Chapitre 746: 40
Chapter 40: Ch 31 Adventures of ValChapter Text
"Shit! Fuck! Shiiit! Fuuuck!"
Cursing under her breath, that was all Val could do as she gazed around in awe at this strange place called a market, where she had ended up after slipping away from the ship. The overwhelming sights, the myriad of food and spices filling the air with scents, the rainbow of colours displayed in the clothes, and the endless chatter in languages she had never heard before - it was a bewildering experience.
Never had she seen so many people gathered together in one spot, not even in the bustling port of Bear Island, which paled in comparison to this sprawling market. In every direction she turned, she saw countless faces, houses built upon houses, and what astounded her the most was the absence of violence or thievery. It was a challenge to comprehend a place where folks didn't constantly seek to harm you or steal from you or even 'steal' you, something she had grown used to in the harsh North.
And the attire of these people was utterly absurd to her. The men and women wore flimsy, colourful garments so thin that even a jagged rock would tear right through them, not to mention if they happened to run across a wolf, and even more stupid were the ones wearing those big shiny armour which would be completely useless if they happen to come across a bear. 'How would they even run in that?'
"Maybe there are no wolves or bears in the South," Val mused, "or else they'd have been feasted upon already," she thought, observing a plump individual in garish yellow clothes peddling spices with great enthusiasm
And while she had heard about the money thing from Jon and seen many of the people around her using those copper and silver coins to exchange for things like food, she just couldn't wrap her head around why anyone would ever give away good food to anyone else for those small metals that wouldn't even stop a dagger.
In the true North, there was no need for these metals, you ate what you hunted and if you wanted a knife or sword or spear, then you either make them yourself and, if you can't, then you can exchange that for stuff you have like meat, animal skin, fruits etc and if you can't even do that then you just loot them from someone weak who has them.
And she was exactly having that itch to loot at the moment seeing people selling so many different kinds of things, some had so many unique colours and shapes of fruits while others were sitting on piles and piles of fish, she had never seen so much fish in her life, she was sure that they could feed a few clans with them. It was pure torture for her to see all these fat sheep around walking without a care in the world.
And it would be so easy for her to steal from these stupid Southerners as barely one out of ten of them were carrying any kind of weapon on them as if they didn't even think that anyone would try to rob them and they may need to protect their stuff. She could just take whatever she fancied and these fat asses probably wouldn't even be able to run after her.
But then she remembered what Jon had said about stealing not being allowed here and if someone still steals then the king sends an army after them and then cuts their hands off if they are caught. So she stopped her hands from wandering as much as she could as she had no desire to confront an entire army for a few stolen fruits.
"Step right up! We got Fresh Bacon and Fish!"
Just as she was grappling with lost opportunities, a man's boisterous call for food caught her attention, making her wonder if he was bragging about it. He was standing outside a somewhat big open house but it was a weird one as it didn't seem to have any place to sleep instead it was filled with a dozen chairs with every one of them having a few people.
"My Lady! Beautiful Lady! Yes, You!" the man suddenly said enthusiastically to her when he caught her staring inside, "Do you want to partake in our food? I promise! you won't be disappointed,"
"Are you talking to me?" She asked and when he nodded happily she continued with wide eyes, "Are you saying I can eat anything I want?"
"Of course, Mam," the man said enthusiastically, "We got Fish, Bacon, Porridge, Bread, freshly baked pie and a lot more, you will definitely be satisfied. Come! Come inside," he said half pushing her in and making her sit at a table.
And just like that, the beautiful Wildling went into a tavern for the time in her life... Not that she knew what a tavern was...
...
Approximately an hour later, Val groaned in discomfort as she stuffed the final piece of pie into her mouth. Ever since she entered this strange establishment, she had been indulging in an endless stream of unfamiliar dishes, each one a new sensation: spicy, sweet, meat, vegetables, and more.
And the funny thing was she didn't have to name a single one as the man who had bought her would come to her table every few minutes and say the names of a few dishes and ask her if she wanted them and all she would have to do was nod and he would swiftly bring them to her. That was how she found herself sitting before a table that was groaning under the weight of the plates that she had emptied.
"Anything else, Fair Maiden," the man came again and even though he was sweating from having gone back and forth constantly over the last hour to serve her, he still had a smile on his face.
