A Game of Thrones and Gacha 32 (Patreon)

Even having a name, finding where Yezzan was not an easy thing, mostly because he couldn’t ask anyone. If everything had gone as planned, Yunkai would have one less Wise Master, meaning he couldn’t ask anyone.

While there was a chance other Wise Masters knew about the assassins, they couldn’t exactly go out and declare Yezzan was killed by Rohar as revenge, not without revealing culpability.

It was for the same reason he made sure to return to his new home first, stumbling inside while faking drunkenness, and gave the guards’ strict orders not to wake him up unless there was an emergency.

He also gave a simple order to Syzorys, that if anyone entered his room, start flying over his office while drawing circles. That way, he would know if there was an emergency. He also left his spear behind to not to reveal his identity from his weapon.

While he was changing his disguise, he used the bronze ticket he got from awakening his internal energy; though he still had no idea what it was.

Another reason to get annoyed with Yezzan. He would have to explore internal energy rather than going around the city trying to find a slaver fat enough to have a reputation even among the other so-called wise masters.

While he changed into his dark assassin colors, he also prayed and activated his latest reward.

[Linguist]

{Uncommon Trait: You are able to understand all mundane languages and are very good at learning non-mundane ones too.}

“Very good,” he muttered. While he was confident that he could learn all common languages, he had no idea real books on magic shared the same language; and the trait implied otherwise.

Admittedly, he didn’t know anything about more common forms of magic, but considering the common saying about magic likening it to a sword without a hilt, the danger involved was evident.

A bronze ticket for reducing the inherent risk was an excellent deal since he no longer lacked them.

With that in mind, he silently sneaked out of his own estate, leaving others to believe that he was sleeping through a night of drinking while he went to assassinate an enemy that dared to target him.

He wondered what Ser Barristan would say. Probably something about honor and not being as bad as his enemies. Even imagining him made him scoff. He respected Ser Barristan’s honor and skills. His decision making … somehow calling it sub-par was still a compliment.

No, he had no intention of a man like Yezzan zo Qaggaz surviving. Rohar could be ruthless against his enemies, but he also knew that, compared to some others, he was a soft-hearted person. He could never replicate what Tywin or Freys did. Yezzan had a reputation among the Wise Masters.

It took a lot to stand out from such a degenerate crowd.

Unfortunately, while he might be fatter than a bear and more disgusting than a rat, he was also craftier than a fox. He checked five locations that were most likely to contain him, three he only knew after talking with the bookkeepers.

He had other advantages. Though, one he was reluctant to use.

Bloodhound.

It would temporarily occupy an ability slot and reduce the effectiveness of Training Booster, but it wasn’t the reason he was reluctant to use it. Not when he had to focus on smelling such a disgusting man.

He visited his other known properties, the ones that were supposed to be sold as part of their deal with Daenerys. One of those supposed warehouses had a few workers milling around, yet their hands had no calluses.

A small detail, but enough to reveal that it was extraordinary. He changed position, sneaking closer to get a glimpse inside. Twenty armed guards, eight of them with crossbows.

He found what he was looking for. Sneaking in was easy, as it seemed losing their city hadn’t taught them to keep an eye on the roof. He climbed up easily. There were no convenient windows for him to enter.

He didn’t need it. All he needed was to find a weak plank.

[Slip In]

{Common Ability: You were always a slippery one, you can pass your body through any opening wider than 5 centimeters in length.}

He activated it, as he had a feeling that it would come in handy while he continued to sneak in. He tightened his grip on his dagger and slipped in. Once inside, he saw the warehouse was stacked with expensive stuff. Spices, silk, high-quality linen, but he didn’t bother targeting them.

He was not afraid of the temporary absence of luxury goods. Freed slaves wouldn’t care about them, and while they would be worth some money, he needed to be able to sell them. Not an easy job, as Yunkai’s invasion and public plans to repeat it in Meereen marked Daenerys as a public enemy across Essos, with every city but Braavos relying heavily on slaves, and would do their best to block her.

