Sailing south from Braavos this season meant going against the ocean currents, but with a tailwind, the ship didn't move particularly fast, taking a full nine days to return to Pentos.
Upon returning to Pentos, Lynd had originally planned to immediately depart for Kohor, but an unexpected event made him change his mind and temporarily stay in Pentos for a few days.
This unexpected event was that in a few days, someone would be selling a batch of extremely rare Longwing Dragon Eggs in Pentos.
As early as when Lynd read about Longwing Dragons in Moroa's book, an idea formed in his mind: to acquire a batch of Longwing Dragon Eggs to hatch, to see if he could domesticate Longwing Dragons, and then form a Longwing Dragon Rider team.
Although Longwing Dragons cannot breathe fire like true dragons, and their offensive power is inferior to true dragons, they can fly and are strong enough to carry people, which is already sufficient.
Because in his vision, Longwing Dragon Riders would not directly engage in ground combat; they would serve as the army's scouts and also as assault troops during sieges, for example, dropping large amounts of Wildfire directly from the air into castles protected by high walls or built on natural strongholds.
However, to his regret, he had never been able to acquire Longwing Dragon Eggs, because Longwing Dragons are very dangerous and inhabit the continent of Sothoryos. According to records, these beasts are also communal, and Longwing Dragon Eggs are strictly protected by Longwing Dragon groups. To obtain Longwing Dragon Eggs, one needs to face an entire Longwing Dragon family, the difficulty of which is naturally imaginable.
It is worth noting that in the famous book by Scholar Xiu Fu, it was mentioned that dragons might have been created by Valyria Blood Witches using blood magic and Longwing Dragons. Therefore, even if they cannot breathe fire, the combat power of Longwing Dragons is definitely far superior to ordinary beasts.
After discovering that he couldn't buy Longwing Dragon Eggs, Lynd even planned to go to the continent of Sothoryos himself when he had time, to personally acquire a batch of Longwing Dragon Eggs.
Now that someone had already acquired a batch of Longwing Dragon Eggs from the continent of Sothoryos, Lynd naturally had no need to waste that time and energy.
Since he was going to participate in the auction, money was naturally indispensable. Although Illyrio himself had money, Lynd did not intend to let Illyrio pay for it, nor did he intend to personally participate in the auction.
So he went to the Pentos branch of the Miracle Merchant Guild and had the branch manager represent the Miracle Merchant Guild in the auction.
Then he thought of something and asked the branch manager, "Do you know who acquired this batch of Longwing Dragon Eggs? If he can still acquire Longwing Dragon Eggs, we can conduct long-term trade with him."
"I imagine the other party might not want to engage in long-term trade with us," the branch manager replied. "The person who acquired this batch of Longwing Dragon Eggs is Euron Greyjoy."
"Euron Greyjoy, after being hidden for so many years, has he finally appeared?" Lynd was stunned and said in a deep voice, "Why would he suddenly come to Pentos to sell Longwing Dragon Eggs?"
"This also has something to do with us," the branch manager explained. "Euron Greyjoy attempted to smuggle through the Stepstones, was discovered by the Three Sea Monster Alliance fleet, and a conflict ensued. He sank two of our ships and killed dozens of our sailors. Later, Lady Asha, piloting the Black Wind, intercepted Euron's ship and pursued him all the way from the Stepstones to the outer sea of Pentos, sinking all three of Euron's subordinate ships. Euron's Silence also suffered heavy losses. If it weren't for the fact that they happened to dock, and Lady Asha was unwilling to break our agreement with Pentos, stopping in time, perhaps Euron would have sunk. Now the Silence's keel has cracks and cannot be repaired, requiring a new ship, which is why Euron is auctioning off the valuable Longwing Dragon Eggs."
Hearing the branch manager's explanation, Lynd couldn't help but rub his forehead. He couldn't help but wonder if he had cultivated Asha and the other Three Sea Monsters too well, to the point where they could even suppress Euron.
Although Asha and the others' ships were the best warships Lynd possessed, this did not mean that Asha and their naval combat capabilities relied solely on the strength of the ships. In overall combat power, the captain's wisdom, the crew's combat ability, the fleet's coordination ability, and so on, are all key factors that can determine the outcome of a naval battle.
The Three Sea Monsters, who have participated in various naval battles large and small for many years, are considered among the world's top in terms of naval combat capability. At least, from Asha's ability to single-handedly pursue Euron, one can see what level their naval combat capability has reached.
