The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The knight Dylan Hightower said, "Your Majesty, I have never heard of Emma pricing Rosy's virginity at one gold dragon."

"Then you certainly haven't been to the Quill \u0026 Tankard recently," Mountain asserted.

Dylan was astonished, "That's right, Your Majesty."

Lord Leyton Hightower was equally astonished. How could His Majesty, who had never been to Oldtown, know so much about the Quill \u0026 Tankard, even more than they did? The Earl's maester, lady, daughter, family knights, and others present were all amazed.

Arya was also very surprised.

Mountain had never been to Oldtown; it was his and her first time here.

How did Mountain know about the Quill \u0026 Tankard inn on the Honeywine River island? If the Quill \u0026 Tankard was so famous that everyone knew it, why did Mountain also know about Emma and Rosy?

The knights responsible for security, patrols, and protection in the town didn't even know that Emma had priced her daughter Rosy for one gold dragon, but Mountain knew?! He hadn't revealed any information about this on the way here.

Mountain said, "Lord Leyton, send out your best warriors, discreetly, to invite Rosy and Emma to the Starry Sept. I want to see them. They are tricky, and without a company of a hundred, they might escape."

Lord Leyton and the knights exchanged glances.

The lady and daughter exchanged glances.

The maester listened, dumbfounded.

The atmosphere was subtle, and everyone was puzzled.

"Send the best swordsmen, for a discreet capture. If even a hint of information leaks out, they will jump into the Honeywine River and escape. Then, Earl, you will not be able to answer to me," Mountain said in a deep voice.

Lord Leyton stammered, unable to believe what he was hearing.

Emma and Rosy, two ordinary women, had become formidable warriors in His Majesty's words.

The Earl was amazed and confused, but he knew that the King's orders could not be disobeyed.

The sheep-stealing dragon stood behind Mountain, like a small mountain,狰狞恐怖, its dragon eyes occasionally closing, as if sparks of golden-red fire were splashing out, inspiring awe and fear. Its long, enormous dragon tail dragged outside the top of the tower, stretching into the sky. The huge dragon claws were as sharp as knives, and the slightly exposed dragon teeth were staggered, dense like two rows of white bayonets. The dragon's breath was scalding, raising the temperature of the air.

Mountain and the dragon made everyone tremble.

Many people longed to see a dragon with their own eyes, and Lord Leyton was no exception. However, when the dragon actually stood before Lord Leyton, the only thing Lord Leyton felt strongly was the aura of death. He, his family, and the knights all felt unable to breathe.

Arya's heart stirred, "Your Majesty, please allow me to go with the Earl's knights."

"No need," another family knight, Elvis Hightower, said, "Your Majesty, I guarantee to bring Emma and Rosy."

It would be a joke if they couldn't even fetch two women from an inn in Oldtown. The Hightower family's honor would be ridiculed.

"What if you fail, knight?" Mountain said lightly.

"Absolutely not, Your Majesty."

"Oh, do you know Emma and Rosy?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I know them well."

"Have you been to the Quill \u0026 Tankard recently?"

"Yes, I had a drink in the Quill \u0026 Tankard this morning."

"Then you don't know that Emma is pricing her daughter Rosy's virginity at one gold dragon?"

"Your Majesty, I don't know where you heard this. Rosy is indeed beautiful, but Emma's inn has good income. She wouldn't price her daughter's virginity at one gold dragon."

"She will."

Elvis Hightower did not dare to argue with His Majesty, "Your Majesty, I will bring Emma and Rosy over. Your Majesty can ask Emma yourself."

The knight, Lord Leyton, the lady, and the eldest daughter all thought that His Majesty was interested in Rosy's virginity.

"Don't make a fuss. Think of a reasonable excuse to invite them to the Starry Sept as guests," Mountain said, "If you cannot bring them here, I will cut off your head."

"Elvis will definitely bring Emma and Rosy to the Starry Sept to see His Majesty."

"Very good, go quickly and return quickly," Mountain said solemnly. His expression was serious, not like someone who had ridden a dragon from afar in search of a virgin's pleasure.

Arya, who had come along, also did not understand how Mountain knew about Emma and Rosy of the Quill \u0026 Tankard! She was extremely clever, her mind racing, and many thoughts flashed through her mind. She had a faint suspicion that if Emma and Rosy were not Faceless Men, they were likely personnel arranged in Oldtown by the Faceless Men. Perhaps the Quill \u0026 Tankard, with its six-hundred-year history, was a listening post set up by the House of Black and White in Oldtown. Arya was shocked by her own thoughts. If her speculation was correct, the Faceless Men's plot for the glass candles had not been a matter of days or weeks, but centuries of waiting, waiting for the day the glass candles would ignite on their own.

