The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Qarth is a big city, a giant city of the East, big enough to accommodate the Red God of the Qartheen priests, and the Drowned God of the Ironborn priests.” Queen Jeyne Westerling smiled elegantly, regally, and charmingly. “Priest Aeron, if you agree, I would like to bear all the expenses for you to build a statue and temple for the Drowned God at the Qarth docks.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I will pray for you. Crossing the sea and rivers, the Drowned God will always protect you,” Aeron Greyjoy said, staring at Queen Jeyne. There was no smile on his face, his eyes were sharp, his expression was stern, making him intimidating.

Aeron Greyjoy's temperament was extremely similar to that of Jon Connington, the Hand in Westeros, both possessing an inherent sternness and majesty, but Aeron had an added touch of ruthlessness. For most people, their first reaction upon seeing Priest Aeron was fear.

“Priest Aeron, it is my honor to do something for you.” Queen Jeyne Westerling, with the dignity of a queen, spoke to Priest Aeron with humility and amiability, showing him full respect and honor.

“Asha, with Priest Aeron and General Theon by your side, I am relieved,” the Mountain said. “Originally, I was going to add another team of Unsullied soldiers as bodyguards for you today. When you go to sea, I will arrange for the Unsullied Deputy Commander Hero to be by your side. But now it seems that won't be necessary.”

“Your Majesty, I have six Unsullied bodyguards, and on the flagship, I have a company of a hundred Unsullied. I am very safe. No matter who comes to cause me trouble, I will chop off their heads.”

Aeron said proudly: “Your Majesty, rest assured, the Drowned God will protect King Asha Greyjoy.”

Aeron naturally assumed that Asha was still the ruler of the Iron Islands.

The Mountain didn't expose him. In fact, Asha had been transferred from the Iron Islands to become the Deputy Commander of the Royal Navy in King's Landing, and now she was also serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Qarth Navy. As for the ruler of the Iron Islands, with the Mountain's support, it was now Count Gylbert of Hammerhorn who served as governor.

The Mountain believed that Asha would explain everything clearly to Aeron in the days to come, although Aeron might not be able to accept it at all. However, if the Iron Islands were to rebel and become independent, then the King of the Iron Islands would not be the sole heir. Their ancient way was the Kingsmoot, which was a public election held on Old Wyk, and Aeron was a man who adhered to the ancient ways. Once the Iron Islands were unified by the King's Landing royal family, then the royal family would have the absolute power to appoint lords, which also conformed to the ancient ways and laws.

And Aeron Greyjoy was precisely a priest who valued the ancient ways and laws.

Now that the country has vast lands and vast seas, after Asha leads the Qarth Navy to make contributions, the Mountain will give her a sea area and islands that are many times larger than the Iron Islands. As a defeated and surrendered Asha, she has not yet established any great military achievements in the Mountain's legion.

Aeron Greyjoy possessed an inviolable majesty and also had some secret magical powers that the Mountain could not understand. The drowned men who followed him were all sworn to be loyal to him, but the weapons used by the drowned men were looked down upon by the Mountain. They all used wooden sticks of uniform size and length.

However, with Aeron and Theon helping Asha, he really didn't need to worry about Asha's safety anymore.

At sea, those who caused trouble for Asha might encounter unexpected troubles. Aeron, like Melisandre, had the power of spells to resurrect someone who had died, but Aeron could only resurrect believers who had drowned.

The Drowned God, of course, was also Asha's only faith!

The Qarth Navy were all very proud local warriors. It would be a great challenge for Asha to conquer those naval soldiers who originally belonged to the royal family, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, the Thirteen, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers in a short period of time. If Asha adopted iron-fisted methods, she must have her own people around her who could help her.

In Qarth, the Mountain was not worried about the army at all. For infantry, the Mountain had the Unsullied; for cavalry, there were the Dothraki; in the sky, there were dragons; and beside him, there were the Faceless Men, Quaithe, Queen Jeyne, Daenerys Targaryen, and Arianne Martell. But in the navy, Asha only had a company of a hundred Unsullied soldiers to protect her. The rest of the naval soldiers were all from the Qarth Navy. Asha needed an 'Ironborn Fleet' as her core guard, but she didn't have one.

