Chapter 124: Two Routes to Invade the West

Throughout the entire dinner, Arthur was the focus of attention for all the nobles, great and small, in Harrenhal.

The nobles whispered to one another, discussing various rumors about dragons, Arthur, and the members of House Targaryen.

His grey-gold hair color was clearly a bit different from the Targaryen lineage, but it was not impossible.

The Targaryens were one of the forty Dragon King families among the Valyrians, and naturally possessed the general characteristics of the Valyrians: violet and bright blue eyes, and platinum or silver-gold hair.

This physical trait was common in places like Volantis in the east, where there were large numbers of descendants of ordinary Valyrians. Westeros also had many ordinary Valyrian families, such as the Velaryon family of Driftmark.

Hair color could not fully manifest lineage; for instance, the late King Robert, whose grandmother was a pure-blooded Targaryen, yet Robert's father and Robert's three brothers all lacked silver hair.

However, Robert's second brother, Stannis, did inherit the violet-blue eyes of Valyria; Er Lu's pupils were blue.

Arthur's black pupils were clearly inherited from the Bracken lineage.

The master of Stone Hedge and the members of their cadet branches were among the few nobles on the Western Continent with black hair and black eyes.

As for his facial features, Arthur did match those of the Dragon King family.

With thick eyebrows, deep-set eyes, a high nose, and thin lips, even from a distance, one could feel his handsomeness, which was extraordinary.

Sansa, sitting beside Arthur, could feel this even more keenly.

She was using a fork to spear a small fish roasted to a charred yellow, taking a light bite with her small mouth, leaving a row of neat tooth marks on the fish.

Of course, she would take a bite and then look—oh no, glance—at Arthur beside her.

Ever since being presented with flowers at the Tourney several months ago, Sansa had had an indescribable feeling for this handsome young noble from the Riverlands.

She would never admit that it was just a face that could make her so infatuated.

After Arthur and Arya brought her out of the Red Keep, this feeling became even more intense.

She could even remember every detail of the time this person held her while wading through the sewers of the Red Keep.

Those strong, powerful arms, the warm and broad chest, and the perfect side profile that looked like it had been carved by the most outstanding artist, made her forget her situation at the time.

With such a lovely person to save her, what did suffering a little in the Red Keep matter?

Moreover, he had also secretly taken care of the person who killed her father.

Yes, in Sansa's heart, Joffrey's "accidental death by collision" was a gift Arthur gave to her and the Stark family.

Although Joffrey was tyrannical and lawless, he was a king after all, and being killed by someone was unseemly. Using the explanation of being struck by a wild boar allowed the Starks to avenge their father's death while also allowing House Baratheon to retain a shred of dignity.

Thinking of this, Sansa felt an extra bit of affection for the person beside her.

Lady Whent looked at Sansa, whose eyes were entirely on Arthur beside her, and shook her head with a light laugh.

The serious Herman Tallhart noticed this, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and asked, "Why does my lady laugh?"

"For no reason, just remembered something happy," Lady Whent replied with a nod.

Mealtime always passed quickly; in Arthur's impression, he had only eaten one large trout, four or five small fish, ten pieces of Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Mianbao, and two mugs of ale from who knows where, and everyone had already finished dinner and slipped away.

Due to the shortage of food in the castle, the nobles' diet had also shifted toward things like wheat and pumpkins. But fortunately, the vast Gods Eye was on the south side of the castle, so fish became the only choice for the picky nobles.

Seeing that everyone had finished, Arthur, who was only eighty percent full, felt embarrassed to eat more, so he wiped his mouth and returned to his bedroom to prepare for sleep.

The next few days would involve continuous travel, and he could not afford to not replenish his energy.

He just didn't expect that Miss Stark would actually follow him in.

"Uh, I want to talk to you about something."

Arthur asked, "What is it?"

Then he dismissed the servant Meidan from the room to go get some hot water for him to wash his feet.

Sansa's eyes darted around a bit; after sitting on the rattan chair, her restless little hands were flicking her hair and then adjusting her collar, and it took her a good while to think of a legitimate reason:

"Shall we discuss how to find Arya?"

