Orphan-Maker

A secret chamber.

In the deepest part of the small split-level space.

Titus laid eyes on House Peake's greatest treasures-

Two extremely eye-catching treasure chests placed right in the center.

The surfaces of the two magnificent chests were covered in intricate patterns, their exteriors wrapped in layer upon layer of chains... Without counting, Titus could guess there had to be seven.

A brass padlock hung from each chain, as though keeping some ferocious beast imprisoned within.

Two dark swords lay flat atop the chests, one on each, without scabbards. Their blades and edges were pure black, as though they could suck away the already dim light around them, giving off a heart-chilling coldness.

Titus's gaze sharpened slightly. These were two Valyrian steel swords.

Valyrian steel was a wondrous metal infused with magic. Light in weight yet renowned for its toughness, it was harder and sharper than any other steel. Even after thousands of slashes and clashes, and thousands of years of change, it would neither break nor rust.

No implement capable of destroying it had yet appeared in the known world... Like the greatswords carried by a certain kind of golden-haired, silver-eyed female warrior who made hunting demons their duty, it was synonymous with indestructibility.

In terms of durability, it was on an entirely different level from Titus's half-ruined sword.

As he recalled, this magical metal bearing Valyria's name also came with an innate "magic-breaking" effect. It could be called a divine weapon.

Out in the wider world, such miraculous Valyrian steel swords could even be traded for castles, yet House Peake had secretly hoarded two.

If the houses across the continent that lacked Valyrian steel swords learned of this, prospective buyers would likely flock to the Dornish Marches in an endless stream and wear down Starpike's doorstep.

After all, with the fall of Old Valyria, its smelting techniques and spellcasting arts had also been lost, making Valyrian steel increasingly rare in circulation.

Especially in Westeros.

Aside from House Dayne of Starfall, whose circumstances were unusual... possessing a Valyrian steel sword as an ancestral blade was something that brought considerable prestige to a house.

Having owned one only to lose it, however, looked particularly disgraceful.

Take the renowned house of the Wardens of the West-the Lannisters.

Even with a mountain of gold and wealth to rival a kingdom's, after losing their ancestral sword, Bright-Roar, they had remained desperate to find a replacement.

The current Duke of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, had personally approached impoverished, declining houses throughout the Seven Kingdoms on several occasions, offering to pay enormous sums for their ancestral Valyrian steel swords, only to be repeatedly refused.

That alone showed how precious and sought-after Valyrian steel swords were.

Titus thought it a pity that the provenance of both swords before him posed considerable problems. After House Peake secretly appropriated them, they had spent years hidden from the light.

One was a one-handed longsword, the other a two-handed greatsword. The former had reaped countless human lives, while the latter had even tasted the blood of a living dragon.

Titus knew perfectly well that the longsword had originally belonged to a minor house native to the Reach. With a thick enough skin, there would be no harm in bringing it out for use. After all, its guard and grip had been replaced. If the other house questioned him, he only had to deny it to the bitter end.

The latter had distinctive features, and the house behind it was no easy opponent either. It was more likely to cause trouble and should not be shown lightly for the time being.

Passing over the two locked treasure chests, which had come from Whitewalls and Tyrosh respectively, Titus picked up the understated longsword, dark as night, without a moment's hesitation.

The instant he touched its equally black grip, an icy sensation reached his fingertips.

Once he had adjusted, Titus gave it a slight swing, finding it comfortable in his hand.

As the angle of the edge shifted, beautiful silver ripples began to appear across the originally matte blade, racing silently like smoke.

His original sword had been made to the dimensions and design of this Valyrian steel longsword, so he quickly grew accustomed to it.

Titus could clearly sense that this was a cold, cruel blade, giving off a faint threat that warned friend and foe alike to be wary.

It had been part of Unwin Peake's collection, came from House Roxton of Ringlet in the Reach, and was named Orphan-Maker.

True to its name, it was a peerless weapon of slaughter, responsible for many massacres and even more orphans and widows.