This would also explain why the Faceless Men in Braavos, thousands of miles away and across the sea, would know that the dragon glass candle in the Citadel of Oldtown had already been lit.

*

Elvis Hightower led four of his best swordsmen to the Quill \u0026 Tankard.

In the inn's three-story building, the ground floor hall already had four guests, all apprentices and assistant maesters from the Citadel.

Among the thousands of apprentices and assistant maesters in the Citadel, a small number came from all over the world. They came by boat, carrying letters of recommendation from archmaesters who had traveled far to study scientific knowledge, the farthest from cities east of Qarth. Elvis could never distinguish who was who among the many apprentices, although many of the apprentices themselves came from Oldtown, and some were even the sons of nobles.

"Rosy, we want strong cider," Elvis shouted.

Emma's laughter came from the narrow window above. Before she became the landlady of the inn, she was a waitress in the inn, also satisfying the guests' pleasure in the women's quarters. From her laughter, Elvis could tell there was a beautiful scene in her room.

Emma was over forty, full-bodied, charming, and Elvis had been intimate with her before. From the sound, Elvis heard an amorous scene.

Footsteps sounded on the narrow stairs, and Rosy, only fifteen years old, wheat-skinned, healthy and lively, came down.

"Rosy!" A Citadel apprentice's voice carried nervousness, which caught Elvis's attention. It was a seemingly inferior young man, and his gaze at Rosy overflowed with ardor, even though he was trying to suppress himself.

"Hey, Petyr!" Rosy gave the apprentice a smile, and the apprentice's face turned red. Elvis noticed that the apprentice's hands were trembling slightly. The apprentice boy was very excited, as if he had seen the lover of his dreams. Elvis noticed that the boy was constantly fidgeting on the stool, he was fascinated by Rosy and deeply in love.

The maesters of the Citadel are forbidden to marry, nor are they allowed to be intimate with women in the women's quarters, but the rule is one thing, and people tacitly accept the 'occasional relaxation' of young apprentices and adult maesters. In a social environment where Qingren were prevalent and women's quarters were allowed everywhere, people held a silent and open attitude towards the Citadel men's pleasure-seeking.

Rosy first walked to Knight Elvis's table. She held a wine bag in one hand and a tray in the other, with a total of five wine glasses on it.

Elvis's palm pressed against Rosy's full buttocks, and he noticed the hostility in the eyes of the apprentice named Petyr. Elvis released his palm.

"Rosy, please come over here, I want a glass of wine too," Maester Petyr said somewhat uneasily. He was too nervous, and Knight Elvis's actions of touching Rosy had severely hurt his heart, but the other party was a knight, and he could only dare to be angry but not speak.

Petyr's left hand had been in his pocket, which contained nine silver stags that he had painstakingly saved, plus some copper stars and scattered copper coins, but it was harder than hatching a real dragon to save up a gold coin.

Rosy's mother, Emma, had long declared to him that as long as he saved enough gold dragons, Rosy's virginity would be his. Rosy had had her first period a few days ago. If he still didn't save enough gold dragons, then Rosy's virginity would be profaned by other men, such as the knight in front of him. He and his four attendants could easily take out a gold dragon, without a doubt.

But fortunately, in view of Petyr's piety, Emma had promised Petyr to give him ten days to raise a gold dragon. After ten days, Emma would sell Rosy's virginity to any other man.

Rosy is my darling. Petyr loved her hazel eyes, her budding breasts, and the way she smiled every time she saw him. He loved the dimples on her cheeks. He sometimes liked that she would go barefoot to feel the grass under her feet. He loved her fresh scent, the way her hair curled behind her ears, and even her toes. One night, she put her feet up for him to caress and play with, so he made up a funny story for each toe, making her giggle non-stop.

Petyr's fingers touched another object in his pocket: a uniquely styled bronze key. An alchemist had made it clear that he wanted to exchange a gold dragon for his key. This key was the secret key to Archmaester Voggrave's underground study. Petyr was the archmaester's apprentice, and he managed this key for the old, dim-eyed, and hard-of-hearing archmaester. He was the apprentice who served Archmaester Voggrave's daily life.

