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Before Robb's eyes, layer upon layer of red mist wrapped around Bloodwind. He could not see what was happening inside at all.
Still, since the change had come from the blood pact, there was nothing for him to worry about.
He turned back and continued the beheadings that had not yet ended.
Nearly thirty soldiers who had broken military law remained. Robb's cold, ruthless methods had frightened them into loud weeping and pleas for mercy.
But this was meant to establish iron military discipline and awe the entire army. How could Robb possibly spare them?
Thud, thud, thud!
When the last lawbreaking soldier's head was cut off, Robb was soaked in blood from head to toe, like a man made of it.
He planted Ice heavily against the ground, swept his gaze over the silent harbor, and said in a clear voice, "Under my command, military law is iron, and reward and punishment are clear. Plunder is permitted. Wanton killing, rape, and abuse are not.
"If anyone disagrees, say so now. I will allow you to take your house's soldiers and leave Lannisport. But from that moment on, you will no longer be my vassal, and you will no longer belong under my rule."
When Robb finished speaking, his gaze passed over the ironborn nobles standing behind Theon. All of them lowered their heads in submission.
Those clever men understood that they were different from the northern nobles. With the King in the North's iron-blooded methods, if they truly took their men and left, they would likely never return to the Iron Islands alive.
Robb's gaze moved past the ironborn nobles and swept through the northern lords.
Lord Rodrik Ryswell, tears streaming down his old face, seemed about to speak. Beside him, his daughter, Lady Barbrey Dustin, reached out and gripped her father tightly, giving him a discreet shake of her head.
In truth, she and her father had long been dissatisfied with House Stark.
When she was young, she had once given herself to Brandon Stark of the previous generation, but Brandon had ultimately chosen to marry Catelyn Tully.
Lord Rodrik had then tried to have her wed Robb's father, Eddard. After Rickard and Brandon died together in King's Landing, however, the younger Stark inherited his brother's betrothal and married Catelyn.
Barbrey had twice failed to marry into House Stark. She had then wed Lord Willam Dustin of Barrowton. Less than half a year after the wedding, Eddard called the northern banners for Robert's Rebellion and took Willam south with him.
Willam followed Eddard to the Tower of Joy. In the end, only he and Howland Reed returned to the North alive. Because of the chaos of war, Eddard could not even bring Willam's body back.
So Barbrey's resentment toward the Starks had long been buried deep in her heart.
But this time, Eddard Stark had died in King's Landing, and the Blood Wolf Lord, whose fearsome name had spread through the North, had summoned all his vassals.
If they had not answered the call, they would likely have been the first ones used by the Blood Wolf Lord to establish his authority.
So after discussing it with her father, she had prepared to make a show of serving him. To fulfill the nominal duty owed by noble vassals, each of them had brought only five hundred soldiers to Winterfell in answer to the summons.
Who could have known that the other northern nobles would nearly empty their houses' foundations? On the very first day Robb returned to Winterfell, they had jointly acclaimed him King in the North.
Swept along by that great tide, she and her father could only submit all the way south with the northern army, until they somehow found themselves in Lannisport.
Today, before Lannisport had even been fully occupied, her younger brother Roose had been beheaded by this King in the North because of a few commoners, all to establish military discipline.
Seeing her father impulsively want to ask to leave, Barbrey immediately pulled him back. She had heard the meaning beneath the King in the North's words.
You could take your men and leave. But once you left, you would no longer be his vassal, and you would no longer accept his rule.
In this war sweeping all of Westeros, if you were not his friend, you might become his enemy.
And what methods he used against enemies did not need to be said.
Robb, of course, saw the movement between father and daughter. Apart from Lady Maege Mormont of Bear Island, Barbrey was one of the only female lords in the North, so he had paid some attention to her before.
Still, Lady Barbrey had always kept to the rules. On the march south, she had remained quiet and said little, with no unusual actions.
