GOT: Chapter 354/355

Chapter 354: Dragon King Sword

"Can you stop calling it Lightbringer all day? It is just a Valyrian steel sword." Aegor was not surprised by the witch's reaction. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and doused Melisandre with cold water. He exerted a little force to draw the sword slightly, revealing a section of the blade to add conviction. "See, it is neither bright nor hot."

"Do you take me for a village woman who has never seen a Valyrian steel sword?" Melisandre narrowed her eyes, her expression suddenly both dangerous and alluring. "From Asshai to Slaver's Bay, from the Free Cities to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of Valyrian steel swords on both continents. The Red Temple in Volantis once kept one. I have seen more Valyrian steel swords than you can name, and the one you are holding now, the magic surging around it is stronger than the dozens I have seen combined. You call this 'just a Valyrian steel sword'?"

Aegor was startled. He lowered his head to re-examine the treasured sword in his hand but could not see any difference, after all, this was only the second Valyrian steel sword he had ever seen.

Although they were not completely honest with each other, they had established some mutual trust and understanding. Melisandre was skilled at using methods or rhetoric to gain the trust or awe of others. In short, she was good at fooling people, but whether due to her personality or the requirements of her doctrine, she rarely lied directly or without embellishment. Perhaps she did, but he had never caught her.

Could it be that this sword truly was different from other Valyrian steel swords?

Melisandre then asked, serious, "What is this sword called?"

"Dark Sister."

"Dark Sister?" Melisandre murmured, then after a moment quickly recalled the origin of the sword. "Is it the one belonging to Aegon the Conqueror's sister, Visenya Targaryen?"

"That is right."

"This sword is from beyond the Wall? Interesting. It seems the rumor I heard is likely true." The Red Priestess pondered for a moment, then glanced at the few guards following Aegor, hesitating. "Have your men step away."

Although full of doubts, Aegor still nodded to his men, signaling them to stand farther off to give him and Melisandre space for a private conversation.

Only after the soldiers had moved far enough away did Melisandre speak again. "This is not an ordinary Valyrian steel sword, this is a Dragon King sword."

Oh, so she would not go on until he asked what a Dragon King sword was? Aegor shrugged helplessly, playing along. "What is the difference? Explain."

"From its inception, Valyrian steel was known as a magic metal, and it had another name, dragonsteel. For a long time, people believed this was because dragon bones were mixed into the metal during forging, but the real reason is not that complicated. Valyrian steel was always a metal only the noblest Dragonlords of the Freehold were qualified to order and use, hence dragonsteel. But this rare resource, exclusive to the most powerful and high-status group within such a mighty empire, began to be openly sold not long after its creation, not only to nobles in the colonies, but astonishingly, it was also sold at clear prices to countless kings of all sizes across the Narrow Sea in Westeros, with whom they had no connection. Do you think that is reasonable?"

Hearing this, Aegor roughly guessed what Melisandre wanted to say. "Could it be that the Valyrian steel sold externally was not true Valyrian steel?"

"I do not know. No one can prove it, because no one has ever been able to get a Dragon King sword to compare with an ordinary Valyrian steel sword." The Red Priestess shook her head. "The Valyrian steel swords bought by outsiders have all the characteristics of the legendary dragonsteel weapons, incredibly tough, sharp, light, and imbued with magic. Since the product meets all the claims made by the seller, from what angle could one accuse it of being fake? No one dared to question this openly when Valyria was at its peak, and after the Doom, almost all the Dragon King swords were buried with the Freehold, leaving no one the chance to verify this suspicion until today. I have finally seen a true Dragon King sword."

Only then did Aegor recall that although the Targaryens were not among the top core rulers, they were indeed one of the legitimate Dragonlord families of the Valyrian Freehold. If Valyrian steel truly had a high and low grade, then what Aegon the Conqueror and his sister held was definitely the internal version.

Dark Sister was not an ordinary "Valyrian steel sword," it was a true "dragonsteel sword." The two might have the same physical composition and similar properties, but there must be a difference in a crucial final step. It could be the difference between successful enchantment or not, or whether it underwent the most important process. In short, they are different.

"Do you know the reason for the difference between them?"

"I do not know, but I can guess. It is said that for true Dragon King swords, in the final step of forging, the grand artisan would notify the owner who ordered it. Then that Valyrian Dragonlord would ride a dragon to the site and use their own blood to temper and strengthen it." Melisandre, as if facing a rare treasure, carefully reached out her slender hand, radiating warmth, and gently stroked the small section of Dark Sister's blade that Aegor had drawn. "How could noble Dragonlords use their limited blood to enchant someone else's sword? There were artisans in Qohor who tried to replicate this, but they did not succeed. They missed a key point. What works in blood magic is not the bodily fluid itself, but the power contained within the blood. Not just any blood can be used for casting."

The witch slowly caressed Dark Sister, her eyes shining with admiration. "Imagine this. This sword was once blood-sacrificed by Visenya Targaryen, or perhaps by one of her ancestors with purer dragon blood. Not only is the intensity of the magic it radiates dozens of times stronger than an ordinary Valyrian steel sword, but I can also feel that this sword's ability to absorb and store magic far surpasses a regular Valyrian steel blade. Do you understand what this means?"

"What?" Aegor asked humbly.

"Remember that White Walker you killed? I went to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea not long ago and found your friend named Will. I examined the Dragonglass dagger you used, and the fire magic it contained was almost gone, only slightly more than the air."

Dragonglass restrains White Walkers and is lethal to wights by virtue of the fire magic within it. This was already a conclusion Aegor and the Red Priestess had agreed upon. If this magic could be consumed, would that mean... Aegor was startled. "Is Dragonglass consumable?"

If that were true, the entire defensive structure and arrangements for the Gift would almost have to be completely overturned.

"Of course. What did you think?" Melisandre gave him a reproachful look. "But there is no need to panic. The dagger's internal magic was depleted in one use because you stabbed a White Walker with it. Are there more Dragonglass blades or more White Walkers? The chance of using the same Dragonglass weapon to stab two White Walkers is negligible. Using it against wights does not draw too much."

Her eyes moved left and right, and she lowered her voice. "What I want to tell you is that Dragonglass does not have the ability to restore its own magic, and its killing effect on enemies is limited. Valyrian steel, however, is not like that. This magic metal can absorb free magic from the air and slowly restore its own properties, and the sword in your hand, its lethality against White Walkers and its self-restoration are dozens of times stronger than an ordinary Valyrian steel sword."

"That is great, but I cannot see the difference between one sword can kill one White Walker and one sword can kill dozens of White Walkers. They are not pieces of paper stacked on top of each other."

"Stop joking." Melisandre frowned again and leaned closer. "My meaning is, if I enchant this sword to make it glow and heat, the duration of the magic effect will be incredibly long. It will be exactly like the legendary Lightbringer."

So that was it. This was the real reason Melisandre wanted the guards dismissed.

Aegor's mind was clear, but he did not wait for the witch to finish. "Enough. I have said it many times, I will not gain the approval of the Red God's followers this way."

Melisandre, as one of the senior priests of the Red Temple, held extremely high status. How often had she been unable to finish her words like this? After a moment of stunned silence, she narrowed her beautiful eyes and stared at Aegor with displeasure.

But the man did not back down and met her gaze, until after a few seconds, the witch reluctantly looked away.

She felt very bad, but there was nothing she could do. That is how it is between people. Once one is at a disadvantage at the start, inertia keeps the inequality going and even deepening, until one side gets used to it or reaches the limit and explodes.

Melisandre, of course, could not be tamed by Aegor, but she was clearly not at the point of being unable to bear it either. Her mood was like an older sister facing a rebellious younger brother, furious but helpless. Who could blame her when the other party was the Prophet?

What is more, she had slipped just now. She should not have said it will be like the legendary Lightbringer. This sword is clearly Lightbringer. As for the superficial name, whether it is Dark Sister or Bright Brother, what does it matter? In future legends, such details will be irrelevant.

"Have it your way, but remember to keep this sword well and never let outsiders handle it. It will surely be the key to victory." Melisandre was full of joy now and no longer had the mind to trouble Bran Stark. Indeed, how could the one who delivered Lightbringer to the Prophet be a lackey of the cold god?

"Uh..." This time, it was Aegor's turn to be speechless.

"What is it?" Melisandre had offered a casual reminder but did not get the ready agreement she expected. She widened her eyes in suspicion and stared at the Night's Watchman again.

"I originally planned to sell this sword to Tywin Lannister, on the condition, of course, that the sword must first stay with the Night's Watch for the Kingslayer to use."

"You—" Melisandre almost choked, unable to catch her breath. Her tone sharpened at once, and her voice rose so high that the few guards who had moved away turned their heads to look. "What kind of joke are you making?!"

(To be continued.)

Chapter 355: True — Messenger of Light (Part 1)

Aegor confessed his plan, but not because he was an honest man.

Besides wanting to maintain a relatively good mutual trust with Lady Melisandre, there was another point. After learning that this was not an ordinary Valyrian steel sword, he wavered.

Since the original sales plan was likely to fall through, what did it matter if he said it?

