Duncan Tarth's smile froze instantly. He lowered his proud head and replied in a low voice,"My lord, I interrogated four of Illyrio's personal attendants and two of his lovers. I have confirmed that the three fossilized dragon eggs he collected came from the former Sealord of Braavos."
It seemed that, in A Song of Ice and Fire, Illyrio had lied to Daenerys and the others after all.
Galedun frowned slightly. Though he had long expected this, he still felt disappointed—yet also a little relieved.
This was not hard to understand.
Pentos and Braavos were much like a certain island nation and its American 'father' from his previous life.
If the boss of a conglomerate from that island nation stole a family heirloom from a former U.S. president, would you expect him to commit seppuku on his own—or wait for Uncle Sam's soldiers to come knocking at his door?
Dragon eggs were simply far too precious!
In the original story, Jorah had no idea Daenerys could hatch dragons and once advised her to trade the dragon eggs for a ship—an absolute waste of a priceless treasure!
"This has truly put you in a difficult position, teacher," Galedun said, feeling a trace of guilt as he tried to comfort him."All honor and all sin shall belong to Morninglight! Besides, you did this as a sacrifice for the family."
Duncan Tarth was a true knight—upright and humble—who took pride in pursuing the noble spirit of the legendary Kingsguard, Ser Duncan the Tall.
By forcing his teacher to secretly investigate the origins of the three dragon eggs, it was inevitable that some cruel interrogation methods would be used along the way.
This was something the old man never wished to see, let alone personally carry out. It was likely that he would feel ashamed for the rest of his life.
"For Morninglight! For Tarth! I am willing to give my life! But I have lived without shame—I fear only losing a knight's honor!"
The old man's expression finally eased a little. He lifted the hot soup and took a sip.
"Teacher, rest assured. There will be no more orders like this," Galedun promised solemnly."You've worked hard on this journey. Finish the soup and go back to rest."
"Yes," the old man nodded in reply.
Standing behind him, Eagle-Eye hesitated to speak. That bowl of hot soup had been arranged by his own orders—and it contained a small amount of active medicinal agents.
Galedun watched the old man's hunched back disappear through the doors of the great hall, his heart filled with guilt.
The origin of the dragon eggs was simply too important.
It determined whether Daenerys was the Mother of Valyrian Dragons—or the Mother of Dragons of the entire world!
These two seemingly similar identities held completely different value to Galedun.
If it were the latter, he would stop at nothing to seize control of Daenerys—even if it meant becoming an enemy of powerful gods!
This world possessed ancient great dragons and lesser dragons, ice dragons and sea dragons, as well as subspecies like ordinary wyverns and firewyrms.
Valyrian great dragons were a dragon breed created by the Valyrians through forbidden magic, combining wyverns and firewyrms with the power of the gods themselves.
Even if the Zhinao deduced that this was a forbidden spell engraved into the very laws of the world, it still could not change the gap between Valyrian dragons and true great dragons.
It was like this—
In the age before the Red Comet appeared, in the current era where Valyrian dragons had completely vanished,
Sailors along the northern shores of the Shivering Sea had still seen traces of ice dragons in activity. Beyond the Wall, the Night King had already transformed large numbers of Others.
Five years ago, Galedun had once seen an ice island along the northern coast of the Shivering Sea—an island that did not melt in the blazing sun. It was breathtakingly beautiful, gleaming like crystal ice diamonds under the sunlight.
But after that, while cultivating the True Nether Meditation Technique in his cabin, Galedun suddenly spat out a mouthful of reversed blood for no apparent reason. His brow throbbed violently, his heart felt as though it had been tightly seized and abruptly stopped, and his entire body turned cold—his limbs icy as if he had fallen into a frozen abyss.
If the Zhinao had not activated emergency management protocols and taken over, injecting him with stimulating life-saving drugs, Galedun might have died from sudden cardiac arrest!
In the distant Shadow Lands of Asshai, and even across the continent of Sothoryos, true dragons and magic had never disappeared.
Based on extensive theoretical analysis, the Zhinao concluded that Valyrian dragons were born of magic and thus extremely dependent on magical energy to sustain their lives and draconic traits.
When the tide of magical energy receded and magic became scarce, the dragons were the first to lose the energy required to maintain life, leading to their premature extinction.
When the Red Comet appeared, symbolizing the return of magical energy, this rule ensured that any remaining dragon eggs would draw the greatest concentration of magic from the continent—or even the entire world—allowing them to be born first.
Blood and fire share the same origin!
Daenerys's bloodline power was the key that activated this rule.
This caused the world's supernaturals to develop a mistaken understanding, all believing that dragons brought magic into the world.
After all, as long as it was a magical dragon—regardless of the breed—it was still top-tier combat power!
Now that it had been proven Daenerys was merely the Mother of Valyrian Dragons, Galedun finally breathed a sigh of relief. At least he no longer needed to offend the gods who treated Daenerys as a chess piece.
...
Near the intersection where the first, second, and third piers of Twilight Hall climbed toward the castle, there lay a small plain roughly three times the size of a training field.
The Zhinao immediately planned this area into a commercial street named Freedom.
The location was simply too perfect—it also happened to lie near the crossroads leading from the docks to the brewery, paper and printing works, sugar refinery, and porcelain factory.
