The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Earl Odes felt his whole body heating up, and he forcefully suppressed the regret in his heart. He gestured to Maester Bancroft, who opened a package that had been placed beside him and took out a bundle of Westerling noodles tied in the middle with red silk cloth.

“What is this?” Ser Kevan asked.

“This is a type of noodle we’ve never seen or eaten before, called 'gua mian'. It’s delicious, and you can freely add eggs, ham, spices, and snow salt. It can be cooked in boiling water in just a few minutes, or eaten raw. Gregor named these noodles Westerling Noodles. It’s said they are produced by machinery,” Earl Odes said. “I went to Clegane Keep, but Ser Gregor refused to show me the noodle-making machinery.”

Duke Tywin’s expression remained unchanged, but his eyes brightened slightly.

“Ser Gregor has invented noodle-making machinery?” Ser Kevan asked, sounding surprised.

“No, Ser Gregor denied that he invented it. He said the noodle-making machinery was invented by Master Tobho Mott. However, I don’t believe it.”

“Tobho Mott? The master weaponsmith from the Street of Steel in King’s Landing?” Kevan was even more surprised.

“Yes, Master Tobho Mott suddenly appeared in Clegane. This matter itself is unusual. Master Tobho Mott has his own smithy on the Street of Steel. His smithy isn’t rented; he bought the property. Why would a master weaponsmith who lacks neither fame nor fortune suddenly appear in Clegane Village?”

The more Earl Odes spoke, the more confident he became. Although he didn’t dare to look directly at the Duke for too long, he dared to look at Ser Kevan and the other two maesters.

“Ser Gregor brought Master Tobho Mott from King’s Landing to Clegane Village. What does he want to do? Forge the best weapons and armor? Then he should hand Master Tobho Mott over to Your Grace, so that Master Tobho can serve Your Grace in Casterly Rock, instead of for himself.”

Tywin didn’t say a word, his hands pressed on the table, radiating authority.

The three maesters and Earl Kevan nodded frequently as they listened.

“Your Grace, Jeyne arrived in Clegane Village for a month and suddenly invented the Deepwater Bend? Master Tobho Mott arrived in Clegane Village and suddenly invented noodle-making machinery. This is too coincidental! I believe both inventions were actually created by Ser Gregor,” Earl Odes said firmly.

Duke Tywin stared at Earl Odes and nodded.

This nod immediately gave Earl Odes enormous confidence and courage.

“Your Grace, Lord Kevan, Maesters, originally there would be nothing wrong with Ser Gregor Clegane inventing new, practical things after his intelligence was greatly improved. Similar figures have appeared on the continent of Westeros. Whether in the field of mysticism or science, Gregor Clegane is not the only one who has received the light of the Seven. We all know the story of Brynden Rivers, who had a thousand and one eyes, and he was far more powerful than Gregor.”

Everyone listened and nodded in agreement, showing appreciation for Earl Odes’ analysis.

Earl Odes became calm and composed. The sweat on his forehead disappeared, and the beads of sweat on his nose also vanished. He became calm and collected, knowing that he had done the right thing in speaking to the Duke.

Reporting any anomalies to the Duke proved his loyalty.

“Your Grace, if it was clearly invented by Ser Gregor Clegane, but he claims it was invented by Miss Jeyne and Master Tobho, then firstly, he has lost absolute loyalty to Your Grace. Secondly, why is he hiding the truth? What is he uneasy about? Even if Ser Gregor has no selfish motives and these two inventions really have nothing to do with him, I still think Gregor Clegane is absolutely unusual. Two consecutive ingenious and practical inventions have occurred in his territory, not in my Lannisport, nor in Your Grace’s Casterly Rock, so our Lannister family needs to be wary of him.”

“Earl Odes, the Citadel has new inventions every year. There are new formulas and theories in mathematics, medicine, architecture, astronomy, and so on every year. Although the Citadel possesses almost all the inventions on the continent, the Citadel cannot threaten the interests of any noble family. Scientific inventions are just scientific inventions,” Maester Hallis said.

“Yes, Maester Hallis. But with civilization like writing and mathematics, the Citadel has scientific inventions in various fields every year. This is not surprising. The thousands of maesters in the Citadel are also constantly conducting research in various fields, and they are promoting the progress of our entire continent’s civilization.” Earl Odes paused deliberately and took a sip of water.

“—However, Maester Hallis, in Clegane’s territory, in a short period of time, snow salt, military whistles, chopsticks, Deepwater Bend, noodle-making machinery, so many inventions have appeared one after another, which is very unusual.” Earl Odes looked directly into Duke Tywin’s eyes. “Your Grace, because of these inventions, Gregor Clegane will become richer and more powerful. He is now recruiting soldiers, hoping to build a hundred-man cavalry to protect his territory, which also makes me feel uneasy.”

“Earl, if scientific inventions appear more and more in the Westerlands, then it will be Clegane who becomes more and more powerful because of this, and it will also be the Westerlands,” Duke Tywin said, unhurriedly, his voice faint. “With the same technology, we don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy similar inventions from the maesters at the Citadel. We can also sell the inventions to the Citadel, sell them to the King, and then promote them nationwide in the name of the Westerlands, and even sell them through trade to the continent of Essos across the Narrow Sea. If Gregor’s increased intelligence needs to be guarded against, then should all the thousands of maesters in the Citadel, including the maesters around us, all die?”

The fiery atmosphere stirred up by Earl Odes in the room suddenly began to cool down.

Earl Odes did not expect the Duke to say this. His face couldn’t help but turn a little pale. He looked at Ser Kevan, who also felt that something was wrong and closed his mouth tightly.

Duke Tywin changed the subject: “However, Earl Odes, your concern about Gregor’s loyalty has alerted me.”

Earl Odes’ tense heart was happy again.

Duke Tywin casually knocked Earl Odes down a peg, implying that his slanderous actions were not a great achievement and he shouldn’t expect to claim credit for it. Then he said a word of approval to reassure Earl Odes that although his contribution wasn’t much, it was still done very well. This gave the Earl the confidence to continue providing him with information in the future.

With two sentences, Earl Odes was made to feel both worried about gains and losses, yet not lose hope and courage to speak out. The Duke easily manipulated the Earl’s mood!

But Duke Tywin’s real reprimand was yet to come. However, what were his true thoughts about Gregor Clegane?