As an item whose symbolic meaning was greater than its practical value, Valyrian steel swords basically did not circulate, priceless and without a market. If forced to estimate its worth, conservatively, it would be about two to three hundred thousand golden dragons. At this critical juncture, selling it to Tywin for half price, a hundred thousand golden dragons, seemed like a small loss, but overall it was a win-win.

But a Dragon King sword, how should its value be measured? The magic applied to the blade of Dark Sister, its strength and power were dozens of times that of an ordinary Valyrian steel sword. Did that mean the price should also be dozens of times?

No, even the most unprofessional person should know that for a magic item, as its performance improves, its manufacturing difficulty and value increase exponentially. The value of Dark Sister, set at tens of millions of golden dragons, would not be excessive.

However, just like the Wall, as the largest magical creation in the world of ice and fire, its value is simply immeasurable. But no one would ever pay to buy its ownership. Lannister only wanted an ordinary Valyrian steel weapon that would not rust or dim with time as a family sword to bolster their image. The magical ability possessed by the dragonsteel sword was meaningless to Tywin, and to anyone not fighting White Walkers.

And Aegor, precisely, was now someone who was about to fight White Walkers.

Selling a Valyrian steel sword worth hundreds of thousands for a hundred thousand was acceptable to him, but selling Dark Sister for one percent of its price, the wastefulness of such a transaction was so great that Aegor himself would wake from dreams cursing himself as a prodigal.

"Alright, I admit, this sword might indeed be extraordinary," Aegor explained with a forced bitter face. "But I was thinking, would having a large sum of money to buy military equipment and improve the overall combat effectiveness of the Gift's army not be much better than having one more sword that can kill White Walkers?"

Melisandre scoffed at Aegor's words. Lightbringer, which countless followers of the Lord of Light had searched for without success, was finally delivered into the Prophet's hands, and the man wanted to sell it. It was a joke, and not a funny one.

Her gaze was sharp. "Who are you going to buy from?"

Though short, the question hit the nail on the head, and Aegor was instantly speechless.

In a world with backward productivity, what was lacking was not money, but goods.

In the most peaceful times, a wandering knight only needed ten golden dragons to buy all the weapons, mounts, and even armor from head to toe, wrapping himself and his horse like an iron can, then go to tourneys and seek employers in a respectable manner.

But if a big shot like Tywin Lannister suddenly had a whim and decided to purchase equipment to arm a thousand-man Lannisport guard, would ten thousand golden dragons be enough?

Far from enough, even a hundred thousand would be difficult. No suppliers or artisans could produce so many weapons and equipment at once, and once someone started buying in large quantities, the price of similar goods would skyrocket, quickly reaching a prohibitive level.

In fact, any Lord would have been, in peacetime when prices were low, continuously purchasing weapons and equipment made by blacksmiths at low prices in advance, stockpiling their armories in preparation for war.

Now, everywhere was filled with the smoke of war, caused by the Baratheon civil strife, and no one in the Seven Kingdoms was unaffected. Not to mention those fighting fiercely, even those not currently at war were waiting for someone's return, wearing armor at night and ready for battle. Not only were the armories guaranteed to be empty, but even the artisans and technicians who could make new equipment had mostly been conscripted by the Lords, providing customized and maintenance services for the army for free.

Someone would surely ask, what about across the Narrow Sea?

Thanks to the "freedom fighter" Daenerys Targaryen stirring up Slaver's Bay and the Red God widely spreading doomsday theories, cities and towns of all sizes in Essos, whether they had abolished slavery or not, were all anxious, everyone preparing for war, training horses and stockpiling equipment.

In the current situation, with smoke everywhere, Aegor realized he really might not be able to buy military supplies even with money, and could only rely on the Gift to work overtime, producing both cold and hot weapons, and arming as many as possible.

"Alright, I might not be able to buy much military equipment," Aegor admitted frankly that his previous thinking was not thorough. After all, it was a thought that came to him in an instant, and it was normal for there to be problems. "But Queenscrown is developing special weapons specifically to deal with wights and White Walkers, and that also requires money."

"How much money do you actually need?" the Red Priestess asked sharply.

How much money do I need?

After calming down and thinking for a while, Aegor quickly reached a conclusion that surprised even himself. Although the Night's Watch was now heavily in debt, they were not actually short of money at the moment.

The cost of building warships at Ice Canyon Port and the food consumption of the Gift and the Wall, these two major expenses, were borne by the North and the Iron Bank respectively, while the expenses of the Night's Watch Industry southern branch for finding nitrate mines and researching local methods of making nitrate were managed by Nina and the industrial park to be self-sufficient.

