess I could... I do always keep an antidote in here," he said while pulling out a small vial from the same bag he got the knife out of, "But this thing is quite expensive, you know and I only got this single vial with me. So it would be such a waste... of course, if you had agreed to be my subordinate I would have used it unhesitatingly... But—"


"I...ag..r..ee...so...pl..ea..se...I...be..g y..ou..."


"What? What did you say? Hey...I...didn't...hear...you..." Darrio's hearing suddenly turned down and warbly and his mind slowly started going numb as his consciousness started to sink.


He regretted ever getting involved with this northerner... it was such an absurd way to die... he wanted to live more than anything... and if he was just given one more chance, he would do anything... he wanted to live even if it was as someone's puppet.


...


The first thing he felt when he regained consciousness was pain... his neck and his back were stiff and hurting something fierce. His eyes gradually opened to find that he was still sitting in the chair in his office and for a moment he was ecstatic to find that there was no one sitting at the table in front of him, but before he could fantasize that everything had just been a dream, he heard the most dreaded voice again...


"Oh! You're finally awake... I was almost bored to death waiting for you," Jon had vacated his seat on the table and was sitting in the chair on the other side with his legs placed on the desk and was leisurely going through the last of the fruits in the fruit basket.


The position of the sun outside the window showed that not more than an hour had passed for Darrio... but that hour had been the most agonising of his entire life and he never wanted to go through something like that again.


"Well now that you've finally back to living, can we get back to the topic at hand... because I don't have much time now," Jon said while taking his legs off the table and sitting properly to face Darrio, "I don't know if you remember but just before you went to sleep you finally agreed to accept my proposal..." he stopped before he suddenly looked at the banker with a playful smile and asked, "You're not going to take it back, are you?"


Darrio looked down with a struggling expression on his face while Jon continued, "I mean not like you have many other options. I guess you could try snitching on me the moment I am out of here but then you could never be fully sure that I am not spying on you using any nearby rat, cat or dog, and you know what'll happen to you the moment I find out..." Jon said in a completely tranquil tone, "So unless you plan to spend the rest of your life in a completely isolated room with no windows and no holes from which any creatures enter—Ah! you would also have to abstain from eating and drinking because I am sure you know that since I can control all kinds of animals, it's not very hard for me to get my friends to slip something uncomfortable into your food without your knowledge—"


Darrio immediately shivered and quickly shook his head, "No! No, please... I am never going to tell anyone anything. I'll do everything you say... so please don't..."


"Are you sure?"


"Yes!"


"That's perfect then," Jon exclaimed in a cheerful tone while getting up from his chair, "I am so glad that we could come to an agreement... I knew that I would be able to persuade you," he said with a cheeky smile while moving towards the door, "Now, I need to go but don't worry you'll soon get my letter with your first instructions, so be sure to do a good job."


"Y-Yes, I will."


"Have a good day then,"


Darrio's body turned into jelly the moment the door closed, his eyes and pants started leaking simultaneously as his taut nerves relaxed. The banker had never imagined that what was supposed to be the best day of his life would end like this...

///

If you want to support me or want to read a few chapters ahead you can go to: patreon.com/lazywizard

 

[gaouw]

I dunno...

I don't think I like this chapter.

Previously, Jon leverage his modern knowledge and magical tactic to win his battles, be it through violence or diplomacy. Relatively elegantly.

The fact that he's directly threatening the dude in this chapter feels... forced?

And not as elegant as his other actions.

Oh well,,, not everything can be a winner, I guess.

 

[ATP]

Well,if Daario knew more about wargs,he would not feel so much fear here.

 

[LazyWizard]

The city of Bravoos was famous around the world for many things, from the gigantic Titan statue which roars every hour to its vibrant markets and its rich seafood, to the countless canals sprawling across the hundred islands, the numerous temples on Isle of Gods, the Arsenal and of course, the Iron Bank.


But the thing that attracted the most attention, particularly among the male population whether they be Nobility or rich merchants, were its courtesans, who were renowned across the world for their skills, and beauty. They were not like the common bedwarmers found on every other street in Lys, here the courtesans were a lot more sophisticated. Every courtesan here had her own barge and numerous servants to work in them.


The courtesan were public figures here with a lot of admirers. And the fans of particularly famous ones such as Nightingale are said to be fanatic enough to kill you if you say any other woman is more beautiful than her. There may even be a courtesan with Targaryen blood in here, someone called Black Pearl, said to be a descendant of Aegon IV Targaryen.


Today Darrio, the banker, was in a barge of one such courtesan, but sadly he wasn't there to satisfy his base desire but had come here to meet someone.


Darrio was sitting alone in a luxurious reception room with his hands folded on his legs. The premium tea placed on the table in front of him had gone cold while he was waiting for his target. If it was just a few weeks ago he would have already thrown a tantrum at being made to wait for so long but now... sadly for him, he didn't have the leeway he used to have as now he answered to someone.


The man he was here to meet was one of the last ones on the list that Jon had given him, but he was also the hardest to convince.


The list was the first task that Jon had given him and it was filled with names of all the prominent merchants in Bravoos that Jon wanted to cooperate with in his new business, but since he didn't have the necessary influence in Bravoos to convince these people easily, it had fallen on Darrio to do this work. And so Darrio had been on a streak for more than a week going from one place to another to meet with all kinds of big and small merchants to persuade them to invest in Jon's new Company and now he was finally here on the last one.


His target this time was one of the richest merchants in Bravoos, with connections and shops in almost all free cities in Essos and a few of the major cities in Westeros. This man was someone who regularly sat and ate with all kinds of magisters, princes, and lords so he wasn't someone Darrio could easily bully into accepting his terms like he had done with the others. He had to be convinced using softer tactics which Darrio wasn't quite skilled at but he had to do his best nonetheless since it was a task set by his new... master.


Just as Darrio was lost in his thoughts, the door to the room suddenly opened and in came the target he was waiting for.


He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing purple garbs that weren't able to hide his fat belly. He had quite the pleased and satisfied expression on his face but all the happiness went away from his face the moment he saw who was waiting for him in the room.


"You are quite the persistent one, my friend. Aren't you?" Mario asked with a wry smile while closing the door behind him.


"Thank you," Darrio replied with a stiff smile.


"That was not a compliment." Mario said dryly, "I've seen your face more times than I did my wife in the last few days... which is not a good thing." The merchant grumbled while taking a seat opposite Darrio, "You're young, you're rich and you just got yourself a position in the Arsenal. You should be out there enjoying life and not be in here trying to scam honest old man like me into investing in your business."


"My uncle wouldn't have reached where he is if he stopped to enjoy every little accomplishment he got. And I am not trying to scam anyone. What I am doing is giving people a chance to be a part of a new business that is going to be guaranteed to be fruitful."


"Sure you are," Mario said, his voice thick with sarcasm before he shook his head, "But my answer wouldn't change, it's just too risky for me to hand over the precious good that I've gathered over two months to this new company on its very first journey. If I was still young and reckless, I would have thought about it but now..." Mario shrugged with a sigh, "Now I just want to put my money in safe and secure hands; sure the returns may be little but at least they are steady."


"But that's the thing, this company is the safest bet you could make," Darrio urged passionately, "I guarantee that your goods would be a hundred per cent secure and will reach their destination without a single dent in less than half the usual time. You would be able to make three times more profit than before."


That's right, he was here to persuade Mario to invest and provide goods for a new shipping company, Jon's new company.


Bravoos was quite well known as being one of the wealthiest port cities in the known world with a naval strength that only a few like Volantis could rival, but there was one massive thorn in its side hindering it that even it couldn't easily get rid of... The Pirate Dens in Stepstones.


In and of themselves this small chain of rocky islands was worthless - however, almost all the major sea lanes between the narrow sea (the sea between Westeros and Essos) and the Summer Sea (the sea south of Dorne) have to pass through the straits between the Stepstones, making them strategically very important. All the sea trade to the east coast of Westeros and to five out of nine of the Free Cities has to pass through the Stepstones to reach the other major markets of the world.


It is said that the one who controls the stepstones can control half the world trade which makes it as heavily contested as the Disputed Lands. It has been vied by most of the free cities at one time or another but none have ever succeded in fully controlling them, at least not for long enough.


This power struggle created a gap for the low lives to thrive in this global crossroads; sailors, mercenaries, pirates, adventurers, and exiles from all across the known world could be found in the Stepstones. Even the Ironbron reavers have found the Stepstones to be good hunting grounds to seek their fortunes making this part of the sea as dangerous as it is profitable.


But of course, money always finds a way and the way that the Merchants here have found was to form a fleet.


Once every five to six months whenever the time was ripe and when they'd collected enough goods from their various sources, the richest merchants would pool together their resources to form a fleet and then hire many mercenaries and the mighty warships from Bravoos to be their bodyguards to sail through the Stepstones.


No matter how strong the greed of the pirates may be, they would never dare to confront a fleet of merchants protected by Bravoosi warships so the merchants are almost always able to get to their destinations safely. They will then sell and buy as much as they can in the cities on the other side of Stepstones... and make at least enough profit for them to come back again after a few months.


Of course, hiring the warship was absurdly costly which means that their profit margins were not as good as they should be for such an elaborate trip. But they had no other options as it was either this or choosing a few of those smaller fleets with daring(or reckless) captains to trust. But choosing them was the same as gambling as the chances of their goods reaching the destination were less than half as they would either end up at the bottom of the ocean or worse... wake up to find themselves being sold for a few coppers.


Jon had recognized this gap where there was a lot of easy money to be made and had decided long ago to open up shop here. But of course, the most important things for a shipping company weren't the ships or even captains but the customers, which was where Darrio came in... Jon ordered him to use the full might of his connection to find people and make them trust his new company with their good on his maiden trip.


"Yeah, Yeah, I know. I heard about that leaflet outside of your shop about your "Hundred Percent" guaranteed safety," Mario said with a scoff, "But every single captain always boasts about that... until they run afoul of pirates and then—then they run with their tales between their legs while throwing the cargo behind. And change their tune to, "Oh, but it's just business, and profit and loss always happen in businesses—" CHE!! I am telling you, the number of times I've heard this thing..."


"But you know me! You know who I am; who my uncle is. I am not some charlatan off the side of the road trying to scam you out of your money. I am telling you that I have complete confidence in this succeeding—"


"Oh, but that's the thing. I don't know what exactly makes you so confident." Mario suddenly said with his eyes narrowed, "Did you make some kind of a deal with some private who would allow you unhindered passage?"


Most of the smaller shipping companies survive this way; they choose the way of compromise by paying the pirates a hefty protection fee to secure a passage. But there was no assurance of guarantee of safety in this as the pirates weren't an organised bunch, you could pay one pirate group to leave and then immediately run into another one who wouldn't think twice to attack you. After all, they are pirates at the end of the day.


"Who is the one you made a deal with? Was it Salladhor Saan? But... then with his exorbitant prices, you wouldn't have been able to offer the shipping prices that you are offering. Then is it one of those other petty pirate kings?" When Darrio still shook his head Mario frowned trying very hard to think who it could be, "Then who is—Wait! Don't tell me?! It can't be the Crow's Eye, could it? Because everyone how mad and unpredictable that man is, you would be better off drowning your money in the ocean than making a deal with him."


"No! There was no deal made with Euron Grejoy. As for the secret behind my confidence..." Darrio shook his head silently signifying his desire to keep this a secret.


"Fine! Keep your secrets." Mario said with a sigh, "But then it would be tough for me to hand over..."


Darrio's eyes unconsciously went towards the position of the sun through the window and he started to become desperate. Jon had wanted the ships to set sail this very week and had given Darrio an ultimatum to fill every single one of the spots on his ships with cargo before then and... he didn't want to find out what would happen if he didn't.


"I... How about I guarantee with my uncle's name," Darrio forced out his ultimate trump card. The difference between his status and that of his uncle was very significant but it was just that... he didn't actually get the go-ahead from his uncle... but now that it had come to this he just had to bite the bullet and do it while leaving the consequences to his future self.


"Are you sure— No, I mean Deal! You got a deal, My friend, HAHA!" Mario immediately cut short his doubts and quickly accepted the deal with a wide smile. And as if afraid that Darrio would back out, he immediately had a servant bring him ink and parchment and quickly wrote down the contract, "My Friend, you just need to sign here to acknowledge what you just promised me..." Mario said while looking at Darrio with an expectant look.


For people like Mario money stopped being their highest priority, and only power could stimulate their emotions now. And this paper represented power; it was an opportunity to have the vulnerability of a member of the secret council in his hands. It didn't matter now if the ship sank with all of his good... in fact, he was even somewhat hoping for it now...


"Perfect! With this, I'll sleep worry-free." Mario said cheerfully while tucking the parchment in his pocket, "And don't worry, I'll support your company with all my might. In fact, I'll send my men right this evening to transport enough goods to fill up all your ships."


"Thank you," Darrio said with a forced smile. He stayed for a few more minutes there to hash out the rest of the details such as the exact price Mario would pay per crate of goods before leaving the barge with a list of all the goods.


Darrio quickly left the Barge towards a boat waiting nearby that would take him through the canals in the city towards the port.


Darrio's body finally sagged in relief at finally having completed the task set by Jon. The dark circles under his eyes would easily tell anyone how stressed he had been over the past week.


In fact, it was only when he was sailing over water that he could be completely relaxed nowadays. Since at least on water there weren't a lot of chances for him to run into animals or... spiders under 'his' control.


A piercing cry of a loud seagull suddenly echoed from above him immediately sending a shiver through his spine, almost as if... as if someone was reminding him that there was nowhere that he was completely safe.


It was only when the boat lurched to a stop near the bustling market at the entrance of the port that Darrio was able to regain his composure. He quickly paid the driver who was looking at him weirdly and left the boat to push through the crowded streets.


His brown and grey banker garbs made sure that people gave him a wide berth. And he tried his hardest to only look straight ahead and not flinch every time a cat or a dog happens to pass by.


Before long he had left behind all the stalls selling seafood and came near enough to the port that most of the shops were now either inns for sailors or were dedicated to selling people advance tickets for scheduled ships going to the nearby cities such as Pentos, Kings Landing, White Harbour and many more.