Arthur saw through the reason this beauty had thought of after entering the room, but this was indeed a problem.

Since the burning of the camp outside King's Landing, Arya and her Direwolf had disappeared.

At the time, Arthur thought she had followed the Kingsroad, so he did not send anyone to search carefully. When he returned after hatching the dragon, he discovered that Arya had not appeared at Harrenhal.

"We issued a bounty, asking those who found my sister to bring her to Harrenhal or Riverrun, but there has been no news at all; she seems to have vanished from the Riverlands."

Once Sansa opened the thread of conversation, she began to chatter on.

She truly liked to confide these inner thoughts to Arthur.

The few little sisters who came from the North were either killed by the Gold Cloaks or imprisoned in the Red Keep, which left her without anyone to confide in for a long time.

Arthur recalled, "Arya should not be in danger; it's just that she was taken away by some people, so her trail disappeared."

In the countryside of the Riverlands, the power of the Brotherhood Without Banners was expanding rapidly; besides the Fish-Wolf Alliance and the Lion's army, this civilian force led by Lord Beric was the strongest.

If nothing unexpected happened, Arya should have been found by this group.

And the core members of the Brotherhood Without Banners were the King's Landing Law Enforcement Team; they acted under the orders of Duke Eddard and held no malice toward the people of House Stark.

"Who took her away? She is the only relative I have seen since my father died, and I am very worried about my sister."

"Lord Beric or the Red Priest Thoros of Myr; both of them have very good characters, your sister is in no danger."

Arthur also sat on another rattan chair in the room, then naturally took Sansa's right hand.

"You don't need to worry about Arya; she herself loves adventure, and wandering outside has actually fulfilled her wish."

Like her and her sister's aunt Lyanna, what Arya liked most was actually the wandering adventure stories of various famous Knights.

"I just miss her a little," Sansa said, speaking of missing her sister, but her head very honestly leaned onto Arthur's shoulder.

Night had already fallen, and the stone-walled room was shrouded in black, with only a dim candle struggling against the overwhelming darkness.

In such an atmosphere, it was indeed easy for humans to huddle together, seeking comfort and protection from one another.

Arthur was also very receptive; his left hand reached around from behind Sansa and rested on her left shoulder.

Ambiguity began to appear from nowhere, rapidly spreading throughout the entire room.

This caused both of their heartbeats to accelerate suddenly, and Sansa felt that her face must be very red.

With the atmosphere built up to this point, it would be unreasonable if nothing happened.

Arthur straightened the head that was leaning on his shoulder and examined it carefully for a moment.

This was a beauty's face that had already blossomed; the indigo pupils were as captivating as the sea, the exquisite and high-bridged nose was enough to make a finger slide down like a playground slide, and the rosy lips made one want to explore them further.

Sansa's usually fair face was now like a peach, white with a flush of red.

Miss Stark was quite cooperative, quietly closing her eyes.

Only those slightly trembling eyelashes betrayed her heart, which was erupting like a volcano.

Is he going to kiss me?

The atmosphere had been built to a climax, and Arthur hesitated no longer, touching his lips to hers like a dragonfly skimming the water.

……

Outside the slightly ajar door, two sneaky heads were pressed together.

"They kissed, they kissed."

Meidan, holding a basin of hot water, appeared extremely excited.

"No need for you to tell me, I can see it myself." Yule knocked Meidan on the head, "I just don't know if they used their tongues."

He leaned his head forward again, wanting to see clearly how the battle was going.

But the door was impatient with his movements and let out a creak.

This gave Meidan a fright, and the basin of hot water he was holding fell to the ground.

The two people in the room were instantly startled awake.

After a few breaths, a rather formal farewell was spoken from their mouths.

"Miss Stark, I will certainly keep your sister's matter in mind; I imagine finding Arya will not be a difficult task."

"Then thank you, Lord Arthur. I will certainly remember tonight."

Afterwards, Sansa walked out gracefully, leaving the place with a normal expression and elegant posture.

Only then did Meidan pick up the hot water basin and walk in with Yule.

Arthur was annoyed at having his good deed interrupted; he learned his lesson and would definitely bolt the door in the future, not stopping no matter what sounds came from outside.

