Game of Thrones: Rise of the Supreme Dragon Queen

Chapter 388: Chapter 386: The Sea King, the Kings, and the Dragon Queen



"Uh…" The old Sea King exchanged a glance with the First Sword, then turned and offered the Dragon Queen an awkward yet polite smile. "We did stockpile grain, but we never intended to plunder the world, much less had any delusional ambition to control it. We just… we just…"

His pale, sickly face flushed red. The old Sea King finally remembered what the Dragon Queen had said earlier—a reason for stockpiling grain that no one truly believed, yet sounded noble and grand when spoken aloud.

"Just like you, Dany, we intended to stockpile food to save the world," the old Sea King declared righteously, his face full of sincerity. "Yes, I believed your words—to store grain in preparation for the Long Night and to save the people of the world."

In the end, he even said with emotion, "Dany, I underestimated you, truly. I didn't expect you to be so thorough, to even come up with such… a slogan. I can't compare to you."

I have a huge "WTF" I'd love to slap across your face.Dany's face remained expressionless as she asked, "So, you lost money?"

The Sea King's expression shifted from emotional to blank, then from dazed to realization, realization to embarrassment, and finally, to downright awkwardness.

He squirmed uncomfortably in his sickbed, his pale face slightly darkening as he muttered, "Lost everything, totally ruined—worse than you."

"Worse than me?" Dany raised her voice.

As if displeased that someone dared to claim more misfortune than her.

"Uh, I mean…" The Sea King had blurted out the truth, and now his old eyes darted around awkwardly.

After a moment, he sighed and decided that when speaking to a fellow "veteran," honesty was the better path.

"Same idea as you. The Iron Bank invested over eighty million gold dragons back then, buying grain and winter supplies from the Jade Sea to the Summer Sea, and even in the western Riverlands. The plan was to reap the world's gold when the Long Night came."

"Ahem…" The First Sword, unable to bear the shame, gave a few light coughs, interrupting His Majesty's rambling and whispered, "To save the world."

"'Saving the world' was just a slogan. We're all smart people here—no need for that kind of fluff," the old Sea King muttered.

"You're the Sea King!" the First Sword insisted, emphasizing the point.

"Everyone knows!" the Sea King sighed helplessly, brushing that part aside and continuing, "Alas, after two years of waiting, the Long Night never came. Instead, summer arrived."

Dany could almost picture the dumbfounded expressions of the Braavosi as the temperature climbed each day, staring blankly up at the sun.

Her lips twitched slightly as she asked, "And then? You failed once and just gave up? No longer believe in the legend of the Long Night?"

"How could we not? They're White Walkers! The mythical White Walkers appearing in the world—who wouldn't be afraid? And there's the prophecy of Azor Ahai, passed down for thousands of years—who dares to doubt that?"

The old Sea King shook his head vigorously. "But we did become more cautious. We began seeking the prophesied child. If we could find the Child of Prophecy, we could roughly calculate when the Long Night would arrive.

We went to the Isle of Gods, to the Temple of the Moonsingers, and asked the High Priestess to divine the identity of the 'Prince That Was Promised.'"

At this point, the old man glanced at Dany with a complicated expression. "Prince Rhaegar, your brother, was said to be the Prince That Was Promised—that's what the Moonsingers told us.

Then we went to King's Landing to investigate.

During the reign of Aegon V, your great-grandfather, a forest witch also prophesied that the 'Child of Prophecy' would be born among the descendants of Aerys and his wife.

This matched the Moonsingers' prophecy exactly, so we were utterly convinced—Rhaegar was the prophesied one, the reincarnation of Azor Ahai.

And at that time, he had just come of age, strong, wise, brave—everything people imagined the prophesied one would be.

So the Iron Bank resumed stockpiling, on an even larger scale, for even longer—from summer through autumn and into winter, spending 130 million gold dragons to try to recoup the earlier losses…"

"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" The First Sword broke into a coughing fit like he was having an attack.

Interrupted, the Sea King paused for a long moment before helplessly correcting himself: "Spent 130 million… to save the world.

