After eating a simple breakfast alone, Su Qin immediately went to the reception room on the first floor. As soon as he opened the door, he saw a man in black armor sitting on the sofa. The man immediately turned and put down his wineglass.
Two attendants dressed in black stood behind him. Su Qin walked over and offered the envoy his hand. "Hello, Mr. Envoy. May I ask your name?"
The envoy had long black hair and a face weathered by the years. He immediately stood, and the two shook hands.
"My lord Baron, my name is Pujin Etching. I am a knight in Lord Yaron's service!"
After shaking hands, Su Qin sat opposite him. He first topped up Pujin's wine, then glanced at the two men behind him.
"Mr. Envoy, have you come to Gulltown because the Earl has orders for me?" Su Qin began probing the purpose of his visit.
Pujin smiled, picked up a cage beside him, and placed it on the little table between them. Inside was a black raven, turning its head this way and that. "My lord Baron, this is a raven! It knows the route from Gulltown to Runestone. From now on, you can exchange messages with the Earl through it."
He glanced at the people behind him and added, "This is the servant Ya San. He previously served Maester Denwen, mainly training and feeding the ravens. He is mute."
Su Qin drank a glass of wine and looked at the young man in black who had stepped over beside them. The young man looked quite refined, dressed in a black robe. It seemed the maester had treated him well.
Pujin pointed at him and told Su Qin, "My lord Baron, Ya San can take good care of Maester Denwen's Raven Number Three. You can appoint him as your servant." Su Qin looked Ya San over. Ya San stood calmly on the floor without moving. He seemed decent.
"Ya San, come stand behind me. From now on, I'll provide your food, clothing, lodging, and transportation. All you need to do is take good care of the raven." Upon hearing this, Ya San immediately picked up the raven's cage and stood behind Su Qin's sofa. He now had a new master.
Pujin took a sip of wine and looked at Su Qin. "My lord Baron, the second matter is that you must have your house sigil, banner, words, and noble seal ready within seven days. I will return to Runestone with you in a few days."
Su Qin was somewhat surprised. Why did he need to return to Runestone? Puzzled, he asked, "Ser Pukin, I would like to know why I need to go to Runestone."
Pujin set down his wineglass and said calmly, "In seven days, a burial at sea will be held for the Earl's eldest son, Pute Runestone. The Earl invites you to attend!"
Only then did Su Qin finally remember that the Earl's eldest son had died protecting him. "I will attend. Is there anything else, Ser Pukin?"
Ser Pukin shook his head. "No, just those three matters."
"A welcoming feast will be prepared for you in the first-floor dining room tonight." He was a guest, after all, and apparently a noble from the Etching Lands as well.
Hearing this, Ser Pujin smiled. "Hahaha, thank you, my lord Baron." Looking at Su Qin, he spoke his mind. "You seem a little different from other nobles."
"How am I different?" Su Qin was very interested.
Pujin smiled. "You simply don't feel like a noble. What noble treats people of lower standing as casually as you do?"
Su Qin tilted his head. The atmosphere grew a little awkward, and he said, "That's probably because I used to be nothing more than a destitute refugee from the East!"
Both laughed heartily and sat drinking fine wine, discussing amusing stories from Runestone Territory along the way...
Noon soon arrived, and Ser Pukin went out with his four squires.
Su Qin assigned Ya San a room on the first floor, told him where to bathe, eat, and use the toilet, then gave him one silver coin to buy necessities himself before returning to his study.
Yira, the prospective head maid, had already gone out with Aila and Fett. She had something she needed to do.
In the study, Su Qin began by thinking up his house sigil, the emblem that would be enlarged on his banner.
House Stark, for instance, had a direwolf, House Baratheon had a crowned stag, and House Arryn had a great falcon flying past a crescent moon!
But what troubled Su Qin was that he had no good ideas at all. He thought of several designs, but none satisfied him...
"Five yellow stars on a red field?"
"That doesn't really suit this world, does it?"
"How about just drawing a silver gull?"
"No, no, that would disgrace Huaxia. If I'm going to make my way out here, I should at least instill something of Huaxia into this other world!"
