I arrived at the Lannister's smaller personal training yard which was a few levels up. Unlike the larger Yard, only those with the name Lannister were permitted. Upon entering, I sat down on one of the benches and took a slow breath. My heart had been racing just a few minutes ago.
Arguing and debating had been something I was accustomed with, but this level of violence was rare for me. In my past life during my younger years, I had gotten into my fair share of fights. The closest I had gotten to this level of violence was sparring in a boxing ring.
With that said, I had hidden the nervousness, followed by the almost overwhelming excitement when I won.
"Did you plan all of that or were you improvising?" Ser Garrand asked curiously. "From what I could tell, Emmon was your target but Aenys took the bait. You provoked him so much that all he could think off was making you pay."
"Both actually, planned Emmon, but if Aenys Frey wanted to offer himself up…" I let the rest hang; I wasn't going to explain the details to them. Of course, Robar looked extremely confused as to what we were speaking about. I knew Kevan had more questions but he would ask when we were alone.
"So Young Lord Lannister, what is the opportunity you wish to speak to us about? You have more than pique my interest." Garrand gave me an almost knowing smile, 'he must have an idea of what I want to ask him.'
"I would like the both of you to join my service. I am to be marched off to King's Landing in a fortnight to serve in King Aegon's court. I do not wish to be at the mercy of others, so I am assembling my own protection. I have been watching you both for some time and I think you fit my standard well enough."
"A very tempting offer, but may I ask, how long do you intend to keep us in your service and what does the pay look like. I don't wish to offend you, I am a landless knight and my squire seeks to distinguish himself."
"Understandable. The position will be yours as long as you are willing or until you are dismissed. For you Ser Garrand, for the duration of time we are at in King's Landing until I return to the Westerlands; I will start you with 10 silver moons a month, plus food and board and standard armor and gear. Also horse and mule and stabling costs. You are unmarried are you not, any bastards that I should know about?"
"Not that I am aware of, no."
"Good, when the time comes for you to wed, we can renegotiate. Robar, for you, 5 silver moons a month, everything else is the same. At the time you have performed deeds worthy of you being knighted, I will increase your pay to match Ser Garrand. Is this satisfactory for both of you?" I asked the squire who was speechless. I could tell that he wasn't expecting a deal such as this when he came to the training yard today. Even if he was baseborn as they liked to say, Robar Hill was still a Crakehall, he was only 17, yet he was 6'1" and slightly wider than Ser Garrand.
"Yes, my Lord." Garrand answered. "Yes, my Lord, I accept, I accept." Robar hurriedly responded and bowed his head repeatedly as if I would change my mind. Garrand chuckled at his squire's antics.
"Any questions?" I asked as soon as Robar had calmed down.
"This should go without saying, but I will say it. I will not perform any deeds that will dishonor my House or myself my Lord. I know you are young and I see that you are indeed very cunning and one day you will be the Lord of Casterly Rock. So, I will make it clear from early."
"Very well, I can appreciate this, nor will I force either of you to dishonor yourselves. But know that I value those who exercise good judgement; on when and when not to act. I also appreciate those who know how to keep my secrets to themselves. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, my Lord." They both answered in unisons.
Garrand got down on his knee and was shortly followed by Robar. "I Garrand Prester, do solemnly swear by The Father, The Warrior and The Smith to serve and protect Tywin Lannister, so long as I am in his service." "I Robar Hill, solemnly swear by The Father, The Warrior and The Smith, to serve and protect Tywin Lannister, so long as I am in his service."
"I accept your oaths and I welcome you as the first of my personal guard. Meet me here in the morning just after dawn, you can use this training yard as no one uses it except me and my brother. Understood?"
"Yes, my lord, we will meet you then."
Both me and Kevan left, it would be sunset in a couple of hours, so I headed to my room to freshen up and get some rest, it had been a full day so far and I still had a meeting with my father to get over with. Kevan also looked tire, he was only 8 but acted like a grown man. His room was also not far from my own so we walked together there. On our way there I saw a servant and ordered her to arrange water for both me and Kevan to bathe.
