Chapter 3: Curiosity Killed the Cat!

Over the next few hours, Will walked around the city until he found an Inn that didn't ask too many questions so long as one had enough coin. The man at the desk even helped him out with some information for a few coppers, as well as showing him a map with the city's layout on it.

There was one particular place he wanted to see before he finished his stay in King's Landing, and that was the Alchemist's Guild building beneath Rhaenys' Hill.

He knew they were building large amounts of Wildfire, a highly volatile material; when ignited, it can explode with tremendous force and the resulting fire burns so hot that water cannot extinguish it. Only by smothering the flames with large quantities of sand can they be put out. Wildfire is identifiable by the distinctive green hue of its flames and a bright green color in its liquid state. Pyromancers refer to it as "the Substance", while in the lowest circles it is derisively referred to as "pyromancer's piss". As it ages, the wildfire becomes more potent.

Needless to say, he wanted to claim some of the stuff for his own future use before the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen or the stuck up cunt, Cersei Lannister used it all. Granted, he would have almost two decades before he needed to worry about Cersei using it, but the Mad King was a different story.

Even as he walked the streets of King's Landing earlier this day, there was talk about traitors being burned alive in the palace. 'The mad bastard is already hard at work starting the story, so it's only a matter of time before the Rebellion starts...' Will thought, not happy nor sad about the upcoming bloodshed.

He didn't feel like the people needed to die for the stupid reasons they did, but then again people did a lot of fucked up shit. With mentioning honor alone, one could have thousands at their beck and call, which was just stupid to him.

Although he did believe you should keep your word and do right by those who have done right by you, there was nothing anyone could say for him to go die for a madman who enjoyed burning people alive. Same goes for serving a little entitled psychopathic cunt like Joffrey. If he was even remotely close to how he was in the series, Will would do everything he could to kill the little prick himself.

Getting back on track, he asked, "Where are the best places for someone like myself to go shopping for goods? You know, food, clothes, weapons and the like?" The Innkeeper thought for a moment, then pointed to a few different places on the map, while telling him about certain shops in each area which would be more than happy to deal with anyone so long as they had the coin.

"Are there any places you would recommend I keep away from?" He asked, and this time the Innkeeper traced whole districts with his forefinger, and then finally finished it off by pointing at the Red Keep. "Ye be stayin away from here, lad, les you fine urself in the Mad King's clutches!"

The last part he said in a whisper after he looked around to make sure no one was listening in on them. "Thank you." Will said, truly thankful for the information before tossing an additional Silver Stag onto the counter, a more than generous tip, considering the information he got only costed about 50 copper pennies.

"It's getting late, so I'll see you in the morning." Will said, then went to his room. The sun had already gone down, and he wanted to wake up early to 'acquire' a few items for himself. He wouldn't go to the Alchemist's Guild until he had gotten a good understanding of the layout, as well as good escape routes should things turn for the worst and he needed to flee.

As he entered his room on the second floor of the inn, Will barred the door with a heavy wooden board, not trusting anyone in this corrupt city. Despite also being on the second floor of the inn, he didn't think someone wouldn't go through the lengths of scaling the building to climb through the window, so he placed a few flat objects between the window that would fall to the floor and onto some glass if the window was opened by someone from the outside.

With that done, he climbed into bed, noting how the room still smelled like shit, but it wasn't as bad as when he had first got here. 'Stupid Eric!!' He grumbled internally. The knight was right about the smell, although he didn't believe it would ever happen. He fell asleep a few minutes later, still silently cursing the knight.

The sun had yet to rise when Will got out of bed, going through his morning routine. The chamber pot was probably something he would never get used to, and he vowed he would create at least an outhouse for himself somewhere at the very fucking least.

Going from the 21st Century back to the medieval ages wasn't as fun as he thought it would be, but he couldn't change it now!!

Going downstairs, the room already had a few occupants who were preparing for the day, same as him, and to his great joy, breakfast was already on the table. He would have just eaten food he had stored away in his inventory, as it was as if time froze inside so nothing would go bad, but he would save that for when he was out and about in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere with nothing else around him.

