Game of Thrones: Rise of the Supreme Dragon Queen

"Your Majesty, what should we do?" 

As the crowd dispersed in an orderly line, the two individuals left standing at the center of the commotion were at a loss.

Dany wanted to say, "Sort this out tomorrow," but after reconsidering, she realized that while the case seemed simple, solid evidence was lacking. Missandei would likely leave this case in her hands.

With a sharp clang, she unsheathed her longsword and slammed it forcefully into the ground. "Shing!" The blade sank half an inch into the mahogany floor.

"You two, be honest. Who is lying?" 

"Thud!" 

Both men immediately dropped to their knees.

"Your Majesty, I'm not lying!" The middle-aged farmer wailed, tears streaming down his face.

"Your Majesty, I... I didn't—" The young man hesitated, his eyes darting nervously. "I wouldn't dare lie." 

"Hmm?" 

Dany lowered her voice, tilting her head toward the young man. The iron gauntlet gripping her sword hilt creaked ominously.

"I—Your Majesty! I confess! I lied!" 

Through the slits of her helmet, the young man seemed to see the Queen's cold, glowing purple eyes. A suffocating aura of authority overwhelmed him, and he broke down in tears.

It wasn't just him—many onlookers who had yet to leave felt the sudden surge of oppressive royal dominance. They instinctively shrank their necks, their hearts pounding.

"It's happening again!" they thought in awe. "Her Majesty's legendary 'Iron Judgment'!" 

Between sobs, the young man admitted, "Half a year ago, I met my wife, Elena, at the 'National Matchmaking Festival' arranged by Your Majesty. I love her dearly... and she loves jewelry." 

"For our wedding, I bought her a silver hairpin inlaid with pearls. I maxed out my interest-free loan... so I tried to save money by keeping the funds meant for breeding my sow. Your Majesty, I was wrong!" 

Dany withdrew from her Dragon Spirit state, and the soul of Drogon left her spiritual sea. Instantly, her shining eyes dimmed, and the kingly pressure dissipated.

"According to the Code, what is the appropriate sentence for this crime?" She turned to the Grand Justice, Missandei.

In her Dragon Spirit state, Dany could merge her consciousness with Drogon's, sharing his senses. Similarly, because their souls were perfectly compatible, Drogon could also enter Dany's spiritual sea and experience her perception.

Initially, Dany could only enter Drogon's spiritual sea, but after devouring the faith essence of the Immortals in the Hall of Eternity, Drogon seemed to undergo an unseen evolution.

During the incident with Euron's Dragonhorn, Dany had pulled Drogon into her spiritual sea to help him resist the soul-binding effects. Later, when breaking the control over Rhaegal and Viserion, she once again used her spiritual sea as an intermediary, linking Drogon to the other dragons.

Whenever Drogon's soul entered her spiritual sea, Dany gained the blessing of the dragon soul. To others, it felt as if they were facing a true dragon, especially when they looked into her eyes.

Even her centaur handmaiden once shuddered, saying, "For a moment, I thought I saw the Horse God himself." 

Thus, Dany had developed an uncanny ability to deliver judgments with divine precision—more unerring than even Judge Bao himself.

Missandei hesitated before responding, her expression slightly twisted. "Your Majesty, Dick has committed theft and breach of trust. According to the Code, stealing Muratu's breeding boar seed is considered a 'minor offense' and warrants a single lash. Additionally, he must return the stolen property..." She paused awkwardly. "...One piglet?" 

"Correct." Dany nodded.

Relieved, Missandei continued, "As for breach of trust, there is no corporal punishment, but he must compensate Muratu five to ten times the lost value. Dick must repay five piglets in damages, totaling six." 

"Do you both accept this ruling?" Dany sheathed her sword and looked at the two men.

"Your Majesty is fair and just. I accept the ruling!" Muratu declared loudly.

"Your Majesty is fair and just... I accept." The young man, Dick, responded weakly, looking devastated.

"Justice above, mercy below," Dany declared. "Since your financial troubles stem from external circumstances, I will grant you another interest-free loan. Ten-year term, covering twenty piglets." 

Tears welled in the young man's eyes. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your mercy!" 

"Justice above, mercy below! Long live Her Majesty!" The crowd, thoroughly entertained, erupted in cheers.

"Wow, Your Majesty! You're incredible! You made him confess with just one sentence!" 

Doreah's cheeks flushed with excitement as she clapped enthusiastically.

Dany smirked inwardly but maintained a stern expression. "When did you leave the rooftop garden?" 

Doreah's smile faded, replaced by confusion. "After lunch. Why? Was the Dragonhorn really stolen? But there were over a dozen checkpoints—how did they get past them?" 

"Let's find out." 

Rather than using the inner staircases, which were longer due to the pyramid's segmented design, they took a more direct route.

As they ascended, Doreah eagerly asked about the battle. Upon learning that Dany had decimated an army of fifty thousand with only two hundred cavalry that morning, the Lysene handmaiden gasped in disbelief.

She wasn't alone—every Unsullied guard surrounding Dany flushed with pride at their Queen's astonishing feat.

Amidst their chatter, Dany stepped onto the final level.

It was a spacious thirty-square-meter platform, guarded by four young Unsullied and a mongrel dog.

The four boys and one dog stood vigil at the entrance of the rooftop palace.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!" 

The moment Dany set foot on the platform, the scruffy gray dog bared its fangs and lunged at her.

"Hey, Dingdang! What are you doing? That's the Queen!" 