Right in the middle in the most prominent location on the road was a newly renovated shop with a huge board on it that read, "Northern Wolf Shipping", the words were written beautifully in both the common tongue and in Valyrian. But even though this shop was the biggest and the most impressive of all the nearby shops it was the only one with no customers.


Darrio sighed while looking at the empty-looking shop... he could still remember the crowd that had flocked to the shop when it had been newly opened especially because of the advertisement up front that boasted of a fifty per cent discount. But when the people went inside and found out that this newly born company not only provided shipping to the cities across Stepstones but also boasted a hundred per cent guarantee, the people left as quickly as they had arrived, knowing that it was just a scam.


Darrio shook off his wandering thoughts and went inside the shop but he came out soon after and started walking towards the port. The fat teenager manning the shop had told him that Jon wasn't inside and that he would find him by their ships at port.


Darrio hurried along as he passed one ship after another in the massive port and only after walking for about half an hour did he reach the area where the seven Northern ships were docked. They were all standing in a single line with each ship flying a flag with a roaring wolf head drawn on it. Of the seven ships, four were of normal size while the other three were massive trade galleons, but even though they all seemed to be freshly painted they couldn't hide the fact that they were many years old.


About a dozen workers were slowly loading goods into the four normal ships while the three trade galleons remained stationary and empty, but Darrio knew that they wouldn't remain vacant for long with the agreement that he had gotten from Mario.


He was easily able to spot Jon standing nearby in the shade of the ships and started walking towards him. Jon wasn't alone and had two middle-aged with Northern features standing beside him and he seemed to be explaining something to them while occasionally pointing towards a map on the table in front of them.


Darrio came to a stop a few steps away from the table and stood there silently, waiting to be called. Other than a single glance towards Darrio Jon completely ignored him and continued speaking with the two Northerners.


Darrio didn't understand much of what he was saying as he wasn't too proficient in the common tongue but after seeing the lines and dots on the map, which had the Narrow sea prominently in the middle as well as from the bits and pieces which he could comprehend, he guessed that they were charting the path that the ships would take for the trip. The most unbelievable thing for Darrio was that most of the paths traversed directly through the middle, in the open sea and not hugging the coast like was common.


Just as he was lost in his thoughts Jon suddenly stopped talking and looked towards Darrio with his hands outstretched and ordered, "Give me the list!"


"Huh?" Darrio asked in confusion before he realised what he was talking about and hastened to take out the list of goods that Mario had given him and handed it over to Jon. He didn't even want to think about how Jon already knew that Darrio had succeded in his deal or that he had also gotten the list from Mario because he knew that the less he thought about it the better for his sanity.


"Take this list, Uncle Sam," Jon said giving the list to Merchant Sam, "Workers belonging to the Big Mario should start arriving soon with the goods written in there. I want you to thoroughly check everything in there, and that nothing is missing and then have them properly stored. And also make sure that our ships are ready and stocked to leave in two days."


"Yes. I'll get on it right away!" The merchant answered confidently, and after taking a quick look at Darrio, he left along with the other man towards the ships.


Merchant Sam and his assistant had only walked for a few minutes when the assistant finally couldn't hold himself back, "D-Did you just see that?!!" he asked visibly shaking with excitement, "Did you look at the way that banker was standing there with that submissive look on his face as if he was meeting his superior. He didn't seem like a mighty banker at all."


"Shh!! Don't speak so loudly." Sam rebuked but it was hard for his assistant to take him seriously when he saw his master's lips quirk up into a smirk, "And of course I saw that, It would be hard not to. That look on that banker's face was completely different from the last time when he kicked me out of his room. I almost didn't recognise him with all the arrogance and pride missing from his face," he said smugly.


"B-But how did the boss do it? How did he make some like that bend..." he asked in an incredulous voice while sneaking a glance back at Jon who seemed to ordering the Banker to do something with a cold face.


"The boss has his ways," Sam said in a mysterious tone, "I told you that day, didn't I? That everything will be solved once he's here."


"Yes, you did." the assistant said with a fawning tone before he suddenly had an enlightened expression on his face. "I finally know now why those people back home revere him so much," Before the assistant joined Sam's ships here in the East, he had spent a few months with the crew in Bear Island. And when he was there, he had been quite bewildered by the worship and awe sailors held for Jon... but only now did he understand that he was completely deserving of all the worship and adulation.


"Of course, they revere him. Now stop daydreaming and get to work. We have a lot of shipments coming and need to finish everything by tomorrow so we need to hurry along or we won't be sleeping tonight."


...


Jon didn't immediately start speaking to Darrio after Merchant Sam and his assistant had left, instead, he was occupied with the map in front of him as he drew marks on it charting different lines. And only after he was completely satisfied with the paths did he close the map and look up towards Darrio.


"Good work with Merchant." he said with a cool nod, "You stood up to my expectations."


"Thank you, Ser. I didn't do too much" Darrio answered meekly, not daring to look into Jon's eyes. Even though more than a week had passed since that day, he was still a bit traumatised by the close experience with death that he had and was deathly scared of Jon.


Jon was quite amused while looking at the grown man almost quivering in his shoes in front of him. Normally he would have felt a little bad for scaring someone to this point but considering all the things he had found about the man during his research into the banker... his sympathy didn't last for very long.


The was spoiled rich scum through and through. He was cruel and heartless and had destroyed a lot of small and struggling businesses and had also killed and crippled a lot of people without mercy in his quest to follow his uncle. But that wasn't a very unique thing in this world as every other rich asshole here was just another Joffrey just without that many tantrums. Plus the man also had a fetish for tormenting and assaulting any girl he took a fancy to, so Jon didn't have a lot of pity for him.


In fact, the incident with the spider hadn't been an accident instead it had actually been a deliberate act on Jon's part. He didn't really have a pet spider named Widow that he acquired from a mysterious island and all of that had been just a ruse to scare the banker, in truth, the spider was just the scariest-looking one he could find on the way to the bank.


Spiders and other small insects and arachnids belonged to a category of small living beings that didn't have a developed enough brain and soul that Jon could connect with on a deep level. The best he could do with them was take over their bodies and control them forcefully when they were in front of him, much like the other wargs in this world do. But this crude method meant that there could never be a long-term bond between them and that they would forget Jon the moment they got out of his sight making it impossible for them to follow long-term orders.


As for how he had actually poisoned the man? Well, that had just been a simple use of the poison he had created using the book he had gotten from Oberyn. Tweety had delivered it to Darrio's glass of water before Jon had even entered the room. Which was also the reason that he had the antidote already prepared beforehand.


"And what about the warships? Did you find out when I can get them?"


"Y-Yes," Darrio answered in a nervous voice, "I-I've checked the records and found out that there is a backlog of pre-orders lined up for the next two years... S-So it's hard for anyone to get any at the moment—"


"Do you think I don't already know that?" Jon asked quietly with a raised eyebrow.


Jon had laid the foundation for recruiting and training sailors in White Harbour way back when Merchant Sam first left Winterfell which means that it was even before the school in Bear Island started. So there were more than enough men, young and old, waiting back at home with months and months of practical training at being a sailor. While at the moment they may be doing some other jobs, he knew that he only needed to give one call and he would have them all rushing to join.


Plus, it was only a matter of time before the shipping company took off. He only needed a few trips successful trips to show on his resume before he would have lines of people waiting to get on.


This means that he would have sailors, and all the customers he could need in the future so the only thing that could hamper the growth of this company is the number of ships... and luckily for him, the world's biggest shipyard was right here.


The Arsenal of Bravoos was world famous for its ship-building capacity, and the war galleys made here were all of the same design allowing shipbuilders to work on separate parts at the same time. It is said that if it was needed then they were even capable of creating a war galley in a single. So of course they would have a lot of customers lining up to get them to build ships for them.


"N-No! I mean yes—"


"Why do you think I wasted so much time on you if not for this? If I could have gotten the ships through normal channels then there would have been no use for you. You're not saying that you're useless, are you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.


"N-No!" Darrio gulped and answered, "B-But it is impossible for me—"


"Fine. I won't ask for too many... How many warships can you get me?"


"N-No more than one in t-two months..." Darrio answered as if forcing the words out of his mouth. Even swiping one in two months would be as hard as climbing the titan barehanded, he would have to grease a lot of hands, speed up production, delay other people's orders and spend a lot of time carefully messing up the papers so that no one finds out about the missing ones.


"That's too little..." Jon said with a frown, "Fine I'll manage, but you also need to add two trade galleys with every warship..."


"I-I'll try my best," Darrio said with a relieved look, as getting trade galleys was easier than warships.


"Make sure you do." Jon said nonchalantly, "After all we are all in the same boat since you also have shares in my company."


Darrio quickly nodded with a forced smile. The shares Jon was talking about were nothing more than a formality of one per cent which he had given Darrio to smooth most of the process involved in setting up the shop and shipping company here. If it wasn't for Darrio's name as one of the owners and investors, it wouldn't have been possible to set up everything so quickly.


"What is it now?" Jon asked as he looked at the banker who was making a face as if he was constipated.


"Umm... About the money..." Darrio said as he hoped with all his might that he wouldn't have to pay for all this from his own pocket.


"Money will be no problem." Jon said waving his hand nonchalantly, "You'll get the proper payments for every single one of them. I'll send one of my men..."


...


While Jon was talking with Darrio, not far from them were two shifty-eyed men wearing sailor garbs looking at all the Northern ships with greedy eyes.


"Did you see all the goods being loaded, Uncle Frank?" one of the men said in an excited whisper.


"I did," the other man replied his face splitting into a sinister smile showing all his rotten teeth, "Looks like we caught a big fish, boy. Captain Jack will be quite happy with it..."

 

[Brainstorm813]

Captain Jack

Click to shrink...

Lol what? Didn't see that coming!

 

[ATP]

Well,this time Captain Jack would not defeat Kraken.Becouse i quess it is SI deal - safety for his ships,and snacks for his friend.

 

[LazyWizard]

Five sleek rundown galleys were haphazardly docked on an otherwise desolate coast mid-way between the cities of Pentos and Myr. Their flags didn't carry any kind of skulls on them but anyone with even an iota of common sense could see that they were all pirate ships.


At the moment, most of the crew were standing in the shade of a few trees with only one large man with a crooked hat sitting comfortably on a light wooden chair.


"Where are they? Where are all the fucking ships laden with goods that you promised me, Huh?" Captain Jack growled, his hands gripping the handle of the chair so tightly that it almost crushed them. The sun was about to set for the third time since they had laid an ambush here in this god-forsaken place to wait for the prey... but their target was still nowhere in sight.


Most of the nearby pirates hurriedly scurried away from the center leaving behind two shivering pirates, Frank and his nephew, in the middle to take on the wrath of the Captain.


The Captain looked like a typical pirate with a hat, an eyepatch and a gold tooth and while he wasn't completely insane like some of the other famous pirates, he was still an... unpredictable man. One minute he could be singing and drinking with you and in the next something would set him off and he would dump you into the ocean while laughing his ass off. So the crew usually tried their hardest to not run afoul of his temper because when he gets angry, it is very... ugly.


"M-Maybe they got d-delayed, Captain—" Frank stammered as he tried to come up with some way to wiggle out of the situation but the Captain didn't have much patience for him.


"Shut up!! I've had enough of yer excuses!!" Captain Jack thundered as he slowly rose from his seat. He was a massive man, almost a head taller than everyone else, so when he came to stand before the two pirates they almost pissed their pants, "You told me that seven ships left Bravoos laden with goods with less than 100 fighters on board and that they would be here soon... So where the fuck are they!! I've been sitting on my ass here for three fucking days with not a single ship in sight. Which means that you lied to me and there were no such ships to begin with because no matter how delayed they are, it can't take them more than three days to reach here from Pentos..."


Unlike what most people think, being a pirate involves a lot more than just drinking, sailing and looting. A lot of delicate intelligence gathering, planning, and patient ambushes were involved before they even got to the fighting and looting part, especially for the pirates here in Essos.


There were not a lot of places in the world where pirates were welcomed so one of the most limiting factors for the pirates was a base where they could supplies. Thankfully the Stepstones were all under the control of forces friendly to pirates but only the most powerful pirates could station their fleet on Stepstones at all times and attack trade ships that came within their striking range which means that the other middling and smaller pirates had to leave the islands in search of targets in other places.


The Stepstone was like a massive tree from which the pirates spread out like branches into the nearby port cities' waters to prey on merchants' vessels. Some of them targeted the northern cities like Pentos, Myr, and Tyrosh while the others went downwards towards Volantis, Lys and the others.


Thankfully Essos wasn't a Kingdom or an Empire under a single ruler which meant that there were a lot of abandoned places and villages in between the cities where there was no government and no regular patrol so that they could set up temporary bases to supply themselves. But even after finding a place to set up, the work of a pirate is far from over, the next thing they need to do is to find targets to hit.


Most pirates always keep scouts in one or more of the nearby port cities so that they can scour the ports all day long searching for the fattest target that their fleet can take on. And when they find something like that, they immediately try to get the information, to their captains as quickly as they can, about when the ship is leaving and where.


If the Captain was happy with the target, they set sail immediately to the nearest uninhabited coast in the target ship's route and then dock there to wait for the target to arrive. A few sentry ships are sent to patrol at some distance from the coast so that they can always keep a lookout for all the passing ships. And since ships in this world aren't able to navigate if they don't sail while hugging the coast, it is usually possible to see all the passing ships even with the naked eye, though some ships sail far enough that they may not seem more than a dot, it is still more than enough to identify if it's their quarry or not.


The moment they identify their target, the sentries immediately raise the alarm, so that the pirates on the coast can board the ships as fast as they can.


After that, it is a race between them and their target, if they set off from the coast fast enough. The pirates are usually able to catch up to their target more than eighty per cent of the time since trade ships are usually a lot heavier and slower than the more slender pirate ships which don't contain anything more than a few crates of food and a few barrels of booze. So the only place where they can mess up is if the sentries miss their target...


"M-Maybe they stopped to e-eat or they got l-lost at the sea—" This time the other pirate, Frank's nephew, tried to find a way for them to out of the situation but only made the problem worse as the Captain became even more mad.