After quietly noting the two of them, Robb showed a satisfied expression and nodded. "Good. I am honored that you have all chosen to continue serving me.
"Now, so long as military law is not broken, continue plundering Lannisport. Together, we will empty this prosperous town."
"Yes!"
Hearing Robb personally allow them to continue plundering, the northern nobles and all the soldiers answered excitedly, then immediately turned and charged into the town.
"Crey, pile these corpses and heads together. Have the overseers set up checkpoints at the harbor exits. Everyone must turn over eighty percent of what they seize.
"Mm... return Roose's body to Lord Rodrik."
As the crowd around the harbor gradually dispersed, Robb turned his head and gave the order to Crey beside him.
"Yes, Your Grace!"
Crey nodded, then immediately took men to handle it.
Once Robb had made the arrangements, Theon came forward with Ramsay and Quenton to report the results of the battle. "Your Grace, the Lannister fleet is made up of large oared warships. They are not as nimble as our longships, but they are better suited for carrying troops, food, and supplies.
"Aside from a few that were badly damaged, more than sixty can be put to use after light repairs."
"Mm. Well done. Theon, when the final gains from Lannisport are counted, I will set aside one tenth as your reward for military merit."
"Haha. Thank you, Your Grace!"
Seeing Theon's broad smile of thanks, Robb suddenly turned his head toward Ramsay and Quenton. "Ramsay, Quenton, you do not need to stay here. Take some men into the town and see what you can find."
"Yes, Your Grace!"
Ramsay and Quenton immediately saluted and withdrew.
"Robb, is something wrong?"
Theon saw Robb send Ramsay and Quenton away and at once stepped closer, lowering his voice.
Robb did not answer his question. Instead, he asked, "Theon, what state is Bloodwind in right now?"
"Bloodwind? He gave that strange howl just now, and now he is lying on the ground asleep.
"Robb, did all that killing blur your eyes? He is that big and you cannot see him?"
Theon looked at Robb in surprise as he answered.
He had no way of knowing that, before Robb's eyes, Bloodwind had been completely hidden by a sphere of red mist.
Knowing Bloodwind was likely undergoing a transformation, Robb nodded and brought the conversation back to business. "Leave that aside for now. First, the important matter.
"I specifically had you stay because I want you to choose a reliable group of men and carefully search along the Sunset Sea beneath Casterly Rock for a secret entrance."
"Casterly Rock has a secret entrance?"
Theon's eyes widened sharply, and he immediately asked.
"Mm. Tyrion mentioned it by accident when we talked in Winterfell.
"He was once responsible for repairing Casterly Rock's sewer system. His father also forbade him from bringing whores into the castle.
"So when he worked on the sewers, he deliberately left a secret entrance for himself.
"He never said exactly where it was, but it should be somewhere in the bay beneath Casterly Rock."
Robb half-lied and half-told the truth to fool Theon. In any case, he could not go and ask Tyrion to confirm it.
"There is such a thing? If that is true, then this legendary castle that has never fallen could actually be taken by us.
"Tsk, tsk. I heard the Lannisters' gold is piled up like mountains.
"Robb, we are going to be rich!"
The entrance had not even been found, but Theon's eyes were already full of excitement, as if he had taken possession of all the Lannister wealth.
"Do not get excited too early. Find the secret entrance first. That is the first matter.
"The second matter is this. Once we have fully secured Lannisport, use every ship we have and begin moving all the people of Lannisport to the Iron Islands."
Robb glanced at the excited Theon, warned him, and continued with the other business.
"Move the people? Oh, to bring them back as thralls?
"Then we cannot move everyone. Old people and children cannot work. We need to choose able-bodied young people."
Theon considered the second matter seriously.
"Theon, do not let ironborn thinking rule your mind. You will never accomplish anything great that way.
"What is the foundation of Tywin's rule? These merchants, craftsmen, and smallfolk who create wealth for him.
"Whether we move them to the Iron Islands or to the North, it is the same as digging out his roots.
