At this moment, the last scholar representative sent by Nahalo, a white-haired old man named Marion, said tremblingly, "Your Highness... no, Your Majesty. This is a miracle. The 'three-headed dragon king' recorded in ancient texts was not a legend after all..."
"From now on, there is no Nahalo," Viserys said, looking at them. "You need to swear fealty to me. Are you willing?"
"We are willing." Marion wept tears of joy. "To witness the miracle of Valyria with my own eyes, I would have no regrets even if I died right now."
The others did not dare to question him. Aside from the legendary "three-headed dragon king," the black giant dragon glaring fiercely beside them was enough to shake their minds, and they all chose to pledge allegiance.
A banquet was held that night. The feast was simple because the castle's food reserves were low. But the atmosphere was exceptionally lively, and because of the various divine occurrences, everyone now held Viserys in even higher regard.
Viserys sat in the main seat, and Ghidorah coiled on a high platform beside him. Its three heads took turns feeding. Originally, it did not need to eat, but it was still far from reaching that state now.
"It is growing," Ser Arthur whispered from the side.
"Yes, what do you think we need now?" Viserys asked.
"Time, Your Majesty. Dragons need time to grow."
"Exactly. Time is what we need most right now."
After the banquet, Viserys gathered his core personnel.
That night, in the Castle Council Hall.
Five people sat on either side of the long table: Ser Arthur, Ser Elissar, two other knights who had come from Westeros to pledge allegiance to Viserys, and the old scholar Marion.
"How many places in Valyria have you not searched yet?" Viserys asked.
Marion unfolded a yellowed map, which Nahalo had previously given to Viserys. "Your Majesty, please look. This is the 'Hall of a Thousand Pillars,' the former headquarters of the Mage Guild. The underground treasury should be well preserved. This is where the House Valezys castle is located; this family is said to be one of the top-ranking Dragonlord Families."
"There are also the 'Star Courtyard' and the 'Furnace Canyon'... However, these places likely contain many mutated magical creatures and other dangers." Marion smiled bitterly. "Over the past three hundred years, our family has lost at least several thousand people trying to explore these areas."
Viserys turned his head to look at Ghidorah beside him.
"It doesn't matter. We have a Dragon now, and we can directly sweep aside any danger we encounter." This wasn't Viserys being arrogant; when he absorbed energy before, he sensed the entire Valyrian Peninsula and found no life fluctuations stronger than Blackflame. Furthermore, Ghidorah also stated that Blackflame is currently the strongest being on the peninsula.
Thus, the plan was set.
The exploration lasted two weeks.
With Blackflame performing aerial reconnaissance and deterrence, the ground teams encountered almost no real danger. Most of the mutated magical creatures, upon sensing the Dragon's coercion, chose to hide rather than attack. The occasional monster foolish enough to charge out was instantly incinerated by Blackflame's Dragon Fire.
They explored seven relatively intact ruins and castles.
The haul far exceeded everyone's imagination.
On the fifth day, they discovered a cache of valyrian steel weapons in a partially collapsed palace, including twelve longswords and four sets of armor. These weapons and armor still emitted a faint, rippling glow in the darkness, proving their magical properties.
On the seventh day, they found a well-preserved study. Most of the books were relatively intact. Viserys briefly examined these texts and confirmed they contained Valyrian magical knowledge, architectural technology, and the complete forging methods for valyrian steel weapons.
On the tenth day, the biggest discovery arrived.
It was inside the House Valezys castle.
When Viserys led Ghidorah and several soldiers into the castle basement, they were stunned by the sight before them.
In the roughly two-hundred-square-meter space, dozens of weapon racks were neatly arranged. Everything on them was a valyrian steel weapon: longswords, battle axes, spears, bows and crossbows, and even complete sets of full plate armor. These weapons were extremely well preserved, looking as if they had been placed there just yesterday.
The final tally was astonishing: forty-eight valyrian steel longswords, twenty-two daggers, fifteen battle axes, eight spears, seven sets of full plate armor, twelve breastplates, and a surprising quantity of magical gems.
These treasures were carefully packaged and transported in batches by Blackflame back to Satheryn Castle. With every batch returned, the morale inside the castle rose higher.
At a castle ruin near the beach, they also found a Valyrian Steel Greatsword. The blade exhibited a unique texture of deep gray with dark red ripples, and the hilt was carved with an exquisite lion's head ornament.
Beside this sword, lying on the steps, was a skeleton clad in armor.
The armor itself was severely corroded, but its style and decoration were still discernible. It was typical Westerosi style plate armor, and a lion sigil was faintly visible on the breastplate. The helmet beside it also featured a lion ornament.
"Lannister Family. Then this greatsword must be 'lightbringer,'" Viserys murmured.
So this skeleton belonged to Tommen Lannister II, a King of the Rock who died while exploring the ruins of Valyria.
Ser Elissar leaned closer. "Your Majesty, I recall that Lannister Family once possessed a Valyrian Steel Greatsword called 'lightbringer,' but it was lost before the War of Conquest. So it was here."
Viserys nodded. He swung lightbringer, carving a dark red trajectory in the air. "This sword now belongs to the Targaryen family. All of Valyria's legacy shall be inherited by me."
Although Viserys could swing the greatsword one-handed, it was still too long for him. If he had the height of The Mountain, he would consider replacing both of his current swords with greatswords.
He remembered that in the original work, Tywin had continuously tried to buy valyrian steel swords from impoverished houses but failed. If he were to openly sell this sword to him, would it deepen the conflict between Lannister Family and the Baratheon family? That was something worth planning.
After the exploration concluded, everyone gathered in the Castle Great Hall.
Treasure filled half the hall, but everyone's eyes were focused on Viserys.
"Gentlemen," Viserys began, his voice echoing in the hall. "Over the past two weeks, you have personally explored Valyria. And Valyria's legacy is richer than anyone imagined. But more importantly, you are about to witness another miracle: the effects of the Doom of Valyria are about to recede."
He walked to the window and pointed toward the surging Smoking Sea in the distance.
"Ghidorah's emergence consumed the polluting energy that had accumulated on this land for hundreds of years. Based on my estimations, the Smoking Sea will calm down in three years at most. Within five years, this place will once again become habitable."
Murmurs arose throughout the hall.
"Therefore, I have decided," Viserys turned, his gaze sweeping over everyone, "to rebuild our homeland on the Valyrian Peninsula. Not as an exile regime, nor as a sanctuary, but as a true nation. A brand new Valyrian Empire."
Silence. Followed by an explosion of cheers.
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