"Hang these curses to trees and let 'em burn to death in the sun." The captain scoffed before going back towards his chair.


"No!!" "P-Please Captain!! Just give us one more chance!!"


"Captain Jack," And just as the rest of the crew were about to merrily carry their former friends off to hang them, the only man, without a beard on the coast, spoke, "It would be a waste to just kill them. Why don't you give them another chance, I am sure they won't make the same mistake again."


The man without a beard was the only one on the crew who could speak up and whom the Captain couldn't ignore easily. He was someone whom his father had sent to 'help' him learn. The crew only knew him as the Advisor and knew that he was the only one who wasn't intimidated by their captain's anger.


"Fine!" Jack grumbled before turning back towards the two pirates who had already been looted and almost stripped naked by the rest of the crew, "Frank, you'll go to Bravoos and try once again, and make sure that this time you get reliable information because if you don't then," the Captain suddenly smiled maliciously while looking at the nephew, "then yer lad here will be sold to the slavers to recover some of the cost of this trip."


From an economic point of view, every single trip for a pirate captain is a form of investment, and a costly one at that. With the cost of food, drink and the repairs of the ships being some of the unavoidable things, if they don't get good loot every few trips, they would go broke very soon.


"B-But—"


"Or I can sell the both of you right now and get my money even sooner," The captain cut off the pirate's pleas with that statement.


"No! I-I'll try my best and make sure that I get a good target this time, Captain," Frank said reluctantly.


"No! I want you to find that same fleet from last time," the Captain said with a gleam in his eyes, "I am sure that since we missed them, they probably completed their trip and made some good profit this time... which means that they are going to be an even fatter catch now..."


...


The one thing that the pirates were right about was that Jon's trip went without a single hiccup and was a mighty successful one.


In fact, by the time the pirates were expecting them between Pentos and Myr, they had already bypassed Tyrosh and were halfway through their trip and had even passed the Stepstones in the night without being spotted a single time. They didn't make any stops to trade in any of the ports before the Stepstones since the trade between cities such as Bravoos, Pentos, Myr, and Tyrosh was already flourishing very well.


Their only long stops were at Lys and Volantis, where they easily sold every single thing onboard into the waiting merchants' eager hands and on the way back they picked up as many local goods as they could to fill their ships.


When the fleet finally made their way back to Bravoos after a successful trip they were all welcomed with shocked exclamations from the crowd at the port.


"W-Why are they already back? It's been less than three weeks... Could it be that they failed the trip?"


"No! No! It can't be that. Look at all the goods that they are unloading from the ships. From the looks of it, it seems to have been a very successful trip."


"B-But that can't be right... You don't believe that they went all the way to Lys and Volantis in just three weeks, right? It usually takes at least three weeks just to reach there even if you only stop in the ports along the way for just a day."


"Maybe they didn't go all the way and just came back after going to Myr and Tyrosh..."


"Can't you see what the goods being unloaded are? Those intricate and beautiful tapestries and those wine barrels are definitely from the Lys and everyone knows that those crates filled with Sugar beets can only be found in Volantis. So they definitely went all the way..."


"But how did they complete the trip in less than half the time?"


"Maybe it was just a fluke... and the winds were just in their favour."


"But what if it isn't a fluke..."


Slowly but surely people's perception of the Company changed as they stopped believing that it was just a scam to trick them and even though not many believed in the company's boast about 100 per cent success, the shop still slowly started to fill with customers.


It was a completely different scene when Jon finally started to prepare for their second trip after resting for a week. For their first trip, they had to convince, coerce and even give discounts to the merchants to lure them in as customers, but for their second time, they didn't even have to do half as much. All the cargo space for the ships was filled shortly after they opened the slots.


While more than half of them were filled with returning customers who wanted to try their luck a second time, the rest were filled with apprehensive newcomers who wanted to try and take a gamble to see if they too could make the same profits as the others.


But what Jon didn't know was that his smooth and successful trip was having a very adverse effect on the life of a few pirates...


...


By the time Frank heard the news and came to the port, it was already too late. Jon's fleet had already left the port of Bravoos... it was like a death sentence for him, as he knew that there was almost no hope for their ships to catch up to them even if he went to his Captain with the information immediately.


Frank hesitated for quite a while at the port about whether he should go back to his captain at all because he knew that his Captain was a man of his word and that he wouldn't have anything good in store for him if he heard the bad news. But then the face of his nephew appeared in his mind... he still remembered the rainy day when his poor fat sister had handed the boy off to him to take care of before running away.


After an hour of agonizing, he finally gritted his teeth and decided that he had to at least try and save his nephew.


And just like Frank had predicted, his Captain wasn't happy with the news at all...


"You Fucker!! I told you what would happen if you failed again, didn't I?" he cursed while kicking the pirate so hard that he almost broke his back, "And you still had the gall to come back here empty-handed while spouting nonsense excuses... What did you think, Huh? That I'd be merciful and forgive you again? Do you take me to be a sisy now?"


"Argh!! P-Please, C-Captain!! I t-tried my best b-but by the time I arrived at Bravoos, the fleet had not only completed their trip but had also started another one." Frank hurriedly explained himself when the Captain stopped kicking him for a moment to listen, "The ships in that fleet are abnormally fast, Captain. They completed the whole trip from Bravoos to Volantis in just three weeks—"


"And here I was thinking that you were finally going to say something useful..." The Captain scoffed and resumed kicking the pirate with renewed ferocity, "Are you kidding me? Do you think I am stupid enough to believe something like that? What will you say next, that their ships can fly in the sky or that all of them ride on their pet whales, Huh?"


"Wait a second, Captain," the clean shaved advisor, who had just been silently watching so far suddenly interrupted and stopped the Captain from killing the pirate in his anger, "Tell me the truth, Frank. Is what you said about them completing the trip in just three weeks true?" he asked the groaning pirate.


"Y-Yes! I-I swear to R'hllor, " Frank replied in a feeble voice filled with agony, "Y-You can ask anyone at the port of B-Bravoos, all of them saw the same thing..."


"You can't be seriously believing in this bullshit? This bastard is probably just making up shit to save his worthless ass."


"Most probably," The advisor shrugged in reply to the Captain, "But it would not be very hard to verify it, and if it turns out that he is telling that truth..." he trailed off as his eyes suddenly got an interested look in them, "I need to see this through with my own eyes."


...


Travel between the Essos's free cities was quite fast as long as the Stepstones were not between them so it didn't take the Advisor too long to reach Bravoos by renting a merchant vessel.


The Advisor was a very thorough man and liked to verify his findings from multiple sources to be sure. So he didn't go back until he had seen the ships complete a full trip in front of his very eyes and only after he was done finding everything he could about the shipping fleet did he return.


But when he arrived at the pirate's camp, Frank and his nephew were almost half dead. They had been locked into cages and were barely being given any food and water to sustain themselves; both of them were sickly thin and filthy and seemed to have had a particularly miserable time.


"Release them." was the first thing that the advisor said after shaking his head at the condition of Frank and his nephew.


"What? Don't tell you're feeling sympathy for these lying pieces of shit." spat the Captain while chugging cheap ale recently looted from a merchant ship.


"They were not lying." The advisor said with a quiet sigh.


"What? What do you mean?" Captain Jack asked in a puzzled voice.


"They were right about that Westerosi fleet being able to complete a round trip to Volantis in just under three weeks, and by now they should have had three such successful trips under their name, each one equally fast," The advisor explained calmly while taking a seat beside the Captain in front of the campfire, "The ships belong to a new company called Northern Wolf Shipping hailing from the North in Westeros and it is owned by a Westerosi and a Banker."


"What? How could that be possible?" The Captain asked in a bewildered tone, his drunkenness leaving him very quickly, "Do they have some new kind of ships with new designs that are very fast? How many sails do these ships have to be so quick..."


"That's the thing... the ships in the fleet are all the common kind. They have four cogs and three trade galleys, but there is nothing outwardly different about them and I would go even as far as to say that they are quite old and on the slower side."


"T-Then how the hell did they accomplish it." The Captain asked frustratedly, his head almost spinning from trying to come up with a way for it to be possible... the only thing he could think of was that there was some kind of magic involved.


"Well... there were mainly three rumours amongst the smallfolk at the port in Bravoos as to how this Northern shipping fleet can achieve this feat. The first one is that it is just a very elaborate scam... they say that the fleet is not really going all the way to Volantis, instead they are stopping at some place mid-way where they exchange Bravoosi goods for the ones from Volantis and Lys with some land merchant who is in the scheme and then they turn back...


"That doesn't seem very likely..." The Captain said with a frown


"I too believe it is the least probable one as it is too complicated and costly... and I can't see any kind of clear motivation as to why someone would do this..." he said while shaking his head, "Anyway the second rumour is an even more absurd one... the people think that the captain, a Westerosi named Jon, knows some kind of Dark Magic and that before every trip he sacrifices a hundred virgins to his heathen god to get a blessing of swift winds to help him at sea."


The Captain scoffed, "As if a hundred virgins would be enough for something like this..."


"But I believe the most probable one is the third one." The advisor continued while ignoring the Captain's comment, "Some people think that Captain Jon knows some kind of Ancient Westerosi navigation method in which one uses the position of the Moon and the stars in the night sky to navigate the open sea."


"I... have never heard of a method like that," The Captain said with a thoughtful look in his eyes before he shook his head, "But even if that were true and even if they were able to travel day and night... it is still too absurd to believe that they could complete the whole trip to Volantis in just under half the time."


"Hmm... Have you ever seen the position of Bravoos and the Stepstones on a single Map?" The Advisor abruptly asked out of nowhere.


"No... I don't think so."


"Well... A trip from Bravoos to Stepstones drawn on a map looks somewhat like this..." he said while drawing a crooked semi-circle on the sand using a nearby stick with Bravoos on one end and the Stepstones on the other, "Normally all the ships traverse the sea hugging the coast... which means that they travel something like this," he said while moving the stick along the circumference of the semi-circle, "But if someone was able to sail directly from one end to the other..." he used the stick to join the two ends in a straight line, "then they would be able to cut the trip drastically short."


The Captain scratched his fiercely trying to understand what the advisor was saying with weird shapes drawn on the sand but no matter how hard he tried he was coming up short. But it wasn't his fault as he had never hundreds of books like the advisor had... Now he knew why his father valued this man so much and why he sent him with him when he left...


"If what you say is true then it must mean that this Captain Jon is a very rich man..." Jack said with a greedy grin on his face, "I can't wait to get my hand on his ships..."


"You're thinking of this too simply my Captain," The Advisor said while shaking his head disappointedly, "It is no longer a matter of just gold anymore... If we are somehow able to catch this Jon alive and force that method of navigation out of him..." even the normally calm eyes of the advisor suddenly shook with excitement at the notion, "Then forget being rich, we could become completely invincible at the sea. No one will be able to compete with us anymore... Not Salladhor Saan, Not the Crow's eye and not even the mighty fleets of Bravoos and Volantis would be our match, We could become the next Sea Snake... maybe even better than him," he took a deep breath before turning to the Captain with a serious look, "It is a lot bigger than you think, Captain, so the best option right now is for you to tell your father about this and take his help—"


"No!" The Captain said as he abruptly stood up, "You will not call my father in... I will be the one to catch this Jon and present him to my father as a gift..."


"But—" The Advisor tried to say but stopped after seeing the rare stubborn gleam in the Captain's eye, "Fine! But it won't be easy catching this Westerosi fleet since detecting them at open sea is absurdly difficult and considering that they only stop at the big cities, attacking them while they are at the port would also be suicidal..."


"I know that it would be hard or almost impossible for the average pirate to catch them, " The Captain nodded, "But I have you... You've sailed beside my father for more than a decade... so I am sure you've got a plan or two on how to catch them."


"Maybe..." The advisor said with a thinking frown on his face before he suddenly turned to the uncle and nephew in the cage, "But first release them..."


"Ugh! Do we really have to release these fuckers?" The Captain said with a disgusted look on his face, "It's not like they are particularly good at anything besides eating..." And he felt a bit uncomfortable just releasing them after all the torture he had inflicted on them over the past few weeks.


"Yes, it's important to release them, since..." he said with a sinister smile, "I've got just the perfect job for them."


///

 

[ATP]

Poor dudes.But - they wonted to be pirates,so....


And,it is true that ships on Med sailed hugging coast,just like romans on Atlantic.Only phoenicians of old,their greek rivals and later vikings braved open seas.

 

[LazyWizard]

The city of Volantis was often called the First Daughter by the people in Essos and was the oldest and the proudest of the Nine Free Cities. Located at the mouth of the river Rhoyne on the Summer Sea(Sea south of Essos), it is the greatest, richest and most powerful of the City-States, only recently rivalled by Braavos.


Volantis was also the most populous city in Essos and with its humid and hot climate, it was hard even for the locals during the mid-day when the sun is at its hottest... not to mention people from a part of the World where it snows even in summer.


The Four Northerners, with swords at their waist, stood out like a sore thumb on the busy streets of Volantis. They were outside the gate of a luxurious mansion in the heart of the city, and even though all of them were wearing thin and airy clothes popular among the locals, it was starkly noticeable that they weren't local at all.


"Ugh! This heat is fucking killing me!!" Gill panted while pulling his collar as far away as he could. They were standing in the little shade they could find by the wall of the mansion beside the gate. Their exhausted and huddled bodies made a stark contrast with the straight backs of the unsullied guards standing guard at the gate a few meters away from them.


"You should be thankful boy that you're not old enough to have a beard like me," chuckled the oldest one of the four Northerners, "I swear it feels as a fucking bear is sitting on my face," he cursed while scratching his shaggy beard ferociously. The air was hot and heavy here and it almost felt like he was swimming in his sweat


"Then you should have listened to the boss when he told everyone on the ship to get a shave and haircut," teased the tallest one among them who was also the assistant of the Merchant Sam.


"Humph! I'd rather die of heatstroke than look a dandy like this boy," he scoffed while pointing towards Gill, "I don't how he survived in the North with a clean face like this... I bet even the brothel girls laugh their ass off when he enters the door," he chortled and all of three of them burst out laughing.


