Ficool

Chapter 502 - Chapter 498: A Ruthless Payback for the Dragon Queen

At the top of the Blackstone Tower in the City Lord's mansion, the Dragon Queen met with Deputy Commander Jack. He was a young man about

At the top of the Blackstone Tower in the City Lord's mansion, the Dragon Queen met with Deputy Commander Jack.

He was a young man about Aegon's age, his youthful features tinged with a hint of defiance. With a prominent hawk-like nose and clear, resolute crimson eyes, he wore a suit of dark gray plate armor over a sturdy frame, tall and composed.

"If I refuse your demand, what will you do?" asked Dany, seated atop Blackfyre.

"I'll order the granaries and armories to be burned. Before I came, I had my men stack barrels of oil in every warehouse. All it takes is one torch, and you'll suffer massive losses."

The youthful gleam in his red eyes—present when he first saw the Dragon Queen—vanished swiftly, replaced by an emotionless mask, stony and cold as ice.

Clap, clap, clap! Dany clapped her hands three times, and two members of the Free Wings carried a stretcher forward.

"Father?!" One glance at the stretcher, and the stoic expression on Jack's face shattered into shock, fury, and sorrow.

Watching the young man holding back his tears, Dany said coolly, "Go ahead and burn them. I don't care about those supplies. They weren't mine to begin with."

Jack's father had died even before Dany stormed into Tolos—assassinated by her agents.

The Longspear Company was a renowned mercenary group, so its commander and the city lord had been prioritized as primary targets.

After them came the commanders of the three main garrisons and those of the West Camp mercenary companies who had entered the city to indulge in revelry.

The Longspear commander, "Cobbler" Gillot Reha, had died in a most pitiful way.

He traveled thousands of miles from Tolos to Volantis, spent half a year recruiting and training soldiers, then marched east for several more months, covering over four thousand kilometers. After crossing the Demon Highway, he finally reached Tolos.

Yet, he never even laid eyes on the Dragon Queen, nor drew his sword—he was assassinated in his drunken sleep by Danyth the little assassin.

Hawk-nosed Jack cradled the corpse of his father, the skin an ashen green. His crimson eyes brimmed with such rage they nearly bled.

After a moment, he turned and stared at Dany, gritting out each word: "I'll make sure you don't get a single grain of food."

"Young man, face reality. Your resistance is futile. The Queen has never lacked for provisions," Tyrion interjected.

For some reason, seeing the youth risk everything for his father, and now clutching the corpse while holding back tears to confront the Queen, the dwarf felt a pang of sympathy. He didn't want the boy to die in a burst of the Queen's wrath.

"At the very least, I can make her feel the loss. If those supplies meant nothing to her, she wouldn't waste time meeting with me."

Jack's expression was rigid, his eyes filled with unwavering resolve.

"You're sure you can leave this place? That you'll even get the chance to give your men the order?" young Aegon asked, puzzled.

Yes, Aegon had joined the battle that night. His matte white steel armor still bore splashes of dark red blood.

His swordsmanship wasn't bad, he fought bravely, and his equipment—crafted by master blacksmith Tobho Mott—was excellent. He had already seen blood, having slain two soldiers at the docks.

"I'm hoping the Queen kills me right here," Jack said with a bitter smile.

"Why?" Aegon asked with interest.

"If she harms someone in the middle of a negotiation, the damage to her reputation will far outweigh the value of any grain," Old Jon murmured, explaining quietly to his adopted son. "He's offering his life as retribution."

"You may go," Dany said coldly. "I will have your father's body and those of the deputy commanders returned to you."

Jack cast her one last deep look, then hoisted his father's corpse onto his back and walked down the stairs.

Once the hawk-nosed youth vanished from sight, Dany raised her voice and gave orders:

"Missandei, take the Unsullied and surround the northern granaries.

Morono (Commander of Free Wings' archers), take 5,000 crossbowmen and support Missandei.

Missandei, you'll remain here at the City Lord's mansion and act as interim governor.

Ser Clinton, lead the sailors in clearing the docks and recovering any unburned ships.

Symon (Supreme Commander of Free Wings), take command of the remaining soldiers. Search the entire city. Arrest Tolos officials and nobles. Also, gather any remaining scorpion ballistas.

Quelo, take 500 light cavalry and follow me. We're going to sweep the West Camp scum."

"Yes, Your Grace!" the generals responded in unison.

"Wait, Your Grace!"

As the black dragon rose to take flight, Tyrion quickly called out, then added:

"Let me go persuade the Longspear Company to surrender. As the 'Cobbler's' son said, gaining a stockpile of grain and weapons is to your advantage."

Dany looked down at the dwarf, a faint smile flickering in her violet eyes.

"You may tell the Longspear Company: if they dare burn even one granary, the Mother of Dragons will kill every last one of them."

SKREEEEE! Blackfyre leapt skyward and soared into the night.

That night, the Dragon Queen unleashed her fury, slaughtering mercilessly. Her three dragons chased over ten thousand mercenaries through the darkness.

Tolos had three gates: south, north, and west. The east side was elevated, ending in a seaside cliff with no docks.

The West Camp had been built outside the western gate not because of any large landmass, but due to its proximity to the docks—ideal for maritime transport.

So, once Dany seized control of the sea, the West Camp mercenaries had only one option: flee north—either along the Valyrian Highway to Matalis or off-road into the wilderness.

The Dragon Queen gave chase down the Valyrian Highway. Whenever she saw a torch-lit group, she rained fire upon them. She didn't bother negotiating—she already had. Anyone who'd made it this far had refused surrender. Now it was too late.

By dawn, she had chased them 80 kilometers from the city, nearly reaching Matalis.

All along the way, the road was littered with scorched, blackened corpses.

