Chapitre 7: Chapter 7: Unlimited Scam Work
( Arthur )
After my victory, I was invited to the feast. This whole Tourney and celebration were being held for some Tyrell that was born recently.
The chubby Lord next to me continued rambling to my ear about something that I didn't care about.
I knew from canon that he will only keep getting fatter and fatter as he gets older. That was Mace Tyrell, the big oaf.
"You know Ser. Arthur, you were amazing out there. I have never seen someone with such skill and chivalry," said the stupid oaf, even the way he spoke showed his stupidity. The person who is talking to me right now is a twenty-year-old Mace Tyrell.
The guy just keeps talking endlessly about useless stuff but I just drone him out most of the time. Plus it is not bad to have a friend like him.
"Thank you for the compliment Lord Tyrell, and I would like you to call me Arthur, even though we just met I feel like we have been long-time friends." I smiled at him in a friendly manner, it's good to have friends like him. Who knew when they could one day be useful.
He smiled like a dumbass at my words, and I smiled back. From an outside perspective, it would seem like this was the making of best friends.
Olenna looked at me like a hawk. "How is your supper? My oaf son seems to enjoy it."
"It's very good my lady," I answered politely, but Olenna wasn't as smart as she thought. Insulting her son like this makes her seem powerful, that's true, but it also showed who was in charge.
That was the problem, Mace Tyrell wasn't a man who you should follow, everyone knew that. If the Tarly went into a revolt, who would win? That's a good question, something that would be unknown.
But the answer would be certain if Olenna was to suddenly die. She is already an old woman, and death was always just around the corner for people of her age.
"Heh, I am no lady anymore." Joked Olenna at me calling her 'my lady'.
"Yet we all call you so," a smile adorned my face. "I wonder why that is?"
"Well, well, aren't you a smart boy?" She asked, looking at me like a hawk.
But my smile didn't falter. "Thanks for the compliment, my lady."
"It wasn't a compliment." She clarified, and I knew that calling me a 'smart boy' was her way of being demeaning.
Olenna was trying to get a rise out of me and figure out what kind of person I was. But sadly for her, that won't be happening. Who cared what people called me? I wasn't some silly Lord with a silly mustache, like her weak son.
"Well, it wasn't an insult either. Because it only becomes an insult depending on how I take it," deciding to clear up some things I went on. "What people say isn't important, it doesn't matter. Actions do."
After saying that, I pulled out a kitchen knife used to cut the meat and stabbed it on the table. The smile on my face and the loud music stopped anyone from hearing what we were talking about. So they assumed that we were just joking or something along those lines.
"Was that a threat?" Asked Olenna, her face growing colder.
I shrugged. "As I said before, my intentions don't matter. What do you interpret it as, my lady?"
"I am not your lady, boy!" said Olenna, a little anger slipped through in her voice. No one had probably talked to her like this. Especially someone with such a low standing as myself. "Also what matters here is when my guards bash your head in the ground, should I tell them to stop or not?"
The confident smirk was back on her face as she looked at me with a condescending look.
"Well, you wouldn't be able to tell them to stop. Or say anything at all for that matter, I am currently sitting at the head of the table with you and your son. I could slaughter you, your son, his wife, and his children. Before any guard could even pull out their swords I probably would have killed most of the Tyrell family by then," my smile widened.
"The Tyrell house would enter a civil war to decide who would be the successor amongst the survivors, and at the end, a Tarly would take over. Yes, you could give the order, but your family would be destroyed.
Let me give you some advice Lady Tyrell, don't try to intimidate madmen, religious men, or men who are way too dangerous and with many secrets. It could end badly for you, and House Tyrell. Those kinds of people will drag you into their level, and you can't win at their game."
"Heh, that was quite a speech there," she dismissed my words. "I think you shouldn't participate in Tourneys in the Reach. Who knows… accidents in these kinds of sports happen very often. Even a skilled man like you could meet his end in an unfortunate incident."
Oh~ she is threatening me. It seems like I have unnerved her more than I thought. Maybe the possibility of me having the power to single-handedly end the Tyrell house at this moment was a shock to her. Because she knew that it was the truth.
Who could stop me in an instant close by? Her oaf son who can't even hold a sword right? No, I would slaughter them all before the guards could even react. Also even then, there was a small chance of survival if I jumped from the balcony to the river down below Highgarden.
