King’s Landing, Red Keep, Throne Room.
The hall was as noisy as a vegetable market, and the Iron Throne was empty at the moment.
“It is Daemon who has returned riding on Caraxes, and he has even brought back a crown.”
“I heard that the Sea Snake Corlys crowned him; House Velaryon is truly audacious.”
“During the Great Council of 101 AC, House Velaryon already harbored a rift with His Majesty, and after rejecting the marriage proposal, the two sides became even more irreconcilable.”
“What do you suppose Daemon is back to do this time?”
“Who knows? Anyway, we will have a good show to watch in a moment.”
The nobles beneath the Iron Throne whispered among themselves, discussing royal gossip.
At the very front, Otto lowered his brow and drooped his eyes, quietly listening to the people’s discussion without showing any change in expression.
“Presenting His Majesty King Viserys I, King of the Andals, the rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm!”
The loud announcement of the Kingsguard instantly made the Throne Room quiet down.
Viserys, dressed in a black-and-red formal doublet, holding Blackfyre, slowly sat upon the Iron Throne and looked toward the doors directly ahead.
At this moment, a sound of footsteps came from outside the grand doors, growing closer from afar.
“Step—Step—Step—”
Wearing a crown, Daemon supported Dark Sister with his left hand and held a battleaxe in his right, walking to the front of the Iron Throne with an unruly expression.
“Clang—!”
Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Harrold, drew his sword and blocked Daemon’s path.
Daemon threw the battleaxe before Viserys’s throne, stared into Viserys’s eyes, and said in a serious tone, “Add it to the Iron Throne!”
Ser Harrold watched Daemon warily, slowly sheathing his longsword, and picked up the battleaxe from the ground.
The nobles below began to buzz with discussion once more, unable to figure out what Daemon meant by this.
Viserys glanced at the crown on Daemon’s head and asked playfully, “Do you also style yourself a king?”
“Ever since defeating the Triarchy, people have called me the ‘King of the Narrow Sea and The Stepstones’.” Daemon answered offhandedly.
Then he slowly dropped to one knee, removed the crown from his head with both hands, and looked at Viserys, saying, “But I know, Your Grace, there is only one true king under the heavens, and so my return this time is to offer you the crown and The Stepstones.”
Thus, he stepped down from the Iron Throne, took the crown from Daemon’s hands, and raised a hand to signal him to rise.
After a mutual gaze, the long-separated brothers embraced each other tightly.
The rift of many years melted away by more than half in this single embrace, and the two reconciled once more.
Seeing this scene, the crowd of nobles in the hall offered enthusiastic applause.
Amidst the crowd, the fingers within Otto’s sleeves slowly tightened.
He did not believe Daemon’s purpose in returning was so simple; there had to be some conspiracy.
Viserys happily let go of Daemon and loudly announced, “Now that the war for The Stepstones has been won, I hereby decree: Daemon Targaryen is named Prince of The Stepstones, Talway Valthorn is named Count of Bloodstone, and Laenor Velaryon is named Viscount of Gray Gallows!”
(There is no distinction of peerage ranks in the original work, but we will write it according to the translation anyway, so that it is convenient for all you lords to distinguish the strength of the nobility!)
He had long learned about the distribution of interests in The Stepstones from Talvey, which was why he could make such precise appointments after Daemon offered the crown.
Viserys was naturally extremely happy to be able to occupy The Stepstones; at least the great lords of those port towns would no longer come to pester him in the future.
These past few years, he had been driven nearly crazy by these great lords.
At the very moment Viserys’s bestowals were completed in King’s Landing, Talvey, who was in the council chamber of Bloodstone, also received the system’s prompt.
“Ding!”
“Congratulations to the host for obtaining the first influential peerage—Count of Bloodstone. The primary stage of the Myriad Realms Shop has been unlocked.”
“Heh, it seems the two brothers have reconciled once more. If Viserys knew that Daemon is aiming for Rhaenyra, I wonder how he would react?” Talvey chuckled inwardly.
“System, open the Myriad Realms Shop!”
Mushroom Bomb Technology: 10,000,000
Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Technology: 10,000,000
…
Looking at his influence of less than two thousand,
“System, only display commodities that can be purchased.”
Basic Steelmaking Furnace Technology: 1500
Transparent Glass Manufacturing: 1500
Papermaking: 1200
Soap Technology: 600
“Notify Sir Richard and Azel, and have them come see me immediately.”
Talvey instructed the attendant at the doorway.
“Yes, My Lord.”
Half an hour later, Richard and Azel hurried to the hall in brisk steps.
After bowing in salute, Richard asked first, “My Lord, what are your orders?”
Talvey handed him a stack of steelmaking furnace technical data he had just bought.
“Go back and make arrangements immediately. Have all prisoners of war suspend mining, and first build a steelmaking workshop on the northern side of Bloodstone. This is the detailed information. Keep it confidential, let those prisoners of war be responsible for the construction, and do not let others interfere.”
Richard stepped forward to take the documents, wrapped them up carefully, and nodded solemnly.
“Yes, My Lord.”
Talvey knew Richard’s personality very well and nodded reassuringly.
“Azel, you will cooperate fully with Richard. All resources will be prioritized for him. From now on, all iron ore in Bloodstone must be refined by this workshop. You must ensure that Richard’s side of the construction proceeds smoothly.”
“Yes, My Lord, I will definitely cooperate fully with Sir Richard.” Azel bowed and accepted the order.
Talvey nodded.
“Mhm, you may go down and make preparations.”
After bowing, Richard and Azel withdrew from the hall together and went their separate ways to begin their work.
Under Talvey’s instruction, the smiths had already successfully forged weapons and armor using these iron ores on Bloodstone.
The steel smelted from this iron ore, when crafted into weapons and armor, far exceeded ordinary steel in hardness and toughness at the same weight, and it also bore crimson-red textures on the surface.
Although there was still a certain gap compared to Valyrian steel, it was already extremely rare.
Therefore, Talvey decided to use all of it to equip the soldiers of House Valthorn.
As for why these iron ores were different from ordinary iron ores, Talvey guessed that they must have been strengthened by magic.
According to legend, The Stepstones were originally the Arm of Dorne connecting the continent of Westeros and the continent of Essos, and were eventually sunk by immensely powerful magic to become the present-day Stepstones.
Bloodstone happened to be a massive iron ore vein, and under fortuitous circumstances, this unique iron ore was created.
Bloodstone was everywhere filled with this red iron ore, almost inexhaustible and limitless, reserved solely for the use of House Valthorn.
For hundreds of years, there would be no need to consider the problem of ore depletion.
After the two left, Talvey pondered secretly: “Now all kinds of resources are readily available, but what is lacking the most is various technical talents. I wonder what the situation is like over at The Citadel.”