1 The suffering of a soul

Summary for those who don't want to read the auxiliaries.

-Europe overpopulated, European battles seem more like Chinese wars

-no gunpowder or at least not its military use

-The date is 1635, the 30 years war

-Codes of conduct of nobility more strict, it is not common for war to attack peasant villages, just take away their grain and leave some for them to replant the following season

-Prussia is a state that occupies the northeast of Germany, Poland and Lithuania from the time of 1635 bordering Russia.

-this alternate line of planet earth where social experiments are conducted by a superior race, leading to the introduction of genetic improvements to the European Caucasian population and wheat in order to support overpopulation.

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''So... you made it?'', I said, preparing myself to receive either negative or positive news.

''yes my king we managed to infiltrate the imperial camps thanks to some prostitutes, we burned all the supply depots they had, and we managed to poison the water of their horses, definitely if tomorrow they give battle the soldiers of the catholic league will have practically no cavalry or ammunition to fight us, they will probably run back to Vienna like the dogs they are'' said Aleksanteri with a mocking tone.

''good news indeed'' I said with my usual serious tone, ''but how many men did you lose in the operation'' as I finished saying these words, Aleksanteri began to move his lips in disgust and averting his gaze.

''Approximately 2000 men my liege'' the Finnish officer said almost whispering.

''You lost 2 regiments of Finns on this mission'', I said looking at the reports handed to me, ''you did what I asked you to do, and I am pleased, tomorrow will be a great day for Prussia''.

''really?...it seems as if you don't like it, you should smile more, you almost seem like you are angry about this result'' as he said this Aleksanteri took a glass and started to pour himself some wine

''so do I have another mission or am I free until further notice?

''whether I smile or not is up to me, and yes, I have another mission for you in case we are attacked tomorrow, I have full confidence if we are attacked tomorrow, we will be victorious, and I need you to take your men and set up ambushes by all possible escape routes'' I said pointing to a map of the combat zone where I should set up the ambushes.

''¡Ha ha ha!, I understand your grace, no one will escape your trap'' he proceeded to drink all the contents of his cup ''well I retire my king I must prepare my men and lose care we will be in position for tomorrow'' at the end of his speech he left my tent.

My biggest concern is that my men do not break now, tomorrow's battle will not be easy, although we achieved a tactical victory today, they still outnumber us almost 2 to 1(700000 vs 1250000)but the fruits of victory will be sweet, they must now be desperate and will be forced to attack, or they will have to return to Vienna for more supplies being easy prey for my cavalry especially now that they have lost almost all their horses, but their commander is quite competent, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba is no idiot and will know what a terrible position he has been left in, he will attack tomorrow for sure.

I got up and started walking in circles around my tent, thinking of all the possible scenarios that would happen tomorrow.

''¡GUARDS!'', I shouted.

Swiftly, 2 Teutonic knights entered my tent and knelt down in front of me.

''Your Grace, how may we serve you'' said the knight on the right.

''call the officers of the Prussian high command, I have new information about the coming storm'' I said this as I turned and concentrated again on the maps.

''At your orders your majesty'' I listened as they withdrew and continued to think about the future.

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Two hours had passed, and I was so thoughtful that I didn't even realize that the men I had sent for had already arrived.

''my king, we are all here'' Charles said as he moved me a bit to get me out of my thoughts.

''Right... true''I refocused and looked at all my generals and the generals of France, Sweden and Denmark''Aleksanteri has brought good news, the plan to infiltrate the imperial camp was a resounding success they burned all the warehouses they had built, they are expected to have not enough food as well as bolts or arrows, but to add a cherry on the cake he managed to poison the water of the horses, they are almost all dead''as I finished my words I could see how the atmosphere in my tent changed as they all smiled.

lothar von ruppin asked for the word and began to speak ''my king, does this mean that the imperial forces will withdraw from Bavaria?'', many began to whisper as lothar spoke his thoughts.

''this would have been the case if they had only burned the supplies, but the mission exceeded my expectations with the horses, they are now defenseless to our attacks if they want to retreat now, the only option left to the imperial army is to defeat us and take our supplies, if they decide to retreat now without fighting we will only pursue them with our cavalry and besiege Vienna'' I paused to contemplate the faces to gauge the mood.

