Chapter 31 King's Landing and the Burning of the Viper
King's Landing.
The city not only housed the Royal Family in the Red Keep and nobles in comfortable homes, but more often consisted of haphazardly built shacks, mud-brick houses, and crumbling multi-story buildings stacked upon each other. The vast majority of the city's 500,000 residents lived in such conditions.
The nearby Crownlands, the Reach to the south, and prosperous sea trade kept the city running, ensuring that the common people didn't starve and had "brown soup" made of who knows what to drink. Some slightly wealthier citizens and craftsmen could even occasionally afford a taste of meat.
The black-haired woman excitedly carried a basket towards her home. Beside her were many others equally excited, some carrying baskets covered with cloth, others clutching bundles, but smiles adorned every face.
The woman pushed open an old wooden door and ducked into the low mud house. In the small room, the kitchen and bedroom were one. The simple bed was stained, but the bedding and straw were clean. A sickly little girl sat on a chair with a broken leg, watching her mother with hopeful eyes.
"Mother, I'm hungry."
The woman quickly put down the basket. "Alright, good girl, there's good food today. Where's your father?" The woman skillfully took out several jars and bottles from the basket, along with two or three fresh carrots, a cabbage, a handful of peas, and two pieces of bread that were clearly still soft and seemed to have few impurities. More importantly, there was a sizable piece of cured meat, which seemed to be fish.
The little girl's gaze was instantly drawn to the cured meat. "Father went to look for you."
"What happened at the market today?" A tall man with silver hair and beard squeezed in from outside. As soon as he entered, he saw his wife skillfully chopping cabbage and carrots, tossing them all into the pot over the fireplace.
"Someone was giving out free meat at the market today, and salt and spices were cheap," the woman said without lifting her head, pouring the peas and a handful of oats from their storage bag into the pot, stirring vigorously, and then breaking the cured meat into pieces.
"They said a member of the Royal Family returned from the East to meet the King, and his men sold some surplus food to us common folk at a low price."
The woman threw the chopped meat into the pot. "This meat is actually quite fresh and well-salted. No need to add salt this time."
The man smiled and stroked his daughter's face. "Don't rush, little one, we have meat today." He turned back to the woman. "My dear, why didn't you buy more meat and bread?"
"Not enough money," the woman pushed the pile of jars and bottles over. "There's salt, pepper, chili, nutmeg, a little saffron, and mint and a tiny bit of cloves in here. The Mother blesses us. That friar before said the medicine for the girl's illness had saffron and nutmeg in it. The Mother bless us, the Mother bless us."
The man also crossed himself seven times on his chest. "The Seven bless us, thank the Mother."
"The market will be open until three days from now," the woman stirred the stew in the pot, cut three pieces of bread with a knife, and brought them over with the stew in bowls.
The man placed the largest piece of bread in front of his daughter, took a smaller piece for himself, and began eating it dipped in the stew. "Alright, I'll go to the Blacksmith Guild later to get an advance on my wages and buy more grain and meat to store."
"Don't forget the girl's medicine," the woman smiled, watching her daughter eat the fragrant stew with meat in big mouthfuls. "If you go too late, those officials and nobles will have bought it all."
"I know," the man swallowed the stew in his bowl in a few gulps without hesitation, picked up the bread, wiped up the remnants, and ate it. "I'll go now."
The number of blacksmiths coming to the Blacksmith Guild for an advance on their wages today far exceeded the man's imagination. He had to rely on his large build to squeeze in and received two Silver Stags with damaged edges and over a dozen copper coins.
"Listen, if it weren't for the Guildmaster's consideration for you, you wouldn't get a single copper today."
The harsh voice of the financial officer still echoed in his ears, but the man had only one thought at the moment: get to the market as quickly as possible.
The market was already packed with people.
"Hugh, why the rush?" A blacksmith familiar with the man, holding a huge loaf of bread, stood behind him in line, looking curiously at the anxious Hugh.
"Is there still saffron and nutmeg?" Hugh stood on his tiptoes and shouted loudly. The people in front turned around to look at the rude man. The stall owner shouted back impatiently. "Yes, yes, yes, queue up properly, and pray to the Seven if you want to buy any."
After hearing Hugh's request, the blacksmith immediately understood his purpose. He leaned in and whispered, "Hugh, don't crowd here, go to the docks. The goods in the market all came from the docks."
"How do you know?" Hugh asked, startled.
"I have a relative who's a ratcatcher in the Red Keep," the blacksmith's face showed some envy when he mentioned the Red Keep. "He heard that three Princes riding dragons returned from overseas. They brought enough wealth to buy half the Realm. The King personally knighted the three Princes and asked the High Septon to anoint and baptize them. The Princes, feeling for the hardships of the people of King's Landing, specially provided good things at low prices or even for free. Hurry to the port."
Hugh immediately took off running.
The faint sounds of "Long live King Viserys I Targaryen, Long live Prince Dragonzel" were left behind.
Although the entire city of King's Landing that day was filled with cheers of "Long live King Viserys I Targaryen, Long live Prince Dragonzel, the gods bless the God-given Prince."
Just as Hugh successfully bought grain, meat, and much-needed medicine and spices from the docks, and was running home with a bundle as tall as himself, the sky suddenly darkened.
He couldn't help but look up.
A bronze dragon roared and flew south, followed closely by a silver dragon.
The cheers of the people grew louder.
But the Red Keep was not peaceful.
Viserys sat beside his beloved model of King's Landing, toying with a Valyrian Steel ornament sent by Dragonzel. He seemed lost in thought until Prince Daemon Targaryen pushed open the door and entered.
The two brothers were silent for a long time.
It wasn't until Viserys spoke first: "Prince Jacaerys Velaryon and Prince Lucerys Velaryon did well." He handed the ornament to his brother. "I am very pleased to have such heirs for the Realm."
Daemon looked toward the direction where the two dragons flew out the window, suddenly sighed, and said nothing.
On the tower platform of the Red Keep, Prince Aemond Targaryen quietly watched the south, his remaining eye filled with unspeakable envy. Dragonzel had gifted the Royal Family a sapphire of extremely high purity, which the royal craftsmen planned to use to forge a magnificent artificial eye for the one-eyed Prince.
His older brother, Prince Aegon Targaryen (Aegon II), had disappeared to carouse somewhere again. Besides seeing that drunk, pimple-faced, dark-eyed fellow during the daytime audience ceremony, he couldn't find this absurd brother anywhere else in the Red Keep.
Aemond also couldn't help but sigh.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Vermithor climbed a distance, leveled his Dragon wings, and glided towards the direction the Dorne were fleeing. Surging Dragonfire poured down like water, and screams of the Dorne filled the battlefield. Of course, more were simply incinerated into piles of charcoal.
Silverwing also arrived at the battlefield at this moment. Valarr lay on the Dragon saddle, excitedly shouting "dracarys," and Silverwing obediently followed Vermithor, breathing fire.
The Dorne, who had been so arrogant just moments ago, were now in a living hell.
The viper banners slowly turned to ash in the flames.
Along with them, over 1,000 fleeing raiders also turned to ash.
Second update checked in.
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