Chapter 139: A Hefty Price
After scanning the various trinkets on the wooden rack, Drogon still couldn't pinpoint the exact source of that strange aura. Folding his wings, he suddenly dropped straight down.
"Ah—!"
Dozens of people in the distance, who had been watching him curiously, cried out in shock at the same time.
Hearing the commotion, Daenerys looked up in confusion. The crowd around her was staring upward in alarm.
She followed their gaze.
Drogon's massive body was descending directly toward her.
Watching the shadow grow larger and closer, she didn't panic—instead, a faint smile appeared on her face.
Puff!
Just as the crowd scrambled to flee, a soft sound came from above. The enormous shadow vanished instantly.
When they looked up again—
The black dragon was gone.
Everyone blinked, glancing at the sky, then at each other.
Where had it gone? Had they imagined it?
But seeing the same confusion on everyone else's faces, they knew—
They hadn't.
The dragon had truly disappeared.
"What's that?"
Someone suddenly pointed at the wooden rack in front of Daenerys.
"This… is that a small black dragon?" someone asked hesitantly.
"Did the Dragon God… shrink?" another quickly realized what had just happened.
As soon as he said it, everyone understood.
Looking again—
Wasn't that just a miniature version of the black dragon?
No bigger than a pigeon, yet still carrying the same imposing presence… though, admittedly, a bit more adorable—something no one dared say aloud.
Seeing Drogon shrink dozens of times in an instant, whether Dothraki or foreign merchants, none had ever witnessed something so unbelievable.
Rather than looking down on him for becoming smaller, they were even more convinced of his extraordinary nature.
Such a transformation—growing and shrinking at will—was beyond their understanding of any living creature.
To the Dothraki especially, this only confirmed one thing—
Drogon was truly a god.
Only a god could possess such power.
---
Drogon paid no attention to their shock.
He was busy rummaging through the items on the rack.
After a moment, he picked out a small, brilliantly colored conch.
It was about a span long, slightly longer than an ordinary seashell. Its tip wasn't sealed, but shaped into a delicate mouthpiece.
Its surface shimmered with flowing colors, faint runes appearing and disappearing across it.
Clearly, it was no ordinary object.
Holding it, Drogon focused.
The strange aura—
It came from this shell.
If he hadn't sensed something similar from Euron a few days ago, he might never have noticed anything unusual about it.
The feeling was hard to describe—ancient, vast, almost… divine.
Turning the shell in his claws, Drogon recalled the name of this road.
Godsway.
A thought began to form.
If this shell was truly a relic of the gods… then what about the aura on Euron?
Though not identical, the two felt strikingly similar.
Did Euron carry the presence of some god as well?
His mind drifted to that strange white eye.
Could it be connected to the Old Gods worshipped by greenseers?
Back when he had encountered Bran and Jojen, he hadn't sensed anything unusual from them. They were wargs, though not greenseers—but Euron wasn't a greenseer either.
So why did he carry something they didn't?
Was it because Drogon had been weaker back then, his senses less sharp?
Or was Euron fundamentally different?
After running through several possibilities, Drogon still couldn't reach a conclusion. He set the question aside for now and looked toward Daenerys.
"Drogon, do you want this shell?"
Seeing that he had gone out of his way to shrink himself just to examine it—and was still holding onto it—Daenerys easily guessed his intention.
Drogon nodded.
Clutching the shell in his foreclaw, he flew up and landed on her shoulder.
Since everyone had already seen him shrink, there was no need to transform back just to maintain intimidation. He simply stayed in his smaller form, perched there, studying the conch closely.
Seeing the astonished looks around her when Drogon shrank just now, Daenerys realized he had never shown this ability in front of the Dothraki.
They worshipped him as the Dragon God. He surely knew that his full-grown form carried far more intimidation. Yet he had shrunk himself just to come down and take this shell—it clearly wasn't something he treated as a mere toy.
"How many coins for this shell?" Daenerys asked the still-stunned young Dothraki seller.
"T-the Dragon God liking it is my honor… no payment needed."
When Kiko first obtained the shell, he had sensed it was unusual. But no matter how he studied it, he couldn't find anything special about it.
Even so, he had been unwilling to sell it cheaply, keeping the price high—so it had never been bought.
Now that the Dragon God himself had taken a liking to it, he was overjoyed, silently praising his own judgment. Anything chosen by the Dragon God had to be extraordinary.
Kiko refused to take money, but Daenerys couldn't just accept it for free. Even if Drogon was their Dragon God, she wasn't comfortable taking something without paying.
She reached toward her waist—
Then froze.
Ever since becoming a khaleesi on the grasslands, she had always had handmaids like Jhiqui attending her. She hadn't carried money on herself in a long time.
Seeing Drogon suddenly land for the shell, she had forgotten that.
Noticing her stiffened arm, Drogon immediately understood—but pretended not to, continuing to play with the shell.
Daenerys withdrew her hand, glanced at Drogon on her shoulder, and seeing no intention of him returning it, she swallowed slightly.
Just moments ago, she had been making a grand speech atop his back—
And now she couldn't even pay for a shell.
For a queen, this was… awkward.
Forcing a smile that looked worse than crying, she was just about to thank the seller and accept it for free—
When the crowd to her left parted, and a boy of about twelve pushed his way through.
He hurried to the stall, gave Daenerys an understanding smile, then looked at Drogon.
"How many coins does the Dragon God want to give him?"
It was Aka—the boy Drogon had once saved. He had noticed Drogon earlier but hadn't dared step forward.
Just now, seeing Drogon wanting the shell, Daenerys without money, and no sign of Drogon's little pouch, he had figured out the situation and rushed over.
The surrounding crowd had also realized Daenerys wasn't carrying money. Of course, no one thought a queen could actually be poor—she ruled all of Slaver's Bay. She simply hadn't brought any with her.
Looking at the quick-witted boy, Drogon nodded and raised five claws.
Five gold coins?
Aka was surprised the small shell was worth that much, but he didn't hesitate. He took out five gleaming gold coins from his pouch and handed them to Kiko.