In the dark and empty hall of the House of Black and White, the fire pot in the corner was burning quietly. Tommen, wearing a simple black clothes, was concentrating on cleaning the house with a broom and rag in his hand.
Born into a royal family and pampered, he was completely unable to clean up at first, and for this he was whipped by another girl whom Arya called a waif.
Fortunately, the cold-hearted and warm-hearted Arya secretly taught Tommen how to clean up carefully. Nearly a month later, he was not only able to complete the complicated cleaning work on his own, but the level of cleanliness even earned him a compliment from Jaqen.
After wiping clean the marble sculpture of a woman in the shrine in front of him, Tommen wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
There are many statues of gods enshrined in the hall of the White House, such as Night Lion, Hooded Walker, Baccaron, Danyue Virgin, Mermaid King, etc.
But Tommen cleans the house most carefully every time, and the people who are the most careful are the stranger and the weeping woman.
The Stranger Sculpture should be carefully cleaned because it conforms to the beliefs of Tommen's Seven Gods, and the Weeping Woman Sculpture should be carefully cleaned because of the tears that continue to seep from its stone eyes.
Arya had specifically reminded him at that time that the teardrops were a colorless, odorless, extremely powerful poison. If he accidentally got it into his mouth, he would probably die silently.
In fact, in Tommen's opinion, such dangerous things should be destroyed directly.
But the House of Black and White not only retains it, but also regularly pours the collected tears into the small pool in the center of the hall for those believers who seek the gift of the Thousand-Faced God.
Squeak!
While he was lost in thought, the black and white door at the front of the hall opened, and Arya, dressed as a Braavos maid, walked in.
"Arya, you are finally back? Is there any important information out there?
I envy you, you can come in and out at will!"
Seeing Arya return, Tommen immediately ran forward to greet her with a smile on his face. While talking, he stared at Arya closely, with other emotions besides envy in his eyes.
"There is important news, the new Sea King has been confirmed!
It’s not Tormo Frega who comes from a noble family that everyone is discussing, but an ordinary citizen named Miho Tos!”
When Arya heard Tommen's inquiry, she first told him the information outside without expression, and then continued,
"There must be a reason why Jaqen won't let you go out. I have been doing your current job before. When you meet the qualifications, you should be able to be like me!"
After this period of getting along, Arya gradually accepted Tommen, who was more like a child than her. And thanks to bringing Tommen back, not only was she not punished, but she was also given a new mission.
"Can I be as good as you? Okay, I will try my best!"
Tommen heard this and nodded to Arya in reply, looking like a passionate young man.
Arya did not answer, but walked towards the interior of the hall. Tommen's eyes stared at her back until she disappeared.
Numerous tunnels have been dug into the hill where the Court of Black and White is located. There are three levels going down. Arya is following the tunnels to the underground level, where Jaqen lives.
"Is the girl looking for someone?"
As soon as he entered the underground level, Jaqen, who was wearing the robes of an acolyte, seemed to have anticipated Arya's return and was already waiting here.
"I have explored all of the Antalion Palace. The handover ceremony for the new Sea King will be held in three days.
I’m sure I can carry out the tasks as requested!”
The reason why Arya was able to know the name of the new Sea King in advance was because she was assigned to work as a maid in the Antalion Palace of the current Sea King, where she could get information while getting closer to the target.
At this moment, she felt that the time was ripe to come back and report the situation to Jaqen.
"When a girl is sure to do something, she doesn't need to ask anyone, just listen to the voice of the God with a Thousand Faces within her!"
After hearing Arya's report, Jaqen turned his head and looked at her, and then answered.
"I want to get the face of a guard, otherwise it will be difficult for me to leave after the mission is completed!"
Hearing that Jaqen neither refused nor agreed, Arya hesitated and revealed her true purpose.
"If a girl wants to get help from someone, she must first make an offering to the God of Many Faces.
Send the gift of the Thousand Faces God to the guard, and then bring back the head, and the girl will get the face she wants!"
After hearing this, Jaqen replied to Arya with his expression still expressionless.
Regarding Jaqen's proposed deal of life in exchange for help, Arya had already anticipated it and nodded directly in agreement: "Okay!"
During the month she spent in the Antalion Palace, she completely regarded herself as an assassin to explore all kinds of information. Therefore, she had already decided on the guard she wanted to kill.
According to the intelligence collected by Arya, the guard used his identity to do all kinds of bad things and deserved to die.
I don't know if this information is true, but at least Arya used this as an excuse in her mind to rationalize her behavior of killing him.
Looking at the back of Arya who turned around and left, Jaqen showed a meaningful smile on his lips.
"Hey, Arya, are you leaving again so soon?"
In the hall of the House of Black and White, Tommen, who had not yet finished cleaning, saw Arya reappearing soon, and asked with some disappointment.
Arya, who had something on her mind, didn't say much to him. She nodded in response and took out a wooden tube from her maid uniform. Then, she came to the statue of the weeping woman and carefully took a tube full of tears.
"Arya, what are you doing?"
"kill!"
