"What?!"
"Renly is dead?!"
Having only just arrived at Highgarden, Kal received this shocking and wholly unexpected news from Jon.
Jon silently nodded and handed Kal a letter that had arrived not long before.
Frowning, Kal took it, pulled over a stool, and sat down.
Nearby, Baelor Hightower, who had also heard the news, looked equally stunned, his expression turning distinctly strange.
After all, that very morning he had still been speaking animatedly with the king about Stannis's raid on Storm's End. They had even wondered where Stannis had found the nerve to go looking for trouble with Renly with so few men at his back.
Yet now, they had only just reached Highgarden—had not even had time to sit down—when this utterly unexpected news struck them out of nowhere. How could it not be shocking?
"Where did this news come from?"
Seeing the king reading the letter, Baelor felt an itch in his heart. After glancing around, he decided to ask the young man before him.
Jon glanced at him. He did not recognize the man before him, nor did he know who he was.
Just as Jon was considering how to address him and explain the matter, Garlan Tyrell, who had just returned from outside Highgarden after welcoming the king back together with Arys Oakheart, suddenly spoke: "It was sent by my brother, Loras Tyrell…"
Garlan's expression was bitter, his tone equally low.
"Uh…" Baelor naturally recognized the "valiant Garlan" before him. Seeing him clad in the Kingsguard's distinctive white cloak, he found himself unsure how to begin.
That the letter had been sent by Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, only made the matter feel all the more intriguing.
As for Garlan Tyrell's appointment to the Kingsguard, Baelor did know of it. After all, the war that had taken place at Old Oak was still the subject of endless debate even now.
In the midst of that, after a stretch of inexplicable silence, the Faith had also begun to take action some time ago.
Yet to this day, no one knew what they truly intended, nor had the Faith produced any figure of sufficient standing to come forward and publicly express a view or opinion on the matter.
Because of Oldtown and the particular circumstances of his house, the High Septon had sought out his father, Lord Leyton Hightower, on many occasions. As for what was actually said between them, Baelor himself did not know.
As for Loras, Baelor knew him as well—and knew even more about the relationship between him and Renly Baratheon.
But now Renly was dead, and the news had been delivered by Loras himself. The more one thought about it, the stranger it sounded.
"Then how did Renly Baratheon die? A sudden illness, or an accident?"
Finding it awkward to ask about Loras directly, Baelor shifted the topic to Renly instead.
"It was Stannis. He murdered him."
To this question, Jon spoke with a bluntness that left no room for restraint.
He then could not help but let out a sigh and continued, "Originally, Lord Renly Baratheon had already given up his claim to the Iron Throne after being persuaded by my fa—by Lord Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King. Yet no one expected that Stannis would actually kill him…"
Jon noticed that Garlan seemed to know the young man before him. After lowering his voice to add that line, his tone was filled with regret and anger.
Baelor, who had not been paying particular attention until then, widened his eyes the moment he heard this and blurted out in shock, "Stannis? You mean Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone?!"
"He killed his own younger brother?!"
Renly's death alone had not shocked Baelor to such an extent. He even wondered whether he had misheard.
Jon pressed his lips together and said nothing more.
Garlan continued, "He used some kind of sorcery—no one knows exactly what—to kill Lord Renly. Loras's letter says it was a shadow… He witnessed the whole thing with his own eyes."
"And when it happened, there were only Lord Renly himself and Ser Barristan Selmy inside the tent."
"This led Lord Renly's guards to believe that Loras had conspired with Ser Barristan to murder him. That assassination and the ensuing misunderstanding directly caused the complete collapse of the Storm's End army's battle line afterward."
"After that, the force Loras brought from Highgarden even fell into internal strife with the Stormlands troops…"
Listening to all this, Baelor's mouth slowly fell open.
And just as they were speaking in low voices about the matter, Kal—who had already finished reading the letter—lifted his head.
"That is because Stannis Baratheon's objective from the very beginning was Storm's End. Even his use of sorcery to kill Renly was merely a means to achieve that goal," Kal said slowly, his voice low.
"…?"
At the king's words, Jon and the others all turned to look at him, their minds filled with confusion.
Kal, however, showed no intention of explaining. He simply set the letter aside, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly against the armrest of his chair as he sank into thought.
Seeing that he had fallen silent, Jon and the others exchanged glances.
"Your Grace, do you mean that Stannis used sorcery to kill his own brother simply because he wanted Storm's End?"
Baelor, always quick to speak, could not grasp the key point and asked instinctively.
"Judging by his objective, yes," Kal replied, still deep in thought, but he nodded at the question.
"Because his plan was to use Storm's End to hold me at bay—or rather, Robert. I suspect someone told him something…"
"And as for the shadow sorcery the Knight of Flowers mentioned in his letter, I do know a little about that," Kal raised his head and looked at them. "Because there is a woman at Stannis's side from Asshai—a witch, or rather, a priestess of R'hllor, the Lord of Light."
