NOVEL WEB Chapter 14 – Adventures in the North 11.
[Chapter Size: 2368 Words]
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Jon Snow POV
Northern Kingdom, FrostRoar City, Glovers' Lands, 289 A.C., at this very moment.
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Jon was walking through the city again after handing his cart to the little child, making the youngster very happy after receiving a silver stag. After a while, he finally found another shop with a blacksmith; the man seemed young, in his twenties, and appeared to be a novice with a small store.
As Jon approached the young man, unlike the last blacksmith, this one seemingly wanted to gain customers. When the man saw the boy, much to Jon's surprise, he didn't judge him immediately. He seemed genuinely eager to get some work from the boy, as challenging as that possibility might be. However, Jon didn't know that the blacksmith had seen Jon's cart before looking at him and deduced that he might be a young noble or a merchant seeking blacksmithing work for his father.
"Hello, young one! How can I assist you?" The blacksmith said in a friendly and energetic manner.
"Hello, my name is Jon, and I'd like to buy some things from you, if possible." Jon said calmly. He wouldn't give his name so easily, but seeing how this man was different from others he had encountered until this point, he said it without much thought.
"Oh, of course, my name is William. I can certainly sell if I have it in stock, but where are your parents? Don't they know it's dangerous for a boy to roam the city in a cart alone?" William said jokingly, but Jon sighed; he knew that someone would ask about it sooner or later.
"I'm alone here, don't worry about it. What I want is some tools like a hammer, molds, and coal..." Jon said, but he stopped when he saw the disappointed look on the young blacksmith's face.
"Sorry, lad, but I must apologize to you. I have these materials only for my work..." He said, regretful.
"Well... That's complicated..." Jon equally lamented; he knew he probably couldn't find another blacksmith in this city.
"You can find those at Rut's forge, which is in the middle of the city," the disheartened young man affirmed.
Jon grimaced when he heard that; he didn't like the experience he had with that man.
"Then I'll be on my way; I'd rather not do business with that arrogant man..." Jon let slip, and William heard this.
"Do you know him? I agree he's quite arrogant. He hates competition and wastes no time mocking me since I opened my shop last moon." Confessed William.
Hearing this, Jon was a bit surprised.
"You opened so recently, William?"
"Yes, I was an apprentice to my father for years in the Vale of Arryn, near the Seagard village, but my father got into a fight with a minor noble from a vassal house of the Arryns. This made them retaliate, and my entire family was killed... since a commoner can't refuse anything to a noble." The man said with hatred in his voice, which made Jon feel empathy for the man. He had seen how cruel this world could be, but before anything, William quickly apologized.
"Sorry, sorry. I have complicated feelings when I remember my father, and it makes me say things without realizing it to strangers, and I should never say these things in front of a child..." The man said, trying to return to normalcy.
Jon didn't say anything, but looking at the blacksmith, he thought he could help this young blacksmith more than he intended.
"I understand, William. How about making a deal with me?" Jon asked.
"A deal?" William asked, curious.
"Yes, there's a blacksmith apprentice in my current home, maybe we need an extra hand. I'm thinking of hiring your services for a few moons. What do you think? That way, I have your tools and an extra hand..." Jon said, flashing a smile at the man.
"Sorry, little Jon, but at this moment, I've realized my lifelong dream of following in my father's footsteps, even though I hardly get any clients. The shop has just opened, and I can't disappoint my aunt, who... I ACCEPT!" The man was initially refusing, but as soon as Jon showed 5 gold coins to the blacksmith, he shouted, drawing attention from some nearby people, while Jon quickly covered his ears, and Panis neighed beside him, clearly bothered.
Jon was willing to give 5 gold coins; to him, having a blacksmith and some tools mattered more for him to start his endeavors at the camp. He knew the blacksmith was having a hard time here; he's very young while there's already a renowned blacksmith in town, which hindered him a lot from growing and gaining the trust of his customers.
'Trusting a blacksmith is the same as entrusting your life, as a poorly made sword can cost a life in battle.' Jon thought, understanding how the common belief was logical; no one could trust a blacksmith easily, he himself wouldn't trust any sword if it wasn't made by himself.
William POV
Northern Kingdom, FrostRoar City, Glovers' Lands, 289 A.C., at this very moment.
William initially found the request very strange when that child asked for his services at his home for a few moons. When he heard that, he thought the boy was delirious, and even if not, he wouldn't accept it. He wanted to show that arrogant Rut that he could be a good blacksmith here, not to mention his aunt, the woman who took him in after he had to flee the Vale. She had placed so much trust in him; she even helped him rent this place to use as his own forge.
"But when I saw all that gold, I changed my plans quickly. Who would refuse such a generous offer? Not even Rut does this in a year. Now, a boy offered this to work for a few moons; I was forced to accept. Having money would make me grow faster, and who am I kidding? I want revenge for what happened to my family over a year ago, more than anything else. And one day, I will have my revenge, for sure." He reflected and felt hatred when he thought about his revenge.
He could say the boy was lying, but he saw the gold in the small hands, leading him to wonder why this boy with so much gold was walking alone without any guards with a cart full of materials. William couldn't even see the young face because the boy was quite guarded.
"He behaves quite maturely for a boy and speaks better than I do. His origin is clearly that of a noble who grew up in a grand castle. Maybe he ran away from home, but even so, I'll accept his offer, even if in the end, his noble parents send me away." He concluded when he accepted the offer.
