Chapter 96 - Artican Trade in Westeros 23 (Reach 03!).

[Chapter Size: 2900 Words.]

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Thrid Person POV

Westeros, 295 AC.

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The city of Highgarden was filled with joy due to the number of visitors in the area over the last week. Known for its inherent beauty, with lush gardens and rich farmland surrounding it, the city was in the midst of an extensive festival, attracting large crowds from all kingdoms.

Due to Lord Mace Tyrell's birthday tournament marking four decades of life, a unique occasion, everyone made it a point to grace Highgarden with their presence. The city's economy was bustling at this time, with streets teeming with people—not just nobles looking to make some money, but also bards, knights seeking gold from the jousts, or people trying their luck, be it farmer's sons or minor nobles' sons hoping to stand out and catch the interest of a knight to become their squire.

People came from all over, including some from Dorne, the West, and Stormland, primarily knights aiming to win some gold from the Tyrells. The city greatly benefited from this with a boost in local economic turnover, despite some downsides such as overcrowding, increased theft, and even some murders and more heinous crimes that the city guards had to handle. Overall, it was quite beneficial for most.

After the melee, there were no more games; there was a pause for everyone to enjoy the place. The archery tournament would start in a few days, soon followed by the main event, the joust. People were still talking about the melee and composing new songs about the winner, none other than Mace Tyrell's own son, Garlan Tyrell, who achieved a grand victory.

However, this morning was somewhat different. Although they spent the entire morning celebrating and listening to bards while people shopped here and there, something happened this morning with people arriving in the city, announcing a group of monsters approaching.

This left the people of Highgarden stunned, as the Arctic was not common knowledge to the common folk.

"I swear, I saw four-meter-tall men in armor coming this way. What will our lord do about this?!" These comments began to surface in the city.

Many people hitting the road encountered the Artican group, fleeing immediately upon seeing a dozen giants marching with the group. Those who left the city returned running, and the same could be said for farmers heading to the tournament and encountering them on the road, making them gallop as fast as their horses could to escape the "monsters."

"You're lying," another mocked. "Four-meter-tall men? You're drunk, or something!" Another citizen scoffed upon hearing such a thing in the middle of the crowd.

"You really don't understand. There are many of them coming this way. I'm telling you, someone should do something. We should warn the guards," the man spoke a bit desperately. After all, he had left his farm to meet some friends in the city when he saw the group and sped his horse, quickly reaching the place a few hours before Jon's arrival.

"Sir guard! You have to protect the city!" Someone finally went up to the guards.

"The story of the four-meter-tall men? You're the second with this delusion, get out of here and don't bother us!" The man spoke rudely to the citizen.

"But I swear! You have to warn our lord about this!" The citizen insisted.

"Get out of here before we arrest you!" A third guard spoke, making the one bothering them quickly leave in fear.

"Do you believe this?" One of them said.

"In four-meter-tall men, they're joking with us." another spoke.

"If a third one shows up, I swear I'll lock up with this damn joke!" Another complained.

And it didn't take long for the third to appear before these guards, and not just that, when the fourth and fifth came, they began to have some uncertainty about these events, and a doubt started to arise among them.

As the city began to grow quite restless with not just the guards but the citizens themselves forgetting the tournament to talk only of the monsters arriving as more and more people arrived in the city this morning saying they had seen the approach of the Artican group, the guards had no choice but to report this to the castle to the Tyrells.

A man quickly rode to the castle on his horse, approaching from a side where he wouldn't disrupt the flow of nobles entering the castle, as he could possibly be killed for causing trouble there.

He finally approached the guards at the gate who looked at him suspiciously. "I need to report something that's happening in the city!" He said, dismounting his horse and approaching the men.

"What is it?" The castle guard asked calmly.

"There are rumors of a group of giant men approaching the city, my captain wants to send a squad to confront them and find out who they are or their intentions," he said.

The guards looked at each other upon hearing this, and one of them spoke. "They are the company from the north, our lord has informed us about the arrival of these giants along with the group, although it's hard to believe in giants, but it seems there are many witnesses..." the man spoke, murmuring the last part, after all they had heard that a quite peculiar group was going to appear, although they were skeptical, now they seemed more willing to believe after hearing this guard.

"Leave this with us as soon as we pass the information to our captain, we will approach them, just say they are a group coming from the north of Westeros and apparently, giants exist..." he said.