''our job now is to resist, this will not be a normal battle that will last 1 or 2 months, everything will be decided tomorrow, if they attack and lose we leave the Catholic league without armies leaving us free to take Vienna, if we are defeated.... well, let's hope it doesn't happen'' Silence now dominated my tent.

Friedrich von Roon stood up and said ''so my king.... what are your orders? The sooner we prepare, the less we will suffer tomorrow''as I heard his words I stood up

''we must dig trenches and prepare the field artillery, tomorrow they will throw everything at us, the battle that defines this damned war that has already consumed too many lives, GOTT MIT UNS!'', GOTT MIT UNS! They all repeated, even those who were not so fluent in German.

''Dismissed, begin fortifying our positions'' everyone left the tent except Charles.

Charles looked at me with his typical face full of kindness ''good speech, your grace... but what's so true about so much faith in God?'' I made a small grimace at the comment of the great Teutonic master

''nothing, you know very well that I don't believe in the existence of the almighty, I have prayed to him too many times, and he has never answered me''

''I have never seen you pray my lord'', he said with an inquisitive look

''I have prayed, I have begged, I have demanded, I have threatened, and I have never received an answer, no matter how much I ask for help to the almighty this pain does not go away, this burden I carry with me only gets heavier and heavier, I just want all this to end''.

With a sad look and tearful eyes, the knight said''I know I can't understand your burden, your grace, and you have already done more than enough for your people, you are a virtuous ruler, I don't understand how god doesn't answer your prayers, but I hope with all my heart that someday your soul can find peace and that you can smile once again'' I didn't know what to answer, a silence ruled for 2 minutes.

"¡GO AWAY! I want to be alone'', the knight nodded and left my tent, leaving me alone, so I could rejoice in my misery.

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I had spent a day resting and my estimates were correct,the catholic union army would desperately seek battle, currently I stand on a hill watching as armies spread out for miles and miles of men ready to die, solely to see who is right about how to worship god, the absence of cavalry on the opposing side was evident with an army that almost outnumbered us 2 to 1, they only had an approximate 12000 riders compared to the almost 100000 riders we have among the protestant union

''orders, your grace?'', said Captain General Lothar.

''none for the moment the desperate ones are them, not us if they want battle they should come to us'', lothar nodded.

It had been almost 1 hour since the armies were deployed and finally the imperial armies started to move against us.

''Lothar gave the order for the artillery to begin firing and the crossbowmen to get into position'' lothar handed the orders to his subordinates and the musical notes began to play giving the soldiers orders on how they should proceed in the face of the enemy advance as lothar moved to the center to prepare the resistance against the Spanish tercios.

The catapults and scorpions began to fire their ammunition and, watching with my spyglass, I could see how the Spanish tercios suffered without being able to do anything in retaliation.

''let the cavalry begin to advance on the flanks they must defeat their horsemen, if they decide to escape do not pursue them, we must control the flanks before any attempt to break our formation with their infantry'' several of my subordinates proceeded to move to the cavalry regiments to lead the charge.

When the imperial tercios arrived within crossbow range another massacre began, our opponents have no crossbow bolts, they can only get to melee.

3 minutes later our advantage was over, the imperial tercios came to collide with our infantry.

Our infantry was inferior to the professional Spanish tercios that were in the center, in 30 minutes they were already massacring our men.

''give the order for the tercios in the center to give ground so that they can be supported by the tercios on the flanks, the reinforcements must be prepared to rotate positions, I need a report of where our cavalry is'', my subordinates begin to send the musical notes waiting for a response.

''my lord the cavalry is fighting on the right flank awaiting instructions'' said one of my captains.

''Send them the order to charge immediately against the right flank, we must take the pressure off the center, they are forcing us to retreat too far, if this continues our artillery will no longer be able to fire.'' the captain nodded.

Watching with my spyglass I could see how a huge mass of cavalry advanced against the right flank of the imperial army, it was a glorious sight to see how the knights charged against the tercios destroying everything in their path, only leaving a bloody mess where the Austrian infantry had been before.

