Chapter 34: Blackfyre's Restoration Treasure (Part 1)
"I was still a squire at the time. During a hunt, my horse accidentally tripped over a branch. As a result, I fell off the horse and was injured, and I was separated from the rest of the army." Ian casually fabricated a new story.
He liked to tell stories because stories could make his image concrete in the minds of his targets, thereby conveying the message he wanted to convey to them more perfectly.
"Then I lost my way in the forest and kept wandering around in the utterly indistinguishable woods until evening. I was very scared at the time. There were many dangerous animals in that forest, and I had no strength to contend with them at night."
"Fortunately, before nightfall, a group of bandits passing by spotted me. As soon as they saw the golden lion emblem on my body, they arrested me without hesitation, wanting to exchange me for a ransom of thirty golden dragons."
"I agreed and was able to save my life with money. I was secretly happy at the time."
"But soon, through their conversation, I learned that they originally belonged to a bandit group that had been wiped out by our family. This time, they had planned to escape back to their hometown. They met me by chance, so they were ready to do this."
"They had no intention of letting you go after getting the ransom," Denzel understood what Ian meant. To return home and stay alive would be to wait for revenge.
"Yes, so that night, I told the robber guarding me to let me go, and I would give him more." Ian nodded.
"He believed you would give him money instead of going back and hanging him?"
"He's here." Ian reached out and tapped Rohr's breastplate next to him.
"This Ser?" Denzel and Ser Grantham looked horrified at the same time.
Rohr was also stunned for a moment, but given his 'Old Dog' experience, he did not show his surprise.
"They are not knights; they are just my attendants." Ian pointed at Rohr. "And this was the robber who was responsible for guarding me at that time. He was very strong, very powerful, so he wasn't willing to run around with other people. I went home to work as a farmer with the robber. He offered me a price—one hundred gold dragons—and said he'd let me go after he got the money."
"I agreed, and then he attacked the other four robbers at night and killed them all. I was astonished and, without hesitation, extended an invitation to him to serve as my squire."
"How can you trust a man who betrayed his companions?" Ser Grantham frowned.
"What did he betray his companions for?" Ian asked with a smile.
"Money."
"Whose money?"
Ser Grantham choked suddenly.
"One hundred gold dragons is almost three times my ransom, so from then on, I regarded three as my lucky number. Anyone who works for me, I pay them three times the remuneration. And I will also tell them, if anyone wants them to betray me, they must tell me immediately, because my offer is still three times the other party's."
This was the method Tyrion used against Bronn. Ian personally felt it was very good and even doubled down on it.
"I have no problem. Let's follow your terms. Half of the reward will be paid first, and the other half will be paid one month later." Grantham lowered his head to express his formal surrender.
Denzel took a deep breath, and then forced out a smile: "Um, Ser Lucion, do you still need an attendant?"
(☉д☉)
"Hey, isn't it? Why are you looking at me like that?" Denzel looked at Ser Grantham's reaction and couldn't help but laugh. "Don't you think it's better to be a squire for Ser Lucion? Are there many ways to make money as a mercenary here?"
"I just didn't expect you to be like this," Grantham frowned, unable to think of a suitable adjective for a while.
"If you perform well enough in the next mission, I will consider your suggestion. After all, I have recently had the idea of canonizing Mister 'Old Dog' as a knight. By then, my attendant position will have a vacancy." Ian drew another tempting picture.
"You will never find a better sword than mine," Denzel suddenly smiled.
Every mercenary would say this, Ian cursed inwardly.
Looking at this scene, Grantham suddenly had a strange idea. It would be great if he hadn't become a knight, so that he could serve as a squire to Ser Lucion.
Thinking of this, he decided to interrupt the topic and asked aloud: "After talking so much, you still haven't told us what the mission is?"
"Don't worry, once Martha convinces Black Falcon, I will assign tasks to you all."
"Black Falcon? Are you here for the ghosts of White Walled City?" Denzel asked without thinking.
"Oh? Is this Black Falcon really the person behind the White Walled City robbers?" Ian suddenly became interested.
"That's not true," Denzel shook his head. "Black Falcon is also looking for the whereabouts of this band of thieves."
"Also? Then why doesn't he cooperate with the alliance of local wealthy knights?"
"They had cooperated for a long time, but several important joint operations failed. Then they accused each other of being spies among the other party's people, and they parted ways," Denzel explained.
"I can understand why those wealthy knights continued to suppress bandits after we parted ways. Black Falcon is a mercenary leader, so why would he continue to look for that bandit group? It can't be to clear his own suspicions, right? That's too childish, isn't it?"
"You don't know?" Ser Grantham asked doubtfully.
"Know what?" Ian was equally confused.
Grantham was stunned for a moment but did not answer immediately. Instead, Denzel said impatiently: "Blackfyre's national treasure of restoration! We thought you were here for this."
"What the hell?" Damn it? Blackfyre's Restoration Treasure? Ian was stunned for a moment, and then asked urgently, "Speak more clearly."
"Haha," Denzel laughed awkwardly. "Actually, I'm not particularly sure. My mercenaries only joined their first operation. At that time, we were very well prepared. Ser Wilder and Black Falcon together gathered nearly five hundred people to wipe out the bandits in White Walled City in one fell swoop, but when we rushed to their camp, we found nothing and couldn't even find a shadow."
"So you were under suspicion?"
"Yes, Ser Wilder and the others suspected that there was a mole in the team, so they removed all of us temporary mercenaries from the ranks of suppressing bandits. Of course, after dismissing us, they still couldn't find the other party's shadow, so they themselves also started fighting among themselves."
"Then they searched separately, but still couldn't find them, so a theory spread everywhere that this bandit group was the ghost of the Blackfyre Legion. They had to take the initiative to attack us. It was impossible for us to take the initiative to find them."
"The ghost of the Blackfyre Legion," Ian twitched. "I can understand 'ghost,' but is it so connected to the Blackfyre Legion? Where did the news of the Blackfyre Treasure come from? Is it just because these bandits are in White Walled City?"
The White Walled City was once the home fort of the Barthey family, located on the east coast of the God's Eye Lake, between the God's Eye Lake and the Kingsroad.
The former White Walled City was called the Milk House because its walls, fortresses, and towers were all made of high-quality white stones. These stones were mined from the valley and transported over the mountains and ridges to the shores of the God's Eye Lake.
According to the description in The Mystery Knight, the floors and pillars in the White Walled City are made of milky white marble with natural golden lines on the surface. The beams of the houses inside are all carved from bone-white weirwood tree trunks.
This castle was somewhat dreamy.
But why say "once"?
Because the White Walled City had been destroyed, destroyed by the Second Blackfyre Rebellion that was as childish as a child's game.