Lynd was also somewhat surprised by Euron's sudden appearance, because ever since the Iron Islands rebellion, Euron seemed to have disappeared and had not reappeared.
That year, Euron escaped from prison, seized a ship in Lannisport, and then disappeared at sea.
Later, there were rumors that he took advantage of Balon Greyjoy's return to the Iron Islands and the Iron Throne's supervisory fleet's withdrawal to plunder the Iron Islands, taking a large group of people and ships, and fleeing.
This incident caused Balon Greyjoy to be extremely angry, even blaming Euron for his resentment of being defeated and captured by the Iron Throne, publicly announcing an indefinite pursuit of Euron.
Later, there were reports that the Redwyne fleet from Arbor and Euron Greyjoy encountered each other in the Summer Sea near the Summer Isles, and a naval battle ensued, which ended with the Redwyne fleet losing one-third of its ships and Euron completely disappearing. Since then, there has been no news about Euron.
Because of some speculations about Euron Greyjoy in his previous life, Lynd had always paid close attention to him, so even though external rumors claimed Euron had sunk to the bottom of the sea in that battle near the Summer Isles, he still had the Miracle Merchant Guild branches scattered around the world collect information about Euron.
Over these years, some unverified information was indeed collected, such as a great pirate resembling Euron appearing in the waters south of Slaver's Bay, and rumors of Euron's Silence being seen near Valyria.
Lynd also sent people to investigate these situations, but the results were fruitless.
It now seems that Euron must have been wandering the waters of the Sothoryos continent all these years. From his ability to acquire many Longwing Dragon Eggs, it can be seen that he must have also conducted some in-depth exploration of the Sothoryos continent.
However, what Lynd couldn't understand was why Euron Greyjoy would forcibly pass through the Stepstones and get into conflict with his people.
Logically speaking, after recovering his strength, Euron should have gone to the Iron Islands to cause trouble for Balon Greyjoy. Instead, he inexplicably got into a conflict with the Stepstones fleet, was thoroughly defeated by Asha, and even his own ship was damaged beyond repair. What exactly was he after by doing this?
Although, both in his previous life and in the current world, Euron is known for his madness, madness does not mean he is brainless. He would only make such an abnormal move if the benefits he could obtain far outweighed the losses.
"Is Euron in the city now?" Lynd asked the manager.
The branch manager shook his head and said, "He disappeared on the first day he came ashore. The person in charge now is his deputy, a mute from the Summer Isles."
"Is he hiding?" Lynd frowned and asked again, "Can we find him?"
"It's difficult," the manager explained. "Many people in the city are looking for him now. It is said that besides Longwing Dragon Eggs, he also has other good things. However, those things were hidden by him before the Silence came ashore. Many people hope to find him and get those good things, but after searching for so many days, there's still no clue. Some people speculate that Euron is no longer in Pentos."
"If we can't find him, then so be it," Lynd thought for a moment and said, "Send messages to the branches and contact points of all the merchant guilds, telling them to closely monitor Euron Greyjoy's movements."
"Yes, Lord," the manager replied.
For the next few days, Lynd stayed in a house secretly purchased by the Miracle Merchant Guild in Pentos, listening to various reports from the guild every day. When needed, he would disguise himself and wander around Pentos, living a very leisurely life.
However, these past few days were somewhat unpleasant for the Archons of Pentos, because as the merchant ships returning to Pentos from Braavos docked, various events that had recently occurred in Braavos also spread to Pentos. Upon hearing these messages, almost all the Archons of Pentos made the same guess, which was that Lynd was in Pentos.
The reason for this guess was entirely because the Miracle Merchant Guild, which had originally shown no interest in Longwing Dragon Eggs, suddenly joined the auction and showed a determined attitude to acquire the Longwing Dragon Eggs. And in the entire world, there was only one person who could influence the decisions of the Miracle Merchant Guild: its hidden owner, Linde Terra.
Unbeknownst to him, Lynd's influence in the Free Trade City States had gradually grown to an unimaginable extent. He didn't even need to appear in person; just a guess was enough to make these high-ranking Archons of Pentos tremble.
At this moment, the Sea Hag, Asha Greyjoy, was leading her Hag fleet to patrol the outer sea of Pentos, appearing to be blocking Euron Greyjoy, but no one knew what she was actually there for. Moreover, some people had seen Lynd's Sea Dragon Glutton appear in the outer sea, which made people even more uneasy.
