[Chapter Size: 3200 Words.]
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Pessoa Thrid POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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The tournament might have ended, but the celebrations continued throughout the following days, especially among the common folk, who kept talking about the event. Here, Jon Artica triumphed gloriously over Prince Renly Baratheon's champion, Loras Tyrell.
Ballads of Jon's victory over Loras echoed throughout the city, with Jon hailed as the hero of the tournament. It also highlighted the bet between them involving a Valyrian steel sword and lands that would make many nobles envious. Jon was acclaimed as the foreign king who had won vast lands from the prince of Westeros.
There were some rumors claiming that Jon had won because he was a sorcerer who controlled animals, but these were not very compelling, while most believed that it was all nonsense—no one believed in magic without concrete evidence.
Jon was well aware of this, as, besides some of his men walking around the city, his birds were also frequently seen there as they continued with the festivities. Even the ballad about little Joe was heard; the bards were surely hoping that Jon would magically appear and hand out a thousand gold coins, as he did with the bard from the archery tournament.
And speaking of which, Jon was eating while he went back to one of his men to talk about this man. "How is our prisoner?" Jon asked his royal guard.
"He knows he's trapped, but he seems quite devoted to his lord," the royal guard replied as Jon nodded.
"I figured Doria wouldn't send just anyone," said Jon. "And did they catch the others? I haven't asked about that for days."
"Yes, my king, as you instructed, we followed them for a few days and caught the birds in their hideout along with the letters. They are stored away until you ask for them," reported one of his men.
Jon felt this and gave a small smile while looking at his wife. "Can you stay here a bit with Arya? I'll go sort this out," he requested and headed towards the aviary. He wanted more eyes in King's Landing, so using these directly contacted birds was the best thing.
After finalizing his control over the birds, he released them into the sky as they headed east. "What should we do with the children, my king?" the royal guard asked, after watching the birds disappear into the sky.
"We'll keep them until we leave, then release them. There's no use for us to hold spies, and they are children. I refuse to do this when they were just spying on us," said Jon, since they didn't have any information about them; it was just a silly game that was easily caught by the wargs in the camp.
Jon continued in the camp and spent some time with his wife until Garland came to meet him and he nodded, mounting his wolf and heading back to the castle, since he had to finish his negotiations.
Upon arriving as usual, he was greeted by the usual members, with Willas leading him to the castle while his wife and Arya were accompanied by Margaery and her ladies-in-waiting.
Jon went to a room to organize negotiations with several nobles from the Reach. He had been doing this over the past few days and had increased the demand even more after the tournament ended, buying a horse here, there, setting prices for his products, as he had to maintain his trade policies.
In the end, Jon finally finalized all his negotiations, doing the same with his products as he did with Dorne. Despite some problems during his visit in the Reach, it was not bad, on the contrary, there was no fool like Oberyn and his daughters.
In the end, he had made so much money that, basically, it was a bonus, since in total they had taken more than 500,000 gold coins. The Tyrell family was in serious trouble with their treasury because of this, since just the tournament cost 200 thousand and they lost even more in the bet.
Willas did not seem very happy about it, but what could they do? His grandmother had said, after all, to give him the money, as he did not want to have a bad reputation, since the name of our family would be at stake. It would not be good for the Tyrells to have a name that accompanies their house being the opposite of the Lannister family, since they always pay their debts...
In the end, Jon left the negotiation room satisfied. He had spent the amount of 500,000 golden dragons he had won, adding up to a total of over 800,000 gold coins and purchasing at least 8,000 war-ready, powerful breed horses, with the first batch of 3,000 already being prepared for the ships. Over the last few days, he appreciated Villas's suggestions and ended up accepting these breeds that the man had praised.
Jon had big plans for these horses. He himself could improve and breed them easily. He would have his army equipped with a powerful cavalry, which would make Artica even stronger.
"King of Artica..." As Jon exited the room with Willas, Garlan quickly approached while calling his attention.
"Yes?" Jon asked, with three royal guards behind him.
"My grandmother is asking if there could be a private conversation between you two," he said, and Jon thought about it—Lady Olenna wanting to have a word with him at this time, since we've practically negotiated everything.
Jon nodded in the end, "Alright, lead the way." He requested and then followed him to meet with the matriarch of House Tyrell, seated in the garden sipping tea alone. Jon had never stopped to talk with her alone, which he found strange, but approached with curiosity.
"You finally arrived, king of Artica..." She spoke as soon as he appeared.
"Lady Olenna." Jon approached the spot, while his guards maintained some distance for a private conversation.
"You know... I feel so young when in the company of a man so handsome, especially when he's the hero of the tournament, perhaps a deadly sword on the battlefield, they say so much about you that I can't decide..." she said sarcastically while raising an eyebrow.
Jon approached without saying anything, not wanting to give any response to that woman. "Is it alright if I sit here?" was the only thing he said while she gave an obvious gesture.
