9 Arc 2 - Welcome to Frostwood!

Ikarus Senju

Ikarus means `the one who reaches the sky`. It is quite appropriate, in this life I will not be content to be another face in the crowd. I will be someone important. Glory will be mine! Money, fame, power. I will have it all!

That name is also a warning, Ikarus was too ambitious and lost his life. I want to reach for the sun, but if I'm reckless I'll get burned.

My story is just beginning!

I am approaching the village. I could enter the village from the river or take a short detour and enter from the main road. I decided on the last. Once in the village I observe my surroundings.

The buildings are made of wood with thatched roofs, I don't see any buildings made with stone, bricks or concrete. I guess wood is cheaper, but the risk of fire is greater.

It's noon when I entered the village. The first thing I did was observe the peasants. They are mostly dirty, their clothes have seen better days, and many are noticeably malnourished.

I walk down the muddy street, my eyes darting from one place to another.

My guard is up, as soon as I got closer to the village I began to feel eyes on me. Many of these peasants aren't even astute about it, they'll look at me with their jaws agape.

It doesn't take me long to find what I'm looking for: the market.

I need money.

There are many things that I want to buy, the first things would be some clothes, a dagger, soap and oral hygiene products.

A modern man like me is used to certain things. Bathing and brushing my teeth every day are things I took for granted. I never thought they would become luxuries that I would miss.

Since my arrival in this world I have already washed twice in the river, but without soap...

The dagger is essential for cutting meat, skinning animals,... So far I have managed with stone age tools but we must always aspire to improve.

How do I plan to get money?

Hunting.

I am going to hunt animals and then sell them in the market to butchers.

Why do I go to the market first and not directly to the forest to hunt? Prices. I want to know the prices of the products. I don't want to be ripped off.

"Excuse me, how much is the rabbit?"

The butcher is a man in his mid-forties with short, brown hair flecked with gray. He has an unkempt beard and dark circles under his eyes.

"Twelve pennies boy"

I ask him the prices of other meats. I thank him for the information from him and continue on my way.

The butcher looks me up and down, snorts and pays attention to other customers.

The price surprises me a bit. I know that a golden dragon is more than 11,000 pennies. At the beginning of the series Robert (Littlefinger actually) had amassed over six million golden dragons in debt, with that money he could have fed the entire continent for quite some time!

I walk a little more through the village. The inn is called `The River Inn`, not very original but typical of the creativity of the medieval man. The building is two stories high, from the number of windows I think the second floor has about 6 or 8 rooms.

Sleeping in a bed sounds glorious but I don't really trust these people's hygiene. There may be fleas or other vermin in the rooms. But it's not like sleeping in the woods is more hygienic either...

I want a castle, with maids and cooks!

***

I see a man leaving the inn. His face rings a bell- It's Arc, one of the guys from yesterday.

I'm still pretty curious as to why they were hunting the Sabertooth, or rather following her. Once they got close to the cat they fled with their tails between their legs. The only way to know is to talk to him or his friends.

"Good man, wait a minute!" I walk over to Arc.

"What do you want, boy?" Up close Arc doesn't seem like such a tough guy. He is quite old, I would say he is in his fifties. Although he seems better fed than most peasants in this village, his clothes are in just as bad condition.

"While I was traveling here yesterday I saw you and some other men going somewhere in a boat armed. I was wondering if you were looking out for bandits." I shifted a little nervously and looked away. "There are no bandits in these woods, right?"

The mistrust disappears from his face and he lowers his guard a little.

Success!

Asking him directly why he was looking for the beast is suspicious, so I'm going to get him to tell me what he was doing by asking something else.

"No boy. There are no bandits around here." The man laughs a little. "We were hunting a beast."

"A beast?" I say excited, I look at him with admiration urging him to keep talking.

"A Swordfangs, quite a rare beast around here. A fisherman said he saw one in the brush."

"Are those `Swordfangs` dangerous?"

"Aye. They can tear a bear apart in moments. A man alone is no match against these beasts, one must be very careful when facing them."

"If they are so dangerous, why hunt them?"

"Money boy. The local lord pays a handsome bounty for hunting such a beast." Arc scratches his cheek. The local noble wants to brag about hunting the beast himself, I'm sure.

We continued talking for a bit. I learned that his name is Alyn, he is 37 years old and a hunter by trade. Winter is just over and the peasants are still recovering. There are many sick people, to get medicine you need money. Alyn and his companions took the risk of hunting the swordfang because they are desperate, Alyn has a sick son and his friends (Dale and Fogo) also have sick relatives who need medicine. The teen is the fisherman, his name is Garin.

I spent more time walking around the village extracting more information.

The village I am in is Frostwood, it is quite an old village. It was founded nearly 300 years ago by fishermen who fled the shores of Blazewater Bay to escape the Ironborn. During that era the Ironborn plundered all the shores of the continent on a regular basis, only Aegon's invasion ended the reign of the glorified pirates.

Sure the Ironborn are still a threat, those bastards still plunder the shores of Westeros even in this era, but not as often as before.

Blazewater Bay.

I am in the North.

More precisely on the river bank that separates the Rills and Barrowlands.

Forstwood is on the east bank of the river, so it's officially in the Barrowlands.

The river is called Froststream.

It seems that in this world I am not going to find very original names.

The land that has many rivers? Riverlands.

The land where storms abound? Stormlands

The land farthest west? Westerlands

The only region of Westeros with an original name is Dorne. To tell you the truth I'm surprised they haven't called that region the Sandlands or The Desert.

After talking with several villagers I returned to the forest.

I need to hunt various animals and then sell them on the market. My first idea is to get up very early tomorrow to hunt, but while hunting an animal or two won't take that long, hunting a good amount of them will. In order to sell them I need to take the meat to the market in the morning, if I take it too late I may not sell anything.

I still have several hours of daylight left so I could start hunting today. But uncooked meat could go bad overnight if I don't keep it in a cool place. Although spring in the North is cold, I don't want to risk it.

In the end I decided to hunt today. I'm going to make a cage to keep the animals alive until tomorrow. Now to think about what kind of cage to make...