Chapter 5: The King's arrival

Day before the King's arrival…

My uncle and Cat decided that we should have one more private meeting in Neds solar before the King arrived, just to go over any plans or information we need to clarify. Right now, we are discussing my plans with Tyrion and Cat, currently Cat is asking,

"So you're saying that I should take Tyrion Lannister in front of dozens of to be charged with a crime I know he did not commit, to be judged by my sister who you say is being manipulated by Petyr? Did I get that?"

She is clearly trying as hard as she can to not seem like she's questioning me patronizingly, and to be fair, I don't blame her. My plan puts Tyrion at risk, and he will be needed to take the Westerlands into the fold after the war. However, there are two reasons I am not TOO worried.

For one, unlike in the show, I plan to arrange more guards for Cat and Tyrion when they go into the Vale so that they are better defended, but also just in case Bronn isn't there to defend him in the Challenge by Combat (which I will make sure to try to find if I can, even if he's a money hungry bastard, he's a efficient one at least). Also, in the worst case scenario I will have Naraxes following them, out of sight as much as possible of course, who can intervene and carry them to safety should the worst happen.

As for why I am going through with these events at ALL, well…

"Yes, you did. But remember, I am not saying you do it without plausible cause, I am simply saying you should do it if Petyr says that the dagger belongs to Tyrion AND that Petyr tries to assassinate Brandon with an assassin who got paid with the dagger who he will try to blame on the Lannisters, claiming to lose it to Tyrion from a bet where Tyrion bet AGAINST his brother despite that being completely against the idea of Lannister pride."

I still remember when I told her that Littlefinger either would try to assassinate her son, or Joffery would and Littlefinger would use that grief against her. While personally I was pretty confident that Petyr was the one who arranged it in the show, from what I understand Joffery was the most likely actual suspect in the books, so I told her both possibilities. And to say she was mad would be like saying bringing back the dragons is seen as a small event. Knowing that Petyr either would try to kill her son or would use it against her to start a selfish war pissed her the fuck off. If it wasn't for the fact we had to keep these talks as secret as possible, I am sure she would have started screaming for his head right then and there. After pausing for breath, I continue,

"As for why we need to do this plan is twofold. First, it gives us a valid reason to gather men for the war that will happen since Tywin will reply with force in the Riverlands, which yes, will have men defending it by the time Tywin starts sending raining parties through it. Secondly, while we know that your sister is and will be unwilling to follow the crown due to Petyr controlling her, we will need a valid reason for the rest of Westeroes to back our reasons for removing her from her sons regency, and actually help Robin become a man who can rule, away from her overprotection and coddling. And while I wouldn't have risked the Vale joining the upcoming war at all, now that we have Naraxes, the Vale's defenses don't mean much. As long as he has at least 6 months to grow, he will be big enough for me to ride him past the Vales defenses and force them to surrender like Visenya did nearly 300 years ago. If she doesn't, her vassals or men will see reason and give her up. But again, that's months from now, let us get back to the more near future."

She nods, in… if not acceptance, at least understanding I have a plan for her and Tyrions safety should the worst happen. Ned nods, and begins speaking,

"Speaking of the near future, being named Hand of the King can help us gather strength in Kings Landing, and I can 'find out' what Jon Arryn was investigating that got him killed, and hopefully, proof that Petyr is responsible somehow."

Yes, I told him that Petyr was responsible, either directly or indirectly, for getting Jon Arryn killed. While Ned and Cat had good reason to hate Petyr, I wanted to be sure not to hide anything I could remember about him, which before you ask yes, includes the "taking both Tully girls virginitys" story. That one didn't even need my excuse of or actual dragon dreams to prove, it's a rumor that actually exists in Kings Landing.