The conquest of Qarth came too quickly, and the Mountain's navy, composed of warships drawn from the nine Free Cities, took more than two months to reach Qarth by sea alone, not counting the time to mobilize troops and prepare logistics. And the preparation time was often longer than the marching time, including the arrangement of various supplies for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, the arrangement of various weapons and logistical supplies, and the deployment of personnel from various free city-states...

If the Royal Navy was transferred from the Blackwater Rush port in Westeros, it would take even longer with various preparations and the longer journey.

The Qarth naval soldiers had long been afraid to do anything to the Mountain because they had families in the city. Even if there were still soldiers who had not yet returned to their hearts, the Mountain had dragons, and even the most powerful warships could not resist the power of the dragon's fire... But from the moment the Mountain summoned the naval generals to the palace to issue orders, he saw the naval generals' contempt and resistance to Asha, a woman who had parachuted in to be their naval commander.

A woman from the outer regions to lead the all-male Qarth Navy? To be their Naval Commander-in-Chief? This was difficult for the proud, white-skinned Qarth naval generals to accept. In Qarth, the status of women was not high in itself, and men and women were not equal. In the House of the Undying and the Scorpion Court, they were all men; in the ruling Thirteen, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers, there was not a single woman. The Qarth royal family had always been male rulers, and women had no right of inheritance.

If the Mountain had arranged for a male general to be the commander of the Qarth Navy, the Qarth naval generals' resistance would have been much smaller.

But the Mountain knew that Asha Greyjoy was the best candidate.

Asha was able to conquer the Ironborn and make those true men of the sea become her loyal warriors, not by relying on the remaining prestige of her father, Lord Balon, but by relying on her own true abilities. The Ironborn didn't care about gender, nor would they recognize someone without ability to lead them to sea to fight and plunder.

Although Asha was a woman, she belonged to the sea!

The Mountain believed that Asha could conquer the Qartheen. But in this process, the Mountain did not want any accidents to happen. He believed that Asha needed to be strengthened. If Asha killed some influential thorn in the future naval training, she might be in a dangerous situation after going to sea.

The naval generals would not and dare not rebel against His Majesty the King, but it was very possible for them to band together to oppose a woman from the outer regions leading them.

“Your Majesty, I have good news to tell you. The Redwyne's naval fleet was not completely annihilated in the battle with the Qarth Navy. At least three or more warships escaped. However, I estimate that they may have lost their way at sea.”

“Were the warships with cannons able to break through?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Two of them broke through to the west, and two broke through to the east. One of the escort ships was severely damaged, and the other was Lord Redwyne's flagship.”

“Oh!” The Mountain raised his eyebrows, his eyes shining.

“Your Majesty, Lord Redwyne is very likely on the warship. At the critical moment, the Royal Navy warships and the Redwyne family's warships were protecting him, escorting him to break through.”

“Good, Priest Aeron, I am here to formally seek your help, and I implore you to help me find our Royal Navy soldiers who broke through. They are also Commander Asha's soldiers.”

“Your Majesty, at sea, the Drowned God knows all secrets,” Aeron said decisively.

*

Watching Asha, Aeron, and Theon walk out of the palace hall door, the Mountain's mood relaxed a lot.

In all aspects of Qarth's political affairs, military affairs, and trade, his only worry was whether Asha's leadership of the Qarth Navy would go smoothly, because once the navy was mobilized and trained, it would be at sea and far away from land.

And precisely at this time, the gods seemed to have seen into the Mountain's heart and sent him Aeron Greyjoy and Theon Greyjoy. Both of these people were people who had drowned in the sea for many days and were then miraculously sent to the beach by the waves and then came back to life. They had both received the blessing of the Drowned God.

“Jeyne, I want to hold a small banquet for Asha, Aeron, and Theon,” the Mountain said.

“A small banquet? Then who does Your Majesty plan to invite?”

“Jon Targaryen, Maester Tobho Mott, the Great Sage, Jorah Mormont, Grey Worm and Hero, Missandei and Missanlei, Daenerys Targaryen and her scholars, priests, and doctors, the five Khals and their bloodriders, Prince Arianne Martell, Arya Stark and her senior sisters, and the High Priestess Quaithe.”

“Does Your Majesty not plan to invite some of the most prestigious generals in the Qarth Navy?”

“No.”

“Nor invite some of the Qarth nobles, wealthy merchants, and former royal courtiers?”

