The Mountain of Ice and Fire

"Ser Gendry, you are of the blood of the late King Robert Baratheon. According to the law, you are the rightful heir to the Iron Throne," the Mountain said, his gaze sweeping across the hall. "Child, the courtiers and generals in this hall will be your vassals, and they will be your assistants. If you don't know how to lead troops, you have me, the Minister of War, to lead them. If you don't understand law, your mother, Jeyne Westerling, is the Minister of Law. If you don't understand finance, you have the Minister of Finance, Petyr Baelish. At sea, we have our Royal Navy fleet. In the Red Keep, we have the Kingsguard and the Royal Guard. Gendry, you only need to be a kind and benevolent king. Just have your vassals take care of the kingdom's affairs, big and small."

"Father, can I really do it?!"

"Child, you are of the blood of the late King Robert," the Mountain said in a gentle voice.

The Master of Whisperers, Bronn Clegane, stepped forward, the small man standing on his chair. "My lords, sirs, knights, generals, ladies, and gentlewomen, a country cannot be without a king, a Hand, and a Lord Commander of the Kingsguard all at the same time. If we wait for Lord Eddard Stark to come from the North to King's Landing to verify Gendry's family identity, it will take at least a month. I propose that we now elect Gendry Baratheon as the acting king of this country... After Lord Eddard Stark arrives in King's Landing in a month, we will hold a ceremony to formally enthrone Gendry as king."

"Lord Bronn, it may not be appropriate to elect Gendry as acting king now," Grand Maester Qyburn said with a serious expression.

"Oh? Why?"

Jeyne Westerling said, "Lord Bronn Clegane, electing a new king is a sacred and great matter. Right now, the Small Council is missing the Minister of Finance, Petyr Baelish; the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; the Hand of the King; and the Commander of the City Watch. The High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor is also not here. For any major event in the royal family, the High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor is the host. Such a major event as the king's ascension requires the High Septon to offer prayers to the Seven Gods and hold a grand ceremony."

"Lady Jeyne is absolutely right," Lord Rosby said tremulously. "The host for the king's ascension, royal weddings, or deaths is always the High Septon in the Great Sept of Baelor. Furthermore, the new king swears his oath of ascension in the Sept of the Seven."

Bronn said, "Lord Rosby, our current Hand is imprisoned, the Queen Regent Cersei has also been imprisoned in the Black Cells, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Jaime Lannister, has fled to Braavos, and the Commander of the City Watch, Bronn, has also resigned from his post. If we don't first elect a temporary king, who can appoint the Hand of the King, the Commander of the City Watch, and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard? If no one can appoint them, we cannot have a complete Small Council to vote in favor of Gendry becoming our king."

The Mountain said, "Bronn, we don't need a unanimous vote from a complete Small Council at all, as long as the Minister of Finance, Petyr Baelish, can return in time to vote. We also don't need to wait for Lord Eddard Stark of the North to arrive in King's Landing to verify Gendry Baratheon's family identity. The North has already become independent. Winterfell was destroyed by wildfire in the battle against the Others. Lord Eddard is the King in the North, and he is rebuilding his city."

"The journey from the North to King's Landing is long and arduous, and whether the King in the North, Eddard, can come and when he can come are matters that even the gods cannot be sure of. According to the country's emergency laws, the affairs of the kingdom are temporarily decided by the Small Council. We will first appoint the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and the Commander of the City Watch to fill the vacant positions on the Small Council as much as possible. The position of Hand of the King can only be appointed after the king sits on the Iron Throne."

*

Deep beneath the Red Keep, the Black Cells, where the Queen Mother Cersei is imprisoned.

In the pitch-black Black Cells, clear footsteps echoed.

There was only one person in this Black Cell: the Queen Mother Cersei.

This Cersei was not the real Cersei; she was Arya Stark.

Arya Stark could see things even in the dark. Her Faceless Men training included the lesson of blindness. Blind people are in absolute darkness all day long.

Arya Stark, whose hands and feet were not bound, opened the door to the underground Black Cell. She walked out of the underground Black Cell and followed the long underground passage to another prison door.

She took out the key she had prepared in advance and opened the prison door.

This cell was also very dark, so dark that one couldn't see one's hand in front of one's face.

There was the sound of someone breathing in the cell.

"Who's there?" a timid and frightened female voice asked, her voice unique. It was Cersei Lannister's highly recognizable voice.

"Arya Stark."

After a brief silence, Cersei's voice sounded again, "Arya Stark, have you come to kill me?"

"I won't kill you, Cersei. You have committed treason and must be publicly sentenced to hanging in the square of the Great Sept of Baelor."

There was another suffocating silence.

After a long while, Cersei said, "Have Jaime and Tommen and Myrcella left Westeros, or have you killed them?"

