"Forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight. Lynd shot forty-eight pirates, all through the eye and skull. Anguy shot eleven pirates, two through the skull, seven through the neck, and two through the chest. Just like the previous two times, Lynd won, and this time, it was a big win!"
As the sailors cleared the dead pirates from the longship and distinguished the number of pirates killed by Lynd and Anguy based on the arrows' ownership, everyone on all the merchant ships cheered.
Although the surrounding wind and rain were loud, the cheers of the crowd could still be clearly heard on every ship.
This was already the third pirate attack the fleet had encountered. Just like the previous two pirate attacks, most of the pirates' ships were dealt with by Lynd and Anguy, the two master archers, before they could even approach the fleet. Even if the remaining pirates rushed forward, they all eventually died under the siege of the sailors and mercenaries.
Lynd and Anguy, who had contributed greatly to the attacks, naturally received much attention. Their archery competition became a well-known event among the fleet, and everyone was full of admiration for their archery skills.
In the previous two pirate attacks, the difference between Lynd and Anguy was not very significant, only a gap of two or three. But this time, during the pirate attack, the sea was raging with strong winds and turbulent waves, and the ships were constantly pitching and rolling, increasing the difficulty by more than a little.
Anguy was clearly greatly affected, ultimately only shooting eleven pirates, a significant drop from his previous standard. Lynd, on the other hand, maintained his previous standard, even becoming more precise, directly taking down nearly fifty pirates, and all fatal wounds were the same: through the eye and skull.
Many people thought that if such powerful archery appeared on the battlefield, Lynd would definitely become a grim reaper-like existence, and thus their eyes when looking at Lynd held an added sense of awe.
This fleet was unlucky, encountering three pirate attacks during one voyage. Each time there were four or five ships, and dozens to hundreds of people. According to past practice, at least one ship would have been captured by now. But because of the roles of Lynd and Anguy, all three attacks were surprisingly safe, with only a few unlucky sailors dying at the hands of the pirates. Most of the others only suffered minor injuries, which was a great fortune in misfortune.
On the seventh day after leaving Pentos, the fleet Lynd was on had sailed to the outer sea of Braavos. Standing on the deck, everyone could clearly see the Titan of Braavos standing in the distance on the sea. Although the distance was far, the people on the ship could still feel the sense of oppression.
As the ships gradually approached, the people on board gradually saw the full appearance of the Titan.
This enormous stone giant had its feet connected to two steep, mountain-like islands on either side, its spread legs forming an archway, and its upper body was the figure of a warrior holding a short sword aloft.
The strait formed by the Titan's feet was the connection between Braavos's outer lake and the outer sea, and also Braavos's only entrance and exit. Any ship could only enter Braavos through this entrance and exit. On the island just inside the Titan, there was a huge combat fortress and a fleet shipyard, where Braavos's garrison and fleet were stationed. With their protection, almost no one could invade Braavos from here.
Before the Miracle Fleet appeared, Braavos's fleet was considered the strongest warship fleet in the Narrow Sea, but now that title seemed to be yielding.
This was not only because the Miracle Fleet had the Sea Dragon Glutton assisting, but more importantly, the warships of the Miracle Fleet were also powerful enough.
The naval battle in the Stepstones had spread through various methods to the port cities on both sides of the Narrow Sea. Braavos naturally attached great importance to this matter and specifically collected all available intelligence.
Although in this battle, the Glutton did indeed attack Tyrosh's fleet, its attack only accelerated the rout of Tyrosh's fleet and had little impact on the overall battle situation, especially on the pirate alliance side. The Three Sea Monster Alliance's fleet coordinated with each other, dividing and devouring all pirate ships. The entire battle process was incredibly perfect; even the fleet commanders of Braavos had to admit that even if they led Braavos's fleet, it would probably not be possible to do it so perfectly.
Although the strait at the foot of the Titan was large enough for three to four ocean-going merchant ships to pass through side-by-side, the current here was turbulent. To safely pass through this strait without being pushed onto the rocks on either side or colliding with other ships, the helmsman needed to have excellent skills.
