All You Need Is Guts Chapter 9 (ASOIAF x Berserk)

Baelon

When Daemon had warned him about the stench of King’s Landing he thought eh was exaggerating the situation, surely the capital of his father’s kingdom wasn’t a stinking pile of shit was what he had thought at the time and he couldn’t have been more wrong in fact Baelon was sure that his uncle had understated the smell as he could already feel it searing itself into his nose and the city was still in the distance.

Viserys looked quite ashamed about it, the king had reddened when he first noticed the discomfort Baelon had shown at the smell but he would get past it in time, it wasn’t worse than the smell inside the island-sized sea monster he killed in his past life. Baelon had tried to comfort him but he wasn’t taking his assurances as real.

“I think it’s fine you don’t have to-“ Baelon tried to tell his father again but he was interrupted.

“It’s not! Besides, this is a matter of pride, my own father and grandfather had plans to renew the city’s sewer. We just hadn’t started them because there was never enough time to do so but I think that there is enough now” Viserys said as he made a grand gesture with his arms “This will also be good for my legacy. Perhaps they will call me Viserys the builder!”

Baelon tried to smile at that but it came more crooked than he expected, despite his best effort it was still hard to be cheerful, his hand moved to the pendant that his mother had carried all her life and squeezed on it. If there was an after life he hoped that she was watching them, it would have made her very happy to know that her love and her son were getting along.

The rest of the trip was carried out in silence on Baelon’s part, not because he didn’t want to talk with his father, he just didn’t know what to talk about. Viserys had lived a completely different type of life than he and Baelon preferred to hear the king talk about his city, about the Red Keep, and the Great Sept of Baelor, of the Guildhall of the Alchemists but something that immediately took his attention was the mention of the Dragonpit.

Baelon didn’t voice it out loud but he found the idea of constricting the dragons like that ridiculous, perhaps it wasn’t that crazy of an idea though, as Baelon did find the Cannibal inside a cave, despite that he privately doubted that his partner spent all the time there but he hadn’t been with him for long. Until Baleon knew more he would let his dragon be free from such constraints, it’s not like the Cannibal was interested in livestock or humans so the danger he posed was minimal…well, as long as no one got too close to him.

A roar came from above him as Caraxes announced his Uncle’s return but soon his roar was overshadowed by another, from even higher the black outline of the Cannibal descended and announced his presence in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, Baelon had offered his father to ride alongside him again but he believed it would be best if they kept that incident to themselves and not wanting to leave him so soon he decided to also go on the boat as Daemon assured him that his partner would now always be close by.

As they docked the ship a crowd of knights led by the man that controlled the soldiers inside the city, it was quite a sight to behold as the knights in full armor with golden cloaks swaying in the ocean breeze started to kneel in front of the king as well give him one of his horses, so that he could get onto it.

“Your grace, welcome back to King’s Landing” The aging knight leading the party seemed like a veteran, clearly different from the others that were around him, he was also surprisingly happy as he watched Caraxes descend on the horizon into what could only be the Dragonpit.

“Ser Luthor! Thank you for receiving me and my council, I hope the city has been well in our absence?” Viserys said as he started descending form the ship until he stood in front of the kneeling group of knights.

“Yes, it’s been peaceful your grace and the addition of Ser Gwayne to our ranks has made it all the more peaceful” Baelon was sure that it wasn’t the case, the old man looked like he wanted to spit as he spoke the name of his new companion but Baelon wasn’t going to say anything until he knew where he stood with everyone in the capital.

“Good, good! We will hold a celebration soon to honor the arrival of my son in the city” as soon as the king said son all eyes turned to Baelon, as he was the only one walking beside the king and the only one that looked remotely Valyrian from their party of people “like all celebrations this will probably embolden some unsavory people and I want you to be ready and I would also like to ask for a horse for him”

“We live to serve your grace, it will be my honor to provide a horse for the prince. I will also like to offer my congratulations to you on finding your lost son” Viserys looked very happy at the words as he walked in the middle of the procession looking as regal as possible while Baelon did his best to appear as non-threatening as possible despite his size, the king’s small council was trailing behind them atop a carriage that was perhaps a bit too packed considering not all of the people did regular exercise.

As they made their way to the Red Keep a crowd started forming screaming out the name of the King and wishing him a long life, once they saw Baelon they started whispering too and soon the people started screaming at him as well.

“Dragon Slayer!”

“Prince! The new prince!”

“Long live the dragons!”

“Targaryen! Targaryen!”

“The people’s prince!”

That last cry started gaining more and more traction as the people spread the news of his origin. It was strange to be acclaimed like this, even when he had been a mercenary or part of the band of the hawk he had never received such attentions from the crow as that was usually reserved for…Griffith, but it felt nice, almost like the time his old comrades made a celebration in his honor.

