Dany's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Don't pretend to be righteous. Back then, all of you were dozens of times worse than me."
"That is why we received our retribution! We killed too many living beings and disrupted the balance of heaven. Only then did the Mother Goddess fall into the abyss, and the prosperous Rhoynar civilization lost its fortune. In a single night, it collapsed at the height of its glory," the old turtle lamented.
"You're even bringing out concepts like 'Heaven's Harmony' and 'national fortune'? You're quite enlightened for an old turtle," Dany said, puzzled.
"Did you not tell me this yourself? Last time in Ghedahar, when discussing the consequences of killing the Crab King, who had contributed to the world, you explained the path of fortune," the old turtle said.
"But I never mentioned national fortune… Forget it." Dany waved her hand and returned to the topic. "Whatever sins there are, I will take responsibility alone. Will you do it or not?"
"I am the one who acted!" The old turtle frowned.
"I'll tell you a story. In ancient…"
The Dragon Queen, who loved telling the 'Maester Lai', 'Maester Bao', 'Maester Yang', and 'Maester Guan' stories, suddenly trailed off.
The old turtle was tens of thousands of years old, older than the oldest existing kingdom. It was impossible to deceive—cough, impossible to enlighten him with a fabricated tale.
Left with no choice, the Dragon Queen began to construct a fantasy.
"In an ancient Otherworld, there was a queen named the 'Yellow Emperor'. She gathered all people and swore to overthrow the rule of the great slave-master 'Chiyou'.
"A mighty dragon named Yinglong rushed to aid her. During the war, Yinglong killed countless enemies, yet not a trace of sin clung to him.
"In the end, the Yellow Emperor, acting on behalf of the heavens, conferred divine titles. With one decree, Yinglong was granted the position of Ancestral Dragon, the chief deity of all dragons."
The Dragon Queen concluded, "When one fights a just war, no matter how many are killed, one gains merit instead of sin. That is why you will not suffer retribution. Instead, you will achieve greatness."
"This story sounds far too fake. I don't believe any Otherworld would have a Yellow Emperor, Chiyou, or Yinglong!" The old turtle shook his head wisely.
Alas, the old turtle was too shrewd. The Dragon Queen finally told a true story, and still failed to fool him!
"The story is real, and the principle is even more so. You learned the concept of merit from me. Why not trust the expert?" the Dragon Queen said sternly.
The old turtle did not trust the Yinglong story, but he had great faith in experts.
Hearing this, he hesitated. Perhaps the Queen had told a false story, but the principle of merit might not be wrong?
Participating in a just war meant performing a righteous act. It seemed reasonable to gain merit from that.
Thinking this through, the old turtle began to waver and asked, "How does one determine whether this is a just war? Last time, the Rhoynar fought Valyria because Valyria occupied our territory along the Rhoyne (ps). It seems we were the just side."
"That is incorrect." The Dragon Queen sighed deeply. "Judging whether a war is just is actually very simple. The victor becomes king, and the king must be just. In other words, whoever wins is just."
The old turtle blinked."Then are you considered just?" he asked dryly.
"Of course." The Dragon Queen wore an expression of complete certainty. "All along the way, I have been winning and winning. Therefore, I have been just from start to finish.
"If you are willing to cooperate, the final great battle will also be a certain victory. There will be no one more just than me."
The old turtle had no words.
Putting everything else aside, if he truly cooperated with her plan, she really would be guaranteed victory.
So… should he fight for justice?
The old turtle hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I am willing to stay… and uphold justice! But does this kind of justice truly grant merit?"
"That is more like it." The Dragon Queen smiled and asked, "If a victor has no merit, how could they win? Or think of it this way: would someone blessed with heavenly merit ever lose?"
"This…" The old turtle's green eyes widened in shock.
He pondered for a long time yet could not escape the circle of 'merit'. Eventually, he could only lament helplessly that his wisdom was indeed inferior to that of a Holy Spirit.
Well… in truth, the Dragon Queen was twisting logic. Setting aside whether merit existed in this world at all, a person with great merit who acted unjustly would exhaust their merit and fail. A person without merit who undertook a just act would accumulate merit and succeed.
Soon after, Dany and the old turtle exchanged sacred oaths, forming an alliance to confront Lamb-Egg together.
Of course, sacred oaths were necessary. Otherwise, when the moment came and the old turtle decided to "lay down the butcher's blade and turn back to shore," she would be devastated.
This also fit the customs of the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. Walder Frey and Robb made an alliance oath—well, that is a very poor example.
In the War of the Usurper, the wolf, fish, eagle, and stag also swore oaths.
Once the oath was sworn and the alliance formed, Dany gained complete confidence in the upcoming Meereen battle. Feeling greatly relieved, she asked with a smile, "Besides 'the Old Man of the River', do you have a name?"
"No. That is my name," the old turtle replied.
"You may call me Dany, but calling you 'Old Man of the River' sounds a bit odd," Dany said.
"'Old Man', 'Old Elder', and 'Old Turtle' are all fine. Call me whatever you like," the old turtle said.
Dany's eyes rolled around twice, and she grinned. "Since we are now allies, our alliance must also have a clear hierarchy.
"I am the leader. I take the lightning. You support me from the side. Right?"
Across all ages and all lands, what alliance has no leader?
"Mm, so what of it?" The old turtle accepted her reasoning.
"I am a queen. I should have a Queen's Hand. Let us not talk about the Queen's Hand in earthly politics for now. I also have another identity—the Witch-Queen of the supernatural world.
"A Witch-Queen should also have a supernatural Queen's Hand. I think you are perfect for the role." After speaking, Dany looked at him with sincere, expectant eyes.