Fortunately, the captain of the merchant ship Lynd was on was an old hand and easily passed through the strait. However, a merchant ship following behind was not so lucky and was directly pushed by the current into a collision with an oncoming ship preparing to leave Braavos. The good fortune in misfortune was that it only created a gap in the hull, and with simple repairs, the ship could continue to sail.
After entering the inner lake, the ship bypassed some islands densely built with houses and sailed along the outer lake waters to the vicinity of the Cobblestone Quays on the west side of Braavos. Then, under the guidance of a dock pilot boat, it docked behind several other merchant ships, awaiting inspection by customs officials.
Customs inspection only checked the cargo on board and was not interested in the people on the ship. So, shortly after the ship docked, some local passenger boats came alongside.
Lynd took the remaining commission from the ship owner and, with Anguy, boarded a passenger boat, arriving at the nearby Ragman's Harbor.
The berths at Ragman's Harbor were all occupied by foreign merchant ships; some ships couldn't even find a berth and had to anchor in the water nearby, waiting for a spot to open up.
On the dock, one could see sailors, porters, and repairmen everywhere, but many were thieves and beggars. They spotted their targets and approached, begging while simultaneously pickpocketing. Noise, clamor, and curses filled the entire dock, making newcomers who had just enjoyed a peaceful voyage extremely uncomfortable.
Although Lynd and Anguy were also outsiders, their mercenary attire and the lingering killing intent on them made the people living off the dock instinctively feel that they were not to be trifled with, so they chose to avoid them and did not target them.
"What do we do next?" Anguy patted the commission at his waist, his eyes fixed on a few flashy prostitutes nearby, unable to tear them away.
Lynd ignored Anguy. He looked around. Although it was his first time in Braavos, it gave him a sense of déjà vu, because it was too similar to a famous water city he had visited in his previous life.
"It's not what we do next, it's what you do," Lynd looked at Anguy beside him, took out a specially made Chosen Gold Dragon, and handed it over, saying, "Find a place to stay yourself. When you run out of money, take this to the Miracle Merchant Guild's liaison office in Braavos. The people there will arrange your destination."
"Miracle Merchant Guild?" Anguy was stunned, looking at Lynd in surprise, and said, "Are you from Summerhall?"
Lynd did not answer and walked straight into the crowd. Anguy initially wanted to follow but gave up, then walked towards the flashy prostitutes.
Lynd no longer foolishly tried to find his own way like he did in Pentos. He directly hired a guide at the dock and asked him to lead him to a slightly more comfortable inn.
"A slightly more comfortable inn?" The Braavosi spoke fluent Valyrian, and their pronunciation was even purer than Lynd's. "How much are you willing to spend?"
As he said this, the Braavosi also sized up Lynd, estimating in his mind how much he could afford.
Lynd took out the money pouch containing the commission, shook it in front of the guide, and said, "This much, at most ten days' stay, then I'll leave."
The guide took the pouch and looked at it, quickly calculating how much money was inside. Then he picked out a few copper coins from it, put them in his own pocket, returned the rest to Lynd, and then led Lynd through several small islands covered with houses, and then walked north. After a few minutes, they arrived by a circular artificial pond.
The guide pointed to an inn composed of four three-story buildings next to the pond and said, "That's the Shrimp Head Inn, the best inn near the docks. From the inn's balcony, you can see the entire dock, and if you're lucky, you can even see ships colliding at the dock, which is much more exciting than a stage play in a theater."
"I want a quieter place; this is too noisy," Lynd looked at the bustling inn and the noisy streets around it, shaking his head.
"Quieter?" The guide thought for a moment and said, "The inns on Godsway are much quieter than here, but the price might be…"
Lynd interrupted, "It's fine, I still have some savings."
"In that case, follow me!"
After speaking, the guide led Lynd through several houses to a canal, directly had Lynd hire a small boat, and then, sitting in the boat, they traversed the city's waterways. After passing under an arch bridge, the scene before them suddenly opened up, as they had entered a canal named Hero's Canal.
On both sides of the Hero's Canal were statues of past Sea Kings. They wore bronze robes, held different objects in their hands, and all had solemn and dignified expressions, making the people on the boat feel an inexplicable sense of majesty.
