Inside the Sea King's Palace study, Quorro looked at the documents in his hand and reported, "The Taloris family, the Riis family, and the Gata family have all sent people to inquire about what happened at the Storm God Temple. Governor Batum also..."
"Enough! They are nominally inquiring, but in reality, they are questioning. Of course, they won't let go of such a hard-won opportunity." Ferrego interrupted Quorro's report, his face gloomy as he looked at the documents on the table. After a moment of silence, he said, "Send someone to tell the Key Holder Family and the governors that I will provide appropriate compensation."
"My Lord, you..." Quorro's expression changed slightly, wanting to persuade him of something, but Ferrego raised his hand, signaling him not to say more.
The massive surge in faith caused by his surveillance of the Storm God Temple would undoubtedly greatly increase the influence of various temples and shrines, and also enhance their overall strength. This was not good for the trade governors and Key Holder Family in the city.
With this rise and fall, the power of the trade governors and Key Holder Family in the city would inevitably be significantly affected.
They naturally wouldn't direct their dissatisfaction towards the various temples and shrines on Godsway at this moment, nor would they do anything to the Storm God Temple, the other party involved in this surge of faith. After all, storm god Priest Liza was already a recognized Chosen of God, and acting against her would definitely enrage the rapidly increasing storm god followers.
Therefore, the trade governors and Key Holder Family could only vent their dissatisfaction on the Sea King, who was the source of the incident.
Although they couldn't directly question the Sea King, they could cooperate with each other to send him a series of inquiry letters, surrounding Ferrego with these 'soft knives,' repeatedly harassing the Sea King. Yet, the Sea King couldn't say anything and, according to the rules, had to reply to each of these governors and Key Holder Family.
In the end, he could only choose to lose money to avert disaster, giving up a portion of his interests in exchange for putting the matter behind him.
At this moment, he also began to regret buying that magic armor, but his regret did not last long before it turned into resentment, resentment towards Lynd, who had yet to appear.
Just as the Sea King resented Lynd for not appearing obediently before him, the object of his resentment was leisurely sitting outside a tavern by the Moon Pool, south of the Sea King's Palace, listening to a bard by the Moon Pool serenade the visiting courtesans, Flower Moon and Night Shadow.
The Moon Pool was the focal point of the Sweetwater Canal. A waterway guided fresh water into the fountain sculpture in the Moon Pool, and the gushing fresh water gathered to form a large freshwater pond around it.
The pond was connected to the city's waterways, and nobles would take small boats to dock here and go to the Iron Bank in the north for business, so normally, many small boats could be seen docked around here.
However, today, the small docks around the Moon Pool were all empty, with no small boats, only two flower boats specifically for Braavos courtesans, moored there.
These two boats belonged to Braavos's most sought-after courtesans, Night Shadow and Flower Moon, which was why a large number of bards, warriors, and ordinary onlookers gathered around the Moon Pool.
In Braavos, courtesans were a special class of people. They were not prostitutes but a symbol of status, like a crown on a king's head. Besides possessing extraordinary beauty, each of them was also well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge, understood various forms of music and poetry, and possessed exquisite Water Dancer sword skills, making them arguably the closest to perfect women.
Their daily activities usually involved accompanying Braavos's powerful figures to various banquets. If they met someone they liked, they would also spend a night with him, but if they didn't want to spend the night with a guest, the guest could not force them, even if that guest was the Sea King of Braavos.
Due to the courtesans' superb negotiation skills and their own knowledge, the Sea King of Braavos often appointed courtesans as deputy envoys for diplomacy, sending them to various countries and city-states around the world to participate in various diplomatic affairs, which also spread the fame of Braavos's courtesans throughout the world.
In Braavos, not many people were qualified to become courtesans, fewer than fifty in total. Among these courtesans, besides a few outsiders, most came from four courtesan families. The current Night Shadow and Flower Moon came from two of these families.
The reason why these two most renowned courtesans of Braavos appeared at the Moon Pool was mainly to recruit musicians for the Moon Singer's Redemption Day a few days later.