"We kept our promise to Jaime, but Jaime did not. He changed his course midway. His destination was not the Free City of Lys, but Braavos."

"Why would he suddenly change his course to Braavos?"

"We don't know, but the Mountain believes it is definitely not a good thing. Since Jaime did not keep his promise, we will kill the real you and send people to Braavos to hunt down Jaime."

"Hmph!" Cersei snorted. "Arya, Jaime must have found out that you replaced me with the handmaiden Connee. After all, Connee is just a handmaiden. Although she has served me for many years, she is not me. It won't be long before Jaime realizes your conspiracy when he's with Connee. The Cersei by his side is not the real Cersei."

"The Mountain made it very clear to Jaime that if he went to the Free City of Lys and then continued east, he and Cersei, Tommen, and Myrcella would all be safe."

"You are all the most shameless liars," Cersei said coldly. "Even if Jaime kept all his oaths, you would not really let me go."

"Cersei, your hands are stained with the blood of the Northmen and the blood of the late King Robert's children. If Jaime is a smart man, if he discovers that Connee is not the real you, he should also understand that our willingness to let him take Tommen and Myrcella is already the greatest kindness to the Lannister family."

"Arya, you and the Mountain, and everyone in this country, nobles and commoners, grooms and beggars, no one is truly kind. The Mountain was brutal before, and the Mountain is insidious now. Whether it is the brutal Mountain or the insidious Mountain, he has never been kind."

Cersei's conversation with Arya in the dark calmed her heart, and her fear gradually subsided.

"I don't think there is any need to show any kindness to the Lannister family, whether it is Jaime or you. The Mountain insisted on giving Jaime and Tommen and Myrcella a way out because Jaime is indeed a true knight, and Tommen and Myrcella are two innocent children. But Jaime changed his course midway and went to Braavos. He violated his oath to the Mountain."

"The Mountain is going to send someone to kill Jaime?"

"The Mountain has already defeated Daenerys's huge navy by riding a dragon and forced Daenerys to pay the price of five thousand warhorses for a dragon to achieve peace. But I know that the Mountain will attack Braavos after he is ready. Perhaps he will meet Jaime again in Braavos. If Jaime is holding a sword at that time and standing on the side of the people of Braavos, I know that the Mountain will not hesitate to kill him and bring his head back to be placed on the spikes of the Red Keep. Also, Cersei, Jaime may have had an agreement with the Mountain from the beginning. He knows that Connee is not you."

"Jaime actually knows I'm in the Black Cells?" Cersei's voice was shrill and high.

Arya said coldly, "Cersei, think about how many men you have been intimate with behind Jaime's back. Also, what bargaining chips does Jaime have to negotiate with the Mountain?"

There was another suffocating silence! After a long time, Cersei's voice became weak and old: "Arya, please, kill me."

*

Three days later, night, the Street of Steel.

Tobho Mott's smithy.

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock on the door sounded.

The door of the smithy opened, and a black figure stretched out in the candlelight, projecting onto the street: Ser Gendry Clegane.

He did not live in the barracks, nor did he move into the stone house in the Red Keep that the Mountain had prepared for him, but returned to the smithy on the Street of Steel where he had learned to forge. Since the Mountain announced in the throne room three days ago that he would enthrone him as king, Gendry's heart had been unable to find true peace. He found that only when he returned to the smithy, alone, and hammered iron with all his might could he relieve the immense pressure and excitement in his heart.

Gendry had been sleepless for three days. No matter how tired he was, as soon as he lay down, the scenes in the throne room three days ago would flash through his mind, and as soon as he thought of his father, the Mountain, publicly announcing that he would enthrone him as king, he would be so excited that he could not fall asleep. Accompanying the insomnia was a strange anxiety.

Knocking on the door of Gendry's smithy was a man wearing a black cloak and hood. The man was slender, and his face was hidden in the hood, making it impossible to see clearly. Gendry stepped aside, and the light behind him shone on the face of the person who came. The person had a shrewd air about him, with a mischievous smile hanging on the corner of his mouth: Lord Petyr Baelish, Littlefinger.

Littlefinger and Melisandre and others marched quickly and rode their horses into King's Landing first, and the main force of the army was still continuing to King's Landing on the Kingsroad in the Crownlands. Littlefinger and Melisandre and other senior officers in the army had warhorses, while the soldiers were on foot, including the Clegane cavalry and the Claw Isle cavalry.

"Gendry, may I come in?" Littlefinger's cordial tone, kind voice, and familiar smile.

Gendry poked his head out and glanced outside. The Street of Steel was very quiet, and the street was very dark.

"Are you alone, my lord?"

"Yes, alone."