Almost 3 hours of combat had already passed and still, the battle did not decide who would win, with the right flank destroyed the pressure was located in the center, but even with cavalry the Spanish tercios did not give ground without first making us pay with blood for every step we took.

''Captain order the cavalry to attack the left flank, the Spaniards do not yield, we must surround them completely, I need to know where Lothar is, grand master prepare your men to charge the center when the rest of the cavalry manages to destroy the enemy's left flank'' understood his grace said Charles, the captain ran back to the musicians.

Another 40 minutes had passed, still no information on lothar's whereabouts and our cavalry is already exhausted.... until finally, I could see the left flank of the Catholic princes collapsing under the pressure of Protestant cavalry and French infantry.

''my lord lothar von ruppin was taken prisoner by the Spanish tercios'' that information surprised me and I immediately preferred to leave him for dead to calm down my mind.

''grand master is now the time, lead your men, send the order to the cavalry that I charged against the center, this is the last sacrifice to defeat the Catholics'' everyone nodded.

I could observe from my privileged position how the Spanish tercios were surrounded and how the whole imperial army began to crumble, the battle lasted another 1 hour until the end all the survivors were escaping as best they could and the Spaniards were asking for terms to surrender their weapons.

Finally, I headed to parley with the Spanish tercios to see if von ruppin was alive, walking over mutilated and mangled bodies, the smell of feces and urine was beginning to spread throughout this field of death, when I reached the center I was surprised to see how many of my men had died, the Spanish crushed us.

''Who is in command here'' addressing me to the resistance that the Spanish tercios had mounted to the pocketing we had achieved.

After a few minutes of silence I received an answer, ''that would be me'' I could observe an adult man covered in blood and with a bandage on his eye ''and you are? I said

''Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, ¿I guess you are the king in Prussia or am I wrong?''

"I am, I come to parley the terms of your surrender''.

''our conditions are simple, we will surrender our arms if you promise that you will not commit harm against my men, that you will facilitate the channels for our future rescue and that in the case of not being able to get rescue for the soldiers you promise a safe return to all my men'' I made it seem that I was considering his conditions, but the truth having to fight to the death against the Spaniards did not motivate me.

''I accept your conditions of surrender, surrender your weapons and the captives of my army.''

Finally, the Spaniards put down their pikes and swords, and began to be taken as prisoners,von ruppin had survived, although he had a heavy blow to the rib cage, I gave the order to my cavalry who were still able to move to pursue the survivors, although the Finns must now be slaughtering them.

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There was not much to celebrate, we managed to defeat a large army, but we suffered too much, I still don't have a preliminary report of how many men we lost, but just seeing how many soldiers with eagle tabards were lying dead in the center was enough to see that the numbers would not be good'.

Swiftly, I returned to my tent, followed by my bodyguards, when I arrived I began to plan the next steps to achieve the surrender of the Catholic league.

''I need you to inform all cavalry commanders to prepare for tomorrow, they will pursue the surviving stragglers and begin scorched earth tactics on Austrian soil'' I said this as I handed papers with my orders to the knights, so they could deliver them, finally leaving my tent empty.

After 3 hours, Charles was the first to enter my tent.

''your grace'' said the Teutonic master as he knelt down ''report from the Finn, they have ambushed all the men who tried to escape through the passes you indicated, there are a few who managed to escape into Catholic league controlled territory and the rest must still be wandering the countryside''.

''Good news, but... was it necessary to return to my tent all bloody?'', the knight began to look at his attire, realizing that he was covered in blood up to his head and that it was still dripping.

''I only wanted to deliver the report as soon as possible'' said the Teuton with a clear tone of concern

''don't worry great master, in fact, I just needed you here, I require you to go as a diplomat to Vienna and see if the emperor is willing to surrender''.

The knight looked at me confused, ''¿why me?''

''you are recognized by the catholic league, they will be more willing to listen to our terms, besides I am not asking you to lead the negotiation, only that you go as the face of the diplomatic embassy''

''If so, my lord, I will carry out my orders with pride'' said Charles, puffing out his chest

''Well, rest well, you will leave tomorrow with a retinue of Prussian, French, Swedish and Danish nobles''.

The knight nodded and retired to rest.

'Well now we must wait for the reports of the booty, prisons and casualties'.

