Chapter 17: Deals

"This is not how I thought this would go..." Drox whispered quietly to Will, who was only a foot away, seated at the same table as him, as well as the little over half-dozen Faceless men.

Upon their arrival at the temple of Black and White, they were welcomed with open arms, and shown around the place.

On the outside, the building didn't look all that big, but there was an elaborate mix of tunnels that went down below the ground and below a good portion of the city of Braavos.

Will had been disappointed, because unlike what he was expecting, there were only stone statues and sculptures with peoples faces on them.

With nothing to take but a large quantity of poison, which was just sitting out for anyone to drink, Will helped himself to about a barrel's worth of the stuff.

The man guiding him around even went on to explain how it killed quickly and painlessly, making it the ideal substance to give to those seeking death.

With nothing else to steal, and no one trying to fight him, Will decided to cut to the chase and gather the Faceless men here in the temple. Most of them were out on jobs, but that was okay.

Will could let these guys spread the word about what was going to be said here, and he figured they would too.

After letting his eyes meet each of those around the table, Will spoke, "So about last night.... I don't think I need to, but I'll clear up some information anyway. I have no doubt there will be those who try to hire you in the future to kill the people I care about, or myself if you ever agree to try and kill me again. No matter what happens, if I find out anyone from this organization even tries to hurt someone I care about, I will erase you." Will let his words hang in the air for a moment, then decided it would be best to give a little preview on what would happen.

Channeling his magic into the earth through the stone table, Will let it spread out for a second, then once he was ready, he activated it.

Before anyone had the chance to react, every single one of them were bound in stone, while small pieces of rock floated in the air around them. Their mouths were pried open, and a gag ring was shoved inside, being held on by a stone strap around their heads.

Everyone's hands and feet were also encased completely, not allowing for even the slightest finger movement. Once everyone was properly bound, Will stood from his chair and walked around to each of them.

"Should the day come where you cross over the line to try and hurt those I care about, you won't know how I take you. You won't die a quick death, and it sure as hell won't be painless. You will be bound just as you are now, then I will use everything at my disposal to keep you alive while I make you rot in the darkest hells you can only imagine. Only after I have brought your mind to madness will I even consider ending your life, but I will do so in a way that even in death you will not have relief!"

Will's words had the desired effect he was hoping for, and if he could read minds, he would have given himself an extra pat on the back. Every Faceless man here was already vowing to make sure to never be in the same city as Will again, let alone try to cross him.

With his little show of power over and done with, Will released everyone from their bonds, then walked over to one of the stone walls. After placing a hand on it, his house sigil started forming, being plain as day for all of them to see.

"This is my house crest. Should you receive a contract to kill anyone with this crest, you give it to the Iron Bank, and they in turn will give it to me. I know you might not want to give up information on potential clients, but know this. Not even your god will be able to save you from my wrath should your actions lead to the death of someone I care about. I also have no doubt there will be some imposters who try to use my house for their own benefit, and should you find such people, you will be rewarded."

Will went on to explain in great detail about the rewards of working with him, as well as a far too vivid description of what he would do to them if they went against him.

Will wanted to create a good relationship with these guys, after all who wouldn't want to have the greatest assassins in the world on their side? To get on their good side, and for potential life saving information, Will agreed to pay $10,000 Gold Dragons a year to them, as well as supplying weapons, clothing, training supplies, and an odd sort of materials.

They of course had to owe him a few favors and keep an eye out for him, but the requirements for their side were so trivial that they agreed to his conditions almost immediately.

Paying the Faceless men such a quantity on a yearly basis would have been very hard for a normal person, but Will wasn't exactly normal. He was beyond rich at this point, but even then he had a way to pay for this whole thing without spending a copper of his own.

All this was going to take would be another trip to the Iron Bank leaders, and after a few bits of negotiations, he was sure they would agree to cover the debt for the foreseeable future. If they didn't, he could always just rob Tywin again, or keep robbing the Magisters from the Free Cities.

With just the wealth he had in his inventory, he could pay the Faceless men the required amount for well over 3 centuries, and even then he would still have a lot more. The gold itself wasn't all that much for a high lord or even a magister, but it wasn't really the gold the Faceless men cared about anyway.

With all the crap Will agreed to fund them, they could earn well over 10 times that in half a year on contracts, and they would get better resources. Not that they were lacking for anything, but getting their hands on better things was always welcomed.

