Downloading the Iron Thrones - Chapter 4

Next morning,

Artys woke up early and with his guards changed their outfits to disguise themselves and hiding their swords. First they started to move towards the Ragman’s Harbor. Because he found that after reaching advanced level. He could now download skills from other living organisms along from the humans.

But the condition was to be alive. And this is the reason he wanted to try some exotic contents that he can find in Braavos, as this is the world’s largest port along with its own largest fleet in the world which gives it the ability to gather some of the world’s strangest things too from Westeros to the far reach of East Essos along other continents Ulthos and the strange Sothoryos.

After few minutes of walking they reached the harbor. When they reached there, various ships were coming and some were being ready to sail. Ragman’s Harbor seems poorer, rougher, dirtier, and noisier than the Purple Harbor. Some people were dealing and bargaining for the arriving shipments.

Artys and his group were also trying to check the stuffs. But it seems that there were not any strange stuffs that they were transporting. After moving around the harbor for few hours, they moved toward the nearby tavern to have a meal.

After the meal, they walked towards the fish market. Walking for few minutes, they reached the market, they saw fish mongers and vendors on the road selling fishes, oysters, etc.

Along the way, Artys kept touching things for few minutes and left it there. This way he was able to download various new contents. Finally at the evening, they returned to the inn to rest. Resting in his room, Artys once again checked his progress. There was a screen that showed his folder.

After roaming around during daytime, Artys was able to download some great skills. He was now able to survive underwater now. He also felt much closer to the sea now that he has downloaded these contents. But although he has downloaded them, he still has to adjust himself to the sea environment to effectively use them.

It seems that he will have to make plan for the training routine of these skills. Now that he has sorted his contents, he slowly falls asleep.

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After few days, Artys and his group has almost navigated the city. Although he has been training his skills, it is the advanced content so he has not been able to fully adjust to this new ability. And he found out one thing during his training when he goes underwater, Gills appear on his neck to exchange the oxygen and pass the water from the body.

Seems like after reaching advanced level, the physical body can be changed from what is beyond the original form.

Now, the group is walking towards the moon pool. They heard that there will be a fight between two Braavosi swordsmen. When they reached the location, there were two men in colorful fiery dress already carrying their swords. The swords they were carrying was much slender than the Westerosi swords. These swords were suitable for their water dancing style which emphasizes on speed, balance and grace.

These Bravos were people filled with pride and known to fight with little cause or even without any cause. They are willing to present their martial skills to prove themselves.

Finally, there was some movement from the duelist. The Bravos started to move around displaying their water dancing skills. With fluid movements, they began attacking and defending each other. The battle felt like a fencing battle from earth due their similar style but with a deadly shot.

Crowd were cheering for the Bravos with more and more people gathering to watch the duel. With the cheers, the Bravos were also getting more and more excited and their fighting became deadlier and deadlier.

Their battle final heated up with more increasing injuries on their bodies. Both Bravos were now carefully calculating each other. Finally after few minutes, the shorter Bravos was pierced in his heart. With this, the duel ended with crowd cheering for the victor. Hearing the cheers from the crowd, The Bravos puffed his chest in pride and smiled toward the crowd.

Some people picked up the dying body of the Bravos in a stretcher and moved toward the House of Black and White. Seeing them, Artys wanted to follow them to the House of Black and White to seek his assassination skills as well as the face changing skills. But he knew the danger of that place. With their weird and mysterious methods, maybe he cannot kill him with his skills and strength but may even die at their hands.

With almost a month away from Vale, Artys now feels that it is time to return to Vale. Although he did not find any rare animals he was looking for, he got some decent amount of skills and knowledge. So, he thought maybe he should sail to Volantis or even Slaver’s bay to get some specimens from the Sothoryos as he read and heard about some lore from that continent with magical and giant species.

But for now, he should return to Vale as he felt that his guards were also feeling homesick. Next day, he and his guards embarked on a ship returning to GullTown. After few days, when the ship they were on was swaying with sea with the heavy rain and thunders roaring, three ships came near them. Seeing the flags on their mast, the sailors immediately sounded the horn.

The incoming ships were of pirates. With the sound of the horn, everyone came to the deck carrying weapons and tools ready to fight. Slowly, the pirate ships came near and tried to encircle their ship.

