Bab 22: Chapter 22: Braavos part 4
(1,200 words)
- Percival Bolton POV -
- Braavos - Free Cities - Essos - 279 A.D -
A little less than a year had passed since the death of the Magister and the Sealord. A new one had been appointed although he was only a puppet. Iron Bank had lost all its political power, but they had done nothing to me because I had not interfered in their work. They were still the economic kings of the city.
Although I'm not sure who had more money, after my dominance in fishing, cloth, ships, weapons, and the fact that all the inns, brothels and services, are my property along with extras like my vodka production, helps a little to my funds.
Which was almost 60,000,000 gold dragons. Almost none obtained by legal or moral methods, but that's life, my friend.
Everyone knew that the once respected Sealord was nothing more than a puppet, but people were too afraid to act. And they weren't sad either, my "government" was more prosperous than the previous terms were. And my salaries were higher. So who would risk their life and the life of their family to go back to a worse living situation?
I mean sure, morally it's wrong, and something bad can happen to you at any time. But morals and "possible cases" are not a fact. Money on the table is.
Also, thanks to Qyburn and my own ability, we had developed the philosopher's stone to be able to bring vitality to its wearer. Which meant that, like Melisandre, I would no longer have to grow old. Although I wanted to keep growing at least until I was 22.
But that wasn't the only thing Qyburn had been working on, why, just like in the TV series, he was building a spy network like Varys' birdies. It wasn't big enough to reach Westeros, since Qyburn's specialty was alchemy, but at least it was quite extensive within the Free Cities, and in Braavos it was absolute.
But they were not only spies, we had also planted companies in other cities with capable people at their head. My fame was known by the Free Cities nearby, so people feared those companies, which little by little, were devouring the rest of the companies.
So it was in Norvos, which is known mainly for its furs. Although this city was a bit more complicated due to its structure. Since in addition to the economic power, they had a strong religious power as the theocracy that is the city. So I could only take care of the economic aspect and the power that belonged before in the Magister. I was not willing to confront religion because my main weapon is fear, and religious fanatics are not afraid.
Then there was the problem of the tribute they gave to the Dothraki riders and their Khalasars. I still didn't have the strength to deal with them, and the Dothraki were not people who could be bought with money to serve me.
Sure, they could avoid me, but they would end up becoming bullies that tormented me. I don't like things that are out of my control, and killing the leader would only cause another Dothraki to become Khal. They are a foul pest.
But the important thing is that I had made an agreement of sorts with the church. As long as I respected their traditions and didn't oppose them, they would let me earn all the money I wanted from the Magisters.
After Norvos was Pentos, the closest city to Kings Landing, hence part of the importance of this one. The best way to take this city would be militarily, so I concentrated my greatest efforts on Norvos, although I was still able to take much of Pentos as well for reasons I will explain later. I planned to conquer the second city, that is Pentos, in a direct and military way. At the point of spear.
This is because the ancient Magisters of Braavos controlled Pentos in many ways, forbidding them to hire mercenaries, as well as to have more than twenty warships. But that was not information I handled before, or I would have taken the city completely by now.
I was still able to take advantage of this and take part of the city, despite the little effort I put in, unlike with Norvos. But I had great resistance. That was the husband of a Magister's daughter, who less than a year ago had assumed the position.
He showed great skill in versing, and seemed to know of my threat as he did his best to stop me.
Normally Magisters underestimate the rest but he did not. His name was Illyrio Mopatis, who appears in the program receiving Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen.
If I'm not mistaken I had read that he was a good friend of Varys, that explains why he knows so much about me. His little birds, though they don't come into the city thanks to Qyburn, that wasn't the case a few months ago.
"Preparations are ready to leave Milord" Lisa told me on the other side of the door of my room.
From the other side, since I had just had an orgy with four of Lys' escorts, all beautiful. Although there were six of us, because the fifth woman was a courtesan from Braavos. She was called "The Nightingale" and she was a beautiful woman with lovely black hair.
"Understood, you will stay here Lisa, I trust your abilities" I told her. I had already proved with my empathic magic that she was absolutely loyal to me.
"I won't disappoint you my Lord" replied the girl. Still on the other side of the door.
I didn't need a good administrator, but someone loyal enough to keep in line and supervise the people in the other positions.
Qyburn was a better choice, but he had another task. The reason for my leaving Braavos was threefold. The first was to get the Unsullied. The second was to return to Dreadfort to see what to do with my brother and House Bolton. To have as my third and final goal to attend the royal wedding, which was announced for the year 280 A.D.
According to my informants, right now there were 15,000 Unsullied for sale, more than Daenerys bought which I think was 11,000. Unfortunately, though, I could not go myself to perform that task. For that there was Qyburn who would take a fleet of over 150 ships to bring the army to Braavos.
I would accompany Qyburn all the way to Tyrosh, from where I would travel to Dorne. I wanted to see if I could find Elia Martell before her marriage. To... To rekindle the spark with the future queen. It would be a good political move. If my plans fail in the event that I join Robert, and Rhaegar captures me, or the Targaryens capture me, in the event that Aerys dies, I would have a chance of surviving with his favor.
So in that way we set out in the great fleet. Each ship carried a few soldiers in the case of pirates, and I carried a personal fleet of ten ships with the personal symbol of the Immortal Group.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Negan_5785
Negan_5785 I was sick yesterday.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone