The Situation and the Remaining Royalists

The kitchen had now become Viserys's domain, at least until the servants arranged by Xisa, the peace officer of Braavos, arrived.

Viserys Targaryen danced a long, narrow seafood knife across an oak board, meticulously preparing the sea snails in his hands.

Viserys found that his knife work had become both swift and steady. He was a true master now, enough to be called a "Snail Immortal."

Then he lit the fire and cooked the sea snails, sprinkling them with finely minced garlic, each piece uniform in size.

The way he handled the sea snails—his speed and muscle memory—made it seem as though Viserys had repeated the process thousands upon thousands of times. That was the power of the [God of Cuisine] Talent.

Moreover, the Talent had raised Viserys's strength and agility. Big head, thick neck—cooks and blacksmiths alike needed to build muscle.

Viserys focused on his status panel. His strength and agility were now close to 1.3, his toughness was 1.3, and his spirit was 1.4.

Looking at it this way, Viserys's fighting skills had also improved with the help of the God of Cuisine Talent.

More importantly, Viserys's Talents could grow. As he aged, the boosts they provided would become even greater.

Viserys guessed that an ordinary man's base values in all four attributes should be 1. Only those who trained specifically could raise them.

Viserys's combat Talent was quite good too. He simply had not trained much during his first fourteen years, so it had not risen very high.

Viserys was still no match for Rhaegar. Rhaegar had started late after reading too many books, while Viserys had gone through an outright massive gap.

His highest attribute had previously been spirit. That was related to how Viserys had never neglected his education, as well as the combined strength of two souls.

After all, Viserys still wanted to go back and become king. An illiterate king was clearly impossible. Still, Viserys had been unlucky, and all sorts of setbacks had caused him to neglect martial training.

Perhaps the spirit attribute was also related to the Magic Tide, which had yet to recover. Magic had never truly disappeared; it had merely weakened.

The Children of the Forest had retreated into their nests Beyond the Wall, and farther still lay the Cold God of the Land of Extreme Winter.

In another eight or nine years, magic would flourish completely once more.

By then, dragon eggs would hatch, the Blood Sea Monster would appear, White Walkers would march south, and even the power of sorcerers like the Red Priestess would surge.

Thinking of this, Viserys felt that he could relax a little. After all, he already knew the script of what came next.

His current progress might not have been fast, but it was still positive feedback. Through gluttony and training, Viserys felt that his attributes would eventually reach a peak.

Once the fragrant sea snails were ready, Viserys had Daenerys and little Rhaenys taste them. The flavor was completely different now.

Extraordinary cooking naturally produced extraordinary food.

"This is too delicious." Rhaenys Targaryen could not help praising it. She truly meant it. She found the sea snails fresh and delicious, better even than the cooking of the kitchen maids before. "It tastes better than what the kitchen maids at Dragonstone and the Red Keep made."

"Of course." The value of the God of Cuisine was beyond question.

It was rather pitiful, really. Because Rhaegar and the Mad King did not get along, Rhaenys had spent most of her life after birth living with Rhaegar and his wife at Dragonstone.

As for Daenerys, she had never eaten the food of the Red Keep and had no idea how good the royal cooks really were.

Viserys and Rhaenys were both remnants of the old era, having enjoyed the former glory of the Targaryen Dynasty. Daenerys, meanwhile, was an entirely new generation.

"Where did you learn that? I don't remember you having this kind of Talent." Both Rhaenys and Daenerys had starry eyes.

"I'm a genius," Viserys said proudly. In truth, he was not a genius; he just had a cheat.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Viserys sent Rhaenys and Daenerys to clean up. Rhaenys was also tasked with telling stories to coax her aunt to sleep.

When Viserys had been free before, he had handled that himself, allowing Daenerys to listen to stories beside his bed.

Now Viserys had heavier responsibilities and needed to focus on raising his attributes.

Viserys unfolded a parchment map of Westeros. It was also an heirloom left behind by Ser Willem, and worth a great deal.

King's Landing looked close on the map, yet it was as distant as the ends of the earth.

It was now 290 Conquest Era. The previous year, Robert had just thoroughly beaten up that fool Balon. The great alliance of wolf, stag, fish, eagle, and lion was at the height of its power, and no one could challenge Robert's authority.

However, Viserys knew that this alliance was full of hidden dangers. Baratheon had suddenly split into three branches, with one each in King's Landing, Storm's End, and Dragonstone.

On top of that, there were fools like Cersei and the two Tully women within the alliance, ambitious men like Renly, and it was bound to explode sooner or later. Not to mention bastards like Littlefinger and Varys.

"I'm not without allies, but my allies are too weak right now." Viserys marked the forces worth considering on the map.

"Apart from the Dornish, there is House Darry of Darry in the Riverlands, House Mooton of Maidenpool in the Riverlands, House Goodbrook and House Ryger. House Rykker of Duskendale in the Crownlands, the families of Crackclaw Point in the Crownlands, House Lonmouth of the Stormlands, and Gulltown in the Vale."

Supporters of House Targaryen were scattered across the land, though its influence was relatively weaker in the Westerlands and the North.

The Westerlands had centralized early, while the North was simply too remote, and the king and Rhaegar had treated people terribly.

But these families that had once supported the royalists had long lost land and troops with the fall of House Targaryen, making them natural supporters.

These royalist forces were not particularly strong, and they were not connected in one continuous territory.

They were still very likely to support House Targaryen, provided Viserys proved his worth and showed that he had the ability to strike back.

Viserys naturally also thought of House Connington, but Griffin had been loyal to Rhaegar rather than House Targaryen. Viserys could not be bothered to dwell on it.

Let him keep mistaking people, then.

The current situation isn't the time for me to get involved in Westeros. I should develop first.

Viserys's most urgent priorities were making money, building a team, and growing quickly.

He would develop first across the Narrow Sea, then contact the former royalists and restore the dynasty. Rushing back now would bring no benefit.

Otherwise, trying to retake King's Landing with only the three of them would be nothing but a fool's dream.

Aside from Rhaenys and Daenerys, Viserys did not have a single confidant or companion.

Viserys also wondered how he had ended up this way. Perhaps he really had been protected too well before.

Following the original course of events, even when Viserys wore the Melted-Gold Crown, he had not had even one or two confidants. It was truly a massive failure in life.

Perhaps he really had never had his feet on the ground, with neither the time nor money to create an organization to restore the kingdom.

Now that Viserys had barely managed to settle down in Braavos, he needed to gather funds and then develop his own team.

"Every place has its own circles. In Braavos, how should I break the ice?" Viserys pondered.

Thanks to what he had learned before, Viserys was familiar with Braavos's power structure and its many different aspects through Arya Stark's experiences there.

The upper class of Braavos consisted of the Sealord's Family, bankers of the Iron Bank, nobles such as the Keyholder Families, the Sealord's officials and military officers, as well as those religious peddlers on the Isle of the Gods.

Viserys had no interest in those religious peddlers. What interested him were secular nobles and powerful figures.

But gaining access to valuable circles and information would not be easy.

Xisa. Viserys immediately remembered that name.

That promising peace officer had made gestures of goodwill toward him before. They were perfectly suited to each other.

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