Coming to King’s Landing was not a mistake.

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Otto Hightower

As he looked around at the rest of the council an uncomfortable silence emerged, not only because they were all currently closer than they had ever been before in the literal sense but also because none of them knew what was going to happen now, so with the usual attitude that had allowed him to climb so high Otto decided to start working.

“Since we’re all here perhaps we should discuss the appointment of the Master of Whisperers, the seat has remained vacant for years now but with the world changing thanks to the rise of the Triarchy we should look for someone to fill the seat” Otto talked casually, friendly as if he had no idea who would do a good job, despite the fact that he already had someone in mind.

“This shouldn’t be discussed here, not to mention the king isn’t even present. I would like to remind you Otto that you are hand of the king, not the man himself” Lord Strong spoke quickly before anyone else could say anything in regards to his proposition but Otta was ready for his objection.

“I’m not saying we appoint him ourselves, I wouldn’t be so bold, I’m saying that we should prepare to present some candidates to the king” as soon as the words left his mouth he knew he had won the little bout of verbal sparring.

“That makes sense the King has long spoken of his desire to be bothered by the council as in his own words ‘Why have councilors at all if I do all the work’” Lord Tyland Lannister was informally the Master of ships and perhaps he was looking to take the new role as to make his entrance into the council official but to otto that heralded good news as neither the man nor his brother liked the idea of Rhaenrya as queen.

“Perhaps they’re right Lord Strong, but if the need is so great then I would like to recommend your son Larys to the position as he is already a member of the confessors and would easily be able to do the duties of the Master of Whisperers” Lord Lyman was a pox on Otto, the man was a great Master of Coin and very loyal and that was the issue. Lyman did as Viserys commanded and Viserys wanted Rheanrya as queen and the old lord would stop at nothing to see it done.

“It is customary for the confessors to work closely with the Master of Whisperers, and I think that since Lord Strong has done such exemplary work there is little reason to doubt the abilities of his son” the Grandmaester spoke slowly in a raspy breath that only highlighted his age and in Otto’s mind it was a sign that he shouldn’t be part of the council as the man was so old that he probably didn’t know what he was doing. Not only that but Otto knew that the old maester privately preferred Rhaenrya to Otto’s grandchildren.

Perhaps otto should start the process of making the old man sick, no one would suspect poison, and thanks to his connections with the Citadel the hand of the King was sure that he could get a more sympathetic maester.

“Isn’t he a bit too inexperienced, also, and I don’t mean any disrespect Lord Strong but surely there are other houses that could provide more assistance to the crown than yours” Tyland once more came to otto’s rescue but perhaps he should remind the man not to speak ill of a man that held the king’s ear.

“I understand your concerns ser Lannister” the master of Laws easily rebuked the younger lord by reminding him of his position, sure tyland might be of a greater house but he was not lord and not an official member of the small council “and I appreciate the support towards my son but I would like to ask him first how he feels about taking the position”

Otto wanted to scoff, what second son would refuse such a great opportunity to spread his influence and come out of the shadow of the heir? It was madness to think of doing so but maybe the Mater of Laws was more concerned about the hit his reputation could take because of his son’s deformity.

“Lord Strong is right we should wait for the king and I don’t think it wise to put a young man that suffers so to the task of scaling up the stairs of the Red Keep every day” The Septon Eustace might have been trying to be kind but his words came out more like an insult, or maybe he was trying to insult Lord Strong as the faith didn’t take kindly to those born with defects.

“Thank you for your concern Eustace, we are also forgetting that the Lord Commander might have a suggestion as he has been the one taking care of the duties of the Master of Whisperers, we could try to put the one helping him in charge” Otto had underestimated Lyonel, as the man quickly made sure that any discussion about who to put on the small council ceased until further notice, if only he could see that putting Rhaenrya on the throne was going to be the doom of the Seven Kingdoms.

“It seems that we’ve arrived at the keep without noticing,” said the Grandmaester as he moved the curtains of the carriage “How fortuitous”

It was true, now Otto would have to coordinate several meetings with his son and daughter to learn what has happened in his absence, he would also have to start disposing of any who might be remotely related to his work in alerting the Triarchy of Daemon’s moves in case the new Master of Whisperers was not friendly towards his house.

There was much to be done but Otto would triumph in the end, he would see his blood on the throne.

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Author note: more politics, next chapter is Baelon's encounter with the court and the queen as well as some scheming done by Rhaenrya. I'm amazed by the way that Otto could transform a council that was mostly pro Rhaenrya to one where only Lyman would stand up for her in canon but with how things are that might prove a tad more difficult.