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

Chapter 104 The Second Steel Sword, Orphan Maker

The knighthood ceremony of Pike City was merely an interlude, but for these knights, it was naturally a great honor.

King Robert Baratheon's royal procession will remain in Pyke for a few more days, as the king has already secured the submission of Pyke and Harlow.

Now Robert simply waits for the kneeling leaders of the other Iron Islands to come to Pyke Island and swear allegiance.

The ravens brought one piece of good news after another.

The strategic buffer zones of Old Wake Island and Oak Island were too small. When Ser Barristan and Ser Kevan led their troops in an attack, the leaders of both places immediately surrendered.

As for Great Wake Island, it is so large that some castles, including Warhammer Point, are located deep inland, far from the Sunset Sea and Ironman's Bay.

Warhammer Point Castle is located on Solid Rock Mountain. The castle has sharp iron crenellations and is clumsy yet sturdy. The huge stones used to build the castle were quarried from the cliff behind the castle.

Beneath the city walls, countless caves and ancient mine pits resemble toothless black mouths.

The people of the Ironkind toiled in the mines, and many of them, living and dying in the dark caves beneath the surface, never saw the vast ocean.

If the Gubler family on this largest island were to engage in a direct confrontation...

In fact, iron armor can last a long time, and the danger and sturdiness of the Warhammer Horn exceed those of Pyke City.

But after learning of the defeat of Sea Frontier City, the destruction of the Iron Fleet, and the siege of Pike Island and Harlo Island, the Guberle family also surrendered directly.

The royalist army had only just broken through to the foot of Warhammerhorn, and Stannis was still worrying about how to besiege the city.

The good news is that Robert won a great victory; the conquest of the Iron Islands was a brilliant military triumph.

The bad news is that Robert's purge was minimal.

Robert's punishment was to confiscate the fine, take the hostages, and demand that the rebels kneel and pledge allegiance.

The punishment for these warmongers was not particularly severe; not many of the leaders were hanged.

Apart from the Iron Islands leaders who died in the war, the leaders of the other islands remained the same, their family castles were not destroyed, and some even surrendered before the king's army arrived.

Arthur couldn't say Robert was wrong, after all, it would take much longer than just a month to completely wipe out those bastards.

Putting everything else aside, the terrain of Warhammer Point alone would take at least half a year to conquer, and would result in the loss of many soldiers' lives.

Sieges have always been very difficult in the history of the wars in Westeros.

Robert's current approach of accepting the Ironborn's surrender, quickly quelling the rebellion, and immediately stabilizing the situation in the Iron Islands is quite plausible.

Besides, the Iron Fleet has been destroyed, and it will take at least five or six years for the Iron Race to recover its strength. That should be enough.

Arthur had no reason to point out the king's flaws.

Arthur also knew that this might not be King Robert's opinion alone; Duke Eddard, Earl Royce, and Earl Jason all agreed to this punishment.

After all, everyone was leading their own troops, and no one wanted to endure a long and arduous battle on the desolate Iron Islands. They decided to call it a day while they were ahead.

The fighting outside Pike Place City is already bloody; if a full-scale war breaks out, it will certainly be even bloodier.

Of the landing battles in the Iron Islands War, only the battles of Kingsport and Pike were bloody meat grinders; the other islands surrendered without hesitation.

In the coming days, Duke Stannis, Sir Kevan, Earl Parker, and Sir Barristan will arrive at Pike Island one after another with the surrendered men.

Once everyone was present, King Robert would bestow a larger reward and punishment.

Taking advantage of this lull, the royalist army held a grand banquet in Pike, indulging in feasting and drinking.

The majority of the Iron Throne army was stationed on a small continental corner, about fifty acres in size, behind the city gate tower and within the stone walls. The lords and propertied knights could occupy the main fortress of Pyke.

The anti-bandit army completely controlled the gate towers, corner towers, stone bridges, and main fort of Pike.

The sheep, fish, and fine wine stored in the stone walls, along with the iron ore, were all taken out and enjoyed by the royal army.

Fortunately, it is summer now, otherwise the Iron Throne's army would have left the Iron Islands with a year of famine after they finished eating and drinking.

Arthur's men were tasked with guarding King's Port, a position Robert had given him.

With that pile of wrecked docks, how much you can loot depends entirely on your luck.

Kingsport was once famous for its forges, shipyards and metalworkers, but now it is deserted, with many blacksmiths, sailors and shipbuilders dying in the war.

Inside and outside Kingsport, apart from the crowned stag flag, the surrounding area was filled with flags of gold backgrounds and black bats.

Kingsport is located near a cliff covered by pine trees, and the Pottery family's fortress has been reduced to ashes.

The war dead had long been doused with hot oil and burned, leaving only smoke-filled ruins, and the houses were reduced to rubble and cooled ashes.

The houses were mostly built with stone and wood. Although they were burned down, the old stones can still be used to build new houses.

Along the rugged rocky shore were the ashes of burned longships and the wreckage of warships.

The king's army would at most help burn the corpses; as for dealing with the port wreckage, that was the Ironborn's own business.

