I Became the Mother of Dragons

     "Defamation?" Dany became intrigued and inquired, "Perhaps what the Ghiscari people say holds some truth. I've heard tales that the Mother of Dragons is not only ten feet tall but also possesses a ten-foot waist, employing sorcery to completely steal a man's soul. They depict her as a monster."

"Perhaps." The Volantis resident shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe that woman is a monster, but the Ghiscari are not as noble and upright as they portray in their performances."

"Nobles and wealthy merchants resent the Mother of Dragons due to maritime trade. You don't seem to be a noble, yet you harbor no fondness for her. Why?" Dany asked curiously.

"She's a madwoman. How can there be a world without slaves? I don't want my current life to be disrupted." The Volantis resident with golden locks expressed.

"We in Braavos live without slaves and have now surpassed Volantis as the leading of the Nine Free Cities. And, forgive my bluntness, the new commoners in Slaver's Bay may not have lives worse than yours.

The Mother of Dragons allocates 15 acres of cultivated land for each emancipated slave, with a fixed land tax of 10%. She also provides interest-free loans for purchasing farming cattle and engaging in small businesses. Everyone becomes a property owner."

The performance of the Ghiscari troupe, "Five Eagles Fighting the Dragonmother," genuinely stirred Dany's emotions. At this moment, she may have been a bit too impassioned, leading her to reveal more than intended.

As expected, the golden-haired resident became suspicious, took a step back, and said warily, "Who are you? How do you know so much?"

"New Ghis people, Qartheen know about it."

Barristan interjected in a calm tone, "When we returned from the Jade Sea and passed by New Ghis, there was a 'Dragon Slaying Assembly' taking place there. You're familiar with alliances, the United Nations, and the Dragon Slaying Assembly? Volantis was also represented and held a crucial role in the joint gathering."

"I... I..." The Volantis girl blushed and admitted with embarrassment, "I'm just an ordinary peasant, unaware of the affairs of the nobility."

With that, she uttered a brief farewell and hastily departed.

"Didn't expect Ghis to be so devious," Ser Selmy murmured under his breath.

"Let's stay one more day and find out where those bastards live," Dany clenched her teeth in determination.

After walking a few dozen meters further, Kadlik on the elephant's back turned and shouted, "Guests, here we are. The Merchant's House is in front. What level of bedrooms are you planning to book? I can guide you to another section of the road."

The Merchant's House, situated on the edge of Fishmonger's Square, from north to south, boasts the finest drinks in Volantis and numerous rooms. It's a colossal structure with four floors, overseeing the surrounding warehouses, taverns, and brothels. The side facing the street is 300 meters wide, featuring five gates, each corresponding to a guest room of different levels.

"Above average is fine," Barristan called out to the blond coachman, then explained to Dany in a hushed voice, "The highest VIP room is a private courtyard, serene and quiet, but you won't hear much."

Dany nodded, agreeing with his decision.

Two minutes later, the elephant stopped at the middle door.

The carriage had barely come to a halt when a black-haired youth in a clean white linen skirt approached, bowed, and inquired, "Are you two guests staying at the hotel?"

Dany observed him stabbing a finger toward the door. A doorman?

Barristan descended with his backpack to talk to the boy. Dany saw Kadlik holding onto the elephant and not departing. Instead, he gazed at her with a hopeful expression and asked with a smile, "Want a tip?"

Realizing he was caught, the horse-faced man felt a bit embarrassed and mumbled, "Before you arrived, the master told me you were a generous guest and gave Aunt Kelly a Gold Honor reward, so..."

"If I give you money, won't your master take it?" Dany inquired.

"Maybe Master will reward me with a roast chicken and a bottle of sour wine," he said expectantly.

"Okay, for your roast chicken and wine," Dany nodded, took off her backpack, and retrieved a handful of Copper Pennies.

"Find something to put it on," she instructed the astonished young man.

"Oh..." Kadlik was initially a bit disappointed, but upon reflection, the money wasn't his, and the fare was only a dozen Copper Pennies. They received more than ten times that amount in reward money, so not much was lost.

Happily, he walked over, adjusting the linen around his waist. "You can just put it here!"

"Crash-bang, haha…" Sprinkling two new Copper Pennies into his pocket, the blond boy said in succession, "Thank you miss for the kind offering."

Seeing this, the nearby guys became more and more attentive towards Barristan.

"The first floor is the lobby, the rooms facing the street are noisy, and the second floor in the backyard is the most spacious and comfortable," he explained.

"Two connected upper houses, facing the street. We want to see the night view of Volantis."

"Okay."

"And our horses..."

As he spoke, Kadlik swiftly unfastened the reins for the trainer Hathay.

"Next!" Dany threw two more copper plates. "This is for you. Go to the square to buy a fish steak and a dime of wine."

"Miss, you are a kind woman with a good heart!"

Entering the public lounge area of the Merchant's House, the cacophony of merchants and travelers assailed her senses along with the warmth of torches and bonfires, mingling with the scents of ale, barbecue, sweat, and prostitute powders.

Under the chandelier-adorned ceiling, there were seventy or eighty oak round tables, devoid of partitions, and most were occupied.