Gendry stepped aside, Littlefinger walked into the smithy, and closed the door behind him.

The charcoal fire was blazing in the smithy, an iron billet was placed on the anvil, and the blacksmith's hammer was placed by the furnace.

"Still hammering iron?" Littlefinger laughed. "When I came, I heard your monotonous hammering sound all the way at the crossroads on the street."

"I need to be very tired to be able to sleep briefly," Gendry said in a muffled voice. He seemed to be sullen. The voice of a person who had not been able to sleep well for three days had become abnormal.

"Gendry, are you too excited because you are about to become king, or are you afraid that you will be laughed at by the noble courtiers every day after you sit on the Iron Throne? After all, you know nothing but hammering iron."

"My lord, I am not afraid, I just feel nervous. I can't lie down either. As soon as I lie down, I see my father speaking, his person and his voice, appearing in front of me again and again. My father publicly announced in the throne room that he would enthrone me as king."

"I can understand your reaction, Gendry. I have had a similar experience. Back then, I was poor and destitute and couldn't afford to eat..."

"Are you joking, my lord? You are an earl with a title, but you were so poor that you couldn't afford to eat?"

Littlefinger chuckled. "Gendry, my Fingers peninsula is full of nothing but sheep dung and moss. Even if I'm hungry, I have no appetite for sheep dung and moss. And most of those sheep still belong to the villagers on the island. There are fewer than ten families in my territory, and they barely make a living by fishing. I can't even think about getting a copper star's worth of tax all year round. Later, with the help of Lady Lysa Tully, I finally found a job, collecting taxes for Hand of the King Jon Arryn in Gulltown. Gendry, do you have any wine here?"

"Very bad wine."

"As long as there's wine, it's fine."

Littlefinger sat down, Gendry brought the wine, and the two began to drink.

"Gendry, I made a small achievement in Gulltown, increasing the Hand's tax profits tenfold, and I was appreciated by Lord Jon, who sent someone to Gulltown to recruit me into the palace and promote me to Master of Coin on the Small Council, managing the entire country's mint, trade, taxes, ports, and treasury. On the night I received this appointment, I couldn't sleep, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep at all, staring at the ceiling until dawn."

Gendry sat opposite Littlefinger, shrugged his shoulders, and gulped down a large bowl of wine.

"Gendry, have you heard of the Mad King Aerys Targaryen?"

Gendry nodded.

Littlefinger's wine bowl clinked against Gendry's wine bowl.

"Aerys Targaryen did not know how to be king, so his ending was naturally not good. He was killed by the Kingslayer."

Gendry stopped pouring wine and looked at Littlefinger.

"Joffrey I also did not know how to be king. He thought that a king could do whatever he wanted and kill whoever he wanted. As a result, he was poisoned at his own wedding by Littlefinger and the Red Viper working together."

Gendry put down the wine bag and wine bowl, stood up, and glared at Littlefinger.

Littlefinger smiled, calm and composed. "Robert Baratheon I was also not suitable to be king at all, indulging in debauchery and squandering at will, making the kingdom heavily indebted, owing Tywin of the Westerlands 1.6 million gold dragons, the Great Sept of Baelor 1 million gold dragons, the Iron Bank's usurious loans more than 3 million gold dragons, and owing other nobles an unknown amount of money. His wife Cersei had an affair with his Kingsguard Jaime under his nose and gave birth to three bastards, and his own end was also not good, because he was killed by a boar while drunk. Robert did not know until his death that Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella were Lannister children."

Gendry said in a muffled voice, "Lord Petyr, what do you mean by these words?"

"Gendry, can you name people, heal the sick, and pray for them?"

"I am not a friar, let alone a maester," Gendry said stiffly.

"Yes, I know you are illiterate, so you cannot become a friar or a maester, correct?"

"I would never become a friar or a maester, my lord," Gendry said heavily.

"Then do you have the talent to be a king?"

Gendry was stunned, speechless, his bull-like eyes widened even more.

"Gendry, a king must manage the arrogant, cunning, powerful, and hypocritical great lords of the Seven Kingdoms. He must handle many complex diplomatic, military, and political affairs. Every day he sits on the Iron Throne, subjects line up to petition him. Every day, at least dozens of major and minor matters require you to make decisions. You must also step in to resolve border disputes between nobles at any time, and develop various trades with the Free Cities across the Narrow Sea... Gendry, you only know how to forge iron and do not have the talent to be a king."

"............"

"Gendry, I believe your father, the Mountain, is the most suitable king to lead this country to become stronger. His dragons and his legions are invincible. Which of the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms, and those generals who kill without blinking an eye in the army, the honorable knights, and the valiant soldiers, does not obey him? As for you, born a bastard, only know how to forge iron, and are also illiterate."