Chapter 213: Where Are the Loyal Ministers of House Dragon?

Within the Black Walls, there was more than just one Sky-Piercing Tower. Excluding the lesser nobles and wealthy merchants, this area housed over thirty elite Valyrian noble families, including the Fourteen Flames' branches.

Among them, nearly every household of the Fourteen Flames had built a Black Tower, ready to welcome the Dragon King from their main family.

In total, there were 22 Sky-Piercing Towers inside the Black Walls.

Of course, much like the Maegyar family in Volantis, the uppermost floors of these Blackstone towers had been modified—some with glass or wooden domes, others converted into gardens or pools.

But one thing was certain: these families all adhered to the Valyrian tradition of the "Children of the Sky"—the highest-ranking individual always resided on the topmost floor.

Moreover, within the head of the household's chambers, there would always be ancestral treasures.

For example, Valyrian steel swords, Valyrian tomes, statues, and arcane artifacts.

The people of Volantis never imagined that the Mother of Dragons would launch a surprise attack from three thousand kilometers away. As a result, there were no dragon-killing crossbows, no archers, no powerful guards stationed.

Many of the tower tops didn't even have servants—empty and waiting, as if for some noble soul to ride a dragon, sneak in, and plunder them.

And plunder they did—so often that it became second nature.

"What is the Mother of Dragons doing?"

Bu Cheng followed the fire mage's pointed finger. In the darkness, a flash of dark-red dragonfire flared and then vanished, leaving only flickering flames burning unsteadily.

"Ah, what a ruthless woman! She's systematically eliminating the heads of the noble families, trying to break the spine of Volantis!" Narcisso froze for a moment before suddenly shouting in realization.

Inside the stairwell, someone was clearing away corpses. Dany also stopped, resting her sword on the ground as she called out to the Archon:

"Wailing here won't help you. Hurry up and bring out your trump cards—dragon-killing crossbows, Dragonhorns, sorcery, whatever you've got. At this point, why are you still holding back?"

"We have nothing, nothing at all." Narcisso nearly sobbed as he spoke.

"How is that possible? You planned to attack Slaver's Bay—there's no way you didn't prepare anti-dragon measures!" Dany questioned suspiciously.

"If real dragons were so easy to deal with, how would the Valyrians have ruled the world? Why else would we Volantenes have collaborated with the Braavosi to hatch dragons?" The Archon howled in despair, staring at the distant, burning wooden domes.

So, there really were no ultimate weapons against dragons. That put Dany's mind at ease.

"What about dragon-killing crossbows? Even the Ghiscari had them." She seemed more anxious about it than the Volantenes themselves.

"The Ghiscari used siege ballistae mounted on their city walls. Their horizontal range exceeded 300 meters—powerful enough to kill war elephants. But their vertical range was less than 50 meters, making them ineffective against dragons in the sky."

"Forget it then." Dany waved her hand dismissively and turned to her Shadowbinders. "Look at this lot—they don't even have dragon-killing crossbows, yet they wanted to march east against Slaver's Bay."

A sudden gust of wind roared across the battlefield, making the flames on the corpses crackle. The stairwell entrance had been cleared, allowing air to rush through.

"Quick, hurry!" The steward urged the slaves forward.

Soon, over a dozen slaves, draped in wet bedsheets, rushed up the burning stairs carrying stretchers.

"We have dragon-killing crossbows! Real ones from Westeros." Narcisso gasped as he clambered onto a stretcher. "Kohor didn't join the allied army, but they are part of the United Nations."

"Three months ago, they accepted the allied army's order to forge dragon-killing crossbows for us."

"In half a month, the first batch of a thousand ballistae will leave Kohor, traveling south along the Rhoyne River to Volantis."

Dany's heart tightened. "Dragon-killing crossbows from Westeros? Where did they come from?"

She turned to the fire mage. "Did you bring them?"

As the slaves carried the stretchers down, Dany followed behind the Archon, with the fire mage and the Moonsinger trailing her.

Aside from Bu Cheng and the Shadowbinders, the other low-ranking mages didn't get a stretcher.

