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Chapter 546 - Chapter 542: Xaro’s Gift, the Dwarf’s Bribe

"Hiss… terrifying!"

From the open, red-lacquered sedan borne by four men, Illyrio cried out in shock.

Sixty kilometers north of Gohor, along the Upper Rhoyne River—

Dozens of acres of low-lying woodland had become a swamp. Vast groves of birch trees were burned to ash, leaving only charred stumps.

Near the riverbank, entire patches of land dozens of meters wide had turned to glass.

For several hundred meters around, trees as thick as a bowl lay toppled outward.

The spice merchant's face grew grim. He could imagine how high the temperature had soared and how violent the explosion of heat must have been.

"Are dragons truly this terrifying?" he could not help asking the mage beside him.

Indeed, the Dragon Queen had stirred up such great commotion here that she drew the eyes of countless nobles, mercenaries, and extraordinary figures across Westeros.

The day she first appeared on the west bank of the Little Rhoyne, a raven had already flown to the governor of Pentos, five hundred kilometers away.

But Illyrio was far too fat to gallop like the wind, covering a thousand miles in a day. By the time his carriage reached the Queen's steel-forging site, three days had already passed.

From there, he pressed on without rest, boarding a ship north to find the birch forest where the Dragon Queen had battled the Crab King.

To better understand the truth of what had happened, he even hired a minor but reputable fire mage.

By then, the Dragon Queen had been gone for two days. Yet already hundreds, even thousands of people had come here.

Even now, besides Illyrio's party, many mercenaries and spies from nearby cities continued to investigate the battlefield.

Not long ago, Illyrio had even crossed paths with a merchant from Braavos.

"In theory, dragonfire should not have such an effect. They say the Queen hurled down a crimson fireball the size of a house. Perhaps it was dragonfire combined with her fire sorcery," the mage speculated.

"Fire sorcery… the legacy of the Valyrian archmages?!" Illyrio murmured in shock.

"Perhaps. For months now, there have been rumors in the supernatural world that the Dragon Queen has revived the ancient glory of Valyria's archmages, becoming the foremost prodigy of the western youth.

And now, it seems the rumors were true. She is indeed the undisputed first mage of her generation in the West," the old mage said in awe.

Ah, the heavens never spare anyone.

As the Dragon Queen's fame spread, as Maester Matalis continued leaking to the allied city-states that she possessed the meditations of the archmages, and as her public feats of sorcery spread wider and wider, the extraordinary world moved from suspicion to shock, then gradually to acceptance. At last, they acknowledged her as the foremost of the younger generation.

"The legacy of the archmages…" A strange gleam flickered in the fat merchant's eyes. He wondered whether the Queen had taught Aegon the world's most powerful fire meditation.

He ought to remind Aegon: only by uniting the power of dragons with the legacy of the archmages could one wield the strength to rule the world.

"Why only the foremost of the younger generation?"

Illyrio gestured at the forest wrecked as though by a tornado of fire, baffled. "Who could possibly surpass her?"

"Before, I would have said there were others. Across Essos, nearly every city-state has its patron deity. In truth, they are demigods—extraordinary mages. But now…"

A trace of confusion and dread passed over the fire mage's face. He shook his head and sighed. "Mercenaries reported seeing the dragon burn crabs larger than river galleys, and eels thicker than the pillars before the Red Temple.

Judging by the flood-like destruction here, the foes she fought that night must have been one, or even two, water demigods.

Very likely, the legendary Crab King!

The Crab King—equal in fame to the Old Man of the River, once master of the Rhoyne itself.

The towering waves and floods surging ashore must have been his water sorcery.

In theory, water sorcery holds the advantage over fire sorcery, especially here beside a river overflowing with water.

And yet, we know for certain that the Queen won—and won decisively.

What does that tell us?

Perhaps we can discard the qualifier of 'younger generation.' The Dragon Queen is, among us extraordinary folk, the true 'Queen of Fire'!"

"The Queen of Fire…"

Illyrio sighed with emotion.

That timid girl who once lived under his roof, too shy to speak more than a few words, had grown in just four years into something like a god, like a demon.

"Why would she fight the Crab King?" the governor of Pentos asked.

"Perhaps for Valyrian steel. Many suspect that after the battle, the Dragon Queen moved the ingots again—perhaps even cast them into this very river."

Truly, the world has never lacked for clever minds. With enough information, they could piece together the truth.

"Valyrian steel…" The fat merchant's jowls quivered as he sighed. "Eighteen tons of it. My household keeps several swords of Valyrian steel as stores of value—and now they have depreciated!"

The tale of the Queen slaying the Crab King on the Rhoyne spread swiftly through every city-state of the western continent. Bards and poets grew busy once more, weaving new legends of the Dragon Queen.

Within days, the streets, taverns, and harbors were alive with the ballad The Legend of the Dragon Queen: Fury Against the Crab King.

Yet in those very days, the Queen herself was deeply frustrated.

Setting out at dawn, burdened with a five-hundred-pound ingot of steel, she and her dragons did not reach Astapor until the following night.

There she changed clothes, then without pause began preparations for war—riding the black dragon, with the little green, the little white, and seventeen wyverns soaring above the three cities of Slaver's Bay.

She was waiting for the enemy's order of wyvern-riders.

Waiting for them to strike while she seemed unguarded.

Two days passed. Not a single scale appeared.

In that moment, she suddenly understood: the enemy might indeed have many riders, but not necessarily many wyverns. Just as she had over twenty knights marked by the sigil of the paladin, but only seventeen wyverns.

