Capítulo 33: Chapter 33: The New Lord of Winterfell
Spending time with Shadow while he devoured some deer legs with his brothers and sisters under the table, I started thinking about how things would change if nothing out of the ordinary happened during this royal visit. Thankfully, I nipped Bran's desire to climb in the bud. I had enough respect and hero worship from him that he listened to me about it. Either way, I would be cautious with him during this visit. I didn't want anyone in the North to find out things they shouldn't—at least not now.
Sharing a look with Jon, I gave him a sad smile that he could see from one of the lower tables. Thanks to the royal visit, we had to present a front regarding him. They didn't have a say in the matter, but it would be better not to give them ammunition to cause strife within our family. Thankfully Jon understood and was happy to pass the time with other visitors.
I also spotted Uncle Benjen at the entrance of the hall. He was probably confused about why Jon was inside but didn't comment on it while he took his seat to celebrate with the rest. It was the first time I had ever seen him since I transmigrated here, and I only had a few memories of him from Robb's childhood.
Expanding my senses with my bugs, I overheard the conversation between my father and the King. Nodding to myself that everything was going according to plan, I also ordered them to find hard-to-reach spots in every important room to spy. With all these years, I already had millions of insects ready to act at any moment, and I had more than enough to have an extra pair of eyes and ears on every single person currently in the castle and the town combined.
While scratching the ear of one of the pups, I shifted my focus from the insects to the conversation happening in the Great Hall.
"What do you think of the North, my queen?" my mother asked Cersei while eating.
Ignoring them since just seeing Cersei made me think of ways to destroy her, I stood up to meet our uncle, sending a servant toward Jon to do the same.
"Uncle Benjen," I nodded at him with a smile.
"Robb, Jon. You have grown so much over the years, and tales of your accomplishments have even reached Castle Black," Benjen laughed and hugged us both.
"I'm so happy you were allowed to dine with us, nephew," Benjen told Jon.
Jon had a small smile on his face. "Things have changed a lot in these past couple of years, uncle."
"I can see that. I'm just glad Catelyn has gotten past her dislike of you; I never thought you deserved that," Benjen said lightly.
"To be honest, I was thinking of asking you to come with me to the Wall, but I can see that you do have a place here in Winterfell," he told us.
"If nothing had changed, I would have probably gone with you, uncle," Jon admitted. "But now I have things to do here," Jon told him sincerely. "Also, the North would probably burn if I left it alone with Robb," he joked.
"Ha!" Benjen snorted. He then took a sip of vodka and let out a sigh. "Thanks to all the help you have provided over the years, the Wall is manned and taken care of, but I have a bad feeling," he admitted.
I tried to hide a snort of dark humor. The situation was dire, and there was nothing we could do other than prepare for the long night.
Over the years, my father had been in talks with Commander Mormont about using some land from the New Gift and Brandon's Gift to get more food and training. After many promises and negotiations, the commander allowed us to start using them.
The food produced there was mainly used for the Night's Watch, but the extras were then sent to the towns or holdfasts to sell. With the money earned, the Night's Watch was able to afford a lot of equipment and renovations.
Aside from land, we also arranged joint training sessions with our recruits. I wanted an enormous number of battle-ready soldiers for the war, and their training helped both of us.
I planned to send Jon with Benjen to the Wall—not to join the Watch, since he was my right-hand man—but to learn about the happenings on that side of the North. After a while, I wanted him to leave that place and stay with the Umbers or the ex-Dreadfort until the war started.
"Afraid of the reports from the execution, uncle?" I asked him.
"White Walkers… It's hard to believe, but I must investigate," he answered solemnly.
"Then be careful, uncle. And seek me out before you depart; there are some things we need to discuss," I nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep the royal family company."
Over the years, I had accumulated a good amount of dragonglass—not enough for an army, since there wasn't much in the North, but enough for a small party. I encouraged people to bring us the stones as if my mother collected them, and since women's love for shiny things is universal, people didn't think much of it in "small" quantities.