"The crossbow schematics were tightly guarded in the Royal Library. There's no way I could have accessed them." The fire mage forced a bitter smile, his face smeared with soot.

"Heh, that woman is strong, no doubt. But this time, she's truly made an enemy of the entire world." Narcisso sneered, his twisted expression dark with resentment. "The Westerosi are even more anxious than we are. If the allied army fails, the sea traders can simply go home and farm. Tough life, but at least their families will survive."

"But the great houses—Lannister, Baratheon, Stark, Tully, Arryn—those five ducal families won't even get the chance to surrender. Given the Mother of Dragons' madness, her tyranny, her ruthlessness—do you really think she wouldn't exterminate them?"

Mad? Tyrannical? Ruthless?

Dany chuckled coldly. Good. Very good.

"I see. Stark, Tully, Baratheon have fallen. The one who delivered the schematics must be a Lannister, then?" Dany asked, smiling slyly.

"No. The one who brought them came from Oldtown, representing House Tyrell's interests." Narcisso shook his head.

As they stepped out of the corridor, a team of physicians waiting in the palace rushed forward to tend to the Archon's wounds.

"House Tyrell?" Dany was stunned. What kind of twist was this?

The Reach originally belonged to House Gardener—the Kings of the Reach bore the surname "Gardener."

House Tyrell was merely the stewards of Highgarden, ranking as mid-tier nobility in the Reach at best.

During Aegon's Conquest, the entire Gardener family perished in the "Field of Fire." As Highgarden's steward, House Tyrell surrendered and was rewarded with the title of Duke of Highgarden by Aegon Targaryen.

For three centuries, House Tyrell had remained loyal Targaryen supporters.

During Robert's Rebellion, the only ally the Targaryens had was House Tyrell. (Unfortunately, they chose the wrong commander—Duke Mace Tyrell's military skills were terrible. If Randyll Tarly—Jon's friend and Sam Tarly's father—had led the army instead, the Targaryen dynasty might have survived.)

At the time, even Rhaegar's brother-in-law, Doran Martell, had merely watched from the sidelines.

So, for all these years, Viserys, Dany, Barristan, and Jorah Mormont had all assumed that House Tyrell could be an ally in restoring the Targaryen throne.

Dany had even planned to visit the Citadel in Oldtown when she arrived in Westeros.

But now…

Was there not a single loyal minister left in the Seven Kingdoms?

After a moment of thought, she asked cautiously:

"What about the Lannisters? I heard House Tyrell is allied with them through marriage—perhaps they're acting on Tywin Lannister's behalf?"

Perhaps. We once sent envoys to King's Landing, inviting King Joffrey to join the alliance. Tywin Lannister did not give a clear rejection at the time; he merely claimed that Westeros was still in ruins and unable to support a war so far away in the short term.

The consul drank a cup of poppy milk and drifted into a hazy sleep, while the healer took the opportunity to set his bones.

"Let's go," the Shadowbinder tugged at Dany's sleeve, "it's time to leave."

Dany flicked the dripping water off her long, black sleeves and complained, "Not even a clean set of clothes?"

"After hundreds of noble lords died, who has the mind to entertain us?" Bu Cheng shook his head.

As they descended the stairs, they chatted along the way.

"Where are you staying?"

"The Merchant's House."

"Heh, same way then. I actually have—"

Dang! Dang! Dang!

Just as they were speaking, a deep, resonant bell tolled above them.

"Is this summoning the Tiger Cloaks and declaring martial law across the city?" The Shadowbinder looked curiously at the Volantene servant leading them.

"It's the Black Wall's warning bell. During the Valyrian era, it was used to welcome esteemed dragonlords. Nowadays, it's mostly for fire alarms—something's burning up there!"

"Quite the commotion. It might attract the Mother of Dragons," the pyromancer said worriedly.

"She already burned this place once—why would she come back?" Dany scoffed.

"Screeech—BOOM!"

A dragon's roar split the night sky like lightning. The bell suddenly stopped ringing, and the sound of flames consuming buildings could be heard even from the base of the tower.

Then came the sharp, despairing wail of a steward.

