The Mountain of Ice and Fire

"What's wrong with you? You look like Lady Sansa just died!" Bronn chuckled.

"I was hoping Lady Jeyne would give me a hundred soldiers and some money," Tyrion shrugged, laughing self-deprecatingly. "But she won't give me a single soldier, and she's holding onto every copper star for dear life."

Bronn sneered, unreservedly, "Doesn't the Hand of the King just take money directly from the treasury when he needs it?"

"The treasury's finances are controlled by Littlefinger. Our dream trip to the Mountains of the Moon, where we almost lost our heads, was designed by Littlefinger. In King's Landing, the person who poses the greatest threat to me, the one I trust the least, is Littlefinger."

"Audit his accounts!" Bronn said instructively. "You're the Hand; just audit the Master of Coin's ledgers, find the accounting loopholes, and then tell him he can either face trial and be hanged or give you a large sum of money to hire soldiers."

"That's not a bad idea."

"Heh, if my father were a great lord, I might be Hand of the King in these chaotic times," Bronn boasted.

"You can't even understand the ledgers of House Stokeworth. The Seven Kingdoms wouldn't need a Hand who can't calculate."

"Half-man, if my father were a great lord, I would naturally have received training in mathematics, history, etiquette, and swordsmanship from a young age. In any case, I wouldn't be worse than a half-man," Bronn laughed cheerfully.

"Alright, Bronn, who's no worse than a half-man, after you take me back to the Tower of the Hand, you and Podrick go immediately to find Littlefinger and bring me all of his ledgers."

"Tonight?" Bronn raised his voice, very dissatisfied. "Don't Podrick and I even get any time to sleep?"

"Tonight. We can't give Littlefinger any time to prepare. That guy has eyes and ears all over the city. Maybe what we're saying right now is already being heard by his people."

"The Hand of the King is right. There must be ants and night birds on the road we just passed. Those are Littlefinger's spies, and they're rushing to Littlefinger's bed to report right now."

Podrick, who had been listening to the Hand of the King and Ser Bronn bickering, couldn't help but smile.

*

Mellisande's brothel.

Bronn and Podrick ignored the calls of the girls at the brothel's entrance and went straight in. They quickly crossed the hall, went up to the second floor, and headed straight for Littlefinger's chambers.

Littlefinger had recently moved into Mellisande's brothel, where he spent every night counting the income and expenses of all the brothel businesses in the city and personally doing every bit of accounting.

The door to Littlefinger's conference room was closed, and the bedroom door was also closed. Bronn pushed aside the women who tried to block him and pushed open the door. The bedroom was empty, and the bed was cold to the touch.

Bronn ordered Podrick to check the conference room, but it was still empty.

"Where's Mellisande? Call her out," Bronn slapped a woman's butt. "If you're any slower, I'll tear down this brothel."

A woman quickly arrived: "Ser Bronn, which girl has caught your eye? Just say the word, and I'll bring her to you immediately."

"Where is Petyr Baelish? I'm smitten with him and miss his little pecker," Bronn said with a fake smile.

Slap!

Mellisande's small hand hit Bronn's arm: "Ser, don't joke around. I'm free tonight. How about I keep you company for a drink, my lord?"

"Our Hand of the King is looking for him; it's urgent. Which room is he fooling around in? If you don't tell me, I'll search room by room."

"Ser, you won't find him here."

"Then tell me where he went," Bronn's eyes narrowed, his hand on his sword hilt.

"Lord Petyr was picked up by Lord Mace Tyrell a long time ago, Ser."

"Where did they go?"

"I heard they went to Maidenhall."

*

As soon as Littlefinger Petyr Baelish walked out of Maidenhall, Bronn and Podrick emerged from behind a tree not far away.

The two had been waiting outside Maidenhall all night, and it felt really bad.

After the Tyrell family moved into Maidenhall, the security was tight, with all the Tyrell family's bannermen and knights guarding it layer upon layer. Bronn and Podrick wisely chose a stakeout strategy.

"Lord Petyr, the Hand of the King requests that you bring your ledgers to the Tower of the Hand," Podrick said bluntly.

"Very well. After the small council meeting today, I will send someone to deliver the ledgers to the Hand of the King."

"No, not after the small council meeting, but now."

"Now?"