"And what is this about only taking young people? Many of the old here are skilled craftsmen with years of experience. Children are a family's future. We must take them together if we want them to truly settle down."
Robb patiently taught Theon, wanting him to truly learn how to think and rule, not merely burn, kill, and plunder like a pure ironborn.
Theon looked at Robb's serious expression and nodded thoughtfully. "I understand, Robb. You think this war will not end easily in a short time, so this is about weakening Tywin bit by bit."
"Mm. Good. It seems you have learned quite a bit lately. Now go and find Casterly Rock's entrance. I will stay here and watch over Bloodwind."
Robb nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Wait for my good news."
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
Smalljon rode toward Casterly Rock with Gendry and five hundred Winterfell light cavalry.
Because Lannisport's harbor was crowded with merchant ships of every size, the northern army's transport longships had not been able to dock properly. As a result, the horses aboard could not easily disembark by gangplank.
After receiving the order, Smalljon and Edd spent a long time getting some of the transport longships to shore and gathering five hundred warhorses.
Time was tight. After discussing it with Edd, Smalljon left him behind to continue moving the warhorses ashore. Then he took Gendry, who had joined the cavalry on Robb's orders, and set out first to scout Casterly Rock.
Casterly Rock stood atop a towering mass of stone. Even though Smalljon and the others had never been to the Westerlands, they could still tell the direction.
Clearly, they had already lost enough time. The road to Casterly Rock was full of fleeing smallfolk and scattered Lannister soldiers.
When they saw the northern riders, they fled into the woods on either side of the road. Smalljon and the others had a scouting mission and did not pursue them. They rode straight for Casterly Rock instead.
As the cavalry drew closer to the Rock, they saw a group of about three hundred Lannister deserters ahead on the road.
"Enemy sighted. Prepare to attack!"
At Smalljon's order, nearly a hundred riders at the front leveled their steel lances forward, while the horsemen behind them, armed with bows, skillfully began to draw and loose.
Gendry, on his first battlefield, was extremely nervous. He wore armor he had fitted to himself, engraved with the sigil of a black bull, and the bull-headed helm he had forged. His hands gripped a long-handled warhammer tightly.
After constant training during this period, his horsemanship had improved rapidly, which was why Robb had allowed him to follow Smalljon into battle.
As the two sides closed quickly, the Lannister soldiers, knowing they could not stand against so many cavalry, split into two groups and fled to either side of the road.
Under Smalljon's command, the Winterfell riders split in two and gave chase.
Gendry followed Smalljon on the right side of the road. Ahead of him, Smalljon was like a great demon, thrusting again and again with a steel lance, easily harvesting Lannister lives.
Nervous, Gendry rode swiftly up to a young Lannister soldier whose face was full of panic. He used all the strength in his body to swing the long-handled warhammer in his hands.
Crack!
The heavy hammer smashed solidly into the young soldier's face. The enormous force behind it shattered his facial bones outright. Teeth, broken bone, and an eyeball flew through the air with a spray of blood.
The young soldier did not even manage to scream before he fell dead.
After completing his first kill, Gendry felt as if some power inside his body had been unlocked. The long-handled hammer in his hands swung left and right at the enemy.
Some blows struck heads, others chests or backs.
Amid the sounds of bones breaking, seven or eight Lannister soldiers were killed by his hammer in moments.
If Eddard could have seen this scene, he would certainly have felt that Gendry now carried something of Robert's presence in his youth.
While those damned northern riders were cutting down the other soldiers, Daven was desperately fleeing. He felt he had truly fallen on the worst luck, always being hunted and forced to run for his life.
He had finally gathered nearly three hundred guardsmen and recruits and was about to reach Casterly Rock, only to be overtaken from behind by hundreds of northern riders.
After glancing back at the Lannister soldiers being slaughtered, he squeezed out what little strength he had left and ran toward the woods.