"Quelo, leave Little White with you to help gather prisoners along the way. Then have the captives clean up the bodies."

Quelo and his 500 light cavalry had ridden hard all night. They hadn't slain many enemies but had captured several thousand surrendering mercenaries.

When Dany returned to the City Lord's mansion, she sat in the bright, spacious hall to eat breakfast. Soon after, Tyrion arrived, his face beaming.

"Your Grace, I've secured the northern warehouses for you—not a single one was torched. At least 300,000 tons of grain, and over a thousand tons of iron ingots."

"There are also 500 brand-new scorpion crossbows and over ten thousand sets of steel swords and iron armor. Especially noteworthy are the five thousand sets of elephant armor prepared specifically for the war elephants," the dwarf said gleefully.

Daenerys swallowed half a boiled egg with a sip of milk and asked, "How did you manage that?"

"I quietly told Missandei not to have anyone deliver the bodies to the North Gate—you only promised to return them, not where to deliver them, right?So, Jack, who had just lost his father, had no choice but to go to the rear courtyard of the city lord's residence, find a cart himself, and wheel his father and the bodies of a few deputy commanders back to the Spear Regiment, huffing and puffing,"

At this point, Tyrion couldn't help but let out a smug chuckle. "I used a time gap to get to the warehouse camp before Jack did, and I told all the mercenaries in the Spear Regiment that their young commander, seeking revenge against the Dragon Queen, intended to perish along with the more than 5,000 members of the regiment and all the supplies in the 20 warehouses."

"Sigh, it seems you know mercenaries all too well," Daenerys mumbled as she chewed on her bacon.

"Of course, otherwise how would I have dealt with Bronn?"

Tyrion shrugged and continued, "The leadership of the Spear Regiment had already been wiped out by your assassins. Originally, they only had 800 lancers. Now their cavalry has doubled, and they didn't even have infantry at first—now they suddenly have 4,000.

All newly recruited in Volantis.

Mercenaries have never had a sense of honor, and the new recruits have no camaraderie with the old commander at all, so naturally, they were unwilling to die under dragonfire.

Even the veteran members—maybe they wanted to avenge their old commander, but they certainly didn't want to perish along with a few sacks of wheat. I made it clear to them that you don't really care about that grain.

Everyone in the world knows that Slaver's Bay is producing grain in abundance. Burning food serves no purpose other than provoking the wrath of a real dragon.

So when the young commander returned to camp, panting and sweating, pushing the cart, what greeted him were his comrades' swords, chains, and my triumphant smile."

"That guy only hates me. He thinks it was all the work of the deformed little demon monkey. As far as he knows, you were completely unaware of what happened. Your honor remains untarnished," the dwarf quickly added.

Daenerys wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked at him meaningfully for a moment before saying, "Fine, I'll let him go. Give him a sack of dry rations and tell him to leave by noon."

"Uh…" Tyrion and Aegon were both stunned.

"You heard about it?" Tyrion asked.

"Heard about what?"

"Then how did you know the lancers of the Spear Regiment made sparing Jack Reha's life a condition of their surrender?" Tyrion asked in astonishment.

"You went to all that trouble just to save that boy, didn't you? Even if the lancers hadn't made it a condition, you would've offered it to them anyway," Daenerys replied calmly.

"Your Grace is wise," Tyrion said awkwardly, touching the place where his nose used to be.

"Aunt Daenerys, how can you let him leave now? Didn't you burn the Raven's Nest precisely to cut off communication between Torlos and the outside world?" Aegon asked in confusion.

"We can't stay in Torlos for long. Traveling on foot, it will take at least three days, maybe longer, to reach Mataris, which is 300 kilometers away," Tyrion said hesitantly.

When faced with major decisions, does the dwarf always act foolishly if personal feelings are involved?As she sipped milk from her glass, Daenerys pondered this silently.

The next morning, around 10 o'clock.

Clear skies.

A light northeast breeze.

From a bird's-eye view, between the northern warehouse district and the southern docks, a river of horse-drawn carts flowed ceaselessly.

Unsullied and Free Wings soldiers, as busy as worker ants, transported grain, furs, and iron ingots from the warehouses to ships bearing the sigil of the True Dragon at the docks.

"Excellent. The Mother of Dragons' troops haven't left yet. They're working hard to transport grain,"

Pierro Valoris put down his spyglass, speaking as if to someone beside him—though there wasn't a soul nearby.

"Mercenaries?"

He muttered and picked up his long-range monocular again to search carefully.

In the area where the western camp used to be, a pigsty-like new encampment had been built. It was filled with captured mercenaries—at least 15,000 of them!

"Lord Banni, the western camp has become a POW camp. Half the mercenaries are here; the rest are either dead or scattered into the wilderness.

If Jack Reha's words are true, I suspect most of them died. The Mother of Demon Dragons slaughtered at least ten thousand people the night before last."

Where are the dragons? Have they spotted you?

There was no voice, but the message echoed clearly in the mind of the son-in-law of Lord Barro.

"I saw them. Three dragons. The white one is circling above the northern part of the city, seemingly on alert for enemies coming from the Valyrian road. Hahaha, Mataris is north of Torlos, but who said we have to approach from the north?"

Laughing "to himself," Pierro continued his report: "The black dragon is circling over the docks, and the green one is lounging on the rooftop of my Black Tower, sunbathing and napping."

Have you seen the woman?

"You want to decapitate her?" Pierro was shocked.

An eye for an eye—use her own methods against her!

"Haha, good, good! She used the same tricks to kill so many of our noble-born allies. It's only right she gets a taste of her own medicine!" Pierro laughed excitedly.

(End of chapter)

Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon

https://patreon.com/Glimmer09

More Chapters