BlurryDream
patreon
Chapter 184: The Enormous Dragon
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 11:18:33 +0000 UTCAs Lynd examined the damage to the warship before him, he could vividly imagine the scene—a colossal beast surging up from the depths, sinking its jaws into the ship and tearing half of it away in a single bite.
Enormous. That was the only word that came to mind.
This was no ordinary vessel. The warship had four decks and was the largest sailing warship currently in existence. When docked, it stood nearly as tall as the three-story buildings lining the pier.
More than a year ago, when Lynd had designed this class of warship, he had based it on the largest sailing vessels he could recall from his past life.
Of course, he had never been a shipwright and knew little about a ship’s internal structure. He had simply drawn the design based on the sails and hulls he had seen, then entrusted experienced shipbuilders to bring it to life.
Though the final result was not an exact recreation of his original vision, the shipbuilders had adapted the design using the existing shipbuilding techniques of Westeros, refining and improving it to create these massive four-decked warships.
These vessels were formidable. Their decks bristled with ballistae capable of piercing the hulls of longships with ease. The second deck was fitted with openings for archers, allowing them to fire freely at enemy ships without exposure to incoming attacks. The expansive interior meant these warships could carry far more soldiers than a standard vessel—giving their crew a decisive advantage in boarding actions.
It was thanks to the deployment of these ships within the Miracle Fleet that Lynd had secured full control over the Sea of Dorne. Tor and Ghost Hill had been left with no choice but to capitulate, accepting his terms for peace under significant concessions.
Currently, there were only six of these warships, all assigned to the Miracle Fleet. According to Lynd’s strategy, the campaign to unify the Stepstones would not officially begin until at least twenty of these ships had been built and deployed.
And yet, to his disbelief, he had lost one in under three months.
However, the loss had not tarnished the warship’s reputation. Quite the opposite—this was the only ship in recent memory to have survived an attack by a sea dragon.
Despite the severe damage to its upper decks, the lower decks and keel remained intact. Its fore and aft sails had also been spared, which was why the vessel had been able to make its way back to port rather than sinking at sea.
At a glance, the ship appeared to be on the verge of collapse, but in reality, a few repairs would be enough to restore it and reintegrate it into the fleet.
The sheer scale of the warship only served to emphasize the terrifying size of the sea dragon that had attacked it. Comparing what he had seen of dragon remains, Lynd realized that even Vhagar, the largest dragon alive, was small in comparison to this beast.
If a mammoth were used as a unit of measurement, then Vhagar, at best, could swallow one and a half mammoths. This sea dragon, however, could devour three or more in a single gulp.
Yet, despite the creature’s immense size, Lynd did not find it particularly daunting.
To him, such massive proportions meant sluggish movement and a broad, vulnerable target. With his current mastery of dragon rune magic, as long as this sea dragon lacked any supernatural abilities—such as spellcraft or other mystical powers—he was entirely confident that he could kill it without suffering so much as a scratch.
Now, the only issue Lynd needed to consider was how to prevent the sea dragon from escaping.
While he had mastered powerful dragon runes, none of them allowed him to fight freely underwater. If the sea dragon sensed danger and dove into the depths, luring it back to the surface would be a near-impossible task.
“Is there a way to stop the sea dragon from diving to the ocean floor if it tries to escape?” Lynd asked, his gaze still fixed on the damaged warship. His question was directed at Ser Hallis Redwyne, commander of the Miracle Fleet, who stood behind him.
Hallis was momentarily stunned. He had expected Lynd to be assessing the ship’s damage or considering naval strategies. Instead, Lynd was already thinking about how to hunt and kill the sea dragon.
Quickly regaining his composure, Hallis thought for a moment before suggesting, “We could use harpoons and flotation barrels.”
Lynd considered it briefly before shaking his head. “The ballistae on our ships don’t have the power to wound a sea dragon.”
He had already spoken with the warship’s surviving crew and gathered descriptions of the creature. Contrary to his initial assumption that it would resemble a fish-like aquatic beast covered in scales and possessing fins, the sea dragon seemed far more like a true dragon that swam through the sea.
