The sea shrouded in darkness was gray, and as far as the eye could see, the hazy continent in the distance seemed to be a lurking at the bottom of the dark sea, revealing only a huge monster overhead, silent, but with a deep sense of terror.

The cold wind blew on the thin linen shirt, bringing a sense of coolness, and Captain Turner, who stood on the deck bow of the Lucky Woman, with a bunch of forked beards, was secretly anxious.

As a captain under the command of a certain governor of Pantos, Captain Turner has another mission on his way back from Seagulltown, which is to reach the waters known as the Crab Claw Peninsula and wait for someone to come and board the ship.

This mission is also a certain risk, because there are many ships coming and going in the nearby waters, and if they are discovered, not to mention that their lives will be in danger, but there will be many future risks, so Captain Turner is very cautious about this.

However, I don't know what happened, but the appointed time had passed, but there was still no boat in sight, which made Captain Turner can't help but pace back and forth on the deck, while cursing the people who are chattering in his heart.

Yes, Captain Turner knew who he was smuggling, and in fact it wasn't the first time he had done this kind of smuggling, and thanks to his good connections in Seagulltown, he also understood why those people were so embarrassed—

They are wanted throughout Westeros.

This involves a power struggle in Westeros, which Turner is not interested in, but continues to keep an eye on it, as it will directly affect their business dealings, and he has always wondered why they Pantos are involved in this fight.

Relying on the advantage of being close to King's Landing, Pantos was very wealthy, but not powerful among the nine trading city-states-

Many years ago, Pantos fought many battles with Braavos, also one of the free trade city-states, over slavery, and had to sign a "peace agreement" that stipulated that the Pantos could not have more than 20 warships, no mercenaries, no contracts with the free mercenary groups, or any troops beyond the city guard.

In this case, the right and left are the things that the Pantos should do, not rush into the fight against some behemoth......

"Maybe it's those damn Braavos menacing?"

He speculated that in the years since the signing of the agreement, Pantos had been at the mercy of Braavos, a good neighbor who was not very close, if it was Braavos who was putting pressure on the governors......

Captain Turner didn't think much further, for his vision suddenly revealed several small boats that were swaying in the dark sea, and the direction of the ship was the Crab Claw Peninsula.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to beckon the crew to get ready, and as soon as the stowaways arrived, they would return to the voyage.

At the beginning, things went very well, and more than a dozen stowaways dressed in ordinary clothes and chattering in words got on the ship without the slightest surprise, but just as the sails of the merchant ship were raised and ready to set sail, Captain Turner suddenly found that more than a dozen huge warships were faintly appearing in the sea around his ship!

In the dim environment, Captain Turner could not see the sail signs of these warships, but judging from the posture of their crowding, it was obvious that the comer was not good, so his face changed greatly, but he did not signal the ship to flee, but hurriedly grabbed a henchman and whispered: "Hide those people from before, let them put on the crew's clothes, and go!" ”

The sailor nodded hurriedly, while Captain Turner took a deep breath and waited in silence.

His merchant ships are inferior to those of war ships in terms of speed and combat ability, and rash movement will only be completely exposed, but it is better to disguise it, and perhaps be able to get away with it.

Unfortunately, his plan did not succeed, because after the ships surrounded him, he did not have the slightest appearance of negotiation, so he directly forcibly took control of Captain Turner's Lucky Girl, and regardless of their quibbles, decisively detained all of them, including the pretenders who had been on board before.

……

What was happening off the coast of the Crab Claw Peninsula was very hidden, but it wasn't long before a letter from Dragonstone Island to King's Landing Red Keep revealed the matter.

When the letter arrived, Paiselle, the bachelor in charge of sending and receiving the letter, was playing in his room with one of his favorite pet dogs, and he couldn't help but shudder when he heard the ugly quacking of the raven, and then hurriedly ran to check it.

Then a hint of strangeness flashed involuntarily on his rosy and healthy cheeks.

"The matter of Hewan over there has just ended, and this side is directly preparing to attack the valley? This Duke of Lanli ......"

Muttering to himself, the scholar couldn't help but sigh when he thought of the annoying little boy ten years ago, and then walked quickly to the outside of the scholar tower with the letter, ready to hand it to the king.

King Robert had not been in the mood to visit the brothels outside the Red Keep for some time, so Scholar Paisher easily learned of the king's location from his servants, and met him in a garden.

"My brother is writing again?"

King Robert, though fat, had a loud voice, and a bald old man sitting across from him couldn't help but look at the letter handed to the king by the scholar, and secretly guessed its contents.

A letter from the river bend a while ago made the Imperial Council quite happy, and also made the entire Red Keep talk about the Duke of Dragonstone who had disappeared for many years......

"Another piece of good news, perhaps?" The bald old man, the Duke of Vale and former Prime Minister Jon. Erin was secretly looking forward to it.

He wouldn't have cared about a letter from a young guy who had just come of age before, but the incident in Riverbend had been so beautiful that it was hard for him to ignore the young Duke of Dragonstone, or to say that he had taken it seriously enough.

However, immediately after that, the bald old man suddenly noticed that King Robert, who was silently reading the letter, suddenly glanced up at him, and his expression seemed a little strange, which made the old duke's heart sink.

"Bad news?" He hurriedly asked.

"See for yourself, Jon." The fat king handed over the letter as he spoke, and the bald old man reached out to take it and hurriedly looked down, the solemn expression on his face gradually turning into a strange one.

The letter contains a lot of content, and it is roughly divided into two parts, one part of which is about the people of the Crab Claw Peninsula joining forces with the ships of Pantos to protect the smuggling disciples, and the other part is a sharp accusation.

In his letter, Duke Lanley claimed that he had invited Earl Graafson of Seagull Town to join him after discovering the smuggling of the Crab Claw Peninsula, but Earl Graafson refused to send troops, so he seriously suspected that Earl Graafson and his family were colluding with Pantos, who was smuggling, or the remnants of Targaryen behind Pantos.

He pointed out that during the uprising (the Usurper War), Seagull Town was the gathering place of the Valley Royalists, and the Graffsons of Seagull Town were also the leaders of the Royalists......

"What do you think about this, Jon?"

Seeing the change in the expression on the bald old man's face, King Robert asked with a serious face, "I personally slaughtered Marco Grafson who was standing on the side of the Targaryens, maybe his nephew has a grudge against me?" ”

He didn't hesitate to ask, because if that were the case, it would be tantamount to the Graafsons betraying Jon as well. Arryn, the Duke of the Vale.

Just as when they rebelled against the Targaryens in the Vale, the former Seagull Town Earl raised troops in support of the Targaryens, openly siding with Jon. Arryn is the opposite of the feudal king.

"Without evidence, it is impossible to distinguish the real from the fake." The bald old man replied after hearing this.

"Didn't Lan Li say in the letter that he had captured the merchant ship of Pantos?"

"This only proves that Pantos was in collusion with the people of the Crab Claw Peninsula and the Targaryens, and it can't even be fully proven, because those disciples do not represent the Targaryens outright."

The old man said, glancing at the letter in his hand with complicated eyes, and said to Robert on the other side, "But perhaps we need to summon Earl Graffson himself to King's Landing for questioning." ”