The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Across the Narrow Sea, among the nine Free Cities, Pentos is the closest to King's Landing.

Illyrio Mopatis is a wealthy magister of Pentos.

His businesses include spices, dragon bones, gems, silk, and other less savory trades.

The unsavory trades are the most profitable, such as the slave trade, secret trafficking, and brokering between assassins and employers.

Illyrio is not short of money, nor is he lacking in high position, but human desires are endless.

The Mountain knows that Illyrio is in league with Varys, wholeheartedly wanting to help the Targaryens reclaim the throne.

There's a piece of information the transmigrated Mountain doesn't know: Who are Varys's father and mother? Is he a common orphan or someone with a background?

The original work doesn't explicitly reveal anything about Varys's family; the vague information hinted at is also very ambiguous.

The Mountain uses 'blood magic' as an excuse to make his 'prophecy' seem reasonable. People naturally assume that the Mountain knows things because of the 'blood magic's' predictions.

Even so, there is still a lot that the Mountain cannot know: for example, perhaps Varys's family is not so simple. After Varys made his fortune in Lys, he came to Pentos and met the handsome and highly skilled mercenary Illyrio Mopatis. The two worked together, one to pry into other people's secrets, and the other to sell them—the unsavory secrets of many magisters, princes, and great lords are very valuable, and they are also willing to spend a lot of money to block the channels of those dirty news. As a result, Varys and Illyrio quickly made a fortune.

Having made a fortune, Illyrio became involved in politics and became the powerful magister of Pentos; and because he established a network of little birds throughout the Free Cities, the Spider received the favor of King Aerys Targaryen of Westeros and was hired as the country's master of whisperers.

Neither King Aerys nor the later King Robert knew anything about Varys's family, nor did they care, but the Mountain wanted to know. He had some vague guesses, derived from some inconspicuous details in the original story he had read before transmigrating.

Perhaps the guess is far from the truth, or perhaps it's just somewhat close, but in any case, it is impossible for an ordinary person to quickly and skillfully establish a network of little birds throughout the nine Free Cities, and this invisible hand has also extended to Slaver's Bay in the Far East, the Jade Sea islands, and even more distant Eastern cities. No matter how you look at it, this is a miracle that Varys, with his ordinary background, could not have accomplished.

The Mountain is not very curious about Illyrio. Illyrio is just a mercenary who made a living by the sword, then became an assassin, and later partnered with Varys to become the behind-the-scenes boss who sells the secrets of important people. It is not worthwhile to kill such a boss. His power is also in Pentos, and because of the war, Pentos and Braavos signed a peace agreement, the price of which was that the city could not have its own armed forces.

If Pentos is a mercenary, then this mercenary is forced to give up the power to wield a sword because of a contractual oath. What are you afraid of from a mercenary without a sword? Besides, he has come to your territory.

Illyrio's intelligence value is not great, but he is very, very, very rich.

This time, he sent fifty little birds over, and also shipped several ships of spices, gems, silk, and cloth to sell to the nobles. The place where Illyrio trains the little birds was not established by him, but by Varys.

Varys is an expert in this area.

When the Mountain said, 'I won't kill you, let's talk about the price. How many gold dragons do you think your hair, beard, two eyes, two ears, and two hands are worth?' Illyrio was not discouraged at all; instead, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He often negotiates with others like this, and that's how he made a fortune. It's just that after making a fortune, Illyrio's body became larger and larger, his figure became fatter and fatter, his martial arts became worse and worse, and he changed from being fierce and sturdy to enjoying pleasure, indulging in alcohol, lust, and scheming.

It's hard to say whether this is progress or regression.

But the Mountain doesn't care about this; he cares about how much money Illyrio can pay.

This time is different from the situation when he broke into Riverrun. Being too excessive with Riverrun would trigger a civil war in advance and force the king to stand on the side of House Tully to deal with the Mountain and the Westerlands, which the transmigrated Mountain is still wary of. But he is not afraid of anything with Illyrio.

He can kill Illyrio without worrying about causing a backlash from any forces.

Killing him would be killing him for nothing!

Illyrio's partner Varys's ability lies in the little birds, and the little birds are just children who have not been trained in martial arts at all. The Mountain never cares about Varys, who has no military power. Moreover, the Mountain knows Varys's secret, and that secret has a crime called treason.

Illyrio was very straightforward: 'Lord, all the money and costs earned from my five ships of spices, gems, silk, and cloth this time are yours.'

'How much money?' The Mountain doesn't do anything fake!

'Including my ten gemstone rings, about 120,000 gold dragons.' Illyrio looked sincere and began to take off the ten rings on his ten fingers, which were made of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, gold, agate, and other gemstones.

'One million gold dragons. Pay the money, and I'll let you go.' The Mountain said calmly.

This price is one hundred times more than the money for House Tully to redeem Riverrun. Duke Hoster Tully of Riverrun only redeemed Riverrun for 10,000 gold dragons.

Illyrio, Varys, Berne, Anguy, Julie, and the Clegane bandits were all stunned.

Illyrio smiled bitterly: 'Lord, this price requires me to go back to Pentos and sell my manors and castles, as well as some dragon bones that have been in storage for many years.'

Anguy's heart stirred when he heard about the dragon bones. He knew that dragon bones were the strongest, toughest, and lightest. Because dragon bones contain iron, they are black in color. Black dragon bone bows are rare treasures, requiring the least force but having the longest range. They are also legendary bows of the Dothraki cavalry across the Narrow Sea.

To make a dragon bone bow, the first material needed is dragon bone.

Anguy moved, wanting to interject and ask for a long enough dragon bone, but the Mountain noticed Anguy's movement. He raised his hand and stopped Anguy from speaking.

Now is a critical moment in the negotiation, and the Mountain does not allow anyone to interrupt. He has to let Illyrio know that the Mountain is serious; if he doesn't take out this money, he will lose his life.

'Then go sell it. Once the money is collected, I will let you go back.' The Mountain said calmly.

Illyrio's eyes looked at Varys.

Varys knew that Illyrio's savings for many years were going to be emptied this time, but at least he could save his life. If the Mountain wanted to chop Illyrio, he would chop him. No one could do anything about it, and no one could report it to the king and the Hand. Varys himself had no power to restrain the Mountain.

'Illyrio, first pay the Lord 100,000 gold dragons. As for the remaining 900,000, I will notify your steward as soon as possible to liquidate the wealth at home in Pentos and transport it here.'

'That will take at least three months!' Illyrio felt a pain in his heart.

'I can wait three years!' The Mountain said calmly. 'Anguy and Julie, Berne, brothers, take Lord Illyrio out. I have some words to say to Lord Varys alone.'

So, Illyrio was taken away, and the Mountain and Varys faced each other.

'Give me the map of the Red Keep's underground tunnels, Lord Varys.' The Mountain stood up, staring down at Varys, like a hungry lion staring at a black goat that is agile and cunning but too fat.