Chapter 103: Current situation

A/N: Hey guys,

Here's today's second chapter.

For every two new pàtreons, I will upload one more chapter the next day.

Thanks for your support.

You can read up to 25 advanced chapters on my pàtreon.

https://www.pàtreon.com/Gnanaa

Enjoy.

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"I know what all of you are thinking, my lords. I know that all of you think that I might do the same to you as well. But as you all made an oath to follow me and not betray me when I became the lord, I would swear an oath to all of you. You know that I take my oaths seriously and never broke an oath. I swear on my honor that I would never harm you as long as you are loyal to me. I will treat your families as side branches of mine. You will all rise as long as I rise. That is my oath to you." Said Edward as he bowed his head to everyone in the room. He had to gain their trust and respect again. What he did earlier was the stick, now came the carrot part.

The lords raised their heads to look at Edward. They still found it hard to accept what he did earlier. Although they understood why Edward had done it, and saw the three lord's arrogant attitude with their own eyes, what Edward did was too cruel. He did not let any of the family redeem himself and killed everyone. They feared that with the first mistake they would make, they would follow those three.

Lord Gulian Swann, being a little braver than the others, decided to speak and share his view with Edward. He was a little older than Edward and had some dealing with him in the past few years.

"My Lord, it is not that we do not understand what you did. It is just that what you did was a little cruel out there. You have the right to execute the three lords, but you should have spared their families. They would have sworn to you and marched with us. Plus, we could have used the soldiers instead of killing them in this cruel way." Said Gulian as he looked to Edward. He was polite using these words here, but he managed to convey what everyone wanted to say to Edward.

Edward looked at him and nodded his head. He respected this brave man for saying such words when the rest of the lords decided to lower their heads.

"It was a warning for everyone, and it had to be done. We are going against the Targaryen, who ruled Westeros for nearly three centuries. Not to mention, we would face the armies of The Reach soon. I do not have time to care about every one of you. If any of you decided to side with the crown mid-way, it would cause many problems. Yeah, sure, I could manage you all if I only kill one or two, but this would not serve my point. Here is the first rule of my kingdom. The house that betrays our trust would get eliminated. I would not punish any of you for a trivial act. In fact, I would leave you the freedom to do anything you want as long as it did not hurt our kingdom. As for the soldiers, it was a warning for ours and a threat to the others. They would fear what we will do them from now on." Said Edward in one long breath as he looked at Gulian with determined eyes. He would not regret what he did. Although he killed children in the process, Edward found it necessary to do so.

Everyone raised their eyes to look at him. They found what he said was a little reasonable. Although cruel in the end, it was logical. During wartime, if the lords did something like what Edward said, that would cause many problems.

When they saw Edward's determination, they decided to listen to his words. That did not mean they let go of their caution and fear, but they just decided to follow his orders and see if his words were real and if Edward would keep his oath.

When Edward saw that everyone had calmed down, he nodded his head and returned to his seat again. He looked at the map on the table and then spoke to everyone.

"Letting this matter aside for now, let's focus on our attack on The Reach. The Reach and Westerlands under Tywin Lannister are the only kingdoms that could cause damage to us. With The Reach's wealth and population, it could gather many men to fight us. Lucky for us, The Reach's men are weak and did not train enough but just some peasants. But still, we need to catch them before they could gather their men." Said Edward as he started using ink to mark the map. This time the marks are inside the circle he had drawn earlier on The Reach. The lords seemed to understand his objectives this time. It seemed that Edward did not care about the three lords and the Conningron's rebellion against him, and his eyes were only on the lands that he would get from The Reach and the other kingdoms.

Everyone nodded their head as they listened to Edward. After everyone's emotions got stabilized a little, it was finally time to listen to Edward's plan to take The Reach.

"By the time we reach Summoning Hall, The Reach's army would attack us. I already got the news that Mace Tyrell let around twenty-five thousand men on his way to Ashford with Randyll Tarly. Lucky for us, they did not know the exact number of our men as I ordered to kill the spies as we move, but this information would get out sooner or later. We have to take this chance and take as much as we could from The Reach, especially before the Hightower and Redwyne send their armies. I want to take the area from Ashford to Goldengrove in that time while capturing Mace Tyrell in the process. Do you think we could do that?" Said Edward with a smile. He was acting very ambitious here as he planned to eat up a third of The Reach's area, not to mention the most fertile lands.

Everyone looked at the map to see the area their lord talked about and got shocked in the process. It was a large area, and The Reach would never allow them to dive that deep without sending an army after army.

"If we win the next battle, we would attack Highgarden after that to siege it. We do not want to take it down. Just pinning them down would be enough, especially after their lord took most of their soldiers. I had already called the Shadow Legion Company from Essos. A seven thousand trained men would reach us in the next two weeks so we would have enough soldiers to defend if others attacked." Said Edward as he smiled at everyone. Of course, he would benefit and test the Shadow Legion's sellswords in this rebellion as well.

The Shadow Legion company in Essos got a lot of fame, especially with the training method they used to train their soldiers. Although they still could not compare themselves to the Golden Company and their tools, they still got famous and recognized by all with Edward's support. This time would be their first operation in Westeros.

Everyone's expression changed after they heard this. The lords knew that involving foreign forces in their fights would be bad for their reputation, and the others might use this chance to rally the people against them.