And yes, I told him about the illegitimacy of Robert's children. Honestly, I never got why it was such a shock to people in the show if it was a commonly known thing that those of Baratheon descent had black hair, even including some if not all those married to Targaryen's, and yet somehow, none of the queen's children had black hair. Maybe there's some detail I am somehow missing, but it doesn't make sense to me personally. Anyways, just because I told him this fact, it doesn't change that Ned will still have to actually investigate and find evidence of what we know. The main difference this time around is that Ned wont make the same mistakes with me there, like, say, telling Cersei that he's gonna take mercy on her if she leaves before the king gets back.

Gods, I love my uncle, but that is one action that was not smart of him to do. I totally understand why he did it, child murder, which he thought would be what happened otherwise, is a totally understandable reason. But now? Now, we will just wait for that fight between Jaime and Ned, the event that leads to Robert going off to hunt, and ultimately, dies from over drinking and getting killed by a boar, or more likely, a combination of probably poisoned wine and the boar. Then we will enact our plan.

"Sounds good" I nod in response. "I think thats everything?"

I don't hear any disagreement, so we make our way back to our rooms, preparing for tomorrow when we would greet the king and his family. Petting Ghost, who is already the size of a regular Wolf, and only growing everyday, I sit on my bed. Removing my equipment, I take a chance to observe my sword,

Jon's sword, Longfang:

A Valyrian steel bastard sword made by Jon Targaryen. Named and modeled in honor of what would have been Jon Snow's signature weapon, the hand guard has the words of house Stark written in silver, "Winter is Coming" in high Valyrian. The pommel on the bottom of the handle is made of a mix of Valyrian steel and silver mined from White harbor silver mines, shaped to look like the head of a Direwolf with rubies for eyes mined from Stark mines.

Weight: 0.2 pounds (average bastard sword weight: 2-3 pounds)

Sharpness: Will cut through even the best castle forge steel armor like warm butter

Durability: Unbreakable (by anything in this world) physical or magically (with the exception of dragon fire), can be reforged if one knows how to manipulate Valyrian steel

I was rather proud of this sword. It was the first Valyrian steel sword I made, and would help with giving me legitimacy. I mean, it would have been nicer if I had somehow randomly found Dark Sister or Blackfyre, but even with my sky high luck, the chance of that happening was and still is very unlikely, so I decided to at least try making it myself, only succeeding when I was able to get my Blacksmithing to level 90/100. That was a little over 1 and a half years ago.

And yes, the North has mines. They had very few before I self inserted, but after food production multiplied by like 3 times even with only about half the Small folks that would be usually farming, lords started using the excess workforce they had to work with now. Some of them took to hunting and trading fur (similar to the Wildings that are settled south of the wall), some decided to try mining some of the many mountains and hills that are present in the north, with some of them succeeding. While none of the houses have struck any large deposits of gold, they have gotten some other rare materials or ores. Stark lands have found some gem deposits while White harbor, or the Manderlys, found silver. The other notable mine I know of is House Mormont's salt mines, which has helped them somewhat with regaining some of their lost wealth.

Anyways, after looking over my armor, finding no dents or flaws as far as I can tell, I begin polishing my sword. My ACTUAL sword, this is not that kind of story. Even though Valyrian steel seems to always stay maintained and clean on its own, I still make the effort to take care of it when I can, as similar to Ned, it helps me focus, and calms me. And I am going to need it, knowing that everything begins tomorrow.

Putting my sword away, I pets Ghost goodnight, blow out the candle, and tell myself,

"Winter is coming Jon. Let's hope we are ready."

Tomorrow morning…

I won't bore you with the nit picky details of what had to be done, like setting up the feast, the planning of where the guards would be when, or anything else. The only thing I should really note is that unlike in the show where I was standing behind the main Stark's, you know, due to being a "bastard", I am next to them. I'm still as far away from Lord Stark as I can be, but I am still clearly being put front and center, making it clear that I am important to the Stark household, if not for my blood, at the very least due to my status as the official bodyguard of Lord Stark. While shining any light on me in a political sense is risky, I can't stay hidden forever, especially if I am going to be going south with my uncle to King's Landing.