Just because someone is called Lord or Lady doesn't suddenly make them invincible. Even though it gives the illusion of being so sometimes. But that's it, it's just an illusion, people die what they are killed. That's a fact of the world. Even Kings die like common men.
"Welp, that's quite late to learn such a thing, Lady Olenna. But a wise man once said that life is a learning experience." I said while getting up from the table and walking off.
One look at Olenna was enough to stop her from doing anything stupid like send guards at me while I was away from public eyes. While she was very politically smart, she didn't know brash men of war can be. They don't give a sh*t about her logic.
After that whole ordeal with Olenna, I decided to walk around a little. Mace Tyrell just became a useless friend because Olenna had his claws in him. He would be more useful if he was dead, but sadly I can't go around killing him and it would be too hard.
But as I walked on the outskirts of the party where there were only some sleeping drunk servants, amongst them was a pretty woman wearing an expensive dress and nice jewelry. She had brown hair and green eyes that stuck out, damn, these inbreed noble ladies are good-looking.
When was the last time I laid with a woman? Right… ever since Maggie, I don't think I laid with anyone else. Kinda forgot about and lost such things once the amazing Blood Magic came around. Even sex seemed something secondary in comparison to such power.
By her wine glass and slouched appearance, the woman wasn't in a good mood. Also judging by her clothing she was some Noble Lady or a Lord's daughter. A pretty one too, so probably the wife or daughter of a powerful Lord.
If my memory serves me right, this should be Lady Oakheart or the Lord's sister. I believe she should have already been married to some knight that served her house.
Well, whatever, it doesn't matter. "Hello there, my Lady. You shouldn't stay here with degenerates, let me escort you back to your family."
The woman looked at me, and by the look in her eyes, I could instantly tell that she was drunk. In my 1st life, one had to learn to notice when someone was drunk, they would say many things and are easier to… persuade.
"Huh? Who the hell are you?" She asked, her face showed anger but her words seemed curious. A true lady, trained to hide her real thoughts, sadly that didn't work once she was drunk.
Judging by her demeanor, something is annoying her. In a party like this with Nobles and pretty maids around, it's easy to guess what was happening. Probably her husband was messing around with a maid or some other Noble Lady.
This woman would be better to do it with than some maid because servants can't help but talk. But this noblewoman won't speak or spread any rumors about me… even if this night ended up with a child in her belly. She would just claim that it was her husband's kid, especially since my features of dark hair and eyes were very common.
"My name is Robert, nice to meet you, my lady. How is your husband doing?" I asked, intentionally guiding the conversation towards her husband. That immediately put a sour look on her face.
"Damn it!" She banged her fist on the edge of the balcony. "What is so good about some peasant maid with rough hands?! That damn idiot!"
"Yes, he must be the idiot of idiots," I agreed with her. She looked at me in surprise as our faces got closer. "To not recognize your beauty, the greatest fool indeed. A maid could never even compare to you. I would kill a hundred maids to just kiss you."
She looked me in the eyes and smirked. "Let me take you somewhere… a place where we can have our privacy.
Ahhh~ married and jealous women are so easy to get into bed with. Say some lie that makes them feel special and then they will easily fall in your hands. Welp, a pretty married woman so young is easy to find in these times. If I give her a child, could I use that as blackmail against her in the future?
...
( Normal POV )
One year had passed since Arthur's Tourney in the Reach. Since then, he decided to move away. He might have said a lot of words in front of Olenna, but he wasn't stupid to take a threat from her lightly. Though he liked for people to fear him to keep them in line, he also loved his life way more than that.
Olenna was a dangerous woman with The Reach at her fingertips. So threatening her and staying in her house would be an invitation to disaster.
So he did the logical thing and he decided to go to other lands that he had planned. That being the Vale, he had just arrived at the castle of House Arryn.
Since Arthur was now eighteen, he couldn't help but smile a little. His body had grown up quite a bit due to his good and nutritious lifestyle and regular exercise.
Currently, Arthur was in a bed on the Eyrie, a warm body was next to him, it was a woman. He could feel the two flesh minds press on him.