"What has gotten into you? Your acting different." I assumed that he couldn't hold it back anymore.
As we rounded the corner, I wave for him to follow me to my room. We entered and I saw on the desk the giant tome that I had asked Maester Brayan to borrow for me. He must have acted quickly after the little talk I had with him. It is simply refreshing to work with competent and motivated people.
Kevan sat on a chair in my room and I sat of the edge of my bed after closing the door. "Since this morning, you've be acting different. It is, as if you are on a mission, like you're running out of time. I know you are angry with father for last night and sending you to King's Landing, but Tywin, you have been acting like someone is chasing you."
I paused; he was right. Since I had woken up in this body, my mind had been racing about all the things I needed to do. I had barely had 5 mins to myself in between schemes since I had left this room this morning. Prior to that I had woken up and already constructed the rough outline of a plan for what I needed to do based of what I remembered from the books and old Tywin's memories.
"Your right, I am upset by father's actions. He will be ruin of our House. There is just so much I need to do before I leave for King's Landing, and I am worried for our family." This answered seem to relieve Kevan as he slightly slumped in the chair.
"What can we do. Until you are old enough to take control of the House, all I can do is try to lessen the damage to our House. You won't be around for a few years."
I was impressed by Kevan's words, this was a child who had been groomed his entire life to be a leader. Not because of Tytos, but in spite of him. Lady Jeyne Marbrand, even if her husband was a craven and weak willed, always seeking approval from others, she had seen to it that her children had received the best teaching and training. Combined with Tywin's natural drive and focus, Kevan had only to look at his brother for a good role model to emulate. This was why I felt book Tywin had failed to capitalize on his relationships with his siblings.
"Even if you are right, we cannot remain idle. The day may come when others will rise up against father and his weakness. If that time comes, it is up to us to be ready to defend or rebuild the might of House Lannister. Father is weakening our House, all we can do until our time comes, is to train, learn and make relationships. All important things that we will need, including each other, you, Genna, Tygett and me. While I am gone, you will need to be their strength and guidance."
Even while he was tired, I could see that I had lit a fire in Kevan. His back went a little straighter, his face which had seemed a little dejected now showed resolve. 'I may have inspired him to work harder, if that is possible.'
"Anyway, get cleaned up and rest. I'll meet you for supper." At that Kevan got up and left. I had much to think about, was it really wise to go to King's Landing, would I even be guaranteed that I would be the Hand when Aerys ascended the Throne? This was a living breathing world, did the butterfly effect exist here or was events fixed in place by destiny?
Even if I didn't become the Hand, would Aerys still become enemies with me. If I remembered correctly, it was over jealousy over Tywin's achievement and his children with Joanna. Not that it would make a difference. As I lay there, I began to formulate a plan for dealing with Aerys first.
'I will use him right up until I am secure in my position as the Hand. It will be too dangerous to take the chance that someone else would wield so much influence over the realm besides me. At the first sign of madness or if an opportunity presents itself, then Aerys will meet an unfortunate demise. I will make myself so invaluable to the realm, while securing the allegiance of those close to whoever will be the heir. Whether it is Rhaegar or some other child in this timeline.'
Tywin in the books, had placed all of his eggs in one basket, depending too much on his children. As strange as it sounded, he hadn't been ruthless enough. He actually cared too much about his legacy to do what he needed to do to secure a win against King Aerys.
As dumb as Robert Baratheon was, he had seized the Iron Throne for himself. Had Tywin cast aside his fixation of a marriage alliance with his children and the Royal Family and plunged a blade into Aerys and taken the realm by force. He would have been King.
Tywin was highly regarded as the man who really ran the Seven Kingdoms, he had messed up during the Defiance of Duskendale and again at the Torney at Harrenhal. Book Tywin was quick to scheme but slow to just take what he wanted, relying on others to do his bidding. 'I guess I was the same in my past life. Huh, probably why I was chosen?' Either way, things would be different this time around.
