Upon hearing Earl Geord's words, the hall immediately fell silent. Currently, the Iron Fleet had only a little over a hundred ships, most of which were old ships repaired after battle damage from years ago. There were less than forty new ships. Even if all the ships from the other island lords were combined, the total number of ships barely exceeded three hundred, a number completely incomparable to the incoming fleet.
Moreover, what was more important was that the losses from that battle years ago were too severe, and Euron had plundered a group of people. Even after all these years, the Ironborn had not recovered, and there were not many qualified sailors. However, Asha's sailors were all elite warriors who had followed her across the Summer Sea over the years. The difference in strength between the two sides was simply too great.
At this moment, Elin Oakhart, the patriarch of the Oakhart family from Orkmont, suddenly spoke, "Don't forget, Asha's ship also has an artifact of the storm god. My people said that artifact can control storms."
In the past, Elin Oakhart greatly feared and respected Euron Greyjoy. Under this emotion, he was also a supporter of Euron. When Euron fled back to the Iron Islands that year, he received manpower support from Elin, which enabled him to plunder the Iron Islands.
However, as Euron was defeated by Asha and chased by her like prey, his reverence for Euron shifted to Asha. Now that Asha was returning to contend for the position of King of the Iron Islands, he naturally supported her greatly, but he deliberately kept it hidden, wanting to act as Asha's insider.
Upon hearing Elin Oakhart's words, the hall immediately began to buzz with discussion. Everyone knew how significant it would be to control storms at sea. Asha's warriors and ships already far outnumbered the Iron Fleet, and now with an artifact that could control storms, no one present saw any chance of victory in this battle.
"The storm god is the sworn enemy of the drowned god. We absolutely cannot allow his followers to set foot on our land!" At this moment, Aeron Damphair suddenly stood up and shouted to everyone, "This is not just a war for the Lord of the Iron Islands, but also a war between the drowned god and the storm god, we…"
Before Aeron Damphair could finish speaking, someone directly interrupted him, saying, "The storm god can give Asha an artifact to control storms and help her fight. So, Aeron, tell me, what help can the drowned god provide us? Can he send a few sea monsters to help us?"
Damphair glared angrily at the speaker. The person who said this was Sha Wen Boteli, Lord of Lordsport. He was not a potential ally of Asha. The reason he said this was purely directed at Aeron Damphair.
Because when Robert burned down Lordsport that year, he wanted to rebuild it, but all his men were transferred by Aeron Damphair, under the name of the drowned god, to repair Pyke, which resulted in his Lordsport still not being fully repaired, with most areas still in ruins. He was also mocked as the Lord of Ruins.
Therefore, he hated Aeron Damphair greatly and consequently disliked the Greyjoy family. In his opinion, there was no need for them to participate in this internal struggle of the Greyjoy family; they could simply be spectators.
In fact, most people present had similar thoughts. In their view, no matter who won this internal struggle of the Greyjoy family, the ultimate result would still be a Greyjoy becoming the Lord of the Iron Islands, with no change. If they got involved, no matter the outcome, they would be the ones to suffer losses.
"Can't you hear the sound of the waves? That is the drowned god roaring, it is…" Aeron Damphair angrily retorted.
"That's just the sound of waves, nothing more." Sha Wen Boteli felt even happier watching Aeron Damphair's exasperated expression and said, "And what right do you have to represent the drowned god!"
The hall instantly fell silent. Everyone looked at Sha Wen Boteli in surprise, not understanding why he said that, because Aeron Damphair was the recognized priest of the drowned god.
"What did you say?" The look in Aeron Damphair's eyes turned frantic. He rushed in front of Sha Wen Boteli and pressed his forehead against his, saying, "You dare to question me…"
"I have never questioned your faith in the drowned god," Sha Wen Boteli interrupted Aeron Damphair for the third time, and pushed back without fear, saying, "But I know someone who is more qualified than you to represent the drowned god's will: Dagmer Cleftjaw. Don't forget, he has a pet of the drowned god by his side. That was given to him by the drowned god. He is truly blessed by the drowned god, and you? You are just a self-righteous madman."
"No! I am the drowned god's priest, I am the drowned god's favored one!" Aeron Damphair completely lost his sanity, reaching out and directly grabbing Sha Wen Boteli's neck, trying to strangle him.
The people around naturally wouldn't just watch Aeron Damphair do this. They immediately stepped forward to try and pull him away, but no matter how much they pulled, it had no effect. Ultimately, Balon Greyjoy directly knocked him unconscious and broke his fingers to rescue Sha Wen Boteli from his grasp. However, by then, Sha Wen Boteli had already started rolling his eyes and only recovered after being heavily pounded on the chest a few times.
This meeting had now become a farce. Although Aeron Damphair had converted to the drowned god, he was still a Greyjoy. Now, a Greyjoy had openly tried to strangle a lord in plain sight, which was no longer a simple argument.
The Greyjoy family had to give an explanation to the lords present, otherwise, if Aeron Greyjoy could kill Sha Wen Boteli this time, then next time, any one of them could be killed by him.
However, Balon could not possibly punish his brother. Besides the fact that Aeron Damphair was himself a priest of the drowned god, more importantly, Sha Wen Boteli was clearly provoking Aeron just now. This made him feel it was a trap aimed at the Greyjoy family. If he punished Aeron at this time, it would only make people think that King Balon had become weak.
Thinking of this, Balon gave no opportunity for the others to continue thinking and discussing. He said in a deep voice, "You all go back, prepare your ships. Tomorrow, gather at the Iron Fleet. We will have a decisive battle with Asha at sea."
Upon hearing Balon's decision, everyone was stunned. They had been summoned for a meeting, but they hadn't discussed a result, or even how to distribute the battle after gathering. He was just telling them to bring their ships over, which completely bewildered them.
"What? Do you have an opinion?" Balon stared at everyone present without ceremony.
The crowd said no more, all indicating that they would immediately summon their warships, and then left the hall one after another.
After the lords left, Victarion eagerly said, "They won't honestly fight with us; joining will only cause trouble for our Iron Fleet."
"I know." Balon shook his head, saying with an incredibly weary expression, "Do you think we have a chance to win?"
Victarion looked at Balon and suddenly felt that at this moment, Balon seemed to have aged a lot, like an ordinary old man, not like the strong seaman who could face storms in his memory.
Victarion composed himself and said in a deep voice, "Although Asha's fleet is numerous, we are not without a chance. We only need to directly sink Asha's flagship. Without command, those ships will fall into disarray, and we will be able to turn the tide."
Balon was silent for a moment, then asked, "Does Asha's entire fleet obey Asha's orders?"
Victarion was stunned, and quickly realized why Balon asked that. Clearly, although Asha was the Commander of her own fleet, these fleets did not belong to Asha; she was just a Commander. The true controller of the fleet was Linde Terra, who was regarded as the storm god's incarnation. He was the core of the fleet. Even if Asha's flagship was sunk, a new Commander would take over, replacing Asha in commanding the fleet, and there would be no disarray as Victarion hoped.
Balon clearly already had the answer in his heart. He stood up from the throne, his eyes shining with an astonishing light, and said, "I also want to see how strong that Sea Hag is, who chased Euron all over the place!"
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