She should have seized the initiative then, striking Matalis while he had lost control of the skies.

But as she wondered whether the chance was gone forever, Matalis's raven spies brought word: today, more than fifty wyverns had landed in the enemy's camp outside the city. Among them were shadow wyverns and swamp wyverns, though all were smaller on average than the earlier two waves.

Dany froze for a moment, then cursed herself. While she was busy melting down the sphinx statue in secret, Matalis too had seized his chance, taming another flock of wyverns from the rainforests of Sothoryos!

On the fourth day after she returned with fifteen hundred pounds of Valyrian steel—

Atop the great pyramid of Astapor, in the rooftop garden, night had fallen.

The Dragon Queen dined with her close companions.

"Didn't you destroy the Dragon Horn? How could they still capture wyverns?" Jorah asked in confusion.

The Imp shook his head, set down his cup, and said, "Which of us paladins ever relied on the Dragon Horn to control our wyverns?"

"Benny is dead. The one who subdued the wyvern this time is most likely High Priestess Jenny. With her abilities, she has no need for the Dragon Horn. In fact, the Dragon Horn was crafted by modifying her own sorcery for controlling dragons."

After Dany explained this, she immediately regretted it. "If I had known she would act personally, I should have set up an ambush halfway."

She truly regretted it.

The Valyrian steel statue had stood in Ghis for thousands of years. Waiting a few more days to retrieve it would make no difference.

If she could kill Jenny, even if it wouldn't guarantee her a feast and ascension, it would at least cut off the allied army's supply of wyverns—at least until Egg found a new body.

Today was different from the past. There were not many purebloods like Jenny and Benny left among the three great families (the three families of Baleris, Vargus, and Miraxis, to which the three Egg brothers belonged).

"There are only so many wyverns in the Sothoryos rainforest? You can just take more whenever you need them? That seems far too convenient." Old Aemon frowned.

Dany turned her eyes to the Imp. "General Wildfire, if you had listened to me and gone to Old Valyria sooner, the situation might have already been completely reversed."

"I've heard that the wyvern Mataris just tamed is much smaller than the others. Wyverns aren't endless," Tyrion muttered.

"That's why you should have gone long ago," Dany said coldly.

So now, Your Majesty, even if you force me to go, it's already too late. Tyrion thought to himself.

"I'll go. Tomorrow I'll head to the rainforest," Old Jon volunteered.

Indeed, when he returned, he contracted a shadow dragon.

Unlike the sly, survival-driven General Wildfire, Old Jon—like Old Barristan—was a true knight, who regarded dying in loyal service to his queen as the highest honor.

He kept his word. At dawn the next day, after receiving the queen's bestowed Valyrian steel sword "Ironheart" and Mormont's iron armor, he strapped a large pack of rations to his back, along with several vials of dragon essence, ten wineskins of grape wine, a mask, a mosquito net, and other supplies, and set out.

Since they already had eighteen tons of Valyrian steel, the Great Bear no longer clung to that old Valyrian steel armor.

As for the food and wine, Dany of course did not want Old Jon to fall gloriously in vain.

Considering that in this damned world even viruses were magical beasts, boiling water might not disinfect it. It was best not to drink the local water or eat the local food in the Sothoryos rainforest.

After Old Jon left that morning, Dany's old friend Xaro arrived at the Astapor docks.

"It truly is more prosperous and cleaner than during the Good Masters' rule. Even the blinding clouds of red brick dust are gone."

Xaro's feelings were complicated.

Setting aside the hostilities born of conflicting interests, he still admired the achievements of his old friend Dany.

Conquering a city was easy—many Khalasars could do that. But governing a nation of hundreds of thousands, and even making it better within a short time, was exceedingly difficult.

With General Wildfire accompanying him, Xaro took a carriage to visit the labor camp prisoners outside the city before returning to the Great Pyramid to be received by Her Majesty the Queen.

"General Wildfire commands the order of magisters, leads the wyvern legion, and now even serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has also been awarded the only yellow robe in Slaver's Bay. Truly, he is the pillar of the queen's rule."

Xaro's gaze was complicated as he looked at the dwarf beside him, who was dressed in the same style of robe.

The dwarf noticed the envoy from Qarth staring and glanced down at his own robe, woven with golden threads. He smiled. "Lord Xaro, you flatter me. Her Majesty merely elevates me beyond my worth.

In truth, I prefer wine and women. I pay little mind to matters of the alliance."

The dwarf spoke with complete honesty. He was willing to serve the queen, but he had no interest in the cause of freeing slaves.

Xaro, however, thought he was being ironic. In terms of damage to the alliance, the dwarf was easily in the top three, surpassed only by Cleon and the Dragon Queen herself.

Especially since he had made wildfire bombs practical—even Mataris couldn't make wildfire so stable. This alone could reshape the future of warfare.

But he had also been placed on the alliance's assassination list, so he wouldn't live long.

Thinking of this, Xaro's gaze toward the dwarf softened with a touch of warmth. A dead minister of the Dragon Queen was the best kind of minister for the alliance.

"We will be meeting the queen shortly. Would the general perhaps put in a good word for me before Her Majesty?"

Xaro pulled a delicate ebony box from his pocket and quietly pressed it into the dwarf's hand.

"Uh…" The dwarf froze.

Just as the Dragon Queen had guessed, Xaro was trying to go through the back door.

(End of Chapter)

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