As long as he gave the key to the alchemist, the gold dragon would be in hand, and Rosy would become his woman. Petyr not only wanted to get Rosy's virginity, but he also wanted to elope with Rosy, who had already agreed to him, leave here, and go to another place to have children and live a happy life. The medical skills and scientific knowledge he had learned were enough for him to earn money to support Rosy and himself.

Rosy put the cider in front of Petyr and winked playfully at Petyr, and all the blood in Petyr's body rushed to his head. The trace of hesitation in his heart was completely abandoned. The mysterious alchemist's willingness to spend a gold dragon to buy his key had always made Petyr uneasy, but for Rosy, for Rosy's smile just now, he felt that everything was worth it.

Petyr said in a low voice, "Rosy, I will soon have enough gold dragons."

"Oh?" Rosy said with surprised eyes. She had been quite certain that Petyr would not be able to raise a gold dragon.

"Tonight, the gold dragon will be in hand," Petyr whispered excitedly, and Rosy's surprised and delighted eyes made him even more excited.

"Hey!" A voice laughed, "Little apprentice, what are you talking about, a gold dragon?" Knight Elvis looked over here with a smile, which immediately tensed Petyr's back. He had been speaking very quietly, but he didn't expect the knight from the crude and arrogant Hightower family to hear him.

"...No, nothing..." Petyr stood up, deciding to leave first. He didn't want the news that Rosy's virginity could be bought for just one gold dragon to be known by the crude and arrogant knights of the Hightower family. Just this evening, at sunset, he had agreed to meet the alchemist at the gazebo on the shore, exchanging the key for the gold dragon.

Petyr decided to wait first, as it wasn't early anyway.

"Hey, apprentice, stop." A guard said, "My lord wants you to come over, he has something to ask you."

"Sir, I'm sorry, I have to go back to the Citadel. It's time, Archmaester Voggrave is unwell and needs my service at any time. If he doesn't see me for a little longer, he will scold me."

The guards ignored Petyr's excuses. One of the guards made a gesture, and Petyr had to walk over. He knew from the knight's and guards' family crests that these people were not to be trifled with, they were knights and soldiers from the Oldtown lord's family. Oldtown was under the jurisdiction of the Hightower family.

"What's your name?" The knight asked Petyr.

"Sir, my name is Petyr."

"Petyr, do you like Rosy very much?"

"...Sir...you're joking..."

"I heard what you said just now, you need a gold dragon and you can get it tonight?" The knight took out a gold dragon and put it on the table, "Tell me, what do you want this gold dragon for? To please Rosy, or to get Rosy's virginity?"

"...No, no, there's no such thing...Sir...don't make fun of me, I'm an apprentice of the Citadel...Archmaester Voggrave's apprentice..." If Rosy's virginity was taken away by any other man, Petyr would feel a pain like a knife twisting in his heart. He couldn't accept any other man taking off Rosy's clothes and then wantonly defiling her. This must not be allowed.

"Petyr, do you know the apprentices Morland, Assistant Maester Aman, and Rooney?" The knight said lightly.

Petyr knew these three people. These three people were all sons of Oldtown nobles, mixing in the Citadel as apprentices and assistant maesters. Aman and Rooney had already forged a maester's chain with several metal links on it. The position of assistant maester was much higher than Petyr's, and it was also Petyr's goal before he fell in love with Rosy.

"...Sir, I know the apprentices Morland, Assistant Maester Aman, and Rooney..." Basically, all the apprentices in the Citadel knew these three people. Because they were sons of Oldtown nobles, they ran rampant in the Citadel, and Petyr was the object of their bullying and humiliation.

"Oh, that's right, Morland told me a little secret, Emma has priced her daughter Rosy's virginity at one gold dragon." The knight waved his hand, and there was a snap. His guard threw out a money bag, the money bag was bulging, maybe there were more than a dozen gold dragons, "Here, Petyr, don't pester Rosy anymore, she's mine tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after tomorrow."

Peter's face instantly turned pale and extremely unsightly, as if he had been slapped hard across the face.

The knight and his guards burst into laughter, and the knight shouted upstairs, "Emma, I've bought Rosie's right of the first night, and the second through the seventh nights as well. The money bag is on the table; there's more than enough. Consider the extra your tip. I'm taking Rosie with me. I am Elvis Hightower, your old flame. If you want to see Rosie, come find me at the old place, old room, in the Towering Pagoda."

The knight waved his hand, and four guards stood up. Two of them blocked Rosie, and one pushed Peter aside.

"Rosie, I've already paid. Let's go!" the knight said, making an elegant gesture to invite her.

Thank you [Chau534] for the little reward, thank you, handshake!