But unlike King Robert, whose whole attention was focused on the immediate satisfaction of the million dragons, and did not think any further on where the money came from, or how big of a deal a million dragons was for someone who was not Tywin Lannister, the other Robb was at the moment looking at his brother Jon with eyes widened in shock, as if asking, 'What the fuck are you doing?!'
While the Stark heir had a vague idea in his head that his brother Jon had gotten very rich from his shipping company, and that he was going to give away a few expensive gifts to the King to establish his name, and to create a reputation as someone who has money and resources that are no less significant than a large Noble family.
But this... this was going far beyond making a show of force, this was outing himself as a prodigal young brat who had no idea or concept of money, who didn't care for gold, and spent it freely as if it were water.
But Jon's response to his silent question of, 'Have you gone mad?' was just a calm shake of his head, as if telling him that it was all under control, that it was all part of the plan, which confused Robb even more, forcing him to wonder if the boy had recently stumbled upon a secret treasure or a gold mine somewhere that he hadn't told him about.
But what Robb did not know was that his guess was almost on the dot here, as while Jon did not exactly find a mountain of gold the likes of which Lord Tywin and his ancestors had made their fortune from. His source of gold was even better than that, and lay hidden in plain sight... down there under the sea.
The ocean between the continent of Westeros and Essos, the so-called Narrow Sea, had had a long, varied history of ships sailing in it, from before the times of Targaryen, before Bran the Builder built the Wall in the North, perhaps before even the Age of Dawn.
Which meant that over these thousands of years, there had been a countless number of trading vessels, big and small, that had been sunk in this ocean, whether due to bad weather conditions, unfortunate encounters with pirates, deadly Naval Wars between Free cities, or simply the bad luck of having your ship break down in the middle of the sea due to wear and tear.
And all of this was especially prevalent in areas such as the Stepstones, Shipbreaker Bay, Iron Isles, and other dangerous sea territories like them, where everything is out to kill you.
But even if every single captain who set sail knew that there was an absurd amount of wealth just lying there for taking under the sea, it was of no use to anyone.
The depths here in this world were even more dangerous and deadly than in his previous world, and even there, where humans were fortunate enough to be blessed with all kinds of innovative exploration technologies, they had only been able to explore less than 5 per cent of the ocean.
So no one had been able to eat the pie just lying there out in the open.
Until... Jon's friend Inky, a mythical creature of the sea, also known as Kraken, had come along.
And Inky knew the depths of the ocean like no one else.
The dark, unknown abyss, where just the sheer pressure could kill most of the living beings on this planet in a matter of seconds, was simply a place she called home.
And as a beast that thrived in the depths, it was a simple mundane task for her to search for ruins of ships on the sea floor, and then when she found one (which usually wasn't too hard), her long tentacles would easily tear through the rotted wood and break apart even a massive galleon in a matter of minutes, and then drag up all the shiny valuables that she could find for Jon to use.
And that was how the whole world's ocean became Jon's ATM...
Not to mention, this was all without counting the feats of his other friends, such as Frost and Tweety, who were not too far behind when it came to earning gold.
After all, there were few places in the world that those two could not enter, and then sneak away with priceless artefacts that men guarded with their lives, and all they needed was a large window.
This all meant that money was no longer a concern for Jon, and a bag of gold held no more allure for him than an ordinary stone on the ground, and this was why he felt no pinch paying a million dragons for the King.
Besides, in the end, it was not exactly a waste, as the loan to Braavos was something that had to be paid sooner or later, no matter who the King was, so he may as well start on the instalments early.
In fact, if he wanted to, Jon could have simply cleared the whole debt instead of just paying a million to Iron Bank, but he did not do that, as it would be counterproductive and remove the leverage that his money brought him.
Because only when the massive debt of the Iron Throne remains, will he emerge as the alternate option to the Lannister gold, and perhaps without the debt, the throne would once again start running on taxes from the other Kingdom (like it was supposed to), and Jon did not want that... at least not yet.
