Chapter 204: The Ghis Delegation in Action

Aside from the politicians of Volantis campaigning for votes, Dany easily found the Ghis delegation. Surprisingly, they had adopted the same tactics as the consular candidates—parading through the streets on giant elephants carrying scantily clad girls and smooth-skinned boys, distributing them for free.

A long procession of at least fifty elephants, accompanied by two to three hundred slave boys and girls, made it nearly impossible for Dany to ignore.

Beyond the slave bed-companions in the towers on the elephants' backs, many elephants also carried massive mahogany chests and wicker baskets.

"Long live the Allied Forces! Long live the United Nations! Death to the Mother of Demons and Dragons!" a man in a Tokar robe riding a camel at the head of the procession shouted.

"Support the Allied Forces' eastward expedition resolution! Support the United Nations' decision to blockade the slave trade in Slaver's Bay!"

"Boycott smuggled goods brought into Slaver's Bay by illegal merchants! Do not buy white sugar! Do not buy snowflake salt! Do not buy fruit-infused sweet wine! Do not—"

On either side of the elephants, riders in yellow silk cloaks, mounted on horses and camels, held banners and wooden signs. A large red cross was slashed over "white sugar," another over "snowflake salt."

Whenever a Volantene stepped forward, displaying proof of their ship's registry and swearing never to sail into Slaver's Bay, the Ghiscari allowed them to choose two slave bed-companions and showered them with handfuls of gold coins from their baskets.

At least seventy or eighty coins spilled out, mixed with rubies, emeralds, tiger's eye stones, and tourmalines—an extravagant display of wealth.

"Seven hells!"

Dany's eyes nearly popped out at the sheer absurdity of the Ghiscari's actions.

The slavers were truly going all out to deal with her, the so-called "Mother of Demons and Dragons."

Yet, because of their ostentatious display, she and Barristan easily tracked the delegation to their base—the estate of Elephants Party consul, Naesos Vhizamir.

It was located east of the Black Walls, separated by a single street—a massive mansion covering two hectares.

Taking a page from the Ghiscari's playbook, Dany mentally marked a giant red cross over the estate. At the same time, the massive shadow of Drogon in the sky locked onto the location.

After pinpointing the Ghis delegation's residence, Dany noted that it was still early and decided not to return just yet.

Embracing a purely tourist mindset, she and Barristan began exploring the ancient city.

How to put it?

The city was so vast that it felt desolate—or rather, today's Volantis had declined to less than half of its former peak glory.

Walking along the Black Walls, Dany and Barristan ventured north. After passing through a bustling district, they continued further north, only to discover that between the northern city walls and the Black Walls lay a vast stretch of urban ruins.

Unlike Valyria and Oros, Volantis had city walls.

The Black Walls formed an inner city, much like the Forbidden City in old Beijing. Beyond them sprawled a vast urban area, bordered by a river to the west, the sea to the south, and ten-meter-high walls to the north and east.

After traveling half a mile north of the Black Walls, Dany and Barristan found themselves in an abandoned district. Some areas had even reverted to marshlands, overgrown with aquatic plants.

Countless buildings had been deserted, the plazas were eerily empty, and most fountains had either dried up or turned into foul-smelling stagnant pools.

Brown devil-grass grew unchecked on the streets, while purple morning glories sprouted from cracks in the brick walls. Peach and jujube trees had taken root in collapsed-roof storefronts.

With her dragon-enhanced vision, Dany saw much more than Barristan. Within the vast city walls of Valyria, abandoned districts were not limited to just this area.

Many low-lying marshlands dotted the landscape.

Volantis, situated by the river and sea, had always been a swampy, waterlogged region except for the elevated ground of the Black Walls. During the peak of Valyria's expansion, as the city grew, it spilled beyond the Black Walls. Swamps, small waterways, and tidal flats were gradually transformed into streets and residential neighborhoods.

But after the peak came decline. Centuries of wind and rain, combined with a dwindling population and lack of maintenance, had caused these streets to regress into riverbanks once more.