Among the Archons of Pentos, those who were originally interested in Longwing Dragon Eggs also began to give up their decision to compete for the Longwing Dragon Eggs, because in their opinion, it was unnecessary to offend Lynd for something that could only be used as an ornamental object, especially since Lynd's threat was very real.
The auction proceeded as scheduled, and there were no surprises throughout the process. In the end, the Miracle Merchant Guild acquired the Longwing Dragon Eggs at a near-reserve price. To offset the negative impact of some oppressive tactics used to successfully bid for the Longwing Dragon Eggs, the Miracle Merchant Guild offered five Seven Mystery Medicines for auction and stated that they would long-term purchase Longwing Dragon Eggs at the same price as the current auction price.
Undoubtedly, the Miracle Merchant Guild's compensation satisfied everyone. Not to mention the long-term business of the Miracle Merchant Guild continuing to purchase Longwing Dragon Eggs at high prices in the future, just those five Seven Mystery Medicines alone had made all their dissatisfaction disappear.
Numerous past examples have proven the life-saving effect of the Seven Mystery Medicine, and for these high-ranking Archons who constantly had to guard against fatal attacks from the shadows, the Seven Mystery Medicine, a life-saving item, was simply priceless.
Unfortunately, the production of Seven Mystery Medicine is very small, with no more than ten Seven Mystery Medicines released to Pentos each year. Now, five were directly put up for auction, which undoubtedly excited all the Archons. Even some Archons who had not participated in the auction rushed to the auction venue after hearing the news to participate in the bidding.
Ultimately, the five Seven Mystery Medicines were auctioned off for amounts far exceeding their normal selling price. Although the Archons who bought the Seven Mystery Medicines paid more money for them, they still felt satisfied.
After the auction ended, many people began to pay attention to the whereabouts of the Longwing Dragon Eggs purchased by the Miracle Merchant Guild, because they thought they might be able to follow these Longwing Dragon Eggs and find Linde Terra, who was hidden in the city.
As a result, they saw the Miracle Merchant Guild directly transport the Longwing Dragon Eggs from the auction house to the dock, hand them over to the Sea Hag, Asha Greyjoy, who was already waiting there, and transport them back to Summerhall territory.
When the Miracle Merchant Guild handed the Longwing Dragon Eggs to Asha, Lynd, disguised as a mercenary, had already blended into the Sphinx Academy archaeological team and left Pentos.
The Sphinx Academy archaeological team was also led by Scholar Xiu Fu, and his followers were all his students, plus servants and guards, totaling about fifty people.
This time, Scholar Xiu Fu was to excavate ancient ruins in Ge Dohe. This ancient city was built by the Loisne people and was destroyed by dragon kings during the war with Valyria. The Loisne people were forced to flee to Dorne, and eventually, the city was completely abandoned.
However, the ruins Scholar Xiu Fu was excavating were not Loisne ruins, but rather ruins left by an even older civilization. The Loisne people had merely built Ge Dohe on top of its ruins.
These ruins had been discovered a long time ago, and anything of slight value inside had been taken, leaving only some broken walls. The reason Scholar Xiu Fu was still interested in them was that he discovered a part of the ruins was still buried underground, and that part should be well-preserved and have research value. So, a long time ago, he had already applied to the academy for funding to excavate the ruins.
However, for such a long time, the academy had always rejected his application on the grounds of insufficient funds. The reason they agreed this time was entirely because Scholar Xiu Fu's recent proposal to relocate the academy had gained strong support from the academy's scholars and academics, causing considerable trouble for the dean. But the dean could not punish Scholar Xiu Fu, so he simply found a way to send Scholar Xiu Fu away and have him return after things settled down.
Scholar Xiu Fu naturally knew the dean's thoughts. He also clearly understood the dean's affection for Pentos and knew that unless it was truly a desperate situation, the dean would never agree to move the Sphinx Academy from Pentos.
So he did not refuse the dean's method of sending him away. He simply left the subsequent matters to Illyrio, believing that with Illyrio's methods, by the time he returned to Pentos from Ge Dohe, the stubborn dean should have different ideas.
Scholar Xiu Fu did not know that Lynd had joined his team, because Lynd was disguised as a mercenary from Braavos, wearing a mask Jaqen had given him when he left Braavos.
Therefore, he also did not intend to interact with Scholar Xiu Fu, only separating directly once they reached Ge Dohe.
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