"Stand down or we will spear you where you stand."
[So what are you going to do?]
Wait and watch, why don't you?
[I say kill them all and fight your way out.] The ring joked.
Fight ten men on horseback with a six shooter that's down one bullet?
[Oh, I know. You can use Reinforcement.] The ring cackled.
Very funny. I gave it a deadpan look.
"And drop that shiny hammer in your hand."
I looked at the rider barking orders and smiled, putting on a Bravosi accent.
"First, it's not a hammer. And second..." I aimed the gun at the closest horse and let loose a shot.
Bang!
The horses jumped, startled and threw off their riders while the shot horse fell dead to the floor with a thud, pinning it's rider beneath its body.
The rider next to him immediately tried to spear me but I dodged and grabbed the spear, aiming at his crotch.
Bang!
He fell to the floor, bleeding and unconscious.
The captain at the back tensed and unsheated his blade but I was faster.
"Oh I don't think so." I aimed the revolver at the closest horse again, retreating to just outside the range of its legs.
Don't wanna get horse kicked to the face now do we?
The other horses fled, sending a few riders chasing after them while the rider closest to me caught and calmed down his horse, glowering at me with hate.
"Now, if you don't want anymore deaths, how about we negotiate?"
"We don't negotiate with deserters." The man at the back said.
I recognized him as the captain of the guards, the one Eddard Stark took with him to King's Landing. He should have some sense in him.
"But you do negotiate with merchant princes, don't you?" I said as the soldiers got back to their positions, spears aimed at us, only this time instead of ten there were only four of them, including the captain.
The captain gave me a once over as he realized his mistake as he saw the jeweled ring and finery I was adorned in.
"What's a merchant prince from Essos doing with a deserter of the night's watch?" He asked with caution.
I knew the North had dealings with Essos and the free cities. A lot of their imports and exports came from there. They couldn't afford to offend them and by extension, me.
Of course if they knew I was lying, they wouldn't hesitate to spill my guts right here.
Thankfully, this was a medieval world, and communication tech wasn't here yet. He couldn't just call me on my bluff.
"Why don't you go call Lord Stark over and then we can discuss the answer to that. And much, much more."
The captain hesitated for a moment, looking between the deserter and me.
"Oh trust me, Lord Stark will want to know what I have to say. Very much so." I said, with a bit of a Bravosi accent.
"We will take you to Lord Stark. But the deserter must face judgement."
"That is for Lord Stark to decide. Are you Lord Stark? No? I thought so."
"Give us the thing in your hands and we will take you to Lord Stark." He tried to negotiate. Of course he did. Just because they are from a medieval world doesn't mean they're dumb. They realized what the gun can do.
"No. You go and bring Lord Stark here. And I keep the gun. How about that?"
I countered, gesturing to the rider and horse next to me, "And leave this man and his horse here. In fact, leave the whole company of riders here." I added to reassure him, "Go alone and bring him here. Tell him it is of the highest importance."
"Highest importance?" The captain looked at me quizzically.
"Just so." I said with the same Bravosi accent.
The captain glared at me, and then sheathed his blade. Gesturing to one of his subordinates who had managed to catch his horse and bring it back, he called him over.
Ordering the riders to keep watch over me, he took the rein, mounting the horse and gave me one last look.
"Stay here and keep watch. If they try anything..." He left the words unsaid, but everyone got the meaning.
[What did you do that for? Now you're down to three bullets and there's still eight riders surrounding you. You should have just run and left the deserter behind. Or negotiated your surrender in return for the deserter. Or-]
Will you calm the fuck down?
[Do forgive me if I don't want to end up as just another piece in Lady Catelyn's jewellery box once they kill you.]
I sighed.
Trust me a little will you? I know it's my first adventure, and I can only assume yours as well, but I have a plan. Everything I have done has been a part of it. Even the shots I made.
If I had fired just one shot, they'd have assumed the gun could only fire once and swarmed me. Even when that was proven wrong afterwards, it would be too late for me to do anything.
But two shots? Now they're wondering, how many more shots are there in that mysterious weapon of his?
It'll keep them from storming me.
It's all part of my plan. So chill, okay?
[A plan that involves sticking your neck out for some no name deserter? He wasn't even named in the show!]
He's still a person.
