Chapter 116 - Artican Trade in Westeros 43 (Reach 23!).

[Chapter Size: 3300 Words.]

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Pessoa Thrid POV

Westeros, 295 AC.

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While Jon was still enjoying his stay in the Reach since he first set foot in the kingdom, thousands of miles away, on the opposite side of the continent to the north, specifically in front of the vale, the Arctic fleet with its 50 ships continued sailing north again, passing through waters filled with broken and burnt wood.

While the people who managed to save themselves from the wildfire explosions by some miracle were screaming, trying to escape the tentacles of the people throwing them into the water. The ships continued heading north, unconcerned with the chaos happening around them, with the sea still burning with green fire on the waters. This was the result of a battle while a group seemed to want to attack them, but Jon knew their plan very well, which was to simulate an attack by the kingdom's fleet beyond the wall while the survivors returned to Gulltown, of course, burning their own ships in the process.

But Jon, already anticipating Littlefinger's plan, thought that if they wanted to set them up, at least it had to be for real at least... So as soon as the ships approached to have some excuse that they encountered the fleet and were returning to the port to simulate the aggression, the Arctic ships themselves took the initiative and exterminated them all.

It didn't take long for the Arctic fleet to disappear to the north in the following days and new ships to sail those waters while investigating the disappearance of Lord Gerold Grafton of Gulltown's ships.

"This is just destruction... what the hell happened here..." said a sailor with some fear. There was no more wildfire, so he couldn't say how all the ships were destroyed without leaving a single man or body visible in the water, only burnt wreckage everywhere, which was very frightening for those men.

"We have nothing more to do here... There are no bodies anywhere... Let's just take some of the wreckage, there's a burnt mast in the water, it will be our only proof..." The captain of that ship asked them to at least take what was there.

"No bodies... were they devoured? I've heard there are giant men on those ships, they say they devour men, so it's true..." said a young man with some fear.

"Better leave before we are next too..." said another man, and although the captain didn't believe much in that, his heart was trembling, as like the others, the idea of not finding a single dead body made him freeze, for he had never seen anything like it on the sea, but knowing that those bodies were now being consumed by stomach acids inside a huge Kraken following the fleet above him.

"Finish taking the mast and let's go!" He gave the order and the three ships that came to investigate soon turned around and went back to the port of Gulltown.

"What are you saying?!" It was after a day that they finally informed Gerold Grafton in his mansion of what they saw at sea, while the man who followed Littlefinger's plan thinking it would be a good venture didn't think his ships would actually be attacked, after all, there were no records of those ships attacking simple vessels.

When he felt that something was wrong after days without answers, he sent the ships and received a response he didn't like at all.

"All the ships were destroyed without leaving any bodies in the water..." The captain of one of the three ships reported.

"Are you saying that I lost 12 ships, which is more than half of the ships my family has?!" He exclaimed with fury, what seemed to be a promising venture turned into a great loss after all, who would guarantee that he would get back what he lost?

"Yes..." The man murmured, not wanting to face his lord's wrath, knowing how vindictive he is and he would try to take out this anger on someone.

"GET OUT!" The man simply shouted with all his anger at that moment while the sailor quickly left.

The man looked for a moment before grabbing his wine glass on the desk and simply throwing it at the wall, shattering it the next moment. He couldn't measure his fury at that moment.

"I need to talk to Littlefinger, that bastard assured me it was a good venture and I hope he keeps his word. I want my ships back!" he exclaimed alone while the guards listened outside, remaining silent, not wanting to make their lord even more furious with them.

"I will write to him now!" the man said as he sat at his desk, taking a parchment with quill and ink, and began writing what happened in the letter with his dissatisfaction, asking Littlefinger to resolve his problems quickly. After all, having 12 fewer ships under his command would significantly reduce his profits in the coming weeks, preventing him from buying goods from Essos to resell here while also taking items from here to sell in the desert lands across the ocean.

He finished writing two types of letters as he had planned, with each line not leaving anything out, and finally completed them. "Guards!!" Gerold Grafton exclaimed as one of the guards entered his solar and looked at his lord, who was far from calm.

"Take this to the maester and send it to the master of coin in King's Landing, immediately!" he demanded, and the man swallowed hard as he walked past the shards of glass and took the paper before leaving the place and heading to the part of the castle where the maester was. After seeing the situation, the maester nodded but did not miss the chance to look at the content.

"So they attacked Lord Gerold Grafton's ships... I will inform the Citadel about this..." he said, not caring if his lord and the master of coin were planning to place evidence against the Arctic ships. After all, this was good for them. He simply placed it on the raven to King's Landing, and it departed. After seeing the raven depart, the maester wrote a new letter and sent it to the Citadel immediately.

The raven that went south traveled for a few days before arriving in King's Landing and landing in one of Littlefinger's brothels. A prostitute picked it up and saw the letters addressed to her master with the seal of Gulltown.

"What interesting news!" Littlefinger, who was in bed with a red-haired woman, was called by this prostitute and took the two letters. He opened them and began reading, but at the same time, he frowned at Gerold Grafton's demands in the first letter. He smiled that things had turned out better than he imagined with the second letter that the lord of Gulltown wrote.