Hearing Tommen's inquiry behind her, Arya threw out these words without looking back, covered the wooden pipe and headed towards the black and white door.
Looking at her back, Tommen squirmed a few times, not knowing what to say.
In the early morning of the third day after Arya left, she returned to the House of Black and White again, but this time she carried a round package faintly soaked in blood in her hands.
Time passed in a hurry, and in the blink of an eye it was the day of the handover ceremony for the new Sea King.
On the day when the candidate for the new Sea King was announced, the citizens of Braavos aroused unparalleled enthusiasm.
Since the current Sea King is from the Antarian family, there were a lot of rumors in the past that the next Sea King will still be from a noble family. But now facts have proved that it is possible for citizens to become the new Sea King.
Therefore, except for some noble families whose interests were harmed by this, the entire Braavos was as lively and festive as the New Year.
Originally, according to previous regulations, the handover ceremony should have been held in the Neptune Palace. However, after the current Neptune knew that he was seriously ill and was about to die soon, he returned to his missed former residence, Antarian Palace.
Therefore, the handover ceremony was held in Antarian Hall.
In the splendid main hall of the Antalion Palace, Ferrego Antalion, who looked extremely pale and looked like his end was approaching, was leaning back on a special lounge chair, weakly describing the responsibilities of the Sea King.
The new Sea King Miho Toss was standing in front of him with a solemn face, listening quietly.
The hall was also filled with high-level officials, keykeepers, wealthy businessmen and other powerful people from Braavos. They were witnesses of this handover ceremony.
When Ferrege finally finished speaking, he handed Miho a palm-sized gold statue of the Titan that represented the power of the Sea King.
This golden statue is exactly the same as the Titan exiting Braavos, representing the will of the citizens of Braavos to always stand proudly and never bend their knees to become slaves again.
Bang bang bang!
When Miho took over the golden statue, the main hall, which had been silent just now, immediately burst into thunderous applause.
Miho, who was still an ordinary citizen of Braavos a few months ago, was very excited when he saw the dignitaries wearing black and gray-brown coats. Now he has also entered this class.
After the handover ceremony, there was a sumptuous lunch prepared by the Antarian family.
At this luncheon, Miho was surrounded by many dignitaries of Braavos. He was enjoying the scenery. He gorged on all kinds of delicacies he had never seen before and drank gulps of extremely expensive wine.
In the banquet hall of the Antarian Palace, Besaro, who was unusually fat, seemed to be unable to taste his food. He threw his fork on the plate in confusion, and then called two servants to take him back to his room.
In order to facilitate the great King of the Sea to call at any time, Besaro has been staying in the guest room of Antalion Palace for more than a month.
And Besaro will definitely take a short nap after lunch every day, otherwise he will be in low spirits throughout the afternoon.
Besaro, who was supported by his entourage, was still worried about the search for Tommen Baratheon. According to his spies' report, when Merlin Tran came to Braavos, there was indeed a man beside him.
Blond boy.
But their secret search for more than a month yielded no results, as if Tommen disappeared out of thin air.
Could it be that he is really in those forbidden areas?
A thought suddenly flashed through Besaro's troubled mind. There were several forbidden areas in Braavos that spies could not reach. If Tommen was hiding there, they would indeed be unable to explore.
Forget it, wait until you have a pleasant nap before thinking about these troublesome things!
Walking to his room, Besaro shook his head and sighed, no longer thinking about these troublesome things. He waved away the two followers and entered the room.
As soon as he entered the room, a waiting maid brought him a glass of warm milk.
The wealthy Antalion Palace has a private maid for each guest room. However, the maids in Braavos are not slaves, and guests cannot force them to do unspeakable things.
"How's it going, Kate? The new Sea King is Miho, right? You lost, so you must abide by the agreement!"
Looking at this childish little maid, Besaro's heart suddenly felt hot, and he spoke with a smile on his face.
"Yes, Lord Besaro. Please drink the milk and lie down here!"
The little maid nodded when she heard this and pointed to a large solid wood lounge chair next to her.
Upon hearing this, Besaro immediately raised his head and drank the milk from the glass, then awkwardly moved his fat body to lie on the solid wood recliner.
"Kate, why don't you quit your job as a maid and join my...hehe,hehe!"
Besaro, who finally found a comfortable position by twisting his body on the recliner, was about to finish speaking when suddenly, a rope as thick as his little finger suddenly wrapped around Besaro's fat neck from above and pulled him down.
Besaro, who was suddenly strangled, could not scream for help, and lying on his back, his hands could not grasp the little maid behind him who was holding on to the rope.
If it were a head-on fight, the little maid would not be able to defeat the heavyweight Besaro. But he followed the little maid's guidance and assumed a posture that was most conducive to being killed by the opponent.
As Besaro's struggling movements gradually became weaker, the sound of him trying to open his mouth to breathe also gradually disappeared.
However, Arya did not let go easily. She continued to rely on her own body weight to fall on the rope for a while, and then she released her hands that were red from being strangled by the rope.
Besaro is the target of her mission, and this guy has some nurturing ideas for Arya. Therefore, he has been deliberately cultivating the relationship between the two for the past month.
