CHAPTER 418: CHAPTER 418: EPILOGUE (IV)

Raymond Tarran, though appearing to fly north atop Copperfire, actually circled away from King’s Landing before turning south toward Summerhall. He needed to visit Summerhall Castle—there might be some relics of the Divine Emperor hidden there.

The real reason he had taken the risk of coming to the Old Continent was to search for the Divine Emperor’s relics. By doing so, he hoped to boost his prestige and pressure his father into changing the designated heir to the throne.

Raymond had always believed that he, not his older brother Rhaegar Tarran, was the one truly worthy of inheriting the Tarran Empire.

He was the only royal to have completed all of the Divine Emperor’s Trials ever since their establishment. Other members of the royal family had only managed to complete a dozen or so at most.

In addition, he was the only one among them who had mastered the Banished Knight’s greatsword technique and the Dragon Slayer’s spear technique.

Even more importantly, he had been recognized by Copperfire, becoming its dragonlord. For over three centuries, no one had managed to earn the loyalty of one of the Divine Emperor’s dragons. Although Copperfire was technically not one of the Divine Emperor’s personal dragons, it was a direct descendant—and that connection still counted for something.

Yet even with these achievements, he still failed to win his father’s favor. Not a single member of the royal family was willing to support him. Thus, Raymond needed to find another path to claim the throne.

While combing through the records in the royal library, he stumbled upon an intriguing detail—more precisely, a regulation. This regulation, set forth by the Dragon Queen Daenerys Targaryen before her death and formally recognized by the Divine Emperor, had been incorporated into the Royal Succession Act.

The Royal Succession Act had been established early in the Empire’s founding by the Regalus and Empress to prevent the chaos that once plagued the Targaryen dynasty on the Old Continent, like the Dance of the Dragons and the Blackfyre Rebellion. As long as the Succession Act was followed, imperial succession would proceed smoothly.

For the past three hundred years, the line of succession had been strictly determined by this law, though there were occasional disruptions. For instance, thirty years ago, a former Regalus had tried to amend the law to elevate his favored youngest son as heir. This led to a rebellion, the slaughter of the youngest son’s family, the deposition of the crown prince for supporting the rebellion, and, ultimately, the unexpected ascension of the current Regalus.

The impact of that rebellion lingered even now. It was because of this shadow that, despite Raymond’s remarkable talents—and despite being considered the royal child closest in potential to the God Emperor Lynd Tarran—he still couldn’t shake the entrenched order of succession. Not even the Redemption Sept, which had close ties to him, dared support his claim.

However, Raymond had found a loophole: the Dragon Queen’s Supreme Succession Clause, also known as the Dragon Clause. The clause was simple—whoever controlled the most dragons had the highest claim to the throne.

Although the clause had always been listed at the very top of the Royal Succession Act and treated as the primary condition, over time it had been largely ignored. Later editions of the official documents even omitted it entirely, with the original version surviving only in the royal library, the Citadel, the Redemption Sept, and the great temples of various faiths.

The reason for its neglect was simple: ever since the days of Lynd Tarran and Daenerys Targaryen, no one had been able to meet the clause’s conditions. All members of the royal family and even the highborn nobles with divine blood could only tame a single dragon. Even the use of the Dragonhorn could control no more than one.

Thus, for Raymond, the only way to surpass his elder brother without waiting for his death was to tame a second dragon.

For most royals, taming a second dragon was a near-impossible feat. But Raymond, descended directly from the bloodlines of both Daenerys Targaryen and Lynd Tarran, had a much greater chance. Daenerys had bonded with three dragons, just like the God Emperor himself. Their descendants were far more likely to master multiple dragons than any other bloodline.

Before setting off for the Old Continent, Raymond had already made several attempts to tame other dragons.

But to his great disappointment, every attempt had ended in failure.

After hearing of his struggles, a Maester friend at the Citadel analyzed the situation and identified the root cause.

