An Expensive Fleet

Rollo Uhoris's chestnut eyes widened in shock as he stared at Liu Qian in disbelief.

The master he had sworn to serve actually intended to swallow up the entire Stepstones.

He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and offered a cautious warning. "My lord, the Stepstones are a chain of islands. To fight pirates who have entrenched themselves there for years, we must have enough ships. Ordinary sailing ships will not suffice. They may be useful on the open ocean, but they are too cumbersome for fleet engagements. Naval warfare requires oared ships."

He counted on his fingers. "We now control nearly twenty oared ships, but only the three large vessels we seized from Crab Claw truly qualify as warships, with hulls strong enough to withstand ramming."

Deep concern colored Rollo's voice.

Liu Qian naturally understood this.

There were two main kinds of ships in the world of Game of Thrones.

One was the sailing ship, which relied mainly on sails for propulsion. Flat-bottomed boats, great ships, and swan ships fell into this category. They suited ocean voyages and commercial trade because they could carry so much cargo.

The other was the oared ship, propelled mainly by rowers and suited to fighting in coastal waters.

More specifically, an oared ship's fighting power depended heavily on its number of oars.

Ordinary oared ships had only one bank of oars. Ships with two banks could serve as mainline warships.

Even more formidable were three-banked galleys. These vessels were not only enormous but also highly maneuverable, capable of weaving freely through the sea.

Salladhor Saan's flagship, the Valyrian, was a great three-banked galley with a full three hundred oars.

These galleys were not without sails, either. During coastal engagements, their crews furled the sails and relied entirely on their rowers for propulsion. With a favorable wind, however, they lowered the sails and used both sails and oars to gain greater speed.

Moreover, the larger a ship was, the more soldiers, ballistae, and catapults it could carry.

Of course, the cost of the ships increased severalfold as well.

"How many golden dragons would it take to build a fleet to rival Sallador's?" Liu Qian asked.

At the words "build a fleet," Rollo reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He clutched his head and cried out, "Gods above! My lord, do you know how much the Prince of the Narrow Sea's twenty-odd warships are worth? The hulls alone cost no less than a million golden dragons."

The figure struck Liu Qian's heart like a sledgehammer.

Compared with that, the money he had spent on merchant sailing ships in Volantis was a mere drop in the ocean.

"Why are they so expensive?" Liu Qian pressed, his brows knitting tightly.

Rollo took a deep breath and counted off the reasons on his rough fingers.

"First, the materials. Warships are not merchant ships. Their keels and ribs require the toughest, most impact-resistant hardwood, while still keeping the weight manageable. Such timber is extremely expensive.

"Second, the weapons. A finished ship is only an empty shell. Heavy scorpions and counterweight catapults are all made from refined iron, and they do not come cheap.

"Third, routine upkeep. Warships are not ornaments. Once afloat, they become gold-devouring beasts. A normal warship's monthly expenses include inspecting and repairing the hull, replacing ropes, applying tar, paying sailors' wages, feeding the rowers... All that costs at least several hundred golden dragons, perhaps close to a thousand. And that does not include repairing damage after a major battle."

Liu Qian calculated rapidly and sucked in a breath. "By your reckoning, Sallador's fleet costs more than twenty thousand golden dragons a month?"

"At least!" Rollo said firmly. "Those enormous three-banked galleys of his cost even more."

Only now did Liu Qian truly grasp what a bottomless money pit maintaining a powerful fleet was.

He thought of the Iron Throne's two-hundred-ship Royal Fleet, and Earl Redwyne of the Arbor's equally enormous private fleet. Without the taxes of the Seven Kingdoms or a monopoly over the lucrative wine trade routes, who could afford such a burden?

Wealth was the foundation of a throne upon the sea.

He took stock of his fortune.

After deducting his expenses in Volantis, the treasures he had brought out of the Valyrian Ruins were worth a little over four hundred thousand golden dragons.

In Westeros, that sum would have been enough to build a sturdy, medium-sized castle and lord it over the surrounding lands.

Yet against his grand ambition of building a fleet, it seemed woefully inadequate.

