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Clatter, clatter, clatter!
In Lannisport's southern district, more than a thousand cavalrymen carrying banners with the black-and-white brindled boar rode into the town at a normal pace.
"Ser Daven, it seems that after more than ten days of plundering, the northern army truly has withdrawn.
"They plundered all of Lannisport and Casterly Rock this time. They should be satisfied enough to return to the North."
A strong knight with a hard appearance spoke to Daven beside him.
"Ser Tybolt, you are right. Wealthy Lannisport alone, along with the Lannister riches of Casterly Rock, must have stuffed those northern beggars' sleeves full of silver stags.
"And as far as I know, the grain stored in Lannisport for the long winter alone would be enough to feed their entire North for more than ten years.
"Ah. Those northern barbarians got it cheap."
Daven nodded, agreeing with the knight's opinion. Knowing Lannisport's situation, he could not help sighing in regret.
The knight beside Daven was Tybolt Crakehall, eldest son and heir of Lord Roland Crakehall of Crakehall.
His uncle, Burton Crakehall, and his second brother, Lyle "Strongboar" Crakehall, had led most of House Crakehall's cavalry to follow Tywin into war.
Burton Crakehall was the strong man who had died together with Beric. Because the Mountain had deliberately suppressed the news, they did not yet know that Burton Crakehall had fallen.
Several days earlier, when Daven reached Crakehall to ask for aid, Lord Crakehall had immediately begun gathering Crakehall's final one thousand cavalry.
Since Daven had truthfully reported the strength of the northern army, Lord Crakehall had instructed Tybolt to accompany Daven, but only to scout the situation and harass the enemy where appropriate.
Who could have known that when they came to scout Lannisport, they would find no northern patrols outside the town? As they went deeper, they were now certain the northern army had already withdrawn.
"Yes. This long summer let us store a great deal of grain. We had long prepared for winter.
"I never imagined these northern barbarians would join with the ironborn and come plundering from the sea. Many people in the Westerlands will likely starve this winter.
"Still, the matter is not decided yet.
"This time, they cunningly avoided Lord Tywin's army and launched a surprise attack. But wars cannot always be fought with such tricks.
"I believe Lord Tywin will certainly defeat them and take back what belongs to the Westerlands."
Hearing Daven's regret, Tybolt turned and offered him some comfort.
"Of course. When Lord Tywin was Hand to the Mad King and his name spread through the Seven Kingdoms, Robb Stark, that little wolf cub, had not even been born. Even his father Eddard Stark was only a child playing in the mud."
Daven nodded in answer. Only then did he notice that all of Lannisport was strangely quiet. He ordered several guardsmen beside him, "Those northern barbarians have left. Tell the residents hiding in their homes to come out."
"Yes!"
Several guardsmen behind him nodded, dismounted, and walked toward the surrounding houses.
But a few minutes later, they returned one after another to report that there was not a single commoner in the area, and everything that could be moved from the homes had basically been swept clean.
Something terrible had happened.
Daven and Tybolt exchanged a look after hearing the reports. Both instantly understood that these residents had certainly been carried off by the northern army.
"Go to Casterly Rock, quickly!"
Daven hurriedly said this to Tybolt, then spurred his horse toward Casterly Rock.
When they reached Casterly Rock, there was likewise no movement. Atop Casterly Rock's towers, the direwolf banner fluttered in the sea wind.
More importantly, the outer walls of Casterly Rock, once simple and beautiful, were now covered with newly carved direwolves.
A small number of the carvings were quite well done, the direwolves vivid and lifelike. Most of the rest were extremely crude, crooked and twisted, looking more like dogs than wolves.
In short, the direwolf carvings that basically covered the castle's outer wall made Casterly Rock look extremely ridiculous. Mm... extremely festive.
All of this had been done because while the Iron Fleet's longships and the captured oared warships were transporting supplies and people, Theon had become bored. He had the more than one thousand captured Lannister soldiers and the castle's craftsmen do it.
His explanation to Robb had three points.
First, it consumed the prisoners' energy and strength, preventing them from causing trouble.
Second, it let everyone know that they had taken Casterly Rock, striking at House Lannister's prestige.
Third, he simply wanted to disgust Tywin Lannister.
When all the carvings were complete, Theon even stood at Casterly Rock's gate and had a painter from the castle make a portrait of him as a keepsake.
If this world had phones, Theon would absolutely have taken a picture, posted it for his friends, and tagged Tywin Lannister.
During this time, Robb had been thinking about later tactics and planning for future development. Seeing that what Theon said seemed somewhat reasonable and did not delay proper business, he let Theon do as he pleased.
Theon had enjoyed himself, but at this moment, Daven's and Tybolt's faces were as dark as water.
These walls full of direwolf carvings were purely a slap in the face to the entire Westerlands.