Rohar had a feeling that, if he brought a ship filled with riches to Volantis, he would return empty-handed. Worse, the same also applied to the Seven Kingdoms, with Daenerys’ declaration to take the throne.

No, trying to deal with silk and other luxury goods was not worth the effort.

Instead, he dropped down among the shelves, avoiding the attention of the guards while he searched for his target. One that came soon when a thumping was heard, and guards moved away a large sack, revealing a trapdoor.

A servant popped, ordering them to bring another cask of wine in Low Valyrian, making him glad that he had learned the language.

While the guards walked away, leaving the entrance momentarily unguarded, Rohar dropped down, finding himself in an empty maze, with multiple paths.

“What a stupid security measure,” he muttered. It sounded smart at first, like forcing any potential attacker to split up , but it only allowed an infiltrator to sneak in unnoticed. He hid in one of the many shadows, waiting for the guards to return with the cask.

They moved; he followed, and soon, he was at another gate. They used a specific rhythm to enter, and after a glance, Rohar slipped in.

Inside was a cacophony. A huge underground complex, filled with slaves, some moving around with ease, while the others hopelessly hid in cages. They were mostly young women, with a few beautiful men mixed in, all in perfect condition. Not for a second he believe it was about mercy.

It was about the value of slaves.

Rohar decided to send guards to raid the place the moment he left. Grey Worm would love to raid the place, especially with a map.

He slipped into one of the storage rooms, found one of the silk uniforms their servants wore, and a few touches later, he was just one among the crowd.

But, as he moved, he wondered whether he overestimated Yezzan’s intelligence or underestimated his hedonism. Merely a day after their city had been captured, he was having a huge party in a secret safehouse.

Admittedly, being more careful wouldn’t have saved him from Rohar’s hands, at most forcing him to use the Bloodhound ability, but still… it was the principle.

He found Yezzan’s room by the sound first, a loud, booming laugh as if he had no care in the world. Getting closer, he found his room was a raised platform, covered with curtains, like a miniature fighting pit, and he watched a dwarf fighting a man with only one leg, both armed with comically large and unsharpened blades.

The grotesque effect was clearly intentional.

Maybe it was a good thing that he was attacked, Rohar decided. It gave him a reason to get rid of the world, such filth.

The half-covered room was reasonably safe, with a dozen guards outside, but when Rohar was involved, reasonable was never enough. Slip in allowed him to slip under one of the railings without alerting anyone, and just like that, he was behind Yezzan’s throne.

He could have stabbed him behind his head, but he decided to pick an easier path. He sneaked behind, and pressed a hand to his mouth right after he took a huge bite. Making him choke was easy.

Using his voice talent to fake his booming laughter was even easier. “You should have sent better assassins,” he whispered to his ears between laughs, for once actually enjoying the act of killing.

[Feat Achieved! Cleansing the filth

+1x Silver Random Gacha ticket]

He agreed with the System perfectly.

He could have left him there, but instead, he closed his eyes and adjusted him a bit, so that at first glance, he would look like he was sleeping.

He didn’t want the guards panicking before the raid.

He left, but not before carefully examining the place, including some letters that reflected communications with a lot of cities trying to build an alliance. Every single city was in correspondence except Braavos, but most of them belonged to Volantis and Meereen; understandable, considering the details.

There were many mentions of assassins, poison, fire, funding rebellion; with mentions of faceless men that hadn’t been hired only because the asking price for Daenerys’ head was too high. Faceless men was known for extracting a price that would stay in the means of the commissioner, but apparently, this time they measured the commissioner as the alliance of all slaver cities.

Rohar had to admit that a hundred million dragons was an excessive price. No wonder they hadn’t been hired. Luckily, the more successful Daenerys became, the higher the price would be, meaning it wouldn’t be something they would have to worry about.

He left them untouched, as it would be better for them to be delivered by Grey Worm, letting Daenerys understand the impact of her moves.

