Samwell Tarly
"Do not worry too much, my friend. It wasn't your fault," Darrio comforted while patting Sam's shoulder, "And I do not think Jon would blame you either,"
"I know he would not," Sam replied, shaking his head as his fingers nervously fiddled with the letters in his pocket, "I just did not want to disappoint him, but now... all of this happened because of my carelessness," he said morosely while looking around at the crowd of spectators who had gotten even more eager when they saw Jon's ship lower its anchor.
"These people would have found out sooner or later, even without your... help," Darrio, the banker, replied with a smile, "Especially the merchants, as I am sure that quite a few of them had their informants on the nearby ports on alert, to be on the lookout for your ships after they heard the news of the decimation of the Ravager pirates. Besides getting all this attention might not be a bad thing in the end..."
'At least, not for me,' he mused with a satisfied look on his face.
If, in the beginning, Darrio had been resentful of the fact that he had been forced to become a lackey of an unknown brat from Westeros, then all of that dissatisfaction had vanished from his mind by now, leaving behind only admiration for the man named Jon Snow, who had accomplished so much in such a short time.
Ever since his family had found out that the up-and-coming Northern Wolf Shipping had him listed as the connection in the Iron Bank and that he was also a listed shareholder (only a nominal one, but they did not know that), they all began looking at him differently.
Especially his Uncle, the keyholder, now no longer looked at him as if he was a failure, instead his gaze was filled with pride and warmth, as if he was looking at his own son, and not the family embarrassment like before.
And all he had to do to get this respect, was to follow every order that Jon gave him and to curb a few of his... more deplorable habits from before.
Which was actually not that hard to do, Darrio found out to his surprise... it seems that once he began leading a fulfilling life and a successful career, he no longer needed to look for other ways to satisfy his baser cravings.
So he was indeed telling Sam the truth, as the more famous Jon and his company got, the higher his standing would be.
"I guess you are right," Sam murmured with a sigh as he looked around and saw mostly admiration and awe in the eyes of the men and women in the crowd waiting at the coast.
"Oi! Oi! They are coming down! They are finally coming down!!" a young boy shouted excitedly, jumping up and down while pointing towards the big ship that was finally lowering its plank to disembark.
"Ha! The boy's right, I can see them coming down,"
"About damn time!"
A wave of excitement ran through the crowd as all of them were jolted awake from their conversations and their gazes inadvertently turned towards the ship with intense curiosity and expectations in them.
Unfortunately for the eager onlookers, the first one to come down on the plank was not the one they were waiting for.
"Is he the one, big sister?" A pretty young girl of about twenty years of age asked in a doubtful voice.
"Of course, he is not," the middle-aged woman standing behind her replied in a confident voice, "That man is too old and looks too much like a brute to be him... in fact, he looks exactly like my dead husband, so there is no way he is that hero from the story,"
The two ladies were part of a group of women who all had better-than-average looks.
They were all of varying ages, some of them were big while others were small, some looked like innocent noble daughters while others looked like mature noble women and they were all wearing clothes that most people in this world would consider scandalous, and in addition, they had guards of their own surrounding them to protect them from the lustful wolves in the crowd.
These women were workers who usually stayed and served in the famous Bravvosi pleasure boats but today almost all of them had taken leave to come here and feast their eyes on the so-called pirate slayer, and see if he lived up to his reputation.
"Phew! That is good, I was afraid for a moment..." The young girl muttered with a pretty smile, thankful that the beautiful image she had in her mind had not been cruelly shattered, "Ohh, is the next one him?"
"No... he is not, either,"
"Eh, then... What about him?"
"No,"
"Then the next—"
"Not it,"
One after another, men began climbing down the plank under the intense scrutiny of the crowd.
The people's gazes on them filled with excitement at first, but then quickly turning to disappointment, leaving even the most experienced sellsword feeling stifled and ashamed as if they were lacking something fundamental, forcing them to hurry down the plank with their faces red from embarrassment.
"None of them are the one," The middle-aged woman uttered with a put-upon look on her face, "All of them seem like normal crude sellswords with dirty clothes, rough hair and bodies filled with scars."
"Have you ever seen this mysterious Jon Snow before? Otherwise, how would you even know that he was not one of them?" one of the other women asked sceptically.
"I have not met him, but I have heard about him from one of my customers, who heard it from his sister, who is the secret lover of a small-time merchant, who has a contract with this shipping company. And according to her, this Jon Snow was the most handsome man she had seen in her life, even better than the son of Sealord of Braavos," she whispered the last part in a conspiratory tone, "She described him as having pretty black hair, dark stormy eyes, a charming smile, and a face as if he were prince from somewhere, like..."
"Em, like him..." the younger girl asked while pointing towards the man who was next on the plank, his appearance almost immediately sending a wave of hush through the crowd.
