Chapter 167: The Dragon's Upbringing Fee

The Wall, Nightfort.

This was an abandoned dwelling of the Night's Watch brothers; under the long ice wall of the Wall's one hundred leagues, such small fortresses were not rare, and the castle itself held little fame.

Yet the Nightfort was known to most southern children; whenever an infant cried, their mothers and wet nurses would speak this name to stop the infant's wailing.

For this place was the very site of the Rat Cook incident, the origin of the Guest Right.

A cook had served a certain Andal king bread and salt, then chopped the king's son into mince, mixed it with onions, carrots, and tender mushrooms, seasoned it with pepper, salt, and Dornish wine, and made it into a delicious pie to present to the king.

The king found it delicious and asked for another piece, and the Rat Cook agreed. Later, the gods in heaven could not bear such a cruel act, so they descended with their power, joining forces to turn the cook into a giant white rat, never relieving his hunger, and making the Rat Cook eat his own descendants.

Anyone can seek revenge, but to kill a guest under one's own roof is something the gods will never forgive. These were the exact words of Old Nan.

At this moment, wrapped in a large black cloak, Brandon Stark sat paralyzed on the floor of the Nightfort kitchen, watching Ado sleeping soundly by the fire.

Ado was his guard, servant, and nanny; he had giant blood, and because his brain did not develop properly, he was named for being able to say only the word "Ado."

The Stark boy, nicknamed Bran, felt as if Old Nan's words were still ringing in his ears.

He wondered how Old Nan was doing, and if she had escaped.

Because he did not need to walk, Bran was not very tired, but he could not sleep either, so he had to watch his companions' sleeping postures to pass the time.

Meera Reed's sleeping posture was very quiet, but the handsome Jojen Reed was not; he tossed and turned, and one could only wonder what kind of green dreams he was having.

These two siblings were members of the Stark vassal House Reed, the lords of Greywater Watch, known for their short stature.

If nothing went wrong, the ancestors of the Reeds had once intermarried with the Children of the Forest, which gained them the blessing of the Old Gods, and the Weirwood was quite friendly toward them.

Bran's younger brother Rickon (named Rickard, to commemorate his grandfather) had already been taken by the Wildling Osha to the castle of a thousand-year loyalist to the Starks, where he would grow up very safely.

Just as Bran was about to close his eyes for a good sleep, a faint scratching sound drifted into his ears.

In the pitch-black night outside, where one could not see their own fingers and only the wind cried like a woman, the sound of footsteps rubbing against the ground forced its way into Bran's ears.

He felt the hair on his body stand up on end, and Old Nan's story about "Mad Axe" suddenly appeared in his mind, unable to be dispelled.

Mad Axe was a humanoid monster that liked to run around the Night's Watch brothers' castle barefoot, using his dripping axe to hack innocent people to death; afterwards, those hacked to death would join his ranks and run around with him.

The fire nearby and the rough cloak on his body could no longer provide him with warmth; Bran only felt chilled to the bone.

After listening carefully, he suddenly understood the source of the footsteps.

It was not outside the kitchen, nor on the floor, but coming from below.

The footsteps grew louder, and even the sound of breathing and an infant's whimpering could be easily distinguished.

This made Bran even more desperate; could it be that Ado's snoring had awakened the monster from Old Nan's story?

He was so frightened he dared not shout; under the pressure of the approaching sound, this Stark even wanted to slip into the body of the Direwolf Summer, but Summer was hundreds of meters away and could not help him.

The footsteps grew louder, and Bran could even imagine its massive size.

He remembered what his sister Sansa had said: hide under the covers and the ghost won't find you, but he had no covers now.

So, Bran crawled on the ground, slowly moving toward Meera.

Below the well, Samwell Tarly, who was so scared he dared not make a sound, was equally terrified.

This chubby Night's Watchman felt he heard an inexplicable sound, as if a giant worm were wriggling on the ground.

Well-read in books, he even imagined various monsters that might appear here, making him even more timid.

But after glancing at Gilly behind him, Samwell felt he had courage again, and he continued to climb up the spiral staircase.

The well was very slippery, and the physical exertion was great, making Samwell's breathing rapid.

He felt it was terrifying outside, not knowing that his own heavy breathing made others even more afraid.

Just as Samwell climbed out of the well and had not yet had time to pull Gilly up, he was already covered by a net.

"Don't, loosen the net, Mother save me." In his panic, the courage Gilly had given him fled from Samwell, and the chubby man began to babble incoherently.

A few minutes later, six people, one child, and a wolf that had wandered over at some point were staring at each other in the kitchen.

Both sides began to communicate until they confirmed the other had no ill intent, and the situation began to ease.

"Seven Gods," Samwell shouted, "your spear pierced my stomach."

Upon hearing this, Meera hurriedly crouched down to check the situation.

After all, she was the one who did it, so she had to be responsible.