"Shut Up! You Brute" Gill protested but before they could tease the young boy any further, the man they were waiting for came out of the mansion door and walked towards them.


"We're done here," Merchant Sam said barely stopping in his stride, "Onto to the ships now,"


"Finally!!" the sailor's cum guards grumbled before surrounding the Merchant and his assistant and moving towards the ship in a group so as to fend off the pickpockets.


"We get the full payment, Sam?" The assistant asked as they slowly moved through the crowded streets filled to the brim with people going to and fro.


"We did," Sam grunted absentmindedly.


The hardest part for all of them on these trips was neither the long journey nor the pirates along the way...instead, it was walking through these crowded cities.


The slavery blatantly on show all around them was more than a simple culture shock for these Westerosi, from 10-year-old half-naked boys being made to carry sacks twice their weight on their backs to men and women, with haunted eyes, being sold naked on streets like vegetables. The despair in the eyes of the slaves and the apathy in the eyes of the slaver was alarming, it was as if they didn't even consider the slaves to be of the same species.


Slavery is something that has been outlawed in Westeros for more than a thousand years. It is one of the only things loathed by both the Faith of the Seven and the Old gods. While some people say that smallfolk in Westeros don't live much better than the slaves here... It's not the truth, after all, at least they have the freedom to get up and leave for better pastures whenever they want, unlike the shackled slaves with dead eyes all around them.


All the Northerners had grim and uncomfortable looks on their faces, but the most disturbed was Gill, the youngest one among them. It was his first trip to Volantis, so seeing all that was happening around him was too much for his young mind.


"Fucking slavers," spat the old one with the beard, while glaring at the fat pig who was almost breaking the backs of skinny old men carrying him on a palanquin.


"Stop it! Do you want to get us killed?" the assistant whispered anxiously.


"Why? It's not like these bastards can even understand us..."


"They may understand our tongue but they can surely understand your eyes—"


As the assistant was trying to calm them down something happened in a merchant shop in front of them. A woman slave, with a toddler swaddled behind her, was cleaning a vase when it accidentally dropped from her fingers breaking it into a thousand pieces.


"Ah—"


"You useless wretch!! I told you to be careful with that!" the Merchant shouted and almost immediately the nearby guard handed over a whip to his master who didn't hesitate to lash out at the woman not even caring if he hurt the babe. Thankfully the woman reacted instantly and took the babe from her back into her arms and took the lashes on her back.


"Fucking useless bitch!!" the merchant growled almost tearing the skin of the helplessly crying woman. None of the people walking by so much as stopped...


"Don't!" Sam said firmly without looking back and Gill, the only guard whose hand had instinctively gone towards his sword, froze, "Don't look! Don't hear! Don't Speak! Just Walk!" the Merchant said firmly, his eyes staring straight ahead.


Gill looked helplessly towards his senior who only shook his head silently. Gill gritted his teeth but ultimately didn't disobey Sam's order and walked away with the rest. He knew that the moment he pulled his sword out they would get surrounded by the guards and be killed.


As someone who had grown up an orphan in the streets of White Harbour he knew that life could be unfair but seeing a mother getting lashed while trying to save her son and not being able to do anything made him feel as if someone was twisting his insides.


"Now I understand why the boss never leaves the ship in these slaver cities," Gill murmured to himself after taking a deep breath and letting go of his sword, "I envy him... At least he doesn't have to watch all this..."


'He is always watching,' Sam wanted to retort but held it inside of him.


After all, Jon hadn't behaved any differently from the young boy when he had first entered a Slaver city and laid his eyes on the atrocities happening everywhere. In fact, Jon had reacted even more extremely than what the boy had been thinking of doing with his sword... after all, at least five cruel slavers ended up dying mysteriously because of him which almost caused a riot in the city centre.


If Sam hadn't known better and somehow managed to calm Jon down from his wrath and bring him back to the ship...who knows what would have happened?


Both of them had decided after that trip that it would be better for Jon to remain away from these cities for a while.


"Don't hold up now! Move!" The assistant said patting their shoulders, "We need to hurry back to the ships... Or they'll leave without us, Haha..." he said trying to uplift the gloomy mood.


Volantis is divided in the middle by the river Rhoyne into two parts Eastern Bank and Western Bank. The city spreads widely across the mouth of the Rhoyne and the hills and marshes on both sides of the river. And, at that moment, they were inside the Western Bank, where most of the 'newer' districts resided which was mostly filled with slaves, merchants and foreigners.


The Eastern Bank, also called Old Volantis, is where the so-called Old Blood resides protected by Black Walls made during the Valyrian era. The nobility there considered walking to be something that peasants did which meant that most of them only left their homes on either palanquins or used various kinds of animals like elephant rides.


Thankfully there were very few nobles on this side otherwise the traffic would have been unimaginable with elephants clogging the streets.


Even though they hurried along it still took them about two hours to reach the fishmonger square. The square was filled with a swathe of human bodies suffocating against each other as they rushed along and even though the streets widened as they approached the port, the amount of people increased proportionally with it.


It took them quite a while to cross the fish food market but finally, the buildings gave away and the view in front of them widened until they were at the dock which stretched on both sides as far as their eyes could see.


The Volantis harbour was large and very deep, in fact, they even have a saying that Braavos and all of its more than a hundred isles could sink in here and disappear. While it's not known if it was just the pride of the so-called "Old Blood" speaking here or if it's the truth, one thing no one can deny is that the port was absurdly huge.


But as massive as the port was, it was still filled to the brim with all kinds of ships, some from the nearby cities such as Lys, and Tyrosh, while others from the cities of Slaver's Bay. Finding a ship in this clustered port would be a nightmare even for a Captain who had docked the ship. But thankfully ships from Westeros rarely ever come this far so it didn't take them long to reach the place where their fleet is docked.


The ships seemed to have just been waiting for them to arrive as the moment the sailors onboard caught sight of them, they started pulling up the anchors to prepare for departure.


Merchant Sam made sure that everything was in order and that every sailor was on board and accounted for before giving the order to depart one after the other.


...


A few minutes after they left the port of Volantis, Sam found Jon at the deck watching the city as it disappeared on the horizon.


"We got all the payments from the Merchants belonging to Big Mario and the others and all the ships have also been filled with the local goods..." Sam slowly reported everything while Jon simply nodded.


Jon waited for Sam to finish with his report before asking, "How is Gill?"


"Sullen. But I relieved the boy of his duty and sent him to his room so he should be fine after a good night's rest." Sam replied with a sigh, "They all need to grow up and realise that Slavery is an undeniable truth of this side of the world which wouldn't change no matter how they feel about it," he finished firmly.


"The world will be a very grim place if young people easily accept these kinds of things from the get-go, Sam," Jon said with a wry smile.


"Slavery has been a part of these cities for more than just a few centuries, it is something that has long seeped into the very being of the people here..." Sam said while looking at the melancholy young boy meaningfully, "No Man, no matter how powerful, would be able to abolish it... So the sooner one accepts it the better."


Jon remained silent and thoughtful for a few minutes before he suddenly turned around his face with a thoughtful look "Hmm...Perhaps not a man, but maybe a woman could..."


Jon had begun searching for the traces of the Last Targyreans from the moment he had set foot in Essos but sadly he hadn't had much luck in that yet.


While he was someone who could find anyone's secret given enough time with the use of his abilities. He didn't quite possess the spread-out spy network to find two teenagers amongst the millions on this continent. Especially when they were being meticulously hidden with the help of the infamous whisperer. And he didn't want to make any straightforward enquiries and spook the spider so the only viable option he had at the moment was to wait for them to appear.


"Eh? H-How would a woman do anything about slavery?" Sam asked in a bewildered tone.


"With three very powerful friends," Jon said with a mysterious smile before going away towards his room leaving behind a very confused Merchant.


...


About five peaceful days had passed since they left the City of Volantis, and the previous day they also passed by the little paradise island of Lys, but they didn't make a stop at Lys on this trip (which was quite disappointing for all the young sailors) as their ships were already full with the goods.


The Sun had barely set about an hour ago and the all-consuming darkness had already claimed the night, but the sailors on the ships were still as busy as during the day, trying to work using the light of the stars and the flickering torches.


While the Northern fleet had a habit of always travelling during the night, the number of sailors awake was quite different, as usually, only a few people would remain awake to make sure that they were going on the right path while the rest would go to sleep.


"How long till we reach the Stepstones?" Merchant Sam asked Jon, a hint of dread in his voice.


They had already passed this treacherous part of the sea more than a few times in the last couple of months but no matter how many times he did it, it would still be anxiety-inducing passing through these island dens filled to the brim with bloodthirsty pirates. This was also why most of the sailors were awake and alert so that they could react instantly if anything happened.


"About two hours," Jon replied with a shrug.


He was standing in his favourite position on the deck looking out at the brilliant night sky with innumerable stars that were even more visible at the sea.


He broke out of his fascination when he saw the anxious expression of his merchant friend from the corner of his eye.


"Don't worry my friend, we'll easily pass through—" Jon abruptly stopped mid-sentence as his eyes widened and his head swirled towards the sky as if something had called him.


"W-What's wrong?" Sam asked uneasily, after seeing the frown on Jon's face.


Jon glared at the night sky for a few minutes before he took a deep breath, and turned towards the merchant with a serious expression and said, "Tell the ships to lower the Sails!"


"B-But—"


"Now!"


Sam swallowed his questions and nodded before running towards the first mate to follow the instructions. "Lower the Sails immediately! Slow down the ships!!". His shouts immediately sent the sailors on all the ships into a flurry of activities as they hurried to follow the orders.


"Quickly pull the ropes!!"


"Hurry"


"Tighten the rope!!"


A few minutes later the order had been followed through until the last ship had slowed down to crawl and only then did Sam come back to Jon.


"What happened? Why did we slow down?" Sam asked, his eyes frantically looking out into the darkness.


"Some rats are snooping around," Jon replied faintly. His eyes were closed to avoid any distractions and he was focused fully on looking through Frost's eyes. At that moment, the blue-feathered mystical bird was high up in the sky right above the archipelago of Stepstones, looking at small candle-like lights which were faintly visible intermittently between the pebble-like islands.


Jon lowered Frost's altitude and slowly zoomed in using her eyes while focusing on the little lights until he could finally make out what they were...


The islands of Stepstones were like massive steps situated haphazardly in the middle of the sea in such a way that a humongous giant would be able to move from Westeros to Essos using them as a bridge. Some islands were close enough that only several ships could pass between them at a time while others were far enough that the other islands wouldn't seem more than a dot.


Right now each of those passages between islands was being occupied by small boats with people in them. The bigger passages had more than five boats while the smallest one only had a single boat.


It was clear for Jon to see that these boats weren't acting as a barrier to stop ships from passing through instead they were there to scout and identify and to raise the... alarm.


It was obvious to see how exhausting and resource-consuming this method of scouting was and normally no pirate captain no matter how rich would partake in it, especially during the night, unless... unless they knew that someone was sneaking past them and they were lying in wait to catch them.


"It seems someone figured us out..." Jon sighed with a wry smile.


He had known for quite a while that some pirate scouts were snooping around his fleets every now and then when they docked at Braavos, but they were too numerous and belonged to too many different groups, for him to do anything so he had left them alone as he knew that their normal methods of ambushing wouldn't work on someone like him. But it seems like he had underestimated their intelligence and persistence as one or more pirate captains seem to have made him a target and are determined enough to set up such an elaborate trap.


"Jon! JON!" Sam's anxious shout pulled Jon out of his musings.


"Hmm?"


"W-What are going to do about these... rats? Do we turn back towards the Lys?"


'That's the question, isn't it...' Jon could think of two solutions to this problem in front of him.


One was to follow Sam's suggestion and go back to Lys to hide for a while but... the problem with that method was that he wasn't quite sure how long these scouts had snooping around here and how much longer could they hold on. He didn't quite adore the idea of fighting a blind battle of attrition with these unknown pirates. Plus this was only his third trip and it would hurt his bludgeoning reputation a lot if he didn't deliver in time.


The second solution... was simply to force his way through.


The boats didn't have any capability to battle so it would be very easy for Jon to just destroy them and pass through. However, the risk of an accident happening and alerting the pirates in the surrounding islands was quite high. He could almost imagine the scene of innumerable pirates swarming towards his trade ships which would never be able to outrun the sleek pirate ships and he would be left with no choice but to use his secret weapon... which he didn't want to.


The best choice for him is to...


"Blow out all the torches and order the ships to sail forward slowly in a single line... we'll sneak past them." Jon ordered, his eyes focusing on the smallest passage between the islands with only a single boat between them.


...


"Ugh... Why don't we just run away, Uncle Frank," the man whined while trying to not sit on one of the aching bruises all over his body but it was hard for him to find a comfortable position on the small boat which was already cramped with the two of them, the torch and the rations.


They were in the middle of the sea on a small fishing boat with just the flickering light of a small torch and the stars above them to keep away the darkness. Their bodies were still very thin and weak due to what they had suffered when they were put into the cage by their captain. And that bastard Jack hadn't given them much ration either so they weren't able to eat their fill since they didn't know how long they would have to be here for.


"And how do we do that, boy? Because if you forgot, we are right in the middle of Stepstones at the moment," Frank replied absentmindedly, his eyes alertly looking out into the darkness to search for the elusive fleet because of which he had suffered so horribly, "You may as well try your luck in swimming to Westeros from here instead of trying to sneak past Captain Jack in Stepstones."


"Fuck Captain Jack! And what the fuck are you looking so hard for, Uncle?" The man asked looking disgustingly at his uncle who was diligently following the advisor's order to scout, "You're such a fool, Uncle. It's not like that bastard Jack will ever reward us even if we find them. We always get in situations such as this exactly because you're such a stupid halfwit... I bet that bastard will chuck us right back into those cages as a reward," he said darkly.


"You're right, Boy, Captain Jack may not reward us but... the advisor just might."


"Huh, What? What are you talking about?"


"The advisor gave me a promise that night that if we succeded in finding that fleet t-then...we won't have to stay on Captain Jack's ships anymore," Frank said with an excited gleam in his eyes, "H-He said that he would give us the chance to join the pirate king Ravager's fleet."


