Chapter 405: Assigning Duties

The nobles in the alliance's meeting room murmured amongst themselves, speculating about the identity of the elderly man.

Why was he so influential?

Among those present, it seemed that only Eddard Stark truly knew the identity of Maester Aemon.

"Dragonstone has a large amount of dragonglass," Viserys said, regaining his composure and settling back into his seat.

He hadn't received a letter from the old man in a long time. The last letter from Maester Aemon had arrived before the Battle of the Wall. After that, the Night's Watch had blown the Horn of Winter, collapsing the Wall and allowing the wildlings to flee into the Seven Kingdoms. Then the army of the dead had arrived, and the human alliance had suffered defeats at the Wall, Winterfell, and Cailin Bay, losing the entire North and retreating to the Twins.

Viserys hadn't received any letters from Aemon since then and had assumed that the old man had died in the ensuing chaos. After all, in such a tumultuous time, it would be incredibly difficult for a nearly hundred-year-old blind man to survive.

Viserys was taken aback to find that Aemon was still alive, but he quickly regained his composure.

Meanwhile, Stannis Baratheon, upon hearing Viserys' claim about Dragonstone, furrowed his brow and looked at the young silver-haired man. "Your Grace claims that Dragonstone has a large amount of dragonglass? I was not aware of this."

Viserys turned to look at him. He didn't recognize Stannis by face, but the man's stern demeanor, thinning hair, and the crowned stag on his chest made it clear who he was. "You must be Stannis," Viserys said, looking at him with interest. Stannis gave a curt nod in response.

Viserys shook his head and chuckled. "The Targaryens know Dragonstone better than you might think."

Dragonstone was the ancestral home of House Targaryen, and Viserys naturally knew it better than Stannis. However, he didn't elaborate on how he knew about the abundant dragonglass mines beneath Dragonstone, merely implying that it was due to his Targaryen heritage.

"But there's no need to worry," Viserys continued. "I've already arranged for workers to mine the dragonglass day and night. I believe the first batch will be delivered to the front lines soon, and then we'll have weapons to fight the White Walkers."

All eyes in the room turned to him.

"Yes, Viserys..." a shaky voice began, but trailed off. "However... there's not enough dragonglass."

The voice came from a frail old man with white hair and blind eyes, huddled in a chair.

Viserys hadn't noticed him at first, as even the dukes had to stand in the presence of the king, but upon hearing his voice, he recognized him. He started to rise from his chair, but Maester Aemon stopped him.

"Viserys... the war council is important. We can talk later."

Aemon's voice was shaky, and Viserys sat back down upon hearing his words. The nobles in the room looked at each other, shock evident in their eyes.

"Who is he?"

Some of them knew that he was a maester of the Night's Watch, but others had no idea who he was. They were all surprised that he could address the young dragon lord as 'Viserys' and that Viserys seemed to respect him.