"What are you here for?" he asked Yule.

Yule, wearing silver Plate Armor, blushed, "Before you asked me to look for the stone, didn't you promise me a castle? I figured since you are already the Count of Stone Hedge and the manager of Harrenhal, could you give me that little castle, Red Mill?"

The dim light illuminated Yule's face, which was full of deep lines.

Arthur thought for a moment; Yule had spent nearly three months at Summerhall looking for the Dragon Egg, and even if he hadn't taken the mercenaries along, this uncle would have been able to find it, though it would have taken a bit longer.

He was truly sincere when it came to doing work.

"What is that little castle worth? Do you want something bigger?"

Arthur happened to be short of someone to take over Stone Hedge.

Yule was stunned; although he also wanted something bigger, his nephew didn't have any under his name.

Every castle in Westeros had an owner; seizing one by force would not only violate the law but also provoke riots among the local smallfolk.

"Which bigger castle?" he asked cautiously.

Arthur waved for the servant Meidan to leave, and only after the door was closed and the footsteps had faded away did he say: "Stone Hedge."

He dared to swear that after his own uncle heard these words, his old face, full of deep lines, smoothed out on the spot.

As if he had been injected with sheep placenta.

Yule's joy was written all over his face, but Arthur poured a bucket of cold water on him: "Janos is at Golden Tooth in the Westerlands, but he previously ordered me to serve as Castellan, so there is some room for maneuvering here. You will enter Stone Hedge as the Castellan I appointed, take a team, and ensure that Stone Hedge remains in our hands."

After Janos defected, Stone Hedge had not been attacked by the Westerlands Army, so it was one of the few count-level castles preserved intact.

Under the current situation, Janos, who did not have many troops in his hands, did not dare to return to his own territory rashly, as he would be attacked by the people of The North.

The East line North Army, which had not managed to loot anything in King's Landing, was currently as fierce as wolves and tigers; they were not attacking Stone Hedge now only because Arthur was also nominally the master of this castle.

One must know that the grain and supplies stored inside were quite substantial, and the Gold Dragons far exceeded the imagination of the people of The North.

Although Yule was a bit muddled, he was clear about the difference between a Castellan and a Lord.

"I still want that little castle, Red Mill," he said tentatively.

"If you truly hold Stone Hedge in your hands, both of them will be yours."

What Arthur wanted were the grain, supplies, and Gold Dragons, as well as the tens of thousands of smallfolk on the territory; a mere castle was something he really didn't look down upon.

Yule was so excited he could jump to the ceiling, "Then it's settled, I'll take people to Stone Hedge tomorrow."

Arthur nodded, then noticed the very beautiful silver Plate Armor on his uncle.

This was something Yule had picked out himself in King's Landing.

Although it was mostly for show, it was still a proper Plate Armor, and it did have defensive capabilities.

The two were similar in build, so they could actually swap.

Arthur's own set of Plate Armor, crafted by Tobho Mott, was already very worn and might break at any moment.

He told his uncle his idea, and Yule readily agreed to give up the Plate Armor.

This point was enough to show that the attraction of the castle was still greater than that of the Plate Armor.

Early the next morning, before the main force heading to Riverrun had departed, Yule took one Battalion, plus servants, a force of over five hundred people, to take over Stone Hedge.

……

Six days later, outside Riverrun.

Dozens of merchant ships that had been conscripted arrived at their destination, carrying the various nobles who were going to Riverrun to attend Edmure's wedding.

Along with them came a coalition force of over two thousand four hundred men.

On the South bank of the Red Fork, there were already multiple Fish-Wolf Alliance camps lined up along the riverbank.

Arthur gazed into the distance, and after carefully observing these armies that had set up camp according to their respective houses, he felt that Roose Bolton was truly not just blowing hot air.

The camp where the X-shaped flayed man banners fluttered was clearly more disciplined than those of the other houses.

On the perimeter were over a dozen simple watchtowers, each with two or three men rotating to monitor the surroundings.

