Dungeon Overlord (OLD Version) Chapter 18 - Braavos (Patreon)

"Events of the Great Magic Awakening

The events of the Great Magic Awakening are tied to the appearance of the Dungeon on the Isle of Faces. From there on, many supernatural events started appearing all around the Westeros and Essos on a smaller scale.

However, the true change in the situation happened several months later, when Dungeon Gates, leading to the Dungeon, started appearing all around the known world. With these Dungeon Gates, more and more Wild Monsters started appearing all around the world, breeding and expanding their numbers. As they were killed or died, they released their magic into the environment.

This phenomenon was later attributed to the Great Magic Awakening as the Magic that was being released in the environment was awakening the world's dormant Magic, and soon enough, the true age of Magic has returned to the known world.

After the Great Magic Awakening and the spread of the Wild Monsters, one could say that the continent of the Essos was the one that was hit the hardest. This is not only due to their inability to effectively combat the increasing threat of the Wild Monsters that have descended from the Dungeon Creatures, but At the same time, various rogue elements in the forms of Warlocks, Sorcerers, Shadow Binders, and other Magic Users were fighting almost every day either for the resource or for the power.

In Westeros, the newly established The Empire, also known as the Empire of Dragon or Empire of Westeros, ruled by the Targaryen Dynasty, managed to contain most of the ambitious people who wanted to cause chaos during the time of the Great Magic Awakening and in the end even managed to expand their territory to the parts of the Essos.

Though the most significant part of the Magical development started after the Imperial Civil War, which ended in the extinction of the Conqueror's line and replacement with the Lineage descended from his sister, Visenya Targaryen, and Archaon Carian, giving rise to the Carian Imperial Family, which promoted the development of Magic by establishing Academy of Raya Lucaria.

Since the Rise of the Carian Imperial Family that was created by the union of the Archaon Carian, a demi-god Sorcerer on his own, and Visenya Targaryen, The Empire was never stronger, and the Imperial House maintained the strongest grip on the power. The extinction of a lot of Noble Houses in Westeros certainly helped that, as well as the establishment of the Golden Order."

- Excerpts from the book by Archmaester Perestan, Dungeon and Its Influence on Westeros and Rest of the World, Year 300 After the Conquest

***

Narrow Sea, Aboard the Ship

One thing that Archaon could tell was that the first few days were really terrible as he got some sort of seasickness, which was rather ironic. He thought that with his newly obtained supernatural condition and race, he would be outside of things like seasickness and similar things.

Yet it seemed that he was wrong on this one.

Unfortunately.

What was good news was that he was alright after a few days, so now he could safely observe the sea from the deck of the ship.

Because he was rich, at least in terms of gold, because the shiny metal interestingly enough lost any value to him once he became Dungeon Overlord, as even an idiot with a few spells could replicate it, he rented the biggest ship in the Duskendale that was available to transport him and Ornstein to the Braavos.

And because he was rich and had the money to do so, he was the only person that the captain of the ship was transporting to the Braavos. He didn't want any other passengers to travel on the ship with him and Ornstein for various reasons.

At least, there was rather peace for him, and they could train for the whole time on the deck, which was an added bonus. The journey from the port of the Duskendale to the Braavos would take them around two or three weeks, depending on the weather and state of the sea.

Sometimes, he really hated that he was in such a backward world because it meant that traveling was taking too long for his comfort, and that was something that he didn't really appreciate, yet there was nothing much that he could do about that.

Initially, they planned to go at first to the Dragonstone, but in the end, Archaon decided to first go to the Essos and search for the last companion that was summoned by his Patron God.

Only then would they go to the Dragonstone, as he was taking into consideration the potential conflict between him and the remaining Dragonlords. If it came to the conflict, then even though he was confident in Ornstein's abilities to slay the overgrown Wyverns, if there were three of them, it would be better than just two of them.

He knew that whoever was summoned by his Patron God wasn't someone weak, but on the contrary, it must be someone pretty strong. They would then have a better chance to fight against the overgrown Wyverns.

Training with Ornstein was always much harder than training with Artorias due to Ornstein's more problematic personality when it came to the training. The knight couldn't just hold back, and he always went all out in his sparring, which shouldn't be that much surprising. 

Once they had left the Duskendale, they were directly led to the ships as they didn't really want to deal with the local nobles. For Archaon, it was somewhat below his stature and not something that he wanted to do, and he considered it useless.

Not to mention, he was sure that during the Aegon's Conquest of the Weteros, it was sure that they would perish either way. That was also one of the reasons why he wanted to refrain from fraternizing with the local nobility.