Will's time with the Faceless men was short, which was actually how he preferred it. They were so devoted to the God of death it was almost sickening for Will. For a man who despised the Gods, being around these religious nuts was a bit much, and if he didn't think he'd need their help in the future then he might very well have done something rash.

Of course he wouldn't kill any of them just for their beliefs, but that didn't mean he wouldn't do anything violent.

As he and Drox walked down the street back towards the Iron Bank, Will couldn't help but think about everything he had done up until now since coming to this world.

Already he had formed connections with powerful figures, and his influence was no small matter. Dorne, the giants, Free Folk, Stepstones, Iron Bank, and now the Faceless men.

His power grew stronger by the day, and the powerful figures around him seemed to grow as well. At this rate, he would have the world under his control before long, which was a frightening thought in and of itself.

He had zero intention for any throne, trying to keep 7 kingdoms under control, while trying to make sure they were all fed and clothed as well.

To be honest it sounded like a nightmare, and only a fool would want the responsibility of governing over the continent like that.

Lording over a small town didn't sound too bad though, and if he played his cards right, Will believed he could fashion a decently sized place of his own design. It would by no means be a modern city from his previous life, but that didn't mean Will couldn't take a few aspects from that time and bring them here.

Of course he would need to hire out the right people to build most of it, but that wouldn't be too hard now with the help of the Iron Bank. The place would be the seat of power for House Castian, something he actually didn't have in this world but most people who met him thought he did.

Before long, Will and Drox walked through the doors of the Iron Bank for the second time today. His sudden arrival caused a small panic, but once a few of the main members of the bank were gathered, Will explained his little deal with the Faceless men and what he would be requiring from the bank.

Of course he agreed to give them something that would easily be able to compensate for the large quantity of gold and items, though it would take some time to deliver.

The amount wasn't all that much to the bank, and most of them were curious to see what Will had to offer, while others just didn't want to be on his bad side. They had narrowly escaped death once today, but they didn't think their luck would hold out and work a second time.

With all the deals and discussions made, Will and Drox went back to the inn. They had spent almost the entire day in discussions, or walking to said discussions, and now it was too late to do much of anything else.

"Are we gonna leave here tomorrow?" Drox asked, actually sounding a little hopeful on the matter. Will figured the kid had gotten used to being outside of cities, and now he just wanted to be out and about again.

"Yeah. We leave at first light. We'll head southeast towards Norvos for a day or two, then we'll cut Southwest towards Pentos. I'm itching to meet a few more Dothraki, and we could always use more horses." Will answered, showing his greedy side once again.

'Could have guessed that was his reason for wanting to fight Dothraki.' Drox thought, not bothering to comment on Will's actions.

For one, Will most likely didn't care about his opinion, and questioning someone like Will was probably the dumbest decision someone like him could make. With that thought in mind, Drox and Will both passed quickly into slumber, knowing they would have a long few days ahead of them.

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"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"NOOOOO!"

*SHUNK!!*

All sounds died out around the area after the *Shunk* noise, and Will couldn't help the smile that danced across his lips as he admired his handy work.

A little over a thousand Dothraki riders lay dead, while there were less than five casualties on his own side. It had been over a week since he and Drox departed Braavos, but along the way they encountered a caravan of people, mostly idiots in Will's opinion, travelling from Lorath to Pentos.

There was nothing special about them, but Will wasn't in any particular rush to get anywhere, so he decided to prolong their trip and travel with the group.

There were maybe 50 or so people in the group, mostly consisting of women and children, but that didn't matter all that much to Will. He laughed with them, listened to the odd stories they told, and even got in a scuffle or two with some kids around his age who were trying to show off to some of the girls.

Will beat every single person who came at him to the point where they had to ride in the wagons for two whole days before they were capable of walking. After the fourth day of traveling with the group, Drox informed Will that there was a large group of riders not far off from their position.

Will had informed the Caravan leaders of the riders approach, but the idiots in charge wanted to actually greet the Dothraki and welcome them for supper. Even Drox facepalmed when he heard those words, deeming these people failures at life.

The result had been predictable, and the Dothraki charged in with their weapons drawn. Seeing this, the members of the caravan panicked, but before they could do anything stupid like actually try to run from the Dothraki, Will stepped in, creating a wall in front of the approaching hoard.

The riders did slow down once the wall appeared, giving Will the perfect chance to strike. Stone spears shot out of the ground, piercing riders and horses alike, though the majority of the spikes hit the riders.