He sat in front of her and looked at the garden while she stared at him. His gaze returned to her a moment later.
"..." Olenna said nothing but kept analyzing him.
"..." Jon also remained silent, waiting for this woman to finish whatever she was doing...
It was then that she decided to break the silence. "Tell me, King of Artica... what is your vision for the future?" She asked suddenly, wasting no time. Olenna did not like to beat around the bush with pretty words.
Jon raised an eyebrow at her, surprised by the question, but decided to answer. "Well, to enrich and create a prosperous kingdom. A kingdom that need not worry about anything, that has no enemies, only allies," Jon commented with a smile.
"A kingdom with only allies and no enemies, that's rather naive, don't you think, boy? We all have enemies..." she commented, and he just gave a tight-lipped smile.
"You can say that I know very well what I'm talking about, Lady Olenna," he replied, maintaining a more serious look.
"..." Olenna looked at him for a while. "What do you plan for Westeros...?" She suddenly asked with an earnest tone.
Jon heard this and pondered the question for a moment. She wanted to know what he exactly planned with the seven kingdoms, not that a conversation could confirm anything, but it would be a start to see if Jon was a threat. "I have nothing against Westeros, we are not from these realms and prefer to keep our relationship as trading partners, but you know, I can't let any of my kin die here, or even if any Artican was killed by hands from this realm, I will respond accordingly." Jon spoke with a tone even firmer than serious.
"Even your common people?" She asked curiously, after all, Jon seemed to care about all the people with him.
"Even the common people, Lady Olenna... their safety is my responsibility," Jon said.
"I see..." Olenna seemed to ponder Jon's words for a moment, it was rare to see a noble say that about their people. "Perhaps you are more like Lord Stark than I thought..." She spoke, "As honorable as the wolf of the north?"
"I do not consider myself an honorable person, Lady Olenna. I will do what it takes to save my people. Even if it means committing a massacre..." Jon spoke in a somber tone.
"..." Olenna heard this, knowing Jon had his limits, but she maintained a half-smile on her face and her gaze as sharp as ever. "And what are your intentions with the Tyrells? After all this negotiation, you must have some expectations."
Jon returned to a calm demeanor. "My intention is to ensure there are no hard feelings between our people. The negotiations were tough and long, but fair. I hope we can look to the future as partners, not rivals," Jon said, though he didn't quite believe it if he were honest.
"That's good... but tell me something... If you had any right below the wall... would you claim anything?" She suddenly asked.
Although Jon found the question odd... he answered it calmly. "I have no rights, and even if I did, I'm not interested in managing lands that don't belong to Artica," Jon said sincerely, believing she was referring to Winterfell.
"Hm... It seems you are not as ambitious as I initially thought," she said.
"I have my own ambitions, Lady Olenna, and lands in the south are not among them, except of course, acquiring some land areas where I can build a port under the Artican flag to boost trade," Jon said.
"Interesting, but you know this will be very upsetting for some nobles, Lord Hightower is worried about losing trade in Oldtown and I bet the old lion, Tywin Lannister, must be gnashing his teeth right now..." She mocked.
"If that's the case, they want unfair competition, and are petty in my opinion. Trade is always a good way to bring more prosperity with more products on the market and more affordable prices for the common people," Jon commented. He entered with his company to boost world trade, those fools who think they want to stop his products will bring bad situations for their own trade, after all with Dorne already trading Artican products, this would make people interested in these lands.
"Well, I would let them scream and complain... Though I believe the old lion will see some positive points in your trade... Do you plan to go there?" She asked.
"Yes, but I want to go to Oldtown first, I want to pick up a large amount of books at the Citadel," Jon said as Olenna raised an eyebrow to that.
"You intend to go there...? I would advise you to be careful..." Olenna was sincere, she knew that Lord Hightower had a hostile look towards Jon and even the maesters seemed quite agitated last week.
"I know how to take care of myself, Lady Olenna..." Jon spoke in a calm tone.
"Anyway, we would like to visit this kingdom one day, when will you open your kingdom..." She asked, knowing that Jon was taking people to educate his people and holding them for 5 years in Artica.
"In a few years, I will make a trip to the east soon, I will stay there a year before returning to the kingdom, I plan to work on this as soon as we stabilize our economy for the world," Jon talked a bit about his superficial plans.
"I see..." She said in the end as they ended up talking about other topics, but nothing as important as the topics discussed before, Jon knew she was looking at him strangely the entire time, as if she was trying to indicate someone in her, and when she spoke of his father, she never said he was his father, unlike when referring to Arya, which was strange, and it was even strange she asked if he had any right to lands beyond Artica, since he was a bastard. But Jon knew that if he pressed and asked about this fact, he wouldn't get the answer he wanted.
"It was a pleasure talking with you, King of Artica, I hope we have good business and a good journey to your kingdom..." She commented still analyzing him, while he nodded.