"Yes, Podrick and I will accompany you to retrieve them."

"Uh, alright, then now!" Littlefinger Petyr Baelish smiled.

*

The thick ledgers made Tyrion's head spin.

Every sum of money that Littlefinger got was taken for reinvestment. The money earned from reinvestment was again taken to invest in other businesses. Losses, replenishments, fundraising, taxes—every sum of money, as long as there was a surplus, was invested in another business, and that other business was mixed up with yet another business, and that other business was invested in yet another business…

It was very difficult to trace the final destination of a tax revenue… There were many projects of expenditure and income in between. In the end, Tyrion felt that every entry in Littlefinger's accounts—simply had no destination. It was like flowing water, constantly moving, forming its own closed loop.

Tyrion found that the more he audited the accounts, the deeper and more he fell into the maze. At first, it was okay; he still knew the direction he had come from, but once he fell into an infinitely splitting maze—pushing open a door, you would find five doors in front of you; pushing open one of the five doors, you would find five more… And then, the doors seemed to have no end…

Bronn and Podrick had stayed in the Hand's study with Tyrion, and they didn't know how many times they had slept, woken up, and eaten. Anyway, they ate when they were hungry and slept when they were tired, while the Hand of the King was always looking at the ledgers; after eating and closing their eyes, the Hand of the King was looking at the ledgers; when they woke up from sleep and were hungry, the Hand of the King was still looking at the ledgers…

Bronn got up; he was really bored in the study and felt like a bird in a cage. He didn't know how many times the sun had risen and set.

"Half-man, haven't you found any accounting loopholes yet?" Bronn stretched his waist, and his whole body's bones creaked.

Podrick also woke up, sat up silently, feeling dizzy, weak, and tired all over.

Tyrion raised a pair of dark circles under his eyes, slowly closed the ledger, and didn't say a word.

"Don't tell me Littlefinger hasn't embezzled from the treasury," Bronn said. "I'll never believe it."

Tyrion was very frustrated. He wanted to use Jeyne, but Jeyne spat in his face; he wanted to audit Littlefinger's accounting loopholes to manipulate Littlefinger, but obviously, this guy had taken precautions when he first did the accounting, anticipating that one day his accounts would be audited. Every sum of money was always being invested, or on the way to being invested…

Investing meant having to wait for the business to be completed and delivered before the losses and surpluses could be calculated. Before one business was completed, another investment had already begun… This was an infinitely looping maze, and it was moving forward all the time, with no end in sight… He had to get Littlefinger an assistant to prevent him from starting an infinite investment scheme.

"Ser Bronn, pour me a drink!" Tyrion said, his voice full of fatigue!

Bronn placed the wine glass in front of Tyrion, and Tyrion came back to his senses. He gave Bronn a polite look.

"Didn't find Littlefinger's problem?" Bronn stared at Tyrion, with a completely unwilling-to-believe expression.

"It still needs time," Tyrion said bitterly.

"Ha!" Bronn said. This syllable was very interesting; it was laughter and not laughter.

Knock knock knock!

The study door was knocked, and a servant's voice came: "My lord, the King commands you to go to the throne room immediately."

"Understood, I'll go right away!" Tyrion threw himself into the wide chair that several generations of Hands had sat in. "Podrick, call Lady Sansa; bring up the dishes and food. Eat your fill before going."

"What about these ledgers?" Bronn said mercilessly.

"Return them to Littlefinger first," Tyrion said, facing Bronn's probing gaze. "Let him be proud for a few days. We're not short of these few days anyway."

"Ha!" Bronn said.

*

The throne room, a meeting of the small council.

As soon as Tyrion entered, he got a headache seeing Joffrey still sitting in the center.

He hoped that Joffrey would no longer participate in any major and confidential government affairs, but looking at Cersei's appearance, she was obviously only willing to stand on Joffrey's side. She had indeed given birth to a beautiful and handsome king who could fascinate noble ladies, but she had forgotten to help him grow a brain.

The Hand sat to the right of the Queen Mother.

The two Majesties sat in the center.

Mace Tyrell, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Ser Loras Tyrell, Master of Ships Waggener Gahl, Master of Whisperers Kevan, Grand Maester Qyburn, Master of Coin Littlefinger, and Commander of the City Watch Benlot Plumm were all present.

