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—
Valyria
Close to a month after he had burned down the fleet of Volantis, with several more ships belonging to different Free Cities appearing on the horizon every day but none daring to approach, he finally saw Asgard's small fleet.
He waited at the docks, which, owing to the way the Dragonlords constructed them, meant they were still in condition to be serviceable. The fleet grew ever closer, and he could count at least forty ships, which meant Tyrion had to have spent a good chunk of his gold to purchase these vessels.
Which was nothing compared to the treasures Valyria held. The Valyrian steel weapons alone could make him the richest man in the known world.
The flagship of the fleet, the Pioneer, docked first, with the crew going mad at seeing Robert.
"Gentlemen, I give you Asgard's one and only demon slayer, myself." Robert pointed at himself with both thumbs, and the crew didn't even wait for the gangplank, jumping into the water or climbing down the side of the ship to reach him.
The men hoisted him on their shoulders, chanting his name to the skies.
Davos, Tyrion, and Sandor were more composed, however, choosing to disembark the traditional way.
"Alright, alright. Put me down; we can celebrate later. There is work to be done now."
"My lord." Tyrion and Davos greeted Robert, while Sandor just grunted.
"Good to see you lot. How are things in Asgard?" With his grandmother close by and the loyalty of the men before him, Robert was sure everything was fine.
"Well enough. Your grandmother is protecting the city as you requested. What of you, my lord? Are you alright?" Tyrion was glad to see the man hale and in one piece.
"Better than alright. Come on, there is a lot to do, and I can tell you about my little adventure while we walk."
—
On the way to see the demon's corpse, Robert regaled the people with the tale of his arrival at Valyria, starting from the walking dead controlled by the spawns of the demon, to the monster he had faced, and finally the Archdemon itself.
"How the fuck did you kill that thing?" Everyone that made it to the shore was watching the corpse that lay on the rubble as if it was a dead god seated on a throne in silence, though Sandor eventually broke it in disbelief about the corpse.
"I jumped off Obelisk and stabbed it in the heart with an improvised Valyrian steel lance in the air." Robert shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.
"I assume the thought of death never crossed you?" Tyrion craned his neck to see the full size of the demon, and while it was smaller than the dragons, the dwarf of Asgard had no doubt it was more powerful.
"It did. I thought the demon would make a great trophy if I killed it." Robert joked, enjoying the moment of glory.
"Of course you did."
"Alright, you can watch all you want back at Asgard. Now listen up." He called out to the workers, his loud voice grabbing their attention like a fishing hook.
"First of all, we are going to make camp, as looting Valyria is going to take time. After that I am going to split you into three groups. The first group will gather all the gold, gems, and jewelry. If you come across any corpses, don't hesitate to take their valuables. They were slavers; no need to treat them with dignity." Robert shouted so his voice could reach everyone in the crowd. Forty ships meant a lot of crew, and even if not all of them were here, there were easily a thousand people listening to him right now.
"The second group will gather all the Valyrian steel items. Everything from weapons and armor to trinkets, statues, and tools. I don't care if it is the seat of a privy; take it if it is Valyrian steel." Since having the Valyrian steel reforged was possible, every single piece of it was valuable.
"The third group will take all the books they come across. If it has writing on it, treat it as if it is your child." With these books translated, Robert could have a great chance at cracking the secrets of the Valyrians.
"Let's go, people; we are burning daylight here."
—
A lot of empty buildings made building a camp an easy affair rather than the hassle it was, and it meant work started the next day.
Cartloads of gold were dragged by horses and men, slowly filling up the holds of the ships. Hundreds of Valyrian steel items were loaded on the Pioneer, ready to fill his armory in Asgard.
Entire libraries were emptied out, and the books were gently carried away so Robert could hopefully figure out the secrets of the Valyrians.
"My lord, we found a gate of Valyrian steel, and we can't open it. Something seems to have warped the metal, and prying it open with manpower isn't really possible." Davos reported his group's little expedition throughout the city already yielded great results; hopefully whatever was behind that door was valuable as well.
Robert frowned, having not discovered any gate; then again, he was more interested in exploring the towers and may well have missed it.
"Show me."