Most of them would die either way because the power that the Tragaryens would obtain from the return of the Magic would change the course of history. The Valyrians were already strongly attuned to Magic, and when the Magic returned to the world, it was something that Archaon had chosen to do as it would benefit him greatly in the long term.

He was sure that the Conquest wouldn't go as it went in the canon.

Right now, both Archaon and Ornstein were on the deck of the ship that Archaon had rented for them, and once again, as every day, they were sparring. 

[Congratulations! Stat: Skill has been increased by 1.]

[Congratulations! Stat: Skill has been increased by 1.]

[Congratulations! Stat: Bloodtinge has been increased by 1.]

[Congratulations! Assimilation of the Template (Gehrman the First Hunter) has been increased by 1.]

After several hours of training, he finally got some increase in the Skill Stat and Bloodtinge Stat, and on top of that, he managed to increase the assimilation rate of the Template, which was an added bonus.

Now, he was in the area where everything was coming after an enormous amount of work because increasing the skills or anything required a tremendous amount of work and talent in one.

"I think that we can stop for the time being."

Archaon stated that they stopped their training for the time being because he was already feeling tired and repetitive. Because they were on the ship, both of them needed to carefully think over what they would be doing. 

As the Level 3 Professionals, they were strong enough to sink this ship, as this was just an ordinary wooden ship. It wasn't anything special or powerful that would be able to withstand their strikes easily, so they were just doing ordinary sparring using only their weapon skills and nothing else.

Of course, while also holding back a lot.

This was much harder for them to do because holding back their own strength was something that wasn't just rather hard, but it was also pretty uncomfortable in some way. 

"We would be soon enough reaching the Braavos."

Archaon said that, according to the captain of the ship, they would be reaching Braavos in about ten hours. Considering the fact that they were on the ship longer than it was welcomed, he was glad that they would be getting out from the sea.

Even though he found the likeness of the sea and the calmness that it had brought with it, the conditions on the ship were far from ideal. As someone who lived in the 21st Century and then in the Dungeon where he lived in the highest possible luxury, being stranded on the ship where even going to the toilet was a problem...

Well, that certainly wasn't for him.

Another reason why he cursed this dammed medieval fantasy world so much.

"Within the city, are any possible threats?"

If there was one thing that Archaon learned about Ornstein the Dragonslayer, then it was certainly the fact that the strongest Knight of Gwyn wasn't much of a talker, but he was taking his duty extremely seriously. 

Een, right now, was already analyzing possible threats to his Lord within the Braavos because from the ship's captain, he heard that there was some cult of assassins in the city that acted as their protectors? Or religion? 

Or was it both?

Sometimes, it was hard to orient in that.

"Only the Faceless Men. They are a religious society of assassins who worship the Many-Faced God, a God of Death. They are based in the House of Black and White, in the Free City of Braavos, though they claim to have originated in the Valyrian Freehold. The last information isn't confirmed nor disapproved..."

One could say that the Braavos were the most dangerous out of the Free City due to the presence of the Faceless Men in the city. They were the most elite assassin guild in the entire world, though it would be rather wrong to call them mere assassin guild.

They were more like a religious society of zealots and fanatics.

"They are very skilled in various forms of combat and could even use Magic to some degree, though their most notable Magic is their ability to change the faces of people they have already killed."

Archaon knew that the Faceless Men were perhaps one of the last true Magic users in the entire world right now with the dying Magic.

"For a price, the Faceless Men will agree to kill anyone in the known world, considering this contract to be a sacrament of their god. The price is always high or dear, but within the means of the person if they are willing to make the sacrifice. The cost of their services also depends on the prominence and security of the target. Due to that, it is often said that it's cheaper to hire an army than an assassin from the Faceless Men. Be careful of everyone when we enter the city..."

Archaon was extra careful about the Faceless Men because he was very suspicious of the God behind them. If the Many-Faced God was very active in the material world and decided to meddle in his matters, then he could see that he was the master of the Dungeon. 

He knew that the Gods in this world were semi-active and it wasn't really out of the question that the Gods of this world noticed him and new of his existence. To what point they were able to act, it was questionable, and even if they could act, he was curious if they could even act against him.

The Magical Resurgence that he had planned and would be doing could be beneficial even for the Gods because, technically speaking, it could force more people to believe in the Gods as it would prove to many that the Gods were real.

So, he was rather suspicious about the intentions of the Gods in this world, because they could be rather problematic. Though if they were even real Gods in the first place, that was unknown because he didn't have the means to verify it at all.

"These kinds of assassins would be the most problematic to deal with, and we don't know what attitude their Gods would have toward the Dungeon and its existence. Some may consider it as a good thing as it would allow them to regain their power or become more powerful, or for some, it would be the gravest danger possible."

