Though Daenerys lived a leisurely life in Braavos, she constantly paid attention to the situation in Westeros.
Under the deliberate indulgence of King Jaehaerys, the Riverlands near High Heart were now in utter chaos.
There were already no less than twenty or thirty families who had brought their troops here under the guise of hunting, with a total force exceeding five thousand.
The Riverlands lords all kept their castle gates tightly shut, refusing visitors, fearing they might get embroiled if they were not careful.
Now, the Brecken Family was on the verge of being annihilated under the siege of the Blackwood Family, the Frey Family, and the Vale Alliance.
Except for Stone Fence City, which had not fallen due to its sturdy castle, all other areas had already fallen into the hands of the Alliance.
Many of Brecken's in-laws and hunting parties who had come to the Riverlands uninvited tried to intervene several times but were scared off by Daemon, who was riding a dragon.
Fortunately, Daemon's dragon provided deterrence, preventing various forces from acting too rashly, though minor actions continued.
In particular, Poor Fellows Gathering members like Harold were endless to capture.
More than ten thousand people had already been sent to the Stepstones and Seaslinder to work as salt workers and miners.
The dragon roar heard last time in the Brightmoon Mountains made Daenerys even more worried.
She had sent a message to her cousin Jenny, the Duchess of the Vale, asking her to constantly monitor the movements deep within the Brightmoon Mountains, and to immediately send word to King's Landing and Dragonstone if a dragon appeared.
At the same time, she also had Dona dispatch several Skinchanger sisters to stealthily advance towards the Brightmoon Mountains, using their Skinchanger raptors to carefully search for places where dragons might exist.
However, almost a month had passed, and no news had returned yet.
But Sevan of the Stepstones and Lord Tarth had made great progress.
With Sea Smoke's help, the sunken ships of the Purple Fleet, full of cargo, and the relatively well-preserved ship fragments had all been salvaged.
Aside from considerable losses to spices and silks due to water damage, they truly salvaged many good things.
Precious jewelry, jade, and emeralds from the Golden Empire of Yi Ti of Yi Ti, well-sealed porcelain, gold silk brocade, and unique Yi Ti artworks and antiques.
These items were valuable and popular in both trade city-states and Westeros.
Various gems, gold, ivory, rhinoceros horns, and other precious furs and bones exchanged from the Sothoryos continent expedition team, as well as some rare birds and beasts, which were originally intended as tributes to the Sea Lord and various Braavos families, now all went to Daenerys.
Spices and precious timber from Qarth, various magical artifacts and dragon bones from Asshai, and a pile of Dragon Eggs, though most were damaged, with only three intact ones.
The total value of these items was already no less than ten to twenty million gold dragons.
The value of the three Dragon Eggs in the hands of the Targaryen Family was even far greater than for others.
Of course, the treasures on the more than thirty surviving purple-sailed ships of Augusta Auseris were even more numerous.
They also captured a Valyrian sword, "Raging Tide," said to be one of the Auseris Family's two ancestral swords.
And there were even more Valyrian jewelry and tableware, totaling twenty to thirty pieces.
However, what puzzled Sevan and Lord Tarth was that everything on the flagship of the Partilios Family Fleet was perfectly preserved, but all the members of the Patriolius Family were gone.
Only three still-warm Dragon Eggs and piles of ashes from something unknown that had burned down were found in the ship's cabin.
The Patriolius Family also had their own Valyrian ancestral sword, but it was a lady's rapier named "Sweet Pathia."
Unlike the Purple Fleet, which carried numerous treasures and goods, the Partilios Family Fleet was loaded entirely with daily necessities and pure gold and silver.
The total amount of those boxes of gold bricks and various currencies was equivalent to twenty million gold dragons.
This haul alone was equivalent to five or six years of the Targaryen Royal Family's total income.
Moreover, the more than one hundred three-masted sailing ships were also worth a lot, estimated at twenty to thirty million gold dragons.
Although the salvaged ships were severely damaged, dragging them to the Holy Flame Fortress shipyard could still piece together and yield about one hundred new warships.
This would be another twenty million gold dragons in income.
Adding the goods confiscated from pirate dens, the total profit from this battle of the Stepstones approached one hundred million gold dragons.
Along with the more than one hundred intact captured ships, all these treasures were sent back to Holy Flame Fortress.
The ships were sent to the Holy Flame Fortress shipyard for repair and modification.
And these treasures were all sent into the Gourd Bay treasury behind Holy Flame Fortress.
Even though Samwell had been well-prepared thanks to Daenerys's reminder, seeing this massive wealth still astonished him.
As the current steward of Holy Flame Fortress, the wealth he had handled in the past few days was already quite astonishing.
But facing this unexpected fortune, he could not hide his excitement.
He and the White Sheep Town officials barely slept, spending several days and nights to organize and register all these items in one go.
And after a brutal interrogation, Augusta also confessed to the crime of the Auseris Family, in conjunction with four other families, looting the Partilios Family Fleet.
After obtaining their confessions and the letters of communication between Osiris Governor and Augusta, Sevan quickly rode Sea Smoke, protecting the three-masted sailing ship carrying Augusta and several members of the great families, and hurried towards Braavos.
Braavos, which had just begun to calm down, was probably about to face another storm.
Lord Tarth, meanwhile, remained in the Stepstones to begin constructing fortresses and arranging defensive works to guard against counterattacks from pirates and the Three-City Alliance.
Map of the Stepstones
Now, Dragonstone from Oldtown could be mass-produced, so the Holy Flame Fleet transported Dragonstone from Oldtown to the Stepstones every week, and also brought a large number of Oldtown craftsmen who came to support.
Lord Ismond of nearby Ismond Island also brought several hundred people to support.
This allowed the fortresses and defensive works on the nine islands of the Stepstones to be initially established in less than half a month.
Coupled with the rapid arrival of destructive weapons such as giant crossbows and Wildfire from Holy Flame Fortress, the defensive capabilities of the Stepstones greatly increased.
When the surviving pirates of the Stepstones, after a brief rest, reorganized and attempted to retake the Stepstones, they were completely annihilated by the combined efforts of Lord Tarth and Markris.
The Three-City Alliance was busy haggling with them in Braavos at this time and had no energy to attend to the situation in the Stepstones.
By the time the news of Daenerys's forces occupying the Stepstones had completely spread, Lord Tarth and his forces had already fully established their defense system in the Stepstones.
Thus, the Stepstones officially returned to the Seven Kingdoms' territory once again.
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