Just as Su Qin was puzzling over it, the system suddenly spoke: [It is recommended that the host choose a yellow dragon as his house sigil!]
Su Qin was somewhat startled. The system might actually possess independent intelligence!
But it also felt very abrupt. Suppressing that thought, Su Qin asked in his mind, System, why choose a yellow dragon?
[Because the host possesses the Yellow Dragon Bloodline!]
"What is the Yellow Dragon Bloodline?"
[The time has not yet come.]
"What? The time has not yet come?!"
Su Qin's eyes shifted, and he suddenly had an idea. He said to the system in his mind, Believe it or not, tomorrow I'll take a huge dump, have a servant put it in a box made of gold, and name it... System Relic!
Just a little deliberate threat!
[...]
[Please remain calm, host. Information that can be disclosed is being compiled. However, please be careful not to tell any sorcerer from Asshai about the origins of your house sigil.]
"Hmph, at least you know what's good for you!"
[Please listen carefully, host...] Su Qin nodded.
[The Dragon God has seven sons: the eldest, Torch Dragon; the second, Golden Dragon; the third, Yinglong; the fourth, Yellow Dragon; the fifth, Demon Dragon; the sixth, Black Dragon; and the seventh, Qilin Dragon! The host is the only person in the present era on Blue Star to possess the complete Primordial Yellow Dragon Bloodline!]
That's it? Su Qin had expected something more. This was already nothing new to him, so he asked another question. "Anything else?"
[That is all that can be disclosed.]
"System, come on, tell me more..."
Suddenly, a piece of white cloth woven with a yellow dragon appeared in midair. A fairly large house seal appeared on the white cloth. As the cloth slowly fell, Su Qin gently caught it. The system was quite considerate.
At the same time, Su Qin felt someone watching him. That sensation was absolutely real, so he immediately shouted into the empty air beside him, "Who's there? Get the hell out here!"
Then Su Qin stared fixedly at that empty spot. Suddenly, a flash of golden light appeared there, blasting a black mark into the floor!
That gaze immediately vanished. Once Su Qin could no longer feel it, he lowered his head and pondered the black mark on that patch of floor for a while.
Something suddenly occurred to him. At last, he raised his head and slowly said, "The Three-eyed raven, Bran(don) Stark!"
"..."
In the end, he reached a conjecture in his mind: Someone is helping me block... the Three-eyed raven's gaze...
Suddenly, the system spoke: [Host, please convert Gulltown's faith as soon as possible. This is an image of the Dragon God! It can be enshrined in a divine court! Discover its effects yourself!]
[The system's intelligence will enter dormancy for a time. Host, investigate the system's subsequent functions yourself! The shop and other functions will remain operational!]
A flash of light appeared in midair, followed by an enormous image of a divine dragon folding itself in the air. The dragon's upper body was black, and its lower body was white! Its eyes and horns were also one white and one black. It was downright eerie!
Finally, the folded cloth landed on the desk. It was actually dozens of centimeters thick! Yet the material was quite ordinary, merely woolen cloth. It was simply too large!
Su Qin could not calm himself for a long time, but he soon came back to his senses.
Yesterday was history, tomorrow was unknowable, and today was all anyone could control. So Su Qin stopped dwelling on it!
At the same time, Su Qin thought of his house words, four simple words in Chinese: "Strive unceasingly for self-improvement!"
Those four words ran through all of Huaxia's history. As house words, they lost nothing beside Field of Fire, Unending Vitality, Unyielding and Unbending, and the like.
But this world had surnames. He ought to take this opportunity to give himself a Westerosi surname.
Su Qin pondered for a moment, then had another idea. From now on, his full name would be Su Qin Herculys! His house would be called House Hercules!
Hercules meant "hero" in the Westeros language. Su Qin felt he was a little genius!
Having finished thinking through the important matters, Su Qin slowly rose and went down through the castle, then handed the house banner to Nack, who lived on the first floor. He instructed Nack to find the best tailor and have several hundred yellow dragon banners copied and sewn for him as quickly as possible!
After giving those instructions, Su Qin slowly walked out of the castle. He was going to inspect the docks.