Val looked down at her newly acquired round belly and reluctantly shook her head. "Nay, I'm full," she replied. She didn't know if she would ever get a chance like this in the future and she wanted to nod her head so much at the moment but she knew her body very well and knew that if she took another bite then she would definitely be sick and puke everything that she had eaten.
Which was a novelty in and of itself, as she never imagined that she would ever get sick due to overeating.
Val rose from the table with a contented belch, offering the man a charming smile and a wave of gratitude for the bountiful feast he had provided. With a light skip in her step, she began heading towards the exit, feeling pleasantly satiated.
"Mam! Madam, you forgot to pay, Haha," the man called out, hurrying to catch up with her, forcing a laugh that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Val tilted her head in confusion, "Pay? For what?"
"The money," he replied, his smile faltering.
Her brow furrowed, "Money? Wasn't it free?"
"Of course, it wasn't free," he hissed, finally losing his smile, he had lost a few stones of weight while running back and forth, serving her like a slave and watching as she ate enough to feed three big knights and now she was saying that she wasn't going to pay.
"Oi! You're the one who forced me to come in and started putting dishes one after the other without saying anything about the money, I thought I didn't have to pay,"
Laughter erupted from the nearby tables, particularly from a group of men sitting on her right. Among them were five men, two of whom were identical twins, enjoying their meal while standing the other three were standing behind them, and of them, two were wearing armour and a sword at their waist while the last was a timid-looking, rotund boy with a moon-shaped face, around 12 years old. Unlike the others, he regarded Val with a sense of pity and refrained from laughing.
"H-How could you not think that you would have to pay?" the man asked her dumbfoundedly.
"It's your fault for not saying anything at the start, and I got no money anyway so it's your bad luck," she shrugged and turned around to leave.
Before she could go, the man blocked her path with a fierce expression, "You can't leave here after so much, little lady, you're going to pay for it one way or another..." he leered at her body with a gaze that she she was all too familiar with.
The fierce smile that appeared on her face scared the shit out of the man for a moment, making him step back and just as she was contemplating stabbing him and running away, a voice came from behind her, "I'll pay for the lady,"
Turning around, she saw one of the twins speaking while the other encouraged him with encouraging pats on the back, urging him forward. Hobber, as she heard him being called, approached her haughtily, tossing a gold dragon at the man blocking her path. He wore one of those brightly coloured, flimsy garments that she had seen on a few people before.
Hobber bowed before her and said arrogantly, "May I have the fair lady's name?"
"Val," she replied, finding the whole encounter rather peculiar. She assumed it was one of the courting rituals of the Southerners, but she had no interest in entertaining a weak man like him. With a snort, she turned to leave.
Hobber's face fell as he saw her walk away before he turned around to look at his brother who immediately facepalmed and exclaimed, "Go after her, you idiot,"
He nodded and immediately went after the most beautiful girl he had seen, other than Margery of course. He caught up to Val not far away, near an alley, and inquired, "Which noble house do you belong to, My lady?" he assumed she was noble seeing how pretty she was as he thought that only nobles would have such beautiful blonde hair and white skin. He wanted to know where she was from so that he could properly court her.
"What? What do you mean a house?"
"What?" Hobber asked confused, "You're not a noble?"
"No," she said absentmindedly before walking away.
Hobber's demeanour changed immediately. He pulled at her elbow with a leering smile, "Hold on, girl. You can't just leave without repaying me," his earlier thoughts of courting had faded now that he saw her as a mere commoner, he was sure that his family name would be enough to get the girl into his bed one way or another.
...
Val let out an exasperated groan, finding herself in yet another troublesome situation, and it wasn't like she hadn't had these in the true North from Men who wanted to steal her, but it was just that the Men there were true to themselves and straightforward so she didn't have to hesitate to cut their cock off and no one would even bat an eye at it but now...
'It would be hard to get away with that,' she thought while looking at the people walking beside them while giving them a wide berth after taking a look at the grapes drawn on the man's clothing.
"I am Hobber Redwyne," he said arrogantly, "So you'll come with me if you know what's good for you," he said fiercely when he saw that she wasn't paying him any attention, and wasn't immediately scared of him like he expected her to be.