And that brings us to what's going on right now. Right now, I am standing next to my family, with the only exception being…

"Arya! Get over here."

I see Arya running up wearing a helmet, who is clearly a little embarrassed at being late. After I take her helmet off for her and clean her hair as much as I can, she takes her place next to the other Starks, where barely a minute later, the royal procession arrives.

Now, I haven't been able to talk a lot about how different the size of stuff is compared to the show. In the show, Winterfell is a pretty good size, but thats nothing compared to how it is in real life. Winterfell is often called the biggest castle in the whole of the 7 kingdoms, (from what I remember), and I believe it. While the height of most walls for castles are not the same, with the exception of the Wall which is the same as the show 300 feet tall, the walls of Winterfell are still 30 feet high, surrounding a castle and town big enough to easily house 100,000 Smallfolk and an army of 200,000 if the need arose, which it probably will.

The reason I bring it up is because, you remember how when King Roberts procession entered Winterfell, while it was impressive, it didn't seem like it was more than 50 men? Well, it actually seems like it's an escort of 500 men. You always hear about these large gigantic army's with huge numbers when discussing Game of Thrones, so it can be hard to imagine just how baffling 500 well armored, trained men can be. Seeing all of the men escorting the royal procession, I can totally understand how they were not attacked on the way.

Finally, the royal carriage stops. And out comes the royal family.

And they look… well, SIMILAR to their show counterparts but slightly different. I forgot to mention up until now, but while most people look like they did from the show, there's generally two main differences. Those two differences being their eye and hair color, with all the other Stark children having red hair and blue eyes from their mother with the exception of Arya who has black hair and grey eyes. I have black hair like in the show, but I have Violet eyes that are masked by my hair, and I am a few inches taller due to my system and training, putting me just shy of 5 foot eleven inches tall. I bring this up because our guests, Jaime, Cersei, her children, Tyrion: they all have bright golden hair and green, emerald-like eyes. Knowing that Jaime is supposed to be one of, if not the best swordsman in all of Westeros currently, I decide to quickly OBSERVE him,

Jaime Lannister

Titles: Kingsguard, Combat prodigy, "King" slayer, etc

Reputation: (20/100) While he doesnt know about how you helped Tyrion with Tysha, he knows that Tyrion likes you and you are polite to his dwarf brother, giving a good first impression

Stats:

Strength: 25 (Average for Nobles: 14)

Endurance: 36 (15)

Agility: 30 * 1.5 (17) (multiplied by 1.5 from Combat prodigy title)

Intelligence: 31 (30)

Charisma: 31 (20)

Luck: 45 -20 = 25 (10) (was born into one of the most powerful families in all of Westeros and was gifted with incredible martial talents, but -20 applied due to stigma of "King" slayer title and no one taking his side or defense for why he did, despite it being the most honorable thing arguably anyone has done. Decrease goes away once the truth comes out.)

Skills:

Swordsmanship: (96/100) (50-58) (3 times learning rate up to 85/100 and 1.5 times till 95/100)

Stewardship(aka, economics, all things ruling): 50/100 (60-62) (remember, Jaime is not necessarily bad at being a lord, but he always preferred to train the sword and might possibly have dyslexia, he had a hard time with reading)

Horsemanship: (90/100) (64-66)

Bowmanship: (62/100) (48-52) (3 times learning rate up to 85/100 and 1.5 times till 95/100)