"Ravager? The Captain's father?" The man replied, hurriedly sitting up to look at the ugly mug of his shitty uncle in the light of the torch. "I-Is that true?"


"It is," Frank said smugly as he saw respect in his nephew's eyes for the first time.


"I-Is that Ravager's fleet really as great as they say? Are they really that rich?"


"Of course they are." Frank replied in a tone of surety, "The Ravager is one of the three most powerful pirates in Stepstones, and the ships in his fleet are second only to Salladhor Saan. If we join his fleet... We can become as rich as the nobles in Volantis, we can loot merchants left and right all over the Essos, and fuck as many fair maidens as we want and their ships are filled with never-ending booze and..." he chattered fanatically as if describing a paradise.


"Truly?!!" The nephew asked, panting in excitement as he thought of those noble girls squirming under him, "Then can we—" Suddenly out of nowhere the excited gleam in the youngster's eyes was replaced by alarm and terror.


Frank looked on with confused eyes as his nephew slowly raised a shaky finger towards something behind with eyes widened in alarm, "B-Behind—"


But before the perplexed Frank could so much as turn his head a swaying tentacle cut through the air like lightning and grabbed Frank up before pulling him down into the sea, and all of this happened without the man letting out so much as a squeak.


The nephew started shivering and hyperventilating in terror at what he had just witnessed. His heart thumping like a horse, the man tried to resist the urge to scream to not alert the monster when the man's eyes suddenly widened as every single hair on his body stood up in alarm. Realisation dawned on his face as he slowly turned his head. There, swaying eerily behind him was a massive tower-like shadowy tentacle.


"AH—" That was the only sound the man could let out before he too was gobbled up by the tentacle and followed his uncle towards the bottom of the sea.


A few seconds later the swaying boat suddenly overturned, snuffing out the lone torch, letting the darkness reclaim the night.


A moment later, a fleet of ships started passing through the area one after another silently without anyone abroad letting a single sound out. They passed through this small stretch of pass between the islands slowly but surely, without alerting anyone to their presence and about half an hour later they were out.


"Set off. Lower the sails! Go Full throttle!" Jon shouted, his body sagging a little in relief at having passed the situation safely.


...


But what Jon didn't know was that he didn't, in fact, pass the situation safely, a lone sentry had been waiting on one of the two islands where they had just passed. And the moment the torch on the small boat had been snuffed out he had been alerted, and almost immediately the sentry ran like a rabbit straight for a nearby tent.


"Advisor! Advisor! Wake UP!!" he shouted anxiously while standing outside the tent.


"Hmm... What's wrong?" the man yawned while coming out of the tent.


"T-The Torch! The light just disappeared, just like you said it would."


The sleepy eyes of the advisor instantly opened up fully and took on a delighted gleam, "We got him!!"


///

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

The sleepy eyes of the advisor instantly opened up fully and took on a delighted gleam, "We got him!!"

Click to shrink...

*Sigh* Man, I do hate it when the plot comes in with a haymaker but the story does need to go on. I really want to know who this Advisor guy is and what's his business.

 

[ATP]

Well,i thought that Kraken is in other place.With her,they do not fear any fleet.

 

[LazyWizard]

'Huu...I am tired,' Jon sighed as he fell onto the small bed in his cabin like a piece of dead tree.


It had only been about an hour since they passed the Stepstones so it was still dark outside and while he wasn't sure, he knew that if he had a mechanical watch then it would show something around 3 or 4 a.m. It wouldn't amount much to a normal modern person to be staying awake this late but at the moment his head was pounding like a drum and his body craved sleep like nothing else.


Usually, he wouldn't be bothered by just this much with his robust mind, but various things had happened one after because of which he had to keep his mind alert, and connected to his wargs for far too long, which eventually made him more mentally exhausted than usual.


A few hours before they had even reached the pirate-infested islands, Jon had been on a long distance, warg call with his brother. Robb had been catching him up to everything that had been happening in Winterfell as well as in the North, as a whole, while he was away. Things like how Sansa was getting better at handling weapons, or how Arya and Bran bickered again over something or how Rickon was growing up.


Then after they were done with the mundane stuff, he talked about important things like how their road project was off to a good start and that their father was getting hammered daily by letters from his Lords, first congratulating him on his good decision and then demanding their region be the next to get the improved roads.


He also told him about how LittleTom had gathered something like a community with a lot of excellent Blacksmiths around him and was even in talks with Robb to set up a dedicated street for just them in Wintertown, just like the street of steel in Kings Landing.


So a few hours of straining his mind with that Warg call (It was something like a Zoom call, with him warging into Tiger, the Shadowcat so that he could talk with Robb, though it was mostly Robb talking) and the exhaustive hours staying alert and connected to Frost and Inky(his pet Kraken) during their escape from Stepstones meant that he was completely and utterly spent and wanted nothing more than to sleep as much as his body demanded.


...


..


.


But fate it seems had different plans for Jon...


"Jon! Jon!!" After just a few hours (which didn't feel like more than a few minutes) of sleep, he was abruptly jolted awake by an urgent knocking on the door to his small cabin. He looked disgustedly towards Gan and Tweety on the nearby table, and both of them simultaneously shrugged at his silent question.


Jon groaned as he slowly got up from his bed to open the door to find Merchant Sam standing there with his hair dishevelled and panic in his eyes.


"What happened?" he asked groggily, trying to keep irritation out of his voice. His cabin was the only room above the deck so he was able to see that it was almost morning and the sun was just about to rise behind Sam's back.


"Two ships were just sighted," Sam said grimly, "And I think they could be Pirates!!"


"What?" Jon asked with a sceptical look while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.


He had obviously told Frost and Inky to keep a lookout a few leagues ahead of the fleet, for anything outwardly and a quick peek into their minds instantly let him know that they weren't slacking and that both the seas and skies were completely calm and clear of any adversities. "Are you pulling my leg, Uncle Sam?" Jon said irritatedly while walking past the Merchant, "I saw nothing in front of us—"


"Not in Front!" The Merchant cut him off with a frown on his face, "They are behind us."


"Oh..." Jon froze in his steps as his mind slowly caught up to what the Merchant was implying and almost immediately he was jolted awake.


Jon didn't waste any more time and promptly turned around to circle the cabin towards the rear part of the ship. All of the ships in his fleet always sailed in a V-shaped formation with his ship in the lead, this meant that he was instantly able to see the two barely visible ships just at the edge of his vision.


Without taking his eye off Jon opened up his palm in front of Sam who immediately understood and handed him a far eye and without further ado he put it in front of his right eye.


Through its lenses, Jon was able to make out the similar shark flags on the two ships and what seemed to be the whole crew awake, and running up and about the ship, in addition, all of them were armed as if they were ready for battle at any moment.


"We only found out about them by chance," Sam supplied gloomily, while watching the ships, "Gill, who was part of the watch, was fiddling with my Far-eye when he accidentally caught sight of them and hurried to wake me up. I shudder to imagine what would have happened if he hadn't... And these pirates sure are lucky that they just happened to come across a ripe target like ours at the open sea—"


"I don't think it was luck..." Jon sighed while putting away the Far-eye. He had sent a signal to Frost to come back as fast as she could so that he could get a better understanding of these pirates and their strength. The possibility of these pirates just happening across them was too little, which could only mean that "...they've been onto us for a while now... probably since last night," Jon admitted in an annoyed tone.


He had known about this obvious loophole in his scouting net, but the possibility of someone coming to attack his fleet from behind them in the open sea had always been so minuscule that he ignored it as inconsequential, but now... it seemed the possibility wasn't so minuscule after all.


Sam was having a hard time wrapping his head around with what Jon was implying "B-But that's impossible. How could they find us out of nowhere—"


"They didn't "find us", per se," Jon said slowly as he started to get the whole picture of the situation he was in, "They had been waiting for us..." Jon said with a tinge of comprehension in his voice as it dawned on him that he had been played by a pirate, which definitely wasn't a good feeling.


It was so obvious now that he looked at it in hindsight... The lone ship waiting between the small islands wasn't a weak link, instead, it had been a trap all along, a trap laid down to force them to come into the open... It was an intricate trap made just for them.


"What? What do you mean?"


"I'll explain to you later," Jon said while massaging his forehead, "Right now you just need to know that they are pirates and that they've been following us since we passed through Stepstones—"


"But if that were the case they could have easily caught up to us with their speed by now," Sam asked while scratching his head, "It would been a lot easier for them if they ambushed just before sunrise while we were all asleep."


"That is indeed strange, " Jon said with a frown on his face, "It's as if... they are not here to attack us but to keep an eye on us so we don't disappear or run away..."


Sam was looking at Jon murmuring to himself when he suddenly remembered something, "Er... Jon, I didn't mention it before because I thought that he made a mistake because of darkness... but well, when Gill came to wake me up, he reported sighting not two but three ships—"


"What?! Three Ships—" Jon asked loudly as his eyes suddenly widened and he realised what that meant. Thankfully Frost arrived above the ships at exactly that moment so Jon didn't waste a single moment and immediately had her fly up high above the clouds.


Only a few seconds later, Jon caught sight of the third ship in the distance through Frost's eyes, it was frantically rowing towards the nearby coast... A coast that was almost deserted except for the five very conspicuous pirate ships lying in wait there. With the third ship's speed, it would only take less than half a for it to reach the ships at the coast.


By now it was quite obvious that the third ship was a messenger sent to bring the rest of their ships for a simultaneous attack. If it all went according to their plan, it would take them less than two hours to completely surround Jon's fleet on all sides without leaving them anywhere to run.


Jon conceded that he had underestimated these pirates... underestimated them a lot. The amount of elaborate planning involved in not only finding out that he was sneaking past them during the night but then going on to lay out this trap for him... it involved a lot of calculation that he frankly never even thought a pirate was capable of.


"J-Jon! Look, the ships are moving," Sam suddenly exclaimed while pointing towards the pirate ships. And just like he said the ships that had been quietly following them from a distance so far suddenly accelerated but instead of approaching them, they circled them on the right side. One quickly overtook them while the other stayed some distance behind their fleet... those two ships had now blocked the fleet's only escape route away from the coast.


"It seems they too have a far-eye with them..." Jon said, his eyes twitching at the quickness with which the ships had reacted to being discovered.


Jon took a deep breath to let out the annoyance he was feeling at the situation he found himself in. After all, he had never fallen into a trap like this... at least not since he became a warg and Frost started to fly.


'Ah! What to do with them...' Jon thought while rubbing his eyes. He was more irritated than scared of these pirates... it's just that his lack of sleep made him a bit short-tempered. He wanted nothing more than just to feed all of them to Inky, his pet Kraken. And for a glorious few moments, he was almost tempted to follow through with that impulse of his... before the damned rational part of his mind spoke up and stopped him.


After all, this wasn't beyond the wall and these people weren't Wildlings isolated from the rest of the world. If Inky made an appearance here then not only would he have to be afraid of accidentally letting some of the pirates escape, but he would also have to make sure that the sailors in his fleet kept quiet about it. It would be over for him if even one of them was stupid enough to start spreading tales about seeing a ship demolishing Kraken.


Here in Essos, people weren't as sceptical of magic, they knew that magic was a real force in the world. He could almost imagine the massive target the rumours would paint on his back and the type of people it would attract. He was sure that the likes of Euron Grejoy, the Warlocks from House of Undying, and the Preist and Priestess of R'hllor, would be ecstatic to get a hand on him and dissect him.


Jon knew better than anyone that this wasn't the North and that he wasn't quite invincible here so he had to be careful to not bite more than he could chew.


Jon contemplated the situation for a few more minutes before he finally turned to face the anxious Merchant, "Uncle Sam, I want you to go wake up every sailor on the four longships and tell them to prepare their bows for a battle. The Galleons will stay on their course at their current speed while the four longships will split up to simultaneously attack the two pirate ships,"


"But... Would that really work?" Sam asked with a hesitant look, "I mean, I know that we outnumber them... but from the looks of it, these pirates don't seem to have any intention of tangling with us when they could easily just run away from us with their lighter ships."


"Oh! Don't worry," Jon smirked while thinking about the new ability of Frost that he had recently discovered, "I'll make sure that they don't run away."


...


"Ah! When the hell is he goin' to come..." Captain Jack sighed listlessly. He was once again on a deserted coast, lying on a hammock in the shade of some trees to hide from the sun, doing nothing but... waiting.


All around him, pirates were scattered here and there doing something to pass the time, some were in groups while others sat alone, some were drinking and laughing at crude jokes, while others were letting off some heat with barehanded wrestling.


They had already been here for more than a week now, and Jack felt his patience running thin with each passing day, if that Advisor didn't arrive soon enough, he would have to start killing something to stave off his boredom.


"Ah! I should have just ignored that Advisor and just bought along a few slave girls to screw around," the Captain morosely said to himself, "Hmm... perhaps there's a village nearby that I could raid..." he was desperate enough that he wouldn't even mind plain and ugly village girls at that moment, and maybe their screams and squeals would make it a bit interesting for him.


Just when the pirate captain was entertaining some dangerous thoughts, one of the lookouts abruptly stood up and pointed towards the sea while screaming at the top of his lungs, "A-A Ship! I see a SHIP!!"


The Captain almost fell down in his haste to get up from the hammock, thankfully no one was paying him any attention as they were all gawking excitedly towards the approaching familiar ship with anticipation.


"Are they finally here?"


"I was so bored waiting for them, now we can finally kill people and loot some gold."


"Fuck! I hope they have some girls onboard, Hehe,"


The pirates were leisurely talking with each other when the Captain abruptly came from behind and harshly slapped the nearest one, "What the fuck are you looking at?! Go get the ships ready, you Fuckers! If I find even one ship not ready to sail by the time that ship gets here, I'll roast all of you alive," he barked angrily, lighting a fire on every pirate's ass as they began running towards the ship to get them ready.


Thanks to Jack the scared pirates were very efficient and the five pirate ships simultaneously set off a few minutes later, with Jack joining the Advisor on the lead ship.


The advisor was standing on the deck with an hourglass in his hand. He was commanding the first mate and was controlling the speed and direction of their ships so that they stay on course towards the Northern fleet when the Captain came up to him with a giddy look on his face.