Casterly Rock, which had never fallen, had not only fallen into the hands of House Stark, but had also been covered with their sigil.
Rumble!
Just as Daven was preparing to arrange men to destroy all the direwolf carvings that brought humiliation to the Westerlands, the muffled thunder of hoofbeats came from the north.
'The northern army did not leave? They are lying in ambush?'
Hearing the sound, Daven immediately turned in panic, then felt his heart relax.
From the direction of the river road, a large number of cavalry in Lannister armor, carrying red roaring lion banners, were galloping south toward Casterly Rock.
These Lannister cavalry were the returning reinforcements led by Addam Marbrand.
They had set out from Moat Cailin, taken the kingsroad across the Trident, turned onto the river road, and returned to Casterly Rock through the Golden Tooth.
At a normal pace, this return journey would have taken about a month. Addam had constantly urged the army to ride back as quickly as possible.
Who could have imagined that Casterly Rock would fail to hold for even half a month? When he passed Riverrun, Kevan told him the terrible news that Casterly Rock had already fallen.
Even after learning that, Addam still led his more than ten thousand cavalry onward.
After all, even if they stayed at Riverrun, they could not contribute much to Kevan's siege. Behind them, Tywin's infantry army was also moving toward Riverrun.
A short while later, after receiving a scout's report, Addam brought his personal guards to Casterly Rock first.
When he first saw the castle, his expression was much the same as Daven's and Tybolt's. Addam had served as a page at Casterly Rock when he was young, so he had a strong sense of belonging and honor toward the castle.
Now, seeing the castle that had never fallen humiliated like this, anger immediately burned in him. He ordered a guard beside him, "Quickly gather men and scrape away every one of these ugly sigils."
"Yes!"
Watching Addam's guard leave with the order, Daven said, "A pity those barbarians have already slipped back to the North. Otherwise, Ser Addam, you would certainly have taught them a hard lesson."
Hearing Daven's words, Addam was about to speak when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He murmured quietly, "Did they truly return to the North? If they did not, then... where are they now?"
In truth, as early as when Addam's large cavalry force, impossible to hide, set out from the Golden Tooth, Robb's scattered scouts had already learned of their movements.
Otherwise, how could the northern army have happened to withdraw completely just before they arrived?
At this moment, Robb and Theon were aboard a large oared warship, formerly part of the Lannister fleet, sailing through Ironman's Bay.
These captured Lannister oared warships had already begun transport work after being repaired by Lannisport shipwrights who had been "politely invited" by northern soldiers.
Moreover, on every oared warship, the sails bearing the roaring lion sigil had been repainted with the direwolf sigil.
As the large oared warship cut through wind and waves, a coastal town built around a castle appeared before Robb and the others.
Of course, the town's guards spotted them as well.
The town had a tall tower. Atop the tower was not only a guarded watchpost, but also a huge bronze bell.
"Go quickly and inform Lord Patrek Mallister. A large oared warship flying House Stark's banner is sailing toward Seagard."
The guard captain on the watchpost turned and ordered one of his men.
Indeed, this castle surrounded by a town was Seagard of House Mallister.
Its location was special. Seagard stood on the western coast of the Riverlands, at the eastern end of the southern shore of Cape of Eagles.
Cape of Eagles was a stretch of land that jutted southwest from Westeros into Ironman's Bay, pointing toward the Iron Islands.
So Seagard's position happened to be where Ironman's Bay met the continent of Westeros, and it was also near the headwaters of the inland Blue Fork.
In other words, if Seagard were occupied by the ironborn, the ironborn could invade the whole Trident region from the Sunset Sea at any time and plunder all the Riverlands.
For this reason, Seagard had originally been built to resist ironborn raids.
The tower with the huge bronze bell was the famous Booming Tower.
Its purpose was simple. Whenever the watchmen saw longships appear on the western sea of the Sunset Sea, they rang the alarm, calling the townsfolk and farmers in the fields to flee into the castle for refuge.
In the last three hundred years, the only time the huge bronze bell of the Booming Tower had rung was during Balon Greyjoy's first rebellion.
At that time, Patrek's father, Lord Jason Mallister of Seagard, had long experience fighting ironborn.
Under his excellent command, the soldiers of House Mallister bravely resisted the invading ironborn.
After the valiant Lord Jason personally killed King Balon's eldest son, Rodrik Greyjoy, the invading ironborn army was defeated outright and driven back into the sea.
After receiving the guard's report, Patrek led more than one hundred soldiers of House Mallister to wait at Seagard's docks for the large oared warship.
Awooo!
The warship had only just docked when Bloodwind swiftly leapt from it onto the pier. Standing on solid ground, he gave an excited short howl.
