Ravens took flight in the night, guided by their senses toward Roman.
But the Lannister soldiers would not sit idly by waiting for death; they struggled to cross the river, though it was unclear if they were doing so to reinforce their lines or to flee.
Hoster Tully seized upon the vulnerability of the Lannister army as they crossed the river, using trebuchets to attack their ferries. Ships on both rivers were struck in quick succession, resulting in destroyed vessels, lost lives, and flying splinters.
However, the Lannister army was fighting for their lives, knowing that crossing the river was their only chance to survive. They rowed with all their might, as if trying to expend the strength of their next lives.
By this time, Barristan and Brynden had completely annihilated the Lannister forces in both the northern and southern camps, waiting only for the remaining stragglers to cross the river before wiping them out entirely.
Suddenly, a strange sound came from the sky, causing the Harrenhal soldiers to look up and erupt into thunderous cheers.
Several points of white light suddenly appeared in the air, then streaked at high speed toward the Lannister soldiers between the two rivers.
Bright White Flame erupted on The Trident and the Red Fork, followed immediately by violent explosions.
Roman used his White Flame Vision to precisely locate the enemy, allowing him to lock onto targets without needing illumination. Moreover, Roman specifically targeted clusters of life sparks to fire his Magic Missile, killing a large number of enemies with every strike.
Roman's attack speed was extremely fast. The armies of the North and the Riverlands felt as though white raindrops were falling from the sky, and soon after, The Trident and the Red Fork were ablaze.
The dragon circled once in the air, destroying all the ferries on both major rivers. The remaining Lannister soldiers who had miraculously survived lost all will to fight and surrendered immediately upon reaching the shore.
The battle ended quickly, and the rest of the night was spent clearing the battlefield and pursuing stragglers in a remarkably relaxed atmosphere.
As the sun crawled over the horizon, draped in robes of orange-red, the men who had fought all night finally finished their cleanup work.
The armies of the North and the Riverlands embraced and cheered in the muck mixed with blood and mud, while the Harrenhal cavalry, led by Roman and Barristan, set up camp, began cooking, bathing, tending to the wounded, and resting.
Compared to the western and northern camps, the Lannister army in the southern camp had been slaughtered during the battle, leaving only about 300 prisoners. There were hardly any knights left, and the high lords had all been struck by multiple bolts, dying in a gruesome state.
Because the lands of the Hean Family had been attacked by Tywin again, Roman only made a brief stop at Riverrun to see the Tully family before taking his rested cavalry back to support his own territory.
After a brief meeting, Robb and the riverlands nobles immediately led their troops to pursue the remaining Lannister stragglers, hoping to drive the enemy back to the Westerlands in one fell swoop.
After the Battle of the Whispering Wood and the battle at the camp, Tywin knew that the Lannister cause in the Riverlands was lost and could only lament with sorrow.
With the current situation in the Riverlands, Roman held the defensive line at the Gods Eye, and the Lannisters could not touch the Riverlands at all.
Robb had marched south and lifted the siege of Riverrun; the two forces had completely surrounded the Lannisters to the west of the Gods Eye.
If Tywin did not retreat, once Harrenhal and Riverrun formed a pincer movement, the losses would be far greater than just ten thousand soldiers.
In the end, the Old Lion could only retreat in frustration to Casterly Rock, and the defensive pressure to the west of the Gods Eye suddenly decreased.
Roman returned to his territory and waited for a period of time. After confirming that the great lords to the west of the Gods Eye had no news, he quickly dispatched troops and occupied vast tracts of land there before Hoster could speak up, eventually seizing complete control of the entire Gods Eye.
The lands west of the Gods Eye had been scorched by Tywin and were now completely desolate. Apart from a few tall castles that remained as broken ruins, the rest of the region was almost entirely wasteland, filled with bones and rubble everywhere.
Roman arrived here with the refugees and the giants. Seeing the once-prosperous towns turned into ruins, he could not help but close his eyes, filled with anger and sorrow.
"Lannister!!"
Hearing Roman's roar, Fili looked at the scene before her with fear and indignation, her eyes red as she said:
"Lord Roman, why did they do this? Why did they kill people and burn houses after stealing everyone's food?"
Roman hugged Fili, his wings gently patting the young girl's back.
"Some people are just like that—self-important, believing they are superior, treating these common folk like livestock. We are destined to be different from them."
It was not just Fili; many of the refugees themselves were residents who had fled from other parts of the Riverlands. Seeing these ruins reminded them of their own destroyed homes, and soon, weeping broke out one after another.
"Fellow countrymen," Roman called out to the crowd, "we have seen the atrocities of the Lannisters. Once, during the War of the Usurper, Tywin slaughtered the city of King's Landing to claim credit. Now, for his own interests, he has slaughtered the Riverlands again. This piece of scum must go to hell."
"But cursing and hurling insults is useless. We must rebuild our homes, produce, and train our soldiers so that we can take revenge with our own hands before the stranger claims Tywin's life! Now, it is time to take action!"
Under Roman's leadership, the refugees began to rebuild their homes, carrying their hatred for Tywin and their admiration for Roman.
To speed up construction, Roman brought over 200 giants and distributed tools and livestock to the refugees.
In a very short time, Strongholds and houses stood tall once again, roads were connected, irrigation canals were dug, and various public facilities began to reappear.
Upon hearing that Roman had begun building cities and cultivating fields to the west of the Gods Eye, the residents of the Riverlands flocked to join the Hean Family.
This news also reached Riverrun.
By this time, Robb had largely driven the Lannister army back to the Fingers, and when Hoster heard this, he could only sigh and pretend not to know.
During this time, Barristan had truly witnessed Roman's capabilities; Old Barristan had seen with his own eyes how Roman led the people to transform wasteland into fertile soil.
Old Barristan sometimes sighed to himself, thinking that if Robert had even one-tenth of Roman's sense of responsibility, Westeros probably wouldn't have ended up in this wretched state.
When the war in the Riverlands came to a temporary pause, Hoster invited the riverlands nobles to Riverrun for a victory banquet, taking the opportunity to conduct a post-war tally.
This time, Roman did not hide. He traveled to Riverrun with Barristan and Fili, descending from the sky to land in the castle courtyard.
All the nobles and servants saw Roman land gracefully and tuck his wings smoothly behind his back.
Seeing this display, Hoster knew that there was no hope of getting back the lands west of the Gods Eye.
At the banquet, Roman still paid his respects to Duke Hoster as a vassal, but those with a keen eye knew that the Riverlands were effectively divided into two factions.
One faction was Hoster and the remaining riverlands nobles, and the other was the Hean Family.
Both sides maintained the politeness and wisdom expected of nobility, speaking only of fine food and heroic deeds in resisting the Lannisters, never mentioning the land issue.
After the banquet, Hoster, Catelyn, and Robb sat together to discuss future plans.
Catelyn: "Father, are we really going to ignore the Hean Family and let them develop as they please?"
Hoster: "My little Catelyn, Aegon the Conqueror had three dragons and could only control King's Landing, Summerhall, and Dragonstone. Now, Roman, with just one dragon, can truly master the Gods Eye and the northern Crownlands."
"Roman is even more terrifying than Aegon the Conqueror. If we maintain good relations with him, we can continue to live in peace, but if we were to make an enemy of him... I fear the entire Riverlands would be turned upside down."
Faced with his mother and grandfather's assessment of Roman, what Robb was thinking about in his heart was the administrative policies of Roman that he had been studying during this time.
Robb was already obsessed with them, unable to extricate himself.
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