Inside the central command tent of the military camp on Rolas's main island, a detailed topographical map of the Rolas islands hung prominently.
Nick and Hawkeye stood before the map, briefing over a hundred mid- and lower-level commanders of the First Legion on the deployment for exploring the labyrinth.
"...The labyrinth almost occupies the entire underground of Rolas, but what we are looking for is a special kind of black stone..."
"We already know there's something seriously wrong with Rolas's ecology. The islands and reefs in Rolas Bay are barren and lifeless, yet they attract massive schools of fish, and sea beast packs constantly roam the surrounding waters..."
"It can be inferred that they're being drawn here by the magical energy radiation emitted by the black stone we're searching for. We're not certain how much harm this radiation causes to the human body at close range, or whether it might trigger mutations in animals..."
"...After the suicide squad escorts the death-row prisoners into the labyrinth, every hundred meters they advance, they must take turns pulling back on the iron chain to check the prisoners' condition. If anything abnormal occurs, mark the location on the map and retreat immediately..."
"...The remains of the labyrinth's builders include enormous skeletal bones. They may be descendants of giants. However, they've long since gone extinct. You must make this absolutely clear to the soldiers—do not panic, and do not randomly sound the alarm..."
"..."
"Now," Nick said at last, "does anyone still have questions?"
He lifted his visor, revealing a square, sharply defined face, and asked the group calmly.
He had worked closely with the First Legion for a long time and could basically call every knight-commander by name.
Inside the tent, the commanders looked up blankly. Although the First Legion had learned back on Tarth Island that they would be exploring a labyrinth and had made some psychological preparations, now that the moment had truly arrived, many of them were still harboring fear.
There were even a few landowning knights from the former Tarth families who still didn't understand what the word "radiation" meant. They only knew it was something extremely dangerous.
"This is your first time exploring a relic. It's fine if you lack experience—don't be afraid. Be bold and take it on."
Hawkeye couldn't stand it anymore and sharply reprimanded them.
"I'll make this clear to you. From now on, the First Legion will be assigned even more missions to explore ancient ruins."
Hearing this, the commanders trembled, lowered their heads, and didn't dare to argue back.
Seeing this, Nick gave the order. "If there are no more questions, then you may leave."
With a rush of noise, the commanders rose as if granted amnesty and crowded their way out of the tent. An enraged Hawkeye was simply too terrifying—those golden eyes of his felt like arrows that could kill with a glance.
"Look at them! Knights are supposed to be fearless! How can this level of courage live up to the commander's expectations?"
Hawkeye grew even angrier and complained to Nick.
"Isn't this exactly why we're sending them out to train and see blood?" Nick smiled and tried to placate him. "That's what the commander means too—if you haven't seen blood, you can't be considered a qualified soldier."
As the two were talking, Ser Duncan entered the tent with his head lowered.
Nick quickly changed the subject and asked, "My lord, any good news?"
Duncan glanced at the still-fuming Hawkeye and replied with a sigh, "Ah… the true faith of the Blind God disappeared long ago. The oral traditions passed down among the remaining dozen or so priests and believers—we've already deciphered all of it."
"Then it's only the black stone," Nick said without surprise.
Years ago, the commander had already investigated Rolas together with them and uncovered a few clues.
They had originally hoped that by fully winning over the hearts of Rolas's seventy-odd thousand inhabitants this time, they could dig up some crucial information from the local elders.
"And the dragon eggs," Hawkeye added. "The two dragon eggs obtained by the Governor's Council were probably taken into the labyrinth by those remaining rebels."
Rolas had long since been blockaded by the Tarth fleet.
The fishing fleets could only operate within Rolas Bay and were unable to break through the blockade. Yet when they struck against the Governor's Council, they failed to find the dragon eggs that had previously been presented to the council.
All three of them suspected that the surviving rebels had taken the dragon eggs into the labyrinth.
Dragon eggs were precious—but in the Free Cities, many families possessed dragon eggs as collectibles, all of them dead eggs, including the two acquired by the Governor's Council.
Galedon had even studied the two dragon eggs together with the Think Brain for over a month before sending them back to Rolas.
The credit value of Tarth was worth more than hundreds or even thousands of dragon eggs!