As he dished himself up a plate of food, he would store an extra piece of bread here, or a few eggs there, you know, taking anything he could get. He was only allowed one plate of food with his room before he would have to pay 4 Copper pennies, but he didn't want to pay it.

He had given the innkeeper more than enough last night, and this was kind of a way to spite the old man even though he didn't dislike him. Once he was done with breakfast, he left the inn and headed towards the harbor near the Waterfront.

He was interested in the trade goods arriving from either across the sea or from different kingdoms here in Westeros. For the most part, he was going to check out the wares and whatnot, but he did have somewhat of an objective in mind. He knew that eventually down the road, he would need some form of water travel, so if he could purchase or steal a boat of sorts, he would.

In the early morning, the streets were mostly free of people, save for a small handful who had things of their own they needed doing, so the walk was actually quite pleasant once he got past the smell. It took over two hours before he got to the market, at which point the streets were filled with merchants, pickpockets, cut-throats and pedestrians, or as they were called here, the small-folk.

Along his way, Will passed a few brothels and he had to say it was better than porn!! A lot of people obviously didn't care about privacy, because he had seen more than a dozen different groups going at each other, and there was even one group who were role playing. The acting was shit, but the story was funny.

She had pretended to be a helpless animal out in the woods, while he was a knight/woodsman and came upon the wounded animal. In turn for not killing her, she gave herself fully to the man.

'Don't know why she needed to be an animal, but alright...' Will thought, having watched enough for a good few weeks. His body was too young to appreciate any of this anyway, but give it a few years.

As he walked past a cart of bricks, Will stored it with everything on it without anyone having taken notice, then carried on as if nothing happened. Continuing down through the fish market, he found a guy who was trading and selling rather than just selling.

There were spices and sauces from across the sea, history books on the great houses across Westeros and Essos. The most luxurious items of course were the different kinds of alcohol. Ale, beer, mead, Rum, Blackberry wine, Tyroshi Pear brandy, and Arbor gold and Dornish red, two of the most sought after wines in the world.

There was also Pomegranate juice, which was something Will was quite happy to find. He wouldn't drink wine until he was a bit older, and he didn't want to drink nothing but water for years. Granted he did plan on squeezing oranges, but if he could add something more, he would.

Seeing everything there, Will knew he had to get his hands on a few caskets of some of the wines to use as trade later on, while he wanted the spices and sauces for himself. He knew out in the world, gold was useless if there was no one around and he was starving, or if he was beyond the Wall. They didn't use gold, and preferred something they could use, and stuff which bettered food was just what he needed.

As he browsed through the merchandise though, a certain book caught his eye. It was one about potions and poisons, something from a healer or a Maester. He wasn't too interested in using the poisons himself, but knowing antidotes to poisons he might get drugged with was key to his survival, and he knew he wasn't leaving here without that book whether he had to buy it or steal it!

"How much for that?" Will asked, pointing to the potion/poison book. The dealer, upon seeing it was a child who asked, was about to ignore him, but then Will said, "I may be small, but I am no fool! I have access to gold and goods! How much for the book?!"

Given how the few other potential customers were being taken care of already by a few people who worked for him, the Trader figured he would see what the boy had to offer, and maybe he could get a bit more considering he was probably not familiar with the value of such an item.

"Aye, little lord!! It is a rare item!! Couldn't part with it for less than say... 50 Gold Dragons!" The Trader said, smirking at Will like he thought him an idiot. Holding out a finger to hold on, Will pulled out a gold necklace with jewels on it out of his pocket, although really it was from his Inventory.

"This is a family heirloom, one which has been in my family for generations! My father had it appraised at a value of 75 Gold Dragons, and 735 Silver Stags." Will was practically singing out of his ass at his little story, although he figured he wasn't too far off from the value of the thing.

From the jewelry and gold shops he passed, he saw similar looking items for around 70-80 Gold Dragons, so saying this was 75 Gold Dragons, he figured the guy should believe him. The Trader didn't even bother to hide his greed for the necklace, thinking he could get it for cheap from a brat who knew nothing of how to bargain.

