Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 278 Princess and Prince, who do you choose?

The guards stood in front of Dan and Beile vigilantly. The guy in front of them was indeed a human. Such strange humans appeared in Volantis and Slave Bay. They were collectively called "striped people".

The slave owners in Slaver's Bay who claimed to be the successors of the Ghiscari Empire viewed these striped people as powerful gladiators and unqualified slaves. They would train the striped people who were sold to the city-states, but would not invest too many resources in them.

Because all slave owners knew it.

Whether the striped people are human beings or not is a big question mark. They learn very slowly and are good for nothing except violence. They are not good at painting, music, or even the simplest sex skills. There was once a slave owner in Meereen who tried to study what the striped people were.

But he was soon "pleasantly surprised" to discover that the spotted people could only give birth to offspring with the spotted people, and the spotted women could only mate and reproduce with the spotted men. They would only give birth to deformed stillbirths with men from other races, and the spotted men could not even make women from other races pregnant.

This puzzled the slaver, but the spotted people were indeed brave and good at fighting. In Meereen, Yunkai's fighting arena was very popular - of course, it was just a fighting arena. The Unsullied did not welcome such undisciplined - or even untrainable wild people.

Seeing that these strange outsiders were silent, the striped man hurriedly mumbled a lot of things. Beile didn't understand and looked at Dan for help.

Dan frowned and translated for Beile softly, "His general meaning is to ask us not to worry, he is not a cannibal from a few tribes that cannot be translated. His tribe has a good relationship with the people without stripes in the north. He knows that we have brought things that are not available in the woods, and hopes to trade with us."

He then responded in High Valyrian: "What do you need? What can you provide?"

The striped man jumped up excitedly, pointed at the sword in the guard's hand, and said a lot of gibberish.

"He said they want salt. If they don't have salt, then the hard, shiny weapons in our hands will do. He can trade with us for edible food, or the gold and spices found by the tribe." Dan translated softly. The strange Valyrian language spoken by the spotted people was mixed with words from the ancient Ghis language, and even had some grammar unique to the Rhoynar language, making it difficult to understand. "His meaning is very simple, Beile. The spotted people have more than one tribe. The tribe where this spotted person is located is closer to the edge of the rainforest and has had close exchanges with the so-called civilized society. They may have bloodshed and other conflicts with the tribes deep in the rainforest. So they need weapons."

Seeing that Dan and the others didn't respond, the striped man became a little anxious. In the rainforest of Sothoryos, a team of fully armed strangers was a rare sight. And there was also the big guy above his head. To be honest, he felt unsteady on his feet just by hearing their voices.

However, the spotted people who had never seen the Fire Hunting did not know what the two huge creatures were. They only thought that they were related to their biggest rival, the pterosaur, and the monsters in the depths of the rainforest.

Strangers meant change. They might be prey to the man-eating devils in the south, but to him, a striped man who had no name but was called Gada Guga, which means "clever hunter" by the people in the tribe, these people who could obviously control the two huge pterosaurs were huge opportunities.

Seeing that the stranger who could communicate still didn't reply to him, Gada Gaga decisively pulled out the stone knife, pried open the monkey's head, picked out the brain, and swallowed it into his stomach. He mumbled a lot of words again.

Dan continued to translate. "What he meant was that the blood and brain matter of the rainforest gibbon monkeys have special powers. Flesh-eating bugs and blood-exploding bugs can't lay eggs and hatch in them, so their meat is safe, so we can trade with them without worry."

"We want you." Dan finally replied. He signaled the old soldier to draw out a shiny dagger, which made Gada Guga's eyes light up.

"Be our guide. If you can lead us to our goal, this will be yours."

Gadaguga understood every word of Valyrian that Dan uttered.

He hesitated.

The expedition to Sothoryos did not affect the drama in Westeros.

King Daeron's health is getting weaker and weaker, and the kingdom has completely entered the "monarch offline" era.

King's Landing, Red Keep, the Great Hall of the Imperial Court.

Prime Minister Hermann Boll looked at his colleagues expressionlessly.

"You came to me just for this kind of thing?"

Earl Pole slammed the table and stood up. Behind the earl, the tall and strong Sir Quentin Pole also took a step forward and stared at the ministers in the royal meeting.

"His Majesty the King is not dead yet, and you are already thinking about the issue of succession rights?"

"Your Excellency, the succession of the kingdom is a major issue for the kingdom." The Minister of Finance, Earl Stokeworth, said calmly, "What the kingdom needs is an attitude. His Majesty has been in a coma twice in just three days. No one knows what the future will be like. Your Excellency, do you also want to watch His Majesty's great cause collapse because of the unclear issue of succession rights?" "Earl Stokeworth is right." The Minister of Justice, Earl Roland Clinton, echoed, "Your Majesty has not clarified his succession rights, and everyone knows what the war forty years ago was about."

"Don't change the subject, Griffin." Count Hermann Boll interrupted Count Roland. The power of the Boll family in the conquered land was no weaker than any traditional lord. He had every reason to say such things.

The position of Lord Justice has been a frequent change over the years. After Lord Forrest Frey stepped down due to old age, several nobles have held this position. Finally, after the Baratheon family completely conquered the Stepstones and Daeron conquered the Conquered Lands with the help of the Stepstones, Roland Clinton took over the position.

"I just want to ask you one question. Why are you talking about the succession of the kingdom when the king is still alive?" Count Herman Boll looked coldly at the white-haired captain of the White Knights, Sir Garin Dinwart. "Sir Garin, is this an act of rebellion?"

"Boer, stop accusing us." Count Andre Farman, Minister of the Navy, said calmly, "You know the political situation in the kingdom. If we don't make this clear now, the longer we delay, the bigger the problem will be."

After King Daeron's great punishment, he became a staunch royalist in the King's Council, but today he did not stand on Earl Pol's side.

"I have made my point clear." Count Farman said without hesitation: "I would like to ask you, do you want your title, territory and wealth to be passed on to your daughter or grandson?"

He glanced at all the ministers in the imperial conference.

No one, not even Count Pol himself, could answer this question.

"That's easy." Earl Farman sighed and said, "It's difficult for His Majesty the King to convey a clear order right now, so we have to prepare in advance to deal with various emergencies."

"Andre, Hermann, speak frankly." Earl Stokeworth and Earl Roland Clinton looked at Earl Farman and Earl Pole.

"Do you support the princess or the prince?"

"You are committing rebellion!" Hermann Boll almost jumped onto the table, but Count Farman and Quentin Boll were quick to hold him back.

"No, this is not a rebellion, Prime Minister." Earl Stokeworth said solemnly, "This is the future of the kingdom. When Your Majesty wakes up, we will immediately advise Your Majesty."

He also stood up. "We will also send out ravens to Prince Longzel and the nobles to seek their advice."

"Has your brain been eaten by a sow?"

Count Pole was completely shocked. He broke away from his son and Count Farman and grabbed the collar of the assistant grand secretary who was treating the king.

"Tell me you haven't sent out the ravens yet!"

"Prime Minister, without your signature or His Majesty's signature, we cannot release the raven. Please let me go, okay?"

Hermann Pohl let go of the assistant maester, took a deep breath, and looked at Lord Stokeworth fiercely.

"Your Majesty has shown mercy by not killing you."

He just felt his back was covered in sweat.

If Earl Stokeworth really sent the letter, what kind of signal would it send to the princes?
Count Pol didn't even dare to think about it.

"No one is allowed to talk about this matter before His Majesty the King wakes up." Earl Pol brought out the majesty of the Prime Minister exercising the royal power - although only Longzel could truly act as the Prime Minister exercising the royal power, the Prime Minister still had this function after all.

"Anyone who violates this will be punished by death for treason. Period."

He glanced savagely at Lord Stokeworth.

(End of this chapter)