Multiple survivors had reported seeing wings. Though badly damaged and tattered like ragged sails, the presence of wings suggested that this might not be a sea-dwelling monster at all—but a wounded wild dragon.
With that in mind, Lynd considered every combat detail based on his knowledge of dragons.
Nymeria possessed a set of dragonhide under-armor, an heirloom of House Footly. The dragonhide used to craft it likely came from one of the dragons that perished at Tumbleton during the Dance of the Dragons.
Lynd had tested its resilience before—ordinary crossbow bolts were unable to pierce it. This confirmed that dragonhide was nowhere near as fragile as it had appeared in certain dramatized accounts. It was absurd to think that a dragon could be slain by a single well-aimed bolt from a ballista hundreds of meters away.
Throughout history, there were very few recorded instances of dragons being killed by arrows. The exceptions were young dragons, whose hides had yet to fully develop—such as those slain in the riots at the Dragonpit in King’s Landing—or cases where arrows struck vital weak points, like Meraxes, who perished at Hellholt after taking a bolt to the eye.
Otherwise, neither arrows nor ballistae were capable of penetrating the hide of a mature dragon.
Judging by its size, this sea dragon was likely from the same era as Balerion the Black Dread—perhaps even older. A dragon of such age would have developed an immensely thick hide, hardened over centuries. Unless they struck its eyes or another vulnerable point, neither ballista bolts nor harpoons would be able to pierce its defenses.
Although he had yet to find a way to prevent the sea dragon from escaping, Lynd had no intention of delaying any further. The beast’s presence was wreaking havoc on trade in Miracle Harbor.
A quick review of the dock records revealed that in less than half a month, the number of ships arriving at Miracle Harbor had dropped by nearly one-third. Now that the battered warship had been towed into the military port for repairs, those who saw its condition would only grow more doubtful about the safety of sailing in the Sea of Dorne.
If the situation was not resolved soon, the number of ships calling at Miracle Harbor could be reduced by half—or worse—within a month. Such a sharp decline would deliver a devastating blow not only to the port but to Summerhall’s entire economy. Plans that had been carefully laid out would be forced to halt, and the instability that followed could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Lynd could not afford to let that happen.
Even if he failed to kill the sea dragon outright, he had to defeat it—to send a message that he could protect these waters. People needed to see that, even in the face of a legendary sea dragon, he was capable of ensuring their safety.
“Prepare the ships immediately,” Lynd ordered. “We sail at once. Have a few prominent merchant guild leaders accompany us.”
Hallis responded at once. “The ships are ready to depart at any time. But the guild leaders… they may not be willing to take the risk.”
Lynd’s tone was firm. “That’s fine. Inform them anyway. Let’s see which of them are truly worth our attention.”
Hallis nodded. “Understood.” Then, after a brief hesitation, he added, “Would you like to speak with the survivors from the attacked merchant ships?”
Lynd shook his head as he strode toward Hallis’s flagship, Arrowhead. “Not now. Bring me their interrogation records instead.”
Without hesitation, Hallis retrieved the documents and followed Lynd aboard. Meanwhile, messengers were dispatched to notify the merchant guild leaders, and fleet soldiers on the docks began boarding their vessels.
As soon as the merchant leaders arrived, the expedition would set sail.
“Is this all the information you managed to get?”
In the captain's quarters of the Arrowhead, flagship of the Miracle Fleet, Lynd quickly flipped through the latest reports on the merchant fleet attacked by the sea dragon. His brows furrowed slightly as he looked up and questioned Hollis, who stood across the table.
“Yes, my lord. All the interrogation records are here.” Ser Hollis straightened his posture and responded.
“You don’t see anything wrong with this?” Lynd pushed the documents toward him.
“Wrong?” Ser Hollis hesitated, picking up the records and scanning through them. His expression remained puzzled. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Every single person described the sea dragon’s attack on the two ships in the exact same way: a massive monster suddenly emerged from the sea, bit the ships in half, and swallowed everyone. Yet none of them could clearly state where the attack happened or how they managed to escape.” Lynd pointed to a passage in the interrogation records. “If just one or two people said this, it wouldn’t be a problem. But when over forty people describe the same event in the same way, that’s a serious issue.”
