The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Mountain and Count Gavin led the way, followed by his brigands.

In the first row were the cavalry officers.

Sweetmouth Raff Cregan, the knight who trained all the noble generals of the Westerlands in the art of 'military sentry control,' had greatly increased his worth, prestige, and noble connections in just over a month.

Executioner Dunsan Cregan was highly skilled in martial arts, especially swordsmanship. No one in the entire legion was better at combat than him, except for the Mountain.

Neurotic, fanatically loyal, and a lover of human organ art—Polliver Cregan, bald and tall, with a simple mind and a look of madness in his eyes. The Mountain's four sword strikes that killed the four knights of the Marbrand family had intimidated the northern nobles, preventing them from moving, and had made Polliver's blood boil. He really wanted to go up and collect some 'art pieces'.

Chiswyck the Bighead, wearing a bull helmet, looked even bigger, giving the impression of being top-heavy, making one fear that he would fall off his horse because his head was too big and heavy. Although his neck was actually very thick and his shoulders were extremely broad, everything from the neck down seemed too slender in contrast to his huge bull helmet.

Julie Cregan, the adopted daughter, stood out among the group of beasts, her body slender and graceful. Whether it was armor or weapons, Julie used things that were custom-made for her. Others were lucky to have a good father, but Julie had two. The Mountain, her father, had been so majestic and invincible with his greatsword in front of so many great nobles, that Julie's admiration for her father was beyond words.

This gave her the illusion that she could do whatever she wanted! The little girl had also subtly learned the bloody dominance and crushing cruelty from her father.

The cavalrymen behind them had all had their hearts cleansed by the Mountain's slaughter.

The ranks included death row inmates and desperate felons who had changed their names, as well as down-and-out wandering warriors, natives of the territory, strong miners, and young subjects. The Mountain's crushing slaughter had invisibly added a bloodthirst to their bodies, which made their hearts more cruel and ruthless, and also subtly made them more ferocious.

A lion leading sheep will turn the sheep into lions.

Sheep leading lions will turn the lions into sheep.

The Mountain's magic was that he could make those who followed him more and more devoted day by day, and could turn them from sheep into lions.

On the ten-mile official road, warhorses galloped, and the three-dog banner fluttered. People hurriedly avoided it on the side of the road when they saw it from a distance. As the warhorses galloped past, everyone lowered their heads and looked at their toes. Whether they were knights or sergeants, they all avoided the roadside.

The Mountain stood on horseback in the Lion's Mouth gate of Casterly Rock!

Beside the Lion's Mouth, Foulmouth, still slightly weak, waited there on horseback.

Chiswyck spurred his horse out of the ranks, saluted the Mountain along with Foulmouth, and then galloped along the coastal road.

According to the Mountain's prior orders, now that Chiswyck's wedding was over, his task was to gather his old men in Lannisport and establish his own mercenary group: the Cregan Cutthroats.

His dozen or so brothers from the death row prison in Lannisport had been released before the Mountain's wedding. Because they were death row inmates, and their reputation was very bad, each of them had unkind features and a sinister aura. Their status was also that of commoners, none of them were knights, and they had not yet been officially incorporated into the Mountain's team, so Tywin Lannister's wedding for the Mountain and Janei, Chiswyck did not ask them to attend.

Count Odbur's hope that Chiswyck would recruit two ships of pirates for him might have been dashed. Janei cleverly had Duke Tywin say a word of support for Cregan establishing a mercenary group in Lannisport to make money during breakfast. Because this sentence was said by the Duke, it had an unusual meaning.

Even if a king and a beggar say the same sentence, the effect will definitely be worlds apart.

Count Odbur felt like he had fallen into a trap. Perhaps he should pay more attention to Lady Janei in the future, because Lady Janei had a grandmother with a great reputation in Lannisport: a witch who could see fragments of the future through blood!

Count Odbur judged that Cregan's idea of setting up a mercenary group in Lannisport was very sudden, and that this plan must have come from Janei. Count Odbur suspected whether Janei was launching a 'retaliation' because he had secretly 'advised' the Duke.

*

In the Duke's study.

As soon as the Mountain entered, Maester Potter felt that the space in the study had become smaller.

The Duke sat behind his desk, staring at the Mountain.

"Any dead?"

"Killed four."

The Duke's face was expressionless, but there was a very stern warning in his eyes. However, Maester Potter knew that the Duke's thoughts were the opposite. He was probably praising the Mountain for doing a good job. As long as the Mountain did evil and made enemies, no matter how great his achievements, how unparalleled he was, how intelligent he was, or how many things he invented, it would not cause the Duke to have the slightest bit of fear of him. If the Mountain stopped doing evil, was kind to others, and gained people's support, his death would inevitably be near.

"Who?"

"Four little rabbits."

The Duke stared at the Mountain, pursing his lips.

The Mountain began to feel uneasy, and finally said awkwardly in front of the Duke, "Father, I was wrong."

The Duke's face slowly softened.

"I must remind you again that privately minting coins violates national law."

"I know." The Mountain shrugged indifferently.

The Duke was silent again, and no one knew what he was thinking. Finally, he glanced at the Maester: "I am not aware that you are privately minting coins."

"Understood!"

"You need troops to maintain it, and that place is absolutely not allowed to be entered by anyone."

"I will have troops."

"How much money do you need me to give you?"

The Mountain knew that Lord Tywin was not a generous person!

"Give me two hundred gold dragons as a reward for my invention. I will be prepared to go to the north. In order to establish the prestige of that place and ensure that no one dares to break in, I may fight a few tough battles, but I guarantee that I will not kill any nobles, just their cats, dogs, and rabbits."

"Good."

"Father, I heard that the Iron Islands have raised the price of iron ore again."

"Yes, this is a very tricky problem."

"On Great Wyk in the Iron Islands, there is iron ore everywhere. Let's just go and take it. The Iron Islands are not far from our Westerlands."

"We cannot defeat Balon Greyjoy at sea."

"Then we won't fight at sea. Give me an army, I will go at night, land on the island and fight, I will destroy the Ironborn!"

There was another silence.

Duke Tywin said, "Now is a time of peace. Ten years ago, Balon rebelled. We conquered Balon and took the Iron Islands. I once advised the King to eradicate the Greyjoy family, but the King refused."

"Yes, a time of peace," the Mountain repeated dismissively.

The Mountain knew very well that since the Duke's daughter Cersei and his younger brother Jaime had committed incest, had three children, and they had grown up, the King had been wearing three tall green hats, and Prime Minister Jon had intervened in the investigation and been poisoned, the days of peace in the Seven Kingdoms had actually come to an end. Even without Littlefinger, the seeds that Jaime had sown in Cersei's belly were seeds of turmoil. These seeds had taken root and sprouted over the past ten years and had grown into a big tree.

When the first person knows about a scandal, there will be a second and a third.

Paper cannot contain fire, it's just a matter of time.

"Father, besides praying to the Seven Gods, maybe we can also ask the witch," the Mountain suggested.

This was an absolutely superstitious era, an era of absolute faith in the gods, and the prophecies of witches had a very powerful influence.

*

ps: Celebrating continuing to go naked, 3 updates today.

Thank you Ouyang Cangyu for the reward, thank you!