[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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Jon's wolf continued walking ahead of his group, alongside Ser Garlan, who occasionally cast glances at Jon.
"I've never seen anything like it... What style of fighting is that?" Garlan asked after witnessing how Jon had maintained a stance he had never seen before, one that had been lost a long time ago, with Jon rediscovering it through greensight, similar to Damon Targaryen during the dance of the dragons.
Jon's style involved using two blades, wielding Dark Sister on one side and an Eldenmetal sword on the other. However, he adopted a different stance when wielding a single sword. Jon fought with speed, despite his strength being greater than any man's, giants included, who could not face him; perhaps only Seryna might surpass him in this regard. Jon prioritized speed in his combat, not even Oberyn, who specialized in such, stood a chance against Jon in Dorne.
"I was lucky to learn something like this..." Jon commented.
"Did you learn this beyond the Wall? It's hard to believe... You must have brought a master from somewhere..." Garlan couldn't help but ask. As a knight, the martial arts always attracted him, especially since he had to maintain control over the Tyrell vassals; his father was not suited for this, his elder brother was inappropriate due to a serious issue with being lame. There was Loras too, to help in a potential war, but he was still very young, despite being an excellent knight.
"Maybe..." Jon simply left it hanging, not wanting to answer the question.
"..." Garlan did not comment, though he wanted to know more, he would not press this man.
"They are looking at us with fear..." Arya, coming behind with her wolf, pointed to a group of people at the tents.
"They are talking about Jon..." Seryna commented on her horse, with a small smile. Normally, they would be there to see the giant wolves, but Jon was the topic after all, the news that he had killed the knight who offended him the day before had spread like wildfire through the camp.
They continued on to the castle, the place once again stopping to let Jon pass, something quite common with curious looks for a man and a girl riding wolves larger than horses. At the entrance of the castle, Willas and Margaery were waiting calmly.
They waited until the group approached to dismount from their rides, with five royal guards on other horses accompanying Jon and his family. Everyone approached Garlan and the two hosts.
Jon noticed Margaery's gaze on him, but ignored it and focused on Willas to greet him first. "Lord Willas..." He said and then turned to Margaery. "Lady Margaery..." He said with her looking at him with a sparkle.
Margaery's gaze on Jon was not just because she found him attractive, the most handsome man she had seen, but also for how brave and unbeatable he was, earning some respect as he maintained a firm stance against her grandmother despite the prickly words, but Jon acted with his head held high, something she rarely saw, maybe only in Lord Redwyne and her grandfather, Lord Hightower. However, Jon was just a boy her age, which impressed her greatly.
The event of yesterday also helped her to have more intense eyes for the man who was king of a nation beyond the wall, his resilience and even how unbeatable he was, breaking the nose of the man who offended him and even killing him this morning according to the rumors, as if he had slaughtered an animal.
Rumors about Jon slicing through armor with his Valyrian steel sword as if slicing through cheese were a subject everyone talked and exclaimed about from the camp, with looks of fear and even greed beginning to appear, after all, the Valyrian steel had proven its worth there.
"King Articano..." Willas greeted, while Jon, who did not care much for his titles here in the south, was surprised that people were calling him correctly lately. Willas continued with the rest of the group. "Queen Seryna, Lady Arya, and Sers..." He greeted everyone despite the royal guards wanting to correct Willas, Jon gestured with his hands for them not to need to do anything like that.
"King Articano, Queen Seryna, Lady Arya, and Sers..." Margaery greeted them.
After Seryna and Arya also greeted them, Willas decided to continue, "Would you like me to accompany you in the castle, King Articano, while my sister takes care of your wife and sister?" He asked respectfully.
"Yes, there's no problem with that." Jon said, since he had already spoken to them and their guards about it. After all, Seryna and Arya could take care of themselves if Olenna tried to approach them before him, and he had some eyes and ears on them all the time.
"Please follow me, we will take your wolves to the kennel..." Willas requested, and Jon began to follow, one of the royal guards stayed with him while the other four accompanied his family, one of the royal guards being a woman.
"Impressive creatures..." Willas couldn't help but comment, looking at the two wolves following behind Jon and his guard.
"They are..." Jon commented.
"Are they tame like this?" It was still hard for Willas to believe that there was a mystical animal walking calmly without trying to kill anyone and even maintaining a calm atmosphere, almost like a tame dog.
"Depends, you wouldn't want to be their enemies..." Jon spoke.
"Like in your story at that farm, right?" Willas commented with a smile.
They arrived at some structures with horses coming out and barking sounds, being an official stable and kennel of the Tyrell family, but Jon was slightly impressed with the size of the place, it was at least five times larger than Winterfell...
"Impressive, isn't it?" Garlan spoke from the side. "My brother expanded the place after his main hobby became collecting horses and dogs while he breeds and cares for them, you could say there are all the best breeds of horses you can find in Westeros, even some Dothraki horses we brought from Essos," he said with a certain pride and Willas nodded in agreement, this was his greatest hobby, one he was very proud of.
