Game of Thrones: King of Harrenhal, starting with a blue hand stat panel

Chapter 103 Fourteen years old, a knight!

Inside the long hall, smoke swirled.

The Iron Bell leaders of Pike City, dressed in salt-stained clothes or sealskin, knelt in submission.

Baron Greyjoy was beaten up by his sons Robert, Eddard, Stannis, Arthur, and others, and now he's being lectured by Robert like a grandson.

"Theon Greyjoy will be living in Winterfell from now on. What do you think, Balon?" King Robert said.

Seeing the tall and imposing King Robert, and the cold and indifferent Duke Eddard.

Baron's strongest emotion was fear, but he dared not resist.

"That's excellent." Baron could only nod and bow.

He brought this humiliation upon himself; he was simply asking for trouble.

Baron's daughter, Asha, is currently receiving little attention.

Because the Iron race looks down on women, they have never had a queen.

In this situation, Robert generously left Baron with a daughter.

After Baron's actions of kneeling, sending his son as a hostage, and paying a fine, Robert was finally satisfied.

Robert temporarily forgave King Balon, but that scoundrel Balon will never be grateful to Robert and Ed for letting him go; he will only hate them for the rest of his life.

The river region, the river bend region, the northern border, and the western border are all areas deeply affected by the toxicity of iron-rich tea.

The lords of these regions were particularly wary of the Iron Seed and dismissed Baron's groveling as insignificant.

In particular, the Merissant, Blackwood, and Brecken families in the Riverlands have all had many members killed by the Ironborn.

The rule of two dynasties in the Riverlands ended with the House Hall, kings of the Iron Islands.

The first was the Fair Man Dynasty.

The Fair family ruled the Trident River for nearly three hundred years, until the last king, Bernard II.

King Corey Hall I of the Iron Islands murdered Bernard's sons at "Fort Kerk" in Pike, which thereafter became known as "Blood Fort".

Bernard waged a hopeless war of revenge against the Ironborn, and with the destruction of the Fairmen family, the Riverlands descended into a century of chaos.

The second time was when the Storm Kingdom, which had ruled the Riverlands for three hundred years, was also driven out of the Riverlands by the Hall family.

"A bunch of liars," Arthur thought to himself.

The repeated rebellions were not just Balon's problem, but a problem for the entire Ironblood community.

That's just how Tie Zhong is; his words are like farts, and he bullies the weak and fears the strong.

Even Cold Iron and Blackfire were fooled by the sea monsters.

During several Blackfire Rebellions, Coldsteel swore a blood oath with Torvion Greyjoy, but the shameless leader of the raiders betrayed Coldsteel to his enemies.

Inside the long hall, Arthur began to silently sense the aura left behind by the Grey Sea King—a faint but real fluctuation of the Drowning God's elemental power.

That power came from the Sea Stone, that dark, glossy boulder.

"Disgusting," Arthur thought, "the Blue Hands naturally hate these kinds of smells."

Iron is related to three extraordinary elements: Drowning God, Gray Sea King, and Deep Diver.

The Blue Hand and the Drowned God, along with the Gray Sea King, form a pair that corresponds to each other, representing vitality and barrenness and destruction, much like the correspondence between ice and fire.

"Blue Hand" Garth's ability is vitality and prosperity.

The drowning god and ancestor Gray Sea King of the Iron People's Faith are exactly the opposite.

The Iron Islands also have barren and rocky soil, and the common people have no cattle or horses to cultivate the land.

The surrounding waters are not only prone to storms, but also riddled with reefs and lack natural harbors.

The Drowned God is a cruel and ruthless deity, much like the Iron People. He demands that his people strictly adhere to the ancient ways.

Legend has it that the Drowned God created the Iron People to rape and plunder, to create a new heaven and earth with blood, flames, and songs of joy, and to carve their names on it.

As for the Gray Neptune, even a single glance from him can corrupt well water and cause women to become infertile.

For this reason, when the magical tide arrives, the Blue Hands and the Apostles of the Drowned God may still fight a great battle.

Arthur wasn't in a hurry, since killing Baron wouldn't make a difference now; the real superhuman was Croweye, who had escaped beforehand.