"In the four hundred years since the Doom of Valyria, this city's population has shrunk by at least sixty percent. Terrifying," she murmured.

"Century of Blood," Barristan responded with a complicated expression.

Volantis had once been far more prosperous and powerful than it was now. The Queen of the Rhoyne, the Mistress of the Summer Sea—those titles were not given in vain. Its population, wealth, and territory had once surpassed those of the other eight Free Cities combined.

But the wars of the Century of Blood had drained the life from Valyria's first daughter.

There was little to see in the desolate ruins, so the two quickly turned their horses southward.

The southern part of the city, with its docks and harbor, still retained some of its former vibrance.

Upon closer inspection, most of the city's architecture retained the ancient Valyrian style—circular towers with servant quarters on the lower floors, few windows, and expansive balconies and small gardens extending outward from the upper levels.

The city was also marked by its iconic black, open-topped sky towers—so tall that they could be seen even from beyond the Black Walls.

However, with the blood of the dragonlords long gone, many Volantene nobles had added glass domes atop their towers. Under the midday sun, stained glass in shades of blue, purple, green, and red reflected dazzling beams of light, like a twisted, tangled rainbow.

Yet, more common than the towers were the stone statues of former consuls standing in the streets and beside plaza fountains—most of them decapitated.

For instance, in the southeastern district beyond the Black Walls, a half-hectare garden plaza featured a towering jacaranda tree, nearly thirty meters tall. Its pinkish-purple petals, like snowfall from the heavens, drifted onto the heads and shoulders of visitors and settled atop the massive, headless white jade statue in the center.

Brushing away a petal from her ear, Dany glanced down at the inscription beside the statue.

The hero of Volantis during the Century of Blood—Consul Horonno. He had once led the Volantene army to conquer Myr, annexing the vast southwestern plains of Essos (the Disputed Lands) as Volantis' colonial territory.

He remained consul for forty consecutive years before tiring of elections and declaring himself Consul for Life.

But the people of Volantis were having none of it. They tied him to two elephants and tore him apart.

"How brutal…" Dany grimaced before adding thoughtfully, "But in a way, it proves that Volantis' electoral system isn't entirely worthless. At the very least, the people have a strong sense of democratic consciousness."

"Ser, what do you think?" she asked the knight beside her.

"The Volantenes are barbaric and excessively harsh. This man, Horono, had illustrious achievements and served Volantis faithfully for forty years, only to meet such a miserable end," the old man said with a complex expression.

He seemed to see himself in the decapitated stone statue before him—serving as a White Knight for nearly forty years, only to have his lifelong honor stripped away by a mere boy.

"Well, while that may be true, you could look at it from another perspective," Dany said, twitching the corner of her mouth.

"What perspective?"

"The democratic awareness of the Volantenes, their determination to protect their rights and uphold legal justice, perhaps..."

"My lady, you don't intend to learn from Volantis and hold elections for the ruling government, do you?" The white-bearded knight looked alarmed. "Just imagining the dukes of the Seven Kingdoms parading through the streets of King's Landing, canvassing votes with a bunch of bed slaves, sends shivers down my spine."

Dany nodded and smiled. "It's worth a try. I'm young, I can handle the chaos—and I have dragons. Even if I fail, no one can chop off my head."

But the Seven Kingdoms cannot afford such chaos!

Would you simply flee back to Slaver's Bay on dragonback if Westeros was ruined?

The White Knight pondered anxiously for a moment before speaking seriously. "My lady, you've seen it yourself—many statues of past rulers in the streets have lost their heads. The decline of Volantis is entirely due to partisan struggles. The election system is not as great as you think."

That was true.

Before the Doom of Valyria, it had ruled the entire known world. When the cataclysm destroyed the empire's power center—Long Summer's Land and the capital, Valyria—its colonies and conquered territories swiftly declared independence.

And what happened after the city-states gained independence?

They fought over territory.

The western continent of Essos fell into a century-long period of brutal warfare, known as the Century of Blood, until the Targaryens intervened.