As I closed my eyes, I finally remembered that I hadn't checked my 'status screen' since this morning. I had notice that the small golden dot in the corner of my closed eyes had been blinking since earlier, but I just never had a good opportunity to check it.
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Name; Tywin Lannister
Age; 10
Blessings; Divine Guidance
Titles; Heir to Casterly Rock, Tytos Lannister's Son
Bloodline; (Inactive)
Status;
Attributes;
Vitality- 6, Strength- 6, Stamina- 7, Agility- 7, Mind- 10, Will- 7, Charisma- 9(8+1), Luck- 10
(Free Attribute Points 0)
Skills- Sword Proficiency (basic-3), Dagger Proficiency (basic-1), Shield Proficiency(basic-3), Ridding Proficiency (basic-1), Archery (basic-1), Handwriting (basic-1), Reading (basic-1), Arithmetic (basic-1), Observation (basic 4), Inspire (basic 2)
Free Skill Points- 0
Quests;
*Defeat 5 or more opponents in single combat. (1/5) (rewards- 5 free SP on completion)
*Slay an opponent in battle. (0/1) (rewards- 3 free AP on completion)
*Gain 5 followers (completed). (5/5) (rewards- 1 AP to Charisma on completion(granted))
*Notice- Due to your recent actions and the speed at which you have completed the Quest; Gain 5 followers, you have been granted the hidden skill 'Inspire (basic 1)'
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Inspire- the ability to intuitive motivate those that follow you.
I was a little confused at how I was able to already have 5/5 followers when I expected to have 4/5. 'It must have been Maester Brayan or one of the men in the yard. Guess I don't need to formally accept them as followers, seeing as how Kevan and Genna must have been the 2/5 I had started with.
I will have to do some more probing into our young maester. If he is this quick to read between the lines, I guess he may be more useful that I thought.
Using 'Observation' I focused on 'Charima-9'
'Charima-9'- Your general attractiveness, ability to persuade, lead and how likeable you appear to targets who do not personally know you. This may change base on how familiar your target is with you. (9/15, 15 being the maximum base attribute value for the average of your species.)
'Straight forward enough.' What intrigued me was the part about- 15 being the maximum base attribute value for the average of your species. As I checked, this was the same for each Attribute. This meant that I had a chance to increase the limit. I remembered there was a Bloodline; (Inactive).
Bloodline; (Inactive)- At present, your Bloodline values are too low to be activated.
'Does this mean that I would be able to activate my Bloodline? If I remember correctly, there was the whole blood of old Valyria and blood of the First men.' I spent some time thinking on it before I moved on.
Sword Proficiency, Sheild Proficiency, Observation had gone up. It made sense, I had been drilling for a couple of hours straight. Plus, the fact that when I defeated Aenys Frey, it had counted to a win in single combat.
I had been abusing Observation all day since I had gotten it. Facial tics, body language, speech patterns, you name it and I had been trying my best to read it, from the fact that it increased, I guess it was working.
It had aided greatly this evening against Aenys Frey, predicting how tired he was and how he would strike. I was confident to take Emmon, but had I challenged Aenys when he was fresh and calm. I doubt I would have stood a chance. My plan had worked, now I needed to make a few more plans.
The old Tywin had 235 gold dragons, 186 silver moons, 220 silver stags and a few hundred copper stars. He had saved these from his allowance and name day presents for the past 3 years. This was the annual income of some minor houses, but he kept it neatly stacked in a chest in his wardrobe. No one knew this and no servant would dare look in his wardrobe where he hid it.
What I planned to pay Garrand and Robar would only amount to 6 gold dragons a year. I could more than sustain my duration in King's Landing out of the savings. But why should I the 'heir' of the wealthiest house in the realm have to use my personal savings.
I needed to secure some more funds from Tytos. Would need to higher more help, general expenses and also business opportunities in the Capital. If he didn't out right give it to me, I would guilt him into giving me a loan.
As I lay on my bed, I made a mental note of everything I would need to do before leaving to go to King's Landing. 'No doubt this evening's meeting is going to be lively, even if there are no uninvited guests.'
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Next Chapter-Guess who's coming to dinner?