The existence of giants would eventually spread from Dorne to all of Westeros soon, through bards and merchants, however this would take a long time and as Jon had just left Dorne, the existence of giants was still something almost no one could believe, despite some appearing in Winterfell years ago, most of those who received this information in the south, took it as a delusion of the wildlings from the north.

"Also tell the city commander, not to mess with them, we will handle the matter," the castle guard said, heading inside the castle while the city guard returned to his horse as he went to inform his companions about the situation and try to keep the city calm.

One of the castle soldiers left the place after seeing the man go away and went to inform his superior. "Giants approaching... So they will be here soon..." the man said and asked for the man to return to his position and headed towards the castle to speak with the Tyrell family.

The rumor of the giants was not limited to the city, after all the nobles also began to hear it, remaining quite skeptical about it.

Not in the castle, but in the tents where the houses were staying began to talk to each other. "What's this story about a giant coming here?" A local noble asked a known acquaintance who always had more reliable information.

"Lord Shermer, so you've heard about the giants..." the man spoke.

"Lord Cuy, everyone is talking about giants, those who were said to live thousands of years ago, coming here..." the man spoke, waiting for some clarification on this absurdity.

Lord X sighed and began to talk about what he knew, "I heard that a group from the north is coming here, and it's about that bastard son of Eduardo Stark," Lord Cuy commented to his acquaintance.

"Bastard son of the Starks? I've never heard of that," Lord Shermer looked confused after hearing this. After all, although it was a delicate subject for many nobles in certain kingdoms, not everyone was aware. Moreover, it was a matter in the Kingdom of the North that could only affect beyond the north itself, the Vale and the Riverlands.

However, the Reach, the West, Dorne, and the Stormlands was not a topic much discussed among lesser nobles, only the more well-known ones, those who liked to keep an eye on everything; the rest cared more about their own lives and lands.

"Well, it seems you didn't know, but many years ago, a Stark stole his own sister from Winterfell and took her beyond the Wall," Lord Cuy clarified.

"What are you talking about?" the man looked strangely at the absurd story. "A bastard stealing his own sister?!" He murmured.

"I'm telling the truth," Lord X spoke calmly. "This story is famous. Are you going to tell me you also don't know the Stark family?" He mocked.

"Of course I know, who doesn't know the main families of all the kingdoms? That's basic etiquette for any noble," he said. "Besides, there was that absurdity years ago of Prince Targaryen stealing Lyanna Stark, I was a child at the time, but I still remember my grandfather talking about it. But the thing is I've never heard of this story of the bastard, and it's quite absurd, though I expect such behavior from a bastard, even more a wildling from the north." Lord Shermer commented.

"I understand you, but his story becomes even more absurd, for rumors say he made a land in the icy desert, which is what I heard from the conversation between the Reds and Lord Hightower at last night's banquet, saying they were coming here. Do you believe that?" He said, still remembering overhearing the conversation of the great houses.

"A bastard creating a kingdom beyond the Wall? I heard it's a frozen desert from my maester, what nonsense is this." The man scoffed.

"They say he found gold mines in those lands and even manages to transport ice, our lords were saying he's selling ice to the Dornish in the south..." He said intriguingly.

"You can't be serious." Lord Shermer didn't believe it.

"Yes, it's true, anyway, we'll soon see if this story is actually true or not." he reaffirmed.

This type of conversation started among all the nobles and began to spread, with most not having much information, people were left with only the rumor of a group from the north coming with giants from beyond the Wall.

The castle commander finally went to inform his lords as he entered the place unimpeded, until he reached the room where the Tyrells were having their meal quietly among their own family.

"Come in." The commander entered and greeted the family, addressing primarily Olenna, as no one doubted that she was the head of the family.

"Speak." Olenna said calmly, the table was filled with Willas, Garlan, Margaery, Mace, and Alerie, in addition to Olenna herself, using this time to stay among themselves to talk about the tournament and how things were going.

"My lady, we have spotted the group of giants with a large company with carts arriving in the next town," the man said, leaving some at the table surprised.

"That's good, it seems they have finally arrived..." Olenna said.

"What do you mean by that, mother? Giants, what story is this?" Mace stood up from the table with his huge body stunned.

"Have you not been paying attention to the latest news from the south?" Olenna asked with a raised eyebrow to her son.

"No..." He said, trying to remember something important, but nothing came to mind, after all, he had been focused on other things in the last moons like his own birthday tournament.