After touching a layer of chainmail, Meera said with disdain: "You're wearing Iron Armor; I didn't even scratch your skin."

Samwell was very surprised; he touched his stomach, which looked as if he were pregnant, "Is that so? But it still hurts so much!"

It really wasn't scratched, so he pretended nothing had happened and began to talk to the people in the kitchen.

Bran and Meera were questioning whether this person was a Night's Watch brother, Jojen was communicating with the Wildling Gilly, and the child began to cry again, leaving the kitchen in a mess.

To this, Ado, who would remain calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, calmly stated: "Ado~"

Samwell finally explained his background, and he also mentioned that a strange man dressed as a Night's Watch ranger was waiting for someone north of the Wall.

"He said there were people here, and told me to bring them over," the chubby man explained.

The strange man's hands were as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice, so Gilly and Samwell both called him "Coldhands."

After multiple discussions, Bran decided to go north of the Wall to find that ranger, and the three accompanying him naturally followed.

Samwell had no choice but to leave his abducted little wife and stepson here, then lead the four people and one wolf over.

"Only I can open that black gate," he explained to them.

After going back and forth in the well dozens of times, the group arrived at the black gate at the bottom of the well; by the faint moonlight, Bran, Meera, and the others clearly saw that the gate was white.

To be precise, the black gate was made of Weirwood, only the part of the Weirwood carved into a human face was as pale as a corpse.

"It's clearly a white gate, why is it called the black gate?" Bran asked, puzzled.

Samwell turned his head, gave a sweet smile, and replied: "Because its mouth is black."

The fat man's smile made Bran feel greasy, but a strange thought suddenly rose in his heart.

Could it be that the gate is inside the mouth?

How could that be possible!

Samwell walked to the door, and to everyone's surprise, the door-face spoke: "Who are you?"

"Who—who—who—"

The strange sound echoed throughout the well.

"I am the sword in the darkness, the watcher on the Wall, the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men."

Samwell recited a string of words similar to the vows of the Night's Watch.

"Go!"

On the weirwood, the human mouth began to change, and a gaping maw slowly appeared before everyone.

Samwell gave his companions behind him a kind smile, then was the first to crawl inside.

Meera, Jojen, Ado, and the others followed; after passing through the mouth-door, Samwell gave a dragon-glass dagger and two dragon-glass arrowheads from his own person to the small party heading north.

From then on, Bran and the others, under the guidance of the mysterious Coldhands, would head north all the way, passing through the vast Ghost Forest, entering the territory of the Thenn, and then finding the throne of the weirwood in the northeastern part of the Lands of Always Winter.

There, some Children of the Forest and the current physical vessel of the Three-Eyed Raven were waiting for the youngest, Brandon Stark, to take over the duties of the High Priest of the Old Gods and confront the subordinates of the Cold God.

Of course, considering that the Night King might also be named Brandon Stark, and the vast majority of White Walkers have Stark blood, no matter who wins in the war between the living and the dead, Brandon Stark wins anyway.

King's Landing, Great Council Chamber.

Several high-ranking nobles with real status were discussing various details with the King.

The pungent smell of blood made the Queen of Thorns constantly fan herself with a small fan; beside her, her son-in-law and nephew, Lord Paxter Redwyne, was tracing lines on a map, and Lords Randyll Tarly and Aurane Waters were also staring at the map.

Now was the time to distribute some ownerless lands, and what the Jiaodu loved most were lands that could be passed down for thousands of years.

Arthur pointed to Duskendale, "The Tarly family's reward could be here, but this would inevitably require Lord Randyll to split his house, so we could also find a few pieces of land in the Reach to grant to Horn Hill."

Horn Hill is directly south of Highgarden, and Brightwater Keep is directly west of Horn Hill; these three places were currently the focus of everyone's attention.

The stern Randyll was very satisfied with the new King's handling of his family, "I only have one son who can inherit the land, and he is currently serving His Majesty."

The meaning of his words was very clear: he wanted the reward in the Reach.

Arthur was also very satisfied with Lord Tarly's choice.

His biggest threat at the moment was that the Reachmen were too ambitious and too powerful.

For fifteen years, Baratheon and Lannister had already demonstrated what should be done under such a combination, and even situations that hadn't happened could be deduced.

With the House Lannister as a precedent, House Tyrell just needed to follow suit.

As for Arthur himself, his direct lands and soldiers were only equivalent to those of a powerful count, and the most reliable of those lands were still in Sansa's name.

The Riverlands could barely count as a power base, but House Frey was too strong, the other houses were too weak, and Riverrun, controlled by Blackfish, didn't really care about Arthur; the power base was too fragile.

Therefore, weakening the Reach was an inevitable matter.

To be precise, it was weakening House Tyrell; although House Hightower was allied with them, they had not sent their own soldiers for this northern expedition, and their attitude was evident.

