Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Jon sighed tiredly after eliminating another mercenary, his boss Arthur had given the mission to him and Grenn, it was supposedly a simple escort mission, but his beloved leader forgot to tell him that they were transporting gold. And Grenn offered to accompany him, he knew perfectly well that the boy offered because he wanted to talk about Jen, it was no secret that Grenn was madly in love with Jon's slave and Pym told him that he thinks the slave has a northern look and possibly resembles Grenn's great love, the daughter of a villager he lived with who had a relationship with him before getting engaged.
They were targeted by three squadrons of black mercenaries, fortunately not only were they escorting the gold, but also a dozen slave soldiers from the guard.
Jon openly admitted that they fought well, they were trained in the best way, at least that's what he thought when he saw the spearman pierce the neck of another mercenary with his spear.
Grenn did his best to survive, he was not used to battle and he was not very well trained either, but his large body and defined muscles made him deliver strong saber blows that numbed his rivals just by hitting them, and his innate resistance made him able to deliver several saber blows before getting tired.
Jon had to save him only twice, and he freely admitted that Grenn had greatly improved his swordsmanship compared to when he started and that he didn't know how to control his strength and the sword would slip out of his hands.
Jon saw three men approaching quickly and attacked with a quick attack and eliminated two, Ghost at his side jumped on the third and ripped out his jugular.
Jon saw a war elephant riding towards them.
"Shit, they have an elephant" he muttered and ran away.
He dodged the elephant's leg and plunged his sword into it. The animal screamed and fell along with the man riding it. Jon quickly drove his sword into the animal's temple, ending its suffering. He approached the mercenary who was getting up and eliminated him with a stab to the heart.
Jon finished off the last one and they continued on their way.
" So staying on topic, regarding Jen," the big guy said.
Jon rolled his eyes.
" If she's interested, why are you asking me? " Jon said.
" Well you know, with all that, that she is your slave, I notice that she would not be willing to start a relationship with me," he said.
" I already told you to buy her freedom with the money you accumulate from the tavern" Jon indicated.
" Yes, yes... I know that, but you haven't seen her, she's the first one to get up to prepare breakfast, at night she waits for you to leave to go to sleep, it seems to me that she's just waiting for you to change your mind to take her to bed" he clarified.
Jon knew that.
Jen was a slave captured by the Dothraki in Lhazar when she was very young, it was normal for the Dothraki to attack there, the people there are usually farmers and shepherds, with few warriors. Jen was taken by the Dothraki, but abandoned because of her youth, she was recaptured in Meeren and sold to Volantis when she grew up to serve as a bed warmer. Jon wanted to feel sorry for her, but the truth is that her story is not the saddest he has heard, the slavery of Essos has left many tragic tales with her people.
But Jen was trained in the carnal arts, since she arrived in Volantis, and persuaded to always serve her master, something like being free is a ridiculous dream for the girl, of course, when Jon told her about it, the girl did not believe him.
From her own perspective, there are good and bad masters, those who offer freedom are nothing more than a measure to keep her docile, and the girl expects Jon to enter her bedroom every night, and every night Jon does not attend.
Of course that doesn't mean that the girl doesn't appreciate Grenn, he had seen her laugh at things he said to her while managing the bar, and she also spoke to him in a non-formal way, like with the other mercenaries.
Even Arthur had told her that they might get married if she wins her freedom and Grenn has the balls to propose to her.
The boy continued on his way with Grenn at his side to the tavern. They were welcomed by Jen, while Jon went to Arthur to inform him of the mission, Grenn stayed having a drink and trying to make conversation with Jen.
"Well?" Arthur asked.
"Just some black mercenaries, nothing more" Jon replied.
Arthur nods
" Good job, our fame is growing, more nobles want us... Jon, we should talk in private " he said and pointed up.
The boy frowned and followed him.
'He's very serious ' he thought.
They came to a room, there was a map on a table, everything was in disarray with dozens of papers scattered on the table.
"Excuse the mess, this is where we handle contracts…Adam should clean it up" he muttered.
Jon frowned at hearing him so cordially, without his usual self-praise.
"Is something wrong?" the boy asked.
The man tells him to take a seat.
"Information" he muttered.
Jon sat down.
" Not everything is insured, but Adam tells me it's 80 percent safe" he clarified.
"What? " the boy asked.
Arthur sighed.
"There is news from Westeros… Your father Eddard Stark is being accused of treason" he said.
Jon almost fell out of his chair.
" Betrayal? Ridiculous... My father is King Robert's best friend, he would never betray him" said the bastard.
Arthur sighed and said.
"King Robert is dead, hunting accident if the rumors are true" he indicated.
Jon shook his head.
"Impossible" he muttered.