Even better, when viewed from the castle towers or the small hills on either side, the area appeared as open plain.
But to enter the island from the plain, one would either encounter waterfalls and sheer cliffs blocking the way, or wide-open roads where, from any slightly elevated point, every passerby could be counted at a glance.
On the concrete avenue leading from the First Pier to Freedom Commercial Street, Tycho Nestoris, representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos, surveyed the scene ahead. Not far away, single-track railways stretched across the land, with enormous carts loaded with goods moving along them.
"A very ingenious design," Tycho said. "One goes up, one goes down. It seems no additional power is needed."
"Thank you for the praise, Mr. Tycho!"
Beside him, a plain-looking young man—the tax officer of Tarth's city hall—spoke eagerly.
"The raw materials transported to the commercial street are relatively light, so power is still required. Each pulley unit needs an additional two horses to pull it!"
The female clerk from the Bank of Tarth, who had been squeezed behind him, couldn't help rolling her eyes.
This official had completely missed the point. The tax department only supervised the bank's commercial activities. She was the one actually responsible for receiving the Iron Bank's representative.
What shocked Tycho even more was the sheer amount of iron required to build multiple railways stretching thousands of meters, directly connecting the docks to the mid-slope of the island.
At least a hundred tons.
Just how many blacksmiths did Tarth Island have, forging iron day and night?
He could be certain—Tarth Island possessed advanced technology for large-scale iron production!
Judging by the amount of iron used to lay the tracks, it would be enough to equip a standard knightly order of a thousand men. This already amounted to half of Braavos's annual iron output.
Braavos must obtain Tarth Island's iron-smelting technology!
Tycho etched this firmly into his mind, while maintaining a gentle smile on his face."While I was still aboard the ship, I hoped to pay a visit to Lord Twilight Star. I wonder if Mr. Koda could arrange that?"
"Mr. Tycho jokes," the tax officer Koda replied. "I'm only a tax official. Today, I'm merely here to witness the negotiations between the Bank of Tarth and the Iron Bank. Please consult the diplomat responsible for foreign affairs on Tarth Island."
As if recalling something unpleasant, Koda ground his teeth slightly as he refused. He then waved his hand, summoning a refined four-wheeled carriage from the dedicated lane, slowly approaching them.
"This is a special carriage prepared for you by Mr. Lundin. Let's head up first."
"Mr. Tycho, please get in," the Bank of Tarth's female clerk said with a professional smile."Our president, Mr. Lundin, has been waiting for you for quite some time."
Merchants arriving at the docks were guided onto Freedom Avenue through long red-lacquered corridors on either side—joined together like passageways, with railings taller than a man.
The spot where Tycho and the others stood was the first pavilion along the corridor, where they could board the first "special carriage" coming down from the commercial street.
Tycho did not step into the carriage immediately. He temporarily set aside the question of how to leverage his bargaining chips to obtain Tarth Island's iron-smelting technology.
Turning around, he looked back and saw that in every pavilion behind them, squads of four Unsullied were conducting compulsory body searches. He inexplicably felt targeted.
Especially when he noticed that inside the pavilions, those handsome men and beautiful women—the so-called "smiling guides"—were intimately kissing each merchant, whispering into their ears, occasionally pinching their cheeks in a flirtatious manner. It looked like teasing, yet also like some form of verification.
"Th-this place is simply…!"
"This is practically a forbidden ground for the Faceless Men. Yet those five lords managed to enter the island after passing even trials I couldn't withstand. What, then, caused them to be exposed and publicly executed?"
At that thought, Tycho shuddered slightly.
"Mr. Tycho?"
The Bank of Tarth's female clerk, already seated in the carriage, urged him again.
"Thank you, beautiful lady!"
He dared not think further.
He had come to Tarth Island only to represent the Iron Bank in commercial negotiations with the Bank of Tarth, and to ease the tense relationship between Braavos and Tarth.
Inside the second pavilion along the corridor, the captain of the Laurel Wind, Ku Hulu Mo, clutched tightly the identity certificate jointly issued by the Dock Dispatch Center and the Tarth Merchant Guild. He squeezed toward the exit with his daughter amid the surging crowd.
As a merchant who had already traded with the Tarth Merchant Guild ten times, with no record of default or malicious disturbances, he was now qualified to apply as a reserve member of the guild.
At the same time, he no longer required guidance from a "smiling guide." After being teased a few times, he easily passed the Unsullied squad and boarded a carriage bound for Freedom Street.
Inside the carriage, a group of self-proclaimed "upper-class" whites suddenly found themselves joined by two pitch-black Africans. They were immediately isolated.
...
The fully completed English PDF of this fan-fic is now available on my Patreon shop.If you want to support my work and enjoy the entire story in one go, grab the PDF and binge-read it from start to finish without any breaks.
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Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
"Game of Thrones: Political Life"
"Game of Thrones: Holy Flame"
"The Game of Thrones Upgrade System"
"Game of Thrones: Lannister Kingdom"
"Game of Thrones: Godzilla vs. Dragons"
"Game of Thrones: Ruler of the Deep Seas "
"Game of Thrones The Glory of a Knight"
"Game of Thrones: The Most Powerful Dragon Queen"
" Game of Thrones: From the Elden Lord to the Young Wolf"
"Game of Thrones: Rise of a Lord with the Army-Building System"
(End Chapter)