"Mounted Mormonts serve the Starks. Winged-dragon-riding Mormonts serve the Targaryens."
"And if they come into conflict?" the She-Bear asked again.
"Then it will be a civil war. As long as the two Mormonts never meet, it will be fine."
"It still feels like a bad idea," the She-Bear said, torn.
"Then do you want my paladin title or not?"
The Great Bear was getting a little impatient. He had neither sons nor daughters of his own. He only decided to let Maege's descendants inherit his gifts because he did not want to see the title of "Lord Mormont" end up losing its wife due to poverty. If Maege herself was unwilling, then forget it.
"I want it, of course I do!"
Refusing the Great Bear's inheritance was easy, just a single sentence, but encountering such good fortune again would be nearly impossible.
Maege was not foolish. Of course she would not refuse.
"Do you have any other titles?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" the Great Bear asked in confusion.
"Why not split the family into two branches? Bear Island continues to be loyal to the Starks, and another daughter of mine can inherit your winged dragon and your lands."
The Great Bear was stunned.
The She-Bear felt a little embarrassed under his gaze. Her sallow old face flushed, and she stammered, "A loyal subject cannot serve two masters. The Starks and the Targaryens still have a blood feud from over a decade ago. Who knows when they might start fighting again?
"Besides, I have four daughters. The remaining three have no inheritance rights. Bear Island is too poor. Good families look down on us and are unwilling to marry into our house."
Bear Island was too poor and too remote. When it came to marriage, both men and women there suffered miserably.
The Great Bear did not even need mentioning, and the daughters of Bear Island were also very hard to marry off.
The She-Bear herself had no husband. All five of her children were born from flings with wild men. Her eldest daughter, Dacey, was nearly twenty and had never married.
Her second daughter, "Mother Bear," had several children as well, but like the She-Bear, she never married and bore children with wild men from Bear Island.
Not every daughter of Bear Island looked like Mother Bear.
Take Dacey Mormont, for example. She was tall and fit, heroic yet charming, graceful in bearing, and well educated, trained as an earl's heir.
The daughters of great noble houses were often betrothed before reaching adulthood. But the daughters of Bear Island were either like Dacey, chaste yet without any outstanding noble sons willing to marry them, or like Maege and Alysanne, whom men of status were unwilling to marry, while men without status were beneath their notice. They might as well live freely on Bear Island. Muscular men, stylish men, cool men, fresh young men, pick whatever you like, all guaranteed to be under twenty-five. After all, they were the rulers of Bear Island, poor but powerful.
"I am a White Knight, with no lands, but I can ask the Queen. It should work."
Dany naturally had no objections.
"I have many Westerosi nobles here. Calling all your nieces over would not be a problem.
"They will first swear their oaths as knights, then follow me to conquer the world. I guarantee that every one of them will have a title and lands in the future." The Dragon Queen was extraordinarily generous.
Competent subordinates who came with built-in loyalty were something she could never refuse.
When she took Bayasabhad by the Jade Sea last time, she already felt that she was short on capable aides. In the future, when conquering Qarth, the Jade Sea, Volantis, and other city-states, even assigning just one trusted confidant as governor per city would strain her talent pool.
Moreover, the Great Bear belonged to the oldest group of her followers, and Dany was more than happy to give him some reward.
With this answer, Maege happily settled down in the Great Pyramid.
That evening, Dany held a small banquet for Maege in the Great Pyramid. She did not invite many guests, just gathered the commanders and nobles staying in the Great Pyramid for a lavish dinner.
After the night banquet, Dany began treating the dwarf's injuries.
It was a stone chamber of thirty square meters, its walls lined with snow-white dragon-patterned paper. A chandelier hung above, with more than twenty candles lit, making the room brightly illuminated.
At the center stood a single bed padded with straw mats. On it lay a charred dwarf wearing nothing but white underpants.
"Well?" Watching the changing expressions on Dany's face under the candlelight, old Aemon was deeply worried.
"Well?" the dwarf also widened his mismatched eyes and looked nervously at Dany.
Dany remained silent for a long while before saying, "Tyrion, first give me a reason to save you."
The dwarf blurted out, "I am willing to go through fire and water for House Targaryen!"
"Heh." Dany sneered.
"I will lead Casterly Rock to surrender to you."
"Heh."
"I can give you my sister's head for you to kick around like a ball."
"Sigh. It seems you are doomed to die today," Dany said with a sigh.
"Your Majesty, aside from loyalty, I truly cannot think of anything else I can offer you!" the dwarf wailed.
"Loyalty? Do not ruin such a beautiful word."
"Then tell me what you want," Tyrion said, closing his eyes. "Since you did not throw me out, it means there is still a chance to save me. Whatever you say, I will agree."
Dany turned to Aemon and pointed at the dwarf. "What value does he still have?"
Aemon frowned, looking awkward. "Even a nail or a straw mat can serve some purpose. No matter how bad Tyrion is, he is better than a nail or a straw mat. Perhaps he will be useful in the future."
The dwarf opened his eyes and shouted, "Master Aemon, I swear I will not disappoint your expectations. I will be a million times more useful than a nail or a straw mat."
Dany laughed. "In that case, sell your life to me. Each time I buy your life, it counts as one unit of value. How about that?"
"You mean, if you save me once, I have to sell my life to you multiple times?" the dwarf asked hesitantly.
