Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 215 Eve
The layout of the Feather Pen Wine Barrel Hotel is different from other places.

This hotel is located next to the famous school city in Old Town, on a small island in the Mead River. It has never closed for six hundred years. The hotel is a tall wooden house tilted to the south, with a terrace with torches, which is more elegant and neat than other hotels.

This place attracts young apprentices and teaching masters who are studying in the city. The hard cider here is famous, and there are waitresses to serve the guests. Young apprentices often drink and chat here.

When Laresa arrived, his friends were already enthusiastically discussing the biggest news in Old Town in the past two days.

"Sea monster!" Morand had two empty glasses of hard cider in front of him, and his face was flushed with drunkenness as he spoke. "That sea monster is as big as two ships, and the iceberg that froze it alone took up two berths at the dock!"

“I cannot wait to see a dragon, even for a moment,” said Rune. “I wish Lord Viserys would ride upon one.”

"I didn't expect that after more than a hundred years, dragons would appear again in the world, and they have three heads." Assistant maester Aman kept scratching his head. The worldview of this stubborn assistant maester was under attack, and he still hadn't recovered after two days. "Oh my God, I have refuted the rumor of three-headed dragons to my apprentices more than once. Dragons can't have three heads. The last dragon died during the reign of Aegon III."

"Dragons have more than three heads," Laresa naturally sat down at the table and joined the conversation, "It is said that the breath of each head is different. Is this a myth?" Laresa shouted to the waitress who was looking at him. "Rosie, a glass of cider!"

Laresa has dark skin, a pointed chin, nose, forehead, thick black curly hair and agate eyes. He is handsome, slender and handsome, and is known as the "Sphinx", which is very popular among the waitresses.

When Rosie brought him the wine, she took the opportunity to touch Laresa's arm with her growing chest. Rosie was generous and smiled at him ambiguously regardless of what others thought.

"Where were we talking about?" Laresa smiled back at Rosie, then turned to look at her friend who was whistling at her and continued to talk proudly. Rosie was fifteen years old, her buds were just beginning to bloom, and her mother Emma offered a gold royal for her virginity. Laresa's former friend Pete tried his best to buy Rosie's virginity, but he slipped and fell on the street one night and hit his head and died - it is said that Pete was holding the gold royal he had saved up with great effort and was about to go to the Quill Pen Wine Barrel.

Although Pete was not very smart and not very sociable, Laresa still mourned his tragedy.

To be honest, Laresa felt that Pate's death was strange. Pate's death happened to be when Dr. Wargrave, whom he served, was just elected as the mayor of the city. Although Wargrave was old, Maester Geman replaced him in charge of the Black Iron Mask. Laresa was full of imagination and thought that Pate might be involved in some conspiracy.

However, Pate's death was quickly covered up by the news that King Viserys led Dorne's troops into the South. No one was surprised by Pate's death, and the matter was left unresolved. Laresa was just curious, but she also knew that she shouldn't delve into things. So in the end, she just thought that Pate had died a normal death like everyone else. But when she saw that Rosie, who was thinking about Pate so much, didn't mourn for him for a moment, she couldn't help but sigh at Pate's fate.

Of course, Laresa had no way of knowing that the apprentice Pate had actually been dead for some time, and the reason why Pate "suddenly died" in their eyes until King Viserys led his troops south was because a certain secret group wanted to abide by the agreement and avoid King Viserys.

Let’s get back to the present.

Today in Oldtown, men, women, young and old, nobles and commoners alike are discussing dragons and sea monsters.

This is all because the Redwyne fleet, under the order of King Viserys, arrived at the port of Oldtown dragging a huge iceberg with the frozen corpse of a sea monster.

Redwyne's fleet entered the dock to rest, but the two rowing boats towing the iceberg were anchored in the most conspicuous place in the harbor.

The iceberg contained the corpse of a giant sea monster and was placed at the port of Oldtown. Lord Layton's son Gunthor and Redwyne's knights led their troops to cordon off an area and guard it, waiting for the king to come to Oldtown to deal with it.

But there was such a huge iceberg and such a large sea monster corpse lying there, even though there were knights and armored soldiers on duty to guard it, and even fences were set up to separate the crowd.

But the dock still inevitably attracts people from the city to visit every day. The streets are deserted, making the already busy and congested port even more crowded, with people jostling each other and making it impossible to get through.

Oldtown is located at the southernmost tip of Westeros, where even snow is rarely seen. Icebergs alone are rare enough, let alone sea monsters?
In the past two days, no matter what time it was, the area near the sea monster iceberg at the port dock was full of people. People excitedly talked to each other and discussed sea monsters and dragons in front of the gradually melting, emitting cold iceberg with the huge sea monster corpse inside.

As news from unknown channels gradually spread, people began to know that the source of the iceberg was the breath of the three-headed dragon of His Majesty King Viserys, and the sea monster was a trophy that His Majesty the King personally captured on the battlefield riding a dragon.

According to the news that has not been confirmed by the Redwyne fleet, the false king Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands led the fleet of plunderers to attack the Shield Islands, and then took the fleet and sea monsters to try to ambush the Redwyne fleet that was ordered by the king to rescue the Shield Islands. But their ambush plan was discovered by His Majesty the King. King Viserys personally rode a dragon to the battlefield, led the Redwyne fleet to defeat the iron plunderers, and personally killed the false king's sea monster, and the false king Euron was buried in the dragon flame.

But the King received news that the Ironborn's raider fleet was large in number, with 500 ships. The false King Euron only brought 100 ships to ambush, and there were more than 400 ships that were likely to attack Oldtown and Qingting Island.

The king has already ordered martial law on Qingting Island and is personally leading his troops to the Old Town.

According to recent news from the Arbor, the Ironborn did invade, and at one point they seized Stone Crab Reef, Pig Island, and Mermaid Palace in the west of the Arbor, and even began to encroach on Horseshoe Rock and Wild Seed Bay in the east. But the king seemed to have anticipated this, and had the Arbor port blocked and the Ironborn invaders driven out. The exact situation on the Arbor is unknown, but it is said that there are not many ships attacking the Arbor, so it is speculated that there are still many Ironborn raiders hiding, who may attack Oldtown or invade the Arbor again at any time.
But in fact, no one among the common people cared or worried about the news about the Ironborn. Everyone was discussing the news that King Viserys personally led his troops south to Oldtown to help defend against the Ironborn raiders.

Regardless of whether the Marauders existed or not, and where they were, the news that a king with a dragon was coming to Oldtown excited the people of the city.

And with the appearance of the sea monster iceberg in the harbor, rumors about King Viserys have now spread throughout the streets of Oldtown.

These rumors existed before, but before the sea monster iceberg appeared, they were only spread by word of mouth in ports, trade routes, taverns and mercenaries, and were very uncertain when mentioned. They were not as popular as they have been in the past two days, and almost everyone can talk about it.

The chicken soup stories that Viserys had deliberately spread, the various actions and legends on Dragonstone had already been lurking in Oldtown. With the appearance of the sea monster, these stories that had already been spread became more catchy and popular among the docks and merchants than vulgar songs. In just two days, they swept through this richest city in Westeros, with the second largest population after King's Landing, like a virus.

In order to go to the port to see the sea monster iceberg, the surging crowd even caused two serious stampedes, resulting in the death and serious injuries of onlookers. Despite such tragic events, countless people still flocked to the port pier from all corners of the city to see something that many people had never seen in their lives.

This has even seriously affected the normal operation of the Oldtown Port, but without the king's order, no one dared to move the iceberg containing the sea monster's corpse to another place or give it to someone else, whether it was the Redwyne fleet that followed the order or the Hightower family as the local management. They could only wait for King Viserys's army to arrive in Oldtown by land along the Rose Road.

As the hot topics of icebergs and sea monster corpses fermented, the citizens of Oldtown were very enthusiastic about King Viserys coming to Oldtown. As for the Hightower family, under such circumstances, they had already sent honorary knights to the north along the Rose Avenue to welcome the king. No matter what they originally thought, now they could only let Viserys lead his army to the city of Oldtown.

Nominally, the Redwyne fleet is now assisting in the defense of Oldtown's seas, while the king is bringing troops to assist in Oldtown's land defense to prevent the Ironborn raiders from invading Oldtown.

But only Baelor Hightower, who was in charge of the defense of Oldtown, knew the bitterness. The Redwyne fleet was helping to defend the outer seas and could actually blockade Whispering Bay at any time, while King Viserys's land forces were all Dornishmen.
If the king was dissatisfied with the Hightower family, he could just move his finger and the Hightower family's land and sea routes would be blocked, and they would be doomed in an instant.

Baelor Hightower did not understand why his father, Lord Leighton, did not pledge allegiance to King Targaryen with Willas Tyrell at the first opportunity, and then delayed the fleet's dispatch when the king ordered the fleet to go north.
Now King Viserys seems to be coming to Oldtown to exact punishment.
But this delicate relationship between the king and Hightower is unknown to outsiders.

Even some doctors, most of the bachelors, assistant bachelors, and apprentices in the academy did not feel the pressure of the impending storm at all. Like ordinary people, they enthusiastically flocked to the port to watch the corpse of the sea monster.

In the general education of the academy, whether sea monsters really exist has always been a question of doubt. Many scholars have discussed the authenticity of sea monsters and published articles arguing that the previous sightings of sea monsters may have been fishermen seeing large whales or some marine creatures. Although the authenticity of the existence of sea monsters has not been completely denied, they also hold a critical attitude towards the saying of "sea monsters" and some rumors of sea monsters in various places.

But now, a living monster as big as a ship was placed right there in the port. The Citadel prided itself on its extensive knowledge and research on everything, so how could it not be curious about sea monsters?

There are also magic and dragons. In the past two days, the number of people borrowing books related to magic, sea monsters, and dragons in the library of the Citadel has increased dramatically, and the discussion about these things even exceeds the discussion about the war. Even major events such as the Ironborn invading the Shield Islands and the Targaryens entering the Southland were quickly overshadowed by this wave of enthusiasm.

People seemed to have forgotten that there was a king sitting on the Iron Throne in King's Landing, and had regarded King Targaryen as the real and only king. The entire city, including ordinary scholars in the Citadel and ordinary soldiers of the Hightower family, were very enthusiastic and looked forward to the arrival of King Viserys.

There weren't many people like Laresa and the others who discussed sea monsters and dragons in the Quill Wine Bottle, but almost everyone was discussing this issue at the table.

"It is said that the king rode a dragon to assist in the defense of the Arbor, and he appeared twice on the Arbor. The first time he landed on Earl Redwyne's castle, and the second time he used dragon flame to destroy the Ironborn's ships invading the outskirts of the Arbor. I'm not saying that I hope Oldtown will be attacked, but, to be honest, I would like it if the Ironborn also appeared in Oldtown, so that I can have a chance to witness His Majesty the King riding a dragon in the sky over Oldtown and attack the invaders." Rooney's face flushed with excitement, "Can you imagine a real dragon appearing in the sky and spewing dragon flames at the enemies on the sea?"

"In my opinion, the Ironborn cannot have a fleet of 500 ships. The rumors that are spreading like wildfire are just rumors. King Viserys may have other purposes for his trip to Oldtown." Assistant Maester Ammann said in a low voice, "Do you know how Oldtown was put under Targaryen rule during Aegon's conquest? When Aegon conquered the Reach, the cautious Lord Manfred Hightower kept his troops in Oldtown and did not participate in the 'Raging Fire', but he never surrendered directly. The Reach and Oldtown are not far apart, but Oldtown did not take the initiative to open the city gates and express its loyalty until the end of the Battle of Raging Fire and the surrender of the North and the Vale, until Aegon the Conqueror personally rushed south to the city of Oldtown."

Laresa took a big sip of her liquor and asked, "What do you want to say?"

"What do I want to say?" Assistant Maester Aman shook his head and looked at the seaport island called Battle Isle, which is located in the center of Oldtown and can be seen from anywhere. It is also the wide estuary where the Mead River flows into the Whispering Bay. The highest point is a towering tower with blazing flames burning day and night. He lowered his voice and asked, "Do you think that Earl Hightower expressed his loyalty before His Majesty King Viserys went south? It is said that Earl Leyton stayed indoors in the towering tower, Ser Baelor was preparing the fleet and was ordered to go north, and Ser Gunthor, Ser Garce, and Ser Humphry, cough cough..."

A'man paused here and raised his glass with a hint of ambiguity.

Laresa was a smart woman and already knew what Aman said. When King Viserys moved into Highgarden and sent a message to the southern lords to pledge allegiance to Highgarden, the news had even spread throughout Oldtown. However, Earl Leyton, his heir, and his other three heirs still appeared in Oldtown. It was self-evident what this meant.

"Ah? What?" Rooney didn't understand.

But Aman just raised his glass: "Anyway, these things are the king and the adults' business, we ordinary people don't need to worry about it, let's toast to the dragon and the king!"

Morand, who was already almost drunk, slammed the table and shouted, "Cheers to the dragon and the king!"

And this shout caused the whole hotel to respond: "Cheers to the dragon and the king!"

Laresa followed suit and raised her glass, her eyes inevitably glancing towards the first table in the hotel to respond.

There were five Dornishmen and a fat man, a black-haired Dornish woman dressed heroically, four Dornish knights with swords hanging from their waists, and a fat man with ordinary looks, who looked like a person from the Free City.

Laresa saw the Dornish woman raising her glass to her.

Many people also saw this scene, and some of them were familiar with him, whistling at him.

Laresa tried to keep a calm expression and raised her glass to toast back.

Laresa thought a little depressedly, her game seemed to be coming to an end?
However, to Lareza's surprise, it was the fat man he didn't know who came to negotiate with him in the end: "Sphinx, I want to see the 'magician', can you help introduce me to him?"

Laresa didn't recognize him and looked strangely at his Sand Snake sisters and Dornish knight guards, but they opened their hands to him.

Laresa blinked, "Well, you may not know this, sir, but the 'magician' is not in the Citadel."

"Really? Is there anyone taking care of that crow island now? Is his apprentice here?"

Laresa looked at him more and more strangely: "His apprentice is here, but sir, may I ask your name?"

"Winema, you can call me Winema, I am a friend of the 'magician'."

"Ah?" Laresa looked at his face and figure in disbelief. "You really surprise me, Your Excellency Wenema. But I am happy to serve you, Your Excellency."

(End of this chapter)