"WHERE?!" "Where is it?" "Where are the million dragons?"
The men and women who had so far been standing obediently in the crowd, and quietly enjoying this rare entertainment, were now shouting and jumping over each other as they tried to look over the shoulders of the guards who were struggling to maintain a perimeter around the party of Royals, as well as the other nobles.
"I-I see it!! I saw the new chest!!" A tall man shouted excitedly, sadly though, his enthusiasm did not last too long, "B-But wait, it's empty...why is it empty?" he asked mournfully, looking very much devastated by the news, as if he was personally feeling the loss of money.
"Ah, Really?! Is it really empty—Oi! Don't push me, you half-wit! There are no million dragons here! It was all a cursed lie!!"
"What?! A lie?!" "He said it's all a lie!" "How can that be?!"
"You! Weren't you the one who was screaming about a million dragons, huh? Why were you lying?! There is nothing in that chest!"
"I-I was not lying!" The man, who could be said to be the origin of all the commotion, replied defensively, "It was the King! He was the one who shouted about the million gold dragons. I swear I heard him say it!" he said while brazenly pointing towards the King, as if blaming him for all the trouble, "Look! Look! He is still holding on to something in his hands!"
"What?!" "The King?!"
The disgruntled crowd was roused once again as they quickly turned their heads to look towards the tall, plump giant, only to see him standing there like a statue, staring dumbfounded at his hands.
"I... It's just a piece of parchment," said a Merchant in the crowd with very keen eyes, "How could that be worth a million dragons?" he asked doubtfully.
"Maybe he made a mistake in evaluating its worth," another Merchant standing nearby explained nervously, not wanting to be the one to call the King an idiot.
"What?! You would have to be a fool to think that something like that could be worth a million—"
"Calm down! You stupid farmer! Do you want to die?!" hissed the neighbour as he hurriedly placed his hand on his foolish friend's mouth to stop him attracting the guards' attention.
The over-excited crowd was also finally starting to lose its agitation as the news slowly spread that there was no pile of dragons to see here, only a single fancy piece of paper in the King's hand.
And the panicking guards, who were now a hodgepodge mixture of the Castle guards that Robert brought, the guards from the city wall, and finally all the other guards of the Nobles nearby, could also finally relax and stop reaching for their swords.
"Is this thing really legitimate, boy?" Robert asked a few minutes later, as he finally broke out of his dumbfounded stupor, "You are not simply making a jest on my behalf, are you?" he asked with a chuckle, his mouth feeling dry for some reason.
"I would not dare to jest with you, your grace," Jon replied as he shook his head with a smile, "The parchment is indeed true. In fact, I think a banker from Braavos should already be on his way here to show the renewed debt amount."
"But how can you just... can anyone just go to the bank and repay the debt?" Robert asked hesitatingly, unsure about why, but he felt that it was all... too easy and that there was something wrong here, "Do you not need to show proof or something such as that?"
"That is only needed when you want to take money out, your grace, not when you put money in. Those bankers were just too glad to have me bring in such a large amount into their premises," Jon answered with a simple shrug.
"Hm, makes sense," Robert murmured as he looked back down, but no matter how he stared, he could not verify the words on the paper, but then he suddenly recalled something and immediately turned around, "Baelish! Get in here. Take a look at this!"
The Master of coin, who had been anxiously watching the two talk with each other until now, did not hesitate and immediately took the fancy piece of yellow parchment from the King's and began reading it.
His eyes moved left to right with the speed of a bird, and with every passing second, they became bigger and bigger, until eventually they were almost bulging out of his sockets.
"What is it, then? Tell me?" Robert asked with an impatient look on his face, "Has the loan really been paid?"
And he was not the only one, as plenty of eyes behind him were curiously staring at him, and this included the Tyrell women, the Lannister dwarf, and even the guards and the commoners around them.
All of them were waiting for Baelish's response, trying to discern the reason for Robert's excitement, as they had only caught the words about a million dragons and knew nothing else.
Petyr stayed silent for a few moments before he reluctantly nodded his head, "Yes, your grace. It is indeed legitimate," he uttered slowly, as if the words were being pulled out of his mouth, "This is a lawful acknowledgement slip with a true seal from Braavos, which declares that the Iron Bank had been paid a total sum of 1 Million gold dragons to be deposited into the Iron Throne's debt."
No matter how much he loathed it, Baelish knew that he had to tell the truth here, because sooner or later the authenticity of this parchment would be verified by banker, so even if he told the king a lie, that the parchment was a fabrication, it would only cast doubt on the boy for a short while, which would not be worth the trouble.
Besides, this large amount of gold has changed the game completely, and his view of the boy was no longer the same, because anyone who had the balls and resources to so casually pay a sum of a million gold dragons to someone for no apparent reason, was no longer just a lucky brat, but a player of the game who had to be taken seriously... very seriously.
In fact, as the news spread outwards, and the people present there learned that the million dragons mentioned were in fact the debt of the crown that had been paid, their thoughts began to change.
While the smallfolks were indeed a bit disappointed at missing the chance to see a mountain of gold with their own eyes, the few nobles present there did not care about that, and were instead closely scrutinising Jon with completely new eyes, and it went that way for both the Tyrells and the Lannisters.
Because even Tyrion, as the son of the richest man in Westeros, could admit that a million was a very big amount, and that, even if he had that much money in his hands(which he did not) he would never be as courageous as to give it away as a mere 'gift', not even if it was for the King.
So the man couldn't help but ponder upon the possible reasons behind it, 'Has the boy simply gone stupid after all the time he spent out there at sea? Or is there something he wants from Robert that is worth a million dragons?' Tyrion mused with a frown, but no matter how he worked his mind, the dwarf could not fathom anything that would justify spending that much gold.
"Wahaha!! Did you all hear that?! This boy has actually gone ahead and paid a whole million dragons for the crown debt," Robert burst out laughing while repeatedly thumping Jon's shoulder as if unable to contain his excitement, "Tyrion! I bet even your Father wouldn't have dared to do something like this, right?"
'You are already in a 3 million debt to my father, you stupid pig. What more can he give you?' The dwarf thought in his head, but outwardly he only replied with a smile, because he knew that the man was somewhat right, and that his father, even if he was capable of it, would never do something wasteful like this.
As he knew that for every gold coin that his father gave in loan to the King, he extracted its worth in the form of favours. From little things, such as having a say in the people who would be selected to join the Goldcloaks, which was now more than half filled with Lannister men, to big decisions, such as who would join the Kingsguard.
"Haha, Jon will surely be happy to see this," Robert chortled to himself, as it had only been a few days ago that his foster father had badgered him relentlessly about toning down on his various spendings, after he had calculated the costs that the Tourney was going to incur by the time it was finished.
And then he had gone on for hours and hours about all the debts that the Iron Throne owed, but now... now, with this sudden million reduction in debt that came out of nowhere, Robert was sure that he would get a relief for at least a few months, and wouldn't have to hear so many complaints anymore.
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