Crew members and passengers shared drinks with prostitutes, merchants whispered about business in corners, and rice merchants readying for shipment stood on tables, loudly advertising their Yi Ti black rice to the surrounding merchants.

Buyers beat gongs, traversing the halls, calling out for iron ingots in unlimited quantities.

Bank representatives with rotund bellies occupied their designated spots, loudly discussing and depreciating the value of borrowers' collateral.

Female slaves with wine bottles and dining table tattoos on their faces moved between the tables, serving drinks and meals, and clearing away empty plates, glasses, and jugs.

As Dany walked a few steps into the hall, she realized it was more extensive than she had anticipated. The entire first floor of the mouth-shaped giant building was a restaurant, with the courtyard in the middle paved with stone and adorned with numerous grape trellises, a rockery with pavilions, and a stage. Greystone columns supported the roof, and there were no walls on the sides of the four halls facing the courtyard.

Guests stood in the courtyard with their jugs, watching the performance on the stage.

Dany and Barristan secured a seat in the cloister and, after ordering food and drinks, turned their attention to the stage on the rockery.

Dany's expression darkened midway through the performance.

The story narrated the tale of two Ghis individuals, Shella and Seaman's father and daughter. The plot seemed to mirror Yang Bailao and Xi'er, the characters from the West, the Hill, and the Stinking Insect. Seaman, diligent and capable, and Shella, pure and kind, lived a simple yet happy life in Yunkai Manor. The narrative took a tragic turn when the Mother of Dragons, portrayed as arrogant and merciless, seized their land, burned their house, and subjected them to unimaginable hardships.

The Ghis Maiden sang with a melodic voice: "I lived in the city of Yunkai, with a house and a farm, leading a happy life. Who knew the Mother of Dragons, arrogant and ruthless, contrary to all morals, seized my home and confiscated my land, my mother tried to resist but she was doused with Dragonflame, my father yelled and hollered at her for deceiving good people, but he was imprisoned in the pyramid and subjected a hundred times with her."

"Puchi…" A guest in the corridor of the west hall spit out his drink, laughing heartily. "I want to try such a good thing, a hundred times, a hundred times, hahaha. These Ghis people are so talented, coming up with such a sly move."

"Hey, he's been through a hundred times. Why isn't the father dead?" A drunkard in the courtyard shouted towards the middle-aged man next to the Maiden.

"Noble strength allows him to survive," the middle-aged man responded.

"Oh, noble, are you a noble?"

"My grandfather is a Wise Master, inheriting a legacy from thousands of years ago!" the Ghis man sang.

The Ghis girl continued: "Fire for clothes, blood for soup, the Mother of Dragons burnt my village, fifty thousand peasants hanged on stakes..."

The crime of burning the Great Plains of Ghis and killing fifty thousand slaves was also attributed to the Mother of Dragons.

"I'm going to kill those bastards."

"My lord, you may be angry, but you must endure! One day, the world will understand the truth." Whitebeard gently restrained Dany's clenched fist.

Dany shook her head with a stern face and harshly whispered. "I don't care if they distort the truth because history is destined to be written by me. But it's clear that those Ghis copied me."

When she watched "Five Eagles Fighting Dragonmother" in the square earlier, she hadn't realized it, but now, watching "Shella and Seaman's" with such obvious plagiarism marks, Dany instantly woke up to the fact that her own policies were being researched and propagated by Ghis People.

The people from this world can also be deceitful!

"Uh, well, this…" Barristan grimaced, "How about hiring some bards to spread your message—"

"It's too contrived!" Another guest in the West Hall pounded the thick oak wine table, causing cups and plates to crash and bang. "Hey, you all on the stage, can you make it more convincing? The Mother of Dragons has liberated Meereen and Yunkai. Why would she burn her own manor? Not to mention, she's been freeing slaves. Even the dumbest lord in Westeros wouldn't kill farmers for no reason. If the farmers are dead, who will farm for her?"

The mention of Westeros acted like a magnet, immediately drawing the attention of Dany and Barristan.

Sitting at a table were three individuals: a dwarf with a missing nose, a middle-aged man with a stern square face, and a third person who only had their back visible.

"Seven Hells, Tyrion!" Barristan exclaimed quietly.

"Who?"

"It's the Imp, Tywin Lannister's son, Tyrion Lannister."

"Why is he here?" Dany and Barristan exchanged glances, and Dany smiled as she asked, "Could he recognize you?"

Ser Selmy stroked his beard, shook his head, and said, "The Imp is very clever, and he's spent many a year in King's Landing. I'm not certain I could avoid him."

Dany cast a sidelong glance at the second male protagonist of "Game of Thrones," with stubby legs, a deformed and twisted body, and a disproportionately large head. It couldn't be denied that he had a certain charm in his own way.

But the truth was that he was quite ugly, with a face that seemed out of proportion, a missing nose, pitch-black nostrils, a protruding forehead, and a mouth adorned with brown and golden strands of a patchy beard. He looked a bit like Zhu Bajie from Chinese folklore.

"Well, I'm not sure anyone looks more disheveled than him," Dany mused.