Rhaegar stood on a flat roof a short distance away, watching the chaotic situation in front of the Bacchus Fountain. The crowd that had been watching the commotion earlier had long since scattered, fleeing the bloody scene.
Both factions were at daggers drawn. The Archon had four hundred guards, and Governor Dario had even more, but his forces were a motley crew—a patchwork coalition. If it came to a real fight, they would not have any advantage.
"Both sides have their concerns!" Rhaegar thought. If they were to fight regardless of the cost, the soldiers would have charged wildly without needing a shield wall. It was just that there were some Tyroshi dignitaries, merchants, as well as people from Myr and Lys around Governor Dario, making them hesitant to strike abruptly.
Rhaegar noted the posture of the guard detachment; the shield wall was in front, and the crossbowmen on horseback were in the rear, which was very advantageous. The Archon still held the title of the Archon. However, it took a great deal of courage and nerve to make the hard decision to wipe out such an opposition group.
Armor clashed, and the soldiers shouted, but they did not attack.
Someone came riding from behind the cavalry, and the Archon of Tyrosh, with purple hair and a purple beard, wearing bright purple armor, appeared on the scene.
"Governor Dario, you have gone too far!" The Archon held a riding crop, pointing it at Governor Dario.
"Archon, please listen to the call of the people!" Governor Dario replied without showing any weakness. "In Tyrosh, at the Bacchus Fountain, at the docks, at the Weeping Tower, by the Black Wall, by the coast, everywhere in Tyrosh! Women, men, sailors, warriors, everyone is calling out in anger. Everyone is asking one question: What is our Archon doing? He is afraid of the little dragon spawn and his three dragons, and he would rather abandon Tyrosh's claim to the Stepstones and discard the traditional friendship with Lys and Myr. In the good old days, we destroyed the dragonlords' rule and enjoyed our freedom."
"I am neither deaf nor dumb, Dario! We did have some friendship with Lys and Myr, but that friendship completely vanished after the naval battles. How many years have we fought and clawed at each other? How many years have the Third Daughter fought? You know better than I do, Dario. I will consider the overall situation of Tyrosh, rather than let Tyrosh fall into the abyss of war again because of vanity and the incitement of certain people, letting the widows of Tyrosh weep again. I have not taken a single penny of private profit from the treaty with the Iron Throne; on the contrary, it is you, Dario, who knows exactly how much gold you have collected from the people of Lys and Myr," the Archon replied coldly.
"Lies!" "Cowardice!" "You are not fit to be the Archon of Tyrosh; you are just a puppet of the Targaryen brat, you are a coward." A wave of opposition rose from Governor Dario's camp, and his supporters remained relentless. "Take up your weapons, Archon, restart the war, and retake the Stepstones!"
"If Tyrosh is plunged into the flames of war again because of the stupidity of certain people, then you are the greatest warmonger, Dario!" The Archon shouted angrily.
"We stand with the people of Lys and the people of Myr. As long as you are willing, we can organize a hundred warships to crush that brat who calls himself the Protector of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea. We have killed dragons before, and we can do it again!" Governor Dario roared angrily. "Start the war! Archon!"
The situation had become white-hot. Rhaegar stood far away on the top of a building, watching the biting below. In the inner city of Tyrosh, it was easy to find a low-lying flat roof, and Rhaegar was not conspicuous. The blue-haired Piper, the eager leopard.
The situation became increasingly chaotic; the flames of war might explode in the next second.
Rhaegar noticed the rear row of Governor Dario's party. A mercenary disguised as a Myrish merchant had already aimed a crossbow at the Archon. His position was very hidden and tricky, and the arrow had a faint blue glow; it was poisoned. The Myrish man, with his olive skin and slender build, was very easy to recognize.
As long as the Archon died, the great chaos that the people of Lys and Myr wanted would come immediately.
