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Smalljon Umber, nicknamed "Smalljon," was the son of Greatjon Umber and the heir to Last Hearth.
In the original story, he eventually betrayed House Stark, bringing the heads of Rickon and "Shaggydog" to join Ramsay.
In the Battle of the Bastards, he ultimately died at the hands — or rather, the mouth — of the wildling Tormund.
In truth, Smalljon had been somewhat wronged.
The warriors of House Umber were renowned throughout the North for their ferocity in battle and fearless loyalty.
Greatjon had two fingers bitten off by Grey Wind, yet instead of growing angry, he came to admire Robb's courage and remained loyal to him until he died at the Red Wedding.
Smalljon, who managed to escape with his life, continued to hold Last Hearth and never surrendered to House Bolton.
That only changed when Jon Snow led all the wildlings south of the Wall.
For thousands of years, Last Hearth had been the first fortress against wildlings who crossed the Wall.
After centuries of bloodshed, a deep hatred had been carved into their bones between the Umbers and the wildlings.
Therefore, Smalljon's eventual betrayal was understandable.
The current Robb would never allow such a loyal warrior to reach the point of betraying him.
Even so, after greeting him the same as the others, Robb showed no excessive enthusiasm.
Some people required diplomacy.
Others needed to see strength.
After greeting all the warriors, Robb cleared his throat and called out loudly,
"Brothers, I know you are all warriors loyal to House Stark.
But most of us have never met before, and I imagine you are also watching to see what kind of man I am.
Words alone are empty.
So here's what we'll do."
Robb stepped forward.
"I will spar with each of you in turn. Whoever manages to knock me down will receive a reward of one hundred Silver Stags!"
"Lord Robb is generous!"
"Woohoo! I'll go!"
"Me too!"
The moment Robb finished speaking, the soldiers — who had been tired just moments earlier — were immediately energized.
The sons of the North's bannermen rarely received much coin for spending, and when they did, they usually spent it quickly.
One hundred Silver Stags was already a considerable reward.
Immediately, one of the warriors closest to Robb stepped forward and asked for a match.
...
Clang! Clang!
The sound of blunted swords colliding echoed across the training yard.
Although Robb had conserved some energy during training by resting and observing the warriors, his stamina was not unlimited.
After defeating six soldiers in a row, he was finally knocked to the ground by a strike from the warrior Dacey.
"Woohoo!"
"Dacey! Dacey!"
Seeing Robb fall, all the warriors watching began shouting her name in excitement.
As one of the very few female warriors in Westeros — and someone who had never experienced such cheers before — Dacey's face flushed red.
Raising her blunted sword high above her head, she looked as if she had won the entire world.
"Bah… all of you fought well. The reward goes to Dacey."
Robb stood up, spat out the dirt that had gotten into his mouth, and laughed loudly without caring about his appearance.
Pointing at Dacey, he announced,
"Tonight she's buying the drinks at the Smoke and Cinder Tavern in the Winter Town!"
"Long live Dacey! Long live Lord Robb!"
"Haha! I'm going to drink all the ale in Smoke and Cinder!"
That day, the training yard sounded like a lively marketplace, filled with noise, laughter, and shouting.
Watching from the shadows, a certain lord nodded in satisfaction as he saw how quickly Robb blended into the group.
...
After settling the distribution of the spoils and the compensation for the fallen, Robb's days became steady and full.
Every day, aside from caring for Bloodwind and completing his routine training, he spent time drinking and chatting with the warriors.
As his relationship with the guard soldiers grew closer, Robb added a new form of training in addition to the sessions arranged by Ser Rodrik.
Small-unit combat training.
The warriors of Westeros had no problem charging in formation.
But once the two armies collided, battles usually turned into chaotic melees with little coordination.
Therefore, Robb divided the thirty-one warriors into six small squads.
Under his subtle arrangement, each squad trained and sparred together, with the strongest warrior in each group serving as captain.
Dacey Mormont, Smalljon Umber, and Owen Norrey naturally became the leaders of their respective squads.
The other three squads were led by Torrhen Karstark, Edd Karstark, and Theon Greyjoy.
Yes, there were thirty-one warriors because after a private conversation with Theon, Robb personally asked Eddard for permission to include him in the guard.
Torrhen and Edd were Robb's cousins, descendants of House Karstark, and their combat ability was quite respectable.
As for the Blood Pact Points, perhaps because the intense daily training consumed so much physical energy…
During that week, despite eating far more than before, Robb only gained three points from meals.
However, after repeated testing throughout the week, Robb summarized two basic rules for the system.
First: if he spent all the Blood Pact Points at once, his body would feel completely drained, leaving him weak and exhausted.
Second: Bloodwind's highest attribute could not exceed three times his lowest attribute.
Bloodwind's current attributes were:
Speed had been raised to 4.
Strength to 3.
Constitution had already reached 7.
One Blood Pact Point remained as a reserve.
With 7 points in Constitution, Bloodwind was growing as if he were being blown up like a balloon.
Robb could see him getting bigger with the naked eye every day.
Now, only ten days later, Bloodwind had grown from the size of a small poodle to something comparable to an adult malamute.
Standing on all fours, his shoulder height had reached about seventy centimeters, and he already weighed nearly forty kilos.
During these ten days, the other five direwolves had also grown at an unusually fast pace, reaching the size of five- or six-month-old puppies.
Even so, they were completely incomparable to Bloodwind.
Of course, aside from the servant responsible for delivering meat each day, no one else knew that Bloodwind had grown to this size.
Unlike his siblings, who liked to show off their direwolves everywhere, Robb's Bloodwind had remained inside his bedroom the entire time.
Every day, aside from eating, he spent most of his time sleeping.
Perhaps that was the side effect of growing so quickly.
Creeeak.
The bedroom door opened.
Bloodwind, who had been lying beside the large wooden bed, immediately lifted his head to look.
"Bloodwind!"
The door opened fully, revealing Robb wearing his mail shirt.
At the sound of his gentle call, Bloodwind immediately radiated joy.
With a push of his paws, he lightly jumped over the bed and hurried to Robb's side.
Robb dropped to one knee and held Bloodwind's fluffy head in both hands, vigorously scratching his cheeks.
The wolf closed his eyes in satisfaction, looking exactly like a goofy husky.
"Alright, Bloodwind, let's go. Today I'll take you out to see the world."
Remembering the task his father Eddard had given him, Robb stopped scratching him and left the room with Bloodwind.
In the corridors of the main keep, whenever servants saw Robb and Bloodwind, they instinctively showed fear and stepped aside.
As an extraordinary creature, Bloodwind behaved like a playful husky in front of Robb.
But in front of strangers, his eyes gleamed coldly and his fangs were bared like a true predator.
At the entrance leading from the keep to the training yard, Eddard and Catelyn — along with Robb's siblings and their respective direwolves — were waiting for him.
When they saw Bloodwind, who in just ten days had already taken on the form of a true beast, disbelief appeared on their faces.
And when Bloodwind saw the other direwolves of his kind…
He stretched his neck toward the sky and released a long, resonant howl.
"AAAUUUUU!!!"
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