"For how rare the book is, I mighta give it far too low a price fer it. Really, it will be about 85 Gold Dragons!! But I'll trade it for the necklace! Sounds good, aye?!" The trader asked, thinking he had already made the deal. He didn't!

"I'm not sure my Uncle, Lord Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock, the Warden of the West, would be pleased to know you were trying to cheat his blood out of a book..." Will said, trying to do his best serious Tywin impression as he stealthily pulled the lion ring from his inventory.

There was no one alive in King's Landing who didn't know who Tywin Lannister was, and given how the Trader practically turned into a ghost, he figured he made the right call.

"M'lord!! Please!! You are mistaken!! I did no such thing!!" The Trader said, trying to get out of the shit hole he had gotten himself in. Smiling wickedly, Will wondered if this was how all those 'Young Masters' felt in the wuxia novels he read.

Still smiling he added, "For the book and the other on the history of the realms and the Great Houses of Westeros, I think I can forget about it."

Nearly every house had a book on the History of the Greater and Lesser Houses, so it wasn't that expensive. The three books for the necklace was still a trade in the merchant's favor, and it would spare the man of Tywin's wrath.

"Deal!!" The man said, grabbing the three books, which Will traded for the necklace. Not done with the Trader just yet, Will traded a few other pieces of jewelry for a few Caskets of Rare wines, spices, and a few of the sauces.

Many of the items Will got on the cheaper side of things, but that was mostly because he used the Lannister name to broker a trade agreement. It was well known, 'A Lannister always pays his debts!!' and the Trader took him at his word once he showed a ring with the lion sigil, the crest of House Lannister.

He even got all of the remainder of the wines for nothing by writing a letter, giving this guy 'Permission' to trade for free in Lannisport, as well as agreeing to give him 100 Gold Dragons for the lot of the stock, which he could claim at a later date from Tywin.

The man jumped at the deal, and even agreed to have his own people take the wine to a docked ship near them, so the young 'lord' could take everything back to Casterly Rock.

'I wonder if Tywin will kill him?' Will thought, laughing a little darkly at the thought. The Trader probably didn't deserve it, but he had tried to cheat him, which he did not approve of. If by some miracle Tywin didn't kill this guy, he would consider the debt paid, but for now he didn't care one way or another if this guy died.

Will led them down the coast until he saw a small empty ship, and told them to load everything on board. Once that was done, they left, wondering why the little lordling was rushing them so much, but they didn't want to ask, knowing it might sour their new business relations.

As soon as they were out of sight, Will got out of view of everyone, but still close enough to touch the ship as he hid behind some boxes, then stored it in his inventory. Surprisingly, there was no big commotion like he expected, after all a ship did just disappear out of fucking nowhere!!

Coming out from behind his cover, he looked at everyone and they were all too busy scrambling through each other to notice or care about a tiny ship disappearing. 'Neat...' He thought, realizing he just got away with a major theft. And he got a ship too, so high five there!!

Practically skipping along his way, Will followed the edge of the docks until saw a ship which caught his eye. He didn't know why, there was nothing that stuck out on the ship. There were no markings indicating it belonged to a specific house, and there were no illegal or dangerous looking products, so what was it?!!

Finally Will realized it. The crew were all armed, which wasn't uncommon, but the fact that they were studying the people walking by like trade goods, made him wary. There was also the fact that when they moved around, they did so in a way that if you looked and listened closely, you would see they made little to no sound when walking on the deck of a wooden ship.

'Thieves or smugglers...' Will thought, wondering if they already had their cargo or if they were still waiting for it to arrive, and the big question, 'What the hell is it?!'

Moving to a place out of the way, but still close enough he could watch them, Will watched the boat for over 2 hours before something finally happened. Two men showed up carrying a large chest, placed it onto the deck of the ship, at which point one of the smugglers tossed them a small pouch. The two men who delivered the chest looked inside of the pouch before they bowed their heads and left the ship.

Will didn't miss how they were constantly looking around the area before they finally disappeared from view, making him wonder all the more what the hell was in the chest. He knew getting too close to this could very well get him killed, but on the other hand, it could be some rare item worth a fortune!!

