Blackfyre's Restoration Treasure (Part 1)

"At the time, I was still a squire. During a hunt, my horse was accidentally tripped by a branch. I was thrown and injured, then separated from the main party." Ian casually made up another story.

He liked telling stories, because they made his image more tangible in the minds of his targets, allowing him to convey whatever he wanted them to understand more perfectly.

"After that, I got lost in the forest and kept wandering through those woods, where every part looked exactly the same, until evening. I was terrified. There were many dangerous beasts in that forest, and I had no strength to contend with them at night.

Fortunately, before nightfall, a band of passing outlaws found me. The moment they saw the golden lion sigil on me, they seized me without hesitation, intending to ransom me for thirty Gold Dragons.

I agreed. Being able to save my life with money, I was secretly delighted at the time.

But soon, from their conversation, I learned that they had once belonged to a bandit gang our family had wiped out. They had already planned to flee back to their hometown, but they happened upon me and decided to pull off one last job."

"They never intended to let you go after receiving the ransom." Denzel understood what Ian meant. If they were going home, leaving a witness alive would be the same as waiting for retaliation.

"That's right. So that night, I told the bandit guarding me that if he let me go, I would give him more." Ian nodded.

"He believed you would pay him instead of hanging him afterward?"

"He's right here." Ian reached out and tapped Roar's Breastplates.

"This knight?" Denzel and Ser Glason both looked horrified.

Roar was dumbfounded for a moment as well, but with Old Dog's example before him, he did not show his surprise.

"Neither of them is a knight. They're merely my squires." Ian pointed at Roar. "And this man was the bandit assigned to guard me back then. He was strong—very strong. So he had no desire to go home and become a farmer with those wandering bandits. He named his price: one hundred Gold Dragons. Once he got the money, he would let me leave.

"I agreed. Then, under cover of night, he attacked the other four bandits and slaughtered every last one of them. I was stunned at the time, so I immediately invited him to become my squire."

"How could you trust someone who sold out his own companions?" Ser Glason frowned.

"What did he sell his companions out for?" Ian asked with a smile.

"Money."

"Whose money?"

Ser Glason was instantly left speechless.

"One hundred Gold Dragons—roughly three times my ransom. Since then, I've considered three my lucky number. Anyone who works for me gets paid triple. And I tell them this: if anyone ever asks them to betray me, they must inform me immediately. My offer will still be three times theirs."

This was Tyrion's method for using Bronn. Ian thought it was quite good, and had even doubled the rate again.

"I have no further questions. We'll proceed according to your terms. Half the payment up front, and the other half in a month." Gransen lowered his head, formally submitting.

Denzel took a deep breath, then forced out a smile. "Um, Ser Lucian, are you still looking for squires?"

(д.)

"Hey, hey, isn't that a little much? Why are you looking at me like that?" Seeing Ser Glason's reaction, Denzel gave an awkward laugh. "Don't you think being Ser Lucian's squire has a much better future than being a mercenary here?"

"I just didn't expect you to be this..." Gransen frowned, unable to think of a fitting description for a moment.

"If you perform well enough in the coming mission, I'll consider your suggestion. After all, I've recently been thinking of knighting this Mr. Old Dog. Once that happens, one of my squire positions will open up." Ian casually dangled another carrot.

"You'll never find a sword more useful than mine." Denzel immediately beamed.

Every mercenary said that, Ian thought to himself.

Watching this scene, Gransen suddenly had a strange thought. If only he had not become a knight yet. Then he could have become Ser Lucian's squire.

With that thought, he decided to change the subject. "After all this, you still haven't told us what the mission is."

"No rush. Once Martha persuades Black Falcon, I'll assign all of you your tasks together."

"Black Falcon? You aren't here because of the Ghosts of White Wall City, are you?" Denzel asked without thinking.

"Oh? So Black Falcon really is the man behind the White Wall City bandits?" Ian's interest was immediately piqued.

"Not exactly." Denzel shook his head. "Black Falcon is also searching for that bandit gang."

"Also? Then why doesn't he work with that alliance of local landed knights?"

"They worked together before, but several major joint operations came up empty. Then they accused each other of having spies in their ranks and went their separate ways," Denzel explained.

"I understand why the landed knights would keep hunting bandits after parting ways. But why would Black Falcon, the leader of a mercenary band, continue searching for them? It can't be just to clear his name, can it?" That would be far too childish, wouldn't it?

"You don't know?" Ser Glason asked doubtfully.

"Know what?" Ian was equally confused.

Gransen froze for a moment and did not answer immediately. Instead, Denzel eagerly said, "Blackfyre's Restoration Treasure! We thought you were here for that."

"What the hell?" Holy shit? Blackfyre's Restoration Treasure? Ian froze for a moment, then urgently asked, "Explain."

"Heh heh." Denzel laughed awkwardly twice. "Actually, I don't know much either. My mercenaries only joined their first operation. We were thoroughly prepared then. Ser Veld and Black Falcon gathered nearly five hundred men, intending to wipe out the White Wall City bandits in one stroke. But when we reached their camp, it was empty. We couldn't even find a shadow."

"So you were suspected?"

"Yes. Ser Veld and the others suspected there was a mole in the group, so they removed all of us temporarily hired mercenaries from the bandit-hunting force. Of course, even after dismissing us, they still failed to find any trace of them, so infighting broke out among themselves too.

"Then they searched separately and still found nothing. That was when a rumor began spreading everywhere: that this bandit gang was the ghost of the Blackfyre Legion. They could only strike us on their own terms; it was impossible for us to find them first."

"The ghost of the Blackfyre Legion." Ian tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I can understand the ghost part, but how was it connected to the Blackfyre Legion? And where did the story about Blackfyre's treasure come from? Just because these bandits were in White Wall City?"

White Wall City had once been the seat of the Butterwell family. It stood on the eastern shore of Gods Eye Lake, between Gods Eye Lake and the Kingsroad.

White Wall City had once been called Milk House, because its walls, keeps, and towers were all built from fine white stone. The stone had been quarried from the Vale and carried over mountains to the shores of Gods Eye Lake.

According to The Mystery Knight, the floors and pillars of White Wall City were milky-white marble with natural golden veins running through them, while the beams in its houses were carved from bone-white weirwood trunks.

The castle had something of a dreamlike quality to it.

But why say "had once been"?

Because White Wall City had already been destroyed—destroyed in the farcical Second Blackfyre Rebellion.