The door slammed and Adam walked in.
"I see you're telling him, very well, I've already confirmed the rumors" he indicated.
Jon turned to look at him.
"Jon, I'll be direct" the man clarified.
Jon looked at him
"I confirm your father has declared that King Joffrey is a bastard born of incense between the queen and her twin, Ned Stark is on trial, Sansa Stark is a prisoner in King's Landing, Arya Stark is missing, Robb Stark is at war with the Lannisters. In addition Stannis and Renly, Robert's brothers, have each declared themselves king and are fighting for the succession to the throne" said the accountant.
Jon sighed wearily.
" I have to go" he muttered.
The boy left the place, Adam and Arthur followed him.
" Jon wait," said Adam.
"What should I wait? You don't understand Adam, I have to go" he indicated.
" Jon, how are you going? It takes weeks for a ship to leave from here to King's Landing? " he indicated.
" Well, I'll threaten the captain if necessary" he muttered.
" You will die," Arthur said.
" And if I don't go, my family will... You don't understand, Arthur " the boy exclaimed.
" You are wrong... I understand perfectly, almost everyone in the Green company understands that... You must buy your ticket... Buy from a captain" he indicated.
"I have hundreds of silver coins and 15 gold ones, as well as any honors I won here," Jon told him.
A mercenary stood up from a table.
" Family is important" he muttered "I couldn't save mine, not from those pirates," he said and placed a bag with coins on Jon's table.
He looked at him in surprise.
Another mercenary approached.
"My sister was captured by Dothraki, I fought with them, but I couldn't do anything" another one muttered and left another bag.
Jon watched as one by one the sellswords placed bags of gold on the table for him. They all had their stories. On the cruel continent of Essos. Families were torn apart, some sisters, others mothers, others wives, others entire families, everyone in the tavern had their unfortunate stories in which they failed to protect what mattered most.
"Master...No Jon" he heard Jen and she gave him the last coin she had.
"Jen…But that's for your freedom" Jon said.
" I'm free now, just... I hadn't realized" she said.
"You see Jon, we all have our sad stories... We understand the situation perfectly" Arthur said, depositing a bag of coins.
" My mother was very beautiful, so beautiful that everyone admired her, unfortunately, the leader of the elephants did too. I fought with them, Father too, but they were very strong, I swore to become strong, join their troops, and kill the bastard, but I failed" Arthur muttered.
"We both failed" they heard and saw an old man who never used to leave the kitchen, Jon saw him completely for the first time, he was missing an eye like his son, and three fingers on his right hand.
" We failed, but you won't Snow... You save your family" said the old man placing down a large bag full of gold coins.
"I don't know what to say," Jon whispered.
"I don't have any money, but I do know that my father complained because when he went to King's Landing the codes to get into the cells were not updated since Lord Lannister considers them impenetrable. If the codes are the same, the Golden Lion is the one that was used three years ago" Sam indicated.
" When I first started acting I made friends in a tavern called the Blue Whale, he owes me some favors, collect them, James Alan is the name of the owner " Pym indicated.
Grenn smiled, time to show off.
" Years ago I wanted to impress a lady, and I went with adventurers to King's Landing, to try to be a guard. It didn't work out so well, thieves robbed us and kidnapped us, they took us to their guard to see if we would join them, we managed to escape from them of course, but I do remember the tunnels. From port 12, a small entrance to the right, leads to the sewers, and from the sewers, you can get to the outside of the dungeons, although I can't guarantee that, it's been 2 years since then" Grenn told him.
Jon smiled.
"Thank you," he said.
Adam smiled.
" Well, if I had known about something like that, I would have brought money, but I'd rather offer you services, I'll get a boat that will accept that amount, to go to the King's Landing and wherever you want to take your family" indicated the accountant.
"Can you do it with so little money?" Jon asked.
"Don't underestimate me, Snow" he said with a smile and left for the docks.
" Well now that everything is settled boss, I think we should say goodbye to Jon, properly" Grenn clarified.
Arthur smiled and all the mercenaries followed suit.
"LET'S DRINK"
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Danny looked intently out the window, sighed heavily, Vizerys told her that marriage was necessary to get his army, but she didn't understand why she had to get married, why doesn't he marry some noblewoman from the army?
"It's not fair," she muttered.
Although she would never tell her brother, not if she didn't want to be punished by him.
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Robb Stark prepared for the excursion, his Uncle the Blackfish had already left and driven the Lannisters out, the problem was the mountain, the dog of Tywin was in the Riverlands, and the boy did not know if his men could handle it.
He had already taken care of sending Joffrey a letter with his ultimatum, he knew it would be of no use, but he must try.
"Are you ready?" asked his best friend Theon.