'Curiosity killed the cat, but if I set it on fire before it knows I'm there, I should be fine!' He thought, making himself blend in with the crowd. Will had to walk around to a few different ships around the area to make it look like he wasn't paying a specific sort of interest in a single ship, and there were a few times where it helped him out.

One guy, two ships away from the one he was trying to get close to, caught him, and Will used it to draw a small commotion to himself. He shouted, "Ships are so fascinating!! Slap a few materials together and you have a way to travel across the sea!! I've been observing lots of ships, and each one is built similarly, yet different!! Shipwrights are the best!! Don't you agree?!!"

He tried to sound like some lordling who thought ships were the best thing in the world, which did garner the attention of the smugglers like he had hoped. He figured if they did catch him now, they would just brush him off rather than try and kill him, which was preferable.

After that little debacle, no one really paid attention to him, which was great considering what he had planned. Finally it was time for the moment of truth! He got to the smuggler ship, and after studying it for a while, he got a decent understanding of the ship's layout and the amount of people on board.

Nine people in total were working the ship, but three or four would leave for about 15-20 minutes every so often before coming back to the ship to swap places with the other people. Will chose to wait until they swapped out groups, which didn't take long.

As soon as the four smugglers left, he tossed a rather expensive pair of leather gloves he had gotten from the Trader from before, on the ship so they were behind some boxes and rigging out of sight of anyone on the docks. Putting on a worried expression, he jumped onto the ship, then pretended to look around frantically for something, even going about stomping around loudly on the ship to draw attention to himself.

"Oi!! You, there!! What ya doin, boy?!!" One man shouted, being the first to notice his presence on the ship. "Forgive the intrusion, Sir, but some brigand thought it would be a good joke to steal my new gloves and throw them aboard your ship. If you would be so kind and help me find them, I will gladly part with a few Copper Pennies for any trouble I may have caused you!!"

The smugglers didn't look all that convinced, and two of them looked like they wanted to kick the crap out of him. He couldn't even blame them though, he wanted to beat himself up for sounding like that too.

"Look!! There they are!!" He quickly shouted, pointing to the gloves on the deck only a few feet away. Like any noble, he didn't wait for them or ask them for permission to move on ahead, instead he rushed over to his gloves, prompting all five of the thugs to run towards him.

Knowing they were nearing his position, Will waited until they were all within range, then jumped atop a box before leaping as high as he could into the air with his arms raised. It was at that moment something appeared out of mid-air, and as soon as it did, Will pushed off of it with all his might, flying a few feet away and landing down hard on the wood deck.

Not as hard as the cart of bricks though. It landed on all five of the smugglers, killing four of them instantly, while the fifth man looked like he was about to die with how much blood he was vomiting. Rather than letting the poor bastard suffer, Will approached, then without uttering a word or batting an eye, he stabbed the guy right through the heart, ending him instantly.

The cart falling had made a loud noise, but with it being hidden behind the boxes and rigging, no one could see what it was and probably just thought something fell over. Storing the cart back in his inventory, Will also stored the corpses, knowing if anyone saw them there might be a panic.

Looking to where the cart fell, the deck of the ship was shattered, and it would most likely take some time for the smugglers to fix it later. 'Oops...' Will thought, not a hint of remorse on his face.

With that done, he finally made his way below deck to the ships cargo hold to finally see what they were smuggling. As he searched for the chest that was brought to these people, he found 4 barrels of rum, and a few dozen filled with water. Boxes of cheese and fruit, something that looked like it could be considered jerky, and some clothing and farming tools.

There were also a few boxes filled with iron and steel ingots, some leather and furs, all of which Will stored away into his inventory. 'No point in letting this lot have all these goodies!!' He thought, a little too happy. He didn't even know if these people were bad, and yet he chose to kill and rob them because they felt off. But he would do it again regardless if he was wrong. Trusting his instincts had saved his ass more times than he cared to admit, and he would never not follow them.

It took another 5 minutes of searching, but eventually he found the chest behind a few other crates. To his surprise though, there were 5 other chests that looked the exact same as the one he was searching for, and the fact that they were all hidden away behind crates made Will just a little bit more curious about what was in them.