Beneath a tower, through a hidden door that led to a wide underground space, with a gate that seemed to have been bent inward due to an explosion caused by pressure buildup that tore through a wall and left a gaping hole.
Some workers had found the key and were trying to open the door, but the lock was bent inside, and the key did not turn.
"It won't open, my lord." They finally gave up, handing him the Valyrian steel key.
"Alright, see if you can find me Valyrian steel chains, or, failing at that, normal chains. We will try to pull the door off using the dragons."
There were Valyrian steel chains, but they were not long enough to reach all the way out of the tower. Robert decided to have the men widen the entrance and used the thick anchor chains of the ships along with the Valyrian steel ones.
His muscles bulged as he pulled the chain along with the workers, slowly dragging the heavy metal to the hooks inserted into the holes they dug after hours.
Robert dropped the chain, and his men began to connect it to the hooks. With the dragons pulling it, they should be able to rip the door off the wall, provided the chains don't rip apart.
He went outside to order the dragons to pull, and as Obelisk took a step forward, the chain scraped the walls, adding more resistance, but the blue dragon powered through, and after one mighty heave, Robert heard a dull thud.
Walking back to the secret vault or whatever it was, I only saw the workers, along with Davos, who was leading things down here, standing there like statues.
"What? Is it something bad?" He asked, words slowly dying in his mouth as the contents of the vault became clear.
Robert had seen the height of his wealth gathered at a vault in the Iron Bank, and four million gold dragons was a lot.
The amount that lay on the vault before him was way more than that, at least three times, perhaps even more.
"Well, I'll be. Start emptying the vault now."
Too bad he couldn't swim in that gold like Scrooge McDuck.
—
King's Landing
Red Keep
Small Council Chambers
"What did you just say?" Rhaegar asked, not believing what he just heard, thinking, hoping he might have heard the Master of Whispers wrong.
"My birds tell me Robert Baratheon has slain the demon that apparently was responsible for the Doom and has declared Valyria as his. Ships carrying the looted wealth are sailing to Asgard right now." Varys, with his usual jolly tone absent, repeated his words again, sending the Small Council Chambers into silence.
"You cannot be serious." Prince Daeron slammed his fists on the table, rising from his chair with fury before a look from his king stopped him, and he slowly sat back.
"Unfortunately, that is the truth, Your Grace. He intends to have the demon's corpse paraded in his city as a show of force." Varys had plans to kill Robert Baratheon eventually, but now that the man had done something impossible like this, no one was going to agree to assassinate him.
"Did your birds say anything about the wealth itself?" Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King, focused on the more immediate concerns. While the idea that the firstborn of his friend had slain a demon was not lost on him, the wealth Robert possessed now made him a more dangerous man than ever.
"More than thirty ships had arrived, and Robert had ordered the construction of several vaults to store it all." Varys had considered an attack on the city, but not only was Rhaelle Baratheon there with her dragon, so was Slifer, Robert's crimson dragon.
"With the legends of the riches of Old Valyria, even with the most humble estimates, Lord Robert's wealth would be unmatched." Lord Wyman Manderly, the Master of Coin, had wondered how much wealth was hidden in the ruins of Valyria, and he supposed they would all have their answer soon enough.
"What do we do?" Prince Aegon of Summerhall began to consider solutions, but he couldn't think of anything to do that would succeed.
"Stannis is set to marry, so there is nothing we can do. Young Renly, however, we could offer to foster him." Dowager Queen Rhaella would advise her eldest son to marry Shaena to Stannis immediately if it weren't for the fact her eldest daughter was already wed to Jaime Lannister. Perhaps if they could build a friendship between Viserys and Renly, that could keep Robert in check, as he wouldn't want to harm the friend of his dear little brother.
Hopefully.
"Provided Lord Steffon agrees. He refused Lord Tyrell's offer." Lord Commander Gerold Hightower was as well versed in politics as he was with the sword, though none, he wagered, would be particularly useful against the dragons.
The Master of Laws just frowned at the mention of it. He was sure Steffon Baratheon would agree; Mace had made an incredible offer, after all, but the Lord of Storm's End had seen it fit to refuse.
"We are kin, not some distant house; perhaps we could remind Steffon of that." Rhaella knew Aerys and Rhaegar's actions had eroded the goodwill between the two houses, but Steffon was still loyal.