If it weren't for the mission requirement that the target must be eliminated on the handover day of Neptune, Arya might have taken action to eliminate him long ago. Moreover, this mission not only required time, but also had strict requirements on the method of death.
After Arya routinely searched Besaro for valuable or special trophies, she took out the guards who had hidden them in the room in advance.
When she covered her face with the face that was like a work of art, the guard's face suddenly turned rosy, just like the skin of a living person, without any flaws at all.
At the same time, Arya's body was shrouded in a layer of black light, and her short body suddenly grew taller, turning into a sturdy male guard.
"This feeling is so amazing!"
Arya looked at her big hands and whispered to herself in a thick male voice.
To be honest, the method used by the faceless men to change their appearance is not so much disguise, but rather magic using a special face as a medium.
Because in addition to changing their appearance, they can also change their body shape and voice in a short period of time without any flaws.
The best example is that in his previous life, Jaqen disguised himself as a street boy in front of Arya.
If it weren't for magic, how could a tall, tall man turn into a girl?
Back to business!
Arya took a moment to adjust to her body and opened the door to the guest room. There was no one in the corridor at this time. She walked out of the room without even closing the door and headed towards the courtyard where the guest room building was located.
Two of Besaro's servants were hiding in the corner of the yard eating the black bread they had brought. After Arya walked up to them and told them that Lord Besaro was looking for them, she walked straight out.
Within a few minutes, the voices of two servants screaming that there was an assassin could be heard in the guest room building.
After hearing the sound, the guards in Antalion Hall hurried towards the guest room building. The dignitaries in the banquet hall began to be evacuated by the guards.
Making Besaro's death an assassin's assassination is the mission's requirement for the method of death.
Arya, who successfully completed her mission, did not go towards the main door, but towards the back door where guards and servants usually came in and out.
"Hey, the Faceless Men's assassination of Besaro just distracts everyone's attention. We can just give Miho to the great Sea King."
"Humph, who kept him from finding Tommen Baratheon! But this guy is really heavy!"
When Arya walked to the back half of Antalion Hall, she suddenly heard a noise around the corner. So she immediately hid in an empty room, and hiding behind the door, she overheard the conversation between the two people outside.
.
They know it was the Faceless Men who assassinated Besaro! And they're still looking for Tommen!
After the two people left, Arya walked out of the room. She stood there and pondered for a moment, looked in the direction of the back door, then turned around and chased after the two people in the direction they left.
Arya, who has been practicing the dance of water diligently, is still agile and light on her feet even though her figure has changed.
The two people in front were carrying the new Sea King who was either drunk or unconscious, but they didn't notice the tail behind them at all.
The two people turned left and right and came to a huge wall deep in the palace. After looking around, they pulled a candlestick on the wall.
Card!
The huge wall then opened a stone door, and the two of them ducked in.
After they entered, Arya went to the wall and listened. After the footsteps in the wall disappeared, she pulled the candlestick and entered the stone door that popped open again.
Behind the stone gate is a secret passage leading underground. Although there are candlesticks lighting the left and right sides of this secret passage, it is still dim.
Faced with this somewhat strange secret passage, Arya, who had been daring since she was a child, did not hesitate at all and directly touched it cautiously.
When Arya slowly reached the end of the stairs of the secret passage, she discovered that below was a temple hall similar to the Court of Black and White.
However, the shrine in this temple hall does not enshrine various gods, but a living person, the former Sea King, Ferrego Antarian.
The two men who carried the current Sea King had turned into corpses, and next to their corpses, Ferrego's chief swordsman Quero carried Miho to the middle of the hall and threw him into a pool full of blood.
*#&*……
As Ferrego, who was sitting on the shrine, hummed in an unknown language, the blood in the pool in the middle of the hall seemed to be boiled, bubbling constantly.
Then, the blood in the entire pool seemed to be attracted by invisible force to form a ball, wrapping Miho in it and floating in the air.
The blood in the corpses of the two people next to them also seemed to be drawn, flowing into it like water.
After seeing this strange scene, Quello knelt down and prayed very devoutly, like a loyal believer.
A stream of black-red blood spurted out from the mouth of Ferrego on the shrine and merged into the blood ball. Then, all the blood balls surrounding Miho were poured from his seven orifices.
Miho, who was floating in the air, slowly landed on the ground and stood there. Then, he opened his blood-red eyes, but his eyes were full of confusion.
"Your Majesty the Great Sea King, the blood ceremony went smoothly. Congratulations on your rebirth!"
Quilo quietly turned back and glanced at the mummy-like corpse on the niche, then turned to congratulate Miho respectfully.
After hearing this, the redness in Miho's eyes gradually receded. He seemed to remember who he was. He looked at his palms for a while and then replied with some disappointment:
"This is not a new life, it is just another delay in death!
The world has become more and more dangerous, and I must break through the limitations to gain a true new life!
Quero, find Tommen Baratheon, I need his true king's blood.
Humph, the three-eyed crow in Westeros only used the blood of the Stark family to make himself look like a god now!"