War of the Usurper IV

(Petyr POV)

Gulltown had been taken by the rebel forces of Arryn and Robert Baratheon. Robert had killed Lord Grafton himself and then sailed to Storm's End right after. Eddard had arrived in the North and called his Banners who had yet to arrive in full force. But soon they would march south to join Robert. Things were progressing smoothly and I was using this time to gather more and more information. 

Soon, Robert would have to fight at Summerhall. Robert called the Banners of the Stormlands but not everyone arrived. Lords Grandison, Cafferen, and Fell have gathered their hosts and plan to join forces at Summerhall. From there, they would march on Storm's End. I gathered this information thanks to my spy/assassin clones. It was a new force I created and dressed them like the assassins from 'Assassins Creed'. 

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However, thanks to an informer, Robert has learned of the three Lords' plans and is currently riding with his knights and squires to Summerhall, where he will have to fight them. Now, who might have been the one to notify Robert Baratheon of this plot? Why, yours truly of course. I wanted to make sure things happened as they were supposed to, in case they didn't and told him of their plans. If anything happened and he would arrive too soon, I would be able to deal with stalling him easily.

The castle is coming along nicely. I have decided to expand on it even more. I added powerful walls, tens of meters thick and used steel in between the walls. I hid the steel with stone to avoid making it too obvious immediately and revealing our great advantage. I also made the castle bigger and added special towers to it, where I will have a lot of places to relax and spend time in. A man needs his free time and now that I have this many good 'workers', I can take some time to relax after working so hard ...

The Harbour is also coming along nicely and will be completed in a few moons. The merchant business is going very well. The shareholders of the Iron Bank of Braavos reached out and asked for 'cooperation'. They offered me deals ... I felt like a king at that moment. I basically gained the privilege to trade food and expensive clothing as well as jewellery in Braavos and no one else did. I gained a monopoly on a lot of food items. Besides that, they wanted me to pay them 1 million Gold Coins as a loan. This got me to be a major shareholder of the Iron Bank of Braavos. 

When I read the letter, I smiled. They are very desperate right now, that much is obvious. Apart from the money, I lose absolutely nothing. This will be the chance for me to improve relations with Braavos as a whole. I am currently on my way to Braavos, or I should be sailing there. But I don't really sail anywhere if it isn't absolutely necessary. So while my ship is sailing towards Braavos, I am at Summerhall right now, preparing for the three consecutive battles that are to come. When my ship has reached Braavos, I will travel there via a reflective surface.

.

I arrive at the battlefield from a shield. I ensure that no one notices me and move out of the way and hide. The fighting has just started and I am looking at the tactics employed by both sides. I am impressed with Robert's quick thinking and potential as a general. He has a flair for fighting of any kind. As I listen to him giving orders, I copy his ability of battle tactics. That is a welcome surprise, that I can also copy such abilities. 

I look from afar as Robert's forces, overwhelm Lord Cafferen's easily and copy the soldiers' abilities in armed combat. It is not that impressive, because the time I waited for has arrived. I watch as Robert rides on his powerful horse and swings his heavy Warhammer with relative ease. Each of his strikes smashes heads, breaks bones, crushes chests and bends armour. Nothing is safe from his fury and his bloodlust. His actions and presence seem to influence the battle around him and his men's spirit rises higher and higher.

I copy Robert's martial prowess, his horse riding skill, and the use of a Warhammer. I then disappear from the battlefield, because I have what I wanted from here and appear on my ship. I lie down on my bed because I feel the changes happening in my body. That is a secondary benefit of my Essence of the Mirror. When I copy the martial ability of someone, my body changes to fit all the skills I have. Meaning, now that I copied the Warhammer handling of Robert, my body has to change and grow stronger, to handle that stain. So as I copy the martial ability of more men and women, my body will become the peak of this world. The best of all worlds, flexibility with strength and speed as well. 

I don't feel pain, as my body changes but it does feel strange and uncomfortable. This was a rather big step up compared to before. Robert Baratheon is a monster during battle, now that he is still not yet king. 

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Finally, we have arrived in Braavos. I have grown several inches and my muscles have bulged a tiny bit. Not much, but I can tell that it would have been more, had I not grown larger as well. As I grow up, I will keep my lean physique, which is good, I want others to underestimate me. If I had to compare my current body with something, it would look similar to Bruce Wayne, the Batman. 

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I will still grow as I am merely 16 name days old. But the air around me has changed. People who looked at me as if talking to a young boy, now look at me with more respect and interest. I have developed a 'gentle' and 'calm' personality which aims at gaining the trust of others and appearing harmless. So while I like the respect I see in others' eyes, I don't want that respect to develop into fear or caution. We shall see what happens. 

Dalran Ryser walks towards me and bows his head. 

"My Lord, we have docked. You may disembark any moment now."