The old turtle seemed moved by her sincerity and nodded lightly. "With the divine power you currently command, you are qualified to call yourself the Witch-Queen. But we are only a temporary alliance…"
"You'll just serve as the temporary Hand of the Queen. When the alliance ends and the oath is fulfilled, you can resign whenever you wish.
"During this time, it's only the two of us in the alliance, and you won't bear any real responsibilities," Dany said at once.
The Old Turtle thought it over carefully. It was only a matter of a few months, and carrying the title of "Hand of the Queen" didn't seem like a big deal.
After all, the Dragon Queen's divine might was overwhelming. She had even stewed the Crab King, and she was the main force of the Anti-Rams Alliance. Serving as her "second-in-command" hardly disgraced his name as the River God of the Rhoyne.
"Very well," he said.
"Good. From now on, I'll call you 'Chancellor Turtle,'" Dany said, a little impatiently. Then she sighed with deep emotion. "Chancellor Turtle. It sounds so smooth, so friendly!"
Isn't the Hand of the King essentially a chancellor?So what's wrong with calling him "Chancellor Turtle"?
Chancellor Turtle himself had no objections whatsoever and gladly accepted being affectionately addressed as "Chancellor Turtle" by the Dragon Queen.
The Dragon Queen gazed at her Chancellor Turtle, whose body was as large as a small island, and felt completely confident: with Chancellor Turtle here, who needs sea monsters!
Chancellor Turtle felt uncomfortable under the Dragon Queen's warm and eager gaze. He shrank his neck and said, "Your Majesty, dawn is near. I should return to Meereen."
Dany looked eastward. The sky was pitch-black and heavy, with no hint of the sun.
"Ah, don't rush. Actually, I have another favor to ask of you, Chancellor Turtle."
"What is it?" Chancellor Turtle asked doubtfully.
"I want to learn water magic. I wonder if you can teach me?" Dany asked with an eager expression.
At the tomb of the greenseer beyond the Wall, after she consumed the paste made from weirwood seeds, her second ring-soul fused with the primary nine-colored vortex soul and gave rise to the third, fourth, and fifth ring-souls. These corresponded to three dragon souls—three semi-independent souls born from dragon spirits.
Her first soul used the Great Sorcerer Meditation as its foundation and had begun to steal a trace of the Fire Song of the Ram. The second soul mastered the Greenseer Meditation and was beginning to condense the Wind Song.
But the third, fourth, and fifth souls were blank. Using them only to house dragon spirits felt wasteful, and she intended to master three more top-tier meditation techniques.
Without question, when it came to water magic, no one surpassed the Rhoynar, whose forbidden spells had once drowned entire cities.
When she had just returned from Westeros, Dany had sought out Quentyn Martell.
Quentyn was a direct descendant of Nymeria and should theoretically have inherited the Rhoynar water mages' magic.
This wasn't mere fantasy—when Nymeria led ten thousand ships across the Narrow Sea and arrived at Sunspear in Dorne, she brought with her a great deal of advanced knowledge for the primitive and savage Dornish, including water magic.
Because Dorne was largely desert, Nymeria had even ordered water mages to irrigate fields with magic.
But after Nymeria's era, Dorne's water magic completely disappeared from the world. The Dornish became known more for their odd Rhoynar customs than for any trace of water magic.
At first, Dany simply assumed Westeros was a magical wasteland and that the Martell descendants lacked the talent.
She asked Quentyn about it, and he told her directly that the Martell family had always preserved their ancestral magical inheritance—only no one had ever been able to learn it.
Then, through Barristan's messages, Dany tried to borrow a water magic manual from Prince Doran.
She had expected the process to be difficult, but unexpectedly, Doran was astonishingly generous and sent an entire set of water magic books to Dragonstone.
…The Dragon Queen still didn't know her "black disciple" was actually a Sand Snake.
She had even taught the Great Sorcerer Meditation to Sarella (the Sand Snake's original name—Dany called her Lalesa, which somehow reminded her of Sun Wukong and his cousin), so why would Doran care about sending her water magic texts that none of his people could cultivate?
After reading the Martell ancestral water magic texts, Dany finally understood the nature of Rhoynar water magic.
It wasn't natural magic at all, but a system of priestly cultivation belonging to the water god.
Put simply, the Rhoynar water mages weren't mages. They were priests—priests of the Mother Rhoyne.
Their magic didn't draw on their own power to stir the sea of magic. They instead borrowed divine power from the Mother Goddess.
It was just like how the High Sparrow borrowed a form of holy healing from the Holy Mother through the Great Falcon.
If one day the Great Falcon met with misfortune, the High Sparrow, no matter how devout, would no longer be able to use even a single healing spell.
Similarly, the Mother Rhoyne had fallen into eternal sleep. The Rhoynar pantheon had withered and decayed. The water god's divine arts naturally could no longer be used.
Therefore, Dany found no top-tier water system meditation technique within the Martell family.
"A person can only master one meditation technique because the soul has its limits, just as one foundation can hold only one building.
"You must know this. But you already possess the most advanced Great Sorcerer Meditation. How can you possibly learn water magic?" Chancellor Turtle asked in confusion.
"My soul is special. Its foundation is vast, so I can build several 'houses,'" Dany replied.
Chancellor Turtle sighed. "The talent of a Holy Spirit really does inspire jealousy."
"You don't seem surprised?" Dany asked curiously.
"I've seen beings who mastered multiple Songs of the Laws. You merely wish to learn one more meditation technique."
"Then are you willing to teach me?"
(End of chapter)
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