Val suddenly yanked her hand away from him and then before he could do anything about that, she looked at him with a sweet smile and asked, "Do you have more of those metals from before,"
He was confused for a moment about what she was talking about before he asked puzzledly, "Are you talking about Gold?", and when she nodded he continued with a smirk, "Oh yes I have plenty of those,"
Val had been thinking about this for a while now, as it seemed that it would be very convenient for her in the South if she had a few of those gold metals called Dragons with her and she had the perfect sucker in front of her that would be happy to supply her with those, so she smiled and said, "Let's go, then,"
'Maybe, it's not so bad if the south is filled with suckers like him,' she thought while looking at his stupid smile as they went into an alleyway.
Unbeknownst to Val, two guards had followed after them and had been observing their interactions from a distance and were quietly shaking their heads at the sight.
...
"Is she really here?" Dacey asked as they left the bustling market behind them and entered a deserted alley that led to a small forest filled with shrubs and short green trees, "Why the hell would she even go in here?"
"You'll find out about that soon enough?" Jon replied with a sigh, leading the way with a sense of resignation, 'It was stupid of me to think that someone like her would stay put for just a few hours,' he had been planning to take her on a trip to the port to get her familiarized with the South after he got back from the visit to the Tyrells but it seems that the girl just couldn't wait.
Their progress into the trees was interrupted by a sudden scream in the distance. The moment she heard the girlish scream, Dacey immediately took off towards the sound. Only a few minutes later a clearing appeared in front of her but the scene that awaited her, definitely wasn't what she had been expecting.
The one who was screaming and crying was actually a young man, a Noble from the looks of his clothes. He was lying on the ground with his hands locked behind his back with Val sitting atop him with a dagger in her hands, attempting to cut off his finger, "Stop squirming, You Idiot!"
"Stop! Stop! Don't do that!" shouted the two guards who were standing a few meters away from them, with their swords out but the only thing they could do at that moment was plead impotently to the girl with the dagger if they didn't want to get their lord maimed.
Dacey couldn't contain her shock, "What the fuck is happening here?"
"Oh you're here," Val said dully, as the sadist smile she had on her face all this time turned to a disappointed frown, and the people in the clearing finally noticed the new entrants.
It seems that she'd been panicking for nothing, Dacey mused as she felt Jon finally enter the clearing behind her at a relaxed pace. 'It seems the situation had been under control from the start...' she thought, her eyes flicking to the blue sky above, and finding the massive Frost far up in the sky after some difficulty.
"How did you guys find me," Val asked them with a pout.
Ignoring Val's question, Jon calmly inquired, "What do you think you're doing?"
Innocently, Val replied, "Oh, this! I am just taking the just price by cutting off his finger,"
The guards, pleading helplessly from a distance, asked, "Do you people know this insane girl? Quickly get her to leave our lord!"
"Y-Yes! Please save me!!"
"Why do you want to do that?" Jon asked as he and Val ignored the panicking guards and sniffing noble.
"Because he failed to steal me and now that he has failed, he obviously has to pay the price— And speaking of which, You Liar!" she suddenly glared accusingly at Jon and said, "You told me that stealing didn't happen here and that it wasn't allowed in the south,"
Jon turned his eyes towards the noble who immediately stuttered, "S-She's lying! I didn't steal anything from her Argh—" he immediately cried as he felt his hands about to break when Val yanked them even further.
"Shut up! You fucker! You should be thankful that I didn't cut off your cock like I usually do," she did consider it for a while but then decided against it as it would be too messy and besides there was no way she would find a heart tree around here to sacrifice his cock and balls, anyway.
"Val, come here," Jon suddenly interrupted her.
"But—"
"Now," he said and the look in his eyes told her that he wasn't asking, and she already knew how dangerous he could be from their first encounter so she reluctantly obeyed Jon's command, standing up from the nobleman but not before delivering a fierce kick to his groins, "Che! You got lucky! You shit!" she then spat at him for good measure before ignoring him and going towards Jon and Dacey who were looking at her with exasperation.
"Humph! You're too soft," Val remarked to Jon, clearly disappointed in his intervention. "If it was another free man from the True North, he would have already killed these men and strung them to the trees for trying to steal his woman." Behind her, the guards immediately rushed to their lord the moment Val left him and tried to calm him down and make sure that he wasn't missing any parts.