"Tell me, Did it work just like you thought?" Jack asked him excitedly, "Did they really fall for it?"


"Like a fish to a hook," The advisor replied smugly while turning around, "Sadly, though Frank and his nephew didn't survive the night..."


"Yes! Yes! It is very unfortunate," Jack said with a smirk, "But I am sure they would have been very happy that their sacrifice was useful, Haha," he burst out laughing at his own joke before taking a look at the open ocean with a gleam of excitement in his eyes, "Argh! I can't wait to get my hands on those bastards... I had to wait for so many days because of them, I won't feel alive unless I torture a few of them to death."


The Advisor skilfully ignored the perverted smile on Jack's smile while commanding the first mate to pick up some speed.


About half an hour later they were finally able to catch a glimpse of ships on the horizon but the condition in which they found the ships was completely different from what they had accepted and it left all of the pirates onboard stunned.


"W-What the fuck is going on out there?" Jack swore with a bewildered look on his face. He was on the deck looking through his far-eye towards the distance. His ships, which were just supposed to keep a lookout for the trade fleet, were surrounded by the longships of the Northern fleet and were fighting a fierce battle.


No, it shouldn't even be called a fight but a massacre, the four longships had surrounded the two pirates in their middle and then using their height advantage the archers on the Northern Fleet were just leisurely shooting arrows at the helpless pirates who had nowhere to hide. What was even more confusing was that the pirates didn't even seem to be trying to get away as if all of them had forgotten that they were on ships and that they could easily sail away from just two ships.


"Why the fuck are they not running away?!" Jack growled in a frustrated voice while looking at the fight that was almost entering its last leg and soon enough there wouldn't be any survivors left on the ships.


"Let me take a look," The Advisor said with a frown while unceremoniously snatching the Far-eye from Jack. He looked through it towards the ships, that were still about an hour away from them. It only took him a few seconds to get a complete grasp of the situation and when he found out the reason behind their ships becoming sitting ducks it even made him gasp.


"What? What did you see?" Jack asked urgently, "Why are they staying in one place to get massacred like that?"


"T-Their sails!" The advisor said with a flustered tone, "There are about a dozen holes in the sails on both ships...but..." he was confused and disoriented, and was completely out of his depth here and his mind was unable to come up with a way to make sense of this unfathomable scene in front of him.


"What? Are you fucking kidding me? How the fuck did they get holes in their—" The Captain's furious rant was abruptly cut short by a loud and piercing screech from above them. Every single pirate on board suddenly looked up to find a massive flock of seagulls flying towards their ships in a bizarre formation.


And then suddenly out of nowhere every single one of those birds dived straight down making every one of them duck but none of them were hurt as the target of the birds wasn't the humans but the sails of the ships. Those Seagulls ran through the cloth with their sharp pointed beaks and easily managed to tear through them as if they were made of paper.


"I-I think I know what happened to those ships now," The advisor suddenly spoke in a stunned voice, as their ships were left completely useless in the middle of the ocean.


"Hah...Huu..." Jack started breathing deeply as he slowly got out of the stupor he had been after seeing what just happened. His face became ever so red as anger overcame his speechlessness and he suddenly started screaming, "Argh! What the fuck are you standing around for?!! Kill those FUCKING BIRDS!!"


"A-AYE!!!"


"Shoot those Birds!!"


"Grab the bows,"


"Ah! Sorry, I forgot to bring arrows,"


The pirates scrambled to follow their captain's order but it was all futile as birds were done with their job and were already flying away out of the range of the archers, leaving behind nothing but torn sails and their poop.


The Captain could do nothing but stare at them impotently as they flew away unharmed.


"Looks like they are finished..." The Advisor suddenly said faintly, and Jack turned around to look at what he was talking about. The Northern longships were slowly moving away from the pirate ships, which seemed to be completely devoid of life, towards the distant trade fleets.


"Bring out the Oars!! We can still catch them," Jack shouted, desperately hanging on to straws. But the advisor knew that they were beaten, the wind was fast and in the ship's favour so they couldn't catch up to them even if their ships were lighter. But he didn't interrupt and let the Captain try anyway, knowing that it would help him calm down.


The Advisor shook his head and once again picked up the Far-eye, to look at the longships moving away. He slowly looked at every individual sailor onboard the Northern longships and before long he found his target.


It was a charismatic young man with an intricate longbow on his back, he was standing with a straight back giving orders to a somewhat fat older man nearby.


'The Seagulls couldn't have been just a coincidence,' he thought while observing the young man, 'There must have been some kind of a trick involved in—Argh" the Advisor suddenly stumbled backwards as if stung while taking the Far-eye off his face. He started breathing heavily and had a stunned look on his face as if he had seen a ghost.


"What's wrong with you?" Jack asked with a peculiar look on his face as he looked at the usually unflustered man looking so shaken.


"N-Nothing!" The advisor replied while shaking his head, 'He couldn't have seen me... it's impossible. It must have been a trick of the eye,' he thought while involuntarily gulping. He could still vividly remember how that man had abruptly turned his head to look straight towards him as if he could... see him, all the way from his ship, as if he knew that he was being watched...which was impossible.


"Shit!! They are getting away!!" The Captain groaned as the fleets easily shook them off and disappeared on the horizon, "Argh! Fuck!" he cursed as kicked a nearby bucket in frustration, at once again letting them slip from his fingers.


"Captain, I think it's time for us to bring your father in..." The advisor said while gently putting his hand on Jack's shoulder but the man just angrily shook it off and left with an ugly sneer on his face.


The advisor didn't mind the rudeness as he knew that it would only take torturing some girls for the Captain's mood to improve. Instead, he stared into the distance where the ships had disappeared, "You managed to get away this time, but let's see if you're quite as lucky the next time..."


But what the man didn't know was that his flustered expressions and his monologue had all been heard by a sneaky little colourful silently flying just above his head.


///

 

[TheCuriousGuest]

With the third ship's speed, it would only take less than half a for it to reach the ships at the coast.

But what the man didn't know was that his flustered expressions and his monologue had all been heard by a sneaky little colourful silently flying just above his head.
///

Click to shrink...

Spotted these 2 parts missing a few words.

First is when Jon's checking the ships following them and the second is the last sentence.

Otherwise a good chapter, will be interesting if that pirate captains father has a counter to Warging given the chance of running into other magic users in the past, whether as contacts or victims.

 

[ATP]

Well,Merchants do not knew about 5 ships waiting for them on islands.If Kraken get them all near shore,then nobody would suspect MC.
Who would be suspected now becouse of seagulls destroing sails of pirates.

 

[Unique]

How is he navigating again?

 

[LazyWizard]

"So you don't want to give up, huh," Jon murmured to himself with an amused look on his face. He shook his head while taking his eyes off the pirate after giving him a small scare. Jon wouldn't even call him a pirate as he looked too... refined to be one, and almost seemed more like a scholar.

Anyway coming back to this pesky problem at hand, Jon wasn't quite sure how to handle this bunch.

Now, if he were really determined to, it wouldn't be that hard for him to straight up annihilate them, even without using Inky. There were other more convenient methods such as poison available to him.

Plus there was that cool new ability that he recently realised Frost possessed which allowed her to give simple orders to birds below her in the food chain (which was most of them) otherwise he wouldn't have been able to warg into so many seagulls at once because, after all, he was not the three-eyed raven.

But he was unsure if just killing all of them was really the most ideal solution to this problem. Not because of any moral dilemma, of course, since he knew that these pirates were almost all pieces of shit who wouldn't hesitate to sell him off to the next slaver.

No, it was because these pirates were like mosquitos, no matter how many of them you kill, it wouldn't stop them. Same as mosquitos, a few dead bodies of their brethren wouldn't scare off the next one from trying for himself.

They were a bunch who already lived on the edge every day, with their lives constantly on the line. They were the kind of people who would eagerly jump into all kinds of dangerous messy situations, as long as there was even a small chance for profits to be made without thinking too much.

So, no, mysterious deaths weren't the way to go when dealing with them. If you want to deal with them permanently, then you need to make a show of force; you need to show them that death isn't just a possibility but a surety if they ever entangled with you. You need to not only brutally destroy them at their strongest head-on but to also leave a few of them alive to serve as witnesses and to spread tales of your infamy.

This was also the method used by the Braavossi fleet.

During their first few trips, they went out of their way to ruthlessly destroy any pirate ships that dared to obstruct their path. This meant that after about a dozen such trips, no pirate ever dared to face them, at least not head-on, which made their future trips a lot cheaper and more peaceful.

Of course, there were still some foolish adventurous ones who would follow their warships from afar but they only ever dared to try to attack them on the fringes or take advantage of any merchant ships who got left behind and accidentally got out of the warships' protection.

So Jon knew that he needed to do something similar to have hassle-free trips in the future.

To achieve that he would need a well-coordinated force of warriors who would be able to systematically follow his orders. Just like the one he had back in Bear Islands, if he didn't have that batch of battle-hardened warriors at his beck and call, he would never have been able to achieve as much as he did, at least not without losing too many people.

He was too lucky that the population of Bear Island was so battle-oriented. While they couldn't be called the best fighters in the realm, he would confidently call them the best average fighters he had ever seen only after, maybe the Dothraki.

The constant Wildling raids as well as the harassment from the Ironborn ships meant that every single man and woman alive on that Island had a massive wreath of experience in life-and-death battles, which made them efficient enough that Jon didn't have much of a problem creating a quick counter force after picking them up from their homes.

'Sadly the same couldn't be said of these sailors from White Harbour,' Jon thought as he looked at all the men aboard his fleet diligently going about their work. Even though Jon could easily take the average person from White Harbour and make them a good sailor with a few years of training. He couldn't accomplish the same with their fighting skills, as that was something which needed a life filled with strife and needed you constantly survive in a brutal environment to make you sufficiently competent.

So Jon couldn't depend on these sailors to fight his battles here in Essos, he would need to get people from somewhere else. Unfortunately, there was no such convenient force nearby with well-organised veteran fighters who would follow his orders—

'Wait! Maybe there is...' Jon's eyes suddenly lit up as a brilliant idea appeared in his mind.

There was indeed one such force nearby, that exactly matched his requirements. They were all battle-hardened with skills forged from constant life and death battles, they would follow his orders and most importantly, he wouldn't have to go too far to reach them. And the name of one such force, which not only matched his demands but was also somewhat related to him, kept jumping in his mind, as if saying, 'Pick Me' 'Pick Me', and Jon was too tempted to deny the voice in his head.

"It seems I need to go on a trip..." Jon said with an excited smile on his face as his brain went over all the possible difficulties he could encounter on the journey as well as all the things he would need to do to achieve his objective.

...

The days were very calm after their close brush with the pirates and a few days later they docked into the always busy port of Braavos. It was noon and their fleet was welcomed with quite a lot of fanfare.

All kinds of small and big merchants were either present at the port or quickly arrived after hearing the news; if the merchants themselves couldn't be there, they didn't forget to send a proxy in their place. Then they all looked towards the Northern fleet with unhidden anticipation in their eyes as the sailors started putting down planks to start disembarking the goods.

No more than an hour later, everything had been unloaded from the ship and by now the anticipation in the eyes of the onlookers had turned to abject jealousy.

They had seen with their own eyes as every single merchant who had been waiting had gleefully gotten hold of all goods on their list (the list that their partners sent from Volantis via raven) with not a single thing missing. This Northern fleet had fully delivered on their promise of a hundred-percent safety guarantee.

Ugly envy reared its head inside the onlookers, all of them felt their insides twist with agony at imagining the profits those Merchants, whom they had made fun of for being reckless in believing the Northern Fleet, were soon going to make after selling these popular expensive goods.

By now even the most sceptical of them had started to believe in the Northern fleet's ability and knew that it was no scam. After all, once could be up to chance, twice could be a coincidence, but when something happens thrice... well there's a reason people say the third time's a charm.

While most of them were dismayed at having missed this wonderful chance to make some money, the quick thinkers among the onlookers were already sneaking away. And it didn't take too long before even the stupidest of merchants started to realise what was happening and began to make a run for it... but not towards the ships, no, they were all racing towards the shops at the port, more particularly the flashiest one in the market.

Their merchant's senses were tingling that the shipping company was surely going to experience a boom in their business, in the near future. After this third successful trip, they knew better than anyone else that there would definitely be a massive price jump for the tickets. So they wanted to be the first ones to book the next ship before the others caught up and the prices increased.

But the scene which greeted them at the shop was completely different from their imagination. Instead of a shop happily selling them the tickets for their next journey they were greeted with the closed door of the shop with a sign hanging outside that said, "No Tickets"

"I-I apologize, everyone for the inconvenience, but there will not be another trip for a few weeks." a young boy was saying to the disgruntled group gathered outside. He was a little chubby in the face, but the burgeoning muscles in his arms as well as the axe on his back let them know that he wasn't a complete pushover, "So please, leave everyone. We will post a notice a week before our next trip so you don't have to worry about missing out—"

"You can't do that!!"

"We are your customers!! How can you just turn us away!!"

"Don't tell me!! Did you make too many losses and that there's actually not going to be another trip after all,"

"Is this true? Are you broke?!!"

The people were slowly starting to get agitated after hearing the disappointing news and as they say, the more people in a horde the less their intelligence and Sam was having quite a hard time managing them, "N-No, we didn't make any losses. We just need some time to do some adjustments to our ships—"

"Then just give us the damn tickets!!"

"I won't believe you unless you book me a place on your next trip!!"

"Yes! We don't care when the next one, you just need to give us some!!"

Sam was sweating more than he did during his exercises, as he tried to come up with a way to handle the aggressive merchants but it was slowly becoming too much for the lad. 'Damn it, when are you going to be here, Jon, please hurry, they are going to eat me alive,' he sent a desperate plea in his thoughts hoping that his friend would catch it and hurry up before he end up taking a beating.

...

What poor Sam didn't know was that his friend, Jon was somewhat dealing with the same thing that he was.

He too had been surrounded by a group of eager Merchants who after getting hold of their goods wanted to quickly jump on the bandwagon and buy a slot for the next trip. And safe to say they were also very disappointed after learning that there would not be another trip for a while.