Moon Singer's Redemption Day was an important festival for the people of Braavos, second only to the Mask Anniversary. This festival celebrated the Moon Singer who guided the slaves fleeing Valyria to Braavos, a place of refuge, that year.
Because of this, all parties in Braavos attached great importance to this festival. The Moon Singer Temple directly found the two courtesans in the city with the most musical appreciation ability to specifically select festival musicians.
Thus, all the musicians in the city gathered by the Moon Pool, one by one presenting their most exquisite skills and voices to the two courtesans on the flower boats.
Among the participating musicians, there were not only locals from Braavos but also more musicians from all over the world. For them, this was a good opportunity to gain fame. As long as they could become festival musicians at the Moon Singer's Redemption Day, they would become world-renowned, becoming honored guests at the banquets of kings, lords, and nobles, no longer cooped up in small taverns begging for tips like a commoner.
The person currently performing seemed to be a Westeros native. He was using a small war drum, typically used for military commands, to beat out a rhythm and sing the Godsworn's song by Lynd. Clearly, he was merely trying to gain more attention by exploiting the recent events in the city related to the Godsworn, using a clever trick.
Unfortunately, he overdid it a bit. His self-created drumbeat was not suitable for the melodious music of the Godsworn's song. He was stopped by both courtesans as soon as he started playing, and the surrounding crowd booed.
Then, a local Braavos singer took the stage. She also sang the Godsworn's song, with the same idea as the Westeros musician.
However, she did not use any instruments but sang directly with her voice.
The moment she began to sing, everyone by the Moon Pool fell silent. Everyone listened to this famous song from Westeros until the last lyric ended. The crowd remained immersed in her singing until someone applauded, and suddenly the entire Moon Pool was enveloped in applause.
Lynd, sitting on the nearby tavern's balcony, also stood up at this moment and applauded the singer. He had to admit that it was the best Godsworn's song he had ever heard, incredibly similar to the version he heard in his previous life.
Night Shadow stepped out of her flower boat cabin and said to the singer on stage, "Belli of the Oros family, your voice is still so beautiful. I hope to hear you sing at the festival."
Flower Moon, on the adjacent flower boat, said nothing but had a servant deliver a gem to the singer and invited her to her residence for a rendezvous that night.
Because of this female singer named Belli, who displayed an astonishing voice, the bards and musicians who subsequently took the stage all seemed mediocre. To describe the surrounding atmosphere as drowsy would not be an exaggeration, until a musician from Miracle Port took the stage, and everyone's spirits lifted slightly.
The reason for this reaction was not because this musician was famous, but because the instrument he used was not a traditional instrument. It was an instrument called a violin, reportedly created by the Divine Chosen One Linde Terra.
It was well known that Lynd was a musical master. The Godsworn's song he composed had been sung for many years and remained popular, almost a mandatory piece at every grand banquet. So, when the violin appeared in Summerhall, this new instrument quickly spread throughout the world with merchant ships.
Many musicians tried to learn how to use this instrument, but they could never play any music, only producing unpleasant, harsh sounds. So, they all believed that the instrument Lynd created was a failure.
Now, seeing someone confidently take the stage with a violin, those who knew something about the violin thought that perhaps the person had found the correct way to play it, and they all perked up their ears to listen.
The person found a chair, sat on the stage, held the violin between his legs, then placed the bow on the strings and began to play.
As soon as the first note was drawn, everyone expressed disappointment, because the sound produced was simply too unpleasant, making people feel itchy all over.
"Enough! Get off the stage!" Someone immediately couldn't help but shout loudly.
Even a musician directly threw the wine glass in his hand at the musician, shouting, "This instrument is trash! Only brainless idiots would use such a trash instrument."
Hearing this person's evaluation, the surrounding crowd expressed their agreement, and the musician stood on stage, his face flushed with embarrassment.
Lynd, sitting on the tavern balcony, heard the shouts from below and couldn't help but frown, a displeased expression on his face.
If it was just an evaluation of the musician, Lynd wouldn't be displeased, after all, the musician's performance was indeed garbage, using the violin like a cello, but they shouldn't criticize the instrument, because this instrument was specially made by him for Nameria.