The Maester believed that Raymond’s failure wasn’t due to any personal shortcoming, but because he had chosen the wrong dragons. The dragons currently on Dragonmont were all descendants of the God Emperor’s five sons and the Dragon Queen’s eight dragons. In contrast, Copperfire—the dragon Raymond had successfully bonded with—was a descendant of Neltharion, the lava dragon, a creature altered by mysterious forces in the ruins of Valyria. Copperfire was fundamentally different from the dragons of Dragonmont.

Judging from details like Copperfire’s lair being placed on the outskirts of Dragonmont, its refusal to enter Dragonmont territory, and the frequent conflicts it had with other dragons, it seemed clear that the God Emperor’s dragons might have been fundamentally different from ordinary dragons.

Now that Copperfire had become Raymond’s dragon, Raymond himself had inevitably absorbed some of its dragon aura. Under these circumstances, it was absolutely impossible for him to tame the dragons of Dragonmont. That left only one potential candidate—the lava dragon Neltharion.

As the mount of the God Emperor Lynd Tarran, completely taming Neltharion was nearly impossible. But nothing in this world was truly absolute. According to historical records, the God Emperor had ridden Neltharion alongside others more than once, indicating that Neltharion’s fear of the God Emperor had overridden its natural instinct to allow no other riders. The method for taming it was simple: wear clothing or items imbued with the God Emperor’s aura, borrowing his power to suppress Neltharion’s nature and thereby tame it.

However, every artifact left behind by the God Emperor was classified as a sacred relic by the Empire. When the God Emperor departed, he took only the Banished Knight’s armor and greatsword with him. Everything else—the scepter, crown, ceremonial armors, the personally crafted dragon runes—was entrusted to the royal family, various temples, the Citadel, and the Redemption Sept. These relics were sealed away, heavily guarded by Silent Brothers, and only brought out during major ceremonies.

Even as the second son of the reigning God Emperor, Raymond was not allowed to see these sacred artifacts, let alone use them.

Fortunately, a friend of his at the Citadel unearthed a potential lead. When the God Emperor left the Old Continent, he had left behind a set of armor and weaponry.

This set, the famed Golden Lion Armor, was well known. The God Emperor had once worn it while traveling across the continent of Essos under the alias of Ornstein the Dragon Slayer. The armor was paired with the renowned royal martial art, the Dragon Slayer’s Spear technique.

It was this clue that compelled Raymond to take the risk—to ride Copperfire across the Summer Sea and venture into the forbidden territory of the Tarran royal family: Westeros.

The reason Westeros was considered a forbidden zone was entirely due to the legend of the Ice Dragons.

After the Long Night faded, the Tarran royal family had dispatched explorers to investigate Westeros, hoping to reclaim a foothold on the Old Continent.

At that time, it was extremely difficult for ordinary people to even approach Westeros, much less explore it. But for the Tarran royals, equipped with dragons, such a task was feasible.

They sent a small team of five riders mounted on five dragons. In the end, only one returned—bearing terrible news. The Ice Dragon, once slain by the God Emperor Lynd Tarran, had reappeared in Westeros and attacked them. The other four, along with their dragons, were killed by the Ice Dragon. Only one, thanks to the superior speed of his dragon, managed to escape.

Initially, the royal family was skeptical. After all, it was an undisputed fact that the God Emperor had slain the Ice Dragon. There should have been no Ice Dragons left on Westeros. So, they secretly dispatched two more investigation teams deep into the continent.

The results confirmed the survivor’s account. Shortly after entering Westeros, the royal descendants and their dragons were attacked by Ice Dragons. Although they had prepared in advance, narrowly escaping with their lives, they discovered something crucial: ordinary expedition teams did not attract the Ice Dragons’ attention. Only the simultaneous appearance of royal blood and dragons would provoke a response.

Thus, Westeros became a forbidden zone for the Tarran royal family. Even a century later, after the Long Winter receded and the climate began to warm again, no royal members or dragons were sent to the continent when the Empire resumed organizing expeditions.

