The prussian champion

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POV of Lothar von Ruppin ninth moon 284 AC

The trip to essos was quick since i only had to make a stop in the capital of the seven kingdoms to pick up a member of the group of diplomats that was in the city and that Maximilian the leader of the diplomats recommended since the noble frequented the merchants of the free cities to discuss loans and business and therefore understands a little about the customs of those decadent and degenerate pagan merchants.

Since the group that will accompany me to essos will travel from the reach and set sail a few days ago, if god is on our side, we should arrive in tyrosh almost at the same time and begin negotiations and quickly search for the valuable valyrian steel.

Luckily at that stop I got a lot of books from the area where I was sent, it seems that these free cities where I was sent are a bloody field of war and death, not only are their slave cities, there are horse lords who ride through the land frequently burning everything in their path if the free cities don't give them a gift to avoid their wrath.

But it is also not something that these cities can avoid because of the way they fight wars, they are totally dependent on mercenaries to maintain their borders, these decadent cities gave their defense of their borders to the worst kind of people that could exist, men without honor, men without discipline, men without loyalty, only to gold, but surprise, surprise somehow that system works, as they have been at war for decades and none of the three free cities of tyrosh, myr and lys have collapsed because they are dependent on these men.

since apparently they do not depend on either levies or a professional army, being a system without monarchs and nobility it must be difficult to control their commoners and the mandatory conscription for war must be very unpopular and for those merchants to maintain power they must avoid angering the masses since the leadership election is...as ridiculous as it sounds it is by elections, although they seem to know that giving power to the commoners is ridiculous only a privileged group can be elected and elect

a corrupt, weak structure, that could easily fall, but as their neighbors use the same system, that the moment a war starts mercenaries start arriving to those cities, the only real danger they could face is those horse lords that plunder everything in their path, stealing and raping in order to get tribute from the free cities, since within the idiosyncrasy of the local mercenaries only a madman would look for a fight against them a way to justify his cowardice.

I stopped thinking so much about these degenerate slavers as the galley that was taking me to the port of Tyrosh was already about to dock.

When the sailors placed the planks, I got off the ship immediately and found that there was a group waiting for me and luckily they were very familiar to me.

''Greetings, inform me'' I said to a group of Finns.

''So...lothar no? my master told me about you...Antti personal bodyguard of the king in prussia, now at your services lord of the exiles'' said the Finnish in their language

''Don't you know me from before, when I was in control of the Prussian armies?'' I asked curiously.

''Most of our men who came to this land come from the east, the nobleman you should all know is Herzog Helmuth von bock, the shield against the Russians'' the Finn replied and handed me some papers.

I took a quick look at the paperwork and realized that it indicated the number of men that had arrived in Tyrosh for the mission that the king had entrusted me with, but there was something that didn't add up.

''There are more men and gold than the king had promised me, what happened, the king will never make a mistake in administrative matters'' I asked seriously.

''You still have friends lothar, surprising as it may seem, helmuth has not forgotten when you called each other friends including brothers, even though you fell in disgrace the Herzog still remembers that he promised your father to protect you and he has kept his promise by sending a small group of his best riders to accompany you and lend their skills, that is why there are more men in your mercenary company'' answered the Finn.

''Helmuth eh, and the gold what about the gold is also from Helmuth?''I asked again

''These are donations from several nobles who considered supporting your cause since the exile of the house that has always been protecting the kingdom was considered very controversial, but well you know no one would dare criticize a decision of the king, so they gathered funds to try to increase your chances of victory in these lands'' Antti answered again.

''I see, more reasons why I can't fail, have you initiated talks with the leaders of this...foul place?'' I said as I walked to the port exit. 

''No, the Archon of tyrosh and the council of magisters are very busy, these are the busiest administrative dates in the free city they are already preparing everything for the next military campaign against the other free cities of lys and Myr...but we have an audience for today where the diplomat would do the job but considering that you already arrived you should go in person''answered Antti

''Well...anything I should know about these filthy heathens'' I asked again

''They speak somewhat broken Latin and are very arrogant, from what we have discovered in our short but very fruitful time in this city we have found many secrets, but nothing that means anything of mention that would allow us to manipulate or threaten some politicians...for the moment, but it is quite common practice for them to negotiate with mercenary captains to get good deals'' said Antti

''Then let's go...we have to talk to that Archon to get the backing of one of these free cities to start our aggressive search for the metal the king wants so much'' I said while I indicated him to guide me.

''There is no need to rush to find someone to offer our sword we can always test the waters with other cities if they offer better deals and conditions for our services, it is known in tyrosh that the Prussian knights are a fearsome force for that reason they asked on several occasions for mercenaries, we could use that to our advantage to get good conditions'' said the Finn as he called some of his people and led the way.

''But we don't have all the time and gold in the world either, keeping so many mouths and horses is not cheap, although we have the king's gold and that gift they gave me is not to be trusted, the sooner we enter the battlefield the sooner our experience and skill will pay off, those disputed lands are an apple ready to be harvested, burned and damaged but ready to be harvested'' I said as I followed the Finn through the streets.

After our conversation, we moved through the streets of the city, which were filled with slaves of all types.

Almost the entire base economy of the city seemed to be done by these slaves, from carrying sacks filled with anything to cleaning the streets of horse shit everything seemed to be done for them by these filthy heathens who lost their freedom, but what is freedom for those animals, their souls are already condemned to hell anyway.

Apparently these essosi have the same moral failings as the westerosis, decency is minimal with slave prostitutes in the streets, showing their breasts in the air to attract customers, at least they don't try to justify that prostitution is not slavery, but it's not worth mentioning either

The smell of spices was quite strong in the city and for someone with a sensitive sense of smell like me, it was incredibly annoying as I felt like my nose was numb from the strong smells that were foreign to me.

