"What are you trying to do?" the old turtle asked warily.
"I am the Human Emperor, sovereign of all mankind in this world. It is my duty to safeguard the peace of all people! Beings like the Crab King, the Loach, and other abominations are insatiably greedy, devouring both flesh and soul. As the Human Emperor, I must rid the world of such evils, restore clarity to heaven and earth, and deliver justice to all living beings!"
The Dragon Queen stood upon the black dragon's back, her young face seeming to glow with a sacred radiance. Her beautiful violet eyes no longer held the usual trace of charm, only unwavering determination and fearless resolve.
The old turtle had never heard of such a divine art as Spirit Bestowal, nor did he know how greatly slaying an evil god would benefit the Dragon Queen. At this moment, he found himself somewhat taken aback.
"Your Majesty, you worry too much. With me guarding the Loen River, no evil god dares harm the creatures along its banks," he said hesitantly.
"Ah, listen to yourself," Dany shook her head and sighed. "When the Loach ran rampant and the Crab King threw his weight around, why did you not step forward? Yet just as I was about to rid the world of demons, you came to dissuade me.
Even if I believe in your integrity, that you would not collude with evil gods, you are still bound by kinship with them, and inevitably may harbor partiality.
Why don't you instead tell me where those unfilial spawn that tainted the image of Mother Loen dwell, and I will help cleanse her household for her?"
"Uh…" Though his face resembled withered bark, dark green and ancient, the old turtle could not help but flush red with embarrassment.
"The Crab King is different. For tens of thousands of years, he ruled as the king of the Loen River. Only in the last ten thousand years did I seize from him the authority to govern the river's creatures.
So, he resents my authority. Mother's other lesser gods respect me and heed my command. If the Crab King is the eldest son, then I am the second son of Mother." The horned old turtle explained awkwardly.
Dany's eyes lit up. The meaning was clear—there were indeed quite a few demigods in the Loen River!
Now that most of her doubts were answered, should she cast aside the old turtle once he had outlived his usefulness?
Yet the River Elder had always been an auspicious spirit of the vast Loen, never accepting blood sacrifices nor flooding the river to harm mortals. He was one of the rare benevolent gods.
A chill ran inexplicably through the old turtle's heart, and against his better judgment, he revealed another secret. "Dragon Queen, I advised you not to kill the Crab King not only out of old ties, but also for your own sake. Killing him brings you more harm than good!"
"Why?" Dany, suppressing her restless thoughts, asked curiously.
"Dragon Queen, you are also a mage. Have you not noticed something? A king's blood carries a special power."
"There is some truth to that," Dany replied.
"Why is it that before one becomes king, neither he nor his descendants bear such power, but once crowned in the mortal world, the bloodline undergoes a fundamental change, even becoming divine?" the old turtle asked again.
"Perhaps it is a transformation born of the faith of the people. Do you know the reason?" Dany frowned.
"I do not," the old turtle shook his head and sighed. "I know not the cause, but I have lived long enough to see the results and patterns.
This world holds a special law, one that grants mysterious power to beings recognized by heaven, earth, and man.
Kings acknowledged by the people carry the bloodline of kings. Then think, Queen—what do gods who save the world possess?"
"Could it be great fortune, or vast merit?" Dany asked, both shocked and doubtful.
"Fortune… merit…"
The old turtle's expression grew dazed. He pondered over the words, and the more he thought, the more shaken he became. Something he had pondered fruitlessly for tens of thousands of years, the Dragon Queen had distilled into such a profound answer after only hearing a few sentences.
How could the gap in comprehension between man and turtle be so vast?
And her strength—barely in her teens, little more than a blink of an eye to him—yet she slew the Crab King without injury. Even newly "freed," the Crab King should still have wielded seventy to eighty percent of his full strength!
The old turtle felt an uneasy bitterness. The rules of the world had changed, shifting to favor humanity, a new race of fleeting lives.
First the three Balerion brothers of Valyria, and now the Dragon Queen who rose to prominence.
Humankind truly possessed, in her words, great fortune.
"Yes, it is fortune and merit!"
The old turtle sighed with complicated feelings, then continued. "The Crab King once partook in the 'Sun-Summoning Ritual' eight thousand years ago. In theory, he holds vast merit toward heaven, earth, and mankind, and so he must not be killed lightly."
"What would happen if he were?" Dany asked.
"Well…" the old turtle faltered. "You are a queen yourself. If someone killed a subject who had rendered you great service, how would you react?"
"Heh. River Elder, you are wise indeed, and your thinking most intriguing. But alas, this world is ruled by fickle cause and effect, where the strong are kings.
Good is not always rewarded, nor evil punished.
How many evil gods treat humankind as cattle, offering nothing to heaven or earth, yet live freely for tens of thousands of years? And how many virtuous souls are toyed with by fate, made pawns of the gods?"
Dany sighed deeply, and in that moment, all intent to kill the River Elder vanished.
"Perhaps retribution does exist—it simply has not yet arrived. Did not the Crab King and Loach King meet their retribution at your hands?" the old turtle said gravely.
"That is true!" Dany nodded and laughed heartily. "I am the retribution of all evil gods! Tell me, River Elder, among your brothers and sisters, how many deserve the same fate as the Crab King?"
"Uh…"
The old turtle could not continue. He wanted nothing more than to slip back into the water and flee.
"Your Majesty, after the Dragon King Catastrophe, fewer than one in a hundred of Mother's lesser gods survived. No matter what, I will restrain the few who remain." His tone carried a hint of pleading.