Thankfully, Jon wasn't the least bit intimidated by the crowd and easily handled the merchants with a calm but firm attitude, without giving them any opening to be aggressive. Still, it was a while before he was able to extricate himself from their midst after refusing all their invitation and requests.

By the time he got back to his ships, they were almost empty, both of the goods as well as the sailors. Only a few men remained abroad and could be seen here and there, either guarding or doing an inspection of the ships to see if they needed any repairs, the rest seemed to have taken off.

Jon took a quick look around and found his target sitting at his usual table in the shade of ships going over some records. Merchant Sam immediately looked up after hearing Jon's footsteps and asked him with a smile on his face, "They finally let you go, eh?"

"They didn't want to but I told them that I need to use the privy urgently..." Jon replied with a mischievous smile, "That cleared them up real fast,"

"Haha, That would definitely work. I'll remember that the next time I am in a pinch" Sam said as he burst out laughing.

"Our sailors also ran away pretty quickly, huh?" Jon asked while waving his hand towards the almost empty ships. He didn't need to think too much to know where all the men had run off to after staying pent up amongst each other on a ship for so many weeks.

"Ah! Don't remind me," Sam said in a grumpy tone, "Once I told them that they'll get the day off after we finish unloading, those scoundrels worked faster than a horse. I've never seen a ship clear up that fast—Ah! That reminds me," he suddenly exclaimed while bending down to take a very heavy red coloured pouch about the size size of a head from the table, "This is all the profit we made from this trip," he said while handing over the bag to Jon, "I took the liberty of converting them all to gold to make it easier,"

"Thank you for doing that. This is definitely lighter than the last time," Jon said while putting the bag in a satchel at his side, "It'll be a lot easier going to the bank now,"

"You're going straight to the bank then," Sam asked and Jon just nodded his head, "A lot of gold must have accumulated in your account by now, what with all the profits we made, not to mention the hefty sum Lord Manderly sent for that Starkhorse business," he mused before shaking his head with a puzzled expression, "I just can't wrap my head around the thought of how you could be so unbothered with leaving that much gold in the hands of this foreign bank, no matter how famous they are."

"Well it's not good to keep this kind of gold in your hands, is it?" Jon replied with a shrug, "Besides the one thing these bankers can be trusted with is to keep your gold secure. They know very well that trust is the only thing that keeps a bank in business, and besides a lot of this gold is going to disappear soon,"

"Huh? Why?"

"For buying new ships for our fleet, of course," Jon said in a matter-of-fact tone, "With the demand we are seeing now and what we will see in the future, we need to add as many ships as we can to the fleet. Speaking of which, on your trip to White Harbour, don't bother bringing any of the local goods from there, since there are already a lot of ships sailing between White Harbor and Braavos, instead try to stuff as many sailors as are willing to come here, because I don't think we would have the leisure for a trip to home like this in the future,"

"Oh! Don't worry about it," Sam said patting his chest confidently, "My son assured me that he was training the boys with all his might, day and night. He boasted so many times in his letter that he's got enough recruits now that he's worried we won't be able to find work for all of them."

"Tell him not to worry about that. With the way things are going, I don't think we'll be out of work for quite a while, especially with all the plans I have for our fleet," He said with a mysterious smile before he suddenly remembered about the warg call with Robb, "And before I forget, you need to pick up two very 'special' people from White harbour. Robb would have already sent them there by the time you reach so you should easily find them at the castle."

"Special people, huh..." Sam said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. After all, I can't handle all the workload by myself, especially when the number of ships increases, so I thought why not call in some helpers, and Robb had just the people in mind for the task ready." Jon said with a shrug before his eyes once again went towards the ships, "Do you think you can fit all the goods we have accumulated in the warehouse onto the ships or would we need to make another trip?"

"We have enough space. It should suffice."

During his trips to various Essosi cities, outside of his usual shipping business, he had pilfered little by little all the valuable things he felt would be in great demand back home in Westeros. They were all brought with his own money so he couldn't take too much at once but by now a lot of it had accumulated in the warehouse and it was finally time for him to cash it in.

"We may need to make more of such trips if this one is profitable enough," Jon said with a contemplative look on his face.

It was a well-known story, that the legendary Sea Snake got wealthier than the Lannister during his time all due to the Nine Great Voyages he made from Westeros to Essos, to places as far as Qarth, Yi-Ti, and Leng. That man had garnered a great amount of wealth from Essos and Jon wanted to see if he could do the same in the future.

"Are you jesting with me? If we manage to sell all the goods you've got stacked away in that warehouse, it would be more profitable than all three of our previous trips combined." Sam said wildly gesticulating in excitement before he abruptly stopped and started scratching his head, "Ah! But it would take too long if we need to find the best people to sell the goods..."

"Oh! You don't need to worry about it. I already sent Lord Manderly a letter and he assured me that he'll make the best use of his ability and call all his connections to get me the best price he can." Jon had also told the man to send all the earnings from the deal to Winterfell, as he knew that Lord Stark could use it for all the infrastructure work going over there. "Anyway, when do you plan to sail?"

"Tomorrow."

"What? Tomorrow?" Jon asked with a frown on his face, "But don't you want to take a break for a few days rest? I am sure the boys must have been sick of the sea by now because I know I am! I was delighted that I didn't have to look at anything blue for a while."

"In fact, it's the boys themselves who insisted on not taking a break and leaving the very next day," Merchant Sam said with a helpless smile, "It seems they miss their home and can't wait to get back to the North and to be honest—And I never thought I would say this—even I have started to miss the cold," he finished with a sheepish smile.

"Ah! You're not the only one," Jon said with a little envy in his tone, "There's nothing quite like the Essosi heat to make you long for a little summer snow,"

"That's true, though I've seen that the heat doesn't bother you as much as it does us normal folks," Sam asked with a curious look on his face. It's not just once or twice that he had seen everyone else sweating buckets under the Sun while Jon leisurely roamed the streets just like a local.

"Perhaps it's in my blood," Jon shrugged with a mysterious smile before he said his farewell and left towards the bank.

...

It was almost evening by the time Jon was finished with his business with the bank and was able to find the time to visit the store.

There was nothing outwardly different about the store other than a lot of footsteps on the outside and the fact that the small closed sign outside was a little lopsided. He opened the door to find Sam buried in his books sitting at the counter as usual, though he looked a little dishevelled for some reason.

The former fat boy flinched at the sound of the door opening and slowly looked up with dread on his face, but the fear immediately cleared up from his expression when he saw who had entered.

"JON!! You're finally here!" He exclaimed with a delighted look on his face but before Jon could ask anything, the happy look on the boy's crumbled like a piece of paper and he looked a second away from crying, "Aah!! W-Where were you Jon? I-I thought I was about to die!!"

"Huh? What's wrong? You look as if you've been..." 'Harrassed' Jon wanted to say but didn't, to spare the already very low self-esteem of the boy, "Calm down first. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened?"

"I-I did just like you told me to in the l-letter. I told the merchants that we would not be able to book any ships for a while," Sam started after taking a few breaths, "B-But they would not take no for an answer no matter what I said... A-And there were so many of them, and I-I was very scared that they were going to beat me up..."

"But didn't you explain to them about the upcoming trip that the Iron Bank is sponsoring..." Jon asked with a puzzled look on his face. He hadn't decided to just halt their trips out of the blue, in fact, even if he didn't have to be somewhere else, he would have still stopped the trips for a while because it was time for the Braavos's usual trip with its mighty warships, and Jon didn't want to 'accidentally' cut into the banker's profits...at least not yet.

"I-I did," Sam nodded hastily, his eyes wide and teary, "But they said that they liked ours a lot better... And they were really forcefully, said that they wouldn't leave unless I booked their tickets and they kept shoving their gold pouches into my face, so I..."

"So you..."

"You have to believe me, Jon. They were very scary... I had no choice," Sam explained in a wronged tone, almost on the verge of crying, "I-I gave them the tickets... I am really sorry, Jon, I tried..."

"It's fine," Jon said with a sigh while patting the boy's shoulder.

He knew that there was nothing the boy could do about it... after all, he was still almost a child. A child who had been bullied all his childhood and that too by his own father. Even though he looked completely different now with all his muscles and the sudden jump in height, he was still a scared little boy inside, "What's happened has happened, so there's nothing we can do about it, besides you told them that the next trip wouldn't be for a while, Right?"

"I did. But they didn't care but none of them cared how long it took us... in fact, some of them even left twice and thrice the amount of gold to book trips even more in the future..."

"It's fine," Jon said with a sigh, before he looked at the tomes on the counter and tried to change the subject, "Are you finished with the books here?"

The tomes Jon was pointing towards looked simple enough just a bit worn out and well-read. But there was something out of the ordinary about them; all of the tomes had a seal of Citadel on them. But anyone with even an iota of knowledge about Citadel would know how paranoid they were about keeping their knowledge to themselves and how their books could never leave the Citadel library. Which either implied that they were fake or that they were all... stolen.

"Y-Yes, I am already done with this batch, " Sam's eyes immediately lit up at the mention of the books. "They were really great Jon. I learned so much about all kinds of herbs and potions used in healing and I've read all of them front to back now and I remember almost everything about them," he bragged shyly and the dark circles under his eyes were proof enough for Jon to believe him, "You can send them back now, and if it's alright with you, can you get me some of the more advanced books. I think I am good with the basics now and a-am ready for more complicated ones now..."

"I am sorry, Sam," Jon said somewhat apologetically to the bright-eyed boy, "But you may not be able to read any new books for a while..."

"Why? Is Frost busy somewhere else? Because I can wait—"

"No, it's not that. It's because we are going on a trip..."

"A trip? Where?"

"To the Disputed Lands."

"WHAT?!!"

 

[fictionreader007]

Is he gonna hire Golden Company ?

 

[Psyckosama]

Is he gonna hire Golden Company ?

Click to shrink...

Company of the Rose.

 

[ATP]

Company of the Rose.

Click to shrink...

Indeed,Golden Company is too costly,and still Blackfyre tool.When Company of the Rose are good northmen.Strange,that GRRM never used them.Probably forget,that he created them.

 

[LazyWizard]

The summer was at its peak and the citizens of Kings Landing felt that no one could feel the heat more than them (Humph! Who cares about Dorne...). The scorching light of the sun shimmered off the streets to create a hazy atmosphere and made the already unbreathable shitty air even more noxious, to the point of being life-threatening. But the small folk in this city weren't bothered by it like the visitors were, (probably because most of their noses had gotten numb by now) so they went about their jobs as usual.

When the Sun reached its utmost peak exactly above the city, all the people in the city stopped working simultaneously. The Merchants, the inn-keepers, the tailors, the blacksmiths, the cobblers, everyone halted whatever they were doing and opened up their lunches to eat. It was as if the city came to a halt and fell silent for just a few moments to let it breathe in peace.

After all, most of the people here woke up well before sunrise and had been working continuously till now and it was finally time for them to take a little rest, eat, and gossip. It was a small bright spot in the otherwise gloomy lives of small folks.

But high up above on the other side of the city in the Red Keep, it was a completely different sight. The council chamber where the Kingdom's biggest decisions were supposed to be taken was still devoid of its occupants. Of course, the nobles-the higher-ups couldn't be expected to wake up this early, because, unlike insignificant small folk, they needed their beauty sleep.

And it was only at noon, that the members of the small council began to filter in slowly. The first to enter was the Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn, who didn't quite look as old as he was, and except for fewer teeth and fewer hair, he was almost as spry as a... middle-aged man.

Anyway, the man came into the empty room and didn't waste a single moment and immediately started shuffling and arranging the papers in order of their agenda for the day's meeting.

Soon after Hand came the brother of the King and the Master of his ships, Lord Stannis, who while not being a regular member of the Small council, because of his periodic trips to Dragonstone, still performed his related duties quite diligently. The hollow-cheeked man sent a respectful nod towards the older man before taking a seat right beside him.

Then the two men began talking to each other in a low voice about one topic or the other, but their whispers came to an abrupt stop when the third member, Maester Pycelle, entered —or rather slowly crawled into the room, wheezing every few steps as if he could die at any moment.

After the three bald men in the room came the fourth bald man bringing with him a sweet smile and a hint of perfume. And soon after Lord Varys, a Lord with no land, came Lord Baelish, a man with little land. Both schemers entered the room within minutes of each other and with them, all of the members were present, and since Lord Renly was back in Stormsland at the moment for one reason or the other, the meeting finally began.

Oh, of course, no one forgot about the empty seat at the head of the table, but who said that you needed a king to decide the fate of the kingdom, his very wise council was competent enough to take any decision on his behalf. King Robert was a more progressive hands-off King, he liked to leave the ruling to his betters while he busied himself with...er...more important things.

The meeting went on with a lot of simpering laughs, sly smiles, underhanded barbs, gritted teeth and a lot of snark. But about an hour later an unusual guest joined them...

The door to the room was suddenly slammed open and in came the illustrious King of the seven kingdoms, Robert Baratheon, and following behind him like loyal dogs were two of his Kingsguards, Ser Jamie Lannister and Ser Barristan the Bold.

"Your Grace," echoed most of the small council members standing up, some more shocked than the others.

"Yes! Yes! Sit Down, damn it. I don't need your fake courtesies so early in the morning," he grouched while striding straight towards the empty seat at the head of the table. "Get on with it, Jon. Why did you call me?" he groaned while taking a seat. His hands were already filling up a cup from the jar of wine on the table.

"Do you have to drink during—"

"Yes." Robert cut off his foster father, before guzzling wine from the cup like a man parched with thirst, "Now go on."

Jon sighed but let it rest as he knew to pick his battles, "A letter arrived a few days ago with a proposal which could help us reduce our current loans significantly—"

"What? That's what you called me here for? Some copper counting!!" Robert grunted, his face was puffed from last night's hangover and he was sweating through his silks because of the long walk to the council chambers, which he was regretting very much, "Ugh! Can't believe I missed hunting for this..."

The members had varied expressions on their faces at their king's behaviour, some gritted their teeth in annoyance, some simpered, some maintained their enigmatic smile while one even looked to be dozing off. Jon was disappointed but he had expected something like this so he immediately said the magic words, "The letter was from Lord Stark,"

And like magic, the words had an immediate effect on the King, the disgruntled look, as he was about to get up, instantly disappeared and his giant body shook the chair as he slammed back down.