On the way back to the castle after a banquet, Nameria casually mentioned that Lynd hadn't written any new songs in a long time. She wanted to hear Lynd's new song on her birthday, and it had to be a song based on the Stepstones naval battle.
Lynd naturally wouldn't refuse his wife's request. He quickly chose one of the most famous songs about sailing naval battles from his previous life and even brought the violin from his previous life to this world for this purpose, playing it once specifically for Nameria.
Originally, he only intended this instrument and that song as Nameria's birthday gift and had no intention of spreading it. However, an official who came to the castle, in order to curry favor with Lynd, actively promoted the violin, spreading this brand new instrument throughout the world through the Miracle Merchant Guild, which led to the current scene.
Since the appearance of the violin involved Nameria, Lynd naturally did not want to see it slandered like this. So, he jumped directly from the tavern balcony onto the street, pushed aside the crowd blocking his way, and walked towards the performance stage.
Lynd came to the Moon Pool today intending to sit for a while and then go see the Sea King to end this trip to Braavos, so he did not disguise himself in any way and was wearing traditional Westeros noble attire.
When Lynd took the stage, the people around couldn't help but look at this ordinary-looking Westeros man with an equally unremarkable appearance. They didn't know why they felt a mysterious attraction from him that made them involuntarily quiet down and watch his next moves. Thus, the previously noisy Moon Pool instantly fell silent, and the two courtesans in the flower boats also stood at the bow, curiously looking at the performance stage.
"The violin is not used like that." Lynd walked in front of the musician, reached out and took the violin from his hand, looked at it, and said, "It's the standard Miracle Merchant Guild violin, well-maintained."
After speaking, he motioned for the musician to stand aside, moved the chair, then stood in the middle of the performance stage, adjusted the strings, confirmed the pitch, placed the violin under his neck, and put the bow on the strings.
The musicians in the crowd were all amazed to see Lynd's posture while using the violin, as they had never imagined such a strange way of playing.
As the first note burst from the violin, the classic piece from his previous life, "Pirates of the Caribbean," entered the ears of the public in the Ice and Fire World.
Everyone, upon hearing the first exhilarating section of music, fell into a strange hallucination, as if they were in a tumultuous storm, with the heavens and earth raging, countless warships rising and falling with the waves ahead, warriors shouting and fighting on the decks. An unprecedented sense of heat spread throughout their bodies, making them want to fight, to shout.
When the piece ended, everyone was still immersed in the excitement brought by the music, unable to calm down for a long time, until Lynd returned the violin to the musician. Only then did the crowd awaken, and cheers instantly spread throughout the entire Moon Pool. Everyone fell into a state of frenzy, even the two courtesans, known for their composure and elegance, cried out excitedly, as if no other way could vent the fervor in their hearts.
The musician from Miracle Port was also incredibly excited at this moment, because he had never imagined that this instrument could play such passionate music. The main reason he took the violin to the stage was to prove to people that the instrument Lynd made was not as useless as people said. And now it was proven that this instrument was not only not useless, but it far surpassed the feelings brought by other instruments.
At this moment, he suddenly thought that if anyone in this world knew the most about how to use this instrument, and who could play such passionate music, it would be no one else but the instrument's creator, Divine Chosen One Linde Terra.
The musician, realizing this, was about to turn around to look for Lynd, but Lynd had already disappeared into the crowd.
At this moment, the excited courtesan Flower Moon also seemed to have thought of something. She tightly covered her mouth, seemingly trying to swallow the words that had reached her throat. In the end, she couldn't help but shout loudly, "Linde Terra, the person who just played was the Divine Chosen One Linde Terra!"
As her shout was heard by others, everyone else also came to their senses, realizing that Linde Terra, who had caused a stir in Braavos during this time and whom the Sea King had searched for many days without success, had just played such an unusual and astonishing piece of music openly and without reservation in front of them.
Such a legendary story happening right before their eyes, and being witnessed by them, instantly reignited everyone's recently subsided enthusiasm. One by one, they all cheered Lynd's name, and this sound gradually spread from the Moon Pool to other places.
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