A flustered young Unsullied, barely ten years old, tugged desperately at the leash.

After taking in the Unsullied trainees, Dany had abolished the inhumane trials of their predecessors, allowing this batch to keep their pet dogs.

"Grrrr..." 

Despite being held back, the half-grown mutt strained against the taut leash, snarling fiercely at Dany.

The young Unsullied anxiously said, "Your Majesty, I'm sorry. Tinkerbell was usually well-behaved. I don't know why it's acting like this today—"

Seeing the young Unsullied's eyes welling up with tears, their spear clattered to the stone floor with a clang. Dany waved a hand dismissively and smiled reassuringly. "It's probably because I just came back from the battlefield, covered in blood. Tinkerbell must have been startled."

Just then, two Unsullied warriors rushed out of the palace doors. Jogging as they approached, they loudly reported to Dany, "Your Majesty, you were right. The enemy did infiltrate the pyramid through the outer walls. We found fresh claw marks at the southwest corner of the grand staircase."

"Oh? Let me see." Dany's expression darkened. She quickly strode past the growling, sharp-toothed mongrel and headed toward the palace stairs.

The Great Pyramid had four sets of stone staircases leading up and down—one on each side: north, south, east, and west. These staircases formed the pyramid's edges, dividing its massive thirty-three-tiered steps into four sections.

The northern staircase served as the main entrance. The eastern and western staircases were used by servants and soldiers, while the back staircase led to the coliseum.

Since Dany took control of Astapor, all coliseums had been shut down. The one behind the Palace of the Rising Sun had been converted into a sheep pen. If her three dragons couldn't find enough food in the wild, they could help themselves to a few sheep.

The pyramid had a square cross-section, with its four corners being natural blind spots—particularly the southwest and southeast corners.

Dany's expression grew even colder as she reached the edge of the flowerbed. Two Unsullied boys, no older than thirteen or fourteen, lay motionless on a stretcher. A dark purple, coin-sized bruise had formed on the back of each of their necks, slightly swollen.

Looking closely, she could see a fine, hair-thin silver needle embedded at the center of the bruise, glinting with a faint purple sheen under the setting sun.

The sweltering heat had already begun to bring a faint stench of decay from the two corpses.

"The weapon was poisoned, likely a blow dart," an Unsullied soldier remarked.

Dany said nothing, stepping over the low brick flowerbed into the garden. The thick branches of the grand rose bushes snapped under her steel-gray boots with a crunch. A butterfly, startled from the pink blossoms it had been feeding on, fluttered away in the opposite direction.

The flowerbed was built alongside a half-meter-high red brick wall. Sure enough, in the southwest section, Dany spotted two sets of claw marks—six in total—scraped into the bricks.

It was easy to imagine what had happened: the dense flowers and branches in the garden had blocked the guards' line of sight to the wall. If the infiltrators moved carefully, even when using climbing claws to grip the surface, the Unsullied wouldn't have noticed them.

From there, the rest was simple. They used poisoned blow darts to kill the guards, stole the warhorn, dumped the bodies into the flowerbed, and climbed back down the same way.

Euron, that bastard, must have joined forces with the Ghiscari!

Dany cursed in her mind.

Thump, thump, thump.

Moments later, two more Unsullied rushed in, carrying a tattered, dirt-stained cloak. "Your Majesty, we found traces of the enemy in the western sewer tunnel of the pyramid. There were four of them."

The cloak had originally been crimson, nearly the same shade as Astapor's red bricks, but it was now stained gray-black with filth and reeked of the sewers' putrid stench.

Four hooded cloaks in total.

In broad daylight, four agile assassins had scaled the Great Pyramid disguised in camouflage-colored crimson cloaks.

Euron had just redefined Dany's understanding of so-called "primitive" intelligence in this world.

These people weren't primitive at all!

"The sewer tunnels have bronze grates, don't they?" she asked.

"The grates were filed open to create an entryway," an Unsullied soldier replied.

Dany frowned. "But near the coastline, I designed a multi-channel drainage system. Each pipe is only as wide as a soup bowl."

Over the past six months, Dany hadn't just established a functioning government in Astapor. She had also introduced a series of agricultural and industrial reforms. Urban reconstruction had been one of her key achievements.

Among her projects, two were especially crucial: modernizing the sewer system and improving city sanitation.

Having seen too many movies where infiltrators snuck in through sewers, Dany had personally ensured that Astapor's drainage system had no blind spots.

Besides the bronze grates, the most sensitive locations had been reinforced with multi-channel pipes instead of single, large tunnels.

Each pipe was roughly 15 cm in diameter and seven to eight meters long. How could a normal person possibly fit through?

"Your Majesty, the enemy chiseled through the stone wall between two adjacent pipes," the Unsullied reported.

"Uh…" Dany was momentarily speechless. "That's an enormous amount of work. How long have they been planning this?!"

"Your Majesty, we should conduct regular sewer inspections from now on," the Unsullied suggested.

"Agreed. We also need to watch the pyramid's massive stone steps."

Doreah chimed in, "It's too hot to post guards directly on the pyramid steps. Instead, we could build flowerbeds on certain levels and plant dense vegetation. If anyone tries to climb, they'll leave obvious traces. The patrolling soldiers below would just need to glance up from time to time to spot them."

"Not bad, Doreah! You're quite clever today," Dany teased.

"Hehe…" The Lysene handmaiden blushed and giggled foolishly.

(End of Chapter)

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