"The one who killed Renly was that witch, using shadow magic—the shadow assassin."
"So I suspect that the suggestion about seizing Storm's End was most likely given to him by that witch as well."
"But even so, he should not have… should not have killed his own brother!"
Baelor's faith was steadfast. In the doctrines of the Faith of the Seven, the murder of one's own kin was an unforgivable sin, certain to draw divine punishment. He could not understand why Stannis would do such a thing.
"After all, even if he truly wanted Storm's End, he could have obtained it through deception or other means. Hadn't Lord Renly already decided to give up competing with Your Grace for the Iron Throne?"
"If Stannis had also pretended to withdraw and then cooperated with Lord Renly, he would have had countless ways to gain Storm's End."
Baelor felt as though his faith itself were crumbling. He simply could not accept that a man would kill his own blood brother for a reason like this.
In response to his incomprehension, Kal merely stopped the motion of his hand and spoke in an even, detached tone, "If he were the sort to do that, then he would not be Stannis Baratheon."
At those words, recalling Stannis's reputation, everyone fell silent.
This point, in particular, was deeply impressed upon both House Tyrell and House Hightower.
During the siege of Storm's End years ago, Stannis had chosen starvation over surrender. That was his character, his way of doing things—and it was precisely why he was so widely disliked across the Seven Kingdoms.
"Even so, he still should not have—"
Baelor wanted to say more, but the words were already meaningless. Renly was dead, and Stannis had indeed done such a thing.
Kal no longer paid him any mind and instead turned his gaze to Jon at the side.
"There is also this—according to the information from Loras, my Hand of the King, Lord Eddard Stark, has most likely already been captured by Stannis. But I believe Stannis will not treat him as a mere hostage."
Jon froze at once. From Kal's eyes, he sensed something amiss.
"He… he would do something to my father… no—to Lord Eddard?"
For reasons he could not explain, Jon suddenly grew tense.
"He has always believed himself to be the rightful king. With that belief as his foundation, what do you think he would do?"
Before Kal could answer, Baelor—never short on words—let out a cold snort and took over the conversation.
By now, he had already reined in his shock, his eyes filled instead with a look of disdain.
"If I were him, in such circumstances, I would certainly demand that Eddard Stark swear fealty to me."
"How could that be possible?!"
Jon could not help but shout in protest, the color draining from his face as it turned pale. "Father would never submit to such coercion!"
Baelor continued with a sneer.
"Do not be so sure. I have heard that there is a knight under his command—the one who, during the siege of Storm's End, smuggled food in by ship and kept him alive."
"Afterward, because of that merit, Stannis knighted the man. Yet later, because of the crime of smuggling he had committed before, Stannis cut off five of his fingers as punishment."
"With such a man, it is not hard to imagine what he would do if Lord Eddard Stark refused to submit to him."
Seeing Baelor press Jon with psychological blows, Kal shook his head and took over the conversation.
"He is speaking of the Onion Knight, Ser Davos Seaworth. Sigh… he is another rigid, inflexible man—one could even call it blind loyalty. I truly do not know how he endures Stannis; no one in the Seven Kingdoms can stand him."
"Ser Barristan Selmy has remained there. He is looking for a way to see whether your father can be rescued."
"So do not worry. Now that we know of this, Robert and I will move ahead first. At the very least, I will ensure Lord Eddard's safety."
"Very well, let us leave this matter here for now. During my absence—and in the recent days—has anything else happened?"
As for Storm's End, it could not be discussed further at present.
Stannis's occupation of Storm's End was already an established fact, and Renly's death had been carried out in secret. On the surface, the apparent culprits were still Barristan and Loras.
From that standpoint, Stannis's seizure of Storm's End offered nothing that could openly be faulted.
At the very least, if one wished to accuse him on that basis, evidence would have to be produced.
Moreover, it remained to be seen what choices the lords of the Stormlands—those who had originally sworn fealty to Renly—would make amid this chain of events so different from the original course of history.
And, most importantly, there was Melisandre, and the Lord of Light, R'hllor, who stood behind her.
With such a person involved, and with Storm's End already in their hands, Kal felt a faint pressure begin to weigh on his mind.
Kal was, of course, well aware of Storm's End's reputation. Like the Wall, it was a fortress said to be capable of warding off magic, a structure that legends claimed had once resisted even the gods and prevailed.
The Wall had kept the Others beyond its bounds for thousands of years, and it was even said that dragons could not cross that desolation.
To be honest, faced with Storm's End—said to possess the same properties—Kal did not know whether he could perform another miracle.
And then there was the Lord of Light, R'hllor.
As a god who had truly displayed miracles and who, in the original tale, had intervened again and again, Kal did not believe that such a being would fail to guard against him.
