Pentos, this bustling Free City, had fallen into deathly silence beneath the roar of the dragon.
On the terrace, Magister Illyrio Mopatis was slumped in his lounge chair.
His obese body was like melting butter, and his shrewd little eyes held only pure terror.
Viserys Targaryen looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his body rigid.
Half of him was filled with a fear that could tear his soul apart.
The other half was consumed by an ecstasy that could incinerate his reason!
His lips moved, but no sound came out.
He merely stared entranced at the mythical beast in the sky, a creature thought to be extinct.
Only Daenerys stood in the gale, letting the turbulent sea breeze whip her silver hair and dress.
Tears had long blurred her vision.
But the figure in her eyes became clearer and clearer.
It was him.
Her Prince, her King, her destined Prince.
The oracle had come true.
With a soft whistle from Lynn, Winter, circling above the city, let out a low roar as if in farewell.
With a beat of its wings, its massive body vanished into the clouds, speeding away toward the sea, quickly disappearing from sight.
The terrifying dragon aura that could freeze souls dissipated with it.
Only then did the screams and cries of survivors belatedly erupt on the streets of Pentos.
On the terrace, however, a strange silence descended.
"Now,"
Lynn turned around, calmly picking up the goblet from the table.
"I believe we have a basis for trust."
Viserys jolted awake from his petrified state.
He stumbled over to Lynn, gripping Lynn's arm tightly with both hands.
"A dragon... a three-headed dragon!"
His voice was excited, yet filled with a sense of unreality.
"It's true... it really is a dragon!"
He looked up, near-manic flames burning in his pale violet eyes, staring dead at Lynn.
"Will it fight for me?"
"Will it burn the heads of those usurpers to ashes?"
Lynn's gaze swept over Viserys's hands clutching his arm, but he said nothing.
Viserys let go as if electrocuted, a hint of awkwardness on his face.
"A single dragon cannot win a war, King Viserys."
Lynn's voice was calm, yet it instantly doused half the fire of hope Viserys had just ignited.
"You need an army."
"An army..."
Viserys's face fell, and he muttered to himself.
"That damned Horse Lord, he deceived me... those savages..."
He remembered how, to trade for the Dothraki army, he had been willing to send his own sister to that savage's bed.
But in the end, he received only humiliation.
The Horse Lord didn't fancy Daenerys at all.
"Dothraki?"
The corner of Lynn's mouth curled in disdain.
"Just a bunch of wild children playing with mud on horseback."
This sentence instantly poked at Viserys's sore spot, giving him a morbid sense of pleasure.
"I can give you a true army."
Lynn glanced at Daenerys as he spoke.
"A true army?"
Magister Illyrio finally recovered from his extreme terror.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with a silk handkerchief and panting heavily, he interjected.
"The Golden Company? Their price is not cheap..."
"The Golden Company?"
Lynn laughed.
"A bunch of sellswords who would betray their masters at any time for gold?"
"No."
Lynn held up a finger.
"I give you an army of one hundred thousand."
"One hundred thousand?!"
Viserys and Illyrio exclaimed in unison.
This number was enough to make any lord in Westeros lose sleep!
"Where? Who are they?"
Viserys's breathing became incredibly rapid.
"They are the Free Folk, the fiercest warriors north of the Wall."
Lynn's tone was as flat as if he were discussing a trivial matter.
"They do not fight for money; they fight only for their King-Beyond-the-Wall."
"Wildlings?"
Viserys frowned, a look of disgust on his face.
"A bunch of blood-drinking savages..."
"Savages, yes."
Lynn didn't deny it.
"Savages who charge into battle riding mammoths."
"Savages who have giants over four meters tall in their ranks, capable of smashing open your castle gates with their fists."
Every sentence Lynn spoke painted a bloody and powerful picture in Viserys's mind.
Those images made his blood boil!
"Now, they have a new King."
Lynn looked at him, speaking word by word.
"Me, the new King-Beyond-the-Wall."
"And I am willing to let them fight for you."
Viserys's mind exploded with a boom!
He seemed to see it already.
Countless giants roaring as they tore open the gates of King's Landing, mammoths like mountains crushing the armies of House Lannister and Baratheon into meat paste!
The Iron Throne belonging to the Targaryens was within reach!
"Yes! Yes! That's it!"
A morbid flush appeared on Viserys's face, and he waved his arms frantically.
"I need them! I need this army of monsters!"
"I will tear the usurpers' guts out of their bellies!"
"A hundred thousand mouths..."
Illyrio's merchant instincts allowed him to calm down quickly, calculation written all over his fat face.
"Providing supplies for them... the expense..."
"That is where you come in, Magister."
Lynn turned his gaze to him.
"Your fleet, your connections, and your mountains of Gold Dragons that are about to mold."
"Think about it, what kind of investment is this?"
"Behind the Targaryen restoration stands a three-headed dragon and an army of a hundred thousand."
Lynn's voice carried a captivating magic.
"This merit is enough to make you the most trusted friend of the King of the Seven Kingdoms."
"This return would move even the Iron Bank of Braavos."
Illyrio's small eyes hidden behind fat lit up instantly.
The risk was enormous.
But the return... was the entire continent of Westeros!
"Illyrio! Give it to him!"
"Give him whatever he wants!"
Viserys had completely lost his reason.
He grabbed Illyrio's silk robe, shaking him frantically.
"Ships! Gold! Women!"
"Give it all to him! I want my throne!!"
Lynn watched this comical scene with no ripple in his heart.
"Good."
He clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
"It seems we have reached a consensus."
"My army, your wealth, the Targaryen banner."
He paused, enjoying the pleasure of the imminent victory fruit.
Then, his gaze slowly landed on Daenerys.
That gaze carried a sense of possession.
Under that gaze, Daenerys's body trembled involuntarily, and a faint pink layer dyed her pale cheeks.
"Of course."
Lynn's voice rang out again.
"For such a significant alliance, to ensure our mutual interests are bound together forever, we need a stronger bond."
"Yes, yes! A bond!"
Viserys, immersed in the ecstasy of becoming King, agreed without thinking.
Lynn smiled.
"I shall marry your sister."
The moment the words fell, Viserys's face showed ecstatic joy.
"Is it really that simple?"
"I agree!"
"I can let Daenerys marry you!"