"Once we enter the labyrinth, we'll search carefully," Ser Duncan said, straightening his chest, clearly about to volunteer to personally lead the team into the labyrinth.
Seeing the old man's eager expression, Nick hurriedly said, "My lord, there's been a bit of trouble with recruiting sailors for the fleet. We need you to preside over it."
Over these four months, the officials had been running around nonstop, barely touching the ground. Nick and Hawkeye were also responsible for forming the Second Legion and expanding the fleet.
Pulling age-appropriate recruits back to Tarth Island for training could also ease the later governance workload on Rolas for the City Hall, the Department of Justice, and the other major institutions.
The captains of the Tarth fleet—including the Valyrian warship Valyrian, commanded by the later-defecting Salado Saan—did not want to recruit sailors on Rolas at all.
The captains preferred to recruit pirates—and even then, they couldn't recruit enough!
The sailors of the Rolas fishing fleets were withdrawn and timid, and very few could adapt to long-distance voyages.
"Only you have enough prestige to leave the captains with no room to complain, and to properly train the new sailors!"
Nick even shot a look at his partner. Hawkeye immediately understood and cooperated seamlessly, complaining to Ser Duncan as well:
"That's right, my lord! I've already reprimanded several captains. No matter how hard it is, it's nothing compared to the five thousand soldiers the Second Legion is going to draw away."
"They only need to recruit two thousand sailors—we're already being very considerate!"
The composition of the Tarth fleet was extremely complex: landed subjects, hired sailors, former slaves turned subjects, and prisoners. Among the prisoners, there were captives from the Rolas navy as well as from the royal fleet.
These people were all mixed together across different ships, which truly tested a captain's leadership ability.
"Uh~!"
Ser Duncan was a bit stunned. Old as he was, he was sharp as ever—how could he not have noticed the two bodyguard knights exchanging looks?
"Fine," he said at last. "I'll go urge the captains on."
With both knights speaking like this, he couldn't very well make things difficult for them.
...
The Riverlands, at a large manor not far from Riverrun.
Tall and powerfully built, Victarion Greyjoy gripped his massive axe and led nearly a thousand ironborn as they charged straight to the manor gates. With a single ferocious swing, the axe tore through the air with a howling sound, instantly hacking a hole into the two-man-tall wooden doors.
Wood chips flew everywhere. Several chunks bounced off the kraken-shaped great helm on his head and slid down. He could already clearly hear the terrified screams from behind the gate.
"Bang—! Bang—!"
Victarion burst into loud laughter and swung his axe with even greater force.
Inside the manor courtyard, a young minor noble led three knights and four to five hundred peasants, all trembling as they clutched various pieces of worthless weaponry. Some of the smaller farmers had even been given nothing more than palm-sized knives and forks.
They were too afraid—so afraid that they didn't dare climb onto the two-meter-high low wall to fight a defensive battle. Instead, they huddled together like sheep hiding in a pen, listening to the howls of wolves outside, terrified beyond measure.
"Boom—!"
With a single kick, the gate was blasted open. Victarion charged into the courtyard, and upon seeing the scene, his grin instantly turned savage.
"Hahahaha! Just you bunch of weaklings—and you dare resist?"
Like a fierce tiger plunging into a flock of sheep, he was unstoppable. The door-panel-sized great axe whirled wildly, and in an instant, blood sprayed everywhere in the courtyard, severed limbs flying in all directions.
The white granite walls of the manor were dyed red, as if a mad artist had splashed them with blood-colored ink.
The flimsy defense the young noble had barely managed to organize was torn apart in seconds, exposing nearly a hundred elderly people, women, and children inside the manor hall.
"Kill—!!"
"Charge! That woman's mine—I'll be first!"
"..."
Behind Victarion, the ferocious ironborn, seeing this, were like cats smelling blood, like packs of wolves scrambling over one another as they surged into the "sheep pen," tearing into two-legged mutton.
In an instant, the fertile manor of the long summer turned into a living hell. Women's shrill screams intertwined with men's savage laughter.
The corpses of the elderly covered the children beneath them. Scattered bone fragments mixed with flowing entrails.
Horrifying!Bloody!Ugly!
...
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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)