The ships tried ramming from three sides. Quickly maneuvering the ships, the captain of the ship tried to sail faster to avoid the encirclement. Seeing that the encircling plan failed, the pirates did not try to encircle anymore and just fight head on.

One of the pirate ship quickly neared them and joined them with the plank. Although they tried to break them, other ships also joined. With multiple fronts to defend, the pirates quickly boarded the ship. Artys and his group also joined to defend the ship as their life depended on this battle.

There were nearly hundred pirates coming from all directions trying to break the defense. Slowly with their numbers and savage fighting, pirates began to gain upper hand on this battle. Suddenly a pirate jumped from behind Artys. Seeing this, his guard ran towards him.

“My lord, be careful.”

Slashing the pirates, the guard took a stance to protect Artys. When Artys saw the pirate slashed behind him, he was startled. This seems to be the first time, he fought such a chaotic battle that too on sea. Suddenly feeling the death coming so near, Artys was not able to stay calm.

With more and more pirates boarding the ship, the fighting intensified for the defenders. Although pirates were killed, the defenders were also decreasing. This brought an alarming situation for the defenders because even if the pirates were being killed more were coming but the defenders were limited in number which were decreasing even more.

In this situation, the defenders morale was also decreasing affecting their movements. Artys was also being affected by this battle. But slowly getting used to this, Artys was also feeling the desperate effort of the defenders. Seeing this, Artys came near the captain.

“Hey captain, it seems that we can only break those planks. Otherwise, we will lose this battle.”

“Yes I can see that. But with these pirates surrounding us, how can we go near the planks?”

“Well we can start from one plank at a time. And if you can distract them for few minutes, I can break them. Then we will slowly move towards another.”

“Okay. Let’s follow your plan. But you have to swiftly complete your task or else we will be surrounded by pirates and unable to fight back.”

“Don’t worry. I will be able to complete my task.”

“Then be ready. On my signal, quickly run toward the nearest plank.”

“Good.”

After few minutes, the captain shouted, “Now”

Hearing this, Artys and his guard ran towards the nearest plank. They quickly reached it, fighting off the pirates Artys quickly broke the plank. The pirates still on the plank, fell into the sea. Although they broke the first plank, there were still five more. Hurriedly coming to another plank using the same tactics, they broke another plank.

The Pirate leader seeing this, signaled the pirates to block Artys and his group. More and more pirates ran towards them. Captain tried to help but other pirates blocked them.

Artys and his group got surrounded by the pirates, they hurriedly and desperately tried to move out of this position. Artys and his group finally came to another plank and although this time it was more difficult, they broke another plank. With this, pirates got one more road blocked.

Slowly the captain also signaled to help break those pathways. With more and more planks being destroyed, pirate leader roared and jumped aboard the ship and swinging his sword angrily. With the entry of their leader, pirates became more excited. But they were still not able to defeat the desperate struggle of the defenders.

Finally, Artys and his group also joined them to fight the pirate leader. Now, only one last plank was left. The captain seeing this jumped to block the pirate leader. Artys knowing the reason behind this action, hurriedly ran towards the last bridge joining the ships.

When the final bridge was destroyed, the pirates were now unable to join the battle on the deck. But although they were unable to join directly, they tried to ram the ship. Artys quickly slashed behind the pirate leader, the captain also took advantage of this to chop his hands.

Now without the hand, pirate leader was unable to continue to fight. When this was happening, others also finally finished their battle. The pirate leader was kneeling on the deck, while the captain hurriedly chopped his head and ran to maneuver the ship to avoid the ramming.

Artys picked up the chopped head and came to the back of the ship. Artys picked up the dropped bow and arrow. Throwing the head above, Artys shoot the arrow with the head towards the pirate ships. With this, the pirate ships slowed down.

Getting this golden opportunity, captain quickly and cleverly moved the ship forward increasing the distance between them and pirates.

Finally, the first naval battle of Artys ended with repelling and defeat of the pirates. After cleaning the deck, everyone sat on the ground to rest and recover. Although they won at last, many people died in this battle.

After few days since the pirate attack, the ship finally reached the Gull Town. Artys and his guards slowly got off the ship. After the battle, Artys’s temperament seems to have undergone a drastic change. Resting the night in Gull Town, they rode towards the Eyrie.