"Only two left now, your grace," Jon said a few minutes later, after everyone had started to come down from the high of a million dragons. "Shall we move on to the next, then?"
"Oh, yes, of course, I forgot that there are two more left," Robert said with a chuckle as he placed the paper back in his pocket, before following after Jon towards the second last gift, which looked more unique than the rest had been, and that was even when it was covered with a large red cloth.
Because, unlike the others, which were stored in a chest or big wooden boxes, this one was so wide that no chest could fit it in.
And the size of this gift, which stood even taller than Robert, once again aroused the curiosity in the minds of the crowd, because they thought that anything that followed after a million dragons had to be an amazing object.
Though no matter how they worked their heads, no one was able to come up with any idea of a thing that could beat the shock value of a million gold.
'Well, unless it was a live dragon,' thought Robert with a scoff as he chuckled at his own jest.
"Are you all prepared for it, then?" Jon asked out loud with a grin, feeling a bit theatrical for some reason.
"AYE!!" came the excited yells from the gathered mob, which also included the King, who was only too happy to participate in the excitement.
"Then, without any further wait, I present to you...The clearest Mirror in the Whole World!" Jon announced as he pulled off the cloth in a single motion.
"..."
Silence... was what greeted Jon instead of the gasps of wonder and excitement that he had expected after his enthusiastic introduction, which left him very confused and just a little hurt, so he immediately turned around to find the reason, only to be completely uneerved, because the scene that greeted him was straight out of a zombie movie.
Every single face that stood in the direct sight of the mirror and had a clear view of it was slack-jawed at that moment.
Their eyes were widened in abject shock and fear as if they had seen a ghost.
'What the hell? It's just a mirror... is there a reason to act like this?' Jon thought with a puzzled expression on his face.
And even more confusing was that it was not only the ignorant smallfolks who reacted like this, as even the nobles present there, including the Tyrell ladies, and the Lannister dwarf, also seemed very stunned by the simple view of the mirror.
But what the boy, whose soul came from another world, did not realise was that this large mirror, the size of a door, which he considered a simple object, and revealed so casually in front of thousands of people, looked nothing less than a doorway to another world to these medieval people.
None of them had ever seen an image so clear in their whole life... it was almost magic to them, as if they were being shown a real-life clone of theirs, so it was understandable that they all looked so dumbfounded, and scared.
"Is that... me?" Robert asked out loud in a whisper, his eyes staring at the man standing on the other side with wonder and apprehension in his eyes.
The tall man in the mirror with the scruffy beard, double chin, and repulsive flabby mass bursting out of the seam at the middle looked nothing like he had imagined himself to be.
He had always known deep inside that he was no longer the warrior that he was in his youth, but this... this was just too much.
Even the fat Lord Manderly from the North standing nearby seemed to be looking in better shape than him at the moment.
Because at least his arms seemed to have a defined set of muscles underneath all his fat, which meant that even with all that fat, the Lord from North must still be regularly training in the grounds with his men, but him...
He seemed to have lost all the muscles that he used to so proudly boast about in his prime.
There was just nothing but flabby fat there now, which should not have come as a surprise, considering that Robert couldn't even remember the last time he had set foot in the training grounds.
And the King was not the only one who was having an existential crisis at that moment, as present there was forced into a deep introspection after they came face to face with their true selves for the first time..
'When did I get this old...' thought the Oldest Kingsguard alive as he raised his hand and touched the numerous lines on his face, 'How long has it even been since Rhaegar died... and how much longer do I have in this world?'
'So, I guess Cersei was not lying too much when she called me an ugly little monster, huh,' Tyrion thought with a grimace as he looked at his face inside the clear mirror, feeling a little disgusted by his disproportionately large head and mismatched eyes, 'Who would known that I would be faced with such a bitter truths by coming here?' he thoguht with a self-deprecating smile on his face.
'Ha! I knew they were all lying. I am definitely taller than him!' Robb thought with a smirk on his face, as he stood beside his brother, now knowing for sure his little sisters were just pulling his legs.