[He's a liability. Don't tell me you've had a sudden change of heart and now care about people?]
Oh no. Not at all. Let me rephrase that. He's a person that I can use.
[And how exactly will you do that? More importantly why would you ever do that? He's trash. What use could he possibly have?]
Even trash in the right hands can be faked as a treasure. Besides, merchant princes have a reputation for being greedy and cowardly. If I just abandoned the deserter they assume I'm travelling with at the first sign of trouble, what impression would that leave on our honorable Lord Stark? Do you think he'd trust a man who abandons his supposed 'friends' that easily?
[And you need him to trust you because...?]
Why, of course, it's so I can milk him for all he's got. Just wait and watch.
.
It was nearly an hour till the Starks arrived. And Theon.
[I swear, if he interrupts you, just kill him.]
You don't say.
Wait, you've seen Game Of Thrones? I thought you were just a magical artifact.
[I'm not just any magical artifact. I'm the first Kaleido-ring Hedge made. The prototype for all the other rings his homunculi use to travel worlds. I've been 'alive' so to speak for the past 60 years and change. About twenty years ago I developed sapience. Since then, Hedge gave me a bit of a free reign. And to assuage my boredom I started reading up on stuff, watching shows, drawing and sketching, taking up hobbies. You know the deal. Practically anything I could and wanted to do. Mostly video games. Spent a lot of time playing counter strike across the multiversal servers.]
Ah, counter strike, ever so addictive. I knew a few of my friends who ruined their lives via the CS:GO addiction too.
Wait you took up drawing? But you're a ring?
[Telekinesis. I am a ring of many talents.]
Damn.
[Bet you regret promising to send me away now.]
Nope. Just impressed. And hold on, if you can use telekinesis, why didn't you just levitate me off the roof?
[I need mana to do that. I can't produce my own Od. In the interdimensional fortress, I was registered onto the leylines so I could pull on as much magic as I wanted. Here, not so much. You want me to use my skills, you have so supply me with the magic. Same goes for the Kaleidoscope.] It explained.
Is that so? I better figure out how to activate my magic circuits then.
[You better not die here first.] It scoffed.
So little trust in me~
[Trust has to be earned boyo.]
Sure, sure.
I turned to the Starks as they alighted off their horses and walked up to me.
"Aren't you a little young to be a merchant prince?" Robb asked.
Robb Stark. Firstborn of Eddard Stark and heir to Winterfell.
"Why yes, yes I am. What about it?" I smiled cordially, even as I kept the gun pointed at the horse near me, my arm aching and sore by now.
[Pussy.]
Yeah, you try holding a gun to someone's head straight for over an hour.
"And what do you think you are doing, young 'prince'?" Sean Bean asked me, his eyes scrying across the place for signs of ambush or suspicious activity.
"Those clothes are not from Essos. Such finery is beyond even their kind." He noted, "You are no merchant prince."
"You are correct Lord Stark." I nodded, "But I am no deserter either."
"I can see that." He narrowed his eyes, "So let me repeat. What do you think you are doing here?"
"Me? I'm asking a question." I cocked the hammer of the revolver, alarming the riders all around me. The horse's rider even brought his spear to my neck.
I grabbed the spear with one hand and brought it to my chest, over the bulletproof coat, knowing full well I was going to be safe and grinned like a madman.
"What do you think will be faster? Your spear or my gun?"
"Put your spear down for god's sake!" Ned Stark ordered.
"Wise man." I praised.
"What do you want?" He asked, not pleased at all with my antics.
"What do I want? It's quite simple about Lord Stark. This is the north. Horses are expensive. What I'm asking is, will the honorable lord Stark put two innocent men to death, at the cost of horses and men, or will he have the tact to listen to our side first, and then render judgement fairly and justly?" I said loud enough for everyone to hear, with all the implications that came with it.
Still, Ned Stark hesitated as he thought it over.
Oh no no, I'm not giving you the chance to be rational about this.
"Or perhaps, did Howland Reed's spear in Sir Arthur Dayne's back at the Tower of Joy shatter any semblence of honour you had? After all, why else would you keep HER bastard by your side and bear the shame of calling him your own?" I eyed Jon Snow behind him and saw his eyes widen in realization.
[Are you an idiot?! He will kill you for that!]