"I also have some domesticated wolves... Maybe one day I could have a giant wolf too..." He couldn't help but comment, thinking about the possibility of buying a cub from Ártica, after all this had become a dream since he saw the giant wolves with Jon, this became the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
"Giant wolves are not easy to keep... they seem to only follow the Starks..." Jon spoke honestly as a small warning, after all, even his wargs in Ártica couldn't tame these creatures... only he and Arya had this power.
"Hm... still, I would like to discuss this in the future..." Willas still insisted.
Jon just nodded and returned to his wolves. "They don't like being confined, you can leave them here, if no one bothers them, they won't be a problem." Jon spoke and Willas nodded.
"I'll trust your words, after all, I doubt my kennel man is very willing to take care of these creatures..." He spoke, looking at the man at the kennel entrance eyeing cautiously. "I will leave some guards so that no one bothers the wolves." He also commented while Jon nodded and commanded the wolves to stay there, enjoying the place and not bothering anyone there, since they already had many eyes around them from guards, servants, and other nobles attached to him.
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"Let's use this time and I would like to see you in a friendly sparring if you allow it..." Garlan spoke again, wanting to test his skills with the man who gained some renown after his fight in Dorne and seeing firsthand how Jon was unbeatable for at least an hour. Garlan, despite having doubts about beating Jon, still held firm and wanted to fight him.
"Alright, if you want, we can train a bit." Jon said next to the brothers and they led him away from there to the training area where some fights with the local guards took place, it was a bit long to get there due to Willas's conditions, but Jon was patient with it.
"I would like to see the man who defeated the Red Viper in action..." Willas commented, stepping step by step with the help of his cane.
"It was just a fight..." Jon spoke calmly.
"A fight? Rumors say you humiliated him, treating him like a child and even making a cut on his face." Garlan teased. "Is that really true?" He wanted to know.
"It may have been like that, but you know how rumors tend to exaggerate, right?" Jon countered.
"If you fight like I've heard you did before coming here... then I don't think the rumors are that exaggerated..." Willas also commented.
"Anyway... we've arrived." Garlan spoke as people noticed their presence, stopping their training.
Sir Willian Flore was in the middle of the area along with a young man older than Jon, probably around Willas's age. They continued approaching the spot and Flore greeted them.
"My lords..." he said as the young man also approached.
"Let me introduce this knight; he is Baelor Hightower, the heir to the lord of the citadel..." Willas introduced him.
"You are the king of the country beyond the wall... I heard you easily killed a knight a short while ago while we were training," he didn't hesitate to ask, as this news had caught everyone by surprise.
"Hello Lord Hightower... Well, the man showed up at the camp wanting to restore his honor after what happened yesterday... let's just say things didn't end very well for him..." Jon commented.
"The Artican king fought fairly, despite his skills being greater than the opponent's... who died easily..." Garlan spoke in favor of Jon.
"That sounds impressive; I would like to see him fight here if he is interested." The young Hightower seemed friendly, looking to Garlan and then back to Jon waiting for his response, but Jon could sense that this young man also seemed to hold his disdain quite well, not that he cared about it.
"We are here for that, of course, we want to see the formidable skills and your beautiful Valyrian steel sword," Garlan said.
"Don't forget I'm not the only Artican who knows how to fight," Jon decided to raise his voice a bit with a smile, after all, Ártica was the cradle of powerful warriors and his 50 royal guards could prove that.
'It's time for the south to fear Ártica not just for my blade or our giants...' Jon thought and looked at his royal guard.
"Can you give a demonstration?" he asked, and the man clad in Eldenmetal nodded.
"Sir Willian Flore, can you fight against our guest?" Willas spoke while Garlan had a calculating look at the royal guard.
"His name is Tarsio Frost, one of the excellent swordsmen that Ártica can produce," Jon said, after all, Tarsio was among the top 10 of all 50 royal guards.
"Does he have a house name?" the young Hightower couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Yes, all the royal guards have founded their own lineages, after all, they are not bound to having no family," Jon said.
"Interesting..." Willas commented about the Luffy system, although he thought it might be a flawed system, after all, in Westeros there is nothing like that so the royal guards dedicate their lives to the royal family at the Redkeep.
Tarsio heard this and took a step forward. "I will fight and honor Ártica, my king," he said firmly, his personality a bit stern and proud.
Jon nodded at his warrior's statement, then started moving to the area where there was space for fighting practice in the middle of the training yard.
Sir Flower followed shortly after, while the whole place had their eyes on them, with the guards stopping their training and the nobles and servants walking around looking towards the potential great fight.
"I hope you don't get too tired wearing that armor," Willian Flore commented, studying the Artican warrior who simply nodded, not caring much about the comment.
"It's fine..." he said, after all, his armor was lighter than they could imagine. Then, both positioned themselves facing each other, touching the hilts of their swords.
"Does he also have the same fencing techniques as you?" As the men faced each other, Jon was next to Willas and Garlan, with young Hightower also accompanying while they maintained a line at a distance. Garlan, who was curious, asked this.
Jon looked at him and shook his head. "No, the royal guards of Ártica are chosen regardless of their fighting style. Each one wields the weapon that best suits their style. We have guards who use axes, swords. They just have to prove they are fast and powerful enough to take on the role," Jon spoke.
"You even have a woman as a royal guard?" Willas commented, noticing the woman wearing the same armor, but tailored for a feminine body.
"Yes, we have five of them in the order," Jon replied.
"They're starting!" Baelor pointed out, and Jon looked towards his man. He had consumed some of his potions, like all the royal guards, so they were stronger than ordinary people. Jon was sure it would be a good show, regardless of the opponent here.
Flore unsheathed his sword, while Tarsio drew his bastard sword made of Eldenmetal, maintaining its unique glow as he prepared for the fight.
"It's a beautiful sword..." The head of the Tyrell guard couldn't help but comment, having not seen a blade of that metal unsheathed before.
"This metal is the pride of Ártica..." Tarsio commented. "Now let's begin our fight, after all, I cannot disgrace my king," he said, and the man nodded as both took up fighting stances.
As everyone fell silent, awaiting the start of the fight, both men moved quickly and clashed their swords in the air with a swift and strong strike. However, it was clear that Tarsio Frost's sword stabilized much better than Willian Flore's ordinary sword.
"Such good metal..." Willas commented, and his brother nodded.
The Tyrell knight and the Artican soldier quickly launched another attack against each other, and a dance of attacks began, while the metal clanged and resonated like a symphony filling the training yard.
Everyone was impressed with the demonstration, seeing that even though Willian Flore was not the best swordsman here, he certainly was one of the best, yet the Artican soldier was proving to be more than a match for him, as the other side was being pressured.
"Impressive," Garlan commented, while Hightower just nodded in surprise. Willas remained attentive, analyzing the fight. Jon merely kept a satisfied smile, unimpressed by it all.
"You're good... I'm impressed..." Willian Flore couldn't help but comment with some difficulty, feeling the pressure as he launched attacks and parried, while the sound of metal continued to fill the air. He saw that his opponent was holding back, and this was somewhat frustrating for him.
'Damn, where did such a monster come from?' he thought to himself, as this man had already proven to be faster and stronger. Moreover, he possessed a technique he had never seen, with excellent footwork.
"Could you tell where your fighting style comes from?" Garlan wanted to ask Jon, and he nodded.
"Yi-Ti..." Jon said.
"What?!" Young Hightower exclaimed, as both Garlan and Willian looked at Jon surprised by this revelation.
"Did you manage to get a master of that style to the north of the Wall?!" Garlan asked.
"Something like that..." Jon said mysteriously, keeping his eyes on the fight.
Though he did not pass on his current fighting style, Jon had taught several fighting techniques to various instructors after learning from Brynden, making all the free folk relearn with some style of fighting to implement in their combat. Ducken also did a good job in instilling discipline in them at the beginning, now they had emerged with new techniques that better filled their abilities and fighting style.
The fight continued as the soldiers watched their master-at-arms struggle against his opponent, a sight they seldom saw. Some nobles also seemed quite interested in the fight, while ladies watched it fascinated. Although it was not a knightly duel, they were still captivated by the warriors bravely fighting each other.
The fight went on until Tarsio decided to end it, beginning to press his opponent by launching an attack on his right side and above, causing the man to lose some of his balance. That was enough for him to close in, thrusting the Tyrell sword forcefully aside and creating a large opening, then pressing the neck of his opponent with his Eldenmetal blade before the man could react.
The place fell silent for a moment afterward with the Artican standing there as the victor of the fight. Jon just maintained his smile, and the silence was broken by Garlan's rapid applause. "Impressive," he said, looking satisfied with the contest.
"Indeed, your warrior is very strong, I am quite impressed..." Willas commented thoughtfully. Lord Baelor Hightower also stood by, feeling the same, wondering what he would do in a fight against this opponent, as he had sparred with Sir Flore but could not beat him due to the man having much experience in his life.
"He certainly knows how to represent our people," Jon said with a satisfied tone, and Garlan looked at him. There were still just the four of them standing there.
"King of Ártica, I would like to engage in a battle for you, after all, I want to see the power of the man who defeated the Red Viper of Dorne and how you killed that knight in a game of honor," Garlan eagerly anticipated this, wanting to witness the abilities of the man known as king in his land.
"Alright, then let's fight," Jon agreed.
Both Sir Flore and Tarsio sheathed their swords after a respectful salute between two warriors and cleared the space for Jon and Garlan, who approached the spot.
Both stopped in the middle of the area. Neither of them wore armor, so it was a friendly fight. Garlan picked up his ordinary sword, more beautiful and polished, and Jon drew Dark Sister, opting to fight in a one-handed stance.
"Let's begin..." Jon said before they took the first step and started the fight.
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