Chapter 17: Lamentation
King's Landing
POV od Domeric Bolton
The first thing he noticed upon reaching King's Landing was the horrible stench.
Didn't the king mind the smell at all? Or didn't he go outside of the Red Keep anymore? Even if the king didn't care about his people, he should care about his comfort and luxury, right? After all, he didn't have to do the job himself, he just needed to delegate someone. And it would be done in no time.
The second thing was the tiny amount of ambient magic in the air. But it was understandable.
Braavos and Pentos didn't have a lot of ambient magic either. And he found that the further he went away from the North and from the Weirwood trees, the lesser amount of magic there was in the air.
This also meant that he had to be more conservative with his magic as his magic was restored at a slower pace because of that.
He'll have to deal with the lack of Weirwood trees in the South sooner or later. When he found a way to carve faces on the trees and turn them into Heartwood trees which allowed them to connect with the magic currents running through the world.
That fucking Andals! If they didn't cut down most of the weirwood trees in southern Westeros, he wouldn't have to be in this pathetic situation. At least they couldn't conquer the North six thousand years ago, or he would be more fucked right now.
Yeah, he didn't like the Andals and their religion, the Faith of the Seven. What a surprise.
The third thing that he noticed upon entering King's Landing was the large amount of corruption within the Gold Cloaks.
The fourth thing was the hundreds upon thousands of poor people and orphan children running around in the street with clear signs of malnutrition and lack of hygiene. He really didn't expect King's Landing to be somewhere like this. After all, it was the capital of the realm. He expected to see a more advanced city but alas it didn't reach even near that.
At least now he knew where to pick up people from in case he wanted to increase the population within his own lands.
After settling his men in a tavern and giving them some silver stags to enjoy themselves, he went to the middle of the Dragon Pit where he could start his search.
"Point me, Valyrian Steel Sword." He said and his wand pointed in the air turned downward until it was pointing underground, and he instantly understood that the sword that he was searching for was most likely buried underground.
Which was probably the reason why no one ever found out where it was.
"Accio Valyrian Steel Sword." He chanted while pointing down at the floor and the ground shook for a moment before a sword covered in filth and soot tore through the ground and flew toward him.
He ducked in the last second and the sword flew in the other direction until it clanged on the wall of the Dragon Pit before falling to the floor.
He gazed at the Weirwood wand he was using and found it crumbling to dust as the excess magic broke it down to the cellular level. He let out a sigh and wiped his hand off the dust before taking out another wand from the bottomless bag he had created before coming to the south.
"Tergeo." He mumbled while pointing the new wand at the sword and a second later, all the dirt was wiped off the Valyrian sword and it looked as good as new.
He picked up the sword and the description matched.
He had finally found the Valyrian Steel sword named Lamentation belonging to House Royce which was lost in the 'Storming of the Dragonpit' 160 years ago.
Now he only needed to reforge it, add a pummel with a lion's head, and sell it to Tywin and he'll get all the miners that he wanted.
To other people, Valyrian swords might be invaluable. But to him, it was just an expensive piece of metal. Nothing else. For now, at least.
He could sense some magic from Valyrian weapons and that intrigued him. But he already had two Valyrian steel daggers he stole… cough… he took from Iron Bank.
That means he didn't need more weapons made from Valyrian steel. At least till he could solve the mystery and see what was so special about them. And he could always make a visit to Lannisters and steal… cough… take back the sword, right?
'So, where should I go next?'
He came to King's Landing with a purpose in his mind. He needed some information about people that he could use against them when the time came. And made some profits as well. He needed a lot of things such as miners, crafters, literate people, resources, and many more. And with information and opportunities in the King's Landing, he can get what he wants. At least some of them.
'Who would have more information about the realm? King? Definitely not. Then should I visit someone from the small council? Maybe maester of the Red Keep? Perhaps, King's Hand?'
Domeric thought while walking toward to tavern where his men staying.
'Why not to make a visit to Master of Coin? He must be well-informed about the realm, and he definitely knew where the gold coins of the realm were kept. Two birds with one stone, right? Decided then. I will visit Petyr Baelish tonight."
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