The paltry savings looted from the pirates' storehouses on Torturer's Deep amounted to less than a hundred thousand. They were little more than a drop in the bucket.

No money?

We do not sow.

The Old Way practiced by the Ironborn sprang into Liu Qian's mind.

"Rollo." Liu Qian swiftly gathered his thoughts and gave a decisive order. "First, take funds from the treasury and repair every usable ship. Make sure they are ready to fight at any moment. Also, although our Swan is a sailing ship, we must arm her. Install heavy scorpions and catapults along her sides. You should know where to buy the materials."

"Spearhaft," Rollo answered at once. "It has the largest black market in the Stepstones. With enough golden dragons to jingle, there is no weapon or timber you cannot buy."

After Rollo left, Liu Qian immediately summoned the sisters, Jelena and Janice.

Though crude and primitive, this damp sea cave had finally become their first foothold in the Stepstones. Compared with their earlier wandering at sea, it offered far greater security.

After taking the sisters into his service as Flame Knights, Liu Qian had told them about magic power and ghost grass. He had summoned them now to discuss those very matters.

"Janice, do any of the Valyrian books describe how to grow ghost grass?"

Janice shook her head gently, her delicate brows drawing together. "Since leaving Valyria, I have spent all my time outside training searching through the relevant books, but I have found no mention of ghost grass. It is as though it appeared out of thin air, emerging in Valyria after the Doom.

Liu Qian considered this. "The Blood Warlock once sent you outside Tyria to gather ghost grass, which means he must have known something about its uses. Perhaps you could search the manuscripts or notes he left behind. You could even try planting some directly in the soil and see what happens."

Janice nodded thoughtfully. "I will search his manuscripts and choose a place to try growing it."

Then Jelena's cool voice rang out, carrying a barely perceptible urgency. "Must we really wait several years for magic to return?"

Liu Qian had already told them his theory about the Red Comet and the magic tide.

Liu Qian nodded, his gaze deep. "It is only a rough theory of mine. When the stars weep blood, magic returns. I do not know whether it will happen. But at least for now, while we have no source to replenish our magic power, we should not use magic lightly. Jelena, you have little magic power to begin with. When you fought those pirates last night, you did not

"need to activate the magic in your Valyrian steel sword."

"I understand," Jelena replied, her fingers unconsciously brushing the sword hilt at her waist.

At present, only Liu Qian and Jelena possessed weapons and armor inscribed with magical runes. Liu Qian's magic power far exceeded hers. As long as he did not use the magic that transformed him into a dragon, he still had enough.

Janice spoke softly. "We brought nearly a thousand bundles of ghost grass from Tyria. We cannot use all of it for seed. Some could replenish our magic power."

Liu Qian fell silent for a moment. Of course he knew that ghost grass could replenish magic power, but he had another use for it. "Do you remember those nine Dragon Egg fossils?"

Janice's violet eyes lit up instantly, as though sparks had caught within them. "You can hatch them?"

A flicker of emotion passed through Jelena's eyes as well.

"Awaken them, to be precise," Liu Qian explained. "I can awaken the dragons within those stones by pouring magic power into them. Once awakened, they will not hatch immediately. They will resume growing and developing inside their eggs until they break out of their shells. But this method requires a great deal of magic power."

He examined the information on his system panel. Awakening a single Dragon Egg Fossil required a full seventy thousand magic power. With his [Dragon-Rider Bloodline], he could currently awaken four.

The choice before him was to use a large quantity of ghost grass to awaken the Dragon Egg fossils, or wait until he found a stable source of magic power...

Four Dragon Egg fossils would require two hundred and eighty thousand magic power in total. By his calculations, that meant roughly nine hundred bundles, nearly exhausting their supply of ghost grass.

He hesitated for a while, then finally made up his mind.

He had to awaken some of the Dragon Egg fossils.

There were not many years left before the main storyline began. He had to hatch the dragons as soon as possible.

Watching the anticipation gleam in the sisters' eyes, he lifted the corners of his mouth in a confident smile.

"Go and choose the dragon eggs you like best. In a few days, we will awaken the sleeping dragons right here."