CHAPTER 417: CHAPTER 417: EPILOGUE (III)

In the eyes of the Imperial Tarran Royal Family, the Red Keep in King’s Landing did not hold any special status. When Lynd Tarran became Emperor of the Tarran Empire, he established several capitals instead of just one, and the political center had already shifted to the new King’s Landing—what is now known as the Divine Capital. Compared to Summerhall, the old King’s Landing was considered fairly ordinary, and the Red Keep’s importance was similarly diminished.

However, in the hearts of the old nobility of the Tarran Empire, the legendary Red Keep carried extraordinary significance. It had been the very heart of the kingdom in their ancestors’ time. Even when Lynd Tarran departed, it was from the Red Keep—not from Miracle Harbor.

According to legend, before leaving, Lynd Tarran placed a treasure obtained from the ruins of Valyria inside the Tower of the Hand within the Red Keep, meant to be left for future generations. So, when the climate warmed and expeditions began to organize, the old nobility set their sights on the Red Keep in King’s Landing. The royal family, on the other hand, initially focused their efforts on Summerhall and Miracle Harbor.

After two expeditions had provided a clearer understanding of the Old Continent, the royal family too turned their attention to King’s Landing for the third expedition, leading to the formation of the current expedition team.

Now, Belier and the others were making their way directly toward the Red Keep, aiming for the Tower of the Hand.

Soon, the expedition team arrived outside the Red Keep. Suddenly, someone pointed to the top of a tower inside the keep and said, "Look over there—there’s light!"

Hearing this, everyone immediately looked up and quickly spotted the source of the glow.

"That should be the Tower of the Hand," Jon explained. "I have a model of the Red Keep at home, so I know its layout. That should be the Tower of the Hand. Over here is the King’s Hall, this side is the Queen’s Hall, and further back are the Godswood and the Sept of the Seven..."

Jon went on to name each building inside the Red Keep.

"The real question is, how do we get inside?" someone interrupted.

The Red Keep, like the rest of the city, was blanketed in snow. Even the main entrance was completely buried. The surrounding walls were towering and coated with a thick layer of ice, making them impossible to climb. Even setting up a ladder would be extremely difficult.

"How did he get in?" someone asked, pointing toward the room in the Tower of the Hand that was emitting the light.

Belier chuckled and said, "Maybe he flew in."

But after his joking remark, everyone around him turned to look at him in unison, their eyes showing a strange mix of emotions.

"What?" Belier asked, puzzled. "Did I say something wrong?"

The expedition leader patted Belier on the shoulder and said, "No, you’re right. Maybe he really did fly in."

"Could it be that the person in the Tower of the Hand is His Majesty the Divine Emperor?" someone immediately speculated.

Others quickly agreed. "It’s very possible. When we passed the Dragonpit earlier, didn’t we notice it had been swept clean? It could have been the work of the Sacred Dragon, Deltos."

At this point, excitement spread among the group. Some suggested that while they searched for a way into the Red Keep, they should also find a way to signal to whoever was inside the Tower of the Hand that they were here in King’s Landing.

So the team split into two groups. One group searched around the perimeter of the Red Keep for an entrance, while the other gathered any usable materials like wood from the ruins to build a bonfire, hoping to create thick smoke that would be easily seen.

Before long, someone spotted movement at one of the windows of the Tower of the Hand. A figure appeared briefly before vanishing again, causing a wave of excitement among the group as they stared at the Red Keep’s walls, anxiously waiting for someone to come out.

Not long after, a figure appeared atop the ice-covered city wall. Then, the person leapt directly from the wall. As he fell, a whirlwind formed beneath him, cushioning his descent and allowing him to land unharmed.

As he landed outside the walls, everyone could clearly see him: he was clad in the unmistakable armor of a Banished Knight, with two Banished Knight greatswords strapped to his waist—the exact likeness of the Divine Emperor’s statues they had seen in the Temple of the Storm God, the Sept of the Seven, the Temple of the God of Calamity, and the Temple of the God of Magic...

At that moment, nearly everyone believed the person standing before them was the God Emperor Lynd Tarran. Only Jon Stark showed a hint of doubt on his face. Before the others could step forward and kneel in reverence, Jon took a step ahead and cautiously asked, "Prince Raymond?"

