Yes, I will proceed as quickly as possible according to your previous plan.
First, exchange some valuable treasures for some Dragon blood.
After all, they are strays who fled Westeros, although they are well-fed and cared for by the Governors of Pentos on a daily basis.
But in reality, he and the uncrowned queen are short on funds and should not refuse this transaction.
As for the blood from Daemon Targaryen, I estimate we can only use force.
Your Majesty the Sea King, this depends on when you are finished using Daemon.
Hearing this, Garcia immediately nodded and then said that he had already made preparations.
Hmm, Daemon cannot be moved for now.
You go collect the Dragon blood first!
If he refuses the alliance, or if he has no further use, I will inform you to take action.
Toss heard this, pondered for a moment, and issued orders to Garcia.
As you command!
Your Majesty the Sea King, is there anything else you need me to do?
Seeing Garcia first nod in acceptance of the order, and then continue to ask.
As Toss heard this and opened his mouth to continue speaking, he suddenly closed his eyes, lowered his head, and then seemed to fall asleep while standing.
"Your Majesty the Sea King! Your Majesty the Sea King?"
Following Garcia's calls, Toss struggled to open his eyes again,
He patted his head with his right hand and said, "It's nothing, the original will of this body is affecting me."
Even though I selected the most suitable body through the screening method I left behind, the blood ritual still has significant drawbacks.
Alas, if I had been able to snatch that life gem in Asshai back then, I wouldn't have needed to go through the trouble of changing bodies for these past few hundred years.
I heard that life gem was obtained by a Red Priest from the Temple of the Lord of Light.
Uh, I've strayed too far. What was I just about to say?
After a brief moment of thought, Toss suddenly clapped his hands and continued, "That's right, I remember."
Garcia, remember to notify Montella.
Have him send envoys from the Iron Bank to King's Landing to gather all intelligence on the Red Keep in King's Landing under the pretext of lending.
Remember, it's all intelligence.
Even trivial matters like when the Red Keep's waste is transported by carriage must be recorded in detail for me.
As for the funds, they will be disbursed from my personal vault.
"As you command, I will go find Lord Montella now."
Swish!
Daemon was originally hidden, crouching on the secret passage stairs, quietly eavesdropping.
But suddenly hearing Garcia walking towards his location, he immediately turned to leave.
However, compared to before, the sound of his footsteps was noticeably louder.
And Garcia and Toss had also completed the blood ritual by this point, their attention much more focused than before.
"Who?"
Garcia was the first to react, his ears twitching a few times like a gambling god listening to dice in his previous life,
Then he charged directly towards the secret passage stairs at his fastest speed, and while running, he also let out a loud shout, hoping to affect the eavesdropper.
As for Toss, he quickly chanted a spell in valyrian, then raised his hand and forced the previously absorbed blood out of his body, forming an arrow about the thickness of a thumb, made purely of blood.
Whoosh!
The speed of this blood magic was naturally far superior to Garcia's.
A flash of blood-red light was seen, and the blood arrow easily pierced the thick wall of the passage, shooting directly forward towards where Daemon was predicted to be.
A sudden sense of alarm rose in the heart of Daemon, who was taking off running, and the hairs on his body stood up in an instinctive reaction.
Clang!
He instinctively drew dark sister, then blocked horizontally near his head with a backhand.
Hiss!
Accompanied by a soft sound, the blood-red arrow shot out very abruptly from the thick wall.
However, it was clear that the blood-red arrow, which was the thickness of a thumb, was now only about the thickness of a little finger.
It must have consumed some blood in the process of penetrating the wall.
Clatter!
The blood-red arrow struck the blade of dark sister, and due to the magic-breaking property of Valyrian Steel, it turned back into a puddle of blood scattered around.
At such close range, Daemon's clothes were naturally inevitably stained.
But he had no time to worry about that now and fled directly into the secret passage behind him without looking back.
Since Daemon's speed was too fast and Garcia was relatively far away.
So before escaping the secret passage, Daemon specifically turned his head to take a look and confirmed that no one was following.
A few minutes later, Garcia, who had returned empty-handed, came back to the underground temple hall,
And knelt before Toss, who was waiting for him, saying, "It is my negligence to let the enemy sneak into the temple and escape successfully. Please punish me severely, Your Majesty the Sea King!"
"This is not your fault, after all, your attention was focused on ensuring my ritual proceeded smoothly."
I have just completed the ritual and have not yet reorganized Braavos, so let's not cause too much of a stir for now.
However, the guards on duty around the temple today... bring them here along with their families!"
Hearing Garcia's reply, Toss waved his hand indifferently and replied.
In the long centuries he had lived, there were occasionally unexpected situations when performing blood rituals.