Olenna sighed and first turned back to the commander. "Send a group to receive them, this will not let chaos arise over possibly giant men attacking the city, although I would like to see some of these annoying nobles running like chickens." She spoke, while the man nodded and began to leave the room.

Olenna saw this and turned back to her foolish son. "We have important guests arriving, Ned Stark's son, who was known as Jon Snow, is coming with his giants and his wealth to us, and we will not dismiss the same opportunity that the Martells had." She spoke with her hand on her chin.

"Jon Snow...? The bastard who kidnapped his own sister?" Mace asked surprised, while his children looked at him surprised by this outburst.

"You remember that, but you haven't heard of the giants that appeared in Winterfell years ago?" She asked wanting to slap her son.

"But that was a lie! Giants don't exist!" He exclaimed.

"Well, you fool. We have half a dozen of them coming here, there are also dwarves, but not imps as we know them, they seem to be a unique race, so let's not risk offending our guests, understood?" Olenna spoke to her son.

"But..." Mace was at a loss for words to argue with his mother, "He cannot be received at the castle, he is a bastard, how will it look receiving a bastard who kidnaps his own sister?" Mace commented incredulously at what his mother was doing.

"Father, I heard that his sister, Arya Stark is doing very well... Didn't you hear what happened in the south?" Willas did not fail to ask.

"In the south?" Mace looked strangely at his son, he remembered that someone tried to deliver information from the south, but he said he didn't want to hear it, since his mother took care of all that matter.

If Olenna already wanted to slap him, that urge reached its peak at this moment, but Garlan responded even faster than her at that moment.

"I heard that Jon Artica fought Oberyn Martell himself and almost killed him, though I've heard other strange things too," Garlan spoke calmly. "I would like to fight him, if possible."

"Jon Artica?" His mother asked.

"That's his name now, he has become a foreign monarch..." Margaery said.

"Isn't that absurd?" Mace turned to his daughter, finding the story increasingly strange.

"Think what you want, my foolish son," Olenna didn't hold back in scolding Mace and continued. "We will welcome them into our house, no matter what others think while we will be enriching ourselves from it," she said. "No need to treat them like our family, but certainly do not offend them, I don't want to make the same mistakes as Doran Martell. After all, he had to pay for all his offenses to not lose the business with the Articans," she spoke calmly.

"Even so..." Mace continued, although he was happy someone kicked the butt of the man who had made his oldest son a cripple, he was not sure about accepting a bastard into his home.

"Father, I heard he has unique products, he sells ice, do you know what a craze this could become in our kingdom?" Willas gave his opinion.

Before Mace could ask, stunned because he was unaware of the ice selling, his mother spoke. "No matter what Mace says, we will be receiving them and opening business with Eddard Stark's son," she said.

Mace finally asked about the ice, wanting to know more about it right after, while on the road as Jon could see the city at a distance wanting to take a shortcut through a different place, soon a group of soldiers was spotted approaching, at least a cavalry with 30 of them, raising a white flag as a sign of peace, with the castle's guard commander coming as his lady had asked to approach them.

Jon on his wolf, darker gray than Arya's, raised his hand making his men stop marching and wait for the group to approach.

They stopped 20 meters away, while they analyzed the Artican group stunned and cautious seeing those giants in eldenmetal armors, it could be noted some were riding giant wolves instead of horses.

"Are you Jon Artica?" The man leading the group asked.

"Yes, who am I speaking with... Sir?" Jon stepped forward with his wolf and asked.

"I am Sir Willian Flore," he said, after all, he was a bastard who had made a career, becoming a knight and still working with the Tyrells as their guard commander.

Jon looked at the man who must have been in his 40s, and nodded. "Will the Tyrells receive us?" Jon asked.

"Yes, my lord asked that we escort you to avoid confusion with these giants," he said swallowing dryly, looking still skeptical like his men, he also used Mace Tyrell as the mandator, even though his mother was in command, it was good to maintain appearances that he had control, although many knew the truth.

"That is good," Jon said. "Then please, show the way." Jon said as he nodded and asked his men to turn at that moment.

Jon's group soon followed his men towards a path that cut through the city, but this did not stop many people from starting to look incredulously at the group being led by Tyrell soldiers.

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Raccoon here:

I was creating the tournament, but I hadn't added the exact reason why it was being held, so I filled it in as Mace's birthday, since the man likes to flaunt his wealth, being controlled only by Olenna, who is quite harsh with her son.

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