16. Life in King's Landing Pt 2

Lord Ben Byrch had droned on for around a half hour of the expenses of the upcoming tourney. "I was, informed that we will be expecting, another 5000 barrels of beer from White Harbor, this should see us well pass to the completion of the tourney."

This earned a chuckle from Ser Martyn Farring, the Master of Whispers; "that should keep the small folk well placated, hopefully there won't be any trouble, even in the middle of winter and the tourney is all that they can talk about."

King Aegon looked at the Master of Coin and urged him to wrap up his report.

"Yes Ser Martyn, but at the expense of the Crown which has already put out around a total 38,000 in gold in preparation, our budget was already set at 50,000, hopefully there will be no more unexpected, expenses. Drinks, food, accommodations, labor and prizes have all been accounted for. Which leaves us with just under 12,000 for any expenses during and after. By previous records, we will be cutting it close." Lord Ben Byrch concluded and sat back into his seat.

King Aegon next looked to Ser Martyn Farring. "Anything we should know about since the last meeting?"

Ser Martyn slightly adjusted in his seat as the King addressed him. "Your Grace, only 2 things of mention; the first being of more importance, my informants from Essos informs me that Maelys Blackfyre has killed his cousin Daemon Blackfyre and taken command of the Golden Company.

The company is presently holding a contract with Myr. So they will be tied up for some time, as the conflict with Volantis is still heated. However, I will have my informants keep an ear out for them. Even if they don't break contracts, I was informed that Maelys is very ambitious and not in the good way. Like all of his Blackfyre kin before, he has his eyes set on Westeros and it's only a matter of time before he makes a move."

"I will have words with all of the Great Houses in attendance, with his Grace's permission, we will put them in a state of readiness, in the event of another Blackfyre incursion. Even if they do not have the numbers they did in the past, we will have to be vigilante." Spoke the Hand Lord Edwyle Stark.

"I agree, the last thing we need is another Blackfyre rebellion." Ser Duncan added and all the members including King Aegon had a solemn look. 

Ser Martyn then proceeded to continue his report. "Also, it may please everyone to know in comparison to past years, the amount of theft and robbery in the city is down. Unfortunately, it is not determined if this may turn out to be a good thing." Everyone around the room, gave Ser Martyn a queer look, well except me. 'I was wondering when he would notice?'

He continued. "Apparently there is a new player in Flea Bottom, he goes by the name The Basilisk. The Gold Cloaks have told me that a number of notorious robbers and thieves have either gone missing or turned up dead. Rumors that The Basilisk, considered them leeches and that if they would even prey upon the residence of Flea Bottom, then they serve no purpose."

"Then shouldn't that be a good thing?" asked Lord Gavyn Redwyne

Ser Duncan answered instead. "Not necessarily. It all falls on what is the intentions of this Basilisk, if he is a new Crime Lord, then the rest of the city could be affected if he is able to unify the criminals in Flea Bottom. This could be the calm before the storm.

I doubt very much that he is from Flea Bottom, with a name like The Basilisk, he may be from one of the free cities. No one born amongst the smallfolk and raised in this city even knows what a Basilisk is. Unless, he may be from the nobility who will be more learned.

Either way, we need to find out who this Basilisk is and either get him under control or kill him. If he establishes himself or kills enough of the scum, like rats, his enemies will start to flee and spread out into other corners of the city and then crime will inevitably go up."

I was impressed by Ser Duncan's analysis on the spot, he had already figured out some crucial points. I had been inspired by the Basilisk's blood paste I had learned about and acquired from a smuggler and took on the false name to not only build a reputation in the underworld, but to also strike at some criminals who were inconveniencing me.

They had also turned out to be a great source of experience for raising my skill levels. Most of my kills had come from the criminal scum of Flea Bottom. Known robbers, thieves, and other thrash that didn't qualify to be human.

Even a few noble born who would frequent Flea Bottom for more heinous means of satisfying their lusts, however, they would never be found as that would draw too much attention. I would instead have to kidnap them and take them to more secluded locations. I had earned quite a bit of skill levels to my Intimidation this way. 

One particular noble I had kept for 2 days in a cellar, I got him to tell me every single detail of his House, even which brothels his father liked to visit when he was in King's Landing. I had broken him mentally to the point that he was afraid to even open his eyes. I had learned a lot from that, I still made him suffer for the acts that he had confessed to before killing him.

Now I would have to take certain actions, no one who knew that I was The Basilisk, would ever have a chance of being caught. But I still wouldn't take the chance and let some of the useful subordinates I had cultivated be captured.

Ser Martyn continued. "Agreed, I will have the Commander of the Gold Cloaks look out for anyone using the name, I will also have my informants pay attention for any news of his identity."

.........…..

After Ser Martyn had finished his report, it was already late in the afternoon, King Aegon had dismissed me for the day. Instead of heading to my apartment in the Red Keep, I headed to the Lannister Manse located in the wealthier section of the city near the Old Gate. When I had arrived in the city, it was in a state of disrepair as it hadn't seen much use in the last decade and was more of a Bachelor pad.

I was able to procure the adjacent lot a couple of months ago and expanded the lower floor as well as the size of the court yard for training. It had been badly needed as the number of men I commanded had increased to 18 from House Lannister and to additional knights.

My Uncle Jason Lannister, had requested an additional 12 men to join me in King's Landing. Tytos had surprisingly been so worried that he didn't hesitate after he learned of the attack and also had the Master of Arms send another young knight of 17, together with the men.

After the loss of Garrand, it had been felt that I would need another knight in my service. Ser Ilyn Payne, the man who I was now sitting across from in my recently finished office on the 2nd floor of the manse. He had just been running the men through their paces and was now taking a break.