Unfortunately, fate was unkind. What came wasn't the Long Night, but the news of Prince Rhaegar's defeat and death.

At that point, winter hadn't yet passed, and we still held onto a sliver of hope… then came a summer that lasted eleven years."

"Besaro's predecessor—the Iron Bank director who led both stockpiling operations—committed suicide," the Sea King sighed mournfully.

Dany froze for a moment, then asked, "So you all gave up completely? No longer plan to save the world?"

"How could we!" The Sea King shook his head and sighed. "The legend of the Long Night is too terrifying. Of course we wouldn't abandon… saving the world… just because of one or two failures.

After all, the White Walkers are real.

Later, at the height of summer's heat, we sent men deep into the far reaches of the Lands of Always Winter to investigate the truth of the White Walkers.

And guess what?

They didn't encounter White Walkers, but they did find a few wildling tribes living among the frozen glaciers.

One old man said he'd known of the White Walkers since he could remember. He'd lived for decades and had seen them nearly every winter."

The Lands of Always Winter—just from the name, it sounded like this world's Arctic Circle.

The reason it was "almost" was because no one had ever truly crossed it. No one knew what lay on the other side—Asshai, or the depths of Hell.

Even Dany, because she hadn't lived long enough yet, dared not ride her dragon there to explore.

The Braavosi trekking into the Lands of Always Winter to find White Walkers—well, that was at least "full of sincerity."

"And then what? How are we supposed to save the world now? Clearly, we were wrong. The Long Night might bring White Walkers, but they've always lived in the far east," the old Sea King said, spreading his hands in frustration.

"No way! If the wildlings saw White Walkers so many times, why weren't they eaten?" Jello questioned suspiciously.

"Maybe because of religious beliefs… the old wild man called the White Walkers 'messengers of the gods,'" the Sea King replied, pausing with uncertainty.

[Followers of the Cold God. They likely offered sacrifices to the White Walkers,] Dany thought grimly.

"Whether or not the White Walkers bring the Long Night, you people at least believed back then that it was coming. You even prepared so much grain.

So why didn't you inform others—the Night's Watch, the Iron Throne, the other Free Cities?" Jello Dayne asked sternly.

The Sea King furrowed his brows and said, "Wildlings, Braavosi sea merchants—we all mentioned the White Walkers to the Night's Watch. But they didn't believe us!"

"Hmph. If you had publicly declared your grain stockpiles and loudly spread the news of the White Walkers—even rallied people to go beyond the Wall to look for them—I refuse to believe everyone would be foolish enough to ignore it," Jello retorted coldly.

"Ser, I can't speak for others, but I didn't want to be a foolish Sea King," old Ferrego replied shamelessly.

Glancing at the "like-minded," "in-it-together" Dragon Queen beside him, he decided not to continue the charade of "saving the world."

He spoke bluntly and to the point, saying, "Making a big fuss will cause grain prices to soar. The cost of storing grain will increase, the world will fall into a panic-driven war footing, and maritime trade will collapse. This won't be good for us.

Why should I sacrifice Braavos' interests to save foreigners?

To put it bluntly, as long as Braavos survives, it's only beneficial to us if the other eight major trading city-states become ghost towns.

(Distracting advertisement text omitted.)

Didn't the Dragon Queen think the same way?

As soon as she learned about the White Walkers, she began secretly buying up grain and planned to outlast the Seven Kingdoms through the Long Night. Who knows, she might even have plans to dominate the world with food!"

"Back when we were still at the Wall, the Night's Watch sent out ravens far and wide to alert the nobles about the White Walkers. They even announced the pact between the Queen and the lords of the Seven Kingdoms—that whoever ends the Long Night shall be king," Jello defended the Queen.

The old Sea King wore a smug expression, as if he could see through all their secrets, and said coolly, "Exactly. There were too many men of the Night's Watch at the Wall, plus Stannis' army. There was no hiding the truth about the White Walkers anymore.

So, the rush to buy grain from Essos began.

