The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Jaime, are you going to kill the Mountain?” The Imp guessed Jaime's intention. He was a genius at understanding people's hearts. This came from being ridiculed, despised, mocked, and beaten since childhood. These unpleasant growth experiences gave him an amazing insight into people's hearts, which ultimately made him outstanding and far beyond ordinary people.

“The Mountain killed Father, killed Cersei.”

“He killed Father because Father insisted on killing him.” The Imp's words lashed at Jaime's face like a whip. Jaime looked at the Imp with disbelief.

“He promised to spare us, spare Cersei, but he used evil magic to have Connee replace Cersei. He gave Connee to me, and hid Cersei in the underground black prison. In the end, he publicly hanged her.”

The Imp looked at Jaime. Regarding Cersei being hanged by the Mountain, the Imp found that he felt no grief, because he also wanted to hang her.

The grievances between Cersei and the Imp were irreconcilable on Cersei's side. Cersei once insisted that the Imp die, ordering the sea route to be blocked and a nationwide manhunt. It was the Mountain who dug out the Imp's green eye as proof of his trustworthiness, then found a head, slashed the face with random knives, and took it back to show Cersei, deceiving her and saving his life.

The Imp's heart was like iron at times, and as soft as a maiden at others. He had an insensible calmness and rationality.

“Jaime, the Mountain spared you and Tommen, Myrcella. He did not kill indiscriminately.”

“Are you saying Cersei and Father deserved to die?” Jaime's voice became sharp with excitement. His chest rose and fell, his breathing became rapid, and he glared at the Imp, his pale face beginning to turn red.

“You know very well what Cersei has done. With Cersei in power, the entire kingdom will be ruined by her. Of course, she is still our sister, and even more so your lover.”

The Imp's words stung Jaime's heart even more, but he understood that the Imp's criticism of Cersei was correct.

“You won't help me?” Jaime's breathing was rapid, veins popping out on his neck, his face flushed with a sickly red.

“I'm afraid we can't kill the Mountain.” The Imp's words were realistic, and reality is the most cruel.

“We have Bran Stark, he is a Green Prophet.”

“Bran Stark has already tried to kill the Mountain once, and failed.” Tyrion shrugged his shoulders. “Jaime, maybe the Green Prophet is not reliable.”

“The first failure doesn't mean the second will fail.”

“A second time? The Braavosi navy cannot defeat the Mountain, and the most valiant Dothraki have already surrendered. The Mountain has dragons, and human power cannot defeat dragons. Dragons are as big as small towns, and arrows have limited damage against them.”

“All men must die.” Jaime stared at Tyrion and said slowly.

“Oh! But we don't have the money. The money needed to hire a Faceless Man to assassinate the Mountain is a huge sum that could buy a country.”

“The Iron Bank never lacks money.”

The Imp Tyrion didn't speak. He stared at Jaime, revealing a probing look. The methods Jaime mentioned, Bran had already told Daenerys on Dragonstone. At that time, the Imp and Daenerys were convinced by Bran and full of confidence. But Bran's plan to kill the Mountain failed, and he betrayed Daenerys and everyone. This made the Imp waver in his belief in the all-knowing prophet, and he also realized that Bran was untrustworthy.

The Imp said, “Jaime, since Bran has already told you about joining forces with the Iron Bank and using the Iron Bank to leverage the Faceless Men, then he must have told you that I also came to Braavos with him.” Jaime was very surprised when he saw the Imp, and asked how the Imp came to Braavos. Jaime lied to him? Did he and Bran already have some kind of agreement in private?

Jaime said, “No, the Three-Eyed Raven didn't mention you when he came to find me.”

The Imp believed Jaime: “Oh! He doesn't need to mention me to you. He gave me your address.”

“Since you're here, then help me.”

“How can I help you?”

“Use your wisdom to assist Bran Stark in defeating the Mountain, taking back the Iron Throne. In exchange, we get the Mountain's head and the Westerlands.”

“Who gets the Iron Throne?”

“Bran, or Daenerys, or anyone else.”

Jaime didn't care who got the Iron Throne, he only cared about one thing: revenge!

The Imp's one eye stared at Jaime, as if trying to see through everything about him.

“Jaime, you don't know how shrewd and intelligent the Mountain has become now. His predictive abilities are no less than Bran's. He also knows many unknown secrets.”

“The Mountain has also become a Green Prophet?” Jaime said in surprise.

