The group of people who came out of the mill returned to the carriage and lifted the alert. After the story of the peasant woman spread among the army, everyone felt more solemn.
Leading the army further north into the territory of the Frey family, Witte also wrote letters about what happened here to King's Landing and the West.
Two days later in the morning, the seven city gates around King's Landing were opened, and people queuing up to enter the city discovered that in addition to the small officials collecting city taxes at the gate, the golden robes were particularly energetic today, and they were all on guard with weapons in their hands. p>
"What are they doing?" A farmer queuing into the city carrying herbs asked the people around him.
"Maybe something big has happened. Look, the new Commander-in-Chief of the Golden Robe, Jon, is here." The young man carrying a pile of furs replied.
A pony-sized direwolf with pure white fur and eyes as red as blood is lying on the ground resting. Wherever it goes, Jon will definitely be nearby.
Dozens of people in golden robes holding weapons seemed to be on guard for something. After the gate was opened, it took a while before people were allowed to enter the city. Several loud voices began to shout: "Everyone who has paid their taxes, spread your palms! Spread your palms!"
"Open your palms. Which noble family has been robbed again?" The farmer looked at his calloused and rough palms without any worry.
"It's not a peaceful time in King's Landing!" The young man responded perfunctorily to his words, standing on tiptoes and looking around.
The team moved slowly, and the farmer and the young man were almost at the small tax table. Only then did they see clearly what the golden robes were doing.
In addition to their own weapons, each golden robe held a short wooden stick in his hand. One end of the wooden stick was covered with bright silver metal. He used this end to rub the open palms of the people entering the city a few times, without any effect.
Leave something on the palm of your hand, rub it a few times and release it.
"Is this the new blessing method of the Seven Gods?" After the farmer asked, he found that the young man following him had not replied for a long time. He looked back and saw that the young man's furs were being fought over by several farmers, and the others had disappeared. After quickly paying the city tax of a few copper stars, the farmer spread his palms, and while the golden robe was grinding on his palms with a metal stick, he asked with a flattering smile: "My lord, what is this for?"
What is it for?"
"Check vampires! After checking, go in and don't block the way. Next one!" The answer was rude, and the golden robe pulled his sleeves to ask him to follow quickly.
Jon Snow, who was standing aside with several captains to supervise him, had a beard on his face and chin, which did not match his somewhat immature appearance. I don’t know who gave him the idea, saying that he was other than
In addition to his magic and martial arts skills, he is still too young. In order to appear stable and calm his subordinates, he was asked to grow his beard long.
The direwolf Ghost suddenly stood up and bared his teeth in the direction of the crowd. The magic connection between Jon and the direwolf Ghost was now very deep. He sensed Ghost's reaction and adjusted his magic slightly. Ghost smelled a strange bloody smell.
The feeling of taste spread to his mind.
Jon drew his sword and shouted: "There are vampires, close the city gate quickly!"
Under the gaze of the confused crowd, the golden robes quickly closed the city gate. Jon and Ghost walked into the crowd and felt the direction of the smell: "People in front, stop!"
The young man who was walking out of the city did not look back. He ran away after hearing Jon's words.
"Can you run away?" Jon held the sword in his right hand and tilted it to his side. He leaned forward, stepped on the person with his foot and rushed out quickly, leaving a trail of purple marks that were the same as his sword-holding posture.
Shadow.
The young man ran very fast, but Jon was faster, and the direwolf Ghost couldn't catch up with him on all four legs.
Looking back, he saw Jon chasing after him quickly. The young man tore off his clothes and revealed his true form as a vampire amidst the exclamations of countless people. He used magic to make his body half-floating and ran away quickly. The two of them chased each other for a short time.
He quickly left the others behind,
The same city inspections also occurred in East City, Casterly Rock and Lannister Port. King Robert did not want to die in the hands of monsters, and Tywin did not dare to let the king die in his own place.
Werther led his troops to the Twin River City. The city was deserted. On the bridge connecting the castles on both sides of the river, some of the five iron gates were open and some were closed.
In the castle hall, several rows of narrow wooden tables were pushed together to serve as map tables, with Werther, James, and other officers surrounding them.
"With an army of nearly 6,000 people, as well as officials and civilians living in Twin River City, it is absolutely impossible for such a large number of people to just disappear!" Sir Adam Marbrand, the cavalry commander, looked at the map: "Here, here
, they all have to send cavalry over to conduct reconnaissance."