"Whoosh!" The sound of the arrow piercing the air rang out. The arrow went straight through the mercenary's throat. The mercenary was stunned for a moment; was there someone faster than him? His crossbow fired again, but it fell limp due to lack of strength. The mercenary did not bring death; death took the mercenary. He clutched his throat and choked to death on his own hot blood.
The mercenary stumbled and fell to the ground, making a dull thud.
"Assassins!"
"Assassins!" The person on the roof had disappeared; Rhaegar had changed positions. The Dragonbone Longbow could shoot four hundred yards; it was the world's strongest bow. After Rhaegar exerted his strength, he shot and killed the mercenary with one arrow. He threw the longbow back into his bronze ring. The arrow was just an ordinary one; no one would know where it came from. Rhaegar hesitated for a moment; in fact, with his first arrow, he could have completely shot and killed Dario, but that would have caused the situation to collapse completely.
Rhaegar thought of the Faceless Men. The Faceless Men possessed magical abilities that allowed them to change their appearance at will. Rhaegar felt that they might also have some kind of rune or magic, and he wanted to study it.
The first drop of blood from the civil war thus fell.
"Someone is trying to assassinate the Archon!" Seeing the corpse lying on the ground and the arrow that had fallen into the open space from the mercenary who had died struggling, the Archon's guards reacted and pressed forward murderously. The Archon was tied to their military pay; how could they dare to let someone assassinate their purse?
The Archon felt a little creepy, his body seemingly touched by cold fingers. Was there divine protection in the dark? If it weren't for the hidden archer, he would definitely have been assassinated. But he looked around and could not see the distant master archer.
"Kill them all." The guards charged up grimly, their sharp swords and armor emitting a bright cold light.
Governor Dario retreated. His death-defying mercenaries gritted their teeth and stepped forward. The two sides fought into a ball, blood flowing like a river, and angry curses rang out.
The sounds of charging and fighting also began to ring out. The penetration of close-range arrows was as lethal as a thrown spear.
The street turned into blood, a place where shouts and the sound of steel clashing converged.
The Archon's guard detachment rushed up, ruthlessly harvesting Governor Dario's death-defying soldiers. The crowd fell like wheat, one crop after another. They had the advantage in equipment, and killing the enemy was like splitting bamboo.
"The High Priest is here!" Someone shouted, and both sides of the civil war stopped attacking.
"Stop it, all of you!" A trembling old man walked out. He was tall, his hair had turned completely white, and his bright purple clothes bore the symbol of the three-headed god. "If you are still willing to give this old man some face, I do not want you to level the city of Tyrosh for me."
"High Priest!"
"High Priest!" Both sides stopped.
Rhaegar watched the old man from afar; he seemed to be a high priest of the Temple of the three-headed god in Tyrosh.
"Great High Priest!"
"Great High Priest!" Both the Archon and Governor Dario shouted.
Theocratic power was also a part of Tyrosh's power. Although the priests of the Temple of the three-headed god in Tyrosh rarely came out, when they spoke, the believers would still go crazy for it.
"State your needs! Governor Dario." The High Priest asked.
"War or peace is the key issue for Tyrosh. It's simple: join the alliance of the Third Daughter and start a war against the Stepstones. If that doesn't work, I suggest convening a Council of Governors to achieve joint governance by the governors and discuss this matter together!" Governor Dario said.
"When eating, it's not very good for three people to eat one sausage! I would rather eat alone!" The Archon snorted coldly. This was Tyrosh; the Council of Governors had to yield to the Archon.
"Tolerance! Peace! Ceasefire! If any of you start a war publicly again, you will be an enemy of the three-headed god!" The High Priest said.
The Tyroshi fell silent. After a while, the leaders of each side walked over and knelt down to kiss the priest's ring.
Both sides gathered the bodies of their dead and ceased fighting for the time being.
Theocracy, monarchy, external enemies. The situation in Tyrosh was getting more and more interesting, Rhaegar thought.
Tyrosh seemed to be soaked in a layer of mist, and he would act as a hidden dragon.
The dragon in the mist, hidden among the reefs and sea fog, would not reveal its figure easily.
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