Arthur had ordered his 450 men to be divided into five groups and begin a thorough search of Kingsport.

Arthur originally only brought three hundred elite troops, but many free riders and hired knights came to join him because of his reputation.

Arthur had Sir Lucas carefully select the men, which resulted in an additional 150 cavalrymen.

King's Port is not particularly large, only half the size of a major town in the Riverlands, and the manpower is sufficient.

The main objective is to search for the remaining materials and inventory left in the blacksmith shops and shipyards of King's Port.

Although some blacksmiths and shipbuilders fled to Pike, some left in such a hurry that they did not take their belongings with them.

"The royal army has won a great victory!" Rosso Brun, who had just been knighted, said with great joy.

"It's a resounding victory. But for those bastards, it's too easy for them," the big guy Raleigh sneered.

"This is not a victory, but a truce for a period of time. I believe Baron is prepared for that," Arthur said.

Arthur's retinue also had a decent harvest.

Many people found fine iron hidden under the ruins of houses, iron blocks stored in cellars, and even half-finished whetstones, warhammers, armor, ring armor, high-quality swords and axes, and a small amount of wood for building longships.

Arthur, of course, didn't stand on ceremony and packed everything up to take with him.

While his retinue was busy at work, Arthur rode his yellow steed, inspecting every blade of grass and every object in Kingsport.

King's Port is currently under Arthur's administration, or you could say he's the governor of King's Port.

Arthur didn't notice anything unusual until he drove to a certain spot in the alley of Kingsport.

Arthur felt the fire element gathering more and more vividly.

That pure, fiery fire element was just like the Valyrian steel sword in his hand.

"Could it be Valyrian steel?" Arthur was startled, then reached the point where the fire element fluctuated.

It was the ruins of a small blacksmith shop, the gate of which had been burned down.

The previous owner was a bachelor who died in the fighting at Kingsport.

Arthur dismounted, found an iron pickaxe, and began working on the blue stone floor of the blacksmith's shop.

Sir Lucas and the others stopped by the roadside in confusion, watching Arthur fly up the brick and tear open the floorboards.

The blue stone slabs were lifted off the ground, and they continued digging down, turning over the dark, heavy soil.

Arthur saw something that attracted him.

An exquisite cedar box wrapped in sharkskin lay quietly in the ground.

"What is this?" Sir Lucas was also taken aback.

Arthur was overjoyed and, ignoring the mud on his body, opened the cedar wood box he had brought with him.

Arthur was convinced that it was the objects inside the box that were drawing him in; it was the most exquisite collection of fire elements.

Only magical artifacts forged and refined by dragon flames can achieve this.

Arthur's gaze was sharp as lightning. After opening the box, he found an exquisite longsword lying inside, complete with its scabbard.

Drawing the longsword, its blade was dark and smoky, possessing a unique charm characteristic of Valyrian steel swords.

Arthur brandished the jeweled sword tip, the axe-like guards on either side, a figurine-sized longsword.

He has killed countless people and is known as "the orphan maker who has a fearsome reputation in the Blood Dragon Dance, having killed princes and knights, and wild dragon knights like Iron Hammer Shuf!"

"This is the Orphan Maker?" Sir Lucas exclaimed, his eyes wide.

As a family of sword masters, the Dane family has studied every famous sword.

A collector of famous swords like Arthur truly deserves to be called a favorite of fate.

They could only say that Arthur's sixth sense was extraordinary, and that he possessed a certain kind of luck.

"That's right!" Arthur nodded in satisfaction and put the longsword back into his pocket.

"You have your greatsword," Sir Lucas said.

"We still need to go back to King's Landing to find Tob, but we have to tell the King first," Arthur said, knowing that the news of the forged greatsword couldn't be kept secret.

Both logically and emotionally, we must inform the king first.

Robert was not a stingy man, nor would he be greedy for black weapons.

"But how did this sword end up here?" Veri asked, puzzled.

Sir Lucas smiled slightly. "That's easy to guess. The Orphan Maker originally belonged to the Rockton family, but was later taken away and hidden by the Baker family. The Baker family was subsequently involved in several Blackfyre Rebellions and Baker Rebellions. This sword was probably stolen by an Ironborn when they took it overseas and hid it in their own mansion."

The Peck family is also a husky family, and they have been involved in the Blackfire Rebellion multiple times, and even the Peck family's own rebellion.

Two cities were destroyed, and several family members were exiled overseas to join the Golden Company.

It's normal for this famous sword to be taken away and lost by the clansmen.

There's also the relationship between the Blackfire Party and the Iron Seeds; the Iron Seeds are extremely shameless.

Iron Seed betrayed even Cold Iron, with whom he had sworn a blood oath, let alone Pei Ke, the general who had dealt a heavy blow to Blackfire.

However, what no one probably expected was that the Iron Seed who stole the famous sword also hid it in his own home and refused to hand it over to the sea monster family.

"I will take this sword to see King Robert," Arthur said confidently.

Even disregarding the spoils acquired in King's Port, this famous sword alone was worth the price of the expedition.

>