“Silence, I’m getting tired,” he shouted, still faking his booming voice. He couldn’t fake voices while speaking, but luckily, shouting loudly was much easier, especially as the party was still ongoing and creating sound.

He glanced around and found another trapdoor hidden behind the gaudy chair that was supposed to be a throne. It was not surprising. Yezzan might be a disgusting man, but he was also smart enough to realize the risk of getting caught.

Too bad it gave him a way to escape.

While he retreated, he picked one of the chests that were filled with gold, and threw a silk cover over it, glad that Yezzan wanted to show off by displaying his riches. He didn’t take all the gold, not wanting to look suspicious. He also didn’t touch the rare displays, including jewelry that would be worth a lot.

He didn’t want to ruin his perfect assassination by his greed. It would be better for everyone.

However, on his way out, he noticed something else. A small shelf filled with books. A curious choice, he decided as he stayed hidden while he checked the contents, and discover they were all books about dragons, mostly written in old Ghiscari language, the famous enemies of the Valyrians, which managed to resist the dragon lords for five great wars until they were defeated.

He wasn’t entirely fluent, but it was good enough to take a few, mostly about the habits of the dragons from the perspective of the enemy. There were also books on how to poison them, but he left them untouched for the later raid. Also, even though he wasn’t supposed to be able to read them, he didn’t want anyone to discover books on how to poison dragons with him.

That would have been a stupid way to ruin his relationship with her.

The trapdoor led to a tunnel, which opened into a small, empty house.

Despite carrying a chest full of gold coins, returning wasn’t particularly more difficult, his newly acquired enhanced strength already paying dividends. Once he arrived, he quickly drew the plan of the layout that showed not only the location, but also the path going through the place, including the warning that they were trying to kill the Dragon Queen.

He made sure to change his handwriting, an unexpected side benefit of Fine Arts. To make it even more believable, he wrote it in Low Valyrian, with only one choppy line in Westerosi common about warning about Breaker of Chain’s safety. Then, he quickly changed, and ran toward the Unsullied camp, looking harried. “I need to talk with Grey Worm. It’s an emergency,” he said.

Unsullied, in principle, didn’t follow anyone’s orders but Daenerys, but going to all the trouble to save the lives of their fellow slaves, he earned their esteem enough that he was allowed inside their camp rather than kept waiting at the gates.

Grey Worm burst in, in his bedclothes but wielding a spear. Rohar said nothing, just passed it to him. “Is this reliable?”

“I don’t know. But, someone went to the trouble of delivering it secretly,” he explained. “We can’t take any risks with our Queen’s safety.”

Grey Worm nodded silently, barked several orders, and two minutes later, a team of two hundred Unsullied were already marching forward. Their efficiency was impressive. “I’ll handle the guards outside, rush in and make sure they can’t escape,” Rohar advised as they reached the warehouse.

They burst in. “Drop your weapons,” Rohar shouted as he rushed forward. Two of them tried to reach their crossbows, but they died quickly, and the sight of Unsullied spilling inside was enough to break the courage of the rest.

Rohar tied the prisoners and examined the luxury products, trying to see if there was anything worth taking. But there was none. So he started waiting. Just as expected, the Unsullied appeared ten minutes later, bringing more prisoners, a mixture of guards and servants.

Clearly, none of the guards cared for their employed enough to fight against the Unsullied while outnumbered. Then, another group appeared, this time escorting the freed slaves while whispering that their chains were broken.

A touching scene.

Grey Worm appeared soon. “Did you catch the bastard targeting our Queen?” he asked.

Grey Worm spat on the ground. “No, the greedy bastard choked to death before we arrived,” he said.

“A pity we didn’t just kill all Wise Masters, right?” Rohar asked.

His eyes widened as if Rohar had gifted him a chest of gold. “I wish,” he said. That was the extent he would go criticizing his savior. Still, Rohar marked that as a success. Maybe it would be helpful not to repeat the same mistake in Meereen.