As I spotted Tyrion stumbling near the entrance, I had a small laugh at his expense. His hair lay in disarray, and his clothes looked like he had just thrown them on without thinking. I stopped and noticed how different he looked now from the first episode of the series.
He looked like he was done caring what people thought of him—almost defeated but with a backbone only someone as disdained as he could have. Pondering for a moment, I could only imagine that his failure to obtain the vodka recipe for his father must have changed his situation in the Westerlands. I would probably need to check that out, as he was a vital part of the series.
"A sad situation for everyone," a voice murmured behind me.
I hid a smirk that threatened to appear on my face. Thanks to my insects, I already knew Varys was approaching from the back. It was true what Littlefinger said in the series: the bastard truly moved silently when he walked. I had no idea if he was trying to scare me or if that was simply how he walked all the time.
"Lord Varys," I said without turning my back. "I didn't expect you to come with the royal family."
"I've never been this far north, Lord Robb, and I was curious about some things I've heard over the years," Varys said with such a soft voice it irritated me. I think he genuinely did it so that people wouldn't hear everything he said, and thankfully I had advantages over that.
"Oh? What were you curious about, Lord Varys?" I asked, finally looking him in the eyes.
"Mainly the stability of the kingdom. I've heard that Northerners are unhappy with the Crown's decisions," Varys said while taking a seat next to me.
"Of course, we're not happy. Would you be after the Crown left you to rot until you could make it alone and then suddenly took an interest in us?" I asked somewhat strongly.
"No, I would not. And I'm here to make sure such a situation doesn't get worse," Varys nodded in understanding.
"Here comes the King and my father. It looks like he has something to say," I nodded toward the entrance.
Varys got to his feet when he saw the determined look on the King's face and went ahead to talk to him. To most people, it would have seemed odd, but I was able to overhear what they said.
I should have seen this coming, and it would probably affect some of my plans but not by much.
"Silence, the King has words!" my father bellowed.
The King nodded and tried to look somewhat regal, which, in my opinion, didn't help much.
"I have spoken with my friend Ned, and he has accepted the position of Hand of the King!" Robert said firmly.
Some of the Northerners present were unhappy since it meant losing the Lord of Winterfell, but they knew they could not change anything.
Seeing the lackluster reception to his words, the King's face twisted for a moment before continuing.
"As a gift, in thanks for the services provided," he started, raising his voice, "the elevated taxes from these past years will return to the previous amount!" he said with a smile.
Stunned silence was the initial response, but soon exclamations of surprise and thanks were heard in the hall from the Northerners.
The Queen's face twisted into a somewhat fierce expression before returning to normal, and Tyrion's face showed a hint of surprise at the King's move.
To be honest, it was a really good plan. It lessened the negative feelings the North had towards the Crown, but it didn't fix everything, and I could work with this. With the new surplus of coins we would get after today, we could start investing more in different venues toward the endgame.
My father rose to his feet and put an arm around Robert before addressing the rest of us.
"I know that I'll have to leave, but I know the North will be in capable hands." Looking me in the eyes, he continued, "To Robb Stark, the new Lord of Winterfell." He raised his cup in a toast.
"The Ghost of the North!" Lord Manderly exclaimed, having come with the royal caravan.
"Ghost of the North!" "Ghost of the North!"
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If you are feeling generous and want to support me, you can find me on Patr* on. com (slash) Infinityreads99 Im posting chapters early there.
Also, I mentioned this on my Patreon, but since I'm fairly new, I didn't get many comments about it. Hopefully, y'all will help me with this. I'm bad with names, and some of the "nice" ones don't quite fit the setting of Game of Thrones. If you could leave a comment with different name ideas for Robb's direwolf, I would be really grateful. The name suggested on Patreon was Fenrir, which is awesome but a bit cliché. So, please leave some names in this paragraph, and the most liked one will be used in the edit!
I go back to college tomorrow in a different city, so I'll have fewer distractions for writing since I won't be taking my Xbox with me, lol. I've been playing The First Descendant like crazy these last couple of weeks.
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