Prophecy

Two days later, on the way back to the Dothraki Sacred City, Eren sat in a carriage with his women, pulled by a five-meter Small Giant.

By Dothraki custom, only eunuchs, cripples, the elderly, women, and children rode in carriages. But Eren intended to do what others could not, challenge the impossible, and shatter their former beliefs, making them believe in the New Gods and align all their views with their new faith.

As for the threat of the Old Gods, the only gods Eren considered worthy of attention were the Lord of Light and the Cold God, because only the God of Light had displayed divine power, while the Cold God had the Night's King as his subordinate.

Eren paid no attention to other gods. What use was believing in a god that could not manifest itself? Besides, magic was at a low ebb now. Even the Lord of Light probably had trouble wielding divine power at present, so Eren did not care at all.

The Giant pulling the carriage looked enormous at five meters tall, but beside a fifteen-meter one, he was like a child. He was not needed in battle, and Eren had grown a little tired of riding him all the time, so he simply put him to work pulling a carriage. After all, he was not a horse and did not need grass or even water-a natural laborer.

Inside the carriage, Eren was playing with seven women. Apart from Sally and Lydia, the other five were the finest women Flock had selected from those later captured in Yunkai and presented to him as tribute.

As for the two maids with unremarkable figures from before, to be honest, Eren had no interest in them. He simply decided to have them keep watch at night, guard the door, and attend to his daily needs from then on. Right now, the two of them were outside driving the carriage.

As Eren was fooling around with her women, the voice of a soldier who had come to report sounded from beyond the curtain.

"Your Majesty, we have now left Slaver's Bay's sphere of influence. There is probably no chance of pursuers from Slaver's Bay coming after us anymore."

Eren answered the soldier through the curtain:

"I understand. You may go."

The soldier answered, "Yes," then withdrew.

Eren was not concerned about pursuers from Slaver's Bay, but it was better if they did not come, because that meant Slaver's Bay could preserve some of its strength. With aid, Yunkai would probably soon regain its former prosperity.

Eren had spared a group of slave masters back then because he thought that leaving them alive would allow order to be restored in Yunkai. Besides, Eren and his men had not looted everything. There were surely treasures hidden more deeply, and those treasures could help Yunkai recover faster too. After all, it took money to make money. As a modern man, Eren understood the importance of sustainable development very well.

To be honest, it would actually be better to keep the slave masters of Slaver's Bay around and rob them every so often, like eating at a buffet. To Eren, these slave masters were bank ATMs.

Still, Eren did not place too much importance on wealth. Everything he had came from the power of the Giants, from strength. To him, strength was the foundation.

Once he returned to the Dothraki Sacred City, he wanted to see whether its priests possessed supernatural powers or knew anything about them.

If he could learn how to obtain magic in the Dothraki Sacred City, it would help his subsequent development. Understanding one method could open the way to all others. Eren felt that a power like magic was some kind of invisible, intangible energy, while injured Giants could rely on sunlight to recover faster.

Once he had a way to obtain magic, he could begin studying the sun's effects on Giants and see whether the two powers could be interconnected. That way, even if magic fell to a low ebb again in the future, it would not affect him too much. Magic might disappear, but the sun would not.

As Eren considered his plans for the future, he also remembered that there was not much time left before magic returned. He had to unite all the Dothraki within this year. That would bring his cavalry to roughly two hundred thousand, although they would all be light cavalry rather than heavy cavalry.

But two hundred thousand light cavalry were still a force that could not be ignored. Heavy cavalry were formidable, but too expensive. For someone with Giants like him, heavy cavalry posed very little threat. Highly mobile light cavalry were better suited to pursuing remnants of enemy forces and making penetrating maneuvers.

Time passed quickly. As the sun sank in the west, Eren sat studying a map in the tent that had been set up. With two days of travel and Giants that needed no rest hauling supplies, they had marched quickly and already reached the lower reaches of the Skahazadhan River. In another three days, they would more or less be back where they had been before.

The Dothraki Sea was vast on the map, taking up almost half of it. Its area was roughly equal to that of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Successfully uniting all the Dothraki within the coming year would be very difficult.

Moreover, the Dothraki were constantly migrating. Searching the entire Dothraki Sea to find and absorb them really was like looking for a needle in the ocean.

Thus, Eren had to go to the Dothraki Sacred City. Through it, he could send word to the Khalasars and Khals out on the plains and lure them over. Then even if a few slipped through the net, it would not matter.

For Eren, having most of the Dothraki cavalry in his hands was enough.

After night fell, Eren drifted off to sleep surrounded by milky-white breasts.

Twenty days later, Eren finally arrived at the Dothraki Sacred City, the Womb of the World, the Mother of Mountains, Vaes Dothrak.

Eren entered the city and had the regiment commanders settle all the troops there, then took them to meet the Dosh Khaleen.

The Dosh Khaleen was an organization of Dothraki crones based in Vaes Dothrak. They were all former Khaleesis, the wives of all the Khals who had died. They were permanent residents of Vaes Dothrak. Among the Dothraki, they enjoyed supreme honor and status, serving as prophets who foretold the future and interpreted omens for the Dothraki, attended by eunuchs.

Long ago, the Dosh Khaleen had prophesied that one day the Dothraki would unite in their sacred domain, Vaes Dothrak, and submit to the mightiest Khal in history. Riding the stallion who mounted the world, he would lead his people to the ends of the earth, trampling all foreign peoples beneath his feet and grinding them to dust.

In the future, this prophecy would be said to refer to Daenerys Targaryen's child. But her child died, so clearly her child was not the person in the prophecy.

To Eren, however, this prophecy seemed practically tailor-made for him. The mightiest Khal in history-what Khal could be stronger than Eren transformed into a Giant?

As for the stallion who mounted the world, that horse did not necessarily have to be a horse. Was riding a Giant not better than riding a horse? And in the future, he would even ride a dragon.

As for trampling foreign peoples underfoot and grinding them to dust, was anything better suited to that than Giants? Once the Rumbling was unleashed, it truly would trample everything underfoot and grind it to dust.

So, as Eren saw it, was this prophecy not talking about him? Who could fit it better than he did? If there was anyone, let him step forward. Eren would trample him to ash first.