“You mean… they fabricated the sea dragon attack?” Ser Hollis hesitated before voicing his guess.
“The two surviving ships—are their owners members of our Miracle Merchant Guild?” Lynd asked.
“Yes,” Ser Hollis confirmed with a nod.
Lynd tapped his fingers on the table and stated, “According to the guild’s regulations, if goods transported by our members are lost in designated waters, the Miracle Fleet is responsible for recovery. If the goods can’t be retrieved, the guild compensates half of their total value.”
“You’re saying… they deliberately sank their ships to scam the guild for compensation?” Ser Hollis quickly grasped Lynd’s implication but soon voiced another doubt. “But they really did lose two ships, and the cargo went down with them. The combined value of the lost goods and ships far exceeds the compensation they’d receive. Wouldn’t that be a net loss?”
“What if the cargo never existed in the first place?” Lynd said gravely.
Ser Hollis froze for a moment. “But they have shipping records, don’t they?”
“Fetch the current executive chairman of the Merchant Guild,” Lynd ordered. As Hollis turned to leave, he added, “Bring the captain of the Blood Armored Men from Miracle Harbor as well.”
“Yes, my lord,” Ser Hollis responded before departing.
...
Before long, the current executive chairman of the Miracle Merchant Guild, who had already been waiting at the military harbor, arrived in the captain’s quarters along with the captain of the Blood Armored Men.
“Take a look at these records. See if anything seems off to you,” Lynd instructed, pointing to the interrogation documents on the table.
The two men hesitated briefly before each taking a portion of the records to examine. After finishing, they swapped documents and reviewed them again.
“These accounts of the attack are fabricated,” said the Blood Armored Men’s captain first, speaking in Common with a Braavosi accent.
His name was Quizz, a Braavosi who had been one of Lynd’s longest-serving subordinates. He had originally joined Lynd when Lynd helped Nymeria build the new Tumbleton. At the time, he was nominally assigned under Nymeria’s garrison forces.
Later, he was transferred to Miracle Harbor alongside Jon Bulwer and took command of the harbor’s garrison. His exceptional performance earned him a place on the list of recommended officers when Jon left.
When the special intelligence unit, the Blood Armored Men, was established, Quizz voluntarily joined and was appointed as the captain of the Miracle Harbor division. His years of dealing with intelligence matters allowed him to immediately spot the inconsistencies in the interrogation records.
The merchant guild’s executive chairman, Gorman Celtigar, was a step slower but came to a similar conclusion. “The shipping records must be forged. I remember very clearly—these weapons were ordered from Meereen. But this fleet belongs to the merchant guild of Volantis. There’s no way the guild would trade already-ordered weapons to them.”
Lynd asked, “Then tell me, what’s the reason behind this?”
Gorman quickly replied, “Someone’s cooking the books, trying to exploit the guild’s compensation policy to siphon off money.”
“Good,” Lynd nodded. “I’m leaving this investigation to you. The Blood Armored Men will assist. I want to know exactly who had the audacity to try stealing from my pocket. Get to the bottom of this—understood?”
“Yes, my lord,” Gorman and Quizz answered in unison.
Not long after Gorman and Quizz left, the major merchant guild leaders who had been summoned began arriving at the docks one after another.
Unlike what Ser Hollis had expected, none of them showed any fear of the sea dragon. Upon receiving Lynd’s message, they had immediately delegated their duties to subordinates, armed themselves, and gathered at the military port, ready to accompany Lynd to the southern coastline of the Sea of Dorne to hunt the beast.
Even those who hadn’t been notified showed up to join the commotion—among them was Septon Joseth of the Miracle Sept.
Lynd dismissed most of them, except for those with notable influence, like Septon Joseth. He wasn’t looking for volunteers to fight the sea dragon. What he needed was for people of status to spread the word—that the Miracle Fleet could defeat the beast and secure the trade routes.
