Chapter 51

The famous Citadel in the Seven Kingdoms is located at the bank of the honeywine River.

It is a large building complex.

  It does not have the grandeur of the Hightower , nor the sacred grandeur of the Starry sept, but it is the place with the richest humanistic atmosphere in Old Town, and even in the entire Westeros continent.

  The gate of the citadel is facing the direction of Whispering sound Bay. There is a tall green Sphinx statue on both sides of the gate, with a lion body, eagle wings, and snake tail, but it has the faces of a man and a woman. They all closed their eyes tightly, as if they were contemplating some thousand-year-old puzzle.

  Samwell walked into the citadel under the leadership of Baelor Hightower. As soon as he entered the gate, he saw a lively small market. There were many vendors setting up their stalls, they were selling things like books and maps. . A lot of people gathered beside them, waiting in line for assistant marster to help them write paperwork.

  Moving forward, Samwell also saw a small island with a huge weirwood planted on it. The dense branches and leaves almost occupied the entire island. Countless crows perched on the tree, which looked like a picture with an oil painting with a strong religious atmosphere.

  Crossing a wooden bridge weathered by wind and rain, a tower covered with moss and vines appeared in front of them.

  Baylor stopped here and said,

  "Sir Caesar, my sister Malora is up there. The room is on the left side of the stairs on the fourth floor. I still have something to do, so I won't go up with you."

  "Thank you."

  After watching Baylor leave, Samwell walked up the stairs alone.

  When he came to the door of the room Baylor had mentioned, he raised his hand and knocked the door a few times.

  After waiting for a while, he heard a deep female voice from inside: "Come in."

  Samwell pushed the door and entered.

  The smell in the room was a bit weird, like the smell of raw meat that had been stored for a long time, plus disinfectant.

  The room was also very dark, and the only window was covered by a curtain. Samwell got used to it a little before he could see the furnishings clearly.

  Then he was taken aback.

  This is the reaction of anyone entering a room filled with taxidermy for the first time.

  Lizards, giant snakes, brown bears, cheetahs... and all kinds of weird animals that even Samwell couldn't name, were made into lifelike specimens and displayed on the shelves.

  Samwell finally understood why Baylor had just found an excuse to slip away and let himself come up alone. The guy obviously didn't want to enter this room.

  "Ahem, respected Lady Malora , I am..."

  "I know who you are." Malora interrupted, "I just woke up this morning, and a servant told me that you would come to see me I."

  She spoke very fast, as if she was in a hurry, and while she was speaking, she didn't stop moving her hands, and she was using a sharp knife to peel off the belly of a big palm spider.

  The dark green juice covered her hands, looking weird and disgusting .

  Samwell collected up his mind and forced a smile:

  "In this case, I wonder if Lady Malora can help regarding the silver mine..."

  "It's there." Malora interrupted again, raising her chin to point a small table in the front row, "The one with the white cover. Everything you want is in it. Read it yourself. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me."

Samwell stepped forward to pick up the book, flipping through it and confirming that it was correct, he said,

  "Thank you LadyMalora , then I will take my leave first. If there is any doubt, I will..."

  "Okay." Malora interrupted again, as if she couldn't wait for him to leave.

  Can't you let me finish the sentence completely?

  Samwell complained secretly, turned around and ran away immediately.

  You can't stay in this place for long or sanity will be lost.

  After going out, Samwell breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the warmth of the sun again.

  The "Mad maid" Malora really lived up to her reputation.

  While walking out, Samwell flipped through the book she gave him.

  The book is indeed about knowledge related to silver mining and refining, but there are many difficult technical terms and esoteric symbols.

  Samwell didn't work in this industry in his previous life, and the chemistry knowledge he learned in high school has long been returned to the teacher, and it is extremely difficult to read now.

  Just when he felt a headache, he suddenly heard a noise coming from the front.

  Raising his head, he saw a lot of people gathered in front of the gate of the citadel, as if they were watching some show .

  Out of curiosity, Samwell walked over.

  "...Deprive you of your maesters title. From now on, you will no longer be a member of the Citadel..."

  Hearing this, Samwell realized that Citadel that was expelling a maester .

  He squeezed forward a little, and finally saw the unlucky guy who was expelled clearly.

  He was a tall, thin old man, a little stooped, with protruding blue eyes lined with wrinkles, and a faint smile on his lips, even when he was facing deportation.

  "Qyburn , what else do you want to say?"

  Samwell was slightly startled when he heard the name.

  Of course he remembered that there was a character named this in the series, and that person was also a maester expelled from the citadel , and later became Queen Cersei's confidant.

  When Qyburn heard the manager's question, he raised his head slightly with a confused eyes, as if he didn't know what to say.

  Another man wearing a maester ring couldn't bear it, and comforted him:

  "Qyburn, from now on, you don't have to abide by the maester's oath, and you are no longer a member of citadel. You can restore your original surname."

  "Surname?" Qyburn finally spoke, the smile on the corner of his mouth became a little sarcastic , "I have been in the Citadel for more than forty years, how can anyone remember his surname. Even I forgot myself."

"But you still have extraordinary knowledge which is enough for you to live a comfortable life, but remember to stop doing those immoral experiments, otherwise the kingdom's laws will not let you go." After finishing speaking, the manager and the maester turned and entered building , leaving Qyburn in a daze.

  Seeing that there was no excitement to watch, the crowd of onlookers also left one after another.

  Only Samwell walked up to Qyburn and said,

  "Maester Qyburn ..."

  "I am no longer a maester ."

  "In my heart, a maester is not a status, but a respectful title for a person with extraordinary knowledge."

  Qyburn's face moved slightly, he took a serious look at Samwell, and said,

  "Young Sir, thank you for your kindness. Is there anything I can do for you?"

  Samwell's smile became brighter: "I found a silver mine in my territory, and I need a maester to guide the mining and refining, would you be willing to help me?"

"Doesn't the maester in your territory know metallurgy?"

  "My castle hasn't been built yet. .., so theCitadel didn't send a bachelor there."

  Qyburn frowned: "May I ask, where is your territory?"

  Samwell smiled slightly and said: "Let me introduce myself, I am Duke mace pioneering knight, Samwell Caesar, i have just established a territory on Bleak island in the red Mountains, with more than 10,000 people under my rule."

  "Red Mountains?" Qyburn frowned deeper, but after just hearing that there were more than 10,000 citizens, his expression softened a little, but was still hesitating.

  Samwell remembered that in the original book, the scientific research madman was expelled from the citadel because of the vivisections (dissections of live human subjects) experiment, and said:

  "Bachelor Qyburn , as long as you are willing to be my advisor, I can fully fund your research. Of course, it must be research that does not violate the laws of the kingdom."

"Fully funded? " Remembering the silver mine, he finally nodded, "Okay! Sir Caesar, I am willing to be your personal advisor."

[END]

NOTE -

Taxidermy is a way of preparing, stuffing and/or mounting an animal for display or study. It usually involves arranging an animal's real skin over a fake body to make the animal look alive! It is a way of preserving the body so that scientists or Museum visitors can see what the animal was like when it was alive.