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Thormad, wearing northern-style mail, knelt on one knee and hammered a tent peg in the corner of the military tent. Beside him, Mael was doing the same thing.
The two of them had been lucky. After passing Winterfell's recruit screening and training, they were assigned to the same squad.
The northern army had left Winterfell and, after more than a week of marching, arrived at Moat Cailin. Their tenman had now assigned them the task of pitching tents.
"Thormad, stand up and salute. It is His Grace!"
Thormad, who had been focused on his work, heard Mael's urgent, excited voice beside him.
Hearing this, Thormad immediately rose and looked ahead. His Grace Robb, wearing armor engraved with an ice direwolf sigil, sat astride that terrifying giant wolf as it padded toward them.
"Your Grace!"
When Robb passed by, all the soldiers around them stood straight and saluted respectfully.
Robb smiled and nodded slightly in response.
After leaving Moat Cailin, which had been occupied by the northern army, Robb reached Moat Village, now more prosperous than before. He turned to Asha behind him and said, "Asha, I have arranged the ship to the Iron Islands. Once you reach Pyke, tell Theon immediately. We meet at Seagard in one week.
"Also, remember to watch Ramsay Bolton for me. If anything happens, contact me by the method I told you."
"As you command, Your Grace."
Asha, mounted on a warhorse, immediately nodded in answer.
Now, her respectful attitude was completely different from her unruliness two months earlier.
When Leaf and the other two fled Winterfell, they had used the magic Whisper of the Forest. Although its range had been far smaller than in the godswood at Deepwood Motte, Asha, who was only a few cells away, had been affected directly.
After waking, Asha remembered clearly the peaceful, tranquil feeling before she fell asleep. She had never felt anything like it.
After hesitating for several days, she finally took the chance to ask when Robb came to the cells to observe Vine, who had joined the pack.
At first, Robb had no time to deal with her. Later, he used his sword practice with Thorn as an opportunity and brought Asha to the godswood. Watching that bout overturned everything she thought she knew about the world.
First, the terrifying giant wolf breathed a stream of white ice mist that froze the ground. Then Robb Stark sparred with a strange little girl on the ice.
Asha watched the fierce fight between the two, countless thoughts rising in her mind. Then that little girl, after being locked in a stalemate and unable to break through, actually turned into an ice direwolf.
Asha, who had been imprisoned for months, stood stunned and instantly felt the world had become extremely unfamiliar.
Robb and Thorn in ice direwolf form eventually fought to a draw. If they had continued, both sides would inevitably have drawn blood and suffered wounds.
After their fight ended, Asha gathered her courage and challenged Robb. In the end, he subdued her in a single move.
At last, Asha, unruly by nature and obedient to the ironborn rule that the strong devour the weak, bent the knee and swore loyalty to Robb.
At the docks of Moat Village, after Asha boarded a small oared warship, she gradually disappeared along the Fever River.
"Mm?"
Robb was about to have Bloodwind return to Moat Cailin when he saw a red light descend from the sky and envelop him.
Hiss, hiss!
The familiar hissing sounded again. Robb discovered that a red mist much thicker than last time rose from his body and constantly dissolved the red light.
He immediately focused and looked at Bloodwind, discovering that the remaining thirty-nine blood pact points in the blood pact data were rapidly decreasing.
Only when merely three blood pact points remained was the red light completely dissolved by the red mist.
'A magical attack from afar! The three-eyed crow? No. He does not have this ability.'
'Mm. Given the timing, Stannis should have been defeated and returned to Dragonstone. Then it can only be the Red Woman, Melisandre.'
'Good. I will remember this debt.'
With a brief thought, Robb understood whose magic this was. After being struck from afar, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and he committed the matter to memory.
"Your Grace, what happened?"
Seeing Robb make a soft sound of surprise and then stare blankly, Gendry asked with concern.
"Nothing. When we return, help me organize the information on Stannis. I want to examine it more carefully."
"Yes."
"Let us go. We return to Moat Cailin."
At Riverrun, many thick military tents stood outside the western wall. Thousands of Riverlands soldiers were training with shouts.
They were the recruits Riverrun had gathered recently. Most came from people living around the Riverlands castles recovered by the three armies Robb had sent out. A small number were Riverlands smallfolk who had hidden in advance.
In the main keep's council hall, the meeting had just ended, and northern lords and Riverlands lords filed out.
"Uncle, recently, every battle I fought was a great victory. Why did you still deny me command over the recruits in the meeting just now?"
Only Edmure and Brynden remained in the hall. The younger man was angrily questioning his uncle.
"Edmure, I have already interrogated the prisoners you brought back. They are either bandits from the Riverlands or wandering sellswords.
"You have indeed won many victories, but why is every opponent you face like this? Have you thought about that?"
Seeing Edmure so agitated, Brynden answered calmly, his expression unchanged.
"Ha! Uncle, that is truly funny. Of course it is because I know how to choose targets. Every time, I send out scouting cavalry to determine the enemy's strength before I strike.
"I am not stupid. How could I lead several hundred men to attack a target of a thousand, or even several thousand?"
Hearing Brynden's answer, Edmure laughed from anger and replied.
"Since you have not understood what I meant, forget that for now. There are only the two of us here, so I will ask directly.
"While you were held prisoner at Harrenhal, what did Tywin Lannister say to you?"
After hearing Edmure's answer, Brynden shook his head and finally decided to voice the suspicion in his heart directly.
"Tywin Lannister? He just chatted with me normally, then told me he had agreed to the prisoner exchange and that I would soon be free."
Hearing Brynden's question, Edmure froze slightly, then answered very naturally.
"Good. Edmure Tully, I am now obeying His Grace Robb's order and handling all matters in the Riverlands.
"The eight thousand recruits gathered by Riverrun will continue recruit training until His Grace Robb gives a new order. Therefore, for the time being, no one may command them. Do you understand?"
Hearing this, Brynden's face became grave. He spoke word by word, each heavy, to Edmure.
"I understand, Lord Brynden."
Edmure clenched his jaw, answered stiffly, then turned directly toward the council hall door.
Inside the hall, Brynden was filled with worry. The doubts around the last prisoner exchange were like a thorn stabbing into his heart.
After returning and thinking about it for a long time, he had become certain that Tywin's agreement to exchange prisoners this time was anything but simple.
Edmure walked out of the council hall wearing a dark expression. He stood in place and thought for a while, then turned toward Riverrun's dungeons.
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