"Goodbye, Lady Olenna. I hope our trade is very prosperous, I enjoyed spending a good amount of gold with you on those horses and livestock animals," Jon said, after all, he didn't just buy breed horses, but many animals to raise in Artica and have a meat system that could supply the entire population that would soon grow, as well as his wolves and other animals in the forest area within the walls.
Jon began to leave, meeting his wife and other ladies outside, when Lady Margaery approached to greet him with the same look she always gave him. "King Jon... I hope you have a good journey, I will miss your wife and sister greatly, it's a shame not to have such charming and intelligent company anymore." She spoke in a courteous tone.
"It is true that Highgarden has been quite welcoming, and we will not forget that, but we must continue our journey. We are moons away from home and I intend for my children to be born on my lands, so we must move on." Jon spoke as she nodded, still looking at him, almost trying to seduce him.
After that, Jon went on to greet Willas and Garlan, with Renly and Loras also appearing. Renly called him over to talk a lot; Jon knew that the man wanted to form an alliance and could see his ambitions for his brother's throne, which was very strange. But matters of Westeros were not something he wanted to get involved in, not when his father, Bran, or even Rickon were not at risk.
Jon didn't care much for Robb or Sansa, after all, he had hardened his heart towards those two many years ago. Then, after greeting these people, he began to organize his departure while heading to his camp. His men were already organizing all sorts of items and packing up their tents quickly.
Jon had also left a stock to keep the banquets going as a toast. After all, the parties here would continue for another week after the end of the tournament.
Many were a bit frustrated with the champion of the joust leaving, but Jon could no longer waste time. While Oak Garden was infested with his ships at this time, loading all the horses he had managed to acquire in the first place.
8,000 select horses are not easy to organize, so they had to load only what they managed for this trip, which was 3,000 initially from the first negotiations they had 2 weeks ago.
There were many nobles with a good number of these horses, and with the absence of wars in Westeros, they were not so necessary, making them easy to acquire. Jon had already organized to pick up the other 5,000 horses when he brought the new trade cargo.
Jon arrived at the camp while everything seemed quite agitated. A man came to speak to him as soon as he arrived. "My king... there is a man here to speak with you, he insisted that you had a proposal for him and he said he was your opponent in the first joust of the tournament..." The man spoke while Jon raised an eyebrow to this...
"Samwell Tarly?" Jon asked.
"Yes, my king." The guard confirmed.
"I'll speak with him, where is he?" Jon asked.
"He's in the main tent, which we haven't taken down yet." He said and Jon nodded.
"Let's go there." Jon said.
Inside the tent, Samwell was quite uncomfortable, while everyone there looked at him, there were at least 6 Articans taking care of him, the dwarves seemed to stare at him as if he was a dead man, and for Samwell, it was frightening.
"Can you stop scaring him?" Jon's voice emerged as everyone saw him entering. "Leave me with him alone." Jon ordered while the men finally nodded and left.
"King Jon..." Samwell said cautiously.
"Few people call me that, Samwell Tarly..." Jon did not fail to say as most everyone called him King of Artica.
"I apologize, I didn't mean to offend you!" Samwell quickly apologized, not wanting to offend this man.
"No offense taken, my friend. Tell me, are you here for the proposal I made?" Jon asked.
"Yes... and I initially wanted to thank you for what you did in the first game of the joust... I know you did something with my horse... King Jon, I mean, King Artica..." He spoke, aware of the rumors about Jon and knowing that horse was beyond his control.
"It was nothing... I saw that you needed some help there..." Jon said in a calm tone, not minding something like this being revealed to this guy.
"Thank you... I think I've never been looked upon so favorably by my father..." Samwell commented, recalling how his father, without a word, nodded to him, while his family exclaimed how he had learned to ride in that manner.
Samwell continued. "And about your proposal to go to Artica... I'm sorry... I couldn't do that..." He said, after all, despite feeling favorably about it, he was afraid to leave just like that.
"..." Jon looked at him for a while and nodded, understanding. "That's alright, I just hope you won't regret this." Jon finally said.
"Yes... I hope so too..." Samwell said in the end, and they concluded the conversation there, while Jon went back to organizing the camp with the Articans. He finally wrapped it up as everyone prepared for the journey, and after a few hours, a large crowd of nobles and commoners watched the group depart, hoping to see those giants and Jon, the hero of the tournament and the victor of the final joust, finally leaving. Eldric also managed to secure a bride; he came to talk to him about a woman from the South, and his family ended up betting on this marriage. They were from a very small family, just a vassal of another Tyrell vassal, so it was an opportunity for that noblewoman, even though Eldric was not a noble, he certainly had a name in Artica.
This was done with a contract with the family, as the woman would not be able to have contact with her family for the next few years, but as soon as Artica could be opened, they could go visit.
With that, Jon had all the contracts ready and was finally departing, heading to his fleet at sea again and moving on to his next point, which would be Oldtown after Lord Hightower insisted heavily for him to go there. No one imagined that this would be the starting point of a chaos that would spread throughout Westeros from that point on.
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