Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 143: The Kingdom Beneath Rot
Robert’s furious roar worked on Joffrey like a bucket of cold water.
The cruel, pampered prince shrank immediately beneath the glare of the father who had carved a kingdom out of battlefields. Quiet as a frightened quail, he did not dare utter another word.
“Now that was some proper bloody fun! Hah!”
Robert swaggered forward with his great belly bouncing beneath his clothes, grinning from ear to ear as he approached the already sheathed Lannor.
“Gods, boy, I’ve never seen someone built like you trade a Clash of Steel with a Clegane, then bloody win it! Hahaha!”
Lannor raised a brow at the praise, though judging by the nobles around them, everyone present was thoroughly accustomed to their king speaking this way.
Robert slammed a huge hand onto Lannor’s shoulder hard enough to make the plates of his composite armor rattle loudly. The strength behind the blow was far beyond ordinary men.
“The Trial by Combat is concluded! Beneath the gaze of the Seven Gods, justice has favored the victor!”
“Therefore I declare Nymeria innocent. No direwolf dies here tonight.”
Arya gave a shrill cheer and ran over with Nymeria in tow, hurling herself at Lannor.
Even with Lannor’s physique, a girl plus a direwolf hitting him together still rocked him a step sideways.
Nymeria seemed to understand perfectly well who had saved her. The direwolf immediately began slobbering all over him like an oversized hound.
“Hey, easy! Stop licking me, damn it, you got my hair!”
Lannor hurriedly shoved the wolf’s head away. He did not dislike animals, but having his hair messed up by wolf saliva was another matter entirely.
Not far away, however, the true focus of tonight’s conflict, House Stark and the queen’s faction, stood amid an atmosphere far stranger than the straightforward violence of the duel ring.
The Northerners laughed and celebrated openly, though they were few in number.
Around them, the larger crowd remained silent, carefully watching the queen’s expression before daring to react.
“House Stark appears to be in an unfavorable position, sir.”
Mentos offered the observation in its calm synthetic voice.
Lannor, however, saw nothing surprising about it.
“A great noble house from a remote fief arriving in the capital to assume the office of Hand of the King was always going to begin isolated. But from what I’ve seen of Robert and Eddard, so long as Stark keeps his head clear, he’ll stabilize his footing soon enough.”
Lannor analyzed the situation according to his own understanding.
For a temporarily isolated minister, the king’s trust was life itself.
Hold onto that, avoid making enemies too quickly, build influence and retainers slowly, and survival should not be difficult.
And from what little time he had spent with them, the bond between Robert and Eddard clearly ran deeper than politics.
A prince getting mauled badly enough by a wolf to carry scars for life still counted as “children quarreling” in Robert’s eyes.
“Lannor! I already spoke with Father! Once he becomes Hand of the King in King’s Landing, he’ll have people gather all sorts of strange Flora and Fauna Materials for you. They have everything in Westeros there! Maybe even Dragon Bone!”
“Mhm. Sure. Sounds good.”
Lannor answered absently while Arya bounced around in excitement.
As if I’d have stood there and watched your wolf get executed even without payment.
Then suddenly he froze mid-thought and turned to stare down at the girl seriously.
“Wait. You said ... Dragon Bone? Bones from actual dragons?”
Arya was sensible in her own way.
When asking for Lannor’s help, she had immediately offered compensation, promising that her soon-to-be-Hand-of-the-King father would gather rare materials from this world for his alchemy research.
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