He turned his gaze to the prostitute who was with him at that moment. "It seems I have to go, I have something important to do." he said and put on some clothes before leaving and heading towards the Red Keep.

Going to the castle, he headed to the Tower of the Hand while Jon Arryn was writing something in his book when a guard of House Arryn opened the door.

"I told you not to let anyone interrupt me!!" Jon Arryn growled immediately.

"Sorry, Lord Hand, but the master of coin is here to see you and it seems important..." he said, and Jon looked at him for a moment before sighing.

"Lord Baelish, what does he want now? Anyway, let him in." Jon requested, and Baelish entered shortly after with a face feigning concern.

"Lord Hand." he said, greeting the older man and maintaining the same concerned expression.

"Speak, Lord Baelish, what brings you here? Did something happen?" Jon noticed Baelish without his usual smile.

"Yes, I would like you to read this letter..." the man said, taking the piece of paper and beginning to read it.

The man remained silent while he had the paper in front of him, his eyes beginning to tremble slightly.

"This is terrible, it's an attack against Westeros!" Jon, who was already not very favorable to the Arctic people trading in Westeros, found a good excuse to turn the crown against this group coming from the wild north, especially when his kingdom was harmed by such a fleet.

"You see, Lord Hand... We have a threat sailing against our waters..." Baelish said, appearing shaken but keeping a smile behind his mask, quite pleased with the course of events.

"Let's go! We must convene a meeting quickly!" Jon exclaimed immediately as he began walking, leaving his tasks aside and starting to descend the tower, encountering Ser Jaime and Ser Merryn following the prince training in the garden.

The crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon, was anything but a warrior, even at 13 years old, which left King Robert quite disappointed with the man who would succeed him later. He still didn't know how to properly wield a sword, but Jon Arryn didn't care about that now. He turned back to one of the guards managing the prince's training in the yard.

"Ser Jaime !" Jon called as Jaime turned his attention to the Hand of the King.

"Lord Hand?" he looked.

"I want you to find someone to summon the entire council now, we have an urgent meeting." he said while Baelish simply followed him from behind.

"An urgent meeting? Are we at war or something?" Jaime asked with a small smile, mocking the urgency.

"No, Ser Jaime . Not yet, because soon we might be. The Arctic fleet attacked a group of merchant ships in our waters and raided them. They were Gulltown ships." Jon Arryn spoke firmly as Jaime raised an eyebrow but nodded after a while, leaving his son's, I mean, nephew's training to his fellow Kingsguard.

"Ser Jaime !" Jon called one last time, making the man turn to him. "Call even His Majesty, say it's urgent and we might go to war." Jon warned, and Jaime nodded once more before leaving.

Jaime went to speak with his sister while sending many messengers to find all the council members. Meanwhile, Cersei was quite frustrated lately. Ravens had been pooping on her head whenever she left her room, as if she were being punished by the Seven or something. She lost count of how many times she had to return to her chamber after having her hair ruined by bird droppings. She even ordered the guards to use crossbows to eliminate any bird in the castle. She began walking the corridors of the Red Keep with four guards, all armed with crossbows, to shoot any bird they saw.

This reduced the number of incidents, but some still managed to hit her occasionally, forcing her to skip parties and banquets at the castle because of this situation. It wasn't just this strange event—where the servants were already whispering that she had angered some gods—but also the fact that she was no longer receiving responses to her requests. She had instructed Ser Boros to send a message for an attack by some mercenaries at the port, but countless days had passed with no news. Even Ser Boros had left with Prince Renly to the Reach on a trade mission, making it seem like her plan to attack and try to kidnap the family of the Arctic bastard had failed in the end.

She was in her room when her brother entered, bringing news. Despite being surprised, Cersei smiled broadly, now having an excuse to attack the Arctic people.

"Let's go, Jaime . This meeting will be important!" she said and began to get ready and leave with her brother. But as soon as she reached the door, she stopped. "Guards!" she exclaimed, and some guards in the corridor quickly approached with crossbows.

"Kill any bird you see!" she commanded, and the men nodded while Jaime just sighed as his sister walked towards the council chamber, looking up as if expecting enemy attacks from anywhere at any moment.

The council chamber soon filled with all its members, except Robert, but it didn't take long for the door to open with him entering, looking like a man with a hangover, even though it was the afternoon.

"I heard about going to war!" he exclaimed as Ser Barristan Selmy followed closely behind.

"We'll discuss this now, Your Majesty," Jon Arryn commented, waiting to start the meeting.

"Then start this meeting. Who is the enemy... Who is challenging me, is it the Targaryens?!" he exclaimed, growling at the end, grabbing the wine bottle on the table and drinking straight from it without using a cup.

"No, Your Majesty... It's the Arctic people," Jon Arryn said, and Robert stopped drinking at that exact moment, looking at him in surprise.

"What do you mean by that, Jon?" he demanded.

"Let me read this..." Jon Arryn said as everyone except Renly watched him take the parchment and begin to read aloud. "I am writing to inform you that I was attacked on the high seas..." He continued reading to the end of the parchment while the entire room fell silent.