As a core member of the royal family, Raymond naturally knew why Westeros was off-limits. But he did not fear it. On the contrary, he was excited. He believed that with Copperfire and his own strength, he could replicate his ancestor’s feat—kill an Ice Dragon and achieve unmatched glory.

Raymond’s confidence was mainly rooted in Copperfire’s lineage. As a descendant of Neltharion, Copperfire possessed a body and dragonfire vastly superior to other dragons. In the past, Copperfire had even slain three other dragons, which was why it was kept isolated from the dragons of Dragonmont. Raymond firmly believed that, even against an Ice Dragon, Copperfire would have the strength to fight and win.

Thus, ever since arriving on Westeros, he had been eagerly awaiting the appearance of an Ice Dragon. Yet days passed, and no Ice Dragon appeared. Gradually, he began to wonder if the legends were even true.

While waiting for the Ice Dragons to appear, Raymond reached the first destination of his journey: the Red Keep in King’s Landing.

He had chosen King’s Landing over Summerhall as his starting point because, in the final years before leaving Westeros, the God Emperor Lynd Tarran had remained in King’s Landing, overseeing the migration efforts. It was only from the Red Keep that he eventually departed by ship, never returning to Summerhall. Thus, Raymond reasoned it was highly likely that the Golden Lion armor and the Dragon Slayer’s spear had been left behind in the Red Keep.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. He scoured every building exposed above the ice at the Red Keep but found neither the armor nor the spear.

At first, he intended to continue searching, perhaps by breaking through the ice layers covering the buried structures. However, to his surprise, the royal expedition had arrived at King’s Landing much sooner than expected—and among them was a familiar face: Jon Stark.

Others might believe Jon Stark to be nothing more than a descendant of a fallen noble house, but Raymond knew the truth—Jon was one of the royal family’s Blood Armored Men. If Raymond made any suspicious move here, Jon would surely report it to the Empire immediately, and it was only a matter of time before the Empire would dispatch forces to stop him.

Thus, he decided to leave King’s Landing at once and head first to Summerhall. He would return after some time, and perhaps by then, the royal expedition would have already found the Golden Lion armor and the Dragon Slayer’s spear. If so, he would simply take them back by force.

With Copperfire flying at full speed, Raymond soon arrived at the Redemption Town of Summerhall and laid eyes on the legendary Summerhall Castle.

Though Raymond personally found the castle rather ugly and unimpressive, he couldn’t deny the surge of emotion he felt the moment he saw it. After all, this was the birthplace of the Tarran Empire.

Circling above the castle, Raymond searched for a suitable landing spot.

As he circled, he spotted the temporary camp left behind by the previous expedition.

That last royal expedition had landed at Miracle Harbor and traveled the Boneway to reach the Redemption Town of Summerhall. However, they had not ascended to Summerhall Castle itself. The elevator leading up had long been broken, and with the sheer cliffs encased in thick ice, it was nearly impossible for ordinary people to climb. Ultimately, the expedition had only explored the Redemption Sept for a time, left a temporary camp, and departed.

As a result, Summerhall Castle had remained largely unchanged for three centuries. Despite enduring three hundred years of harsh, frozen weather, the main structures showed remarkably little damage. This was not only due to the quality of the stone used in its construction but, more importantly, because the castle was imbued with powerful runes. These runes still functioned even now—Raymond could feel the resonant force of the rune magic through the Storm Dragon rune etched within him.

"Dragon’s Nest Platform, land on the Dragon’s Nest Platform," Raymond muttered, quickly spotting the ideal place for Copperfire to descend. The platform, said to be where the sacred dragon Deltos was born, was large enough to accommodate a giant dragon.

With strong, rapid beats of its wings, Copperfire sent powerful gusts sweeping over the castle, clearing away the layers of snow and revealing the thin sheet of ice beneath.

As Copperfire landed on the platform, no major disturbance occurred, save for a few loose stones tumbling off the edge into the abyss below.

Raymond soothed his dragon, instructed it to wait, and then headed alone toward the council hall of the castle.

What he failed to notice, however, was that as he landed, a shadow flitted swiftly through the depths of the castle.