Chapter 23 History, Truth

The east-west span of Essos is very large, its true area is unknown, and no map can depict the whole picture of the continent.

It is precisely because the continent is too large that the world divides this continent into Western Essos and Eastern Essos with the Skeleton Mountains on the east side of the Dothraki Sea as the boundary.

Among them, only Western Essos is truly known to the world.

When talking about any history and culture of Western Essos, Valyria Freehold will never be avoided.

It is the most advanced civilization known in the world. Its capital, Valyria, is the greatest city in the known world and the center of the civilized world.

Valyria Freehold belongs to a slave city-state. Although it is sometimes called an empire for convenience, it is neither a kingdom nor an empire. People who are born free and own land have a say in the rule.

In fact, the empire is ruled by forty dragon king families who are extremely wealthy, noble, and have strong magical abilities and can control dragons.

Within the gleaming walls of the capital Valyria, forty hostile families are engaged in an endless, vicious, bloody and cruel struggle for power and glory, and for the right to rule.

All glory must come to an end, and the rise and fall of great powers is a common historical phenomenon.

The empire of blood and fire ended in blood and fire.

The Doom of Valyria, a catastrophe of unknown cause.

In a moment, the proudest city in the world ceased to exist, and the dream empire built by it collapsed.

The only family of dragon kings who successfully escaped the Doomsday catastrophe was the Targaryen family.

Before the Doomsday catastrophe came, they fled to the continent of Westeros across the narrow sea and lived there for more than a century.

Until Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters rode dragons to conquer Westeros and started a dynasty that ruled for nearly three hundred years.

After the Doomsday catastrophe, the collapse of the empire left a huge power vacuum, and its colonies and conquered lands gained independence.

Since then, the continent of Theosos has been in social turmoil for nearly a century, and has fallen into a great melee of mutual attacks. History calls this period the Bloody Century.

The nomadic people from the East, the Dothraki, invaded in large numbers and were invincible. The Kingdom of Salor and other countries, colonies, and city-states were conquered and destroyed one after another.

At this time, Volantis, the first colony established by the Valyrians, proclaimed itself the heir to the empire, determined to conquer the world and rebuild the Free Fortress Empire.

However, before the conquest was halfway done, this move immediately caused a huge backlash.

In the water battle of Dagger Lake, Norvos and Qohor joined forces to defeat Volantis, destroying its power in the upper reaches of the Rhoyne River, and riots against rule broke out in the conquered areas.

The successive interventions of various forces and their strong participation in the war led to Volantis's defeat. This costly, long and unsuccessful military operation led to a coup d'état within it, and the conquest ended miserably.

Going westward, the invincible Dothraki also encountered the tenacious resistance of the Unsullied under the city of Qohor and suffered heavy losses.

With the defeat of Volantis and the first successful resistance of the Dothraki, the chaos of the bloody century gradually subsided, forming the current political situation in Essos.

The mother of the Valyrian Empire left nine independent political systems for the eastern continent, namely the nine free cities, eight of which are descendants of Valyrian colonists.

Unlike other free trade cities, Braavos has never been part of the Valyrian Free Fortress.

It was a city-state established by refugees who escaped from Valyrian slavery when the Valyrian Empire still existed.

About eight hundred years ago, a rowing slave in a Valyrian fleet launched an uprising. After they seized the fleet, they were unable to resist the rule of the empire, so they could only try to stay away from the power of the Valyrians, flee northward across the narrow sea, and finally came to the northwest corner of the continent of Essos, an archipelago often covered by thick fog and hidden, and a saltwater lagoon.

For the first century after Braavos was founded, no one knew of its existence. It was not until the masters of the escaped slaves died that they sent ships to invite all countries to Braavos to celebrate its 111th anniversary.

At the same time, the Iron Bank, the city-state bank, represented the Valyrian Freehold and offered huge compensation to the Empire to pay for the losses caused by the fleet that was taken away that year.

But Braavos refused to pay the price their ancestors were worth as slaves. The builders of the city gave their lives for freedom. They vowed that no one in Braavos would ever become a slave.

Opposing all forms of slavery is the first iron law of Braavos. For this reason, they did not hesitate to fight many wars with the slave-owning city-states and their allies.

It was these wars that created an invincible fleet that guarded their world-famous purple fleet. In the end, Braavos became a mysterious, powerful and richest free city-state. The wealth and influence of the Iron Bank were known to the world.

Late at night, under the light of the fire, the lake pier in the inner city of Qohor was as bright as day.

Dothraki cavalry and the Unsullied surrounded the place, because the merchant ships docked at the dock were full of the wealth of the high nobles of Qohor.

"Respected Khal, please forgive me for being frank, you absolutely cannot accept the loyalty of this person in front of you. That is Braavos, the Secret City, the bastard daughter of Valyria, the most special and powerful city-state among the nine free trade cities."

The secret hidden behind the "truth" triggered a violent reaction from the agent Orfor, who kept casting angry eyes at Aslan.

Mungo turned a deaf ear to him, remained silent, and studied the Valyrian steel sword in his hand expressionlessly.

Any Valyrian steel weapon is hard to come by, and they almost all have their own names or legendary stories.

And the heirloom that Aslan presented to him, one of them is a Valyrian steel sword.

——

Its name is "Truth".

Its story is not only the legend of a person, or the biography of a sword.

Behind "Truth" lies the historical rise and fall of a thousand-year-old family.

After a moment of silence, Mungo finally spoke.

"It's a really good sword, but it's too light and not suitable for me."

He waved the Valyrian steel sword in his hand and commented loudly.

The deafening voice resounded throughout the lake,

and constantly shocked and destroyed Aslan's confidence. Mungo had a faint smile on his face, and he silently observed the handsome and mature boy's face exposed loneliness, and the complex expression that changed repeatedly.

The lakeside fell into a silent silence.

After a long time, a vicissitudes of life and gentle voice suddenly came from the darkness.

"Great Mungo Khal, Bas Porter salutes you, and I am willing to offer my loyalty to you together with Aslan."

Hearing the blood wizard introduce himself, Mungo was slightly stunned. He did not expect that the person who had been hiding in the dark forest by the lake was Bas Porter.

In fact, in the entire city of Qohor, this person was the only one that made him most curious and expected to see. Before entering the city, he gave two orders to the loyal Kosoro, giving priority to protecting the craftsmen and books in the city and looking for the blood wizard Bas Porter.

Since they came to the lakeside dock and seized the merchant ship under the guidance of Aslan, this person had been hiding there, but he could not escape Mungo's extraordinary vision.

When Aslan presented the treasure ship and Valyrian steel weapons, the blood wizard also looked at Mungo intently. This scrutiny from behind once made him think that this person was an assassin.

As the officer Ofer stood up and strongly opposed Aslan's loyalty, this man's eyes kept lingering on Aslan, revealing his deep concern and regret. It was full of the deep affection between father and son, master and apprentice.

Monggo was also very curious about this person's identity because of his respect for Aslan. He just tentatively sprinkled the bait, but he didn't expect to catch a big fish.

This chapter sorts out the history, and there is another update.