"No bodies?! What the hell does that mean?" Jaime looked surprised at the information, his brow furrowed.

"We don't know, only that our lord of Gulltown didn't find a single body in the water... which is very strange," Baelish shared his thoughts.

"They are northern savages, I've heard there are many cannibals in those lands. Who would doubt that they would take the bodies to eat later..." Pycelle said.

"Don't be so foolish, maester, no one retrieves a body from the water to eat," Stannis commented, finding the disappearance of the bodies quite strange, though it seemed irrational to him.

"What should we do, Your Majesty..." Varys asked, looking at King Robert with interest while the latter seemed thoughtful, no longer drinking his wine. His gaze left the king and looked upwards, searching for any raven he had the paranoia might be watching him as if it were someone, knowing all his secrets, which made Varys quite scared despite not showing it outwardly. His fear was how this meeting could be observed by Jon Arctic, and if he said something about it, he would be labeled as mad by everyone.

"What choice do we have? We must attack them and declare them enemies!" Cersei said.

"Despite seeming like a direct attack, I believe we should have some explanation for this..." Ser Barristan commented from behind the king, while Ser Jaime remained silent behind his sister.

"Robert, I know you have a friendship with Ned, and that this Jon Arctic is his son, but you need to do something about it. He's with your brother right now in the Reach; this is the time to act before he returns to the sea. After all, it's quite alarming when we don't know how they deal with ships, which leave no bodies, only burnt wreckage..." Jon warned with a tone of seriousness while Robert, with his rare serious look, nodded.

"Alright, Jon. I won't send an army, but I will send an armed group to summon Ned's son to the Red Keep, demanding an explanation for why his ships attacked Westerosi merchants! Also, ask my brother to speak with Ned's son about the summons!" Robert said and looked at each of the council members, stopping at Jaime.

"Ser Jaime, I summon you for this task, along with a group to go to the Reach as well!" he said at the end.

"Wait, Robert!" Cersei immediately protested, but Robert was nursing a strong hangover and didn't want to argue.

"I don't want to hear anything from you, woman. Just shut up and let your brother fulfill the king's order. I count on you, Kingslayer." He said with a tone both angry and serious.

Jaime, despite trembling at the nickname that followed him like a curse, nodded to Robert. "As you wish, my king," he said.

"Now I will return to my bed, I need to sleep!" he said grumpily and began to leave while everyone stood up as protocol, allowing Robert to exit with Ser Barristan following closely behind.

"I will prepare the men and depart immediately," Ser Jaime commented as he began to leave as well. Cersei tried to protest, but there was nothing more she could do.

"I will send a letter to the Tyrells, demanding that they keep Jon Arctic in their castle until the Kingsguard arrives. Also, send a letter to Prince Renly with an extra message," Jon Arryn directed to Pycelle, who nodded and left the room like the other council members. Each had their own opinion about today's discussion and what to do about Arctic; some felt fear, others joy and greed, hoping to gain much from this conflict.

Meanwhile, a week had passed since the archery tournament and the main event was about to begin while Jon was in his tent with his wife, receiving a parchment from a raven he had anticipated.

"Another letter from those maesters?" Seryna asked beside Jon as he read it.

"Yes, they have noticed that something is wrong. After all, they haven't received any letters from the Citadel as responses and don't know that all their letters never reached their destination..." Jon commented with a small smile.

"Did they include anything new this time?" she couldn't help but ask.

"The same as always, how they are surprised by Arya's level of intellect even while living in a place they consider savage, how we are superior in military skills, since we have demonstrated many times how we can defeat anyone on any field," Jon said.

"Except in the joust..." she remarked with a smile.

"Well, they will find out about that soon enough..." Jon replied and continued.

"It's amusing how they are eager to find weaknesses in my leadership and the faith of my men in me, even stating that they are visibly shaken by the control I have over all the Arcticans, including giants and dwarves, despite me being only 15 namedays," Jon commented.

"Are they trying something against us at this moment?" Seryna asked suddenly with a more serious tone, but Jon shook his head.

"Despite the hostility in their gaze and disdain, they are not planning anything, at least the Citadel hasn't sent any orders..." Jon said. Unlike in Dorne, these maesters in the castle seemed to have only the mission of observing his every move and the characteristics of his group.

"Even so, it is very funny how they detail their shock after seeing the knowledge acquired through Arya in Arctic, even becoming greedy wanting our methods of study... but that's something they can only dream of..." Jon commented.

"What are you planning to do, Jon? You know they are plotting something against us, after all, they have been following us since Dorne..." Seryna commented with some concern now.

"Don't worry... I have a good plan... it's time for Westeros to know the true power of Arctic and I am thinking of sacking our first city here. I know this will ruin our business, but that doesn't matter anymore..." Jon said with a dangerous tone.

"..." Seryna didn't know exactly what her husband was planning, but she just nodded, trusting his judgment.

"Well, my love." Jon said, kissing her forehead. "Let's get up. After all, today we have a tournament with a joust to win." Jon said, as the bet with Prince Renly would be decided today, and Jon was ready to fight against the champion he had chosen and win some extra lands in Westeros.

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