A few of the Dothraki had managed to get off a few arrows before their inevitable demise, and Will had been so focused on making sure he hit the riders to notice.

Most people were either in the wagons or under them, thankfully avoiding most of the arrows. However there were a few unlucky souls, and 9 people were struck by the arrows, though only 3 of them were fatal, killing a man, woman, and a little girl instantly.

Though it was saddening to see the death of the little girl, Will didn't dwell on the matter, though he first beat the caravan leader to the brink of death for his stupidity, going so far as to make so he probably wouldn't live for more than a few days.

Will burned the three bodies on his side, as well as every dead Dothraki and horse from the battle. Speaking of horses, of the thousand or so horses, about 700 of them managed to make it through the battle unscathed. Will claimed each animal as his own, herding them all towards Pentos ahead of the Caravan group.

"Are you going to sell these horses once we get to Pentos?" Drox asked after riding up beside Will. In response to the question, Will hummed and hawed, but eventually answered, "I'm not quite sure. It would be the easiest thing to do, but good horses are always needed. I'll think about it along the way."

Will did like the thought of having everyone that would be in his service in the future to be on horseback, but it would be too troublesome to try and bring all of the horses back to Dorne now, especially when he didn't have any place there planned out for this sort of thing.

Nor did he have enough hay to keep them all fed during the winter years, nor the people to train and take care of the animals. No, he would need to either sell or find someone else to take care of them here for him.

---------

It took another 6 weeks pushing the herd of horses before they finally got to Pentos, though it only took that long because groups kept coming to add their horses to the mix.

What was once a little over 700 horses was now well over 2000, and trying to make sure they all stayed with him was a task in and of itself. Of course it was now more than just he had Drox at this point.

Every slave that had been taken by the Dothraki groups who attacked him had joined Will on his journey to Pentos. Most were doing it out of thanks for him having freed them, but others did it out of safety.

They figured if they stuck with him their odds of survival would skyrocket compared to heading out on their own. Will didn't care if people helped him or not, but he was thankful to the ones who did.

He had no doubt that none of them would dare try and steal any horses from him, as they had witnessed first hand the consequences of such a stupid action.

When they finally got to the city's outskirts, Will used earth magic to create a make-shift pen for the horses, then he went into the city to try and find out who he would need to talk to about selling the animals.

Drox and a few other people stayed to watch over the horses, but it was really unnecessary considering no one could get the horses out of the place without chipping away at the stone fence for a few hours, by which point Will would already have arrived back to discover said offenders.

Walking through the city, Will realized he had absolutely no idea where to go to sort out the whole horse business. He asked around at a few food and wine stalls, but no one had an answer that was actually helpful.

Most of them suggested he sell the animals to the magisters of the city, but that was stupid considering he was probably going to be robbing them of anything they could use to pay him.

It wasn't until about the second hour of his search that he found a bank, and even better yet, there was an Iron Bank representative who worked there. Thankfully the man had already been told about Will, so upon finding out who he was, the man gave Will his undivided attention.

"Here's the deal. I acquired a few thousand horses on my trip from Braavos, but I don't really have the want or need to take them with me. I was hoping the Iron Bank could take them all off my hands, and any additional horses I happen to acquire in the future. Each of them are well trained by the Dothraki, but their trainers somehow met a sudden horrific death." Will explained, and the Iron Bank representative could only nod his head in understanding.

If even a fraction of the stories he had heard about Will were true, he didn't need to be a genius to figure out Will had slaughtered them all.

"What is the price you are asking for the horses?" The man asked, and this was where Will smiled. "For my new allies, I wouldn't dream of charging gold. All I ask is that you take care of them, and sell them to any who would desire such fine animals. If in the future I am in need of good horses, I know I could turn to the Iron Bank." Will said, making the man smile wide at that.

The deal was entirely favorable for the Iron Bank, and he would be doing his job and not upsetting Will, so the deal was a no-brainer.

The meeting with the bank official went just as Will had hoped, and now he had people that he could pawn off the horses too, who would care and train them for him, and if he ever needed some horses in the future, he had no doubt he could get them for free.

Even if the bank managed to sell most, if not all of the horses before Will needed them, it would still go a long way to solidify his relationship with the bank, and he could always gather more horses the same way he gathered these ones.

With the matter of the horses settled, Will went back and gathered Drox before they headed back out into the plains of Essos. Aside from gathering horses, Will had gained a large quantity of gold and other materials that hunting Dothraki became very profitable.