“He killed the Night King, saved the entire North, and also saved the entire Westeros. He has become Westeros's most remarkable hero. People believe that he is the son of God, the reincarnation of Azor Ahai, and the messenger of the gods walking on the ground.”

Because they were separated by the sea, the news of the Mountain becoming king had not yet reached Braavos, but it would soon.

“I don't believe in the gods.” Jaime said coldly.

“But you believe in the prophet.” The Imp's sarcastic words made Jaime choke.

Jaime looked at the Imp, glaring at him, hissing in his throat, his hands beginning to twitch slightly. He had been angered and heartbroken by the news of Cersei's death, and had been seriously ill, and was still very weak.

The Imp hurriedly soothed his chest and massaged his arms: “Jaime, I promise you to assist Bran in seizing the Iron Throne, killing the Mountain, avenging Cersei, and taking back our Westerlands.” The Imp had deep brotherly feelings, and had never said he wouldn't help Jaime. His words were realistic and刻薄, just to make Jaime calm and rational. He wanted Jaime to know that it was too difficult to defeat the Mountain. As for the oath of allegiance he had made to the Mountain, for a person who did not respect God, it was not a great contract. The Imp also never cared about personal glory, chivalry, and the like. Compared to Brienne of Tarth in terms of keeping oaths, the Imp was a complete bastard.

Outside the small window of the tower, a black raven had been standing all along—the raven with three eyes.

*

A few days later. Gold Island. Stone Castle.

The Stone Castle was built very magnificently, the castle was very large, almost occupying the entire island. Standing under the huge gateposts, it made people feel like they were just a small ant.

The Imp, Jaime, Bran, Tommen, Myrcella, Ilyn Payne, Roose Bolton, Ramsay Bolton, Tyene Sand, Sarella Sand, and several accompanying knights, twenty brave soldiers, this group disembarked and stood on the Iron Bank's island, standing in front of the Stone Castle's gate.

The huge castle did not even have a guard.

Bran gestured, all the knights and soldiers stayed outside the gate, the gate was also open, the marble floor inside the gate was smooth and bright, empty, looking in from the gate, there was no one inside.

Roose Bolton pushed Bran's wheelchair through the gate, the light inside was almost the same as outside, countless huge glass windows were open on the high walls, sunlight shone through the glass, making the hall full of light.

The Imp Jaime and others followed, they looked up, the high ceiling was too far away from them, painted with brightly colored reliefs, various huge statues of gods were all over the dome, beautiful and magnificent.

Tommen and Myrcella looked shocked and amazed.

The two children born in the royal palace were also shocked by this huge, unimaginable space and the high dome.

No one, there was no one in the hall, it was so quiet that only people's breathing remained.

The famous Iron Bank was not even defended.

This style was the same as the Braavos city-state.

The Braavos city-state was also not defended.

The Braavosi only planted several rows of trees to resist the wind and waves and maintain the soil on the edge of the island. Nowhere was a city wall built. The Braavosi watchtower was in the eyes of the Titan giant, one of the nine wonders of the world.

Any ship entering or leaving the Braavos city-state would pass through the sea between the two islands before entering the Braavos port and docking at the Braavos pier. Above the two islands stood a statue of a Titan giant, the giant's two feet stepping on the two islands, the feet covering the area of the islands. The giant's height stood towering in the sky, and ships of all sizes entered and exited the port from the sea between his legs. Countless seabirds lived on the giant's body. In the giant's two eyes lived the Braavos sentinel squad, monitoring this sea day and night.

The Braavos Titan giant and the Wall of Westeros were both among the nine wonders of the world.

The Braavos city-state had no city walls, no legions guarding the island. People who came to Braavos would find that Braavos was different from all the city-states. There was no defense line here.

It seemed that the Iron Bank also adhered to the style of the Braavos city-state, with no soldiers, no knights, the gates open, and no defense line.

The people who entered the Iron Bank's gate were at a loss.

Bran gestured for Roose Bolton to push the wheelchair forward.

The crowd walked forward in the hall, feeling like they were walking in an empty field, not inside a castle hall.

“Who are you?” A voice sounded abruptly, almost causing Myrcella to scream.

Behind an oval-shaped, high counter sat a person holding a book in his hand. The counter was very high, but everyone could still see most of the person's body, which meant that the stool the person was sitting on must also be very high.

The crowd approached, and the Imp saw that the person's hair was combed meticulously, his face was also neatly trimmed, his facial features were very deep, with a hooked nose, a smooth chin, white hands, slender fingers, and an indifferent gaze that kept people away.