After passing through the market and watching the tyrosh bidding for slaves they had recently captured, we arrived at the place where the politicians of the city make their administrative decisions.

Antti was in charge of showing some scrolls that authorized us to be present today in this building that was guarded by many guards, without the need to ask the Finn informed me that the guards were slaves that they bought from childhood and trained them to be completely loyal and protect places of importance to the city.

They took the weapons from my escorts, but I had left my great sword on the ship and the armor was not necessary to surrender.

To my annoyance we had to wait a long time as it seemed we had no priority and the Archon was reviewing many edicts and laws.

finally, after a long wait, those slave guards let us in to the audience we had been waiting for.

the room in question was very similar to the Roman senate in its composition, where the magisters were on the sides in their chairs and the Archon was in a more decorated and higher chair between them.

The archon looked at me curiously as he began to speak but focused his gaze on the diplomat beside me.

"Name and reason for which you are in my presence today," said the Archon with a voice as stern as his face, in a language I was very familiar with.

''Lothar von Ruppin, Prussian knight, offer our mercenary services to the free city of Tyrosh as requested'' I replied in Latin.

it was easy to notice the surprised faces as I spoke their language.

''You are the leader of the Prussian mercenaries?'' asked the Archon very surprised.

''Yes, what am I going to be, I am a soldier leading soldiers'' I answered quickly.

''You look like the escort of the man next to you, but it is a pleasant surprise to know that you speak our language...but well you need not fear lothar no one will try anything against you while you are here in the presence of the magister council and I the Archon, your armor is unnecessary, since your safety depends on us'' said the Archon rather pleased.

''Latin is a language I have spoken since I was eight years old,you misjudge if you think I am afraid,my armor is a second skin to me,for I am a knight'' I replied to the Archon.

''A knight without a lord as far as I know...exiled'' said the Archon smiling with a somewhat arrogant smile.

''That doesn't take away from the fact that I am an experienced commander and one of the greatest warriors prussia has ever had'' I replied without trying to create conflict with the arrogant bastard.

''If it were as you say I would not be here and would still be employed by your king...but well the great and prestigious city of tyrosh needs more cavalry for its armies since in the last battles we have suffered more casualties than usual,so how many men do you have under your service, Lothar'' said the Archon while maintaining that arrogant tone.

''Six thousand three hundred men all on horseback, fulfilling the needs of the free city of tyrosh'' I said as I tried to remain calm to his provocations.

The Archon stood thoughtfully for a few moments.

''Fine, I'll give you a two-year contract, with the stipulated payments to all the mercenaries'' said the Archon standing up in his chair.

'That shit's useless to me,too long in chains with these heathens'.

''I want to negotiate terms, we are not normal mercenaries, we are veterans of hundreds of battles'' I said as I looked back at the Archon.

The terms are not negotiable, exiled knight'' replied the Archon with a serious face.

We stared at each other for several seconds

''We have nothing to talk about... let's go and try our luck in myr'' I said to the Archon and then turned to my companions.

''Your lord promised us mercenaries, I thought the word for the nobles was important'' said the archon somewhat furious.

''The king in prussia promised to be the liaison between prussian mercenaries and your city, but if you don't want to negotiate our terms, we will find someone who will'' I said giving him a smile and turning to leave.

We left the room and I listened as conversations began inside the room.

''Commander, that shouldn't have happened, you should have let me do the talking...'' the diplomat tried to say.

''Shut up'' I said as I kept walking.

The diplomat lowered his head in fear

'How I miss that bastard aleksanteri, most of these men don't want to provoke me, although the finn kept kept his mouth shut'.

As we were about to leave, a slave came running up behind us.

''Ehh...lothar...the Archon claims your presence before him'' said the slave

''If you did this on purpose aleksanteri would be proud'' said antti in his own language.

I walked slowly back to the magister's council hall, to make them wait for me.

I entered the room again, and the Archon's face told me that he was furious.

Furthermore, I stood silently watching the Archon for several minutes as he became nervous and began to speak.

''Well what do you want lothar, what additional conditions do you want?'' said the Archon with a frown.

''Six months contract duration, double pay, exclusive looting rights the five days of privilege when a city is taken by assault,to be the first to share the spoils of the defeated enemy and autonomy of the military command'' I replied to the Archon.

''Ha, that's ridiculous, what makes you think you are different from the rest of the mercenaries that serve the city'' said the Archon while shaking his head.

''I am Prussian, the culture of honor and chivalrous virtues, what I promise I fulfill, when I sign that contract during those six months you have my unconditional loyalty, we will never change sides no matter how much we are offered and well I guess since you know of my exile you will know my blessings?'' I said as I slowly approached the Archon's podium.

''We have heard something but it sounds too much like made up stories'' said the Archon as he looked at the rest of the magisters.

''Ah...well it is the truth my god is strong and I am one of his favorites as are many of my men, but it is always better to see with your own eyes I suppose'' I said pointing to one of the slave guards who were watching me

''Do it'' said the Archon looking at me with curiosity.

The slave pulled out his sword and raised his shield to defend against me

But that didn't do any help, with a single punch I pierced his shield.

then I reached his breastplate with my hand and shattered his armor as well as his abdomen when my fingers made contact with his flesh.

The slave's scream of horror was followed by his desperate attempts to put his intestines back where they should be and not scattered around the room.

As I removed the shield from my arm, I watched as the slave fell to his knees in a pool of his own blood.

I approached him again and with a blow to his head I scattered his brain all over the room, filling it with blood and other liquids that came out of the slave.

There were several who looked at me with horror as they watched the whole thing, looks of disgust and some retching, but there were also several smiles among them the Archon.

''I guess we can negotiate a good contract knight lothar'' said the Archon smiling the way aleksanteri did.

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