What choice did he have?
Even he and the Crab King, paragons of good and evil alike, were no match for the Dragon Queen. The rest—shrimp soldiers and crab generals, loaches and eels—were hardly worth mentioning.
"Fewer than one in a hundred?" Dany's eyes widened. She cursed aloud. "Damn those Valyrians, they were far too ruthless!"
Hearing this, the old turtle suddenly felt a flicker of fondness for her. He had already held her in some regard for dwelling in Valyria and commanding Balerion. Otherwise, he would never have stayed when she summoned him, much less answered her every question, revealing so many ancient secrets.
Uh, the old turtle's train of thought was completely out of sync with the Dragon Queen's.
The old turtle thought the Dragon Queen was pitying the lives that had been harmed, while the Dragon Queen was cursing those who cut down trees, leaving future generations with no shade to rest under.
Several hundred lesser gods should be enough for five dragons to ascend, shouldn't they?
At this moment, Dany's tone and expression carried no hint of pretense. She was utterly sincere, which moved the old turtle deeply.
"Your Majesty, would this work? Recently, many treasure seekers have been diving into the riverbed for your Valyrian steel ingots. Why don't I help you transport those ingots to Slaver's Bay? Consider it atonement for the Crab King. What do you say?" the old turtle said kindly.
"You're a freshwater turtle. Can you even go to the sea?" Dany asked, her lips twitching.
The old turtle declared proudly, "I have traveled to the Jade Sea of the Far East, to the Sunset Sea of the far West, to the Summer Sea in the South. I have even crossed the Narrow Sea and swum the Shivering Sea of the North."
"You weren't just hiding from the Valyrians all this time, were you?" Dany asked suspiciously.
The old turtle had said before that the Crab King was only the 'former king' of the Rhoyne, while the old turtle was its true ruler now.
Yet the Valyrians had sealed away only the Crab King, without cooking the old turtle into soup.
"Uh…" The old turtle looked utterly embarrassed, his dark green, bark-like face nearly shrinking beneath the water's surface.
The Dragon Queen had guessed right. The old turtle had not wandered about out of any love for travel but to escape the ferocity of the Valyrian dragonlords!
It wasn't until four hundred years ago, when Valyria perished in the Doom, that he joyfully returned home.
Still, the old turtle was not simply a coward afraid of death. He had a special mission.
"Alas, if I had not secretly watched over them, how could Nymeria have sailed ten thousand broken ships through the Valyrians' blockade on the Rhoyne? How could she have crossed the stormy Summer Sea, braved the Narrow Sea, and led two hundred thousand Rhoynar to Dorne?" the old turtle said bitterly.
"Oh."
Even after confirming the old turtle was a seasoned traveler, Dany still felt uneasy.
"You just said anyone who sees Valyrian steel would be tempted. If you kept the steel for yourself, with your skill at hiding from the Valyrians, you could slip into some deep sea bay and sleep for a hundred years. Where would I go to demand justice then?"
"Dragon Queen, how could I be such a faithless creature?"
The old turtle grew furious, roaring like a thunderous bull. The water rippled around them, and the massive rock beneath Drogon's feet quivered lightly.
"This is a matter of great importance. I must be cautious," Dany replied, her hair whipping in the gusts stirred by the turtle's roar.
"Then forget it. Pretend I never said anything."
The old turtle muttered gloomily and began to sink into the river.
"Wait! How can you go back on your word after saying it?"
Dany quickly called out, adding, "Do you have some kind of deposit you can leave with me? Once you deliver the ingots to Slaver's Bay, I'll return it to you."
"I'm helping you!!" the old turtle thundered angrily.
"Then help me completely, so I can have peace of mind!"
Though Dany was being a little unreasonable, even pushing too hard, she had no choice. Eighteen tons of Valyrian steel was far too precious.
If the old turtle could not set her mind at ease, then it would have been better if he had never offered help in the first place.
At most, she would risk it, sending Drogon to escort the nine swamp dragons for one or two trips.
"I swear in the name of Mother Rhoyne herself!" the old turtle declared solemnly.
Dany's eyes brightened. She nodded. "That works."
The old turtle, master of the waters, needed only ten minutes to find ten ingots of Valyrian steel hidden by the Crab King in underground river channels.
And the old turtle was impressive indeed. Instead of letting the knights strap the ingots to their backs, he opened his mouth—big as a wagon—and swallowed ten barrel-sized ingots in a single gulp.
Meanwhile, as Drogon and Viserion transported the other sixty-one ingots, Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan pried open the Crab King's shell.
Inside lay charred crab meat and burnt entrails.
Dany noticed that even after more than an hour of dragonfire, the flesh had burned black, yet the shell remained a vivid red, still hard as ever.
She wanted to forge armor from it.
The old turtle, sulking and unwilling, strapped the crab shell to his back, looking like he wore a red breastplate.
After that, the old turtle swallowed fifty more ingots, then sank into the river with the shell still on his back.
In total, there had been seventy-one ingots of Valyrian steel. The old turtle carried away sixty, while eleven remained. Three would be taken away that night by the two dragons, and the other eight were hidden again in a new place.
By dawn, when indigo streaked the eastern sky, the three humans and two dragons finally finished their work.
Then Ser Jorah asked Dany, "If you do not trust the Old Man of the River, why let him take sixty ingots?"
"Ser, what do you think of that old turtle? The Ghiscari have a saying: a dragonlord without a Turtle Chancellor is like a king without a crown." Dany asked with a bright smile.
(End of Chapter)
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