Chapter 171

Gelaci Dankalale

Given the difficulty, perhaps we could treat it as a place? It seems to be a person looking at her? Actually the term written in Chinese characters appears to be a person's name (maybe a Ghis woman). We'll just provide the pinyin approximation: 'Gélācīdànkǎlālè'. We'll output the raw term as 'Gelaci Dankalale'? Or we could decide to output with spaces between syllables: 'Ge la zi Dan Ka La Le'? That seems overly spaced.

Better to follow typical translation: keep original Chinese characters as the name, but the rule says use pinyin for person names. However many translations keep foreign names as is. I think we should output pinyin without tone marks: "Gelaci Dankalale". Let's do that.

Daenerys

Given the context is clearly from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, the character is Daenerys Targaryen. The Chinese translation uses a phonetic rendering of the name. In English translations, they keep Daenerys. So I'll output 'Daenerys'.

Thus the raw term is Daenerys, and the original term is the Chinese rendering of the name.

Ghis people

Missandei

Ser Barristan

Unsullied

The first person to come in said he was the cousin of a certain murdered female worker and should inherit the property left behind by the female workers, including a residence inside the arena, two well-preserved old looms, and several tapestries that were either damaged or stained with blood.

Wise Master

Sikalaci

Leihada Pyramid

The second person to come in held a burlap sack—a scene she had seen many times before, most likely someone coming to demand she pay for the lunch of the three dragons—but she had already ordered that anyone seeking compensation should go to the temple, swear an oath, and then receive her compensation; she did not know what this person had deliberately come here to do.

Sikazhatan River

Milin

Summer Coast

Kuezi Family

Admiral

Dazinake Family

Dazinake Mine

Gelacide Mo Lakezan

Rakazan

The charred granddaughter. Will Missandei translate wrong? The ground was littered with corpses.

"Your Highness!" Ser Barristan exclaimed.

The hunched figure before her straightened instantly, and Daenerys saw his eyes filled with bone-deep hatred and his ferocious expression.

He flung open his tattered, net-like robe, and an icy dagger lunged straight at her. The foul stench on the robe mixed with a sickly sweet odor that almost made her vomit; she stumbled backward, fell, and slammed hard against the stone steps, feeling her back shatter.

She saw the Unsullied and the old knight draw their longswords with a metallic ring, and everything happened in an instant and ended in an instant.

Her face was spattered with the assassin's blood.

She felt a bit dizzy, leaned weakly against the steps, propped herself up, and watched the fallen assassin.

"Your Highness, are you all right?" Ser Barristan asked, tilting his head slightly toward her; he and the Unsullied guarded her front, forming a wall of protection.

"You saved my life, ser." She didn't see exactly how the old knight had killed him; everything had happened too fast, and she was still in a daze: "I'm fine."

She wiped the blood from her face, put her arm around Missandei's panicked shoulder to stand, continually comforting her as she walked back to her seat, which had already been replaced with a large chair with a backrest.

The assassination ended swiftly with the assassin's death, and danger instantly returned to its former calm.

Those waiting outside the hall for audience let out a gasp.

"Your Highness, do you need to return to the palace to rest?" Missandei asked.

"No need." She felt angry, having lost count of how many assassination attempts this was, and said, "The seat is comfortable; I think I can endure for a long time."

The Unsullied guards quickly dispersed, and Ser Barristan sheathed his sword to examine the corpse; it was obvious this was a lone wolf, or a very clumsy one.

"Your Highness, this person is likely the son of a harpy." The knight pulled a necklace from the dead man's neck, from which hung a small harpy-son pendant, clearly indicating the visitor's identity.

"What are the bones he brought?" the queen asked. The assassin's identity meant she no longer had to worry about possible slaughter by dragons.

"I don't know, Your Highness," the knight said, resuming his role as a guard and standing on the steps to answer her: "Perhaps it's just the bones of a slave he happened to bring, like the assassin; we can't identify their original identities, which is truly a pity."

"No need to dwell on who they are." They will pay the price.

She waved her hand, telling Missandei to admit the next petitioner.

The visitor wore a long beard, dressed in a ridiculous Ghisian robe, bowed respectfully to the queen, and carefully avoided the bloodstains left by the assassin.

"Your noble queen," he drawled, "I have always supported your cause, just as the Wise Master supports you. But I am old and frail, unable to take up arms for you; my lineage is poor, so I cannot let my descendants join your army to serve you; I wish to bring prosperity to your city through production and trade, yet the lack of commerce makes it hard to sustain, which is truly a pity."

"Skahaz is indeed my capable aide; he is currently helping me attack the Reyazda pyramid, and I believe it will fall soon." He looked like a Ghisian noble, though not yet of high rank, and asked, "What trade do you wish to pursue?" If he were a legitimate merchant, the queen would not be unwilling to support him.

"I previously dealt in timber trade, Your Majesty; whether for shipbuilding materials needed to construct sea vessels, or for building houses, wooden chests, or fuel, wood is required, and I am responsible for purchasing timber along the banks of the Skazadan River and then distributing it in Meereen."

"Strange, upstream there are many other precious products, including grain, vegetables, various meats, and other rare treasures; why do you only trade in timber? A cargo of wool cloth should be worth more than a cargo of timber, let alone a cargo of freshwater pearls."