"There are three plans to save you," Dany said, holding up three fingers. "First, the standard version. I use Greater Resurrection to repair your burned internal organs, then use Bogba's Ice-Skin Jade-Complexion Ointment to treat your external wounds."
You can survive, but your entire body will be covered in burn scars, just like the Hound's face."
"The Hound?" Tyrion shuddered violently and hurriedly said, "I don't want the standard version. Please give me something better!"
"The standard version consumes the least divine power. You only need to repay me with five lives, serving me five times," Dany reminded him.
"Five lives just for the standard version? That's too expensive, isn't it?"
Dany nodded and said matter-of-factly, "This kind of exclusive business is naturally highly profitable. A 'treasure' like you, who is a million times more useful than a straw mat, deserves to be fleeced hard."
The dwarf asked dully, "Tell me about the other treatment options."
"For something above the standard, the VIP Premium Edition. I will make a great vow to the Mother and use a million units of faith to reforge your life."
Old Aemon asked curiously, "What does 'reforging your life' mean?"
"Above holy healing lies resurrection. You have all seen the resurrection process of the High Sparrow, right?I cannot use resurrection, but the Mother is merciful and the Father is just, so they passed on to me a technique called 'Rebirth.'"
"Rebirth?" The lofty name immediately intimidated both the dwarf and Aemon.
"Take a look," Dany said disdainfully, pointing at the dwarf. "Not even a meter tall, a head as big as a bucket, a torso like a pillar, legs bent like crab claws.
"And you have no nose, a scar across your face, and eyes of unequal size.
"If not for the Mother's mercy, someone like you should be thrown straight into the seven hells."
The dwarf was both ashamed and furious and shouted, "The Father is fair. Though I lack a normal physique, I possess extraordinary wisdom!"
"If you truly had great wisdom, you wouldn't have accomplished nothing and failed at every scheme," Dany mocked.
"Dany, what can Rebirth do?" Aemon hurriedly changed the subject.
"Rebirth, as the name implies, lets the dwarf become a new person. I can make him more handsome than his older brother, and…" Dany crossed her left arm over her chest and propped her chin with her right hand, scrutinizing the dwarf back and forth. "Maybe he could reach one point three meters?"
"You can make me taller?" The dwarf's eyes widened in wild joy.
The dwarf was currently 0.9 meters tall. Growing to 1.3 meters would be almost like lengthening his body by half. That would be nothing short of a miracle.
"Dany, can you really make him grow again?" Aemon asked, uncertain.
"Not only taller, but more handsome as well."
"I think I was already quite handsome before," the dwarf said hesitantly.
"Then do you want to be even more handsome?" Dany asked with a smile.
"Of course, if it can be done." The dwarf did not hesitate at all.
"VIP Premium Edition. Fifty lives."
"It's a bit expensive, but…" The dwarf nodded after some internal struggle. "If you can really do it, fifty lives are worth it."
After all, serving five times does not guarantee survival, and serving fifty times is not much different.
Thinking this way, the dwarf looked at Dany with renewed anticipation and asked, "What about the third treatment?"
"The VIP-MAX PRO Imperial Edition. In addition to all the benefits of the premium version, it will also grant you the power of a god descending to the mortal world."
"A god descending?"
"Strength enough to wrestle with giants, magical resistance like a dragon's, immunity to most curses in the world, and even the awakening of a special magical talent."
"So powerful?" The anticipation in the dwarf's eyes turned into doubt. "Even you aren't that strong, are you?"
"Heh. How do you think I became King of the Khals?" Dany replied with an arrogant smile.
The dwarf clenched his teeth and said firmly, "Alright. I want the Imperial Edition treatment!"
"You're not even asking the price? You'll have to serve me one hundred times!"
After all, I only have one life. What difference is there between selling it fifty times or a hundred times?
Thinking this in his heart, the dwarf nonetheless spoke with righteous resolve. "To die in service to Your Majesty is a minister's duty. Let alone a hundred times, what about five hundred?"
"Then five hundred it is!"
The dwarf froze.
"Dany, you're not just bragging, are you? Where in the world is there such a powerful and miraculous healing art?" Old Aemon finally voiced his thoughts after feeding the dwarf a large bowl of concentrated poppy milk.
"You don't trust me? Do you not even trust the Mother?"
"Uh…" Old Aemon's mouth twitched a few times. "I trust the Mother, but I trust even more that you would lie in the Mother's name."
"Heh. Just wait."
Dany smiled helplessly, put on a mask, donned a clean white coat, took out a scalpel, and swiftly and precisely sliced open the dwarf's chest.
"Ah!"
Old Aemon nearly went into cardiac arrest from the sudden action.
"Haven't you personally dissected corpses before?" Dany asked in confusion.
"But Tyrion isn't a corpse!" Old Aemon clutched the operating table, his old face pale.
"Ugh!" When Dany peeled open the dwarf's belly like slaughtering a pig, exposing the charred, bleeding organs inside, the old man cried out again. He stopped arguing with Dany altogether and rushed out the door to vomit.
It was as if a mass of fire had ignited within the dwarf's chest. His organs and intestines were all blackened and scorched, with some organs even oozing yellow-red pus and blood.
Yet the dwarf did not die, because he was a Targaryen.
If he were an ordinary person, he would have died long ago.
If this had been before Dany ascended to demigodhood, he would not have lasted until now either.
(End of chapter)
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