The boy nodded and rode ahead on his horse to visit his uncle's castle. And to see his grandfather's funeral.
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Jon watched as night fell and some sailors were making a lot of noise on the deck.
" PIRATES" he heard and the boy left the dressing room with Ghost.
He saw a ship approaching, they were not pirates, men of iron.
He knew that the ironborn attacked villages, but also merchant ships. There were no witnesses to this, but his father suspected the possibility. It was their way of feeding themselves, attacking fishing or merchandise ships, and selling them on black markets.
The boy saw the sailors launch flaming arrows at the approaching ship, but little could stop the ironborn.
Jon prepared himself, a dozen men jumped onto his ship, with swords, spears, and war axes.
"For them" he muttered.
With Ghost, he didn't need anything else, he jumped on the closest one, tearing off one of his arms.
Jon also attacked, and a few sailors accompanied him with swords and daggers.
The first Iron Man attacked Jon, who stopped his saber with his own and hit him with his fist, sending him to the ground. Another one approached him from behind, but was knocked down by a sailor.
"Fight," the sailor exclaimed, before being stabbed in the back.
"Quick Attack" Jon Muttered
He lunged at the iron man who had stabbed the sailor and the latter immediately lost his head.
Jon continued his slaughter of the others, the sailors holding them at bay. The ship's captain, one Ron Wendel, was a big, dark-skinned man who wielded a scimitar.
"What do we do?" he asked, not having much experience with ironborn.
Jon thought about it for a moment and an idea came to his mind.
"Let's board their ship, they are defenseless on it, they brought their warriors to us" he indicated.
The captain smiled at the idea.
"Approach them" he exclaimed.
Jon and ghost jumped onto the new ship, the ironborn were surprised by the strategy, never had a merchant ship boarded them, the first ones had no chance to react.
Jon took out the first one as soon as he jumped with a saber blow to the neck, the direwolf the second one by launching itself on him and tearing off his face. The sailors who arrived with him did not take long to eliminate a couple, the ironborn reacted, but a dozen had already died in the first attack.
"KILL THEM" exclaimed the captain of these, a fat guy with a dirty beard, who was carrying a battle axe as a weapon.
Two ironborn headed towards Jon while the sailors fought with the others, Jon evaded the first and attacked the second, he held back the attack, the quick attack magic had disappeared and the ironborn took the lead.
"Raven" Jon muttered, hitting the floor of the ship. A raven appeared and attacked an ironborn, pecking out his eyes, his screams echoed hauntingly.
"WITCH!" The other screamed in horror and couldn't avoid Jon's stab directly to his chest.
The captain jumped overboard and used his battle axe and began killing the sailors.
"You warlock... I saw you... You will die for the glory of House Farwynd... I, Yohn Farwynd, will kill you" the captain exclaimed.
Jon remembered the name, the Garwynds of Lonely Light, one of Theon Greyjoy's father's vassals. Theon had told him and Robb about them during sword training.
" Apparently that thing about them being skinchangers is a tale, " the boy thought.
The boy killed another ironborn and the captain attacked him with the axe, Jon stopped the attacks, Ghost growled but Jon with a gesture of his hand, stopped his attack.
"I'll take care of it, friend," he said.
The man laughed.
" You are very green, your head will be my new mast, and your wolf's skin my cape" clarified the captain of the ironborn.
Jon sighed wearily and quickly got on guard. He charged, but the captain stopped him with his axe, and Jon spun back to avoid the blow he threw.
" I have to finish it...Quick Attack" he muttered.
The attack was really fast, the captain couldn't evade it and Jon's thrust hit his chest, but to Jon's surprise it didn't go through him, and the ironborn threw a blow with his axe, Jon easily evaded it, and saw that the thrust he had given him had shiny fragments in his chest.
" Heh, armor under the clothes" he muttered.
The captain of the ironborn listened to him and smiled while shrugging his shoulders.
" Great, I have to face a man born of iron, clever " Jon cursed.
Without thinking any further, he took things seriously. And he stood on guard, the man laughed at the boy who stood in defense and moved his axe over his head in a couple of turns, then jumped on Jon.
Jon evaded the attack, counterattacked, the ironborn ignored his attacks that hit his armor, but he did not give in, it hurt a little, but nothing he could not withstand.
" There is no option, I have little mana, but for now it will do, " thought the boy.
Jon put his sword forward to stop the captain's attack, he smiled and attacked with all his strength on the sword.
"You fought well, kid, but you're finished! " exclaimed the captain, launching his final attack with all his might.
"Strong attack" Jon muttered.