Pulling the first chest away from the others, Will got rid of the lock by simply storing it in his inventory. So far his inventory had been more of a cheat than his powers, and he would use it anytime he could benefit from it. Stepping to the side of the chest, Will brought out one of his daggers and used the tip to lift the lid of the chest up in case there was a trap of sorts if it was somehow stolen.

As the lid got high enough to see inside, Will didn't quite understand what it was he was looking at until he completely opened the chest. He froze. Inside was a girl, bound like a hog with her mouth gagged and her eyes blindfolded. She had barely a scrap or two of clothing covering her tits and cunt, but they left little to the imagination.

Breaking out of his trance, Will quickly opened the remaining chests, and like the first, each one of them had a bound, gagged, blindfolded naked girl. They were all around the same age, about 14 or 15 Will guessed. "Well... fuck!" He said intelligently, realizing the people he killed were slaver's, and these women were their next items up for sale. If he felt any guilt from killing the men before, (He didn't!!) it was gone now.

For all his faults, Will did have somewhat of a bottom line, although where it started and ended was a mystery even to him, he wouldn't leave these women here, regardless of the consequences it might bring him. As fast as he could, he cut the ropes binding them together and removed their blindfolds and gags.

Each of them looked terrified, and despite seeing only a kid in the room with them did nothing to alleviate their fear. Two started crying immediately, but before the other four could join them, Will shouted, "Shut up!! Now isn't the fucking time!! We're still in King's Landing, and we haven't left the port yet!! If we hurry now, you can all run back to your homes or wherever the fuck you want before the remaining bastards come back, so instead of crying, start running!!"

His words had the desired effect. All of them hopped out of the chests they were in before they ran up the stairs. Will was just helping the last girl off the ship when he noticed the smugglers/slavers who had gone were now back, and boy did they not look happy. They didn't even try to go after their missing merchandise, instead they were all staring at the boy they were sure was the cause of all this mess.

'Oh shit...' Will thought tiredly, then without preamble, he spun on his heels before rocketing off in the opposite direction of the slavers, who were indeed chasing him down.

This was probably one of the few times being small was better than being tall. With his short and skinny stature, Will was able to run through the crowd of people a lot faster than the slavers, and was able to make it out of the Fish Market a good minute before the bastards that pursued him.

The streets were still packed with people, but there was more room to move around in compared to the Fish Market, and the slavers were now gaining on him. Still he ran like his life depended on it, which it most certainly did, down streets and through alleyways, hoping a way to lose the bastards would show itself soon.

He wasn't proficient enough in any of his magic to be able to use it in combat just yet, but if it came to that, he would try anything.

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(Oberyn Martell POV)

After arriving in the city the day before, Oberyn escorted his sister Elia back to the palace to be with her husband. Originally he was only meant to make sure his sister and his niece arrived home safe, but along the way he came across a young anomaly.

William Castian was by far the most intriguing boy he had ever come across, and that was counting himself when he was that age. He was smart beyond reason, spoke differently from every person he had ever met, and that was saying something considering he had traveled all over the world.

On top of the fact he didn't care about status, Oberyn found him hilarious. Sadly, the boy had disappeared on him, and trying to find him in a city as big as King's Landing was like looking for a tight whore in a million brothels. Speaking of brothels, Oberyn had a few days before he departed back to Dorne, and what better way to kill some time than to try out the local brothels.

Confident in his abilities, he didn't walk around with an escort or body guards, instead he roamed around freely. Right now he was on his way to a brothel which was quite popular, but as he walked down the street, his eyes focused on people shouting and making way for running figures.

There were four of them from what he could see, but he couldn't tell what they were chasing. 'Probably a pickpocket.' He thought, knowing these kinds of things happened all the time in big cities. Just as he was about to turn his attention away from the commotion, a small familiar figure burst out of the crowd, shooting past him like an arrow from a crossbow.

Moments later, the four men shot past him as well, and Oberyn quickly put two and two together. They were after William for some reason or another, and whatever it was, they were pissed.

Without a second thought, Oberyn shot off after them at blinding speed. He didn't know what Will did to piss them off, but he wasn't about to let the boy who had most likely saved his sister and niece's life, and maybe even his own life, die.