He won't. I have already made sure of it. Just imagine the rumors that'll spread if he killed us after giving his word to spare us. Not to mention how his image will fall in the eyes of his children.
He wouldn't dare kill us.
I smiled knowingly.
Besides, I have a plan for that too.
Ned Stark grit his teeth and shouted.
"Enough. Not one more word out of your mouth."
"And...?" I asked with a smirk.
He frowned as a tumultuous torrent of emotion ran across his face.
"I will spare the deserter. And I will listen to your side of the story. But you will not speak of this to anyone else." He turned to the riders around us.
"The same goes for the lot of you. Not one word of this will leave this circle. Is that understood?"
"Yes, m'lord." The captain of the guard replied and the rest of the riders chimed in.
"Good. Follow me." I said, grabbing the deserter, Wyllard, and moving into the tower behind us, "And bring Jon and Robb with you. I think it's time they knew the truth as well, wouldn't you say?"
Ned Stark made to disagree, but swallowed his words after a thought, "Do as he says. Robb, Jon."
The two nodded solemnly and followed close behind.
"Wait!" The fat man beside him raised his voice, what was his name again?
[Ser Rodrik, Master-at-arms for Winterfell.] The ring supplied.
"I don't think it is wise to follow the boy in there, Lord Stark. He could be an assassin."
"If I was a faceless man, Ser Rodrik, twenty men wouldn't be enough to stop me from gutting Lord Stark like a pig. And if I was an ordinary assassin, I wouldn't risk facing three full grown men alone." I cut down his argument, "And if it irks you so, you are free to follow us. That is if Lord Stark will allow you to?"
I eyed Ned Stark and he shook his head at Ser Rodrik.
"Stay here. We can handle him."
"As you wish, my lord." Ser Rodrik bowed.
"Well then..." I closed the door behind them as they entered and locked it shut.
"Now shall we talk, Lord Stark?" I asked with a victorious grin.
___________________
And we see mc outsmart the Starks which I suppose is not exactly an achievement since most of them are pretty dumb.
MC played it a bit fast and loose, but it was all according to keikaku!
Thanks for reading. Bye~
"Stand down or we will spear you where you stand."
[So what are you going to do?]
Wait and watch, why don't you?
[I say kill them all and fight your way out.] The ring joked.
Fight ten men on horseback with a six shooter that's down one bullet?
[Oh, I know. You can use Reinforcement.] The ring cackled.
Very funny. I gave it a deadpan look.
"And drop that shiny hammer in your hand."
I looked at the rider barking orders and smiled, putting on a Bravosi accent.
"First, it's not a hammer. And second..." I aimed the gun at the closest horse and let loose a shot.
Bang!
The horses jumped, startled and threw off their riders while the shot horse fell dead to the floor with a thud, pinning it's rider beneath its body.
The rider next to him immediately tried to spear me but I dodged and grabbed the spear, aiming at his crotch.
Bang!
He fell to the floor, bleeding and unconscious.
The captain at the back tensed and unsheated his blade but I was faster.
"Oh I don't think so." I aimed the revolver at the closest horse again, retreating to just outside the range of its legs.
Don't wanna get horse kicked to the face now do we?
The other horses fled, sending a few riders chasing after them while the rider closest to me caught and calmed down his horse, glowering at me with hate.
"Now, if you don't want anymore deaths, how about we negotiate?"
"We don't negotiate with deserters." The man at the back said.
I recognized him as the captain of the guards, the one Eddard Stark took with him to King's Landing. He should have some sense in him.
"But you do negotiate with merchant princes, don't you?" I said as the soldiers got back to their positions, spears aimed at us, only this time instead of ten there were only four of them, including the captain.
The captain gave me a once over as he realized his mistake as he saw the jeweled ring and finery I was adorned in.
"What's a merchant prince from Essos doing with a deserter of the night's watch?" He asked with caution.
I knew the North had dealings with Essos and the free cities. A lot of their imports and exports came from there. They couldn't afford to offend them and by extension, me.
Of course if they knew I was lying, they wouldn't hesitate to spill my guts right here.
Thankfully, this was a medieval world, and communication tech wasn't here yet. He couldn't just call me on my bluff.
"Why don't you go call Lord Stark over and then we can discuss the answer to that. And much, much more."