"Wait a minute!" When James was about to give the order, Werther stopped him. "If one vampire kills people and people run away, it can't catch up. If there are hundreds of vampires, the Frey family may have been wiped out." As soon as these words came out, the hall fell into dead silence, and no one dared to make a sound. This situation was too terrifying, and they couldn't accept it for a while.
Werther did not continue to speak. The more they were afraid of vampires, the more severe they would be when they saw vampires, and the less likely they were to betray humans and become rapists. This was the effect Werther wanted.
Not long after, Edmure came in with dozens of riverland nobles and officers.
"Witt, James, we have just searched the entire Twins City. Good news, bad news." Edmure was very tired from running, so he grabbed a cup on the table and poured it into his mouth, whether it was water or wine. "Hear the bad news first!" James hoped that the last good news would boost morale.
"There are many traces of battle in the castle, including dried blood and broken weapons." Edmure raised a finger: "There is not a single corpse in the entire Twins City!"
James, who looked solemn, put his hands on the table and slowly raised his head: "What about the good news?"
"We also checked the granary, and all the food in it was gone. We analyzed that if the granary was full and only half of it was taken away, enough to feed an army of 6,000 people for a month, then the remaining half must be from the city.
I took them with me when I escaped!" There is still hope for people to be alive, which is really good news for now.
"Are there any signs of a large group of people passing by outside the castle?" James asked again.
"This.
"Edmure unconsciously raised his hand to scratch his hair.
"Sir James, we have checked the human footprints, horse hoof prints and ruts that were not soaked by the rain. They were left about two weeks ago." Harry Bracken walked out of the crowd and said.
He coaxed the people present to relax and began to discuss in which direction the people from Twin River City fled.
"It's impossible to escape southward through the King's Road. That's where we came from."
"To the southwest is the Witch Swamp. Carrying so much food there is just looking for death."
"Twins City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but this is only for humans. If I want to run away from a vampire, I will never run away with a large army. Only by spreading out and running away can I have a chance to save my life."
"I don't want to attack everyone, but you think of vampires as monsters that only kill people, and you forget that they are intelligent." Witte turned to look around at the people present: "You all know that you need to bring enough with you when you go out to fight.
Food and live pigs and sheep are the same for vampires. Their food is the blood of animals, especially human blood. If I were the vampire leader, I would keep some people around me for emergencies."
"Damn it! We humans have become livestock raised by vampires!" Edmure kicked the table and cursed.
Not only were they killed, but they were also used as food. The young people present felt a chill in their backs.
James walked up to Werther, put his head close and whispered: "You shouldn't sound so scary. Look at these young people, they are probably too scared to ride a horse."
Witte: "This is a fact. It's better for them to accept it in advance than to die inexplicably. And vampires don't kill people unilaterally. You'll know later."
Everyone was digesting the information they heard. Not long after, Werther's temporary attendants William, Martin and Tirek, three blond guys, each walked into the hall holding a large bundle of dried weeds and flowers. Salina and Miriel
One person is carrying a basket, which is slightly heavier and contains some glass bottles.
Werther put away the map on the table and put it aside, pointing to the empty table: "Put the things here."
"Lord Werther, do you think these are these?" Tirek asked.
Most of the alchemical raw materials are various plants. Now every lord in Westeros is engaged in alchemical raw material business. As soon as Werther entered the castle, he detected a faint fluctuation of magic power. Several Lannister brothers and sisters did not know the materials and only followed Werther's instructions.
I ordered some materials to be selected by color and shape.
Werther picked and picked, threw away most of them, and piled the remaining three kinds together: "That's it. Go get some more, and find some empty wine bottles by the way."
Several people came over to take a closer look, and immediately ran out again.
Werther: "Edmure, give me the vampire ashes."
"You want to make a potion here?" Edmure asked his men to bring over a sack.
The price of vampire ashes is the same weight of silver. Werther did not bring any money. He promised Edmure to make the ashes into a potion and give him a few bottles of the best as a deduction. Edmure was a little confused. He went to the alchemy workshop in Riverrun.
I’ve seen it, it’s spotless and the magician takes great care of it.
Witte nodded. Ordinary mages would not waste their magic power to build an alchemy platform with magic, which is both luxurious and unstable. Witte doesn't care about this. As long as the magic power is strong enough, trash can be turned into treasure.
While starting the alchemy operation in his hand, he loudly explained to everyone: "Vampire ashes can be used to refine the four rarest potion effects: invisibility, recovery of magic power, recovery of life and treatment of diseases."