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(General POV)

As he moved through the streets, Will realized he couldn't keep this up much longer. He didn't have the stamina to keep up with these people, and they would soon catch up to him. He had run for a while now, and he could feel himself slowing down.

His plan for finding some guards had failed, and now he was running out of options. There was the chance he could do something with his magic, but with how little he could do he wasn't very optimistic. Like it was a sign to stop, Will rounded a corner before running into an ally, but to his displeasure the ally led to a dead end.

'Fanfuckingtastic!!' He exclaimed, his mind racing for ideas. And like inspiration kicked him in the dick, two grand ideas came to mind, both very good ideas. Knowing there was only a few seconds left before the four bastards arrived, he brought out a few crates and made his own make-shift stairway leading upward. It was high enough that he would be a few feet above a regular person, while it was made so he could easily and quickly get to the top.

The last crate had just been placed when he heard the running steps finally reach the entrance to the ally, at which point he was already facing them, a wicked smile on his face. He needed them to stay angry, and if they thought they had already won, one of his plan's might not work.

"Welcome!! The cunts from... whothefuckcares!!" Will shouted, spreading his arms wide open, still smiling like he knew something they didn't. Three of the men stayed where they were, blocking the entrance to the alley, while the fourth one rushed Will with a sword in hand. He was hoping for this.

With his back against the wall, he waited until the man was right where he wanted him, then brought out his spear, bracing the back of it against the wall, while the tip was raised up. The bastard, without realizing it, rushed forward and impaled himself on the spear, right through his mouth.

Storing the spear away back into his inventory, Will looked to the remaining three men. "If you want to get me, you're going to have to come at me altogether!!" They all shared a quick glance, then two of them nodded and began approaching, while the third stayed at the entrance.

'Fuck!' Will thought, knowing even if his plan did work, there would still be one of them left over. However 1 was better than three, and he was sure a fireball could very well scare the guy off after he witnessed what Will was about to do.

The two men walked slowly, being a lot more cautious now than their dead friend. As they got close enough, Will ran up the crates, and almost exactly like how he dealt with the thugs on the ship, he brought out the cart of bricks, only this time he was on top of it, rather than pushing himself away from it.

The cart came down hard, like a sledgehammer onto a nail. The two thugs were killed upon impact, especially when the wheels to the cart snapped off allowing the cart to rest firmly against the ground, making it look like a grape got popped.

"*Uuurgh* Fuck that hurt!!" Will said, obviously in pain. His whole body ached, and he thought he might have fractured a rib or something, but now was not the time. There was still one more thug, and he couldn't afford to die now after everything he had done so far.

Rolling off the cart and onto his feet, Will looked to the entrance of the alley, and sadly, the display of making the cart appear didn't make the last guy run for it. Instead, the guy looked outraged. Will tried to use the cart as a barrier between them, but the man jumped up onto it, at which point Will stored it back into his Inventory, causing the thug to lose his footing and fall to the ground.

This only slowed him for but a single moment, and one Will was not able to capitalize on. He was too sore, completely out of breath, having run further than his body should have been able to, but death is a good motivator. Using his magic was out of the question. He could barely breathe, let alone manipulate the mana to do his bidding, especially when he sucked at it to begin with.

Feeling like he would be meeting with that dickhead of a god sooner than he hoped, Will summoned a dagger from his Inventory. If he was going to die, he was hoping he would at least be able to leave a scar on this bastard, so every time he looked at it, he would know a child got the upper hand over him. That, and he wasn't one for lying down to await his death like a good little plebeian, unless a certain divine being felt the need to interfere and kill him.

Only a few feet away now, Will watched the bandit raise his sword to strike, but before he could even take another step, a spear came out of nowhere and impaled the thug right through the heart. Spinning around with his dagger still in hand, Will was ready to defend himself from whoever it might be, but froze momentarily when he saw the handsome bastard that was, Oberyn Martell, who was smiling at him like the cocky prince Will knew him to be.

"I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life!!" Will said, finally allowing himself to fall to the ground, and into unconsciousness.