A loud horn sounded from the rock castle above. Then Casterly Rock's gates opened, and nearly eight hundred Lannister cavalry rode out from the castle toward the northern riders.
Clearly, they had seen their comrades being pursued and had come to rescue them.
"Enemy cavalry sighted. Stop pursuing. Retreat, retreat now!"
Smalljon saw the Lannister riders coming out of Casterly Rock at once. He immediately called off both pursuing groups and ordered the Winterfell cavalry to withdraw.
This showed Smalljon's growth. In the past, he would certainly have charged straight into the enemy without a second thought.
Now, seeing that the enemy cavalry not only outnumbered them, but also held the advantage of terrain and were charging downhill, he had no need to clash head-on while at so many disadvantages.
As the Winterfell riders withdrew, the fewer than one hundred remaining Lannister soldiers finally let out a breath.
Daven also breathed in relief. Looking at the Lannister cavalry drawing closer and closer, he waved his arms while hopping in place and shouted, "I am Daven Lannister, Lord Tywin's cousin! Take me back to Casterly Rock!"
As time passed, night gradually fell. Many soldiers who had gone out to plunder returned one after another to rest aboard the longships in the harbor.
After all, spending the night outside could mean being attacked at any moment by Lannister soldiers who had not yet been fully cleared out.
At the checkpoints set up throughout the harbor, the overseers recorded spoils in order and searched men as they passed.
This time, no northern soldier or ironborn voiced dissatisfaction. The blood-dripping heads of the lawbreaking soldiers, piled atop hundreds of corpses, served as warning signs for everyone.
Lannisport truly was wealthy. At each checkpoint, the spoils visibly piled up at speed, becoming mountains of wealth that could tempt a man into sin.
It was only natural. The difference between the Westerlands and the North was like the difference between a rich, crowded homeland and a poor border province in Robb's previous life.
Robb paid no attention to the spoils from this plunder. Washed and dressed in clean clothes, he focused entirely on the sphere of red mist wrapped around Bloodwind.
The night grew deeper. Robb still stayed beside Bloodwind, while his personal guards stood watch in silence at a distance.
Suddenly, the motionless sphere of red mist began to change. Robb immediately sharpened his focus and stared hard at it.
A small bulge rose on the surface of the mist, then smoothed away again, as if something inside were taking shape.
The surface kept bulging and flattening, bulging and flattening, like water coming to a boil.
When it reached the height of that boil, the sphere of red mist suddenly shrank inward at extreme speed, leaving nothing behind as it poured back into Bloodwind's body.
Robb's eyes widened. He stared fixedly at Bloodwind, waiting for the change in him.
Yet Bloodwind, lying on the ground, showed no change except for several symmetrical streaks of white wolf fur on either side of his head, set against his original gray coat.
His body had not suddenly grown enormous. No scales had sprouted across him. His head was still only one head.
Seeing that none of the changes he had imagined had appeared, Robb felt somewhat disappointed and focused his mind to check Bloodwind's attributes.
Name: Bloodwind. Contractor: Robb Stark. Physique: 30. Magic: 1.
Species: Frost Direwolf (1).
Pack: War Wolf: Nymeria. Servant Wolf: Lady.
Blood pact points: 63.
Surprise!
Looking at Bloodwind's blood pact attributes, Robb knew that although there had not been much outward change, an earth-shaking transformation had taken place inside him.
The new blood pact attributes had merged his former Constitution, Speed, and Strength into a single Physique attribute. The one point of Magic that had appeared after it was clearly a new attribute added after the transformation.
A creature with magic was no longer an ordinary creature. It already belonged in the realm of the supernatural.
The species had changed from six telepathic ice direwolves to a single frost direwolf.
Robb guessed that this meant Bloodwind had evolved into a completely new species of giant wolf, the only one in all Westeros.
"Bloodwind, how do you feel?"
Seeing that the direwolf still had not opened his eyes, Robb asked.