Jon attacked the blade of the war axe with all his power, the strength increased with the strong attack skill, sending the Axe out of the hands of the ironbron, falling into the sea, he was surprised and with horror he saw how Jon launched a new attack, hitting him in the chest, the noises of his armor cracking was heard, pieces of metal were embedded in his chest and he fell to his knees to the ground.
"Oh this was a good day, the drowned god will take me and I will reign at his side full of riches" the captain murmured watching Jon approach.
" All men die" the captain muttered.
Jon cut off his head with a stab. He felt the same adrenaline rush and saw everything shine.
He reached the white room and approached the AI, selecting Player Menu. His Status and abilities appeared on the screen.
Name: Jon Snow
Level: 4
Skill Points: 4
Exp: 0/190
You can spend four skill points.
Skills:
Swordsmanship Level: 2
Strong Attack: Gives an attack bonus.
cost: 15 mana
Quick Attack: Gives a speed boost.
cost: 20 mana
Magic Invocations Level: 1
cost: 10 mana
Animal:
Small fish (Random, no more than 10cm)
Small animals (Mouse, beaver, rabbit, crow)
Survival:
Piece of meat (Cow/Pig/Chicken/Fish), knife, tent, wood.
Magic:
Equipment, everything that creatures kill, create, or gain, gives experience to the user.
Does not spend mana.
The two summoning magic was tempting, but he knew that for the moment, he needed the sword, to improve as a mercenary.
After a moment of hesitation, he pressed the swordsmanship skill.
Do you want to level up your swordsmanship to level 3?
The boy sighed and typed Yes. He felt pain all over his body, dozens of images of new sword techniques appeared in his head.
Swordsmanship level 3 Acquired
Swordsmanship Level: 3
Fire Aura: Gives a fire bonus to your attacks, a 40 percent chance of burning the opponent.
cost : 30 mana
Jon looked curiously at the fiery aura, how would it be, would the sword burn or would nothing happen? He pressed exit and returned to the real world.
He saw the rest of the surviving ironborn jump into the water and swim away. The captain burst out laughing.
" Run away cowards, run away! " he laughed.
"We have the wizard!" shouted another sailor who saw him summon the raven.
Jon sighed wearily and looked at the captain.
" Now what? " he asked.
"Well, let's continue, this adventure has great rewards, now we have a new ship, possibly with riches, I'll tell you something, witch, for this, I'll take you wherever you want after the king's landing stage" he promised.
"Call me Jon," said the bastard.
The captain laughed.
"Check the entire ship, and Jameson, you will be in charge of the new ship" he shouted to the sailors.
They burst into shouts of victory.
Jon watched the sailors take out dozens of boxes, with food and weapons, they quickly divided the boxes into the two ships, the captain returned to his ship, and Jameson, a bald man of Jon's height, stayed with the other.
"Very well, straight to the King's Landing now," the captain told him, ready to set sail.
" Any plans? I need to bring some people with me from King's Landing. " Jon asked.
" We will take advantage of the merchandise obtained to sell it at the ports. It will take a couple of days, enough for you to do what you have to do" he indicated without interest in what Jon had to do in the kingdom.
Jon nodded and retreated to his dressing room.
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Sansa fell to the ground crying after reaching her room in the red fortress, her father's trial had ended, and he pleaded guilty, but the wall was not his punishment.
"Execution" she muttered, horrified.
The girl shook her head and could only cry.
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"You did the right thing, Lord Stark," Varys said from outside the bars.
" Keep your promise, spider. Save Sansa" Stark ordered.
The spy nodded.
" Don't worry, your daughter Sansa will enjoy my protection, just as I promised, you may not believe me but what you did was for the good of the kingdoms" he finished.
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Danny woke up suddenly. She had been having strange dreams for weeks, which she didn't quite understand. They were blurry images that she couldn't fully appreciate.
A black-haired man whose face could not be seen offered her a hand.
The same man looking at her sitting on a throne of gold and precious materials.
A few women around the same man told her to come closer.
A dream city with grand towers, gardens, and ponds full of beauty.
And finally the last image, the clear sky revealing dozens of dragons flying through it with riders on their backs.
Danny didn't quite understand her dreams.
" They are dreams, they are not real," she thought.
Still, she couldn't stop imagining what the man's face would look like, she couldn't stop admiring the beauty of the city or the sky covered in dragons.
"Princess, it's time for breakfast" she heard a maid tell her.
Danny got up and asked for a bath before that.
"It was just a dream, nothing more," she murmured as she was escorted to the bathroom by some slaves that Illiryo had given her.
[T/N: This was actually really good, I enjoyed translating this chapter. If you enjoyed it then leave a comment, write a review, and drop some stones. If you can't wait to read more chapters then check out the P@treon or my Ko-fi, Also check out my other book, Invisible-A Harry Potter FanFic]
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