To have advanced so quickly into matters of the occult and the divine left Kal feeling distinctly uncertain.
But his father-in-law still had to be saved.
If he truly did nothing, relying solely on Eddard Stark's rigidity—and Stannis, who was little different—then Stannis might very well dare to cut off his head.
Still, although Storm's End weighed on his thoughts and stirred his worries, for the moment it could only be set aside. Kal was considering whether he could find some way to pull people out from the game world.
Even if that proved impossible, then at the very least he would have to seek out the witches of the Terror Tower, or the mother dragon Artessa, and ask whether there existed any tools, artifacts, or spells capable of breaking magic.
Because if Kal remembered correctly, there had been similar things in the game as well—such as the dragon armor he was currently forging from dragon eggshells.
Then there was also the ring he had used while doing the vampire quest, when fighting the master of those three female vampires; that too had been something of the same kind.
And since similar things existed, then by all logic similar techniques should exist as well.
Otherwise, if Storm's End truly could erase the effects of magic and act like a turtle shell, Kal could hardly resort to cutting it off and besieging it to starve Stannis to death inside Storm's End.
And most importantly, since Melisandre and Stannis had both acted this way, to say they had no contingency plan would be impossible—Kal did not need more than his big toe to think that through.
Jon, of course, did not know that the king had already begun to calculate matters in his mind.
Seeing Kal state that he would first go to Storm's End to rescue Eddard Stark, the worry he could not restrain in his heart could only settle down.
As for the other matters the king mentioned, he thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, Your Grace. Yesterday evening, there was a letter from Lord Tyrion Lannister."
"The fleet has already been assembled? So fast?"
Upon hearing Tyrion's news, Kal was immediately delighted and hurriedly asked.
He knew that for this matter, he had spent no small amount of money and effort during this period.
Well—most of the effort had been put in by House Hightower, and House Hightower had also contributed some of the money.
But the majority of the funds and provisions had still been spoils Kal obtained after wiping out House Tyrell.
With those resources, added to the ships already on hand, Kal felt that forging a fleet at the fastest possible speed was not impossible.
After all, when the original Redwyne fleet was defeated, thanks to their earlier decision to split their forces, an entire intact contingent had been "picked up" by Robert in the field and taken prisoner wholesale.
As long as the mid- and upper-level managers among them were stripped out, leaving only ordinary sailors and deckhands, and the necessary personnel were then filled in by oneself, a simplified fleet that could barely be put to use should, one way or another, be able to be assembled.
Moreover—and most importantly—Kal did not need them to have any combat strength at all; so long as they could be hauled out and used immediately, that would suffice.
Hearing this, Jon was first taken aback, but he could only shake his head. "The time is still not enough. Lord Tyrion said that, at the very least, this matter will still require two months."
Hearing that, Kal felt some regret, but he could only accept it.
After all, it was a fleet of such a scale; Tyrion being more attentive and more cautious was only proper.
Kal then said somewhat dejectedly, "All right. Then what was it you wanted to say just now?"
"What Lord Tyrion said is that the Iron Islands have indeed made a move—and in fact had already made a move more than a month ago. It is just that this period was spent continuously monitoring and confirming things, so only now has the exact news been obtained. The Iron Fleet has indeed gone north."
"They did not depart all at once, but rather sent their ships off in detachments."
"If it were not for the fact that it was ultimately confirmed that these fleets were all heading to the same place, and that even those gone the longest have already been three months without returning to port, perhaps Lord Tyrion would still not have dared to be certain of this news."
"After all, for those ironborn who are usually both merchant ships and pirates, coming and going like this is far too normal."
"In other words, for the past three months, the Iron Islands' fleets have been quietly doing this the whole time?" Kal understood and frowned slightly.
He had not expected Balon Greyjoy to act with such caution—and with such patience.
"Then what about the North? Lately I have not heard of similar incidents of ironborn raiding. They cannot possibly have gone out to sea just to fill the bellies of whales."
"And what of the Vale's forces? Do not tell me that after all this time they still have not put things in order."
Kal continued to press his questions.
Since they were acting this way, it seemed the situation in the North would not be minor.
In response to the king's questions, Jon recalled all the information he had organized during this period.
"The Vale's forces have already set out, but their primary task is the defense of the Wall and the Iron Islands, with dealing with Tywin Lannister's rebellion only as an additional objective."
"Therefore, they chose to divide into two forces heading north. The smaller of the two, tasked with going to the Wall, is said to have just arrived at White Harbor and is preparing to head farther north."
"This force requires too many supplies, so it can only take this comparatively safer route."
"The other is a land army. They are still on the road, and by the reckoning of time, they are about to enter the Neck."
Regarding their actions, Kal nodded in silence.
As long as the men of the Vale moved, that would suffice. After all, Kal's purpose in deploying them had been defense and precaution from the start; deterrence was secondary.
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