'Right, I forgot about the serving girl I took to bed yesterday.' Thought Arthur as he pushed away the woman leaning on him and got up. As soon as he did so, his mind immediately wandered toward his plans.
He wasn't in the Vale to compete in any Tourneys, though the place had a lot of knights, the Vale didn't have as many Tourneys as the Reach or Westerlands had. But that didn't matter Arthur had come here to make friends with Robert Baratheon. This was a good investment that could have amazing returns.
Though the plan had a few hiccups, as Arthur had just arrived in the Vale and Robert wasn't here, and neither was Jon Arryn. The latter had a meeting in Gulltown and had taken his two proteges with him.
Soon he should be able to meet with Jon Arryn. Though this had been a little bad luck, Arthur was glad that while they were coming here no Mountain Clansmen attacked him.
Though these days waiting for them hadn't been boring. Plenty of beautiful girls in the Eyrie, both noble and common. At least his reputation as a Knight helped get access to both kinds of girls quite easily.
There were even some virgin girls amongst them. Their future husbands will be having a field day on their wedding night. Why? Because Arthur just taught their wives tricks from the modern world.
"Leon!" Arthur called out to his healer. As if the man had been waiting behind the door, he immediately came in.
"Yes, m'lord. The usual?" He asked.
Arthur frowned as he and his healer walked off the room. Leaving the sleeping girl behind. "What was the name of the girl?"
The personal healer cleared his throat and started to explain. "She is a high born girl, her mother recently-"
"I don't care about her life story, Leon. I need her name… just her last name." Arthur didn't care about the girl's life, he already knew some of it from drowning out the girl's conversation last night. Acting like he was listening to her troubles had already allowed him to pick up some things about the girl.
"It's Hersy, I believe. A high-"
"Okay, then that's enough." Arthur interrupted him again as they went to the kitchens to get some food. "Wait, doesn't she have a sister too?"
"Yeah, I believe so," confirmed Leon.
"Heh, her sister had nicer tits." He said casually. Thinking back on a blonde figure that vaguely resembled the woman he had slept with last night. "Also get 105 Silver Stags for each of the men, you included. Today is payday."
Leon smiled, working for Arthur was good. What a common folk would make in half a year, they made in one week. So it was quite good. Of course, none of them knew that Arthur paid them so well because he wanted them to become the best meat shields they could be. After all, he wasn't arrow proof.
Though he never said it out loud, Arthur's current wealth wasn't something too big. He had about 2200 Gold Dragons available for his plans. He had fought in over 20 Tourneys, but most of them had the reward of a hundred Gold Dragons or less.
Only big families hold grand Tourneys with rewards above 500 Gold Dragons. So thinking about it now, back in the show when Robbert wanted a Tourney with the winner rewarded 50,000 Gold Dragons… Arthur could understand why Ned Stark at the time considered it outrageous.
Still, though, 2000 Gold Dragons were enough to buy a small castle. But at the same time, this was wealth that many people would consider worth risking their lives for.
Also, the Tourneys were public, so there wasn't a way to hide his income from determined people. Hell, Arthur sometimes suspected that some of his men might mutiny if he didn't use sweet words to dissuade them.
By now though, he didn't keep his wealth on himself. Instead, he had his hawk pick up small pouches and hide them in certain places where no human would ever go to, and even if they wanted, they couldn't.
Though even through all this, Arthur made sure to use flowered words and promises of wealth that kept his men very satisfied. That way he could use them as sacrifices in case of an emergency.
"M'lord!" Suddenly a servant rushed into the kitchens and rushed towards Arthur. "Lord Arryn has arrived."
Arthur smirked. Having a good relationship with the servants was quite useful.
...
( Arthur )
It didn't take long to get invited to some drinking party. Some woman that was flirting with Robert told me about it.
"Cheers to Arthur 'The Undefeated'! The Red Hawk! They have so many names for you Fray. They say that you have never lost a fight since you were born, even during training against squires twice your age you defeated them." Said Robert in a jovial mood as he slapped my shoulder.
I smiled at him. "What can I say. Titles seem to breed more titles."
"Bah! You humble fùck! Act at least a little proud or you will make me feel like a god damn…" it seemed like the future Fat King was about to say something. But he turned around and almost threw up.
"Anyway, what were we talking about again?"
