The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Lord Gregor, we have brought a thousand gold dragons as you requested,” said Alan Sharatt.

Two family soldiers opened the boxes, revealing a chest full of glittering gold coins.

Sweetmouth Ralph gave a satisfied smile.

The Scribe licked his lips.

Dunsen, on the other hand, kept his hand on his sword hilt, while Polliver’s eyes widened.

Juli was relatively normal, but the eyes of the horse soldier, Thomas Mann, nearly fell into the gold coin box.

Maester Harry was shocked. Sharatt shouldn’t have this much money.

Gregor estimated that a thousand gold dragons was equivalent to ten million RMB in Earth's civilization.

For a great lord, a thousand gold coins was not much.

But it exceeded the usual ransom amount.

Generally speaking, a ransom for a hostage like this would be appropriately priced at three hundred to five hundred gold coins.

The fact that they were willing to offer a thousand gold coins to exchange for Addam Sharatt, after losing Alva Sharatt's life, made Gregor feel uneasy.

In his previous life, although he was not a business expert, he had the experience of buying vegetables in the market, and haggling was the most basic rule of trade. A thousand gold coins was just his asking price, and he was waiting for the other party to cut it in half and then propose a deal.

But they didn't bargain, and Gregor's asking price became the transaction price.

Obviously, this was not how business was done.

No matter how rich the Sharatt family was, they wouldn't do business like this.

Especially after losing a life and having a blood feud between them.

Gregor felt that something was amiss.

He was fully armed and wore his huge flat-topped helmet, the iron fist in the center of the helmet pointing straight to the sky. It was imposing, but not practical. Gregor decided to remove the iron fist from the helmet after this incident.

Every bit of weight reduction was a benefit.

Every bit of weight was a burden.

To guard against arrows, Gregor's mask was equally thick, with only small holes for breathing and a narrow slit in front of his eyes.

The iron smelting technology in this world was very mature, and the smelting techniques for various gold, silver, copper, and iron ores were very sophisticated. The pure handcraftsmanship used to create decorations, armor, and coins from various metals was more exquisite than the handcraftsmanship in Earth's civilization. The glassmaking technology was also very mature and could be used to make many beautiful glass ornaments. With these mature metalworking techniques, Gregor hoped to create some of the things he wanted based on them.

*

Gregor's expression was neither happy nor sad. Since the other party was willing to yield with a thousand gold dragons without haggling, then they were very likely planning revenge. To a person about to be killed, giving him one gold dragon or a thousand gold dragons was the same, so why bother making trouble?

Gregor was fully armed, carrying his greatsword, naturally to guard against the other party's sudden attack.

He looked at the doorway.

The cavalry that Alan Sharatt brought were all outside the gate. Gregor didn't allow them to enter the courtyard. Standing beside Alan were only two guards carrying the boxes.

“Lord, a thousand gold dragons, would you like to count them?” Alan Sharatt asked.

Count them?

Gregor remembered the scene of biting gold. In many TV shows and movies he had watched in his previous life, there were scenes of teeth biting gold to test the authenticity of the gold, but if the other party put poison on the gold...

It's okay to be wary of others, but it's even more important to be careful.

“No need to count them,” Gregor said, “Dunsen, Thomas Mann, carry the gold coin boxes inside.”

“Yes, Lord.”

A thousand gold dragons weighed about a hundred pounds.

Dunsen and Thomas Mann carried the gold coin boxes into Gregor's bedroom and locked the door.

They suddenly became very rich.

A thousand gold coins, haha, hahaha!

Ralph wouldn't need to go into debt to have the family crest made in Lannisport. He could have a pure gold family crest made.

Tonight, the Lyseni girls in the high-end brothels of Lannisport would welcome their regular customers!

With money, drinking, eating, and going to brothels were the three great hobbies of Gregor and his men.

“Lord, now that you have received the gold dragons, can you return Ser Addam… to us?” Alan smiled humbly.

Gregor nodded.

His eyes, behind the narrow slit of his mask, were calmly and cautiously watching Alan.

If the other party was going to make a move, it would definitely be after Addam Sharatt was released.

Addam Sharatt was no ordinary person. He was the eldest son of Earl Tygett Sharatt and the heir to the Sharatt family.

Of course, with just those few people and the thirty or so swords outside the courtyard, they were no match for Gregor, but it was possible that their men were in the woods of the Silver Hill mountains not far away.

Gregor's caution was several times greater than his previous self.

If it were the old Gregor, he wouldn't bother wearing armor at all. With his greatsword in hand at his own Clegane's Keep, he wouldn't be afraid of anyone, let alone getting hurt.

But the transmigrated college student thought differently. What if the other party used arrows and smeared poison on the arrowheads?

He had a deep and unforgettable memory of Gregor's torment by the viper's venom in *Game of Thrones* from his previous life.

It was always good to be as careful as possible.

This world was a drama of conspiracy and betrayal, darkness and passion. Compared to nobles, he was more willing to trust criminals.

Addam Sharatt's ropes were cut by the little girl Juli. Addam thanked Juli and strode towards Alan. He just wanted to leave quickly and not stay for a moment.

He was very angry in his heart. His brothers at home were too rash. Why did they have to use a thousand gold dragons to exchange for him? Five hundred gold dragons would have been enough!

Addam Sharatt walked out of the courtyard without looking back and mounted his horse. Gregor also didn't say a word.

From the moment the hostage left, Sharatt could openly declare war on Gregor. But they had to consider what kind of price they would pay again. If they angered Gregor, he would set Silverhall on fire and kill all of Sharatt's people.

Alan Sharatt thanked Gregor and then shouted, “Bring in the Arbor wine.”

Arbor wine was a famous wine in this world. In Gregor's eyes, it was the Rolls-Royce of wines.

Sweetmouth Ralph laughed: "Alan, why didn't you bring the wine in with the gold coins to honor our Lord Gregor?"

Alan smiled: "Ralph, if Lord Gregor took the money but refused to return Ser Addam to us, we would have to take back the wine we gave to Lord Gregor."

“Now that we have received the money and returned the person to you, you are willing to bring the wine in and give it to us?”

“Yes!”

Several jars of Arbor wine were brought in.

Arbor wine was stored in large, round-bellied wooden barrels. The barrel was blue with a bunch of deep purple grapes painted on it. The blue background with deep purple grapes was the sigil of House Redwyne of the Arbor and the mark of authentic Arbor wine, equivalent to a trademark in Earth's civilization.

Everyone, including Gregor, moved their throats.

The best famous wine in this world: Arbor wine, was sold to the Free Trade Cities across the Narrow Sea and even more distant eastern cities.

As soon as the wine barrels were put down, Sweetmouth Ralph, Executioner Dunsen, Scribe Mark, and Polliver immediately surrounded them.

The wine was more attractive than the thousand gold dragons.

“These two jars are red wine, and these two jars are even rarer golden wine, a small token from the Sharatt family.” Alan said, patting the wine jars.

Sweetmouth Ralph and the others' eyes widened.

Maester Harry also twitched his lips.

Everyone had drunk Arbor red wine, but they had basically never drunk golden wine. Golden wine was very rare, not only was it expensive and had a small output, but you also had to be a great lord to be able to buy it.

Maester Harry, Polliver, and the others had heard of the fame of golden wine for a long time, but they rarely had the opportunity to drink such a famous wine.

Gregor and his gang were all heroes in brothels and good men in wine.

Polliver licked his lips and looked at Lord Gregor, stuttering: "…Lord…we…"

“Carry it in, get the cups,” Gregor said.