"Farewell, King's Landing!" As the ship left the harbor, Gendry also bid farewell to the beautiful ships. Upstream on the Blackwater Rush were magnificent golden royal warships with furled sails. Deep-sea fishing boats and river barges came and went incessantly, along with merchant ships from Across the Narrow Sea, swan ships from the Summer Isles, and royal yachts.
Slowly, Gendry saw The Red Keep on Aegon's Hill. It comprised seven massive, iron-fortified drum towers, an enormous and grim keep, domed halls and enclosed bridges, barracks, dungeons, and granaries, and thick curtain walls bristling with arrow slits, all constructed from pale red stone. The crowned stag, rampant, soared above the walls.
Gendry was aboard the two-masted schooner, the telescope, which had sixty oars and two masts, making it the fastest ship. Compared to the greedy Tyroshi and the debauched Lysene, the Myr people had a slightly better reputation. Since the ship was packed with cargo, there weren't many passengers.
Gendry only let the Old Man see a profile of himself, with his cruel black iron mask. Gendry lifted his face to the waves, as if the brisk sea breeze could blow away the past.
"I can read a little, but not much!" Gendry replied. The Old Man seemed amiable on the surface, but for some reason, Gendry found him a bit strange.
"It doesn't matter how much you know; you have a good physique, which is truly enviable." The Old Man drew closer, observing Gendry's appearance, but the iron mask obscured his face, revealing only deep blue eyes. He studied his physical condition, the proportion of his legs to his body.
"How old are you!"
"Thirteen or fourteen!" Gendry lied about his age by two years.
"A strong and healthy Child, you'll be true steel someday!" The Old Man praised in a low voice. "I predict you'll grow to be over six feet four inches tall!"
".." Gendry felt a chill, the Old Man's words sounded very strange, giving him the feeling of a human trafficker.
"Don't be afraid, Child! I am a scholar and a doctor, so I naturally know more!" The Old Man smiled.
"Your name, if I may ask!" Gendry felt his mouth dry.
"A name is just a designation, Qyburn."
Gendry stared at the Old Man, no wonder he was so interested in him; it turned out he was treating him as a research subject. Qyburn was obsessed with studying unconquerable warriors. Although his ethics were questionable, Qyburn's abilities were undeniable. He possessed both medical skills and necromancy.
"Gendry!"
"A good name, but it doesn't sound noble, more like a commoner!" Qyburn mused. "However, with your build and demeanor, you're not entirely a commoner's Child. You're very interesting!"
"Thank you for the compliment!" Gendry said indifferently. He was naturally very interested in Qyburn, but without any leverage, he decided to go with the flow.
"Where are your parents?"
"Dead!"
"My condolences, the stranger treats all equally in this world!"
"Apart from the stench, King's Landing is most captivating for its diverse banners: the black banner with a red dragon, the crowned stag, the roaring lion. Once Across the Narrow Sea, it's a world of cheese mongers and butter vendors!" Qyburn stopped chatting with Gendry and instead reminisced about the banners flying above The Red Keep. "I still remember the years when the black banner with a red dragon flew high."
"Then why did you leave King's Landing?" Gendry asked Qyburn.
"For sustenance, Child. The lord I served scorned and rejected me! The minor lord who accepted me was too weak. Between survival and dreams, I could only try my luck Across the Narrow Sea!" After saying this, Qyburn left. "It's windy out here, too daunting for an Old Man like me. I'm going back to my cabin! Child, if you wish to chat with an Old Man, you may come find me!"
"Then I would be honored!" Gendry watched the desperate Maester leave.
The telescope sailboat floated on the water like a dragonfly, its oars rising and falling in unison.
"That Old Man is very strange, Child! He's like an old piece of wood; I think he's envious of your youthful fire," the Myr captain couldn't help but whisper.
"Thank you for the warning, Captain!" Gendry thanked him.
The captain saw Gendry's iron mask and couldn't help but mutter a few more words, suspecting some kind of scar beneath the mask, then he stopped bothering him.
Gendry watched the waves of the sea. This was his first time on a large ship, and his first time leaving King's Landing. Fortunately, he didn't get seasick, and the journey was quite stable.
"The Spider!" The ship had already left King's Landing, and Gendry wondered how The Spider would feel when he learned he had run away. There probably wouldn't be much emotional fluctuation. After all, The Spider had three or four pawns in his hands, and one minor pawn occasionally slipping away was of no great consequence.
"King's Landing not only stinks but also carries the stench of The Spider and Littlefinger. When I return, I'll deal with them both!" Gendry also went to the cabin to see the legendary Maester Qyburn.
The chaos in King's Landing could not be separated from the machinations of The Spider and Littlefinger. The Spider controlled intelligence, and Littlefinger controlled money. King Robert and Hand Jon trusted them too much, or rather, underestimated them. One was a eunuch, the other a minor noble. After all, for thousands of years, the great nobles had always dominated the country.
Gendry went down to the cabin and pushed open Qyburn's door. The Old Man was engrossed in reading, and there was a hot drink on the table.
"I am delighted to see your concern!" Qyburn said joyfully. "For an Old Man, the vitality of youth always brings me happiness."
Gendry looked around Qyburn's cabin and found only a few books. On the table were some surgical instruments: knives, chisels, thread, and milk of the poppy.
"It seems you truly are a well-trained doctor!" Doctors in this era had to cut flesh with knives, requiring the mindset and strength of a butcher.
"What did you do before?"
"A blacksmith! Master Qyburn!"
"A blacksmith, oh, a great profession. But blacksmithing is laborious, and the craftsmanship of the Myr people is even more exquisite, so you might not find work there. While medicine is bloody, it earns you more and is more respectable; a place can hardly do without doctors!" Qyburn pouted.
On the table was also a human anatomical model Qyburn had built himself, crude but showing bones and various organs. Without a certain level of human dissection knowledge, he couldn't have understood it so clearly.
"The human body is vast and profound. I've studied medicine for a long time without finding its limits. My age has caught up to me, preventing me from reaching the future. Perhaps it's time to sow some seeds!" Qyburn said.
"Perhaps you should stay in The Citadel and continue your research!" Gendry said.
"Oh, please! That's a place dominated by a bunch of grey sheep, why the unpredictable climate types, why the Others in the North. They serve to hoard knowledge, not to innovate. I merely wanted to conduct some experiments and they drove me out. Therefore, I can only go Across the Narrow Sea!"
"Are you interested in these?" Qyburn picked up the scalpel in his hand and pointed to the skeletal model on the table. "I won't teach you those terrible experiments; if you're willing, I'll teach you proper medical skills!"
"Why me?"
"It's simple, you're very suitable. A strong and vigorous young man, being a doctor is also very good. We need to use scalpels and splints; without strength and abundant spirit, it won't do. Unfortunately, young people in the Seven Kingdoms prefer riding horses and dueling rather than scalpels. Someone has to like medicine."