Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 40: Both Sides of the Narrow Sea
Jon was sitting in his room doing nothing when he learned that his father was appointed Hand of the King. He was so happy for his father when he heard the news, but he couldn't find anyone else to share his joy.

Jon's half-brothers and half-sisters were busy accompanying the prince and princess. Besides, they must have known it earlier than he did. They might have cheered for their father on the spot when he was appointed.

Jon regretted not being there.

Not long afterward, Uncle Benjen found him and took him to the heart tree in the godswood.

When they arrived, their father, Robb, Bran, Maester Luwin, and even Lady Stark were all at the heart tree.

His father, Lord Eddard, was praying, his expression solemn and heavy.

Robb perked up.

Bran's face was full of anticipation.

Maester Luwin pursed his lips in a serious tone and remained silent.

Mrs. Stark was sad.

Uncle Benjen led Jon to stand silently beside Master Luwin, without saying a word.

"You all should know that His Majesty the King trusts me and appointed me as the new Hand of the King. When the King's visit to Winterfell is over, I will follow the King south."

The Lord of Winterfell spoke, his tone was serious and calm, and he did not seem happy about it.

"Caitlin. You will be running the North for me while I am away south."

"Robb. You will learn how to rule from your mother when I go south."

"Bran. You, Sansa, and Arya will be traveling south with me."

"Master Luwin, when I go south, please give my wife advice on matters both big and small, and teach my children what they must know."

"Don't forget, winter is coming."

The four people who were called responded one after another.

Lord Ed asked them to leave first.

Maester Luwin, Bran, and Robb walked past Jon and nodded to him.

Lady Stark never looked at Jon.

After they left.

Lord Eddard looked at Jon.

His father's gaze seemed to penetrate his soul. "Jon, I heard that you intend to put on black clothes and join the Night's Watch?"

Unknown to Jon, his father had meant to ask him later. There were still a full two weeks before the king left for the south, and Eddard had wanted to let him enjoy the time until the time was right to talk to him.

But during breakfast, Ed caught a glimpse of him sitting alone in the corner. That lonely look hurt Ed's heart.

Lord Eddard then realized that Jon could not be in a good mood during the time when the king was here. There were many things going on recently, so he had no time to care about Jon's mood.

So while many matters were being arranged as planned last night, Jon's wishes were also asked.

Jon answered his father seriously and excitedly: "Yes, father."

The light in Jon's eyes when he answered made Lord Eddard feel bitter. The boy had become anxious about his identity during the few days since the king's visit, and the Night's Watch had undoubtedly given him a new sense of belonging.

[Promise me, Ned, promise me.] Eddard seemed to be able to hear her dying whispers in his ears.

"Brother, Jon is only fourteen years old." Benjen Stark couldn't help but say, "He's just a child."

"Uncle Benjen," Jon called to his uncle, and continued to speak to his father. "I am almost a man, father." He knew his father would agree. He would.

"Have you thought it through?" the father asked again.

"Yes," Jon replied briefly but firmly.

"." Benjen looked at his brother, the Duke of Winterfell, and said nothing more.

"You must be Robert's Hand. You must go south in person to get to the bottom of this." Lord Eddard seemed to hear Catelyn's words last night.

Eddard had not intended to accept Robert's commission, but no one around him supported him, especially after Master Luwin brought the horrifying secret letter last night - the letter was from Lysa of the Arryn family, written in a secret language that only Catelyn could decipher. The letter said that "Jon Arryn was murdered by the queen."

Afterwards, Catelyn and Master Luwin analyzed the pros and cons for Eddard and urged him to go south to become the Hand of the King.

Ed had a fear of the South, as his father had only been to the South once in his life, responding to the king's call, and never returned.

But Ed had already drunk the bitter cup.

Eddard's children all have their own arrangements, except Jon. Eddard cannot take him to King's Landing, and he knows that if he stays in Winterfell, Catelyn will never be able to love him as much as she does.

"Well then," Lord Eddard replied solemnly to his child, "All right."

The questions and answers between the father and son were brief and solemn. They looked at each other deeply, and everything was said without words.

The Shenmu Forest fell silent for a moment.

After a while, Eddard spoke to Benjen: "Benjen, my dear brother, then Jon is in your hands." The fact was set, and Benjen had no choice but to answer: "Brother, don't worry, I will take good care of him."

When Jon and Uncle Benjen left the Godswood, he couldn't help but look back. He saw his father praying alone in front of the heart tree in the Godswood. For some reason, Jon felt that his father's back looked tired and sad.

After leaving the Shenmu Forest, Uncle Ban Yang asked him, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jon asked. "When do we leave?"

"We have to wait until the king leaves," Uncle Ben Yang patted his shoulder, "There are still two weeks left. If you have anything you want to do or someone you want to see, do it now. You won't have the chance after we get to the Great Wall."

"Hmm." Jon suddenly thought of a lot of things he needed to do before going to the Wall, but he couldn't make sense of them for a while.

"Jon, before you go to the Wall, don't leave any regrets." Benjen thought Jon didn't understand what this meant, so he said it again seriously, "Just do whatever you want to do. If you need help, you can ask me for help. Even if I can't do it, you can ask your father."

Uncle Benjen's expression was serious and earnest, and Jon felt something in his heart and suddenly thought of something.

Ban Yang saw his expression and knew that he had something to ask: "Oh, do you really need help with something? Tell me."

