Chapter 44:
King's Landing, noon.
Today's sunlight was exceptionally harsh. The market in Flea Bottom was bustling with activity.
Although news of the railway had reached from the North, for the common people at the bottom of King's Landing, it felt too distant. They cared more about whether bread had gone up in price again today, and whether the Queen Regent had arrested more people to repair the city walls.
Suddenly.
The once bright sky darkened.
It was as if a massive dark cloud had covered the sun.
"Is it going to rain?"
A fish seller looked up and wiped his sweat.
But he saw no clouds.
He saw… a huge, silver-gray whale floating in the sky.
"Seven Gods above…" The fish in the seller's hand dropped to the ground. "What kind of monster is that? Is it a dragon?"
"No! That's not a dragon! It has no wings! It's made of iron!"
The colossal object hovered two thousand meters above King's Landing. It had a streamlined, cigar-shaped envelope over two hundred meters long (longer than the Red Keep), with a ferocious shark-mouth pattern and the Pompey lion emblem painted on its belly.
The massive propellers at the tail rotated slowly under steam power, emitting a deep, awe-inspiring hum — buzzzzz…
[System Vehicle: Zeppelin Rigid Airship · Modified (Aerial Overlord Class).]
[Name: Leviathan.]
[Bomb Load: 15 tons.]
[Ceiling: 3000 meters (in this world, the domain of the gods).]
…
Red Keep, balcony of Maegor's Holdfast.
The wine cup in Cersei Lannister's hand shattered.
She gripped the stone railing so tightly her knuckles turned white, her eyes filled with disbelief and terror.
"Qyburn! What is that?!" Cersei screamed. "When did Victor Pompey learn to fly like a dragon?!"
Maester Qyburn was also sweating profusely, his hands shaking as he held the telescope. "Your Grace… it appears to be a gasbag filled with lighter-than-air gas… I have seen similar concepts in ancient texts, but no one has ever built one this large…"
"Shoot it down!" Cersei roared hysterically. "Use the scorpion ballistae! Now!"
On the city walls, dozens of heavy "scorpion" ballistae — originally upgraded to counter Drogon — immediately swiveled.
Winches creaked as the massive iron bolts aimed at the giant in the sky.
"Fire!!!"
Snap! Snap! Snap!
Dozens of bolts whistled upward with lethal intent.
However.
Physics is merciless.
Those powerful bolts lost their kinetic energy around the one-thousand-meter mark. In this world governed by gravity, they were forced to lower their proud heads, tracing a powerless arc before… falling back down.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The bolts rained back down onto the Red Keep and surrounding streets, accidentally wounding many Gold Cloaks and onlookers instead.
…
Leviathan, gondola command room.
Victor held a glass of red wine and looked down at the panicked city below through the panoramic windows.
"What an ugly struggle."
He watched the toothpicks that hadn't even reached the airship's belly before falling, and shook his head.
"At two thousand meters, we are invincible."
Victor turned to look at Arya behind him (she had insisted on coming to see the view).
"Little sister, are you ready?"
"Ready." Arya excitedly pulled down her goggles and stood at the bomb bay door. "Are we dropping bombs?"
"No."
Victor smiled. "Bombs are too expensive, and the people down there are my future taxpayers. It would be a shame to kill them."
"Let's drop some… mental poison first."
"Open Bay One! Release!"
Whoosh——!
The bomb bay doors on the airship's belly opened.
No black iron lumps fell.
Instead, hundreds of thousands of white paper leaflets fluttered down like snowflakes, carried by the high-altitude winds, drifting over every corner of King's Landing.
…
King's Landing streets.
The common people watched in terror as "paper snow" fell from the sky.
A literate blacksmith picked up a sheet and read it aloud:
[Proclamation to the People of King's Landing]
"Cersei Lannister, sister of the Kingslayer, incestuous adulteress, destroyer of the Faith, creator of bio-monsters."
"Her rule is illegal. Her promises are lies."
"Regent Victor Pompey promises: Surrender will not be punished. As long as you lay down your weapons and open the gates of the Red Keep when the Pompey legions enter the city, every household will receive ten pounds of white flour and two pounds of salted meat."
"If you do not surrender… please look at the Mud Gate of the Red Keep."
"Mud Gate?" The blacksmith was confused.
Everyone instinctively looked toward the defensive tower on the side of the Red Keep.
…
In the sky.
Victor set down his wine glass.
"The leaflets are done. Time to show them something real."
"Otherwise that madwoman Cersei will think I'm joking."
He walked to the precision bombing sight.
"Target calibration: Red Keep outer wall, scorpion ballista positions."
"Load: 500-pound aerial high-explosive bomb."
"This is the 'greeting gift' I prepared for Cersei."
Clank.
The bomb release lever was pulled.
A streamlined black bomb detached from its rack and accelerated downward under gravity. The shrill whistle it emitted was like the whistle of the Grim Reaper, growing louder and sharper.
Woooooo——
On the Red Keep's walls, a Gold Cloak captain looked up at the sky. Suddenly, he saw a small black dot rapidly enlarging in his vision.
"Run!!!"
BOOM!!!!!!
A earth-shaking explosion!
The section of wall with the densest concentration of scorpion ballistae was instantly swallowed by an orange-red fireball!
The solid stone wall shattered like a biscuit. Several-ton scorpion ballistae were hurled into the air by the blast wave, then smashed into the Blackwater Rush like scrap metal.
The entire city of King's Landing felt the ground tremble.
Half the glass in the Red Keep shattered.
When the smoke cleared.
Only a massive gap and piles of rubble remained.
Cersei collapsed onto the balcony, her face covered in dust.
The defenses she had been so proud of were as fragile as a child's building blocks in front of that aerial monster.
At that moment, a voice amplified by a massive loudspeaker came from the sky.
The voice descended over the entire city like a divine decree:
"Cersei Lannister."
"I am Victor Pompey."
"I give you three days. Open the gates and get out of the Red Keep."
"Otherwise, the next bomb will land in your bedroom."
"Countdown begins."
With that, the massive airship did not leave. It remained brazenly hovering directly above the Red Keep.
Like the Sword of Damocles.
Whenever Cersei dared to sleep, whenever she dared to look up, she would see that death god with the shark-mouth pattern.
Fear.
The most primitive, irresistible fear spread through King's Landing.
A Gold Cloak dropped his spear and ran.
"I quit! That's not a fight for humans!"
Where there was one, there were more.
In the streets and alleys, the common people began to gather. They looked at the leaflets on the ground, then at the airship overhead.
That promise… ten pounds of white flour per household?
Compared to the mad queen who only knew how to blow up septs, this flying duke… seemed like a better person?
A storm called "popular uprising" was brewing in the streets of King's Landing.
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