'I...I want this,' thought Margaery with an overwhelming sense of desire in her eyes as she stared at the pretty mirror that would be worth more than any amount of gold for any noblewoman in this world, 'Jon should have a few more of these, right?'
"Your grace?" Jon asked with a raised eyebrow a few minutes later.
Robert pursed his lips and finally tore his gaze away from the mirror, his eyes looking a little disturbed from what he had witnessed, "That... is definitely not the gift that I was expecting to follow after the million dragons," he murmured with an awkward chuckle.
"Ah, to tell you the truth, your grace, I had imagined presenting these gifts to you inside your castle, and this one was more for the benefit of your queen and your daughter than yourself," Jon said with a sheepish smile on his face
"Ah, that makes sense, then," Robert agreed with an understanding nod, 'That narcissistic bitch would have definitely liked this,' he could almost imagine the vanity on his wife's face as she spent hours upon hours in front of this mirror admiring her face, "Perfect, then. This one should be sent straight to her room. It was more in line for a woman than a man anyway," Robert scoffed as he hurriedly moved away, unable to take the sight of his own body any longer. "Ahem, let us go to the last chest, then."
"Aye, your grace, I will—"
But before Jon could follow after the King, the Merchants in the crowd who had been standing in daze until now, finally woke up, and almost immediately their cunning minds began calculating.
And it took them no more than a few seconds to realise the massive business opportunity that this bastard from the North had brought for them, and they would be stupid not to capitalise on it, so without waiting a single moment, they immediately began bombarding him with their inquiries.
"Do you have more of these mirrors?" "Are those for sale, Lord Snow?!" "How much would they cost?!"
"I will buy as many of them as you have." A wealthy foreign merchant shouted loudly as he waved his hands wildly, "A thousand dragons for every piece you give me!"
"Get lost, you beggar! Are you fooling around with that insulting price?" scoffed a Local Merchant who was a big name in trade around King's Landing, "Don't listen to him, Lord Jon, I will give you 5000 thousand for all your stock, and you would not even have to look for anyone else ever—"
"I will give you 6000!!"
"7000!!"
"..."
And so on it went, as a fierce bidding began over this unique luxury good that looked more tempting to these Merchant than their own wives.
All of them knew that this simple mirror was far more valuable to them than any of the other gifts that they had seen today, as this was something that could surely be replicated, and if they could get their hands on a few of them, then they would be set for life.
Because this was something that nobles would bankrupt themselves for, and that they, as Merchants, would be able to ask for any price they desired from their contacts.
Even Lord Manderly only barely managed to stop himself from joining in at the last moment, and that was only because he knew that with his relationship with the boy, he would definitely get a direct supply of these if there were more of these available on the ships. After all, Jon was not the sort to forget about his own.
But just as the bidding was about to go out of control, Jon raised his hand high and put a stop to the commotion, "I am pleased to see you show so much interest in my gift here," Jon began in a calm voice as he looked into the eyes of the Wealthy Mechants in the crowd, "But the process my men used to build this mirror is still very new, and it would take them years and years to perfect it. So this mirror here in front of you is one of a kind, as I previously told the King, and is a result of almost five months of back-breaking work by the best masters under my employ,"
"So sadly for a long while this will be the only piece with this size and clarity in the whole world," Jon finished, and almost immedaitely he could see a lot of disappointement in the eyes of the crowd, "But... while there none that are as big as this one, I do have a few dozen piece in my flagship, that much much better than the mirrors currently out there, and since you all showed such interest in them, I will make sure to have my men reach out to you all, so that you can all have a chance to bid for them when—"
"BOY!!" A sudden shout interrupted Jon's sales pitch and startled the crowd as they all flinched and turned towards the source, only to see the King kneeling in front of the last chest, looking at Jon with a devastated expression on his face, "Where did you get these?!"
'Why... Why is the King crying?' was the single most prominent thought in the mind of every single person present there.
///
So, do I need to say it again, or does everyone already know about the forbidden grounds where secrets are being held behind doors that demand just a little blood sacrifice?
*Wink*Wink*