At the sound of Robb's voice, Bloodwind opened his eyes. The yellow eyes he had once had were now like two clear, shining crystals of ice.
'Hungry. So hungry.'
The moment he opened his eyes, Bloodwind sent Robb a strong thought of hunger.
At the same time, his nose twitched. He immediately rose and ran to the side, swiftly reaching the hundreds of corpses that had been used as warning signs and beginning to feast.
Robb followed behind him. Looking at Bloodwind as the wolf buried his head and ate without stopping, the king, long since used to it, shook his head helplessly.
But the personal guards behind him could not help backing away, their throats bobbing nervously.
The pile of several hundred corpses visibly sank. When Bloodwind finally finished eating, Robb sent him a thought, telling him to use magic.
Bloodwind, the corners of his mouth still covered in blood, received the thought. A glint flashed through his ice-crystal eyes, and threads of white mist drifted from his body.
Robb stretched his right hand close to Bloodwind and could clearly feel an icy chill invade it. His entire hand began to go numb and stiff.
After a quick test, Robb hurriedly pulled his right hand back to his mouth and breathed on it again and again to warm it.
'Can magic be used in other ways?'
Still breathing onto his hand, Robb continued sending thoughts to Bloodwind, asking how else he could use magic.
Bloodwind tilted his head and glanced at Robb. The white mist rising from his body instantly drew inward. He lowered his head toward a severed head and opened his jaws.
A cloud of white mist far denser than the vapor around his body poured from his mouth, wrapping around the head and freezing it into a lump of ice.
'Ice breath!'
'Daenerys's dragons have dragonfire, and my Bloodwind has ice breath.'
'It is still weak now, but he can keep growing.'
Watching the white mist from Bloodwind's mouth slowly vanish, Robb clapped his hands happily. His heart filled with endless expectation for the direwolf's future.
'Right. Add points.'
Suddenly remembering that he still had blood pact points, Robb focused and added one point to Bloodwind's Magic attribute.
A great surge of red mist unlike anything before rose from Robb's body and entered Bloodwind.
Bloodwind's Magic attribute changed from 1 to 2, but Robb's blood pact points dropped from 63 to 13.
'Absurd.'
'One point of Magic actually costs fifty blood pact points. That is twenty-five human lives.'
Robb discovered that the plus sign beside Physique had not disappeared, so he tried adding one point there as well.
Red mist rose again. Bloodwind's Physique became 31, and Robb had only 3 blood pact points left.
'So ten blood pact points add one point of Physique, and fifty add one point of Magic.'
'It seems that if I want to keep raising Bloodwind, I truly will have to become a killer of thousands, even tens of thousands.'
Knowing that his hands would inevitably be stained with blood in the future, Robb shook his head helplessly.
'In my previous life, I was clearly just an unnoticed office drudge. In this life, I will become a ruthless lord who kills by the tens of thousands.'
'But what exactly is the blood pact? Why did the red comet affect it?'
Robb, whose thoughts had begun to wander, suddenly reflected on his golden finger.
He remembered that when the red comet had appeared several days ago, he had not yet reached the brink of losing control, yet it had nearly driven him there.
And before, once all of Bloodwind's attributes reached 30 points, he could no longer keep growing. It was also because of the red comet that he had now leapt directly into becoming a supernatural creature.
'There still is not enough information. But there must be some connection.'
'Forget it. Rest first. I will deal with it when the time comes.'
Without any clearer idea, Robb patted Bloodwind, who had obediently lain beside him after breathing out ice, then turned toward the Great Kraken.
During Lannisport's quiet night, the smallfolk slowly fell asleep with uneasy hearts. Daven, who had not found his father at the guards' station, continued hiding with his men in the eastern district of the town.
In the harbor, the northern army gradually fell asleep aboard their respective longships. A cloaked figure quickly entered one large longship.
Inside the cabin, Lord Rodrik and Lady Barbrey looked at the figure and smiled. "Thank you for accepting our invitation, Lord Ramsay."
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