A parchment scroll was placed in front of Mace Tyrell. After Tyrion sat down, he pushed the parchment scroll in front of Tyrion, his eyes solemn.

Tyrion unfolded the parchment scroll. This was information sent by Randyll Tarly. The letter said that in a forest on the south bank of the Red Fork, scouts had seen a servant of Lord Tywin hanging. The name of the hanged knight and the reason were engraved on the tree: Lannister family knight Holt Lannis, massacring innocent people, found guilty, sentenced to death by the hand of the Red God's fake Beric Dondarrion!

Tyrion was speechless after reading it; he felt that something was wrong.

Duke Mace's expression was heavy: "After the scouts brought back the body of Ser Holt, Randyll Tarly then organized light cavalry to search up and down the Trident River basin, but there was no sign of the Duke and his guards. They sent out two light cavalry units to cross the river, one going north and one turning east to Gulltown, traveling day and night, inquiring of the villagers and pedestrians along the way, confirming that the Duke had not crossed the river."

"Addam?" Tyrion said. He heard that his voice was low and negative, and he quickly cheered up, raised his head, and saw that all eyes at the table were on him. Mace Tyrell and Loras Tyrell's eyes were full of sympathy, which made him feel suffocated!

Kevan's face was like ice: "After Ser Addam Marbrand received the news, he immediately led the Westerlands army to pursue the Brotherhood Without Banners. We have already received the ravens released by Addam Marbrand. News has confirmed that the Duke's warhorses and armor are in the hands of the Brotherhood Without Banners."

The Brotherhood Without Banners killed the Duke and his guards?!

This was a serious problem looming in front of everyone. Everyone intentionally or unintentionally avoided this problem. It was too terrible, too sharp.

"Did Addam capture Lord Beric? As far as I know, the Brotherhood Without Banners is mostly made up of farmers; they are just a rabble."

"No, Addam was defeated and almost killed. The Westerlands army was ambushed and suffered a crushing defeat," Mace said.

"How many people are in the Brotherhood Without Banners?" Tyrion said in surprise.

"The number of people is not large, several hundred, but there is a fierce general in the team that Addam and the knights cannot stop."

"The red priest Thoros!" Tyrion's voice suddenly rose.

"An even more powerful guy than the red priest, the Hound Sandor Clegane!" Kevan said lightly. He hated it in his heart.

"The Hound?" Tyrion couldn't believe it. "Didn't the Hound go to the Westerlands with the Mountain?"

Grand Maester Qyburn coughed lightly: "Hand of the King, you have not been attending court these days, so you are unaware of many things. The Hound left the Clegane cavalry regiment alone on the border between the Westerlands and the Crownlands because of a disagreement with the Mountain."

"How do you know?"

"After the Hound left, the Mountain sent a raven letter to the royal palace, saying that the Hound had separated from him and that any actions taken by the Hound in the future had nothing to do with the Mountain and the Clegane army."

"Where's the letter?"

"I gave the letter to His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen Mother as soon as I received it."

Tyrion looked at the two Majesties. Joffrey looked at him with disdain, while Cersei nodded.

"The Hound, the red priest Thoros, and Beric Dondarrion are all fierce generals. It is excusable that Addam was eager to make contributions and was badly defeated by them after being ambushed," Mace said in a painful tone. But Tyrion could hear the laughter in Duke Mace's heart.

Tyrion glanced at Qyburn. What if this guy was as unreliable as Littlefinger, who was responsible for sending and receiving royal raven letters? With his father's shrewdness, it was impossible that he wouldn't have had time to release a single raven when he was attacked.

"There can only be two reasons why the royal family has not received a letter from Father," Tyrion said. "The first reason is that the raven released by Father was shot down by a marksman. This has a condition; it must be during the day. And during the day, if the Brotherhood Without Banners wants to wipe out Father's hundred elite cavalry, not a single person can escape, and no news can be spread. Even if the Hound had joined the Brotherhood Without Banners at that time, it is unlikely."

Everyone was looking at Tyrion.

"The second reason is that Father has already released the raven letter, telling us who the attackers were, but that letter was hidden or burned."

The whole place was silent.

Everyone's gaze slowly focused on Grand Maester Qyburn.

Qyburn was stunned!

Tyrion had his own way of judging whether Qyburn was reliable or not.