Bran gestured for everyone to stop, and he had Roose Bolton push him up.

“Sir, I am Bran Stark.”

The person in the counter did not move, glanced at Bran, and returned his gaze to the book: “You can leave.”

“I want to see the manager.”

That person didn't even look at Bran anymore. He turned a deaf ear, looking at the book with a focused and obsessed expression, as if Bran and Roose Bolton and others did not exist at all. In the original plan, Cersei would come here to meet with the people from the Iron Bank. Cersei was familiar with them and had borrowing dealings with them.

The people from the Iron Bank were more arrogant than the king in the Red Keep. But they did not have a bit of arrogance overflowing from this arrogance. With just two sentences and one glance, they had already revealed the highest arrogance.

“I have a letter of recommendation from the Sealord.” Bran took out a wax-sealed parchment scroll from his arms.

This sentence made the gentleman in the counter move his gaze from the book and fall on Bran's face again. He still did not open his mouth to speak, he was just looking at Bran, that gaze was still cold, keeping people away.

Bran handed the wax-sealed scroll to Roose Bolton: “Earl, please give it to him.”

Roose Bolton took the Sealord's letter of recommendation, walked up, and handed the letter over. That person did not take the letter, gesturing with his eyes for Roose Bolton to put the Sealord's letter on the counter. Roose Bolton was also an extremely arrogant and conceited person, but he was still seeing the Iron Bank's arrogance for the first time.

There was only one person in this hall, but it felt like there were ten thousand people standing here silently watching them. This was a very bad feeling, and the invisible oppression seemed to be everywhere.

In Braavos, the most honorable person was the Sealord. Braavos was under the rule of the Sealord, and once the Sealord was elected, it was for life.

However, the people from the Iron Bank did not take the Sealord's letter of recommendation seriously either. The Imp, Jaime, and others were seeing this kind of arrogant arrogance for the first time. There was also a slight fluctuation in Bran Stark's ancient iceberg eyes.

“Please leave.” That person's voice said lightly. Then, his gaze returned to the book.

Roose Bolton's eyelids twitched, and his hand subconsciously pressed on the hilt of his sword. Bran Stark shook his head, and Roose Bolton endured the anger in his heart, and silently returned behind Bran.

The man in the counter was like an emotionless machine. He read the book as if there was no one else around. After a while, he turned to the next page.

In front of him, a boy sat in a wheelchair, and an Earl stood. Not far behind these two people stood a large group of people, all looking at him.

But this person was unmoved!

The people from the Iron Bank made it clear that they would not receive Bran's group at all, even if Bran took out the Sealord's letter of recommendation.

The letter was on the counter, and the man reading the book did not even bother to touch it with his hand.

Bran did not leave, and the others also stood in the hall. The man in the counter no longer spoke to drive them away, he read the book very attentively, turning the pages slowly one by one.

After who knows how long, someone finally couldn't bear it anymore.

“We should probably kill him.” Ramsay Bolton chuckled. “Naked people have few secrets, but skinned people have no secrets.” Ramsay Bolton drew out his sharp short sword, and an evil smile appeared on his face.

Jaime stared at Ramsay, lowering his voice: “Put away your short sword, Ramsay, you idiot.”

“I'll go try.” The Imp said. He walked up with his short legs.

As long as the other party didn't have a sword in his hand, the Imp would still not be afraid!

The Imp walked to the counter, but he was too short, and was perfectly blocked by the counter. The person sitting in the counter could not see him at all. The Imp jumped up, grabbed the edge of the counter with both hands, hung his body on it, and then tried to curl his body upwards, stretching his legs straight up to hook the edge of the counter.

This looked very滑稽, like a clown performing a slapstick show.

Ramsay Bolton and the two Sand's couldn't help but laugh. But the persistent Imp finally climbed onto the counter.

This forced the fellow to put down his book and face the Imp.

“I am Tyrion Lannister, brother to Cersei Lannister. My sister has had dealings with you…”

“I know who you are, Imp Tyrion Lannister. If it were three years ago, I would offer you a drink. But you are a pauper now, so don’t even think about asking me for money. You have no collateral to repay it. And don’t make me have you thrown out. Before your downfall, you were a man of some status and position. Preserve some dignity for yourself. And you, Bran Stark, Jaime Lannister, Roose Bolton, you are all utter failures. The Iron Bank wouldn’t lend you a single copper piece.”