Plus there were too many of those slaving bastards out there, and by cutting down their number a good deal, Will figured he was doing the world a service. Though he told Drox that, it was just an excuse to murder and steal from them.

Sure he didn't like slavery, but he wasn't some idiot who was trying to change the world and ban slavery. It just wasn't possible, and he wasn't about to give up his life for a cause he just didn't want any part of.

"Aren't you going to rob more people in Pentos?" Drox asked as they rode through a field, a giant cat running beside them.

"We're coming back! We're just going to be gone for a few more days than planned." Will answered, an evil smile on his face. It was safe to assume the number of Dothraki would be considerably shorter after their little excursion.

---------

A few months later, a massive herd of horses could be seen approaching the outskirts of Pentos. The same as last time, a stone wall appeared around the animals, acting as a fence for the ten to twenty thousand animals.

Of course, just like last time, Will and Drox weren't alone. Whenever they raided a Dothraki camp there were always a few dozen, to a few hundred slaves the Dothraki had taken.

The number of slaves would differ depending on the size of the Dothraki raiding party, but that was to be expected. With them this time were a little over three thousand men, women and children, though most of them were women, which wasn't all that surprising considering what the Dothraki used slaves for.

As Will was about to head into the city, he noticed the same Iron Bank official he had dealt with last time waiting on the outskirts of the city with an entourage of his own, sporting a big shit-eating grin.

"Welcome, Lord Castian! It looks like your time away has been fruitful!" The representative said in greeting, and Will couldn't help the smile that played across his face as he looked over the horses.

"Very true, though I don't know if it's going to be worth all of the hassle." Will answered, looking over the former slaves as well, which drew the representatives' eyes to the people as well.

Knowing the hassle Will might be referring to too, the man answered, "Worry not! The Iron Bank will make sure they are all either taken back to their homes, and given a few months pay. We might even hire a few of them, if they would like the work."

Those words actually did alleviate a bit of the weight on Will's shoulders. Though he didn't care at all about death, that didn't mean he would condemn thousands of innocent people who had done nothing to their deaths.

"I'm glad I can always count on the Iron Bank! The horses are all yours." Will said, getting a thankful nod from the representative. The last time he had gotten the horses, his superiors back in Braavos had been so pleased, they had rewarded him handsomely.

With over 5 times more horses than last time, and a large number of potential workers, he was sure to be rewarded a second time.

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With the problem of the horses and former slaves dealt with, Will and Drox quickly left the area without another word. Neither cared for the formal crap that went along with meeting rich people, and both got away without having been seen by anyone.

When they found an inn to stay for the night, both of them paid for baths for themselves, then ate a large meal, though Drox's was split between himself, Shade, and the two baby eagles, which had hatched at some point out on their trip.

Of the three eggs, one of them hadn't hatched, leaving just the two birds. Drox had gotten a number of suggestions from Will on what to call them, but most of them sounded ridiculous to him.

I mean really, who would ever name a bird, Daffy? Will did give a few names that were pretty good, and after a bit of contemplation, Drox named them Ace and Sterling.

He even bonded with both of them, and Will wasn't sure if it had something to do with the birds just being born, or if Drox was just getting better at it, but the bonding process had only taken an hour or two for both birds.

There were a few times out on the road where Will wanted to just dump the damn birds for all the squawking and chirping they did, but Drox looked like he would burst into tears at the very mention of it.

None of Drox's animals liked Will, and whenever he approached the birds, they would squawk and chirp until he either left, or Drox came to their rescue.

Shade on the other hand, was very subservient to Will when he came near her, though that might be because she knew there was no point in trying to run from the monster.

Will tolerated her more than Drox, as she would eat, then barely make a sound. Plus she killed more than 20 times the people Drox did, which was a decent bit all on it's own.

Both Will and Drox passed out fairly quickly after dinner, having had to deal with people for so long and to now be free of them was like a breath of fresh air. Though Will still had to deal with Drox, he was coming to tolerate him more and more, though that might have to do with him being able to dump his problems on the boy.

Throughout the entire trip out murdering Dothraki, whenever some whiney person had a complaint, Will forced Drox to deal with it. Now the kid was an expert at telling people to quit their bitching. Drox learned something, and Will got great joy at watching the scenes unfold. Win-win in his book.

Come sunrise, both carried on with their usual workout routine, Drox actually keeping up with Will at this point. The kid had grown like a weed over the last few months, and he was now taller than Will by a few inches.