Arthur's current strategy was to support House Tarly.

Because of his overly rigid nature, Randyll was not well-liked among the Reachmen. Moreover, the strong allies of the Rose family were all along the coast; among the counts and nobles within a week's travel of Highgarden, only the Red Apple family had intermarried and allied with the Tyrells.

"Lord Tarly's wife is the eldest daughter of the former Lord Florent, so his family should rightfully inherit Brightwater Keep," Arthur said, pointing to the small dot on the map.

He also knew that the Tyrells would never let go of such a piece of fat; if Garlan were to sit firmly in Brightwater Keep, the Rose family could cover the sky with one hand in the heart of the Reach.

But the great medical student Lu Xun once said: if you open a window, others will certainly disagree, but if you propose to tear off the roof, others will mostly agree to open a window.

No other reason, people just like to compromise.

Brightwater Keep is located between Oldtown and Highgarden, and the line connecting Tarly's Horn Hill to that castle happens to cut off the end of the Roseroad.

The Queen of Thorns adjusted her square headdress, "If that's the case, we Reachmen might as well withdraw early; it's all meat in the pot anyway, no matter how we scoop it, we're the ones eating it."

She used the withdrawal of the Reach troops to threaten the new King.

At this moment, Lord Aurane Waters, who had been won over beforehand, played his part.

This family had produced a Hand of the King during the time of the Mad King, but because of his incompetence in battle, Aerys II stripped them of their lands and castle, and the lord was exiled. After Robert took power, he returned Longtable to the Mariweisi Jiazu, but only gave them a portion of the fiefdom.

The benefit Arthur gave his family was the restoration of their complete lands.

Lord Aurane cleared his throat, "But it is certain that Lord Randyll's wife has the right of inheritance; no one can deny that. I have a suggestion: Ser Garlan gets Brightwater Keep and half the land, and the remaining half goes to Horn Hill. Considering Dickon's outstanding performance, I think we could also take out some of the lands of the Peake family of Starpike and grant them to the Tarly family."

The Peake family was once a first-tier high noble family in the Reach, possessing three large castles and three countships, but because they repeatedly stood on the wrong side, they were now a fourth or fifth-tier family, and their only remaining castle was Starpike, east of Horn Hill.

"Lord Tarly deserves more than this, and the Peake family hasn't made any major mistakes for the time being, so it's not good to reduce their fiefs. Let's do this: first give half of Brightwater Keep's land to Lord Randyll, and we'll talk about the rest of the rewards after Dickon arrives in King's Landing with the Riverlands Soldier."

Arthur had already decided to form a standing Royal Army, using the New Army he had previously assembled as a foundation, and recruiting young men from the lands of the Dragon Party families to fill it.

Dickon was the most suitable Commander for this army; he would talk to Randyll Tarly about this privately.

Of course, King's Landing probably couldn't afford to support this army, so the base for the Royal Standing Army should be chosen near Harrenhal.

And after Sansa married Arthur, Harrenhal and the nearby lands would be considered royal private property.

Lady Olenna did not speak, and only after a long while did she nod, reluctantly agreeing to the handling of Brightwater Keep.

Garlan had not a drop of House Florent blood; even if House Tyrell was powerful, they could not ignore the gossip of the other nobles of the Seven Kingdoms.

Arthur had several other ideas to weaken House Tyrell, but he didn't state them clearly; he had to wait until after he married the Little Rose to proceed slowly.

Of course, there was one thing that could be done now.

Arthur pointed to himself and said to the Queen of Thorns, "I presume the old lady knows I have a dragon, and I don't have many Gold Dragon myself, and the Iron Throne still owes the Iron Bank of Braavos a large sum of money. Since our two houses have already allied, and the dragon's appetite is extremely large, I thought I'd let House Tyrell pay for the dragon's food."

This was the most treacherous part.

"I remember His Majesty only has one dragon, how could you not afford to feed it?"

Because Alduin had already recognized his master, Olenna had no interest in raising dragons.

"I have more; if House Tyrell is willing to pay for the dragon's food, I will let all the offspring Margaery bears have priority in choosing dragons."

Choosing a dragon is one thing, but if they can't ride it, don't blame Arthur.

When the Queen of Thorns heard this, she immediately perked up.

She rested her hands on the round table and asked, "Can His Majesty ensure that other dragons will hatch?"

With dragons, it wouldn't matter even if Margaery's son was lower in the line of succession; the Tyrells' relatives, the Hightower family, had a standard demonstration of this over a hundred years ago.

"I can, and it won't take long; once Alduin grows for a year or two, he'll be able to hatch dragons."

Dragonfire also has magical effects; once the black dragon can continuously breathe Dragonfire, Arthur will be ready to hatch the remaining six Dragon Eggs.

Once the seven dragons grow up, all of the Tyrells' schemes will no longer be a problem.

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(End of chapter)