Its last "appearance" had been over a century ago, during the Targaryen civil war later generations called the Dance of the Dragons.

The Blacks and the Greens had fought fiercely, men battling on the ground and dragons fighting in the sky, nearly beating the brains out of one another's dragons.

Ser Jon Roxton, "The Bold," had wielded Orphan-Maker in service to the Greens, fighting for Aegon II Targaryen.

At the Battle of the Honeywine in the Reach, Ser Jon had used it to deal Earl Owen Costayne a mortal wound, ultimately causing the Lord of Three Towers to die in agony.

This had been Orphan-Maker's first appearance in the civil war.

After the battle, Ser Jon had also used this sword to knight the third son of Unwin Peake, then head of House Peake-the only one of his seven sons to survive to adulthood.

Its second crime had come at the First Battle of Tumbleton.

During that battle, Ser Jon had coveted Sharis, the defeated Countess of Tumbleton, contemptuously calling her his "spoils of war" before forcing himself upon the captive beauty.

When the Earl of Tumbleton, likewise a noble captive, learned of this, he flew into a humiliated rage and confronted Jon, only for Jon to cleave him in two with a single stroke.

He had literally been split in half, and Orphan-Maker was what had accomplished it. It was too sharp, and too bloodthirsty.

At the Second Battle of Tumbleton, Jon had used it to personally slay Hugh Hammer, then the dragonrider of Vermithor, the Bronze Fury, who had likewise died horribly with his belly cut open.

Immediately afterward, Ser Jon, already responsible for several bloody incidents, had been surrounded and killed by Hugh's men in a fight of one against ten.

Six months after the Second Battle of Tumbleton, Lady Sharis had given birth to a strong, black-haired boy, declaring him the late earl's posthumous son and heir.

Anyone with a brain knew that the boy's real father was probably the murderous Ser Jon Roxton. The child was of House Roxton of the Reach, the last "orphan" personally "made" by Ser Jon.

After Jon's death, this murderous sword, which had claimed so many lives, had finally fallen quiet and disappeared for a time.

When it appeared again, it was already in the hands of Earl Unwin Peake, Hand of the King during Aegon III's regency.

Old yet still hotheaded, Lord Unwin had once ostentatiously drawn Orphan-Maker before the young king and many high officials, merely to prove that he was no weak-kneed lion like the previous Hand of the King, the blind and lame Tyland Lannister.

Despite his advancing years, he could still wield a sword in battle and kill the enemies he wanted dead.

As for what happened later.

The fourth face on Starpike's rock wall, whose carving had been forced to end halfway through, said it all...

Titus quietly admired his new sword for a while, gave it a flourish, and slid it snugly into the holly-wood scabbard in his left hand.

He would probably need it on this trip to Nightsong.

"Who can stand against it?"

He murmured the words casually. None of the previous Earls of House Peake's concerns troubled him; he had already decided to bring this swift blade back into the world.

In his hands, this sword would not necessarily "make" orphans. He was so kindhearted that he might even save some instead.

Was Bryce Caron, Earl of Nightsong, whose parents and younger brother had all "died of illness," not waiting for him to come to his rescue?

He thought of that poor boy he had once thrashed with his sword in Nightsong's tourney grounds, who had now actually acquired the standard protagonist template from Qidian's orphanage.

The Earl of Starpike, likewise young and bereft of both parents, declared that he absolutely had to give him a thorough rescuing!

The Earl of Starpike took one last, long look at the two magnificent chests tightly bound in chains, resisted the urge to open them, turned around, and followed the stairs back down.

They had lost two castles, yet hidden away these four deadly things.

Even now, it was hard to say whether House Peake had gained or lost on that deal...

Titus rubbed Orphan-Maker's grip, retrieved The Four Kings from its slot, extinguished the light, and left through the exit.

As the ironwood bookshelf slowly slid shut and the doorway closed once more, darkness filled the secret chamber again...

"Orphan-Maker":