"What? From Ned?" Robert's face lit up and even the haze of alcohol somewhat disappeared from his face, "Did his frozen heart finally thaw? What did he write about? Is he coming here? Or did he call me North—"

"Nothing of the sort, Your Grace," Jon cut off his King before he could spiral any further with a hint of reproach in his eyes at losing his composure like that, "He starts the letter by greeting you and me cordially and asking after the health of our children and our family, before getting to the point of the letter..."

"Point? What point?"

"Lord Stark mentions that he heard from somewhere about the massive debt the crown is in. He was shocked and saddened to learn about it. So to help with that, he wanted to ask the crown's permission to deposit his part of the taxes directly into the Bank of Braavos in your name so as to help with a part of the loan."

"Is that it?" Robert asked with a disappointed look, "Give me that!" before snatching the letter from Jon to read it himself.

While Robert squinted his eyes and used the rarely used part of his brain to slowly read the letter, the rest of them had time to digest the information presented before them and the first one to respond was Petyr Baelish.

"This is a bit strange, My lord," the Master of Coin said in a conversational tone, "I did not hear of this before today," It didn't show on his face but it irked him to know that something like this could get past him... it seems his spies were slacking.

"I too don't remember that particular letter, My lord," Pycelle suddenly raised his head from where he had looked like he was napping, after all, letters were supposed to be under his purview, and it alarmed to know that a letter had arrived and gotten past his hands without him having read it.

"Ah! That was just a coincidence," The hand replied unconcernedly to the questioning looks from council members, "It seems that the raven was exhausted from the long stretch of flight and mistook the Tower of Hand for rookery... It was only by chance that an aide of mine managed to catch the raven and after seeing that the letter was addressed to me, he brought it straight to me," Jon explained, "Anyhow, I want to hear all of your thoughts on this, should we comply with this?"

"But Why would Lord Stark want to do this?" Stannis asked with a frown on his stern face, "He would need to go all the way from Winterfell to Braavos to deposit the money in the bank. And this is not a small amount of money so the trip wouldn't be cheap considering all the methods of transport needed in between..."

"I may be able to answer that question, My lord," Vays bowed as he suddenly intervened with his tittering voice, "It seems Lord Stark's sons have been mighty successful in their ventures, and one of his sons is somewhat of a Merchant. He is also the one behind those strange Starkhorse and now has established a new shipping company all the way in Braavos, so it indeed should be easier for him to deposit the money than for us to send it from here,"

"His son? Which one?" Robert asked while looking up after finally having finished reading the small piece of paper. "The one named after me?"

"No, the one named after me." Jon Arryn answered proudly before Varys could, "The boy is said to be somewhat of a genius, he should not be older than twelve or thirteen by now but has already travelled half the world on his own and even runs a successful business abroad,"

"The bastard?" Robert asked without any malice in his tone and when he received a nod he continued, "Good for Ned," he was genuinely happy for his brother, "We had always wanted to travel the world in our youth, now it seems his son is fulfilling both of our dreams," he said with a hint of envy in his voice, "While my own can't even get out of his mother's skirt..." the last words were muttered in a low voice but most of the people in the room heard them.

Baelish suddenly cleared his throat and began, "I do not think this is a good idea for the realm, My lord," he said while looking at the frowning Lord Arryn, "The money from the tax would be more useful in paying the more interest heavy loan than the ones from Braavos which I had managed to procure with a relatively low interest..."

Of course what the Lord of Fingers didn't mention was that while the interest of the Braavosi Loan may be less than the others, the principal amount was such a big figure that its monthly instalments would exceed the others by a large margin. After all, it was much better for him if the realm focused on paying the smaller loans whose debtors were... more friendly to him.

"Is that so," Jon said with a frown on his face, he had wanted this to succeed more than anything. For one thing, it would help a lot with the crushing debt that realm was in and more importantly, it would reduce the income in their hands which may just help curb the King's extravagant expenses.

"Ah! I suddenly remember something about that, Lord Baelish," Varys suddenly spoke up with an innocent smile on his face, "The last time the small council got the tax report from North, did you not say something along the lines of, 'They send so little that they may as well not bother with it since it is so costly to transfer it all the way here',"

"Did I?" Petyr asked back stiffly with one of his eyes twitching, "I must have been jesting..."

"I think it is a good solution," Stannis grunted with his usual grim tone, "It may finally put some dent in the debt the crown is in... And for the news to reach all the way to the North is humiliating and embarrassing for—"

"Oh Shut up, Stannis," Robbert snorted making Stannis grit his teeth at being dismissed like that, "As if Ned would care for this copper counting, Bah!" he waved before standing up from his seat.

"But Your Grace, what should we do with this—"

"Let Ned do as he wants," Robert said before walking out of the room, leaving the members with varied expressions on their faces, some were grinning slyly, some had stiff smiles, and some had relieved ones.

...

In a prime location near the ever-crowded port of Braavos where people fought with their lives for even the smallest parcel of land, there lay a sanctuary, a luxurious villa with a massive open space filled with a garden of foreign flowers. In the middle of congested shops, residences and inns this symbol of pure vanity stood out like a sore thumb.

Everything in this house, from the expensive carpets laid on every inch of the floor to the numerous silk drapes hanging all over and the windows made of intricate Myrish glass, as well as the numerous oil paintings of naked ladies, everything screamed wealth.

Inside the top-most room of this villa, which also serves as the study, stood two men. One was a young man in his mid-twenties reading a thin piece of white paper in his hands while the other was a well-groomed middle-aged man, with white hairs growing out of his temples, standing in front of the young man with his head bowed silently.

"What is this?" Nyrio asked quietly with an indifferent look on his face.

"That is the list of all the merchants who want our protection during the voyage—" The servant began but was immediately cut off.

"Do you think I can't read?" Nyrio asked with a smile that was almost a sneer but not quite, "What I want to know is why there are so few of them this time. And why is Big Mario's company not on this list? Did the old pervert go bankrupt or something?" The man scoffed, "He was always pestering us to increase the number of trips..."

"I am not completely sure of the cause, Master," The old man replied in an even tone, "But as far as I know the main reason is because of the recent trips of the new shipping company called the Northern Wolf Shipping. Many of the merchants seem to have completed their orders during this company's recent trips."

"Northern Wolf Shipping?" The young Master asked with a puzzled look on his face, "They're still operating?"

"You were in Pentos, so you may not be aware, Master." The servant replied cautiously, his master was the grandson of a member of the Secret Council and had many rich tastes that couldn't be fulfilled in Braavos so he was a frequent visitor of Pentos, "But this fleet has been very successful in its ventures so far. All three of the voyages that it had partaken in had been safe and successful and mighty profitable for everyone who was a part of it—"

"Yes! Yes! Enough with the praises already," Nyrio interrupted while waving his hand impatiently, "What I want to know is why their ships have not sunk beneath the sea yet. Have all the pirates gone soft or are they on some kind of a collective family vacation?"

"I don't think that is the reason—"

"Of course, that's not the reason. I was being sarcastic, you idiot." The man rolled his eyes at his idiot servant before he began thinking about this thorny problem with a calculative look in his eyes, "Hmm... Tell me, when is their next voyage going to be?" It wouldn't be very hard for him to make this competition disappear into the open sea without making it too complicated.

"As far as I know, there are no new voyages for a while..."

"No new trips?" Nyrio asked as his eyes narrowed, "And when was their last voyage?"

"Just a week ago,"

"...It seems they are smart enough to know that they can't face us head-on so they halted their operations for a while so as not to appear as a direct competition..." Nyrio murmured with a frown on his face, 'It seems we won't be able to deal with it the simple way...' He thought for a while before raising his head, "Call the owners of this shipping company. Let's see if we can buy them out..."

"That would be difficult, Master. One of the owners is from Westeros and is not in Braavos at the moment, and the other one..." The servant shook his head, "I don't think it would be possible to buy them out, Master."

"Why?"

"While it is not well-known, I managed to find out that Darrio Zalyne is a part owner of this company."

"What? Darrio Zalyne? The nephew of that new upstart who got lucky enough to snatch a seat at the secret council?"

"The very same."

"Ugh! That makes it even more tricky. That Zalyne is a bother even for Grandfather." Nyrio groaned with a grimace as he pondered on the issue for a while before raising his head, "No matter! We'll still give the one from Westeros the option to switch. If he's smart enough to make the right choice then fine otherwise... while we may not be able to touch Darrio, it won't be very hard to deal with a nobody from Westeros."

"If I may, Master. That may not be the best course of action—"

*SMACK*

A harsh slap cut the servant's advice short, "Do I need to remind you that my Grandfather sent you as a servant and a servant's only job is to listen to his master and execute his orders, not to give him advice."

"I apologize, master," the servant bowed without a change in his expression, "I spoke out of turn,"

"See that it doesn't happen again," Nyrio said before tuning his head away in disgust, "And while you're at it tell the Captain that I will not be joining him on this voyage this time and don't bother sending all the warships either. Half of them should suffice for this number of merchants."

The servant didn't speak his mind this time and just bowed and went away silently to execute his orders... no matter how stupid they may be.

....

"We should make a camp here," Jon suddenly said while looking at the sun that was almost in his line of sight and was about to set.

They had entered a clearing that was surrounded on all sides by tall yellow grasses almost the height of men. Flatlands like this consisted of most of the land that surrounded the western Essosi cities such as Pentos, Myr and others.

Jon could vividly remember the scene from the second episode of the first season of that series where the Dothraki made camp after leaving Pentos... this landscape looked exactly the same. There were sparsely any trees around here so even normal horses like the one that Sam was using could easily traverse the wilderness.

"Finally," Sam groaned in relief as he disembarked from his horse with an exhausted look on his face. He quickly dragged his feet towards a comfortable shade under a nearby tree before falling on the barren ground like a slab of rock.

Jon shook his head at Sam before leisurely taking out some feed from the bags to feed Peggy and the other horse. He didn't need to tie the horses as they wouldn't run away with him here so he left them to roam before taking a seat on a nearby rock while taking out a book. It was a diary of a famous captain about his journey to the smoking sea.

"That's enough rest, Sam," Jon said about five minutes later while taking a sip from a small pouch of water, "You should begin preparing for food before your muscles freeze up..."

"Do we have to... I think I can skip dinner," Sam said stalling lazily, "I am still quite full from the apple we ate in the afternoon," He had never even thought that there would come a time when he would even refuse food, but now...

"Tut! Tut! Tut!" Jon clicked his tongue with an amused look on his face, "We had a deal, Sam. If you lose a bout in the morning, then you prepare the dinner in the evening."

"Ugh! I hate that deal," Sam groaned before slowly staggering to his feat. He trudged over to take out pots, ladles, and other things from their luggage.

"If you hate the deal, then you just need to win the bout to change it,"

"As if that is possible," Sam grumbled to himself in a low voice, "Ah! I wish we had taken some dry ration with us when we passed through Pentos."

Both of them had left Braavos on a merchant ship going to Pentos. And after they reached their destination they spent a night there before taking a small fishing vessel the next morning which had deposited them on a nearby shore from where they began their journey on horses.

From the very beginning of their trip Sam didn't have a moment of rest, he was either training or fighting mock battles or riding the horse. This was also the reason his body felt like lead and he felt so sore.

"I don't like eating cold hard ration," Jon shrugged while turning a page of his book, "Besides you sleep much better after having a fulfilling meal,"

"You're just too spoiled," Sam grunted while lighting a small fire and placing the pot of water on the makeshift stove, "When is the game going to be here," he said while taking out the salt, spices and the few vegetables that he had to put in the pot, "I am almost done here,"

"Don't worry, she'll be here any minute now," Jon said without lifting his head from his book

And sure enough, exactly a minute later, Sam felt a huge gust of wind above his head and looked up to see a blue flash pass above him. He quickly turned his head to see the strikingly beautiful bird standing on a rock that could barely contain its claws.

Sam looked towards Jon with an imploring look on his face but received no reaction even after a while so he mustered up his courage and got up to go towards the mighty bird Frost.

"Thank you for the meal," he bowed solemnly towards the magnificent creature before taking the fat rabbit from its grasp. The creature nodded magnanimously towards the boy before taking back to the sky to go who knows where.

Sam skillfully prepared the delicious rabbit stew and a few minutes later both of them were sitting beside the fire with steaming hot bowls in their hands and gulping the contents heartily.

"Aren't you glad that you prepared the food now, Sam," Jon asked with a smirk on his face.

"Hmm..." Sam just grunted his assent as he was too busy gorging himself on the feast to respond.

"This may be the last good meal we have since we will reach the Disputed lands in less than a day, so you may have to—" Jon abruptly stopped mid-sentence and raised his head towards the sky as if someone had called him. "Sam." he called out in serious voice a few seconds later, "I think you should wear your armour."

Sam didn't question the order and after hastily gulping the remaining food in his bowl, he quickly got up to go towards his luggage to wear all the parts of the leather armour that he had carried all the way from Winterfell, "Is it a wild animal again?" This wasn't the first time they had come across the local predators on this trip and Sam had already killed a few of them on his own so he wasn't scared at all.

"No... It's humans."

///

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

The servant didn't speak his mind this time and just bowed and went away silently to execute his orders... no matter how stupid they may be.

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In the realm of Westeros and the distant lands of Essos, the divide between noble and commoner fades before the one thing that breeds arrogance. From the towering castles of the Seven Kingdoms to the bustling streets of Braavos, there is one common truth. Whether clad in silks or tattered rags, for in every corner of the realm, beneath banners of lion or dragon, one truth remains constant: stupidity is a universal affliction that knows no borders nor titles.
A.K.A dumbasses are everywhere.

From the very beginning of their trip Sam didn't have a moment of rest, he was either training or fighting mock battles or riding the horse. This was also the reason his body felt like lead and he felt so sore.

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In 10 chapters, Sam is gonna get so swole, he'll be going toe to toe with the biggest chads in Planetos. Good on him, fitness goals y'all.

 

[ATP]

Well,Jon would survive,and Baelish now probably try to kill him.Just like Nyrio.