"Very well. Let us do just that."

We descend the ship and are welcomed by a small envoy of well-dressed men. I can tell that they are the people who were sent by the shareholders of the Iron Bank. 

"Lord Baelish, it is a pleasure to see you making the long way to Braavos. I was sent by the shareholders to accompany you and lead you to the Iron Bank, where they are already waiting for you. I hope you had a pleasant journey.", the man says and bows his head slightly. 

"The journey was calm, which is pleasant. Please lead the way."

"Naturally. This way please."

We make our way through the streets of Braavos and finally reach the Iron Bank. It is a nice structure compared to most others in this world. There was a lot of money spent on creating it. You only get one chance at a first impression. 

I am led through the Bank and we walk into a restricted section, which is reserved for Keyholders, or shareholders. Powerful Braavosi own shares in the bank, sit on its secret council and have a voice in selecting the men who lead it. Keyholders proudly display ceremonial keys on formal occasions, which is also this one, it would seem. 

As I enter a room, I am presented with about 30 to 40 men and women who are sitting at a large table. The leader, who sits at the end stands up when he sees me and walks towards me. I see his smile which is both real and fake at the same time. 

"Welcome, Lord Petyr Baelish. We are happy you could make the time in your busy schedule and visit us at this time.", he says and shakes my hand. 

"It was no trouble at all. I am glad I could get away from all the work at home, now that there is someone who can take care of it in my absence." I also smile and shake his hand. 

He shows me where I can sit. 

"Ah, we heard about your quick success and ability in conducting your growing merchant empire. It is also one of the reasons, we reached out to you this time. As you know, the Iron Bank of Braavos follows a strict policy. If someone were to loan money from us and not pay it back, we take drastic measures. The words 'The Iron Bank gets its due', are correct. This exact scenario has happened a while ago. You see, we have been expecting payment for a long time now, from many different merchants and other professions around Essos, who still haven't come around to do that. 

So, we have decided to put a stop to that. For this reason, we are looking for other promising merchants and businessmen who will surely reward our kindness and funding, instead of holding back on all our money.", he says and everyone in the room looks at me. 

"I see. And you believe I am that person?"

"Indeed. We have followed your progress and rise to fame and growing wealth with interest, ever since you first came to our harbour in Braavos with your magnificent vessel. We know that you have a special skill in sailing, building ships and also merchandise that dwarfs anyone else we have ever seen. And we have seen many.", the man continued with his flowery words I didn't really like, but had learned to use as well. I was smart and would use anything to my advantage, so this was a necessary 'evil' so to speak. 

"Very well. But how about we stop lying for a moment."

"..."

The hall is silent as I say those words. Everyone looks at me or the man who has the leading role at the moment. Unsure of what I mean by those words and if it could be possible that I know something. 

"We don't understand, Lord Petyr. What do you mean? We would never-"

"Yeah, yeah, spare me the flowery words and let us talk straight.", I wave his words aside like an annoying fly. 

"... What are you talking about?", he looks at me with narrowed eyes. 

"Listen. I understand that something must have happened and you are in need of money. But we can't get to the bottom of things if you keep lying to me and trying to tell me it has anything to do with some made-up reason. To be honest with you, I don't care about the reason, as much as the fact that you approached me. 

Your letter and the explanation for your letter are well thought of, but not that clever at all. I know for a fact, that there are others who hold more authority and who you could ask for this as well. I am not the sole provider of those goods you wrote about in your letter. But I am the newest and most promising merchant and still relatively young. 

But your mistake was to think that I am naive and have some backers. Now, I don't deny this nor confirm it, but you are dealing with an adult and not a child, so let us talk about the problem at hand. You need money, gold and a lot of it. And we all know that 1 million Gold Coins is not going to cut it if my suspicions are correct."

"..."

Everyone is listening to me. Not daring to miss a single word. 

"So here's my proposition. If one or two things are changed in the contract, I will raise the money I will pay you 10 million Gold Coins right away."

!!!!

I drop the bomb and the Keyholders are stunned for a moment.

"You ... are willing to pay us 10 million Gold Coins? Why and what changes do you want to add to the contract?", the man asks me. 

"Simple. There is a list of goods, I would like to sell in Braavos and Westeros that I would like to have the monopoly on, at least in the Free City of Braavos. The other thing is, I want to become a Keyholder and a major shareholder of the eIron Bank."

"... is ... that all?", the man asks me. 

"Yes, that is all. I don't need anything else really. We can set the interest right now and make it fair, for the first 5 years. After that, we will raise them a bit and then in 10 years we will raise them a bit higher, which will be the final interest rate until you pay me back all of it. How does that sound?", I ask them. 

I see the greed in their eyes and smile internally. Hook, line and sinker. 

"Like a very good deal, Lord Petyr."