King Robert Baratheon, clutching his stag-antlered helmet, sat on the Seastone throne and addressed the lords with satisfaction: "Who is our hero this time, after our great victory at Pyke?"

"Arthur Hogan, the Bat Rider!"

"Arthur Hogan, the Dark Knight!"

"Blood Bat, Bloodthirsty Arthur!"

"Red-robed monk! Red-robed monk!"

"Count Jorah!"

"Sir Lynn!"

"Jeslin!"

Hundreds of voices shouted at the same time, and the name they shouted most often was Arthur Hoan.

The shouts continued to spread and intensify, eventually transforming into a wave of sound.

The lords and the knights with property cheered, and the heroes who were besieging the city cheered.

The Ironborn trembled. Arthur Hoan was a war hero of the Seven Kingdoms, and also their cruel dream, the Bloodthirsty Bat.

"Arthur Hoan, Thoros of Mil, and Jorah Mormont, these three were the first to breach the walls of Pyke, fearless warriors... Lynn Cobley, Lucas Root, Veri Ward, Rosso Brun, Clatton Songr, Tritimor, Raleigh... and Jessling Bywatt, fought valiantly." Earl Royce, who also served as the king's master of ceremonies, began to report the heroic deeds of the many siege heroes. "His Majesty has decided to first reward these siege heroes with a set of armor, allowing them to choose any complete set of knightly armor from the Iron Islands, including a lance, longsword, chainmail, and a helmet with a visor."

Iron Hand didn't end up losing his hand this time because Arthur gave him a suit of armor, and he performed just as bravely.

Although hired knights call themselves knights, the prestige of that title is still not as high as that of those who are officially knighted.

Regardless of status, this is a partial reward given first, which can be considered a kind of honor.

Baron paid for all of this; the armor was given out as a gift from the king, so Baron naturally dared not say anything.

Arthur and his men were the first to arrive, cutting down enemies like mowing grass.

Some soldiers fought bravely, while others killed the commander of the Ironborn.

When Robert announced his list, the largest group was still Arthur's "Batmen" and "Dark Knights".

There was no way around it; their performance was just too outstanding.

"So many heroes, and yet they are not knights. Right now, in this long hall, I will bestow knighthood upon them!" King Robert was intrigued; this was, of course, a group investiture. "Summon my chaplains and give these warriors some holy oil."

The red-robed monk Soros was from across the Narrow Sea and had little interest in titles.

Count Jorah, however, who was the Earl of Bear Island and a believer in the Old Gods, also became a knight this time.

All the light in the room focused on Arthur Hogan.

A fourteen-year-old knight—that's an incredible honor.

Although it doesn't compare to the honor of becoming a knight at the age of twelve, it's not far off.

Normally, knights are made knights around the age of eighteen or twenty, but if they have outstanding performance in the arena or on the battlefield, they can be made knights earlier.

Arthur's performance in the Baron Rebellion was convincing enough to earn him this honor.

The atmosphere has been perfectly set.

Starting with Arthur, the seventy or eighty knights appointed by the king knelt on the ground one by one, waiting for the ceremony to continue.

This was a large-scale knighthood ceremony, though the number of knights appointed certainly couldn't compare to the massive flood of knights appointed during the Battle of Blackwater River, which saw over six hundred people appointed at once. It still carried considerable prestige.

"The knighthood ceremony shall now begin!" Duke Ed announced as a witness.

A proper knighthood ceremony required the knights to spend the entire night in the sanctuary and then walk barefoot through the city to the investiture site in the morning as a sign of humility.

Finally, each of them, dressed in undyed wool coats, stepped forward to receive their investiture.

We're still in the Iron Islands, so everything is kept simple.

However, being knighted after winning a war is also a great honor.

"Arthur of House River," King Robert solemnly placed his sword on Arthur's right shoulder, "in the name of warriors I demand courage from you."

The longsword moved from his right shoulder to his left. "In the name of the Father, I demand justice from you."

The longsword returned to his right shoulder. "In the name of the Holy Mother, I beg you to protect the weak and the innocent."

Left shoulder. "In the name of the maiden, I beg you to protect all women."

Arthur knelt on the ground and listened to the knight's oath.

When he rises, he can be called Sir Arthur Hoan, a full knight.

A legend is being born.