Because Daenerys had been chanting spells and assisting, the Weirwood continuously supplied energy to Dreamfire and the other giant dragons, making their Dragonflame seem inexhaustible. In less than half an hour, tens of thousands of people had been tragically killed by the dragons' Dragonflame.
The area around the entire Fish Beam Wood Garden was already covered with burning corpses. In the most densely populated areas, bodies had piled up to over two meters high. Even if the rioters were not afraid of death, it was already difficult for them just to climb over these mountains of corpses.
What's more, the burning bodies emitted a large amount of pungent smoke, which completely obscured the rioters' vision, forcing them to instinctively follow the people in front of them.
By the time they broke through layers of obstacles and approached the dragons, their own clothes often had already caught fire due to the surrounding high temperatures.
The intense pain of being burned by flames suddenly woke many people from the effects of the hallucinogenic smoke.
The ground covered with corpses, rioters whose bodies had caught fire scurrying around like headless flies, the pervasive thick smoke, and the ubiquitous Dragonflame from the dragons—finally, the rioters, whose emotions had been spiraling out of control, gradually began to regain their sanity.
Only then did they realize that not only had their clothes caught fire, but their entire feet were already in a half-cooked state.
This was because the stone pavement beneath their feet had long become scorching hot under the intense heat of the Dragonflame, with some areas already beginning to turn into a semi-molten state.
The iron weapons of the dead rioters had long melted into overflowing iron liquid. In such an environment, even if they were lucky enough to escape the Dragonflame's engulfment, they were like ants thrown onto a hot pan, with nowhere to escape even if they wanted to.
Moreover, the already narrow streets were now packed with people. Even those who had sobered up could not turn back and were forced to continuously shuffle forward, pushed by the crowds behind them.
Some mercenary knights and sellswords who had long been active in Oldtown had secretly begun to connect with each other as soon as the riots showed signs. These people would do anything for money.
So, dozens of scattered rogue soldiers, taking advantage of the fact that Oldtown's garrison was completely drawn away by the rioters, began to engage in looting and pillaging.
Suddenly, merchants and wealthy people who had been watching the commotion were caught off guard. Just as they were enjoying the spectacle, fully armed robbers had already arrived before them.
Consequently, in Oldtown's wealthy district, continuous shouts of alarm and screams rang out, and soon, fires began to light up everywhere.
In a luxurious and unique three-story building not far from the docks, over two hundred fully armed mercenaries also appeared, beginning to target the merchant ships at the dock. This was the "Fire Kiss Garden" established here by Holy Flame Island.
These mercenaries were the most skilled mercenary knights carefully selected by the Fire Kiss Garden's proprietress from among the sellswords wandering in Oldtown during this period.
As these mercenaries moved out, Daenerys's Unicorn Warrior Corps had already captured Oldtown's two river-locking towers and were slowly raising the thick chains spanning both banks of the Secret Water River, which were used to intercept ships.
The mercenaries from Fire Kiss Garden were all clad in green armor, appearing indistinguishable from the Hightower Family's knight armor in the night.
They first approached several three-masted sailing ships belonging to spice traders from Pentos.
"We are knights of the Hightower Family. There is a disturbance in the city, and we are pursuing some important fugitives. Quickly lower the gangplank and prepare for inspection," the leading middle-aged mercenary shouted loudly at the people on the ship.
Several spice traders were embracing their beloved ship prostitutes, drinking and enjoying the sight of the Hightower's flames.
"I never expected that Oldtown, usually so peaceful, would have such trouble today. Looking at the soaring flames, it must be a conflict between the Hightower Family and that Dragon Princess."
"Conflict is good! When Westeros is in chaos, our Free Trade Cities can peacefully earn their gold dragons, can't we?"
"I heard that Dragon Princess can command many giant dragons. Let them fight; the more intense the fight, the better."
"The relationships among these nobles of the Seven Kingdoms are so complex. Once a war starts, other families are often drawn in, and they get carried away, eventually forgetting why they even started fighting."
"Hahaha, brilliant, your words are truly brilliant!"
"And I received news that the Dragon Princess was recently assassinated by the Faceless Men of Braavos, but the Targaryen Royal Family concluded that the Hightower Family was behind it."
"Hahaha, sometimes I wonder how the nobles of Westeros think. Don't they know the importance of an intelligence system?"
"Even the Targaryen Royal Family only knows how to privately buy intelligence from us in Pentos!"
"But I heard that the Dragon Princess is secretly building her own intelligence system! Isn't that Fire Kiss Garden one of them?"
"Fire Kiss Garden? It's certainly good, but that Dragon Princess made a fatal mistake. An intelligence system, by its very nature, should be as low-key and imperceptible as possible. A place as blatant and well-known as Fire Kiss Garden means the intelligence it obtains can easily be exploited by clever people!"
As the Pentos spice traders were speaking animatedly, they suddenly heard shouts from outside the ship.
Although these merchants had some slave guards on board, they dared not challenge the Hightower Family's knights. They reluctantly ordered their men to lower the gangplank and invited the newcomers aboard.
These spice traders were considered prominent figures in Pentos, so their ship surprisingly had over thirty Unsullied and a hundred slave soldiers.
This was also why they dared to so readily allow people onto their ship; with their Unsullied and slave soldiers, these Hightower Family knights truly couldn't do anything to them.
So the leading spice trader, with an arrogant expression, spoke up,
"We are legitimate businessmen. Our family has been trading with your Hightower Family for hundreds of years. May I ask what instructions the sirs have for coming here?!"
The leading mercenary feigned respect and said,
"We naturally know that. This is merely a routine inspection. Thank you, sirs, for your cooperation."
Then he turned to his subordinates and said,
"You few, take some steady men and go inspect the ship's hold. Remember not to be clumsy and damage anything, or I will cut off your hands and feet."
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing them act in such a manner, the spice traders couldn't help but lower their guard.
However, the space on the ship was limited, so the corpulent spice trader instinctively turned his body as the mercenaries passed by him.
A slender soldier seemed to slip, stumbling directly onto the spice trader.
"Excuse me, excuse me, sir! My foot slipped."
Seeing this, the leading mercenary immediately walked over quickly and fiercely, grabbing the fallen, thin man.
"You weak-legged shrimp, since your legs are so useless, I might as well cut them off for you."
"Clang~"
At that moment, a jewel-encrusted whip suddenly fell from the thin man's hand.
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