EBE #256 - Chapter 30: Dragon Mother's Scam
#256 - Chapter 30: Dragon Mother's Scam
Robb Stark resolutely abandoned the path to kingship, and from then on, the North would achieve a high degree of autonomy, like Dorne, only nominally recognizing the rule of the Iron Throne.
Compared to this, the destruction of House Frey and the betrayal of House Bolton seemed insignificant. And the warning from the Night's Watch was more like an absurd fairy tale, almost no one paid attention to it.
At this moment, Winterfell was being consumed by raging flames, and thick smoke filled the entire castle. Ramsay Snow, holding a torch, unhesitatingly threw it into the sea of fire, a hint of regret on his face: "It's such a pity, I actually quite liked this place." In the past few days, he had enjoyed being the lord of the castle to his heart's content. This time, he led five hundred reserve soldiers of House Bolton to attack Winterfell. The number of Ironborn garrisoned in the city was small, only a hundred or so. He easily captured Winterfell, unceremoniously occupied the entire castle, and swallowed the wealth of House Stark (though there wasn't much, the Starks were famously poor). Not only that, but he ruthlessly killed all the captured Ironborn and anyone who dared to resist him, cleverly blaming all these atrocities on the Ironborn.
Since Theon had killed all the ravens that delivered messages, Winterfell was almost completely cut off from the outside world. So, he began to leisurely enjoy the comfortable life as the lord of the castle. However, yesterday he suddenly received a message from his father, informing him that the plot to ambush Robb at the wedding had failed, and their own army had suffered heavy losses.
At this moment, Earl Karstark, who was originally responsible for driving away the Ironborn, would definitely lead his two thousand soldiers to settle accounts with him. Since that was the case, what was there to hesitate about? Ramsay simply looted frantically and then set fire to the entire Winterfell.
Fortunately, there was good news for him: his beloved brother Domeric had been left behind at the Twins, and his life or death was currently unknown. The reason he burned Winterfell was actually to anger House Stark. If Robb executed Domeric in anger, that would be perfect! In that case, he would most likely become the next generation leader of House Bolton.
A serious-looking middle-aged officer walked quickly to Ramsay, bowed slightly, and asked, "Lord Ramsay, what should we do with this distress call from the Night's Watch?"
Ramsay's lips curled up, revealing a contemptuous smile: "Heh, the Others? That's just something that exists in fairy tales! For thousands of years, who has actually witnessed them? This must be the wildlings beyond the Wall trying to scare us. Even if the so-called Others break through the Wall, there are still Last Hearth and Karhold in front of them. Let those guys worry about it, maybe that will make the Dreadfort safer."
At the same time, on the distant Dragonstone, Melisandre, in a crimson robe, silently picked up the letter of appeal. After reading it carefully, she threw it into the blazing brazier without hesitation. Melisandre stared quietly at the raging fire, as if seeing something unknown through the flames.
After a moment, she turned her head and looked at Stannis, who was sitting beside her, with a solemn tone: "The conflict between the kings has become meaningless. Your real enemy has now appeared, in the North. The claws of the evil god are gradually approaching the Wall, and only you have the ability to stop their progress and save the entire kingdom from danger. And I saw Ser Davos in the flames. He will occupy an important position in the future war. Please keep him, he will definitely become your right-hand man."
Stannis's lips curled up, revealing a playful smile: "Heh~ You see? The fire god you once disdained and ridiculed saved your little life! From this moment on, you will also become one of his brave and fearless warriors!"
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At this time in Astapor, the city built of brick and blood was filled with thick smoke. Daenerys's warriors and the Unsullied fought bravely, and they controlled the entire Astapor. All the Good Masters in the city were killed, including Kraznys mo Nakloz, Liu Yuan's old acquaintance, who was burned into a pile of black coke by dragon fire (he was really cooked). Another old friend, Grazdan mo Eraz, was lucky enough to escape this disaster by going to Volantis to deliver goods.
In fact, Astapor originally had many other types of powerful war slaves. If it weren't for internal problems, it would have been impossible to break through so easily. However, Daenerys cleverly used commercial fraud to trap all the slave owners who came to watch this huge transaction. These self-righteous guys couldn't escape, and they were all caught in the end.
Without the unified command of the slave owners, those originally powerful war slaves became leaderless after losing their organization. Subsequently, after being taken over, these war slaves also chose to join Daenerys's uprising army.
Ten days ago, Daenerys embarked on a journey to Astapor with countless gold and silver treasures. She had only one purpose for this trip: to buy slaves.
Many years ago, for some unknown reason, countless strong Northern wildlings flowed into the slave market. These barbarians from the cold lands all possessed strong physiques and tenacious wills, and became the most sought-after commodities in the slave market.
As a specially trained elite slave warrior, the Unsullied's combat power far exceeded that of ordinary soldiers. Now, with the addition of this group of strong Northern wildlings, the overall quality of the Unsullied has been significantly improved and become more and more popular.
When the slave owners of Astapor learned that Daenerys wanted to buy Unsullied, they immediately colluded together to try to raise the price. Not only that, but because there were also a large number of orders from the Free Trade City-States, they were only willing to provide 5,000 Unsullied and demanded three times the original price.
Faced with such greedy and shameless merchants, Daenerys naturally found it difficult to accept. She repeatedly negotiated and argued with these slave owners, but she was never able to change their decision, and instead felt suffocated with anger.
Finally, Daenerys, unable to bear it any longer, decided not to get entangled with these profiteers. She decisively threw out a condition that no one could refuse: half the market price plus a living dragon, in exchange for all 16,000 Unsullied!