That frightened the soldiers of House Mallister badly. Where had they ever seen a giant wolf of such size? After their brief fear, some soldiers summoned the courage to attack.
Patrek, who had often received raven letters and had long heard of the King in the North's iconic giant wolf, immediately stopped his men's rash actions.
"Honored King Robb, I am Patrek Mallister.
"Welcome to Seagard. Please enter the castle and let House Mallister properly receive you."
Seeing Robb, whose appearance matched the rumors, walk down the gangplank first, Patrek bowed and spoke with flattery in his voice.
"Ser Patrek, there is no need to be so courteous. I have come unannounced because I wish to discuss important matters with Lord Jason. Please take me to him."
Robb looked at this young man with brown hair, ordinary features, and bright, spirited eyes, then nodded and answered.
"Of course..."
Patrek was smiling as he agreed, but his gaze suddenly fell on Theon, who was disembarking. His expression changed sharply, and he shouted, "Squid, get out of Seagard. You are not welcome here."
Theon, dressed obviously as an ironborn, looked extremely ugly after Patrek's shout.
If Robb had not emphasized aboard the ship that this visit to Seagard was extremely important, Theon would already have exploded.
"Balon Greyjoy is dead. This is my brother, Theon Greyjoy, the new king of the Iron Islands.
"He led the ironborn and my northern army together to take Lannisport and Casterly Rock.
"Although he is also ironborn, he is completely different from the ironborn you knew.
"If you tell him to get out, then I have no need to come ashore either."
Robb frowned and explained Theon's identity to Patrek, also making his own position clear.
In truth, relations between the ironborn and the northern army were not pleasant either. This was a blood feud left behind by generations of ancestors. For a short time, Robb could still suppress it, but as time passed, it would certainly affect the overall fighting strength of his army.
Robb had also been thinking about a way to resolve this, but fierce anti-ironborn sentiment like Seagard's was still relatively rare.
"Welcome, welcome, King Robb, and King Theon. Patrek, apologize for your rash words at once."
Just as the atmosphere on Seagard's dock hardened into confrontation, a middle-aged man with brown hair, blue-gray eyes, silver at his temples, and sharply defined features walked up from behind Patrek and spoke loudly.
"Father!"
"I said, apologize."
Seeing his father's extremely serious expression, Patrek discreetly curled his lip and unwillingly said to Theon, "I am sorry. I was rash."
"No matter. I can understand."
Theon, who had just been silently moved by Robb's words and actions, happened to use the opportunity to give Robb a way down.
"King Robb, King Theon, please enter the castle and let us speak there."
Seeing Patrek apologize and the mood soften somewhat, Lord Jason smiled and made an inviting gesture.
"Thank you for the invitation. Then we will trouble you for the next two days."
Robb likewise smiled and exchanged a courteous word with Lord Jason before taking the lead toward the castle. Bloodwind's huge body moved nimbly around the people on the dock and followed behind him.
"We will be in your care."
Theon nodded to Lord Jason and followed as well.
"Hah. That giant wolf reeks of bloodlust. The pressure from it is truly strong. I wonder how many men it has killed."
Lord Jason watched their backs and said this softly. Then he turned and instructed his son.
"Patrek, I want to raise you into a fearless warrior.
"But fearlessness is not the same as brainless recklessness. You must learn to read the situation."
"I understand, Father."
"Come. Remember to listen carefully to what we discuss later and analyze the meaning within it."
Seeing his son accept the lesson humbly, Lord Jason nodded and continued raising Patrek in his own way.
Inside Seagard's inner castle, in the lord's study.
"Lord Jason, first I wish to ask whether House Mallister still gives allegiance to my grandfather, Lord Hoster Tully."
Once the door to the study closed, Robb came straight to the point and asked Lord Jason.
"Of course. The oath of House Mallister will not change until the Sunset Sea runs dry."
Hearing the question, Lord Jason answered without hesitation in a firm tone.
"Mm. Before we left Casterly Rock, more than ten thousand Lannister cavalry were returning through the Golden Tooth. Do you know where Tywin's infantry army is moving?"
Hearing his decisive answer, Robb nodded in satisfaction and continued.
Lord Jason smiled and answered directly, "I happen to know the answer. Several days ago, after Tywin's army rested at the Twins, it passed before Seagard on its way to Riverrun.
"If Your Grace intends to launch a surprise attack on Tywin's army besieging Riverrun, I will personally lead Seagard's soldiers into battle."
"Good. But they are not my target.
"Before this war began, I informed my uncle to gather enough men and store large amounts of various supplies.
"Moreover, Riverrun's position is special. Even if all of Tywin's armies besiege Riverrun together, it can still hold for a long time.
"House Frey betrayed its oath and went over to House Lannister. They will pay for that betrayal.
"Now, I need your assistance in attacking the Twins."
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