But as long as it was in Braavos, it was just a minor inconvenience for someone with such immense power.
However, with the decline of magic over the past few hundred years, his extraordinary power had also become weaker and weaker.
Moreover, the times were constantly changing, and the various forces in Braavos were now intricate and complex.
"As you command, Your Majesty the Sea King!"
Garcia nodded respectfully in response, and then continued to ask,
"So the enemy who infiltrated the temple is just being let go?
Your Majesty the Sea King, blood magic is listed as one of the darkest magics in Essos.
What if he spreads what he saw here..."
"Garcia, you don't need to worry about whether blood magic is evil.
After all, even the gods may descend again. In this era of great conflict, where opportunity and crisis coexist, having sufficient power is the most fundamental thing!
Besides, I only said not to cause a big stir, not that I would just let that rat go..."
...
After Daemon snuck back to his room, he cleaned the clothes he was wearing and dark sister, which was also stained with blood.
He then calmly stayed in his room to rest.
As the saying goes, skill makes one bold. He was very confident that his whereabouts just now had not been exposed.
About half an hour later, Garcia came to visit with several beautiful maids under the pretext of bringing a late-night snack.
Daemon knew the other party's intention but pretended to be completely unaware and chatted with Garcia for a while.
Garcia was indeed unable to determine if Daemon was the previous infiltrator, and after more than ten minutes, he left Daemon's residence and went to the next room.
Early the next morning, Daemon learned of the death of Herman Zaneos.
As for the cause of death...
'The Wicked Dragon' Jacaerys Targaryen, unable to defeat Braavos on the battlefield, secretly dispatched assassins from Westeros to assassinate the Sea King.
But the assassins, due to lack of information, did not know that the position of Sea King had just been transferred today, so it was considered a mistaken killing.
Isn't this cause of death absurd enough!
But the nobles and commoners of the entire Braavos accepted it without hesitation, clamoring to avenge the old Sea King.
The entire Braavos was completely immersed in an atmosphere of shared animosity.
Of course, none of this affected Daemon.
Zaneos Palace was hurriedly handling Herman's funeral, while Daemon leisurely enjoyed his lavish breakfast.
It was only during the enjoyment of breakfast that uninvited guests arrived.
Wearing Toss's face and name, the actual new Sea King, who was Herman's successor, slowly walked forward with Garcia,
Smiling, he said, "Prince Daemon, what a coincidence.
This is our second meeting, so we shouldn't be considered strangers.
I wonder if I might have the honor of joining you for breakfast?"
Daemon didn't know who this Toss really was, but he knew the other party definitely had something to say.
Even if he refused him, he would definitely find other ways to coincidentally meet him later.
"I am a guest, not the host.
So I have no right to refuse you.
However, I prefer quiet. Please don't speak while you enjoy breakfast."
"Heh heh, naturally."
Hearing this, Toss chuckled, then completely disregarded what Daemon had just said and spoke directly,
"Lord Herman is dead, and I am now fully responsible for the alliance matter.
So, Prince Daemon, may I ask what you have decided?"
"Regarding the alliance, I carefully considered it all night.
I believe we both have common enemies, so, I agree!"
Daemon smiled slightly and said he agreed to the alliance.
After all, openly speaking, his visit to Braavos this time was to agree to the alliance.
After witnessing the events in the underground temple, he now only wanted to return to Pentos quietly.
So, listen as he continued to speak,
"However, I still need to consult with my cousin, the uncrowned queen, for her opinion.
Furthermore, I hope you will prioritize the release of my cousin's Dragon, 'The Red Queen' Meleys, when the time comes."
"Naturally!
If we formally ally, we will do everything in our power to rescue the uncrowned queen's Dragon.
Garcia, bring the celebratory wine I prepared!"
Hearing Daemon's agreement, Toss immediately nodded repeatedly, and finally, with a smiling face, ordered Garcia behind him.
Hearing this, Garcia opened a bottle of wine he had been holding and brought two goblets, pouring them more than halfway full with fine wine.
Daemon looked at the golden wine swirling in the goblet and fell silent.
Toss seemed to understand Daemon's meaning. He reached out, picked up a glass of wine, and said to Daemon, "This is a special golden wine from the Arbor in Westeros.
It was a gift given to the great-great-great-great-great grandfather of the Sea King when the Redwyne fleet visited Braavos.
Prince Daemon, let me taste this wine for you to see if it's aged properly."
As soon as he finished speaking, Toss drained the golden wine in the glass in one gulp.
After drinking, he motioned for Garcia to refill a glass of wine before handing it to Daemon.
Clink!