Yeah, that's about what I expected. I knew that his agility or other stats would be almost as high as mine, I knew that he almost certainly had a title that would help him out when it comes to combat. You see, one of the advantages of having a system is that unlike some people who have to deal with specializing in a certain skill set, like how just because someone has a high agility stat that doesn't mean they can run fast, they might just be able to move fast in combat, hence some people having combat specific multipliers to stats like Jaime and my uncle who has a Quiet Wolf title that multiples all of his physical stats by 125 percent, a 25 percent boost in combat. I don't have that, at least I haven't gotten that yet. I have gotten some titles that add a base number to my stats, but I haven't gotten any titles that multiply any of my stats when a condition is fulfilled. Thankfully, to make up for that, if my stats increase, it increases my efficiency in doing ANYTHING related to that stat. That means that I am not just fast in combat, but also fast in running in my reaction speed, everything. That also applies to all my other stats like strength, luck, intelligence, and endurance, which by the way, includes increasing how long I can live by a year every stat point past 25. Also, stats aren't necessarily linear. You see, if I had to put a number on it that admittingly is kinda flimsy, I would say that every 10 stat points each stat point is worth 1.1 times what a single point stat increase in the previous 10 points would be worth. Basically, in the 20-30 range, each stat point increase is roughly equal 1.1 times the 10-20 range. And if that number reaches 50 or higher? Well, that increase changes to 1.5 the value of what it would be in the 40-49 range. And yes, this applies from 10 to 20 to 30 to 40 to 50, so it would be 1.1*1.1*1.5 in the 50 range compared to the average stat range of 10 to 20 in physical stats. So thankfully, I am still much faster than Jaime should it come down to it, which I hope it doesn't.

After everyone else has excited the carriage, out comes the man himself, Bobby, um, I mean Robert Baratheon. And while most people I have come across look rather similar to their show counterpart with the exception of their eye and hair color, Robert could almost be seen as a completely different person. He looks like the character from the show, except he was close to 6 and a half feet tall, a behemoth of a man, and had black hair and blue eyes. Other than those details, he looked as close as possible to the original, a rather fat man, probably weighed close to… I would say 400 pounds or so, but despite possessing the observe skill, I can't just observe someone's weight, so I could be wrong.

Walking out of the carriage, he walks up to Ned, looks him up and down, and says,

"You've gotten fat"

Everyone sits in suspense, clearly not wanting to address the fat elephant in the room. Ned glances down at Robert's gut, gesturing in a clear, 'like your one to talk' tone. Robert stops acting, and starts laughing, and hugs his friend.

He continues talking, "It's good to see you Ned. Where the hells have you been the last 9 years?"

"Protecting the North your Grace and negotiating with the Wildings. Winterfell is yours." My uncle says in response. He gestures to the rest of the family, and introduces us, "This is my family. May I present my wife..."

Before my uncle can take the time to go through all the formalities, Robert takes the initiative to go up to Catelyn, saying, "CAAAAT." and hugs her.

He then goes up to my siblings, looking at Rob saying, "So you're my namesake? It's great to meet you, I can tell you'll be a great warrior." shaking his hand. He nods at Sansa, not addressing her beauty, but still clearly being respectful, most likely since she is betrothed to Domeric, so she can't be married off to his "son". He looks at Brandon, and continues, "You'll grow up to be a fine knight. Show us your muscles!"

Brandon starts flexing his arm showing off his gains. I don't need to OBSERVE him to know Robert is completely right, he's a killing machine. And I would be sure he would stay that way.

Moving past that, Robert finishes by rubbing Arya and Rickons heads, and looks at me.

"So your Neds er, " He glances at Cat and seems to rethink how he continues, "Guard. You've been making sure to keep my friend safe?"

I nod with a slight smile on my face, "Of course your grace. And I hope to continue to do so"

He smiles at that and nods, "And you will. Ned, I want to go pay my respects."

Cersei seems to be smiling, but in a way that it's clear that she would REALLY like to stab something if she didn't get her way, and says, "Surely we can take a moment to rest? We've been on the road for so long, the dead can surely wait"

Of course, Robert is dragging my uncle, me, and Jaime, since we need to keep an eye on them since we are, you know, their bodyguards. As they begin to enter the crypt, my uncle and Robert look to me and Jaime respectively and tell us to guard the door.