"First of all, you're not my woman," Jon said with a sigh while massaging his forehead, "And secondly don't think I don't know what you did," he said while staring pointedly at the pouch of coins on her waist that she obviously nicked from the noble. She haughtily looked away instead of answering him and going to stand beside Dacey.
"Let's just go," he said, ready to put this bizarre encounter behind them and continue their journey.
"Stop!" Hobber screamed, "You think you can just leave like that!" he said while looking at them with anger and humiliation, "Raul! Paul! Take them!"
"I was hoping to resolve this peacefully, " Jon murmured to himself as he turned around, "But I guess I was asking too much from this world,"
Meanwhile, Val leaned towards Dacey and asked, "What's the deal with those two," she jerked her chin towards the guards who were coming towards them with their swords, "They suddenly came out of nowhere saying that I should not cut that shit. Are they his family or something?"
"No. They are his guards," Dacey answered, while nonchalantly watching Jon walking towards the armed men, "They are sworn to protect him with their life,"
"What?!" Val said with a dumbfounded look on her face and asked, "Why would anyone do that? And for What?" it was a completely foreign concept for her that someone would willingly try to protect someone, "Is he one of those kings or something,"
"Nooo..." Dacey chuckled at the naive question from the young wildling, "He's just a noble," she said while looking at the Grape insignia on his clothes.
"So why would they do that if he isn't the king,"
"Probably for Money or honour or protection or something like that..."
"You Southerners do a lot of stupid things," Val said to Dacey who just shrugged without going into an explanation of how she wasn't a Southerner.
"How about I just give you back your money and we can go our ways... Huh," Jon tried one last even though he knew the answer he was going to get.
"Fuck the Money!" The noble growled while leaning against a tree with his hands lying uselessly by his side as they were still numb from the abuse they suffered, "I want that bitch to suffer for what she did," he glared at the girl who completely ignored him, "What the fuck are you waiting for? Kill Him!" he screamed at his guards who immediately pounced on Jon.
The guards had decent enough skills, but nothing to write home about. Jon weaved between their attacks effortlessly as if he knew where their swords were going to be next.
He was quick as a rabbit as he ducked, sidestepped and leaned out of their slashes and to the outsiders it felt as if the guards were intentionally avoiding Jon's body.
He didn't take them seriously enough to feel the need to take out his sword and was even relaxed enough to talk while evading their attacks, "You know my father always says that the only time a man should take out his sword is when he intends to kill. So you should really be careful with those, they are quite sharp you know,"
The guards were getting irritated and feeling incompetent as they couldn't seem to touch him at all and finally, the one on the right shouted in frustration, "Shut UP!" and stabbed with all his might, extending himself.
JJon sidestepped effortlessly, leaving the guard off balance. In one swift motion, Jon's hand shot out, landing two precise blows, one to the guard's throat and the other to his nose. Gasping for air, the guard dropped to his knees, clutching his injured throat, his face turning green.
Meanwhile, the second guard charged with reckless abandon, slashing his sword downward with all his might. Jon leaned back with a graceful tilt, the blade narrowly missing his nose. Taking advantage of the guard's exposed side, Jon's leg swung up like a whip, delivering a powerful kick to the back of his knee. The guard crumbled to the ground, wincing in pain and a quick kick to the back of his head took care of him as he went down with a groan.
His eyes finally turned to the Noble who immediately flinched and stumbled backwards as Jon started walking towards him, "Y-You won't get away with it! I am Hobber Redwyne and My father—"
"Do you know who I am?" Jon interrupted him calmly while looking down at him, "Where we are from? Who the girl was?"
Hobber gulped as he wondered if he had kicked a steel plate this time, "W-Who are you?"
"That's perfect," Jon gave him a bright grin before he kicked him in the face with enough force that a loud snap was heard before everything went black for the noble.
"Ha! Good kick!" Val exclaimed with a loud laugh as the last of them went down, "Come on let's take everything and string them up from the trees," she said excitedly while rushing towards the downed guards.
Jon and Dacey immediately exchanged helpless glances with each other, both of them wondering what they had gotten into.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone