Game of Thrones: I am Dothraki, not a barbarian

Chapter 148 The Black Goat God Appears

Rahalo stood in the treasury beneath the temple, surrounded by his Blood Guards.

Dozens of torches illuminated the vast stone chamber, making it as bright as day.

Lazar and the others, having followed Rahalo, were now seasoned veterans and showed little emotion. Only Dzeko remained speechless, his mouth agape for a long time.

Back then, when he asked the Iron Treasury for only 40,000 gold dragons to start a war with Rahalo, he thought it was an astronomical price. But compared to this, he felt that he was still too unimaginative.

Casio followed behind, bowing and scraping obsequiously. As the new High Priest, he had a duty to present the treasure to Kohol's new master.

The former High Priest took everything he could with him when he fled, but what he left behind is probably more valuable.

Inside the treasury were rows of oak shelves filled with silver incense burners, gold sacrificial knives, and sacrificial plates.

Thousands of gold cups, inlaid with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and topaz, and filled with gemstones, sparkled in the firelight.

In the corner were piles of gold statues, some of which depicted the Black Goat God, while others were full-body statues of the High Priests of past dynasties, each one lifelike.

The most eye-catching feature is a huge black goat statue, cast entirely in gold, standing over three meters tall and weighing two tons.

The eyes are two fist-sized rubies, the four hooves and ram horns are made of obsidian, and the statue has a bushy mane around its neck, all made of platinum wire.

It's priceless and its value is hard to estimate, but the materials alone are worth no less than 500,000 gold dragons.

Casio explained that Kohol would donate a portion of his taxes to the Black Goat God every year, and for five hundred years, this wealth had never been touched.

The inventory of the treasure lasted a full day, and the final results satisfied Lahalo greatly.

Excluding the enormous statue, the treasury contained approximately five tons of gold, equivalent to 160,000 ounces, worth about 570,000 gold dragons.

Twelve tons of silver, equivalent to 380,000 ounces, were worth approximately 1.37 million silver deer.

The gems are countless and their value is immeasurable.

The next day, Rahalo explored the temple's library, but the Blood Guards were not interested in these things and did not follow.

This is a circular hall with walls covered by wooden bookshelves that extend all the way to the ceiling.

Thousands of parchment scrolls and leather-bound books were neatly arranged, and the air was filled with the smell of dust and musty leather.

This place houses a vast collection of knowledge from the time Kohor was founded, including history, geography, medicine, engineering, and even records of ancient magic.

Lahalo had never seen what the City of Learning looked like, but making this knowledge available was enough to create many scholars.

Casio ran to the wall, took a metal box from the shelf, respectfully opened it, and presented it to Rahalo. Inside was a parchment scroll bound with a black ribbon.

This is Corhor's most precious possession, containing knowledge about Valyrian steel forging, which is why Corhor became a city of forging. Unfortunately, most of it has been lost.

The text is in Higher Valyrian, written in dense characters, with some annotations added by later generations along the edges.

Lahallo couldn't understand the writing, so Cassio explained that reforging Valyrian steel required two key steps: fire magic and soul sacrifice.

During the forging stage, fire magic is used to increase the furnace temperature, and some special magical items are also added, such as certain colored stones or dragon bones.

Soul sacrifice, on the other hand, requires the blood of living animals, or even the heart of a living person, poured onto scorching steel, supposedly to imbue the weapon with a soul. Rahalo frowned. The fire magic part was alright; the colored stones and dragon bones might contain some rare metals. But the human sacrifice part seemed far too sinister to him.

Therefore, he decided to temporarily seal the scroll away.

...

On the third day, at the Temple of the Black Goat.

The city of Kohol is surrounded by forests, and the city is filled with metal processing workshops. Fog, along with wisps of black smoke and a pungent smell of coal ash, shrouds the entire city in a mist. Even on sunny days, it is often obscured by dark clouds, making it appear gloomy.

The Temple of the Black Goat soared into the clouds, its eighteen-story stone tower reaching for the sky, each floor with four windows facing the four directions of the city of Kohor.

The elders of various guilds in Kohor gathered in the temple square, including the president of the blacksmiths' guild, the president of the fur guild, the president of the merchants' association, and representatives of the city's nobles.

Today is the divine revelation ceremony. Casio is dressed in a black robe with a hood, and the hood is inlaid with a ram's horn crown, symbolizing his status as the supreme priest.

He stood on the steps, looking down at the crowd, and announced loudly: "People of Kohor, followers of the Black Goat God, the divine revelation ceremony is about to begin!"
We will witness God's will regarding whether to accept Rahalokao as the supreme ruler of Kohor!

Rahalo stood to the side, also draped in a black robe, his face expressionless.

Meanwhile, outside the square, Lazar and his Dothraki cavalry stood watch, ready to swarm in and deliver one-on-one physical revelation should the divine revelation fail.

The plan was perfect.

“According to ancient tradition,” Casio said, “if a black goat can climb the eighteenth floor of the temple tower on foot, it means that the Black Goat God has approved the new ruler!”

The old president of the fur guild shook his head and whispered to the chamber of commerce representative next to him, "That's impossible! The Black Goat God has never appeared in recent years!"

The chamber of commerce representative nodded nervously: "That's right! The Black Goat God would never appear before the barbarians of the grasslands!"

After Casio finished his loud prayer, he raised an obsidian sacrificial knife and cut his palm, the blood dripping onto the bronze altar in front of the temple.

"Black Goat God, please reveal your will!"

As he called out, the temple gates slowly opened, and several acolytes led out eighteen black goats.

The priests untied the ropes, and the black goats scattered in all directions, leaving only one black goat with powerful horns, which ran straight towards the outer wall of the temple!

"Look!" Casio exclaimed, "The messenger of God has made his choice!"

The elders stared in disbelief as the black goat nimbly climbed the almost vertical tower wall, ascending one floor, two floors, three floors...

"This is impossible!" exclaimed the fur guild master. "No goat could climb that high!"

But the black goat seemed to be driven by some force, continuing upwards, to the eleventh floor, the twelfth floor...

"We're on the sixteenth floor!" someone shouted.

At this moment, everyone held their breath and stared at the eighteenth floor; time seemed to stand still.

Finally, the black goat stopped after climbing to the eighteenth floor, its obsidian horns gleaming brightly in the sunlight.

(End of this chapter)