While it was expected that I wouldn't get to see their conversation first hand, I will admit I wish I was there since I couldn't be sure exactly what was being discussed, but I could guess that if Sansa and Joffery couldn't marry, the next two options would be Arya and Tommen, or…

"Are you worried Snow?"

I glance to my left at Jaime who is standing on the other side of the door. He is looking at me with a gaze that many would take as cocky and challenging. I knew though that it was more playful than anything else. I will admit it's because I used OBSERVE to be sure,

Jaime

Current thoughts: Wants to find out a bit more about his little brother's friend, wants to poke fun a little at you. Maybe test your sword arm.

I nod my head, "Of course. I mean, it's our job to be worried isn't it?"

"Because we have to protect great men?" He says with a hint of sarcasm.

I reply in equal mirth, seeming to surprise him slightly, "No, I'm more worried about which of my siblings are being betrothed right now. My little sister will certainly cause a mess if it's her, so I'm hoping for the best."

After blinking for a second and making sure to check around us for threats, taking his job seriously despite his joking, and says, "Well, maybe you can help dissuade some of my fears. I am pretty sure Robert is planning to marry his daughter, my niece, " He says with such a slight hitch even though I was barely able to pick it up and probably would have still been dismissed without my future knowledge, "to your brother, Bran Stark. Now, marriage isn't always a happy affair, and I was wondering if Bran was a good boy. She deserves the best, but getting at least good would make me feel better."

And there's that attitude that is the reason for me not planning on killing his kids, yes, even Joffrey (he gets the Wall). Now Cersei, I am pretty sure that her love for her children is completely based on them being a result of her and the male version of her being made into a child, loving them for being a reflection of her. I could be wrong about that, but one thing I am confident about is that Jamie for sure loves his children and wants the best for them. I take a moment to seem like I am thinking, and reply,

'"Yes. He plans to become a knight, and always treats my sisters well enough. One time when he was 5 name days old, there was a little girl that had wandered into Winterfell and couldn't find her mom. He insisted on helping her, and father gave him some guards to help him find her mom. Turns out that she was a clothes maker, and had been worried sick that she couldn't find her daughter for the past 5 hours, and was relieved my brother had found her. He rejected any gifts she tried to give in thanks, simply saying he was "doing his duty as a knight-in-training" I shake my head a little in amusement, the story always putting a smile on my face. I look towards Jaime, and say

"I can't guarantee they will love each other, marriages for nobles rarely begin with love, but I can promise you that at the very least Bran will treat her well."

Jaime takes a moment to hold my gaze, before seeming to somewhat accept what I am saying, before saying, "I can see why my brother seems to like you. You seem to be one of the few people in this world filled with optimism."

I nod, thinking on what the future will hold and what I hope to accomplish, before I respond,

"I try my best Ser Jaime."

AN

I hope this satisfies expectations and answers some questions. I've been surprised at the attention this story is getting, its already past 4,500 views and there's 121 followers as of writing this! Thank you!

Onto the reviews,

LictorMagnus : I hope Jon's explanation answered your question the tldr edition basically is that stats increase in effectiveness at a rate of 1.1 times the previous 10 point range, and that just because someone has a high stat, it doesn't mean they have that same effectiveness in every field that applies to that stat unless they are Jon. Also, some characters have titles that can activate under certain restrictions, like combat, that greatly help them, but ones as overpowered as Jaime's Combat Prodigy skill are VERY rare even among nobles. I will say don't worry, I won't be just pulling people out of nowhere that are somehow way stronger than Jon for no reason like some fanfics do, Jaime is basically the peak non system using warrior MAYBE with the exception of Barristan and the Mountain (whose main threats are how huge and swole he is). But yes, there is a big difference between 10-15 and 50-55. Makes Dragons even more broken when you remember that.