Still couldn't hold a candle to Will in anything they did other than eating, but Drox was okay with that. Comparing himself to a monster like Will was stupid, so he compared himself to everyone but Will, and found he was actually further ahead than most.

He was by no means a genius, but he could work numbers pretty well, and he could read a page from one of Will's books and only mess up on a few words now.

He knew about each of the major houses of Westeros, the Iron Bank, and a few things about individuals Will had dubbed important. His hand to hand combat was pretty good, and he could grapple with people twice his size and come out the victor.

He could use a knife better than any other weapon, but he preferred the spear or axe to knives, but it was the only one Will could teach adequately.

Will had shown him the training steps for the spear, but both of them had a long way to go before they claimed to be any sort of master. As for the bow, neither of them could hit a damn thing further than 50 yards, although Will was fairly good with a crossbow.

Once the two of them were done with their training, they decided to look around the city for anything worthwhile. Will found a merchant selling books, and without looking at any of them, purchased every single one of them.

He also bought a whole warehouse full of stone and marble, while also helping himself to a few warehouses belonging to some magisters full of random goods.

Throughout the day, many people tried to buy Shade off of Drox, and when he refused some of them outright tried to take her. Drox very much disliked killing and slavery, but he knew it was necessary if he wanted to survive in this world.

Despite his dislike for it, in this situation he lost all care for those who tried to take Shade from him. She was like a sister or daughter to him, and to even suggest taking her away from him fueled a fire inside him he didn't know he had, so when people tried to take her from him, he allowed Shade to rip them apart with no remorse whatsoever.

Will watched on each time with a neutral expression, then once it was done he would give Drox an approving nod before he continued on his way like nothing ever happened.

Will knew he was shaping Drox's personality, but he figured it was better this way. Drox didn't stand a chance in this world if he was a soft pushover, letting people walk over him as easily as he had been before he met Will, and both of them knew it.

The whole day was spent looking about the city, acquiring random items here and there, though Will mostly got resource materials and other things for building a castle.

Drox did get a new spear of high quality, and a set of long knives that were more akin to short swords than anything. They weren't nearly as cool as Will's but they were definitely above anything either of the two had managed to find thus far.

Will got a new saddle made for Trojan, and purchased an insane quantity of hay and grain. Anywhere that sold hay lost half of their stock that day, though Will did pay for most of it.

He was proud of the fact that he could now feed about a thousand horses for about a year with just the hay he had in his inventory. Will also managed to acquire another large assortment of spices of every kind, but the main thing he kept his eyes out for was something similar to ketchup!

Lots of the food would go better with BBQ sauce or some other delicious sauces, but the one he longed for was Ketchup! If need be, he would find a way to create the magical elixir that was ketchup if it was the last thing he ever did. That, and coffee!

Though his body didn't need the heavenly drink to keep itself going just yet, there was nothing in the world that was better than waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh coffee. Sex was a close second, but Will stood by the fact that one just couldn't get by without a coffee after a certain point in their life.

He hoped he could find coffee beans before he got to that stage, but so far he hadn't had any luck in that area either. Still, he would not give up on finding the elusive coffee bean, and one day it would be his!

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Will spent another three days scouring the city for anything worthwhile, but it wasn't until the fourth night that he came across something interesting.

In one of the estates owned by Magister.... whatever the fuck his name was, Will came across two young blonde children sleeping in rooms beside each other. It wouldn't have really stuck out to him, but there being four guards stationed outside the rooms was a dead giveaway that something was off.

After taking a good look at both the children, boy and girl, it didn't take a genius to figure out their identities.

'So... Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen! The last known members of the Targaryen bloodline...' Will thought, thinking it would be so easy to kill them if he had any desire to do so. Thankfully he didn't!

Though he disliked Daenerys from the show, she was only around 6 or 7 years old right now, and if she got the right help from Elia or someone who could actually look after her and teach her properly, Will had high hopes she wouldn't turn out the same way as in the show.

Opening up the wall between both rooms, Will looked from one sleeping child to the next, and he debated on what he should do now.

'Take them with me, or leave them here to suffer?' He thought, already leaning towards taking them with him. If Elia hadn't expressed her desire to see them again, he doubted he actually would have paid them any mind, but if there was one person in this world he would actually listen to, it was Elia.

'I guess I'm bringing them with me then.' Will thought, thinking about how he was going to abduct them!!