Everyone froze in surprise. Then, realizing something, they all turned to look at the mysterious figure dressed exactly like the God Emperor.

"Jon Stark, long time no see!" the man said with a smile, removing his helmet to reveal long silver hair and strikingly handsome features.

"Prince Raymond? What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the Redemption Sept completing the Divine Emperor’s Trials?" several of the Holy Sisters blurted out, stunned.

Raymond Tarran walked up to them, smiling. "I’ve already completed the Divine Emperor’s Trials—all twenty-seven of them—and I’ve inherited the name of the Storm God. So from now on, you should address me as Raymond Storm Tarran. As for why I’m here, well, it’s simple. The Copperfire was stifling, and I wanted to get out and stretch my legs. So I decided to come see Old King’s Landing and maybe even find His Majesty the God Emperor. If I do, perhaps it’ll help me secure my claim to the throne."

Raymond made no effort to hide his ambition for the imperial throne, and even those who had never met him before could clearly sense his character. In their hearts, they all thought the same thing: Indeed, he’s the Ambitious Prince Raymond.

Raymond Tarran was the second son of the current God Emperor. From a young age, he had shown extraordinary talent—not only in scholarship but even more so in combat. He was the only member of the Tarran royal family capable of wielding the Banished Knight’s Greatsword, and the only one to master the Dragon Slayer Spear technique. At just fourteen, he stunned the entire empire by winning the Imperial Tournament, defeating every opponent with his masterful swordsmanship, archery, and spearmanship, sweeping the Mixed Combat, Master Archer, and Spear Combat championships. It was an unprecedented feat that made him the most legendary prince in the empire.

However, his terrible personality was also fully revealed during the tournament. Beyond his ruthless tactics in combat, what truly shocked everyone was what happened afterward: he offered the Crown of Love and Beauty not to a maiden, but to his sister-in-law, the Crown Princess, openly declaring his love and expressing a desire to win her favor. It was enough to expose just how deeply flawed his character was.

Because of this, the God Emperor did not hesitate to banish Raymond to the Redemption Sept, ordering that he could only leave once he completed the full Divine Emperor’s Trials.

It’s important to know that in the empire, there are five types of Divine Emperor Trials. The Night’s Watch Trials are the simplest, consisting of five tests mainly targeting physical endurance and character. The Black Cave Trials have seven tests, focusing on the spiritual realm, completely different from the Night’s Watch.

The Trials for the Chosen of the Gods involve twelve tests, serving as a supplement to the Night’s Watch Trials, while the Trials for the Holy Sisters of Redemption and those in the Silent Forest combine and expand upon the previous ones with twenty-one tests.

The Trials reserved for royalty are the most difficult, totaling twenty-seven tests, some said to touch upon divine matters requiring the participation of the Children of the Forest. In the past three centuries, fewer than four individuals had successfully completed all twenty-seven trials—each one hailed as among the brightest stars of the royal family in their time.

Now, Raymond had just announced he had completed all twenty-seven trials, leaving everyone around him in utter shock.

"You’ve inherited the Storm Dragon Rune?" one of the Holy Sisters couldn’t help but ask.

Raymond smiled smugly. "Didn’t I say? My middle name is Storm."

Everyone gasped again. When the God Emperor Lynd Tarran departed, he left behind three Divine Dragon Runes: Storm, Ice, and Thunder. These dragon runes were vastly different from ordinary runes. According to the Children of the Forest and the Black Cave scholars, they contained divine power. The royal family had long dreamed of their princes and princesses inheriting these runes—but none had ever succeeded.

Yet Raymond now claimed to have inherited the Storm Dragon Rune. For House Tarran, this was an earth-shattering development. It also explained why Raymond had so boldly revealed his ambitions for the throne. Inheriting the Storm Dragon Rune didn’t just mean gaining the God Emperor’s divine power—it also meant he could now count on the full support of the Temple of the Storm God.

Just as everyone was still reeling from the revelation of Raymond’s strength, a dragon’s roar suddenly echoed from the sky. Everyone looked up to see a brilliant golden dragon soaring toward them. It circled above King’s Landing a few times before descending to land at the Dragonpit.