Everyone turned to stare at the pyromancer with eerie expressions, making the Westerosi shudder.

"I—I was just guessing!" he stammered.

"Sigh, we should split up. The dragon is too fierce!" Dany sighed. "Poor Consul Nessiso—he barely escaped one disaster with his wits and courage, only to be doomed by a fire alarm. Tragic."

"We can't part ways. Now that they've witnessed the might of a dragon, the Volantenes will need us more than ever—and value our strength even more," Bu Cheng shook his head.

"Besides, I traveled thousands of leagues from Yi Ti just to hatch a dragon. After spending months on a ship, how could I just give up and go back now?"

"I heard that Grand Mage Wode is planning to—" Dany trailed off as she noticed Volantenes running in panic in the courtyard.

She quickly jogged out of the tower and looked up from the lawn.

Sure enough, flames billowed wildly from the palace's top-floor windows, engulfing the entire level. Against the dark sky, the Tower of the Sky blazed like a towering torch.

On the ground, a unit of Tiger Cloaks had already arrived, while large groups of Volantene families stepped out of their homes—some stared at the burning Black Tower in confusion, others screamed in panic, "Fire!"

Some caught a glimpse of a dragon's silhouette in the firelight and heard what sounded like its roar. Fear took hold as they howled, "The Mother of Dragons is attacking!"

More people, realizing their loved ones had attended the gathering at the Black Tower, broke into anguished sobs.

Amid the chaos, five sorcerers climbed onto two white elephants and slowly made their way through the gathering crowd toward the Black Wall's city gates.

"Grand Mage Wode is planning to defect to Slaver's Bay and pledge allegiance to the Mother of Dragons—did you know?" Dany asked Bu Cheng.

She had switched places with the pyromancer; the Westerosi sat with Tamm and the Moon Singer on one elephant, while Dany shared a fortress-like howdah with the YiTish necromancer.

"The Mother of Dragons? No future in that," the YiTish man shook his head.

"The sky is burning, dragons are roaring, and her enemies are wailing in the flames. If I hadn't dragged you away, you'd be nothing but a charred puddle of stinking grease like those hundreds of dead fools."

"Well… true," Bu Cheng admitted, "but the Mother of Dragons hasn't harmed the foundation of Volantis. And you heard it too—Kohor will deliver a thousand dragon-killing crossbows to the alliance in half a month."

Dany thought for a moment before saying, "I saved your life, didn't I?"

"Uh… yeah."

"How do you plan to repay me?" Dany grinned.

"Uh…" Bu Cheng hesitated, then mumbled, "I thought you were just a kind-hearted person."

"I am a good person," Dany nodded with a bright smile. "And this good person wants to learn necromancy. What do you think?"

"Well, the Necromancers' Guild…." Bu Cheng's face flickered through several expressions. Seeing that Dany wasn't joking, he gritted his teeth and said seriously, "The fundamental meditation technique must never be leaked, but I can teach you two spells."

"That works."

Dany already possessed the most powerful inheritance from the Grand Sorcerers—she had no need for other sorcerers' meditation techniques.

(P.S.: Field of Fire—Aegon's conquest of Westeros included a battle where King Loren I of the Rock and King Mern IX of the Reach united their forces, gathering nearly 55,000 men, including 5,000 knights—true knights. The Targaryens had only 11,000 newly recruited soldiers.

The battle took place in a vast wheat field—ideal for the allied cavalry's charge. The Targaryen forces were quickly routed. But Aegon had dragons. Three dragons. They set the wheat fields ablaze, burning or killing around 4,000 men.

Honestly, this deserves a complaint. At that time, the three dragons—Balerion was over a hundred years old, while Vhagar and Meraxes were fifty—were all massive dragons. Yet, they didn't kill as many people as Drogon, a juvenile dragon in Game of Thrones' finale.

That black dragon, barely four years old, first burned Euron's fleet, then roasted 20,000 Golden Company soldiers, and finally destroyed half of King's Landing, which had 500,000 people.

Clearly, Game of Thrones fell apart in its later seasons—power scaling, character consistency, and plot integrity all collapsed.)

(End of Chapter)

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