"That is not going to solve the problem, merely delay it. With that amount of wealth in his hand, Robert could do more than just build a city." Rhaegar finally found his voice again, rubbing his head as the King of the Seven Kingdoms felt a headache coming.
"That is not all, Your Grace."
"More bad news, Lord Varys?" The Master of Ships, Jon Connington of Griffin's Roost, and a close friend of King Rhaegar, was as disturbed by the news as the king and only hoped the diary he had stolen would be of some help.
Otherwise a clash between House Targaryen and Robert Baratheon would be inevitable, and the chances of victory did not seem high.
"Yes. Robert's dragons seem to have grown stronger." Varys had sent a lot of letters to verify the news, and the destruction Volantis faced showed that they were facts.
"Stronger how?" Aegon did not like the sound of that at all, as if Robert having dragons wasn't enough.
"They have grown two more wings and legs, Your Grace, and their flames have become fiercer. Volantis sent three hundred ships, a good number armed with scorpions, yet Lord Robert seems to have destroyed them without any difficulty." News of Volantis' defeat had sent the Free Cities into a frenzy, as Braavos was now in a stronger position than ever before and was threatening the metaphorical throne of the First Daughter.
"Any survivors?" Rhaegar would curse Robert to the deepest part of the seven hells if he thought it would actually work, but all he could do now was to see if the information was true.
"One, your grace."
"One ship?" Jon could understand the idea of letting a single ship leave as a message, and he would do the same himself.
"No, just one person, a ship captain, who had dived down deep enough to escape the onslaught. His account of the attack says the dragons brushed off the scorpion bolts, and their flames burned down several ships at once." The man was half mad, starving, thirsty, and sick but swore up and down it was the truth, and his little birds had seen the dragons in person and vouched for the physical changes.
"How did that happen?" Lyanna Stark, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, asked, still in a state of dread after hearing the news, and felt nauseous due to the stress.
"Fortunately, Lord Robert did not keep it a secret, as apparently his dragons feasted on the heart of the demon and gained some of its powers." Varys was somewhat well versed in magic, but dragons eating the heart of a demon and growing in power? That was news to him.
He would have to consult sorcerers.
"What else did he say about this demon?" Mace dreaded the idea of Robert Baratheon bringing a demon—even if it was the corpse of one—to Westeros, but just like everyone else in the chambers, he had no way to do anything about it.
"His tale claims that a Valyrian had summoned the demon after failing to convince the Dragonlords to abandon slavery. The ritual was not completed before it was discovered and the summoner killed, so the demon destroyed Valyria to save what was left of the ritual. Robert Baratheon completed the ritual with a twist, causing the demon to be summoned in a much weaker form, and has slain it in combat by stabbing it in the heart while on dragonback." Too bad the man didn't die while committing insane stunts like that, Varys thought.
"I have read about Princess Aerea and how she was infected with creatures after going to Valyria." Rhaegar's obsession over the history of his house and the Dragonlords of Old Valyria is well known to everyone in the chambers, though not many knew about Princess Aerea herself.
"Yes, it turns out they were the spawn of the demon and required live humans to grow; however, the abominations could also control the corpses of the dead Valyrians and tried to swarm Lord Robert. He dealt with the swarm and was then confronted by a fully grown spawn of the demon, an eight-foot-long monster with wings and an appearance that was a combination of human and serpent."
"He slayed it too, I assume?" Aegon asked rhetorically, as his cousin seemed to enjoy doing the impossible.
"Yes, my prince."
"Anything else regarding Robert?" Tywin was making plans to take down Robert Baratheon, though nothing short of having him killed when he was least expecting it seemed like the only option, but how to do it still eluded him.
"None at this time."
"Fucking wonderful. He is looting the ancestral home of our family, and there is nothing we can do to stop him." Daeron spat out. Robert seemed to add more to the Targaryen prince's hate every day.
This was a grim and dark day for the House of the Dragon indeed.
"There is, however, one piece of news you might find interesting."
"Stop playing around, Lord Varys." Queen Rhaella was not in the mood for games after all the revelations.
"It appears House Baratheon is going to have another member soon."