"Your Majesty the Queen Mother, do you trust Maester Qyburn?"

"I trust him!" Cersei said. Just kidding, Qyburn was a confidant carefully cultivated by the Queen Mother. Qyburn had also proven his loyalty through many things.

"Your Majesty the King, do you trust Maester Qyburn?"

"I trust Qyburn more than I trust you, traitorous uncle," Joffrey said contemptuously.

Jaime the Kingslayer, Tyrion the Betrayer, Tywin the Butcher, Cersei the Incestuous—the four glories of House Lannister, as whispered among the smallfolk of King's Landing. The King's explicit branding of the Imp as a traitor inevitably evoked the other three 'glories' of the Lannister family, such as Cersei the Incestuous!

An awkward silence descended upon the hall of the Small Council.

Tyrion spoke, "The King and Queen Regent trust Grand Maester Pycelle. I formally retract my earlier suspicions of the Grand Maester. I trust the Queen Regent and the King, and therefore, I trust in Maester Qyburn's loyalty." In his heart, he knew that Qyburn, with his careful flattery and practiced competence, had earned the absolute trust of Cersei and Joffrey. Thus, like Littlefinger, he was utterly untrustworthy.

Littlefinger said, "The Brotherhood Without Banners, led by Beric Dondarrion and the red priest Thoros, claims to stand for 'justice' and worships the Red God. The Hound, clearly, represents evil in their eyes. A just organization would not accept an evil man into its ranks."

Tyrion countered, "Lord Petyr, do not forget how I safely departed the Eyrie: trial by combat."

"Indeed, Lord Hand, your wisdom and fortune have always been a source of deep admiration and envy for me!" Littlefinger bowed his head in deference.

Ignoring the sarcasm veiled in Littlefinger's flattery, Tyrion continued his analysis. "After fleeing Harrenhal, to avoid traveling with the Mountain, the Hound would have headed east, inevitably encountering the Brotherhood Without Banners in the Riverlands. His infamous reputation and long list of misdeeds would have led to his arrest by the Brotherhood, just like Ser Hoster Lannis."

All eyes were on Tyrion as he laid out his reasoning: "Gentlemen, regardless of the Hound's past transgressions, he has the right to demand trial by combat. And in a trial by combat, neither Thoros of Myr nor Lord Beric would stand a chance against the Hound. A man, escaping accusations of guilt with nowhere to go, would reasonably join the Brotherhood Without Banners!"

Tyrion's predictions hit the mark!

What he didn't know was that in the trial by combat, the Hound had killed Beric Dondarrion, thus clearing his name. Beric Dondarrion was then resurrected that very night by Thoros in a cave. The Hound, witnessing this miracle, was stunned into disbelief. He was so shocked by the Red God's response to his followers, he decided to stay and join the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Although the Hound had committed many evil deeds, the 'justice' pursued by the Brotherhood Without Banners under Beric Dondarrion resonated with the goodness that had always been in the depths of his heart, and not the roots of evil.

Littlefinger cleared his throat, his tone serious and solemn. "Your Grace, Your Grace, Lord Hand, esteemed members of the Small Council, please forgive my bluntness, but it's clear that the Brotherhood Without Banners ambushed Lord Tywin's party. The culprits are Beric Dondarrion, the Hound, and the red priest Thoros. I propose that we immediately dispatch the City Watch, summon the Mountain, and coordinate with Randyll Tarly. These three forces should converge and eradicate the Brotherhood Without Banners in the Riverlands."

Grand Maester Qyburn, with his helpful spirit, generously offered a ray of hope.

"Your Grace, esteemed lords, I believe Lord Tywin's party is currently safe, because the Brotherhood Without Banners spends a great deal of time on trials before executing anyone, and Lord Tywin's party consists of over a hundred people. Think about it… If Lord Tywin's party had already been killed, the Brotherhood would not have hung only one body in the woods. If they wanted to destroy the evidence, there would be no reason to leave even one body behind…"

Cersei was immediately swayed by Qyburn: "Lord Hand, please order Ilyn, the Mountain, and Randyll Tarly to move out together. We must capture Lord Beric as quickly as possible and rescue my father…"

*

ps: There is a bonus chapter.

Thanks to [送子阿訇] for the reward, thank you, handshake!