章 100: Chapter 100
You were still a bit surprised that Lord Palno's resistance had melted away as swiftly as it did, but you supposed it made sense, since the Vale and the North were probably the only places isolated enough for such purity and idealism to thrive. Though you weren't foolish enough to believe that his advisors could be swayed in the same manner, so you speedily reconstructed your innocent facade and quietly waited with the young lord in his chamber. There was after all still plenty of time to set everything up, and so you simply observed your newest companion's efforts to convince his men, till only two of his advisors still opposed the idea openly.
Though from where you stood their concerns wouldn't be too hard to overcome as you could tell that they felt as if they just stumbled around in the dark. And it was clear that the feeling had only strengthened after they heard your description of what had happened to the Vale, which took quite a bit of weight off your shoulders. For while they disagreed with his decision, they still acknowledged the need for more information, and so hadn't brought up his duty to the lands of House Palno to stop him.
Which was great since such remarks if worded incorrectly could have easily insinuated things no lord of the Vale would forgive being accused of, nor would their knights overlook them. And while you couldn't have cared less about their fates if they turned out to be incompetent enough to utter them, the fact remained that the opening you had created for yourself would have closed the moment they did so. For despite their messed up priorities, the stagnation, and sometimes outright incompetence, the fact that the vassals of House Arryn upheld their duties to both land and liege no matter what remained an issue to be wary of.
And while you doubted you would personally have any trouble as you were still a representative of House Lannister, you nevertheless understood that no one, especially not a group of nobles, should ever be underestimated because of something as deceiving as their past failures. Your master might be able to manipulate them at will, and crush them and their castles in all manner of ways if they got in the way from the other side of the continent. But you very much so doubted any of that would save you if you stepped on the wrong toes in the coming weeks because you thought yourself better than them.
Especially since the Vale was at the end of the day a realm ruled by might and not virtue with all the Mountain Clan raids, so much so that even the little Lord Palno had some decent skill with the sword if his tutors were anything to go by. And while he might have been cute under that shell of his, you had no doubt that House Palno would have returned to a state of prosperity on the day said shell was no longer needed, though you supposed it actually depended on the decisions of your master now.
Sigh, no matter how hard you tried, nothing of this felt right to you as the amount of stuff you had to consider slowly but surely pushed you into madness as you failed to comprehend these nobles again and again. One day you saw them as vain fools, the next one they felt just unbelievably incompetent as you listened to what the people of Nora had schemed behind the back of their lord. And just as swiftly your mind had reclassified them as threats and paragons of virtue at the same time after you had talked to one of the most inexperienced lords on Westeros for the fraction of a day, absolute madness.
Mayhaps you had actually managed to displease your master, since this position that only one of those insane nobles could have ever desired and that you were honestly unqualified for seemed to only get worse the closer you got to your target. The saving grace of the situation was of course your newest and still innocent companion that occupied himself with paperwork, but you very much so doubted he would remain innocent for much longer once he saw with his own eyes what had become of his homeland.
Though as the talks about the basic logistics of the journey carried on you soon found that your thoughts strayed farther and farther into depravity the more you observed the cute efforts of your little companion while you ignored the looks you were given as you did so. Hmm, now that you thought about it, perhaps if you managed to convince your master that his true value actually lay somewhere else, in another profession than lord since he undeniably lacked experience, then mayhaps, if you played your cards right, you might even be allowed to keep him under your wing.
It sounded a bit insane since he had if you were brutally honest shown little promise as even the most powerful paragons of virtue still needed wills of steel and endurance to match said willpower to succeed. But while your mind couldn't help but doubt his abilities as you once more considered the current state of Nora, you still found that you desired a decent future for your little companion. And while you very much so doubted that the strain House Arryn's downfall would put onto House Palno's lands would hit him lightly, there were still opportunities in House Lannister's expansion.
It felt a bit ridiculous that you changed from the best assassin in the realm to something alike to an overprotective friend, but while you were drawn to the boy, you also saw a bit of a chance to redeem yourself. Every tiny bit counted after all, and you had received a title and a nice bit of land from your master that you supposed still needed some additional people. And an agreement that allowed you to safely take your little treasure and his men with you to the Westerlands once House Arryn ceased to exist actually sounded like a halfway decent idea the longer you thought about it.
The lords and culture of the Westerlands had probably their own unique kind of madness to them, but as long as your little Asten could be around you without his shell and these distracting busybodies that stared at you like madmen, you would be satisfied. For while there was still plenty of time to find something he has a talent for before the Rock made its move, the fact that House Lannister had taken an interest in the lands of House Palno remained. And since it would be easier to take land that no longer belonged to anyone, it would be good if things were sorted out before the Lannisters desired more direct control over Nora.
And once he was no longer connected to the lands of his House and Nora's harbour all reasons for your master or the gods to take an interest in you and Asten would swiftly vanish, and you would be free to do with him as you wished unbothered. You needed a moment till you fully realised how far your thoughts had strayed, but once you did, you just silently continued to observe Asten as he sent off the men that still remained in the chamber a little more conscious of their looks, something definitively wasn't right.
...
Thanks for reading.
In the next chapter we will once more change the point of view, this time to Dallin, Azami's scribe. And to those who wonder, yes, I did turn Ayna into a shotacon, focus on the 'turn'.
Ayna desperately wanted to be of some use to Azami for quite some time, and the gods finally got up and actually did something. Though said interference comes at a price similar to the one of Marie's ability to communicate with them directly.
Marie has what I would call sadistic bouts as her body tries to continuously shake off the influence of the gods upon her, while Ayna got her brain rewired in exchange for some gifts that will make her a better assassin as the story progresses.
I tried my best to write a bit of chapter 99 and most of chapter 100 in a way that should make it clear that her mental state is getting pretty messed up. But I'm still a bit unsure how good of a job I did with writing this rapid degradation of her mind and how much you guys liked or disliked it.
So I would ask you guys for your opinions, did you find her change into a shotacon interesting, funny, or simply annoying?
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