Seeing this, Daemon took the goblet filled more than halfway with fine wine, clinked it with Toss, and then took a shallow sip.
After Toss once again drained the fine wine in his glass, he said, "Prince Daemon is truly cautious. Are you worried that I poisoned the wine!"
Hearing Toss's words, Daemon replied with a smile, "Heh heh, well then, Your Majesty the Sea King, did you poison the wine?"
"Certainly not!"
After hearing this, Daemon opened his mouth to respond.
But Toss quickly continued, "But there is poison on my lips."
After admitting that there was poison on his lips, Toss looked at Daemon with a half-smile, waiting for his reaction.
But Daemon was very calm and showed no sign of panic.
He just heard him ask, "Your Majesty the Sea King, stop joking.
And even if you were going to poison me, there should at least be a reason, right?"
"The blood arrow is very lethal, but what's more potent is that as soon as it touches someone, it's like real-time tracking for me.
Last night, through Garcia, I confirmed that the person secretly eavesdropping was you!"
As Toss spoke in a low voice, the poison in Daemon seemed to begin to take effect. He immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded, and was a little unsteady on his feet.
"Caraxes!!!!"
Daemon bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, forcing himself to keep going with the intense pain, and then let out a roar that echoed through the banquet hall of Zaneos Palace.
"Heh heh, I wasn't finished speaking. The reason I came to find you today was to feed your Dragon something poisoned in advance.
And to make it further away from you.
No matter how loudly you shout, it won't hear you!"
Indeed, except for Jacaerys, this Dragonrider with a 'golden finger'.
Other Dragonriders in this world cannot control Dragons through mental connection.
But some top-tier magical creatures like Dragons can establish a relatively weak telepathic connection with their masters.
In the TV series of his previous life, when Daemon learned of the death of Viserys I and threatened the two White Knights stationed on Dragonstone.
Caraxes, without needing him to speak a command, very cooperatively stepped forward to pressure the two White Knights.
From these details, it can be seen that his relationship with Caraxes is the latter kind mentioned.
There is a weak telepathic connection between the two.
Swish!
Rustle!
As if sensing Daemon's call, Caraxes, who was lazily resting in a certain abandoned courtyard, suddenly opened his blood-red vertical pupils.
Then, its massive body stood up directly and looked towards the direction of Zaneos Palace.
In fact, Caraxes had already been fed several cattle and sheep carrying potent poison today.
But for Dragons, neither their own magic resistance nor their terrifyingly powerful digestive ability paid any heed to the potent poison.
After all, they are made of blood and fire.
Thump thump!
After roughly determining the location, Caraxes propped itself on the ground using its forelimbs connected to its wings as support points, and began preparing to flap its wings and take off.
Swish swish swish!
This abandoned courtyard was surrounded by guards. They became very nervous from the moment Caraxes stood up,
Now seeing it start to move, they immediately began drawing their bows and shooting at it.
However, these arrows, which couldn't even tickle it, could only make clinking sounds on Caraxes's scales.
Thwack!
An arrow, shot by who knows which guard, happened to hit the Dragon eye area of Caraxes.
Although it didn't penetrate the eyelid defense of Caraxes's Dragon eye, it did cause it a slight pain.
Whoosh!
Before the guard who hit the Dragon eye could rejoice, he saw a sky full of magnificent and dazzling golden-red flames spewing towards him.
Caraxes's golden-red Dragonflame was a gas-liquid mixture, just like napalm bombs from his previous life.
The golden-red Dragonflame initially had high-temperature impact damage, and then after hitting the target, it would splash in a small area and adhere to the surface of objects, causing secondary damage.
Bang!
Splat!
The guards standing on one side of the abandoned courtyard were directly burned into charred corpses by this stream of golden-red Dragonflame.
The high-temperature impact splashed outwards, causing secondary damage to the other guards in the vicinity.
Whoosh!
That arrow just now completely enraged Caraxes. A large burst of golden-red flames continuously spewed from its wide-open Dragon mouth,
As its head moved, this abandoned courtyard instantly turned into a sea of fire.
Ah!!!
The fiercely burning Dragonflame illuminated the night sky in this area.
Thump thump!
After dealing with the troublesome insects around it, Caraxes's massive Dragon body crashed through various sculptures in the abandoned courtyard all the way, taking off directly and flying rapidly towards Daemon's location.
Although Caraxes was a bit further away than before, a distance of only a few kilometers was nothing at all for a Dragon.
Crash!
Over in the banquet hall, Garcia saw that Daemon's poison had taken effect and stepped forward, sword in hand, to restrain him.
Suddenly, the roof was easily destroyed by Caraxes, and its ferocious Dragon head violently plunged inside. (End of Chapter)