As the "First Daughter of Valyria," "Queen of the Rhoyne," and "Mistress of the Summer Sea," Volantis had the largest population of pure-blooded Valyrians, ruled over the vast Rhoyne River basin, dominated the trade of the Summer Sea, and boasted the most powerful navy in the world.

Naturally, at the dawn of the Century of Blood, the Volantenes reached a consensus: they were the rightful successors of the Freehold and the legitimate rulers of the world.

They might not have aimed to rule the entire world, but at the very least, the other eight Free Cities of the western continent should submit to Volantis.

However, there was a great divide among the Volantenes on how to conquer the western continent of Essos.

The aristocratic Tiger Party advocated for military conquest, while the bankers and merchant lords of the Elephant Party supported economic dominance through trade—essentially, financial control.

But during the bloody era when everyone was drawing swords, the Tiger Party's aggressive stance gained the upper hand.

In a short time, Volantis's fleet conquered Lys, and its army seized Myr.

Three-quarters of the western continent was under Volantene control—they were on the verge of ruling the world.

At that time, the Volantenes even approached Aegon Targaryen, who was "idly watching the winds and clouds" on Dragonstone.

The future "Conqueror" had his own plans. Not only did he reject his "fellow Valyrians," but he also formed an anti-Volantis alliance with Tyrosh, Pentos, and Braavos—much like the coalition against the Dragon Queen today.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, hundreds or even thousands of warships, and one dragon—once-lush plains in the southwest of Essos were reduced to a scorched wasteland by war, becoming what is now known as the "Disputed Lands."

Looking at the map, it might seem that the vast western continent of Essos has only nine cities, with the rest appearing as empty land.

But that was not the case.

This land was once dotted with prosperous towns, now reduced to ruins.

With no Valyrian dragons to deter them, the Dothraki rode unchecked across the western continent. A town rebuilt this year would only add another bell to a khal's braid when he razed it again next year.

And because her ancestors had stabbed the Volantenes in the back, Dany had never considered rallying the noble families of the Black Walls under the banner of "Valyrian heritage."

But that was getting off-topic.

Aegon had only one dragon (his two sisters did not participate), which was not enough to change the tide of war. If the Volantenes had remained united and focused all their strength, the anti-Volantis alliance would not have been such an insurmountable obstacle.

After all, Volantis was massive. In terms of sheer power, it was the strongest in the world. Their conquest of the western continent had been methodical—after swiftly seizing Myr, Lys, and the Disputed Lands, they spent half a century consolidating their rule before advancing further north.

However, Volantis's rulers were elected annually, and the two dominant parties had completely opposing ideologies. Whenever setbacks occurred in the war, policies would shift accordingly.

After half a century of political back-and-forth, the Volantenes had exhausted themselves, losing both their lands and their strength.

Not only did their previously conquered colonies gain independence, but even their traditional territories along the upper Rhoyne were taken by Qohor and Braavos.

Then, the horsemen came from the eastern plains, raiding the Rhoyne River valley year after year, leaving the "Queen of the Rhoyne" without a chance to recover.

The Tiger Party fell from power entirely, and for the three centuries following the Century of Blood, the Elephant Party controlled Volantis's government, consistently securing at least two of the three consul seats.

To fully discredit the Tiger Party's military conquest agenda and permanently crush its influence, the ruling Elephant Party blamed the Tigers for all the failures of the war. They even guided public sentiment to the point where every statue of a Tiger Party consul had its head removed.

Yes, Volantis erects a statue for every elected consul.

Knowing this history, the white-bearded knight had every reason to believe that the Tiger-Elephant rivalry had led Volantis to ruin.

And the greatest irony?

The Elephant Party won the elections and implemented a "trade-based world conquest" policy for three centuries—yet the real leader of the western continent became Braavos.

Braavosi merchants had nearly perfected the Elephant Party's financial control tactics, and through the Iron Bank, they indirectly ruled over half the western continent, including Westeros itself.

(End of Chapter)

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