If not, at least if he had the misfortune of dealing with another Wise Master, he wouldn’t need to consider Daenerys’ position, not when Yezzan conveniently revealed them to be perfectly willing to conspire against her and keep slaves even after she had mercifully forgiven them.

He had a feeling that, tomorrow the Unsullied would do a very thorough search of the city to make sure there were no other hidden slaves.

Another underrated benefit was that it would help his reputation. Going to Grey Worm directly rather than trying to handle it himself made him look like he wasn’t obsessed with credit.

Meanwhile, he knew that Grey Worm would never obfuscate anything once Daenerys questioned him, meaning he would still receive the full credit.

Money, reputation, and credit. Triple dipping at its best.

“Is there anything I need to do?” Rohar asked.

“No, we can handle the rest,” Grey Worm assured, so he went back to his room while he started removing his Slip In ability, which would take half a day.

Unfortunately, sleep was elusive when he had several books to read, going back to the Ghiscari Empire.

Not all the books he picked were from the same time, but all shared some qualities, grand, self-important, and mostly useless. Luckily, their banal nature and repetitive qualities allowed him to improve his understanding of the Ghiscari language further.

He would have struggled to succeed if he were trying to understand something about Ghis Empire. For example, there were many words that referred to some specific rank or weapon, and that required context even with the assistance of his skills.

Luckily, he was interested in something simpler. Their observations on dragons; which were a lot, and descriptions were relatively simplistic. Stories about dragons dying in ambushes, destroying towns in a berserk rage after losing their rider, ambushing juvenile ones, the ways to confuse their senses to escape, how they reacted to food, and how they acted in the wild without their rider.

Their conclusions looked contradictory and mostly useless, but luckily, Rohar wasn’t trying to look for them in the first place.

The biggest takeaway was the intelligence of the dragons; which could be understood by the way they reacted to ambushes and other complicated challenges. It was apparent that dragons started merely as smart as the average domestic animal, but as they grew, their intelligence also grew. Nothing suggested they reached near-human standards, but their intelligence could surpass that of ravens and crows.

Maybe they were even more intelligent, but merely relying on enemy observations, it was difficult to truly understand.

Some of the stories mentioned the Ghiscari Empire’s attempt to raise dragons, which ended badly. Apparently, while juvenile dragons could be trained by whips and other punishment, sooner or later, it turned ineffective, leading to a dangerous backlash.

They simply assumed that, without the mysterious bond between Valyrian nobles and dragons, they were impossible to tame.

Rohar wasn’t sure if their conclusion was correct, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if there was an abundance of wild dragons he could somehow tame. Instead, he went through other important details, like how dragons reacted to voices and smells just as much as their vision, particularly how they could smell fear.

Food was another benefit. Apparently, while they easily ate raw animals, they did have a taste for spicy foods; a trick that most Ghiscari used to hide poison. Rohar hoped to use it to keep them happy.

They also described some of the more common body language, which didn’t match reptilian creatures despite the superficial similarities, nor did they react like dogs, bears, or humans.

The conclusion was simple. Dragons only reacted like dragons, and trying to find shortcuts was a dangerous affair.

One interesting detail was that Ghiscari believed that dragons had an instinctual understanding of High Valyrian, believing that there was a magical reason for it. The writers suspected the Valyrian tongue carried something more than meaning, maybe an echo of magic.

Rohar believed it was likely the constant exposure to it, but still, it was worth testing.

He couldn’t say that he had suddenly turned into an expert, but they were still valuable, particularly the part about dragons’ intelligence and habits changing as they grew. It was likely why Daenerys had been struggling, and knowing he needed to factor in further growing intelligence and aggression was helpful.

He still needed to watch Daenerys with her dragons to get a better understanding, but the effort was certainly helpful.

He threw them into the fire, as he had already learned everything he could from them, and keeping them around would only invite more risk. Then he lay, but before he could even sleep, a messenger arrived.

He had been summoned to another council meeting.