He slapped my shoulder again, and I had to stop myself from wincing. Though Robert was doing this playfully, his strength was unmistakable. This drunk guy was pretty strong, I must admit that.
Welp, time to fake drink something and become fake drunk.
Two hours later and everyone was a little hammered, even the ones who didn't usually drink. Jon Arryn seemed a little tipsy too.
"Well, what can I say, Rob? I am just that good." I answered him with a drunken arrogant smirk on my face. "The baddest man in this world. I am undefeated! Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee~"
"Heh, so your ego comes out when you drink. Well, it happens to the best of us." Robert smiled back, his face flushed from drinking the same amount as four men. "Really wanna try then? I bet I will break your record in no time."
I made a face like I swallowed a lemon and put my head on the table. "Listen Rob y -y -you are drunk that is unfair for me to fight you like that."
And that is a lie I have been sipping on my 5th glass of wine but I have been spilling all of them under the table. I was not dumb enough to dull my senses in a world like Game of Thrones.
If someone had my knowledge of the story and still got drunk then they should just slit their throats instead.
He then pointed a shaking finger toward me. It's a goddamn miracle he wasn't dead by the time cannon came around, by the amount he usually drank.
"Y -You are drunk too," reasoned Robert in a drunken manner while stuttering away.
My eyes widened as if I just had a big revelation. "O -Oh yeah you are right... W -Well then let's go outside and fight."
I went outside, the guards gave me a blunt sword and a shield. They also give Robert a light metal hammer without spikes.
Looking at the audience, I could see them snickering at us. Some people even seemed to want and see me lose this battle, breaking my legend of being undefeated.
"H -Hey does anyone wanna bet? I will take all bets against me!" Saying so resolutely, I spread my arms and mentioning them to come at me.
By the end, the people who knew Robert and of his monstrous strength, all together bet 800 Gold Dragons against me.
Well, it is pretty logical on their part. After all, a drunk guy can't dodge very well and Robert has the advantage of strength against me. I was known for my technique, which wouldn't be any good in a drunk state.
Oh boy, they are about to get scammed so hard~
Jon Arryn, the white-haired man in his early elderly age came towards us. He just rubbed his eyes, probably having heard what had happened already.
"Ok, I, Jon Arryn as Lord Paramount of The Vale I will be the judge."
I could see the small smirk on his face which was filled with anticipation on who would win. Ok, now I was sure that Jon Arryn had a little too much to drink.
Allowing us to fight while drunk and all that didn't seem like him at all. He also said his title... it must be a habit.
"Begin!" He yelled out of nowhere, without even counting down.
Robert rushed at me without even a second thought in his mind. Swinging his hammer like a madman towards my head. He wanted to bash my skull on the ground, and the man was pretty fast too.
Still, though, he wasn't fast enough as I jumped back, dodging the hammer swipe easily.
"Woah! Even while drunk, look at that perfect form," said one of the spectators while he pointed at me.
"Ugh!" Robber grunted and swiped his hammer at me from overhead, this time I easily sidestepped and as the hammer landed on the ground. I stepped on the hammer, making Robert unable to pull it up.
Baam!*
Then I bashed his head in with my shield. Blood came out of his nose as he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Well, I just became 800 Gold Dragons richer." Now I had 3000 Gold Dragons in total. That means having the buying power of around 30,000,000 Dollars. Damn, I love medieval societies, the small fold work and I just become richer.
I looked at my earning.
hiccup*
Still with my act on, after all, couldn't have other people know that the righteous knight Arthur was out here scamming rich kids out of their money.
"L -Leave my earnings in a pouch. At the side of the ring, I am not done yet," after announcing that, my gaze wandered toward the people around. A plan formed on my head.
"W -Woah.." I suddenly stumbled and fell on my butt, like a drunk who could barely stand up.
I then looked at the gray-eyed young man helping Robert get up. "How about you Ned wanna give it a try? I will again take all the bets that are placed against me!"
"What no way he beat Lord Robert so easily! I am not betting again!" Said a guy from the audience.
"Are you crazy? Lord Stark is completely sober and he is a good fighter as good as Lord Baratheon. No matter how good Arthur is, I don't believe he can beat Lord Stark drunk." Argued another audience member.
Oh, thank you, random guy.
Eddard frowned a little at the situation in front of him.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone