26 Part 26 - Oh ye of little faith

286 AC

(Escanor POV)

Oh boy, time sure flies doesn't it? Three years have passed since the end of Robert's Rebellion. The aftermath was pretty much the same as it was in the books. Although there were some differences.

One such difference is actually something pretty funny. Jaime after having killed the King and all three pyromancers in King's Landing, was pardoned just like Varys and Maester Pycelle.

When Robert, the newly crowned King, offered Tywin to release Jaime from his oath as a Kingsguard, my father REFUSED! Imagine the humiliation... oh my the burn must have been worse than when I use 'Sunshine'.

I'm going, to be honest here. I laughed really hard after hearing about it. My father showed his displeasure with my brother after seeing how I was so much better than the next Lord of Casterly Rock. And who can blame him? I'm fabulous.

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The siege of Storm's End went similarly to the story, as far as I could tell. I didn't pay much attention to it though because I didn't care about it. Stannis Baratheon was a man who would 'rather break than bend', as it was said.

He would either hold Storm's End or die trying. And he managed to hold it till the end. That was not a good outcome for our friendly fat Tyrell, Mace. Seriously though, who names his child Mace? That's setting your son up for failure.

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Now something of much more interest to me was the outcome of the combat at the Tower of Joy. I didn't have anyone specifically there to see the outcome, but all my reports state that Eddard Stark came back to King's Landing without Lyanna Stark's dead body ... most intriguing ...

There was news though about a bastard of Eddard Stark, called Jon Snow. Howland Reed survived the battle at the Tower of Joy as well and most likely brought the boy to the North. Hehe ... I couldn't wait for the future when I tell the fat King the truth and then smash his face into the days ahead.

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Dear Ashara Dayne was dead. Poor girl probably couldn't handle Eddard giving in to his 'duty' and marrying Catelyn Tully instead of her. He pretty much smashed and dashed, if Barristan Selmy is to be believed.

But hey, at least House Dayne has got their prised sword 'Dawn' back, right? They can at least find comfort in that.

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Anyway let the past be the past and we will deal with the present. As that is much more interesting anyway.

I was riding with my six friends with whom I formed the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. That's right, how original right? But come on, it was practically begging to be used by me.

And let's be real here. Pride should have been the leader anyway. Why would Wrath be the leader? Makes no sense to me.

I picked six individuals who I thought would make good teammates. I was looking for special traits to fill the ranks of the 7DS. And I managed to find all of them shortly before the end of 282 AC.

Wrath was the easiest one to pick. I chose Sandor Clegane also known as 'the Hound'. His anger management left much to be desired and was therefore perfect for the role of Wrath.

We did NOT get along in the beginning, I can tell you that. He did not take kindly to the idea of following a 'little runt' as he put it. We sorted it out ... I smacked his head straight and he was a good little dog henceforth.

Greed was also quite an easy pick for me. I was looking for news of good thieves that were still children. And with the help of my Uncle Kevan, I managed to find a particularly good one in Lannisport.

The lad's called Rodick. We call him Rodd. It's to make fun of him because he is quite stiff due to being alert all the time. He was a genius pick-pocket that could literally get in and out of almost anywhere. He loved to target rich pompous pricks ... who can blame him?

Envy took me a while. Like in the anime, Envy was also a woman. She was a particularly crafty and tricky one. She was a baseborn girl that lied and poisoned her way up the ladder. She married a well-off merchant while she was still one and ten name days... only to then make him have an 'accident' and inherit everything he owned.

She was a diamond-level talent that I made sure to nurture. She has become a very dangerous poison mistress. Her fighting style is focused on poison and sneak attacks. She is however perfectly able to use a sword should she have to.

Lust is a particularly exotic woman. I found her in a brothel in Lannisport. She was the rising star in the business. A seductress without equal. I killed the old ass man who was about to have his way with her when I found her.

It was consensual... but I didn't care. Paedophiles are on my kill-on-sight list. Her name is Consuela. I Spanish name I gave her ... because of reasons. She was a martial artist without equal but not as proficient with armour or heavy weapons.

Sloth was a boy I found that truly was lazy. He didn't like to fight even though he was a prodigy with knives and daggers. He was the perfect assassin. His only flaw was his laziness and lack of ambition.

He was happy just lying under a tree and looking at the clouds. He called himself 'Slash'. A boring and cheap name he picked because of the scar he had on his face.

It wasn't even a big scar or a particularly cool scar, just a normal one on his left cheek.

And lastly Gluttony. Gluttony was a genius woman I found by chance. We met during a break I took in a bar. I complained about the alcohol being slightly better than piss. She agreed and told me ways to improve the beer. She was called Mary.

After talking with the older woman for a while, I noticed her intelligence and thirst for knowledge. I planned to use her for the businesses that I'll start setting up very soon. Probably this year in fact.

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(Omni POV)

Escanor and his band of misfits returned after a 'mission' they got from Tywin to see their progress as a group.

We were tasked with searching and eliminating a particular group of bandits that were terrorizing the north of the Westerlands. We managed to find them and using our combined efforts stopped them from pillaging another village.

It was a brutal scene that showed our teamwork, efficiency as well as our ruthlessness towards Bandits.

We were returning to Castamere after weeks of travel to recuperate and relax for a while.

That's right ... Castamere. I'm now the Lord of Castamere, well not really Lord but the current keeper and owner of Castamere. It was ... forced on me by my father after having 'gone against him' for the last time, or so he said.

We had a disagreement after something he planned to do to my dear brother Tyrion. Can you imagine ... Tyrion found someone special and actually married! He married a young girl he met for a few weeks. I knew of the girl but did not expect him to marry her so soon after meeting her.

We will cover that story later though.

We rode into Castamere and had stable boys take care of our horses. Everyone went to do their own thing. They all had their respective rooms that were located around Castamere. Everyone was free to do what they wished if I didn't have something special for them.

We grew closer over the last few years and became good friends. I made sure that everyone understood and respected each other. And over the years, we truly became something akin to a small family.

I made my way to my chambers. I wanted to take a bath and relax for a while. I was about to launch my businesses in the coming week and Mary helped me with the administrations.

I opened the door to my room and was greeted by a beautiful, slender woman with black eyes and a flat chest. She had black hair and a gentle smile on her face when she saw me.

"Ser Escanor, welcome back. I am sure you were successful in your endeavours?", the woman said.

"I was, thank you.", I answered.

"How are the children? Are they doing alright? I hope the accommodation is still to your liking and standard?"

"Of course Ser Escanor. I can not express how grateful I am to you for what you did. The amount of gratitude I have for you can never be compensated. I will forever stay indebted to you.", she said.

"It was nothing ... Elia..."

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O ye of little faith thought she died, didn't you? I got all of you again. Why would the one who planned all those things just let someone as important as Elia die? You fools thought I just killed her off ...

You just got pranked!

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