The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Phantom Turtle - The Immortal Warlock - I Regret

East of Essos lies the great city of Qarth.

The Hall of a Thousand Seats.

An enormous wooden chair, dwarfing even a grown man who sat upon it.

And such chairs were arranged in a long arc, stepping upwards, all the way to the highest dome.

At the very center of the dome sat a massive chair, one in which even a giant would not feel cramped.

Standing in the middle of the hall, looking at the rows of arched wooden chairs rising in tiers, the king sitting at the very top looked as small as a child.

The king sat on the high wooden chair, inlaid with priceless jades such as moonstones, emeralds, pearls, gold, amber, and rubies.

This hall contained over a thousand equally gigantic chairs, each one adorned to the extreme, each decoration different, like the faces of people.

There are tens of thousands of people in the world, each with their own unique face, different fingerprints, and distinct personality.

The thousand-plus chairs in the Hall of a Thousand Seats were the same.

Each chair, taken to the outside world, would be enough to make a commoner into a noble and a millionaire.

The Hall of a Thousand Seats was the king's palace hall, similar to the 'Throne Room' of King Maegor the Cruel in Westeros.

Compared to the Hall of a Thousand Seats, Maegor's 'Throne Room' was as crude as a small farmhouse.

The Iron Throne in the Throne Room had only seven steps, while the Hall of a Thousand Seats had countless sets of seven steps.

The Throne Room had only one Iron Throne, while here, there were over a thousand gigantic chairs. Each chair was no smaller than the Iron Throne.

These thousand-plus chairs enclosed a vast and empty hall, easily accommodating hundreds of people.

The courtiers and generals in Maegor's Throne Room could only stand on either side of the hall to deliberate, with a passage in the middle wide enough for only seven people to walk abreast.

On the first day of the first month of the year 302 Aegon's Conquest, the king sat on the throne in the Hall of a Thousand Seats, wearing a golden robe and a golden crown. The golden robe was embroidered with colorful patterns of griffins, dragons, and manticores.

On either side of the king sat dozens of members of the royal family, each wearing brocade robes and brocade hats. The robes and hats were as brilliantly colored as possible.

A turtle crawled into the Hall of a Thousand Seats from the main entrance, its black shell shimmering as if rippling water was undulating across it. In the blink of an eye, the turtle had already climbed several steps.

Its speed was unheard of. Just as you were astonished, the turtle disappeared, making you doubt whether you had just seen a phantom. But in the time it took for your heart to beat again, the turtle reappeared, but already much further away.

This was the 'Phantom Turtle' raised by the warlocks of the House of the Undying in Qarth.

In Westeros, information was transmitted between nobles, between legions, and between the king and his vassals through 'ravens'.

In Qarth, information was transmitted between warlocks, between the Thirteen, between wealthy merchants and the royal family through the 'Phantom Turtle'.

Phantom Turtle, a 'magic turtle' raised by the warlocks of Qarth.

Several figures walked into the gate of the Hall of a Thousand Seats, wearing linen robes, bald, with hooked noses, deep-set eyes, and lips that were ink-blue.

These were four warlocks from the House of the Undying, each of them the highest warlock 'Undying' in the House of the Undying.

The warlock's lips were ink-blue because they drank 'shade-of-the-evening' all year round. 'Shade-of-the-evening' was full of many complex and dangerous herbs. After the world lost its magical power, the warlocks restored their magic by drinking 'shade-of-the-evening'.

Four warlocks, four Undying.

The Phantom Turtle crawled to the king's feet. The king reached out and took a letter with a blue cover from the turtle's back. At this time, the four warlocks—the four Undying—had just crossed the open space in the middle of the hall and stepped onto the first step.

Another black shadow floated into the Hall of a Thousand Seats. The person was very petite, and the figure looked like a woman, her face covered with a black veil, revealing only her bright black eyes.

This figure was dressed in black clothes and a black cloak, with a small manticore embroidered on her chest.

From top to bottom, this petite and exquisite black shadow had only this one pattern on her body.

The black shadow floated in like the wind, mysterious and strange.

She quickly crossed the open space in the middle of the hall and stepped onto the first step.

Subsequently, a burly black man walked in through the entrance of the Hall of a Thousand Seats, wearing a gorgeous brocade robe and a kind smile on his face. As he entered the gate, twelve people of varying heights, builds, and sizes appeared behind him, all dressed in brocade robes. These were the most famous Thirteen of Qarth.

It was said that the real power of the great city of Qarth was not in the hands of the royal family and the king, but in the hands of the Thirteen.

But rumors were just rumors.

The city of Qarth prided itself on being the center of the world, a huge gateway for the exchange of goods between the eastern and western worlds. Its economy was mainly based on trade. In addition to the Thirteen, there were also the Tourmaline Brotherhood and the Ancient Guild of Spicers.

The Tourmaline Brotherhood was similar to the mercenary legions in Westeros and Essos. They owned eight hundred warships. It should be known that in the era of Robert Baratheon I in Westeros, the royal family only had thirty warships; the most powerful Arbor fleet had at most four hundred warships.

The Tourmaline Brotherhood fought for any force in Qarth. They fought for the royal family, for the Thirteen, for the Ancient Guild of Spicers, and for those countries further east.

Whoever paid more, the Tourmaline Brotherhood would fight for them.

Following closely behind the Thirteen into the Hall of a Thousand Seats were the commander-in-chief and deputy commander of the Tourmaline Brotherhood, as well as their three most skilled generals.

The Ancient Guild of Spicers had even more ships than the Tourmaline Brotherhood, over thirteen hundred, but most of their ships were merchant ships. Only in times of war would they convert merchant ships into warships.

The merchant ships of the Thirty and the merchant ships of the Ancient Guild of Spicers were about the same, also about thirteen hundred. Their ships were also warships in times of war and merchant ships in peacetime.

Of course, the power of the royal family was not bad either. Owning thousands of merchant ships and hundreds of warships was the royal family's deep foundation.

Maegor unified the entire continent of Westeros, gathered the Iron Islands, the Westerlands, the Riverlands, House Redwyne of the Arbor, Oldtown, Dorne, Gulltown, White Harbor in the North, the royal family's royal warships, and built ships for several months. Then, all the warships added together barely reached two thousand.

The great city of Qarth was controlled by the royal family, the Thirteen, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers. Among them, a mysterious force that could not be underestimated was the wizards in the 'House of the Undying'. Beneath that temple were buried countless bones and lies.

In addition, there was a force that terrified people and took lives: the Sorrowful Men.

The Sorrowful Men were similar to the 'Faceless Men' organization in Braavos, the westernmost part of the continent. That mysterious and strange shadow in black, petite and exquisite, looking like a woman, was the highest elder of the Sorrowful Men: the Manticore Elder! Her favorite sentence to say was: I regret!