"Copper Fire!" someone immediately recognized the dragon from its magnificent bronze scales and looked at Raymond with undisguised envy.

The royal family owned more than forty dragons, but their strength varied greatly. The strongest dragons, of course, belonged to the God Emperor Lynd Tarran. Among them, the sea dragon Cannibal had died two hundred years ago, its corpse preserved as a specimen and housed in the Temple of the Storm God in Storm Harbor.

The sacred dragon Deltos had departed with the God Emperor and had not been seen since.

Only the lava dragon Neltharion remained alive, though it had long withdrawn to the volcanic lava fields of the Valyrian ruins and had almost completely severed ties with the Tarran royal family.

However, before leaving Dragonmont, Neltharion laid a single dragon egg. From that egg hatched a bronze dragon—Copper Fire, the very dragon now before their eyes.

Because of Neltharion’s extraordinary bloodline, Copper Fire also possessed immense strength. Beyond its armor-like bronze scales, its dragonfire alone had earned it the reputation of being one of the strongest dragons.

For years, no one in the Tarran royal family had been able to tame Copper Fire—until Raymond Tarran appeared. His exceptional abilities allowed him to forge a bond with the dragon, and because of his remarkable talents, many in the Divine Capital had started to believe that naming Raymond as crown prince might not be such a bad idea.

Fortunately, the current God Emperor sensed the brewing internal unrest early and, before any real rebellion could form, promptly dispatched Raymond to the Redemption Sept, thereby restoring order.

Now, however, with Raymond having completed the full Divine Emperor’s Trials, he was more qualified than ever to claim the imperial throne. Everyone could easily imagine that when Raymond returned from the Old Continent to the Divine Palace on the New Continent, a new political struggle would likely erupt—and it might very well spiral into open rebellion.

The members of the expedition glanced at one another, reaching a silent consensus to keep their distance from Raymond. Even the old nobles eager to reclaim their lost glory showed little enthusiasm toward him.

To avoid giving Raymond any chance to rally them, the expedition leader quickly stepped forward and asked, "Your Highness, since you arrived at King’s Landing ahead of us, did you discover anything?"

In truth, the expedition team had misunderstood Raymond. He had never considered recruiting them. In his eyes, these people weren’t worth the effort. With his reputation and abilities, he believed he only needed to appear in the Divine Capital, and loyal supporters would come to him naturally. To actively seek out followers would only be beneath him.

Thus, when the expedition team treated him respectfully yet distantly, Raymond didn’t take offense. Instead, he answered honestly, "Nothing. The legends were false. Aside from a few ancient documents left behind, there’s nothing of value in the Tower of the Hand."

"Documents? What kind of documents?" one of the Maesters, always curious about historical records, couldn’t help but ask.

"You can go see for yourselves," Raymond said with a shake of his head. Then, sounding somewhat impatient, he added, "While it’s still light, I’m going to check out some other places. Don’t mess up the rooms inside. And gather plenty of firewood—the nights here are much colder than in the Divine Capital."

Without another word, he turned and walked off toward the Dragonpit, paying no further attention to the expedition team and offering no guidance on how they might enter the Red Keep.

The expedition members watched him leave without calling him back. Shortly after, they saw the mighty Copper Fire take to the sky, flying northward.

"What do we do now?" someone finally asked, watching the dragon disappear into the distance.

The expedition leader thought for a moment before replying, "We’ll leave a few people here to set up camp and search the city for anything of interest. The rest will come with me back to the camp outside the walls. We need to find some tall trees to make wooden ladders. Once the ladders are ready, we’ll return and see if we can climb over the walls to get inside the Red Keep."

Someone sighed wistfully. "If only we could fly like Prince Raymond."

Everyone nodded in agreement, then quickly went off to their respective tasks.

The camp inside the city was quickly established. Thanks to the many tall buildings—although their lower floors were buried in snow and ice—the upper floors remained intact and usable.

As night fell, the members who had stayed in the outer camp moved into the city as well, bringing the ladders with them. They had decided to pull up the ladders after entering because they discovered that the pack of Direwolves, which had previously been lured away, had reappeared.