He was tall and thin with long arms and legs, with very pale skin and eyes, with long black oily hair. His face wasn't very pretty either but that only added to his intimidation effect on people. Unlike his counterpart in the books, he was also very chatty. I surmised that after Aerys had his tongue pulled out, 'he wasn't very chatty after that'.

He also had some very odd proclivities. Like how he would have to visit a brothel after each of our clandestine outings. Apparently he was turned on by violence and bloodshed. The odd part was that he wasn't violent with whores and treaded them quite well. I found out after I followed him a couple of times.

If Robar was my personal body guard as he never left my side, Ilyn was my enforcer as he kept my men in line. It was strange how he had been chosen to come to King's Landing and I wondered if this was part of book canon. Even if he was only 17 and a skilled fighter, younger than Robar, he was the captain of my guards.

He was responsible for their training and making sure they carried out their duties. Their main duties were apart from guarding the manse, were also guarding my other businesses that I had opened. One was an Inn near the Gate of the Gods which I named The Feasting Hall and the other was an Inn near the River Gate, called the Fisherman's Bounty.

Both had been worthwhile ventures. They had barely cost me anything to procure, the Hall had been a large rundown property that had been owned by a knight who had died during the 4th Blackfyre rebellion. Through my connections with the King, I was able to evict the squatters and get the deed for free, it had only cost to renovate and furnish.

Its main attraction was its roasted meats and stews, which I had been able to secure from farms in the Crownlands. The Bounty, was a large house that was being used as a hideout for a group of thieves, they had all mysteriously disappeared a couple of months after I had arrived in King's Landing. I was also able to secure the deed for that as well.

I had mainly focused on the cuisine. Also making the rooms as clean and affordable as possible. Compared to the garbage that was served in King's Landing, both Inns were packed from midday till night. The menu was Mediterranean inspire cuisine.

I had even expanded to selling small folded pasties that were called pies. At the Hall; beef and pork pies, and at the Bounty was fish and octopus pies. The recipes were simple enough and I had to resort to using some seasoning alternatives, but compared to what the masses were accustomed to, they went crazy over new cuisine.

The pies were a hit but I had to quickly adjust the price from 4 copper pennies to a copper star (8 copper pennies). This was due to the demand, which even if it wasn't affordable to the less fortunate smallfolk, it was in demand by merchants and the well-off, who were my true targets. I had scouted a few of orphans from Flea Bottom and competent Inn keepers to run my Inns.

Ser Ilyn was in charge of the Hall, he was responsible for taking care of any trouble makers, especially those who thought that it was an easy target despite the reputation that it had gained for being owned by a noble house.

I had tried my best to maintain my anonymity, but occasional a hedge knight or some low born knight would show up and try to take liberties with the staff such as Darcey. I would then have them beaten and stripped and handed over to the Gold Cloaks. The Captains of the Gold Cloaks had quickly learned not to mess around either after a particular incident.

One particularly greedy Captain had tried to extort money from the Inn Keeper, despite the obvious warning signs, such as the well-equipped guards, despite them not wearing Lannister colors and the warnings from the Inn Keeper. After I paid a visit to Ser Duncan, the Commander of the Gold Cloaks almost popped a blood vessel when he was paid a visit. Little to say that that particular captain was never seen again.

Forely Prester, even though he had become one of my sworn swords, was appointed to the position of Gold Cloak Captain and stationed at the River Gate after some reassignments. Little to say that after the Commander had found out who was the owner of the Inn, he was all to compliant in an attempt to have the matter quickly forgotten and not have to be mentioned to the King himself.

Forely Prester had since taken over the responsibility for keeping an eye on the Bounty, he was proving to be very useful as well. Both my Inns were profitable but weren't really worthwhile by Lannister standards. They would be able to cover the expenses of all my employees in King's Landing, but they also served another vital purpose.

They acted as vetting and training tools for the people I hired. I would need to know if they were reliable as well as if they had any skills in information gathering. After I had spent some months with Delia and Darcey using my various skills, they had become skilled at deceiving and coaxing information out of others. Skills that they would need later on for the next phases of my plans.

Using the skills that they had learned, they were able to gather information from not only other employees but customers as well. Both sisters had grown shapelier over the last year and as far as looks, were developing quite nicely. However, this sometimes had attracted the wrong kind of attention from my men.

They were whores yes and few knew that. They worked for me and I didn't want any damaged good as they had potential to serve me at a higher level later on. Thanks to Ser Ilyn help, I had also reinforced that they were off limits to others especially my men, who learned to respect them as well as watch out for their safety.

Mya was a different matter, when she was back at the Red Keep, it was made clear that she was my personal servant to all of the other staff, as such no one dared to order her around. She had accompanied me when I had come to the manse this evening as she was rarely far away from me. I had grown fond of her and like Robar, she had gained my trust.

Like the sisters, I had Brayan help teach them to read the common tongue. It had been quite the tasks but all 3 were coming along and were only recently able to read more complex words. With enough time, they should become literate. Then I would be able to move on to other types of training.

.........…..

"The Master of Whispers has caught wind of some of our activities." I said to Ilyn. "He has recently learned of The Basilisk and the moves he has been making. Ser Duncan wants him found and either work for the Crown or be cut down." This made Ilyn cackle, something I had become accustomed to.

"If they only knew that The Basilisk was serving the King wine during the Small Council meeting." Ilyn said as he continued to cackle.

"Yes, that would be funny, but will never happen. Later tonight, we will be taking care of the house in Flea Bottom, the 6 that we have been using to spread the word about The Basilisk, we will be taking care of them permanently. Even if they don't know who we are, they can still describe details about us. I want no lose end, we move at the hour of the owl."

This earned me a crooked smile from him as it usually did anytime bloodshed would be involved.