บท 164: Chapter 156

Chapter 156

-POV MC-

"Vynassa Vhassar, if I remember correctly," I said, seeing the man who had come to discuss the loans that the City of Volantis would grant to the crown the last time.

"I am honored that you still remember me, Your Majesty," the man said, slightly flattered.

"How could I forget? Very few people can speak to me as you did and keep their head," I said jokingly.

The man laughed awkwardly, and then I said:

"It's a joke, I really appreciated the way you fearlessly defended the interests of your home city."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," he said before stepping aside and adding:

"I wanted to introduce you to the head of the Vhassar family and the current triarch, my cousin Nyessos Vhassar."

"Triarch Vhassar, it is a real pleasure to finally meet you," I said, shaking the old man's hand.

"The pleasure is mutual, I assure you, Your Imperial Majesty," said the triarch with a posture that I found quite humble. I had imagined a man filled with pride and vanity, but he pleasantly surprised me by appearing as a calm old man.

'It's just an impression, don't let your guard down.'

"I suppose you have heard the news?" I said softly.

"I heard it just before boarding; it is an affront to our alliance," he said, frowning without saying words that could offend me due to my blood relation with Daenerys.

"I have thought long and hard about what I should do, and honestly, I think Meereen is definitely lost," I said.

"We cannot let her win, we have forces that could crush her in less than a moon," he said, visibly in disagreement.

"I understand your frustration, but remember that the alliance I agreed to accept was a mutual defense alliance with the City of Volantis to protect our mutual interests, not an alliance to destroy my aunt."

"I know, but you know as well as I do how the presence of a dragon, an army ready to obey all her orders, and the confidence that a victory provides can quickly inflate a person's pride and arrogance."

I nodded in agreement with him because I myself had struggled not to fall into the sin of pride. In fact, no, I have already fallen into arrogance and pride, but what protects me is that I am aware of it and always try to remain cautious regardless of the situation.

"She tasted it once, she tasted the thrill of victory, this feeling, she will never do without it from now on. She is only sixteen years old and already queen of Meereen. Do you sincerely think she will stop now?"

Seeing that I was frowning and still undecided, he continued:

"I learned upon arrival that she has started attacking the city of Yunkai and that in a few days, the city of Yunkai will fall, maybe even the City of Yunkai has already fallen a second time as we speak."

I sighed heavily before saying:

"I agree with all your arguments, but now is not the time for the empire to start a war, especially not with a queen who has a dragon. For now, the foundations of my empire, though solid, still have a few cracks, and I do not want her to exploit them to destabilize me one day if we were to meet on the battlefield."

He sighed, then I continued, saying:

"I may not be able to help you, but let me help you with a strategy that I know will give her a hard time."

His face lit up a little, and I said:

"Her goal is to free the slaves, right? So she will end up attracting the anger of all the surviving families. So you only have to infiltrate the families or attract young men and women to become assassins, use assassins based in the cities of Meereen and Yunkai and then assassinate her Unsullied one by one if necessary, bet everything on time."

"What will all this serve?" he asked.

"At first, apart from making her angry, nothing. But little by little, fear, insecurity, and paranoia will take hold of her and those who are loyal to her. She only has one dragon, and she cannot be in Yunkai and Meereen at the same time. From time to time, burn a grain barn, which will lead to a food shortage, or poison some wells. If she cannot cope with these challenges, she will end up being overthrown by her own people, and she will lose a city without us having to draw our swords."

He frowned and said:

"It's feasible, but I doubt we can stop her this way."

"I agree with you, but we won't stop there. We will completely isolate her by setting up a maritime blockade with weapons such as scorpions improved by our best craftsmen from the imperial forges capable of killing a dragon," I said.

His eyes widened, and before he could say anything, I smiled and said:

"I have already thought about what you are thinking right now. These weapons are useless against me because I possess magic, and they are ineffective beyond a certain range of fire that I know perfectly."

'Restricting the technological development of weapons because I possess dragons is stupid. Dragons are deterrent weapons, and to establish an empire, I must not only rely on them, I must first and foremost rely on myself and my talent for the empire to prosper under my reign. Anyway, if it's not me who creates this weapon, it will surely be someone else.'

"Do we have an agreement?" I asked the Triarch, who finally nodded.

I smiled and then said:

"Now that we have finished talking about my aunt, let's talk business. I have recently developed several very lucrative projects, and I wonder if you would be interested in taking part."

"What kind of business?" he asked.

"The kind that brings in millions of gold dragons," I said mysteriously.

He raised his eyebrows, surprised, and said: "I don't know about the City of Volantis, but the Vhassar family will certainly be ready to engage in such a venture, but I would like you to be clearer about the business in question."

"Very well then, I won't beat around the bush," I said, gesturing to a servant to come with a cart.

On the cart, a cooler made of dragon steel rested. I signaled the servant to open the cooler, and inside were two strawberry sorbets surrounded by ice plates to keep the temperature as cold as possible.

"What is this?"

"It's a strawberry sorbet, a luxury preparation that can only be made with two ingredients in my possession: sugar and ice."

We each took a spoonful of the delicious strawberry sorbet that my chef had prepared, and then he exclaimed:

"It's divine, how did you come up with the idea to make this?"

"Ask my chef, I had nothing to do with it," I said.

'I just gave him the recipe,' I thought, smiling.

"This is just one of the applications of ice and sugar, but I'm sure you can also develop new ventures. If you want, I can even give you the recipe as a gift."

"How much would that cost me?"

"A block of ice about the size of this cart would cost between 60 and 90 gold dragons, but I can give you a friend price and sell it to you for 50 gold dragons, while a sack of sugar weighing one kilo costs 1 gold dragon."

"What quantities can we expect?"

"As much as you can sell. I have a production capacity of up to 50 tons of sugar per moon, and I can remove 3,000 blocks of ice for Volantis, which is three times the number I allocate to Braavos each moon, annually representing 36,000 blocks of ice and 600 tons of sugar."

"That's enormous... but I accept in the name of the friendship that exists between our two states."

'Not for the millions of gold coins you will make,' I thought inwardly, seeing him hide the budding greed in his eyes.

"It really pleases me to count the Vhassar House and the City of Volantis among my loyal friends and allies."

"It's an honor."

I took Bellegere, who had said nothing since the beginning of our conversation, and we moved on to the delegation from Lys:

'Damn, why did I want to take this crown?'

"Your Majesty, if you allow me, I would like to take a bit of your precious time," said a charming voice from behind me.

I turned towards the voice only to see Melisandre and the High Priestess Kinvara.

I raised my eyebrows seeing the two women and then said, addressing the redhead: "It seems to me that I offered a bounty for your head."

"Unfortunately for the bounty hunters and assassins who were bold enough to accept it, I am blessed and protected by the Lord of Light," said Melisandre, bowing while ensuring her plunging neckline was well visible.

'She is truly beautiful, but I would be too afraid of removing her necklace if we were to make love one day,' I thought, not being attracted to the magnificent view offered to me.

"I imagine that if you, High Priestess Kinvara, have come here, it's either to assassinate me or to swear allegiance."

"I only serve the Lord of Light..."

I frowned, and then she added: "And Azor Ahai."

"So?"

"So I am ready to offer my life for you if that is what you truly desire. I know that you are the one who will stop the Great Other," she said, kneeling and taking my hand before gently kissing it.

I placed a hand on her head and then said:

"I accept your allegiance, and I will indeed defeat the Great Other, but I have difficulty with religion. So as long as you practice it correctly without inciting the crowds, while ensuring to remind everyone that I am Emperor by divine right because it is the will of the Lord of Light and that only he can judge me and my descendants, you are both welcome at my court."

I helped her to her feet, and she said:

"It is an honor to be able to serve you; it will be done as you desire."

"I hope so," I said, looking at the High Priestess before walking away to finally join the Lysene delegation.

"Ser Jorah Mormont, Hand of Queen Daenerys Targaryen," shouted my herald.

My steps stopped abruptly, and silence fell in the banquet hall where we were all gathered to see a middle-aged northern man enter the room.

The man looked like an experienced knight, but I knew better than anyone the real character of Jorah Mormont.

That bastard was simply Daenerys's most loyal attack dog.

'I don't understand why she sends him here. Doesn't she fear that I will kill him?' I thought inwardly.

The knight advanced, chest puffed out, to me and then, to my great surprise, knelt and said:

"Your Aunt, Queen Daenerys, sends you her most sincere greetings and thanks for helping her escape from Meereen and protecting her the first time the slaver pigs decided to kill her."

"As a token of gratitude, here are the heads of all the leaders of the Great Masters' families of Meereen," he said, signaling the porters who followed him to open the crates they had brought with them.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Viserys about to intervene, but I signaled with my eyes for him to wait and stay calm.

Even though I kept a cold and calm facade, I couldn't help but be puzzled by this development.

'Why would she break my disguise and make me an open enemy? She only leaves me two choices now: either declare her a traitor or turn a blind eye and lose my relationships with the slavers.'

'No, in fact, I am asking the wrong question. The right question would be why Jorah Mormont is here, ready to sacrifice his life, and not with his forbidden love. Who could have whispered such a strategy to Daenerys, because even though she is not a fool, she couldn't have thought of such a plan alone?'

The person who devised this plan must know me because they must know how important Daenerys is to me.

Finally, how important she was before I met Bellegere.

This person is trying to capitalize on this link and on my arrogance so that I overlook those who came here, creating cracks in our alliance.

Thus, she can quietly become the hegemon of the East by taking control of Astapor, Yunkai, Meereen, New Ghis, Qarth, and all the surrounding cities, while I remain stuck in Westeros because I do not want to expand more than necessary for now.

The person should also be aware of my mentality of preferring to stabilize my power first instead of expanding it without thinking.

'Tyrion, this twisted plan can only have come from you. Besides me, you are the only person who knew about Robert Baratheon's royal pardon for Ser Jorah Mormont, which I entrusted to you when I exiled you.'

'What I don't understand is why you directly chose to oust the man I had enjoined you to make your friend and ally?'

'Why did you choose to attack me so fiercely from the start?'

'Is it to demonstrate and prove your allegiance to your new "sovereign"? Or is it to put me in trouble because of the resentment you feel because I removed you from your position as Hand of the King and Heir of Casterly Rock?' I thought.

---

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