He asked the boy to come back after 4 hours because he needed to dismantle his shop, inform his dear aunt's family, and still load all the things into the cart.
To his surprise, Jon handed him a gold coin to buy two carts with horses and hire some helpers to put all the equipment in them.
Jon Snow POV
Northern Kingdom, FrostRoar City, Glovers' Lands, 289 A.C., two hours later.
Jon took advantage and continued his stroll through the city. He was happy that things were going very well; he got materials and a blacksmith to help him with equipment. After leaving William some time ago, he found a store selling more specific materials and bought iron from it when he saw the perfect iron flames for creating molds and parts to shape new equipment according to his needs.
Jon, unfortunately, encountered another merchant who was skeptical about the idea of a child buying an amount worth a few gold dragons but changed his look when Jon tossed 4 coins to him and gained two carriages to transport all the iron.
He questioned Jon on how he could manage three carriages and if there was any guard with him for that, but the boy simply shrugged as he started driving the carriage of materials, and, to the surprise of all witnesses, leaving everyone wide-eyed and open-mouthed, the horses of the other two carriages began moving on their own, following the boy.
Then, Jon returned to the small blacksmith's shop, leaving all the carriages together while the blacksmith was clearing things out of the shop with three other men.
"How can those horses follow you all the way here?!" William exclaimed with surprise and admiration.
"No questions, hard to explain..." Jon shrugged and left the man without answers.
Jon asked Panis to take care of the carriages while he looked for a library to get some books.
Walking once again through the city but without carriages or Panis, who, despite protesting because he wanted to accompany his owner, Jon needed him to guard all 5 carriages now.
Jon, along the way, came across a beautiful and luxurious store selling domestic animals. The store specializes in selling caged birds, and he liked the idea of buying some companions for Caraxes, who never lost sight of his master while flying over the city. Even though he looked like a poor commoner, Jon knew he would be judged as soon as he entered with his current attire, but he knew the merchants would change their minds once they saw his money.
Before entering, Jon saw a man who looked like a guard peering through the window. They exchanged a glance for a few milliseconds, but soon each went back to what they were doing. There were many thoughts in both of their minds with that look.
When Jon opened the doors, the first thing he noticed was some kind of commotion happening in the place. He saw a slightly older boy, around 12 namedays perhaps, yelling at a vendor.
The store was well organized, and there were many birds that couldn't be found in the North. His father, the lord of Winterfell, never showed interest in this beyond messenger ravens, so there was nothing like this in Winterfell. But Jon had to admit there were owls and even extremely beautiful rare birds, but that didn't grab more attention than the protests of that teenager.
"This damn bird you sold me is dying, you sold me a sick bird! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?!" Jon heard and saw how the attendant became frightened of that little teenager.
The teenager was shouting at the attendant, while two guards displayed hostile looks, indicating they would kill the poor man at any moment.
Jon felt pity for the man when he saw him trembling and stuttering as he spoke. "Please, my lord, we are certain the bird was healthy when it was sold and left here, as it was our most precious merchandise before you bought it," he said desperately.
Jon, taking his eyes off the people, saw the cage for the first time. The bird was truly beautiful and could only be surpassed in beauty by Caraxes. Its feathers were black with red markings and some shades of gold. It didn't seem like a bird from the continent based on the books he had read.
But instead of majestically displaying its beauty, it was now on the cage floor, struggling to breathe. Jon, out of curiosity to see what the issue was, immediately established a mental connection with the bird.
Seeing the bird's memories, he realized its problem, and his blood began to boil. He had discovered last moon that he had inherited the famous wolf blood from Uncle Bran and Aunt Lyanna. According to stories, it let rage take over him more often this moon than in his entire life.
'I WANT TO BEAT HIM UP!' He roared.
His thought at this moment was that he wanted to punch that spoiled brat and leave him unrecognizable. Jon saw how the bird was healthy and happy to leave the shop. Since it was a very affectionate girl in this shop and would like her beauty to be more appreciated. Unfortunately, she fell into the hands of the mayor's son, an abomination who managed to be worse than Greyjoy in Winterfell.
The boy is a sadist who loves to torture animals. The bird's memories showed Jon how she suffered in the last 2 moons with the boy's terrible games. Jon, unaware, almost wanted to kill the boy on the spot for what he saw in the bird's memories. He saw other animals suffer even worse at his hands while the girl witnessed everything. The bird soon fell ill, as if it were losing the will to live rather than any injury itself.
Jon snapped out of his thoughts when a growling voice called him. "Commoner, how dare you look at Lord Lorenzo Frotniid like that? Do you want to lose your hand?" Jon snapped out of his thoughts when one of the guards saw his expression toward the little teenager. Jon didn't even realize how intensely he looked at the spoiled boy. And that seemed to make the teenager even more irritated, although deep down, he felt afraid of the "commoner" who looked at him intensely.
"GET THIS COMMONER AND CUT OFF HIS HAND!" After seeing Jon's face, Lorenzo, who was already annoyed with his useless bird and the possibility of not recovering the silvers his father had given him, thundered immediately without thinking about the consequences of asking for something like that publicly.
The guards began to walk towards Jon, who in turn was already reaching without anyone noticing, the knife he bought at the last store. He had been training a few hours every day with the sword; it wasn't his first time having to take a life, and he was so angry that he would try to kill the guards and the teenager now.
He had already prepared to take them by surprise. But before Jon could stab anyone, the door burst open with someone shouting, surprising everyone. *BANG!* "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" A heavily armed man thundered.