"Your Highness, while these businesses are certainly profitable, they are monopolized by certain families, and we cannot enter them; take pearls, for example—they control production, processing, transport, and sales, so I cannot join any of those links. If you speak of wool, only they have the means to purchase large quantities from the tribes, and only they can turn wool into tapestries, so they have no need for my transport. What I can participate in are those requiring massive labor that they cannot monopolize—thanks to trees growing everywhere—and the businesses that are hard to profit from. Even so, in the timber trade, the most valuable aspect—shipping shipbuilding materials—I can only take part in a small fraction, and that is only because my sister once married into the Qohor family, who are willing to buy a bit of black cedar from me for use as natural decoration on ships."

"I hope your timber trade can get underway; my admiral has constantly complained about lacking ships and wood." Daenerys said with a smile, "But for now, the sea lanes are blocked by my enemies; once I defeat them in the future, perhaps you can resume trade—though then you cannot use slaves, and you must consider whether to continue this unprofitable business."

"The Dazhinake family is already ruined, Your Highness; perhaps I will consider going into silver mining and refining, but the best business is one that requires brains."

"Do they monopolize the silver trade?" the queen said, showing greater interest in silver mines.

"They monopolize a silver mine called Dazhinake located upstream on the river. This silver mine may need to be renamed."

"I didn't expect there to be such a gain." Daenerys said with a smile, "Did you come here to obtain this silver mine?"

The old man frowned slightly, Daenerys felt puzzled—he shouldn't have stayed silent so long.

"Your Highness, to reap this gain you must defeat the enemies besieging you, for the mine lies outside Meereen." He straightened a little, looking full of spirit, more composed than the average Ghisian noble, and said, "Meereen is but one of many cities along the Summer Sea coast; if you do not defeat them all, Meereen will never know peace."

"Defeating them all is no easy task; they are scattered across the world, far away, and I am merely a woman without the ambition to conquer the world."

"Then you have no choice but to leave this city, for its lifeblood is tied to the many cities and nations of the Summer Sea coast; without the resolve to wage war, you cannot stand firm here." He sighed, "Your Highness, let me speak frankly: if you cannot resolve the surrounding enemies, I fear that in half a month the firewood prices will soar to the point most people cannot afford to burn, in a month there will not be a single tree left in your city, and in another half month all timber in buildings will be torn down for fuel—this is just firewood, and there are other things I don't know about."

"Who are you?"

"My name is insignificant; I am called Grazdan mo Kandaq, with Kandaq being a branch that split early from the Yezzan family."

"Grazdan, what is your petition?"

"I petition that you leave here." He said. The queen had never heard such a provocative petition, and she almost laughed in anger, "Or perhaps you should petition that you swiftly defeat your enemies, for I do not wish to eat my food raw."

"You are not the son of a harpy, are you?"

Your Highness, I certainly am not. He lowered his body again, adopting a respectful appearance.

You seem very wise. The queen smiled.

I can make some prophecies, Your Majesty.

The kind of prophecy a witch makes?

The kind of scholars and learned men?

What prophecies do you have?

You can stay here, I mean Melin, and live out the rest of your life in peace.

I'm very interested in your speculation—why do you think that? This prophecy isn't that interesting.

The condition is, if you wish to restore slavery, live according to the Ghiscari way, and marry a noble Ghiscari. He continued before the queen's anger flared, "The price is that you and the Ghiscari noble's children could be killed by the surging slaves, your bloodline will end here, and the ancient Ghiscari nobility will be torn to pieces by the rising slaves."

My bloodline—will I still have children? She almost laughed. "Are you a witch?"

They are far enough away; according to Dothraki tradition, as long as we stay away from them we can avoid danger.

Witches are a profession of charm and creating chaos; I am a timber merchant, distributing wood to all kinds of people in the city, I have dealt with the Ghiscari nobles living in the pyramids and also with the newly freed freemen...

What are you saying? The queen, already impatient, could only interrupt him.

Your Majesty, I want to say that everyone I have contacted is dissatisfied, dissatisfied with the status quo.

This remark almost made Daenerys jump up in anger; she should have driven the person away. Wasn't it she who freed the slaves, giving them back their freedom? Yet they are dissatisfied with the status quo?

Why?

The former slaves expected that overthrowing the slave masters would give them a better life and hope for the future, but they see that the slave masters still live high in the pyramids while they struggle for daily meals; I think many petitioners have already told you they can't feed themselves—they're dissatisfied; the slave masters are also dissatisfied, and I think I need say no more.

What do you want to say? she asked again.

Your Majesty, you sit on a throne that could collapse at any moment; frankly, you cannot reconcile their conflict, especially with enemies nearby and time pressing.

What do you want to say? she couldn't help urging him to reveal the answer.

You must choose.

You came too late. "I have already made a choice."

What you have done is not enough.

You are Ghiscari.

The Ghiscari have not never submitted to the Dragon King; I suspect I largely have Dragon King blood—our language is what the Dragon King left behind.

He can't lift a sword, lacks heirs, and the trade route is no longer viable; she should have realized this long ago.

People say the wise are everywhere; it's just whether one has an unsoiled eye to notice them. Daenerys rose from her seat, "You're not here to petition; you're here to seek an office."