Slightly further in were wooden fences resembling caltrops, surrounding the tent area—after the Fish-Wolf Coalition returned to the Riverlands, they had used various methods to obtain enough tents; after all, autumn had already arrived, and camping in the open really could freeze a person to death—the neatly arranged tents left enough open space for the large army to assemble and maneuver quickly during a withdrawal.

A small number of horses were tied up by the nearby riverbank, with men and horses strictly separated.

"Why are you so concerned about the Bolton camp?" Sansa, who was beside him, asked.

Since that night, the relationship between the two had risen rapidly, so they were often inseparable, talking together.

Of course, Arthur had not forgotten to taste the flavor of Sansa's lips.

"Because the old Bolton truly has some talent."

Even though Robb did not trust Roose Bolton very much, he still handed the army on the Dong Xian to this man, which shows just how much Robb recognized the Leech Lord's ability to command an army.

And since Dickon's reaction, Arthur realized the military system he had constructed was not suitable for the new army soldiers recruited from the peasantry.

Out of several thousand men, one could not pick out qualified low-level officers, so the organizational levels of Squad and Platoon were basically useless.

Therefore, Arthur thought it better to use Westeros's own military system; after all, it was created by the clever people of the entire continent and was even more suited to the style of cold-weapon warfare.

Thus, he would have to ask for experience from these experienced noble commanders.

The two chatted, and before long, the boat arrived at Riverrun.

The nobles entered this triangular castle one after another, and then they were told they had come at the right time.

"The men sent by King in the North Robb have just arrived and are currently discussing major military affairs with all the lords and knights," the steward of House Tully responsible for receiving them said this.

Among the First Men of The North, there is no knight culture, so "knights" referred to the various nobles of the Riverlands.

Consequently, the group that had just landed went straight to the castle hall to listen to the Young Wolf's orders.

The man sent by Robb was Lord Jon Umber; because he shared the same name as his son, he was called Greatjon.

Jason Mallister of Seagard, Tytos Blackwood of Raventree Hall, Innes Frey representing The Twins, Walder the master of Meiren Jishi, and other Riverlands nobles, as well as Marquess Roose Bolton, Rona Stout, and other nobles who came from the Dong Xian, had all arrived.

Everyone sat down according to their status, and Arthur followed Sansa to sit in a forward position.

"King in the North Robb is currently near Castamere; Tywin's main Westerlands Army and the new army of the Westerlands commanded by Kevan are both in a position slightly further south, and the forces of both sides are as follows..."

Following Greatjon's explanation, everyone basically understood the war situation in the Westerlands.

After Robb led his army into the Westerlands, before he had time to attack Lannisport and Casterly Rock, Tywin's main Westerlands Army had already pursued them to Golden Tooth.

In order not to be caught in a pincer attack, Robb moved his army north and is now stationed near the count-level castle of Castamere in the Westerlands.

And two divisions of the Lion House's army are pressing north, squeezing the strategic operational space of the Fish-Wolf Coalition.

The Westerlands are mountainous; if they were surrounded somewhere by them, that would basically mean the total annihilation of the entire army.

Therefore, Robb urgently summoned this portion of the Riverlands army to enter the Westerlands to fight.

"With Marquess Bolton as the first commander, lead the four-thousand-strong army of Northmen from House Bolton, House Karstark, and others to attack the Westerlands from near Hornvale."

"With Lord Arthur Bracken as the second commander, lead the North-Riverlands joint army of House Stark, House Frey, House Cerwyn, House Tallhart, and others to attack the Westerlands from the small roads near Golden Tooth."

"After the two armies break into the Westerlands, Lord Arthur's troops will head south to raid Oxcross, Cornfield, and other places, while Marquess Bolton will lead his men to press directly on Lannisport, then prepare for a final decisive battle with the Westerlanders."

Greatjon hurriedly finished delivering the orders Robb had sent him to convey.

Because the small Westerlands troop detachments in the Hedong Diqu and western Riverlands had already retreated to Golden Tooth, the frequency of war along the Red Fork had greatly decreased.

This made the probability of realizing this strategic vision much higher.

Edmure's wedding had not yet been held, and some bellicose Northmen were already clamoring to pledge loyalty to the King in the North and go to fight a decisive battle against the Westerlanders.

(End of chapter)