“A small-scale banquet, this time does not temporarily include the Qarth nobles.” The Mountain glanced at the attendant, Little Lord Pylert Clegane. “Of course, Pylert is excluded. When Asha leads the Qarth Navy back from training, I will host a banquet for all the naval generals.”

“Hmm.”

“Arya Stark, Jon Targaryen, and Arianne Martell have gone to see the construction site of the House of Black and White branch in the woods of the Scorpion Court. Shall we also go and take a look to show the royal family's special attention to Arya's House of Black and White branch?”

“Does Arya really plan to build a House of Black and White branch in the Scorpion Court woods?”

“Yes, I fully support her.”

“Your Majesty, the House of Black and White is built in the Scorpion Court woods, and the Red Temple is built on the old site of the House of the Undying. I feel that it may not be very appropriate?”

“The Red God replaces the Undying Warlock God, the Red Temple replaces the House of the Undying; the Faceless Men replace the Kindly Men, the House of Black and White replaces the Scorpion Court. The matter is settled, no more discussion.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Jeyne certainly knew that the Mountain's subtext was another sentence, that was King Gregor Clegane replaced King Hoare. The Qarth regime was about to change, and the two sacred things in the hearts of the Qartheen people had to be removed. But building the House of Black and White and the Red Temple on the old sites of the Scorpion Court and the House of the Undying felt perhaps not so appropriate. Couldn't she give those who were close to the Scorpion Court and those devout believers of the House of the Undying a little thought?

But the Mountain had made a decision, and Jeyne decided to fully support it. If there was anything, those Kindly Men who came back for revenge would not be a match for the Faceless Men, and the devout believers of the Undying Warlock God would soon be annihilated in the surging believers of the Red God faith. As long as Quaithe showed miracles in Qarth, with the support of the royal family, the believers would develop quickly.

In her conversation with Quaithe, Jeyne had learned that Quaithe never killed people to sacrifice to the Red God, which was completely different from her junior sister Melisandre. In shadow magic, Quaithe was the most powerful of Melisandre's senior sisters.

Quaithe was also the most powerful Red God priestess of shadow magic in this world.

But one thing that Quaithe and Melisandre had in common was that they both needed the blood of the king to enhance their magical powers and cultivation progress.

And this point established a special loyal relationship between Quaithe and Melisandre and the royal family, and Jeyne would not worry about the Mountain's body—because the Mountain believed that appropriately releasing some of his blood after a period of time would make him healthier, and Jeyne, in addition to being a blood witch, was also a very professional doctor, and she agreed with the Mountain's point of view.

*

The next day, there were suddenly many more people in the petition corridor outside the king's palace hall. Upon closer inspection, those people were all dressed nobly, with stern expressions, and some of them were holding something in their hands. Those things were all wrapped in brocade or placed in rattan boxes that exuded a faint fragrance.

These people could tell at a glance that they were nobles.

Little Lord Pylert Clegane, standing at the end of the petition corridor, knew all of these petitioners with 'noble temperament'. They were all powerful nobles in the city of Qarth, and they were all former courtiers under King Hoare.

Why did all these people suddenly come to the king's petition corridor? What happened?

Little Lord Pylert Clegane thought for a while, turned back into the hall, walked to the king's side, and whispered: "Father, many of the former Hoare royal courtiers have come to the petition corridor outside."

In public, in front of people, Pylert called the Mountain His Majesty the King. In this kind of close-quarters whisper, he called the Mountain Father.

The Mountain had taken this clever, handsome, and extraordinary little lord as his adopted son.

“Oh?! Let them all come in, and I will solve their petitions all at once, saving trouble, effort, and worry.”

“Yes, Father!”

*

In a short while, all the Qarth nobles in the petition corridor entered the king's council hall.

Originally, King Hoare's council hall was in the Hall of a Thousand Seats, which was a luxurious, exaggerated, and shockingly extravagant palace. There were more than a thousand exquisite, huge, and astonishing chairs, each of which was inlaid with various gold, pearls, and jades of absolutely different shapes, which were rare in the world. But the Mountain believed that holding meetings in the Hall of a Thousand Seats would cultivate his indulgence in wealth and glory, causing him to unconsciously transform and lose his enterprising spirit and martial spirit, so he changed to a place a hundred times smaller than the Hall of a Thousand Seats to serve as the king's political hall.

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