But this idea seems a bit out of place.

He hesitated: "Nothing."

Uncle Benjen looked him in the eye. "Jon?"

"." He still said it, "I want to see the sea."

"See the sea?" You can see the sea by looking at the East Sea, but Ban Yang would not say it at this time.

"I've never seen the sea," Jon told his uncle, "but I've been dreaming about it lately. Hmm, does the Night's Watch at Eastwatch look out to the sea?"

"That's different." Uncle Benjen said, "You will be trained at Castle Black when you come with me to the Wall. I don't know how long it will take for you to have a chance to go to Eastwatch by the Sea." Uncle Benjen began to give Jon advice, "The sea is close to Deepwood Motte, so you can see it, but it's hard to go to Wolfswood." The king planned to hunt in Wolfswood, which was convenient, but the bastard had no chance to participate in the hunt. "Carhor is too far away, and Roose Bolton and I can't get along in the Dreadfort. How about this, when the king's team sets off, we will follow the team for a while, and I will take you to White Harbor, which is the largest city in the North and the largest port. The sea water there will never freeze no matter how cold it is. Otherwise, the frozen sea surface will be no different from the snowy plains."

If they could follow the king's team southward for a while, they would be able to leave later. Jon thanked his uncle with great joy: "Thank you, Uncle Benjen."

Uncle Ban Yang rubbed his head with his hand: "How do you say thank you to uncle?"

Jon chuckled.

-

The large merchant ship, the Sedulion, was moored at the end of the pier, while the rowing boats, the Summer Sun and the Joking Yoso, were anchored outside the flood barrier.

The southeast wind not only failed to speed up the journey, but instead made the merchant ships take longer to reach Myr.

Myr is located on the western coast of Essos, protected by a large and peaceful bay, the Myr Sea.

This land has a very long history, but the history of a free trade city-state has always been difficult to explain in a short period of time.

Now we come to Myr. If you are interested in the situation, you only need to know that the three city-states of Myr, Lys, and Volantis formed an alliance more than a hundred years ago, named the Kingdom of the Three Daughters. However, this Kingdom of the Three Daughters, which combined the strength of the three states, only lasted for about 30 years before internal strife broke out and began to disintegrate. The three states are now independent, plus Tyrosh, which has a unique geographical location. The four city-states attacked and hostile each other for trade routes and the ownership of disputed lands by land. Over the past few decades, the commercial city-state version of the Four Kingdoms has been staged many times, until today.

The commercial dispute between Tyrosh and Lys that I had heard about from Illyrio was just a repetition of history. They were both trying to form an alliance with Myr, and Myr was inclined to form an alliance with the relatively weak Lys to fight against the relatively strong Tyrosh.

But these actually have little to do with Viserys. He just came to this city to explore the market under the pretext of borrowing money.

Myr Port is one of the largest ports among the nine free trade cities.

The sky was still overcast and there was drizzling rain, but the pier was still colorful, bustling with people and a mixture of flavors.

The dock area is a big market, with transactions going on day and night. As soon as the Saiduliong entered the port, a speedboat approached and loudly asked in various languages ​​whether porters were needed. After receiving the reply that no porters were needed, the speedboat left in dismay and turned to other merchant ships.

Illyrio's caravan has its own way.

Grole told Viserys that the cargo they brought this time was spices, wine, and some keel bones and gems.

Pentos' spices, especially saffron and pepper, are world-famous, and the light amber wine produced by agriculture is also in great demand. The keel is for Viserys, and if he doesn't want it, he will give it to the captain to sell along the way. It is difficult to sort out the ownership of this part, and Illyrio has told Grolai to keep a separate account.

When the ship stopped at the port, Grolai had already disembarked to find the local spice guild, merchant alliance, brotherhood and wine merchants. Their spices and wine would be exchanged as much as possible in Myr for local handicrafts, such as carpets and lace. Myr has the best lenses and telescopes, as well as carpets, screens, mirrors, lace and glass panes that can be sold at the same price as oriental spices. Even stiletto heels are produced here.

Viserys was in no hurry to get off the ship; he was writing something in his room.

Speaking of which, Mill owned the financial industry and even had financial institutions such as banks that provide savings and loans.

But open bank loans were something Viserys hardly had to consider; he had nothing to mortgage.

During their exile in the Free Cities, Viserys and Daenerys spent some time in Myr, their first stop after being driven out of Braavos.

Viserys knew that the real power in Myr was collectively ruled by a council of governors, who were mainly local wealthy businessmen and nobles. If he wanted to borrow money, he had to know how to find those wealthy businessmen and nobles to negotiate privately.

Viserys knew exactly what to do.

Traditionally, if one wanted to pay a sudden visit to these powerful figures, one would go to their door and present a visiting card, then find a place to wait and see which powerful figure would respond and send someone to invite them.

Viserys had done this many times in the past in order to seek shelter. Of course, that was just a nice way of saying it, but in reality he was just begging from door to door.

Illyrio had made careful arrangements and had prepared a number of blank visiting cards on gilded paper for Viserys, waiting for him to write on them.

While Viserys was writing the visiting card, Daenerys quietly stood by his side, helping him put the card into a special cloth bag. The maid Arnie was preparing clean clothes for staying in the inn, and Jorah and Butch were waiting outside the door as guards. They were all ready to enter the city.

(End of this chapter)