InfinityMask : For Varys turning on Jon… remember, Varys is not always super straight forward. While I will fully admit this borders on AU stuff, I personally always thought Varys's problem was specifically with the Lord of Light followers who practiced blood sacrifices on innocent bystanders who really did not deserve their fate (which is what happened to him), and even with all of that in mind, Jon has made every effort to barely use magic, and even when he does, he ONLY uses his own blood, not even using animals. Also remember, in the show Varys was fine with following Daenerys, who I am pretty sure used blood magic kinda to bring back the dragons, so… I won't spoil it, but I will just say it's not a black and white issue for Varys as long as Jon follows his more modern morals while using magic.

Also, for the letting Cat kidnap Tyrion plot, I hope I gave a good reason, that being, he has a dragon that can save them should the worst case happen and they need a hand, and best case, helps give him a reason to remove her from power of the Vale, also helping with his plans for Littlefinger. And they do ask why of course, but remember, on top of taking the vale out of her control, they have a dragon and on the way south, Jon plans to make sure the Riverlands fortify for when Tywin sends out raiding parties which will give him justification to punish Tywin when he sends those raiding parties out, and he has a dragon. Tywin is a good commander, but remember, dragons are broken bullshit as Jon says. I hope the way I will write it will make sense when it gets to it.

: Don't worry, she and Littlefinger will get what's coming. It will take time, but it will happen.

Aarontempest: I will admit it is a little rushed in retrospect, but I actually buy that she would connect the dots that quickly because it wouldn't take much when you think about it. Her thought process would basically be: Jon hatched a dragon? One of his parents had to be a Targaryen. There was no woman that qualified that Ned could have gotten pregnant. Ned insists that Jon is of Stark blood. Ned came north after failing to save his sister who the realm believes was raped by a Targaryen. Therefore, the most logical conclusion is that Jon is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar. Again, I will admit it was maybe paced a little fast, but it didn't feel like it was illogical for her to reach that conclusion. Also, while she is vindictive, I agree, without the threat of taking her kids heritage, and having a pretty good reputation with her at the time, she would be pretty willing to make up.

Jean d'arc : Thanks! I tried to balance it, glad you think I did it well, hope to keep impressing you!

AkashaPsihi : Yeah, but our si was an American before reincarnating and believes in using Freedom units despite the fact the International System of Units are generally easier to use (and I am a fellow Freedom unit user).

Camsonius: Thanks! I tried to balance that stuff as best as possible while making it clear that while Jon is trying to look at it objectively, he is still slightly biased, even if only slightly. He says stuff like "celebrating" his siblings death because he sees Robert not condemning it as support of it. Not saying that view is right or wrong, Jon still has some maturing to do.

TheCrimsonShout : Thanks!

Also, as for why King in Jaime's "King" slayer title is in quotes its because, well, the guy was totally fine with killing at least 500,000 people with no mercy. Its basically the system stating that a king doesn't do stuff like that, and Jaime was justified .

Also, as for Jaime's stats clearly being way better than Ned's, I will say as much as I like season 1, according to what little I have heard of Jaime's skills compared to Ned, Jaime would have WRECKED Ned. That's not a bashing of Ned, Ned's a good fighter, but from my understanding he was more a tactician in the rebellion than a fighter like Robert was.

Also, I was debating with myself a little on how overpowered I should make Valyrian steel, and decided "screw it", and decided that its a magic sword, lets go all it. Its roughly a tenth the weight of a sword of the same size, pretty much indestructible, and can cut through almost anything. There wasn't a clear source I could for what the actual weight of Valyrian steel is other than, "its super light", so I went with this. Also, while I didn't say it, the reason I went with for why Valyrian steel is uber sharp, sharp enough to cut through plate but can still be in the sheath is because its cutting ability is based on the intent of its user.

Now, while I will still be updating this, and will probably be posting one more this weekend, I will probably not be updating during the week like I have been for the past week, mostly sticking to posting at least once during the weekend.

Again, I am not stopping, I will continue, just want to make sure people know that if I dont update for a week, its not because I stopped, just because that is the schedule I will have.