"Yes him!, Exactly like him," the woman hurriedly nodded her head before her eyes suddenly widened as she realised what she just said, "T-That's him, that's the man," she screamed jumping up and down in her place like an excited little girl.
"What?! That's the one? B-But he is so young... did he really defeat those cruel pirates,"
"So what if he is young? Don't you know that he is from Westeros? I bet he is one of those young noble knights, the kind who picks up a sword before learning how to walk,"
"Then, it makes sense..."
Almost immediately the noises in the crowd began to rise as they realised that the one they were waiting for was finally here, and the man was quite accommodating too, as unlike the others, he did not immediately hurry down instead, he stood there in the front, in full view of the crowd as if letting the ones who had been waiting for his arrival, take him in.
And to their delight, the women waiting in the crowd found the man to be everything they had been hoping for...
"Is this enough?" Jon asked through the corner of his mouth while maintaining a smile on his face, "My hands are beginning to cramp now,"
"No, don't stop! You need to let them soak you in," answered Merchant Sam who was behind him with the Advisor hiding in his shade while forcing him to stand there and entertain the crowd. "The more they adore you and the more famous you become, the better it will be for the company. Your face will become an opportunity for our company to open doors everywhere and we will get much better deals in the future, so bear with it my friend... and just smile and wave,"
By this time, the excitement of the crowd had completely peaked with them shouting and screaming all kinds of incomprehensible things.
"How did you kill those pirates, Jon Snow?! And Is it true that you have a thousand ships?!"
"I heard that you have a dragon on your ship, Lord Snow!! Is it true?"
"No, I heard he has ten dragons!! all following his command!"
"Did you get any treasures from the Pirate King?"
"Yes, throw some gold at us, if you dare!!"
Jon: "..."
"You were right, big sister, he really does look like a prince," the pretty young girl exclaimed before she began jumping with all her might while waving her hands, "Prince Snow, look at me!!" she screamed as loud as she could and surprisingly Jon heard her shout and turned his head towards her with a bewildered look on his face.
"Ah!! he looked at me!! He really looked at me," she bragged to her friends with an exuberant look on her face, "Prince Snow! Prince Snow!!" she began screaming and chanting in happiness, and unsurprisingly, the crowd was just too happy to pick up this fitting chant and began copying her.
"Prince Snow!" "Prince Snow!" "Prince Snow!"
Before long, the whole crowd was chanting the slogan, as if the man standing before them really was the prince of a kingdom.
"Alright, this is more than enough now. I am going," Jon knew that he would be in big trouble if he stayed there any longer, so he immediately began hurrying down the plank, not wanting the crowd to get any more excited and directly promote him to a King or something else.
Seeing him coming down the crowd got even more agitated but thankfully Gared and the other sellswords who had gone down before him had already made a protective circle with the help of the guards that Darrio and Sam had brought so at least he was not in the danger of getting mobbed by the crowd.
But what Jon did not know was that this simple chant that had originated from a young admirer of his was going to drastically change his life trajectory.
Because, some distance away from the crowd, standing in an isolated but high position, was an otherworldly beautiful woman wearing a bright scarlet cloak. She was a complete conundrum, with the face of a young charming girl but the body of a mature seductress.
Surrounding her on all sides were men of all ages, some as young as fifteen while others as old as sixty, with the only common thing among them being that they too were wearing crimson cloaks.
They were the ones responsible for protecting the red priestess in their midst with their lives, though that did not seem to be necessary at the moment as everyone in the crowd was already giving them a wide berth.
But if any of these men in red cloaks turned their head around at that moment and looked at the face of their master, then they would be shocked to realise that the woman they held reverence for, the one they thought to be imperturbable, one who had all the answers in the world, had her eyes wide open in shock as if she had seen a ghost.
Initially, the priestess belonging to the temple of R'hllor in Braavos was only here at the port to satisfy her curiosity.
The people of Braavos worshipped many different religions and the followers of the God of light were only a minority among them, so not having much to do back at the temple, she came here to relieve her boredom.
And up until a few seconds ago, she was doing just that...
Her eyes had only held amusement and disdain for the people in the crowd who were jumping over each other trying to get a glimpse of a simple bastard from Westeros but, the second the crowd's chant entered her ears, her whole body shook as if she had been struck by lightning.
A few seconds later, she snapped out of her daze, and then disregarding decorum, she immediately hurried forward from amidst her protectors, trying to catch a glimpse of the handsome face.
A few seconds later, her eyes zeroed in on him, trying to devour every single detail of the boy who suddenly seemed much less simple.
'Prince...'
'The Prince that was...'
It was only after the man named Jon Snow had completely disappeared from her sight, that the woman came back to her senses and almost instantly her fists involuntarily clenched as a hint of urgency appeared in her eyes.
'I need to send a letter..." she muttered to herself.
///