This meant that at this stage, the only place Aegor needed to spend money was in Queenscrown. The salaries of hundreds of Night's Watch Logistics Department employees, the purchase of various tools and daily necessities that the Gift could not produce on its own, one thousand golden dragons per month. The remuneration for metallurgy, casting, and forging experts required for researching artillery and explosive shells, as well as the cost of materials consumed in trial and error, currently reaching two thousand golden dragons per month, and about to reach three thousand as the scale expands and the process adapts.

A monthly expenditure of nearly four thousand golden dragons sounded like spending money like water, but Tyrion had just approved a loan for the Night's Watch, forty thousand golden dragons in cash.

Not only did it solve the urgent need, it could also last for a while.

Just like buying military equipment. In real technological development, especially in a world with backward productivity and scarce resources, the biggest problem is not a lack of money, but a lack of personnel, prerequisite basic technology, and materials.

For personnel, Aegor, with the Pyromancers as the core and talents discovered by the Night's Watch Industry as a supplement, formed a trusted team through recruiting and training, which was barely enough. For basic technology, everyone worked together to overcome difficulties, and it was almost done. But materials were more troublesome. The charcoal needed for powder was burned by themselves. The sulfur was dug from Dragonstone by men sent there, and the nitrate was temporarily scraped from toilets, stables, and livestock pens in various places by Night's Watch crows who were originally conscripting people, and the shells for explosive rounds and the bodies of cannons were even more complex. The material had to be mined, smelted, and mixed by themselves. The shape had to be designed and improved by themselves, and the molds had to be kneaded, cut, and shaped by themselves.

It was like a hardcore collection game without a top-up system or built-in store. Except for some common tools and experienced masters, not many parts could be directly obtained by spending money.

True technological progress can certainly be accelerated by investing a large amount of capital, but the most obvious difference from those web games is that the time required cannot be infinitely shortened by paying or cheating.

The current size of the research institute was insufficient, and there was a lack of experience. Spending more than two thousand golden dragons per month was already close to the upper limit. Even if Aegor forcibly increased the allocation, the researchers would not have many channels to spend it except for eating and dressing better and getting more bonuses.

In a word, although the Night's Watch currently had a huge deficit, they would definitely not run out of money before the war began. The song of ice and fire was about to begin, and the first priority was to survive until the end of the song. What was the point of rushing to stuff golden dragons into the warehouse?

"I know the Night's Watch owes a lot of foreign debt right now, but now is not the time to think about how to repay it. Bennero, the High Priest of the Red Temple in Volantis, is raising funds for the Night's Watch from his followers, and the pressure of repaying after the war is definitely not as great as you think." Seeing Aegor lost in thought, Lady Melisandre also softened her tone. "In any case, Lightbringer must be held by you personally. There is no room for negotiation."

So the Red Priestess asking how much money he needed was not because she had foresight and saw the Night's Watch's finances, but because she had other sources of funding. He did not know how many followers of the Red God there were in Volantis, what social class they generally belonged to, and whether they were rich.

Aegor muttered to himself, but still reluctantly nodded and agreed. "Alright, you do not need to emphasize it anymore. I promise, I will not sell this sword externally."

He agreed, but Dark Sister, as a sword, is only useful if it is plunged into the body of a White Walker. And this means that the wielder must have the opportunity to duel with a White Walker or even the Night King to unleash its power as a bane.

Aegor had always presented himself as a warrior and hero in public, which had a huge positive effect on boosting and maintaining morale. As Lord Commander, he really did not want to tell Lady Melisandre that, having fought desperately with White Walkers, he truly did not want to fight these ghosts again, especially possibly the Night King in close combat.

Was this cowardice? Of course it was. But Aegor did not feel ashamed. Following one's heart is not a sin. A truly brave warrior is not fearless, but one who can overcome fear.

If he were truly forced to duel the Night King, would R'hllor, who might have chosen him as her agent, bless him? Aegor thought this and felt uncomfortable all over. For Aegor, who was used to controlling the situation and preferred to keep everything under control, leaving his fate to others, even to a god, was unacceptable.

Melisandre, relieved after getting the assurance, softened her tone and continued to chatter about some irrelevant instructions, but Aegor's thoughts drifted elsewhere. Ordinary Valyrian steel swords could kill White Walkers, and the magic of the same origin contained in a Dragon King sword was dozens of times that of the former. Did this mean that even if Dark Sister was divided into dozens of pieces, each piece could still independently kill White Walkers?

Aegor had not forgotten that he was a transmigrant. How had he lived in this world for more than four years and instead limited his thinking? Dark Sister was a sword, but who said the wielder had to use it in the form of a sword?

"Lady Melisandre, I am sorry," Aegor raised his hand to interrupt the witch again. "Please allow me to interject. I want to ask, if I melt this sword down and recast it into dozens of small pieces, can these small pieces still maintain the ability to kill White Walkers?"

(To be continued.)