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A month had passed since the great battle outside Munich, when I received the report of the fallen, I felt like being hit in the stomach, we had 700000 men at the beginning of the battle, and at the end we only had 520000 in conditions to continue the combat, it was only one day of battle, the catholic league did not do well either 800000 prisoners almost 300000 dead in battles and in chase, if it were not for the fact that the emperor was desperately seeking peace I would doubt my ability to conquer Austrian territory between filling garrisons and continuing the attack on their unfortified villages I don't think I could reach Vienna with an army big enough to besiege it.

But the emperor wanted peace, right now in Salzburg, a peace is being negotiated between the sides and with a little luck, I will be able to fill my coffers again with the gold from the war reparations and the ransoms, the Spaniards had already offered large sums to recover their veterans and their commander we were only waiting for the signing of the peace treaty, and they would be sent back home.

A horseman entered my tent like lightning''my king, I have a report on the peace treaty in Salzburg''he said this while handing me a parchment copy of the peace treaty.

''thank you, feel free to rest and eat'' the rider nodded and left my tent.

Well let's review what they signed 3 weeks of negotiations should be more than enough to sign something decent.

-SALZBURG PEACE

ALL THE SIGNATORY STATES WILL GIVE THEIR RECOGNITION TO:

-THE BOHEMIAN CROWN IS THE PROPERTY OF AUSTRIA

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE HOLY ROMAN-GERMANIC EMPIRE

-THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE NORTH GERMANIC CONFEDERATION

-FRANCE:

40 MILLION GOLDEN DUCAT(3.5 g) TO BE RECEIVED AS WAR INDEMNIFICATION AMONG ALL THE DEFEATED STATES.

SPAIN WILL CEDE THE DUCHY OF FLORENCE TO FRANCE

FRANCE TO ANNEX THE STATES OF BADEN AND WÜRTTEMBERG

SWEDEN:

-WILL RECEIVE 10 MILLION GOLDEN DUCAT (3.5 g) AS WAR INDEMNIFICATION AMONG ALL THE DEFEATED STATES.

DENMARK:

- WILL RECEIVE 4 MILLION GOLDEN DUCAT(3.5 g) AS WAR INDEMNIFICATION AMONG ALL DEFEATED STATES.

PRUSSIA:

WILL RECEIVE 35 MILLION GOLDEN DUCAT(3.5 g) AS WAR INDEMNIFICATION BETWEEN ALL DEFEATED STATES

-ANNEXATION OF ALL THE SOUTHERN PRINCELY STATES OF THE EMPIRE WHICH WERE NOT ANNEXED BY FRANCE

-PRUSSIA BECOMES THE LEADING STATE OF THE CONFEDERATION OF NORTHERN GERMAN STATES.

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a pretty good treaty, but Austria managed to keep Bohemia and France entered Germany with everything, the northern princes were already under my influence, so nothing changes, I achieved the annexation of Bavaria and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire.

''well, religious politics is over, it's time to consolidate our gains and solve the internal problems''.

''guards send for my uncle'' I shouted so that I would not have to go through the procedure of having them kneel and ask me what is going on.

after about 30 minutes, my uncle Wilhelm came into my tent, very happy.

''nephew so long already I thought you had forgotten about your dear uncle'' he said opening his arms with a big smile

''I have not forgotten you uncle, that's why I called you, I have orders for you''.

''what are your orders' nephew? kick more catholic ass, loot some villages or try to ambush someone?'', he said, making visual samples of all the actions he named

''no, I have arranged betrothal with a Swedish princess for you'' as he heard my words his face changed from happy to serious.

''my king you know perfectly well that I am homosexual, I like men, father, try and fail what makes you think that you will manage to marry me to a woman'' he said these words with a serious tone clenching his fists in anger

''well I will tell you because I will succeed, I am your king, it is an order and if you don't obey, I will make sure to impale Ludwig and exhibit him in every corner of Berlin'' Wilhelm's face lost its color as he was shaking his head, ''I need you to become the man you always should have been, we are the last 2 Hohenzollern what do you think will happen if I die, you are my heir you damned wretch, stop thinking of yourself and think of the kingdom if we fall nothing can stop my men from starting to kill each other for power.''

''Bu... bu...but'' Wilhelm hesitated

''no bullshit, you will leave today for Berlin where your betrothed awaits you, I have given the order to the Finns that if you try to sabotage this marriage or fail to consummate it they will kill your lover in the most painful way they can think of''

''And a French princess? They are more open-minded, maybe they will accept my relationship with Ludwig, besides they are our natural friends'' he said with an attempt to conciliate ''they stopped being our natural friends since they entered Germany with the annexation of the states of Baden and Württemberg, Sweden is our only ally now, besides I am not asking you to abandon your relationship only that you have children, to have more heirs if something should happen to us''.

the silence ruled between us until Wilhelm spoke''it's fine your grace I will fulfill my duty I will leave now, but you... are dead for me''he said this, and then he left without giving me time to give an answer.

''I am sorry uncle, but it is a necessary evil for the future of the kingdom'' I said to the air without anyone hearing the words.

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3 weeks had passed since the talk with my uncle, and all sorts of things happened, I received information that my uncle got married and consummated his marriage, there were celebrations in our camp for the victory of the religious war, I had meetings with the king of Sweden to achieve a joint front between Sweden, Prussia and the Ottomans against Russia which I happily accepted now that we were related by law, at this time we dissolved the peasant levies and divided the spoils with the conscripts, leaving me with a total of approximately 120000 soldiers in my camp we were finishing all the duties to return to Berlin and to be able to administer the mess that my father had left was when I observed a great storm that formed out of nowhere.

the whole camp was looking at the sky, it was not rainy season, this should not be happening, until lightning started to fall around the camp, most of my men were kneeling praying to calm the almighty, I must confess I had lost my fear many reincarnations ago, but now I felt again the medium that abandoned me so long ago, it was something that I did not understand.

Charles was there looking at the sky with a serene face and began to whisper ''the devil whispered in my ear you're not strong enough to withstand the storm, today a whispered devil's ear I am the storm

when he finished those words everything is darkened I saw nothingness itself for a while until I saw light

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I found myself in a completely white room that seemed to have no end, the only thing I could see was a very bright light approaching me, which took the form of a Caucasian man with brown hair and blue eyes.

''welcome, tell me how did you die, truck, car, heart attack, did you fight to save your childhood friend or something?''

I was confused by the ridiculousness of the question and said ''I didn't die, not now at least''.

''How? You didn't die then how are you here, the only option is that my perfect reincarnation system had failed''he said with a raised eyebrow and a questioning tone, having no answer he made a book appear out of nowhere''let's see the only option, if you didn't die and you are here is that my system to avoid mistakes would activate and bring you here, but that would happen only if you lived more than 10000000 years reincarnating without control''the man proceeded to look at his book.

''oh heh heh heh heh.oops looks like there is a mistake here,hahaha'',he said this while touching his head and sticking out his tongue.

''what do you mean, you made a mistake?''

''well you see your real death happened soooo long time ago, and I seem to have left the work for later because I was soooo bored and tired and that happened many times until you were at the end of my book, if it wasn't for my anti-error system you would be reincarnating forever''.

when I understood that this asshole was the one who made me suffer this martyrdom I jumped to try to strangle him ''you fucking son of a bitch'' I said trying to reach his neck but I only went through him

''come on it's not that big of a deal they were just'' he proceeded to read his book ''oh looks like it was a long time'' I tried to hit him with my mace, but again it only went through him

''mhhh apathy, plenty of mental illnesses, a lot of mental traumas, you had it rough eh, but it's nothing that's not solvable''

''will you give me the gift of death'', I said with eyes full of hope

''no, I still have a mission to'' all my hopes collapsed when I heard his answer

''why not? haven't I suffered enough already, this weight I carry with me is not an easy thing to carry it hurts too much''.

''Look, I just need you to do me a favor, I unintentionally overplayed my hand with a world where I have little influence and I strengthened a threat that could destroy that whole world, I just need you to fix it.''

"What kind of threat?

''If I'm being honest, I don't remember, you'll have to figure it out on your own.''

''what?'', I said surprised ''I'm going to reincarnate in another world again to fight something I don't know what it is and only with knowledge'''

''who said you are going to reincarnate, remember you are not dead, my power is not infinite, so your modified body will go with you, that should be enough plus with your infinite knowledge''

''my knowledge is not that extensive''I said with much embarrassment''let's see what my book says about you, it says you had lives where you were an engineer,a general,..... drug user,.... drug dealer,..... pimp... serial killer, warlord in Africa, watched a lot of porn and in many other lives you were content to be a simple peasant... can you explain to me what happened here?

''I lost the reason to live very soon, then I sought to satisfy my carnal pleasures'' I said looking at the ground just looking for the earth to swallow me

''look, I'm going to take the weight off your shoulders with my powers and let you take the men that my system trapped when it brought you here, it will be your duty to take care of them because if I send you alone you might end up as a brothel owner'' he made his fingers sound a light entered in me

I felt some painful memories disappear, the weight on my back disappeared, I felt calm, I had found peace after so long, I dropped to my knees and started to cry''thank you, thank you very much''.

''well it's ready, good luck with your mission, I apologize for the bad time I made you go through, you suffered too much'' he said this, and I sounded his fingers again and again the darkness surrounded me.

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When I saw again all my men and I appeared in another place, we could no longer see the walls of Munich, we were in an open field surrounded by trees in the south, the cries of despair of my soldiers were not made to wait, all were frightened by the experience they went through, while I watched as my men ran from side to side of the camp like crazed apes Charles approached me with the speed of a cheetah.

''My king, orders?'' he said as he grabbed me by the shoulders.

I felt my sensations again, fear, nervousness, stress, I felt alive'' great master I want the camp in order as soon as possible'' I said with a big smile on my face ''my king, are you ok?'' he started to check my head with desperation.

''What do you mean, I'm fine'' releasing me from his grip.

You .... you never smile, did something happen to you?'' he said with a pale face full of fear

''let's just say that I have made my peace with god'' when I said those words a calm face appeared on Charles' face, and he nodded and proceeded to calm the men down.

As for me, I returned to my tent to celebrate being alive.

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It had been 2 days since we appeared in these strange lands, and we already had an accepted concept among the Prussian high command, we are very lost, our astronomers determined that we are not in Europe because the sky is covered with stars that nobody knows.

The Finnish regiments had gone out to explore the surrounding terrain without any success in determining where we are, but they saw that there are some villages in the vicinity.

the men now with me are at last count 20000 Finns,15000 heavy knights, 10000 light cavalry, 5000 Teutonic knights and 70000 infantry, I had a small army ready for combat, but our supply is short we only have food for the next 3 weeks and enough gold to pay salaries for the next 2 years, I should not have sent all the gold to Berlin right away.

Currently, the entire high command was in my tent because of some information Aleksanteri had brought back about an approaching army.

''then your grace how do we proceed we can't just stand by and wait for those enemy forces to attack us'' said the heavily bandaged lothar still suffering from his ribs.

''we don't know if they are enemies, only that they are on their way, that's why I will go out with a cavalry contingent to meet them while you prepare yourselves if something happens, Charles come with me, I need your mace if we come to blows'' Charles nodded and the rest of the Prussian high command went to take positions and give orders to my army.

I ride together with, 15000 heavy cavalry, followed closely by the 5000 knights of the Teutonic order, until we could see the cavalry host approaching the area.

What language should we speak, Charles?'', he showed a thoughtful face

''Latin is the lingua franca of the European continent, surely they can recognize it''.

finally, we approached the host carrying heraldic banners of wolves, fish and eagles, we're carrying a white flag to parley.

''do you recognize any heraldry, it is not any that I have been taught in the books of noble lineages'' Charles just shook his head from side to side.

as we approached 2 men came out of the host one who was very young with wolf heraldry and one who was very old with eagle heraldry.

''I greet you I am Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, with whom I have the pleasure of speaking'' I said using my best Latin in the hope that they could understand us.

''we do not speak High Valyrian'' said the old man in a medieval but still understandable English.

''they speak English my lord, do you remember your lessons'', I nodded my head

''but I do speak your language, I greet you, I am Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, with whom I have the pleasure of speaking''.

''I am Lord Jon Arryn'' said the older man, ''I am Eddard Stark'' said the younger one.

great, I don't recognize anyone