To save time, she even gave up 20% profit to the Iron Bank. Her Majesty is truly bold—she has the makings of a true conqueror!"

"Ah, I must admit my scheming wasn't deep enough. You saw through all my little thoughts at once. I'm ashamed!" Dany stopped Jello, who still wanted to argue, and smiled as she spoke to the Sea King.

"It has nothing to do with scheming. You and I share the heart of a ruler. We both did what a king—or queen—must do. After all, we are not Azor Ahai. We won't be saviors. So let us strive instead to become the rulers of the new world.

Unfortunately, Braavos suffered some losses in the first two rounds and needs to catch its breath. So this round, Dany, you go all in.

If you win, you become the ruler of the world; if you lose, it's not the end. Just a few tens of millions of gold dragons lost.

Don't be afraid. Who's to say the White Walkers can't truly bring about the Long Night? Besides, you have dragons, you control the wealthy Slaver's Bay, you have Westeros—you can afford to lose."

Hearing the old Sea King's earnest teachings, Dany's beautiful face almost twisted with frustration.

"What do you think of the Prince That Was Promised? Why am I not Azor Ahai reborn?" she asked curiously.

"I've read ancient texts from Asshai. The full title of the 'Prince That Was Promised' is 'The Prince in the Prophecy.' That is to say, the savior is a prince.

Dany, you are a princess, a queen, but not a prince. Hmm… neither am I," Felegon replied.

"That's it?" Dany's mouth twitched. She thought the Sea King had lost his mind.

"The Moon Singers also made prophecies. None of them believed you were the one," the Sea King shook his head.

"Alright then, I'm not the prophesied savior. Like you, I'll aim to become the world's ruler," Dany seemed to give up struggling.

Then she asked, "Does Braavos have a plan for dealing with the Long Night? Let me learn a thing or two."

"Guard our own gates tightly and let Azor Ahai's reincarnation handle the White Walkers!" The Sea King waved his hand, sounding both casual and resigned.

"Uh… have you considered aiding the Night's Watch and joining the 'World People's Unified Anti-White-Walker Front'?" Dany's eyes dimmed a little as she asked.

"Dany, if Stannis were confirmed to be Azor Ahai reborn, would you be willing to serve under him as his subordinate?" The Sea King's eyes flashed as he asked in return.

"Maybe…" Dany hesitated.

Stannis wasn't the prophesied savior—but Jon was!

Then came the question: was she willing to serve her nephew as a subordinate?

"No maybes," the Sea King interrupted her hesitation. "I likely won't live to see the Long Night arrive, but I can tell you with certainty—the next Sea King will make the same choice you and I did.

Because none of us are content to serve under others.

Either we are the savior, remembered for all time and revered by all, or we become dominant rulers of our own realms and gain tangible rewards—lands and gold.

Even Azor Ahai couldn't make men like us bow down. That is the nature of kings.

Think about it—Azor Ahai saved the world, yet his descendants only ruled a remote land of the Heircalon line. Why?

Because during the last Long Night, the surviving kings—just like us—refused to kneel to the savior.

Otherwise, the ruling family of the world would have been named Heircalon or Ahai. Ghis, Rhoynar, and Valyria wouldn't have risen."

"You're right," Dany sighed heavily, lowering her eyes to hide the flicker of emotion in them.

Is this the dark side of human nature?

But at this moment, she had no right to curse those kings—because she, too, wasn't willing to bow to Jon. She wouldn't even give him a dragon that was "rightfully" his—if destiny meant anything, Jon was surely one of the "three heads."

Then it struck her—why should a transmigrator like her care about this world's prophesied savior?

Alright, even if in the very end Jon fulfills the ancient prophecy, she could still act like the kings of old—send him to the desolate wastelands of Asshai and let him build a "Jon Snow Successor Kingdom" there!

Thump, thump, thump— Just then, a series of footsteps echoed from the stairs below.

More than just the fat steward?

"Be careful!" Dany's expression shifted. She turned and warned Jello Dayne in a low voice.

(End of Chapter)

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