When Archaon talked about the possible attitudes of the various Gods, he knew that the Gods of this world were not particularly powerful. If they were, they would be able to perform Divine Miracles or other feats yet there were none. 

So Archaon was working with the idea that the Gods in this world were either very weak, they were in a weakened state and were recovering their power, or the third alternative was that they had some sort of restrictions imposed on them due to the Laws of the World.

Though he didn't think that it was the third possibility.

He knew that the Gods like the Seven-Who-Are-One would see the resurgence of Magic as a grave threat to them because right now, most of the Westeros, at least the Southern Westeros, were following the Faith of Seven, giving them the hegemony. 

Though for some other Gods or Entities that may be hiding in the shadows, they would for sure see such things happening favorably because they could profit a lot from it. 

"It seems that we are already near our targetted destination."

Archon

***

Braavos, Some Time Later

Braavos.

The wealthiest and likely the most powerful of the Free Cities. It was located in the Great Lagoon on the northwestern end of Essos, where the narrow sea and the Shivering Sea meet.

Braavos was also known as Braavos of the Hundred Isles and the Secret City, a name also attributed to the city Nefer, the last remaining city of N'ghai. Braavos was sometimes referred to as the "Bastard daughter of Valyria" due to the origins of the city as a city created by the slaves that escaped the Valyrian Freehold.

Unlike the other Free Cities, Braavos was never part of the Valyrian Freehold. The youngest of these cities, Braavos, was founded by escaped slaves fleeing the grasp of the Freehold in some part of the long history of the Valyrian Freehold.

The slaves rebelled on their way from Valyria to a new colony in Sothoryos, took control of the ships, and turned north instead of south, traveling as far as they could. According to the histories of Braavos, it was a group of slave women from the lands of Jogos Nhai, the Moonsingers, who predicted where shelter could be found.

"Thus, the slaves traveled to the distant lagoon, hidden away from the sight of the dragonlords by the wall of hills covered with pine trees and the fog covering the lagoon. The founders of Braavos risked their lives for freedom and swore a vow that no one in their city would ever be a slave, thrall, or bondsman."

Suddenly, the ship's captain stopped in his lecture about the Braavos, as he was Braavosi born and raised and was rather proud of it. He was spouting about the history of the Braavos for the entire journey to the point where it was becoming rather annoying.

At least, though, he had learned a lot about the history of the Braavos that he didn't know before. Even though most of the things that he learned today were entirely useless but whatever.

"And here were are... the Bastard daughter of the Valyria."

Archaon turned his sight at the silhouette of the city in front of them in the distance,e but with his superior eyesight, he could see everything rather clearly. And if there was one thing that was the most eye-catching and that was attracting their immediate attention, it was the Titan of Braavos.

The Titan of Braavos is a massive statue of granite and bronze in the shape of a warrior. It acted as a fortress and lighthouse guarding the entrance into the lagoon where the Free City of Braavos is located. It was also the primary line of defense for Braavos.

"Nothing is better than the feeling of being home."

Archaon had to admit that the Braavos looked...

Surreal?

Even though he remembered the Braavos from the TV shows, albeit only mildly, seeing it in the first person was really breathtaking. Especially the Titan of Braavos, because that was really a magical sight, as the statue looked far different from what it looked like in the shows.

In real life, it looked far more fantasy-looking.

Like it had been once a really living creature.

"We would be soon going to the ports of the city."

The ship's captain, Farraan, said as they passed underneath the Titan of Braavos and headed toward one of many ports in the city, as Braavos was primarily a port city. According to Captain Farraan, there were many smaller ports and the three main ports.

The main harbors were: the Chequy Port, located directly behind the Arsenal, where ships arriving in Braavos have to submit to inspection by the Sealord's customs officers upon arrival in the city; the Purple Harbor, located in the north of the city beneath the towers and domes of the Sealord's Palace, a harbor for Braavosi ships only; and the Ragman's Harbor, also called the Outer Harbor, located in the west of the city, where all foreign ships are allowed to dock. 

They were heading toward the Purple Harbor as Captain Farraan's ship was the Braavosi ship sailing under the Braavos Flag. The Purple Harbor serves only Braavosi ships, such as those of local merchants and the Iron Bank.

The Purple Harbor was richer, nicer, and cleaner than the Ragman's Harbor in the west of the city, which is where ships from other Free Cities and the rest of the known world must berth.

Soon enough, they arrived at the Purple Harbor, and the ship started docking. Finally, after several weeks on the sea, they were in the continent of the Essos.