The captain hesitated for a moment, looking between the deserter and me.
"Oh trust me, Lord Stark will want to know what I have to say. Very much so." I said, with a bit of a Bravosi accent.
"We will take you to Lord Stark. But the deserter must face judgement."
"That is for Lord Stark to decide. Are you Lord Stark? No? I thought so."
"Give us the thing in your hands and we will take you to Lord Stark." He tried to negotiate. Of course he did. Just because they are from a medieval world doesn't mean they're dumb. They realized what the gun can do.
"No. You go and bring Lord Stark here. And I keep the gun. How about that?"
I countered, gesturing to the rider and horse next to me, "And leave this man and his horse here. In fact, leave the whole company of riders here." I added to reassure him, "Go alone and bring him here. Tell him it is of the highest importance."
"Highest importance?" The captain looked at me quizzically.
"Just so." I said with the same Bravosi accent.
The captain glared at me, and then sheathed his blade. Gesturing to one of his subordinates who had managed to catch his horse and bring it back, he called him over.
Ordering the riders to keep watch over me, he took the rein, mounting the horse and gave me one last look.
"Stay here and keep watch. If they try anything..." He left the words unsaid, but everyone got the meaning.
[What did you do that for? Now you're down to three bullets and there's still eight riders surrounding you. You should have just run and left the deserter behind. Or negotiated your surrender in return for the deserter. Or-]
Will you calm the fuck down?
[Do forgive me if I don't want to end up as just another piece in Lady Catelyn's jewellery box once they kill you.]
I sighed.
Trust me a little will you? I know it's my first adventure, and I can only assume yours as well, but I have a plan. Everything I have done has been a part of it. Even the shots I made.
If I had fired just one shot, they'd have assumed the gun could only fire once and swarmed me. Even when that was proven wrong afterwards, it would be too late for me to do anything.
But two shots? Now they're wondering, how many more shots are there in that mysterious weapon of his?
It'll keep them from storming me.
It's all part of my plan. So chill, okay?
[A plan that involves sticking your neck out for some no name deserter? He wasn't even named in the show!]
He's still a person.
[He's a liability. Don't tell me you've had a sudden change of heart and now care about people?]
Oh no. Not at all. Let me rephrase that. He's a person that I can use.
[And how exactly will you do that? More importantly why would you ever do that? He's trash. What use could he possibly have?]
Even trash in the right hands can be faked as a treasure. Besides, merchant princes have a reputation for being greedy and cowardly. If I just abandoned the deserter they assume I'm travelling with at the first sign of trouble, what impression would that leave on our honorable Lord Stark? Do you think he'd trust a man who abandons his supposed 'friends' that easily?
[And you need him to trust you because...?]
Why, of course, it's so I can milk him for all he's got. Just wait and watch.
.
It was nearly an hour till the Starks arrived. And Theon.
[I swear, if he interrupts you, just kill him.]
You don't say.
Wait, you've seen Game Of Thrones? I thought you were just a magical artifact.
[I'm not just any magical artifact. I'm the first Kaleido-ring Hedge made. The prototype for all the other rings his homunculi use to travel worlds. I've been 'alive' so to speak for the past 60 years and change. About twenty years ago I developed sapience. Since then, Hedge gave me a bit of a free reign. And to assuage my boredom I started reading up on stuff, watching shows, drawing and sketching, taking up hobbies. You know the deal. Practically anything I could and wanted to do. Mostly video games. Spent a lot of time playing counter strike across the multiversal servers.]
Ah, counter strike, ever so addictive. I knew a few of my friends who ruined their lives via the CS:GO addiction too.
Wait you took up drawing? But you're a ring?
[Telekinesis. I am a ring of many talents.]
Damn.
[Bet you regret promising to send me away now.]
Nope. Just impressed. And hold on, if you can use telekinesis, why didn't you just levitate me off the roof?
[I need mana to do that. I can't produce my own Od. In the interdimensional fortress, I was registered onto the leylines so I could pull on as much magic as I wanted. Here, not so much. You want me to use my skills, you have so supply me with the magic. Same goes for the Kaleidoscope.] It explained.
Is that so? I better figure out how to activate my magic circuits then.
[You better not die here first.] It scoffed.