After continuously passing through several arch bridges connecting different islands and urban areas, the small boat entered the waters of Godsway, the central lake in the city center.
On the islands in this water area, there were magnificent religious buildings. From the distinct features of these buildings, one could distinguish which deity's temple, shrine, sept, and so on, they belonged to.
The small boat traveled south along the edge of the street, hugging the foundation of the Red Temple. After passing under the arch bridge in front of the Moon Singer Temple, they successively saw the shrine of the Weeping Lady, the three tall towers belonging to the Three-Headed God in the distance, the main gate of the House of Black and White, and also many temples and halls of deities that Lynd couldn't even name.
After passing through the temples of a host of unfamiliar deities, Lynd saw a familiar emblem appear on the roof of a distant complex of halls: the seven-pointed star emblem of the Seven Gods.
In Braavos, the faith of the Seven Gods was also one of the mainstream beliefs. The devotion of the followers of the Seven Gods was no less than that of the Moon Singer followers.
Looking east from the island where the Sept was located, one could see the green dome of the Palace of Truth, which was the most magnificent building in all of Braavos, second only to the Sea King's Palace.
As the boat passed by the island where the Sept was located, a temple on a nearby island made Lynd's face show a surprised expression.
This temple was about the same size as the Sept. Judging from the newness of the building materials, it should have been built in the last few years. The reason this temple surprised Lynd was that the holy emblem at the top of the temple was a variation of Lynd's family crest, which was the storm god's holy emblem adapted by storm god followers based on his family crest.
Ever since the power of the Storm Dragon Rune was displayed in Lannisport that year, the faith of the storm god began to spread in the port towns along the coast of Westeros, especially in those towns suffering from the Ironborn, where it spread extremely quickly. People had already begun to build structures like temples and even erected statues of the storm god.
Because there was no unified standard, the statues of the storm god were all in different forms and appearances. The only standard was that all storm god statues wore two knightly Greatswords.
Regarding the storm god faith, Lynd's attitude had always been laissez-faire. He publicly acknowledged himself as a Chosen of the Seven and never admitted to any connection with the storm god. However, he also never prevented others from believing in the storm god. He even said nothing about building Storm God Temples in places like Miracle Port or the Stepstones, completely adopting a hands-off approach.
However, what he never expected was that so many people would believe in the storm god as far away as Braavos. The magnificence of the temple and the dense crowds on the arch bridge leading to it indicated the fervent degree of storm god worship here.
"Why do so many people here believe in the storm god?" Lynd couldn't help but ask the guide out of curiosity.
"Of course, it's to bless safe voyages!" The guide looked at the temple, made a religious gesture with his hand, and said in a deep voice, "The storm god can bless ships to sail safely in storms, so naturally, more people believe."
Lynd deliberately questioned, "Is believing in the storm god useful?"
The guide frowned, looked at Lynd unhappily, then took out a storm god holy emblem necklace from his neck and said, "A year ago, the ship I was on encountered a shipwreck in a storm. Of the sixty-seven people on board, only seven survived, and all seven were followers of the storm god. I am one of them. There are countless instances like this where the storm god protects followers from harm in storms, otherwise, the followers would not have jointly contributed money to buy this island and build the Storm God Temple." As he spoke, he said with considerable pride, "I also contributed a portion of the money for building the temple."
As he spoke, the small boat began to dock by the shore. The boat owner took a ladder and directly placed it on the stone platform by the shore, signaling Lynd and the guide to climb up. After the two were up, he removed the ladder, turned the boat around, and rowed to another place.
After getting ashore, the guide directly led Lynd to a small square near the arch bridge leading to the Storm God Temple, then brought Lynd into the lobby of an inn next to the square, saying, "Night Song Inn. This should meet your requirements: quiet and comfortable."
Lynd looked at the surrounding environment, nodded with satisfaction, then told the guide that he wanted to hire him for several consecutive days to tour Braavos, and asked him to meet him there tomorrow morning.
The guide naturally wouldn't refuse this business and readily agreed, not even asking Lynd for a deposit.
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