"Oh, awesome." A group of people who don't understand magic responded habitually because they didn't understand what they heard.
"Witt, aren't these four effects also available with other materials?" Thoros spoke. In order to make money, he made potions and sold them in Renly's shop. All his usual magic power was used in alchemy.
Witte kept his hands on his hands: "We have captured two vampires in Tyrosh. After research by Master Triene, we found that they are both life-restoring potions, and the effects of using known formulas are already very good.
, it can be made from vampire ashes. After drinking it, the broken limb can be healed! Note that the broken limb is healed, not another one grows!"
"Healing of broken limbs? Other healing potions really don't have this effect." James took out a small glass bottle from his belt and held it in his hand.
The blue liquid inside was crystal clear and slightly shimmering, and Werther saw that it was made by Tyene. This potion can heal large-area wounds, but the hand was cut off and the wound could not be reattached after drinking the potion.<
/p>
Cobain's eyes lit up when he heard it. Broken limbs healed? Limb combinations? Cobain thought more and more excitedly, and he couldn't wait to start studying these ashes now.
"Witt, give me the vampire ashes evenly. I'll give you the money when I return to King's Landing!"
"Okay!"
There were a lot of materials. Next, Werther prepared a bottle of potion for each noble. The high-end nobles used small bottles and the lower-end nobles used wine bottles. It was inconvenient to carry only a small amount of potion in such a large wine bottle, but it was better than nothing. What Werther gave
The price is very favorable.
After the preparation of the potion was completed, everyone began to assign tasks.
In the name of the Duke, Edmure officially put all the nobles in the Riverlands on alert and recruited magicians from all over the country to assist. No lord was allowed to take the initiative before the magicians arrived.
There are swamps to the north and south of Twins City. Eagle Point in the west and Mingyue Mountains in the east are most likely people's escape routes. James took the initiative to apply to search in the Mingyue Mountains, which is farther away, because he was leading cavalry. Ed
The nobles of the Riverlands led by Mu, all the soldiers without horses were stationed in Twin River City, and a small number of cavalry went west to Eagle Point to search. Both sides would release reconnaissance cavalry in advance, and once there were too many enemies, they would immediately return to Twin River City.
Thoros had been a free mercenary in the Riverlands for a long time, and often drank with Robert, Edmure and others. Since the two had a good relationship, he followed Edmure to protect his safety. Qyburn followed James
They acted together with Mu's cavalry. The two were the first magicians to learn from Werther. With their strength, it was easy to deal with vampires as long as they did not take the initiative to kill.
Witte himself, riding a giant dragon, will first patrol the swamps in the north and south directions, and then head to the Mingyue Mountains in the east to assist James. There are more mountains and more dangerous roads as you go toward the valley, making it more convenient to search in the sky.
As long as he didn't have a goal, Werther would rather read a book than move a step. If he had a goal, he would move when he was told. That night, he carried dry food and set off with Ao Daweiying. The others had to rest in the Twins City for one night, and the next day
Set off again early in the morning.
In the next few days, no signs of crowds were found in the swamps in the south and north. Werther flew to the west to find Edmure, but they found nothing and continued to search westward.
Head east to look for James and Qyburn. They have just stepped into the Moon Mountains. The roads here are winding and lined with rocks, and the cavalry can only make continuous detours in order to use their mobility.
"Dragonborn, there seems to be something I hate down there!"
Above the clouds in the northern part of the Mingyue Mountains, Witte was dozing while sitting on top of the giant dragon. He was awakened by the loud voice of Audaweiying speaking. Before Witte could reply, Audaweiying stopped suddenly and twisted his body downwards.
He dived and almost threw Werther out.
In the past, Witte told it that the dragon could not give up its mobility for the dragon knight. Now, once Audaweiying starts fighting, he does not care whether there is anyone with him to fly. Fortunately, Witte is used to it.
When he was about to reach the top of a long stone mountain, Audaweiying opened his wings to the maximum and instantly changed to level flight, gliding past a savage camp.
Witte, who was hanging by one hand on the horn of Oda Weiying, looked down at the camp and found that there were traces of battles and burned-out wooden houses everywhere.
"Dragonborn, are these ghosts still killing each other?" Aoda Weiying also lowered his head to check.
"I don't know. I'll go down and take a look. Please stay alert!" Witte, who let go of his hand and fell from the air, didn't understand either. None of the battle traces in the camp were left by humans. The huge claw marks on the tree trunks and rocks and the magic...
The traces are caused by vampires killing each other.