So little trust in me~
[Trust has to be earned boyo.]
Sure, sure.
I turned to the Starks as they alighted off their horses and walked up to me.
"Aren't you a little young to be a merchant prince?" Robb asked.
Robb Stark. Firstborn of Eddard Stark and heir to Winterfell.
"Why yes, yes I am. What about it?" I smiled cordially, even as I kept the gun pointed at the horse near me, my arm aching and sore by now.
[Pussy.]
Yeah, you try holding a gun to someone's head straight for over an hour.
"And what do you think you are doing, young 'prince'?" Sean Bean asked me, his eyes scrying across the place for signs of ambush or suspicious activity.
"Those clothes are not from Essos. Such finery is beyond even their kind." He noted, "You are no merchant prince."
"You are correct Lord Stark." I nodded, "But I am no deserter either."
"I can see that." He narrowed his eyes, "So let me repeat. What do you think you are doing here?"
"Me? I'm asking a question." I cocked the hammer of the revolver, alarming the riders all around me. The horse's rider even brought his spear to my neck.
I grabbed the spear with one hand and brought it to my chest, over the bulletproof coat, knowing full well I was going to be safe and grinned like a madman.
"What do you think will be faster? Your spear or my gun?"
"Put your spear down for god's sake!" Ned Stark ordered.
"Wise man." I praised.
"What do you want?" He asked, not pleased at all with my antics.
"What do I want? It's quite simple about Lord Stark. This is the north. Horses are expensive. What I'm asking is, will the honorable lord Stark put two innocent men to death, at the cost of horses and men, or will he have the tact to listen to our side first, and then render judgement fairly and justly?" I said loud enough for everyone to hear, with all the implications that came with it.
Still, Ned Stark hesitated as he thought it over.
Oh no no, I'm not giving you the chance to be rational about this.
"Or perhaps, did Howland Reed's spear in Sir Arthur Dayne's back at the Tower of Joy shatter any semblence of honour you had? After all, why else would you keep HER bastard by your side and bear the shame of calling him your own?" I eyed Jon Snow behind him and saw his eyes widen in realization.
[Are you an idiot?! He will kill you for that!]
He won't. I have already made sure of it. Just imagine the rumors that'll spread if he killed us after giving his word to spare us. Not to mention how his image will fall in the eyes of his children.
He wouldn't dare kill us.
I smiled knowingly.
Besides, I have a plan for that too.
Ned Stark grit his teeth and shouted.
"Enough. Not one more word out of your mouth."
"And...?" I asked with a smirk.
He frowned as a tumultuous torrent of emotion ran across his face.
"I will spare the deserter. And I will listen to your side of the story. But you will not speak of this to anyone else." He turned to the riders around us.
"The same goes for the lot of you. Not one word of this will leave this circle. Is that understood?"
"Yes, m'lord." The captain of the guard replied and the rest of the riders chimed in.
"Good. Follow me." I said, grabbing the deserter, Wyllard, and moving into the tower behind us, "And bring Jon and Robb with you. I think it's time they knew the truth as well, wouldn't you say?"
Ned Stark made to disagree, but swallowed his words after a thought, "Do as he says. Robb, Jon."
The two nodded solemnly and followed close behind.
"Wait!" The fat man beside him raised his voice, what was his name again?
[Ser Rodrik, Master-at-arms for Winterfell.] The ring supplied.
"I don't think it is wise to follow the boy in there, Lord Stark. He could be an assassin."
"If I was a faceless man, Ser Rodrik, twenty men wouldn't be enough to stop me from gutting Lord Stark like a pig. And if I was an ordinary assassin, I wouldn't risk facing three full grown men alone." I cut down his argument, "And if it irks you so, you are free to follow us. That is if Lord Stark will allow you to?"
I eyed Ned Stark and he shook his head at Ser Rodrik.
"Stay here. We can handle him."
"As you wish, my lord." Ser Rodrik bowed.
"Well then..." I closed the door behind them as they entered and locked it shut.
"Now shall we talk, Lord Stark?" I asked with a victorious grin.
___________________
And we see mc outsmart the Starks which I suppose is not exactly an achievement since most of them are pretty dumb.
MC played it a bit fast and loose, but it was all according to keikaku!
Thanks for reading. Bye~
