Chapter 128 - Gift

"Rise!!!"

*Splash*

Soldiers dragged one of the survivors onto the ship.

"Please don't kill me, I beg of you!!! I surrender, I surrender!!!! Please, no more...."

The man yelled and thrashed in the net.

Similar reactions came from most of Euron's surviving soldiers being pulled from the water.

Those who were rescued tried to hide, even after being told to calm down they begged for mercy, and when one of the wizards flew past the ships on his broomstick, they cried even louder.

Asha watched with strange sensations. She couldn't imagine ironborn behaving like this after losing a war.

It wasn't even the behavior of frightened children, no. These people seemed to have broken. They twitched at the slightest noise, closed their eyes when the wizard passed by.

This symphony of screams was everywhere.

Asha noticed that Andrey was displeased with such cries, irritation evident on his face, and she saw him stepping out of the cabin and shouting loudly.

"Shut up, you idiots! If you don't close your filthy mouths, which can't stop whining, I'll personally feed each one of you to the dragon, we can save on food that way!!!! Do you understand me?! Alright, shut up, I'm talking to Lord Morningstar!!!"

When the captives heard Andzhey's voice, they fell silent. Not only them, even the Knights of the Flame began to speak more quietly, which was particularly striking compared to five minutes ago when they were laughing loudly as they pulled the ironborn from the water.

Having silenced everyone, Andzhey nodded satisfactorily and said,

"Lord Morningstar has said that we have performed well in clearing the enemy fleet. Upon return to Adastra, each of those present can either receive a reward of a thousand gold galleons or 500 galleons and the opportunity to choose an additional course from one of the council members! Including Lord Morningstar's course on fire magic or Lord Grindewald's course on defensive fire magic! There is also the possibility of training with the druids, training in communicating with magical animals!!!"

Asha saw the Knights of the Flame rejoice upon hearing the last part.

"Hurrah!!! I want to learn Lord Asmodeus's combat magic without a wand!!!"

"You, huh? You should go for training at St. Mungo's Hospital with Lady Hufflepuff."

"Well, what's wrong with that? What if you idiots get injured, who will treat you!?"

"I want to take Lord Salazar's Dark Magic course!"

"Ha, we've got a dark wizard among us!"

"HA-HA-HA!!! Scary, scary!!!"

"HAHAHAHA!!!"

"And you, Finn, what do you want?"

"Oh, me? I want my own dragon, I need to save up more money."

"Oh? That's your request, you've just recently got married, are you sure Vanessa will agree to such a pet!?"

"It's all good, she got herself a Nuffler, why can't I train a dragon for myself?!"

"How much do you need?"

"Well, I recently bought a house in the suburbs, with a big yard, and also one flying Weasley car, and one motorcycle, so it'll take me a while to save up for a dragon, I need at least five thousand more!"

"Well, a thousand for this battle and five months' worth of salary should be enough for you. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and participate in a couple more battles?!"

"I hope so, my mother-in-law wants to move in with us. I suggested to Vanessa that her mother could live in the pigsty, but she refused, so we'll have to build an extension."

"HAHAHA!!!"

"Oh, Reggie!? Guys, look, it's Reggie!!!"

"Oh!!! Well, looking at you now, you seem to handle battles better than rescue operations... Or places where there are no bricks."

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

"Oh, come on! That was an unfortunate accident!!!"

"Yeah, it's because of you that Lady Rowena made us train seven times a week for a month!!!!"

"Yeah!!!!"

"No wonder they docked your salary for a month!!!!"

"Hey, I'm hurt, guys... Do you know what my wife said!?"

"Well?"

"That if I mess up like that again, she'll throw a brick at my head herself!!!"

"HAHAHAHA, Rachel is great. Okay, come here, have some wine with us!"

"Oh, from the Leaky Cauldron or from the Hog's Head Inn?!"

"No way I am buying it there, you English can't make it properly. I brought mine from home, it's wine from my father-in-law's vineyard, he's a cool guy, a real Frenchman, knows how to make wine!!"

"Ew, Roberto, bring your wine from Spain, I don't recognize this French wine."

"Hey!!!"

Asha watched as the soldiers who had destroyed the ironborn army, behaved as if they hadn't just survived a horrific battle, but had gone on a picnic instead. The contrast in the states of the two sides was too stark to ignore...

Asha approached Ellaria, who was also watching the aftermath of the massacre with a strange expression on her face, and asked, "Do you think we're needed in this war? I have a feeling that we're useless..."

"I..."

Ellaria couldn't answer that question, and even when she wanted to think about it, she saw a large ship approaching them from the starboard side.

"Is that the Silence?"

"Yes, my uncle's ship..."

As the ships aligned, everyone saw three people. Two soldiers in burgundy armor and one man, who stood frozen like he was petrified.

"Oh, Frank, Raul, is that the so-called Euron Greyjoy?"

"Yes, Captain Andzhey."

Frank waved his wand, and the immobilized Euron fell onto the ship's deck.

"Alright, guys, you've done well. Everyone is entitled to a reward upon returning to Adastra, but yours, Frank, will be doubled. You've absorbed the knowledge of Lord Flamel well, so we'll send you on an advanced course in alchemy."

"Awesome."

"By the way, why did you bring that vessel with you?"

"Hey, Captain, don't be like that. My girlfriend has been wanting to go on a vacation on our own ship for a long time. I figured that by enhancing this tub with alchemy, it'll do just fine."

"Why not use the services of a travel agency?"

"Who knows, women, you know how they are."

While Frank and Raul chatted with their friends, Asha approached Euron, who was lying motionless in the corner of the deck.

"How do you like the sight? Your entire fleet burned down to ashes, no, not even ashes remained. And the Silence will become a pleasure boat for one of the soldiers. You know, I don't even need to do anything more with you... you are already so pathetic..."

Asha looked at the immobilized Euron and lost any desire to torture him or mock him. She saw Andzhey and approached him, saying, "You can take him if you need him."

"Lady, are you sure? You wanted to execute him personally."

"I didn't quite envision it like this... Do whatever you want with him."

"Alright."

Asha watched as Andzhey took out his beetle phone and spoke, "Lady Ravenclaw, I'm contacting you because Lord Morningstar might be in the midst of battle right now, and I don't want to distract him. I want to ask you what to do with the prisoner."

"Yes, Euron Greyjoy. Yes, the one who led the fleet. Understood."

Asha watched as Andzhey hung up the phone and headed towards Euron. She thought Andrey was going to take Euron somewhere to keep him as a hostage, but instead, she saw him draw the sword hanging at his side.

"Strike."

With a perfectly even cut, Euron's head was separated, rolling across the deck. But Andzhey didn't stop there. He took the head and, setting aside his sword, began to burn a message onto the forehead with his wand.

"You're next."

Once the words were clearly seared onto the head, Andrey whistled, and a large owl flew out from the cabin.

"Lucy, take this to a woman named Cersei Lannister. Be careful when delivering the package, you might be attacked. The token can withstand three sword strikes, should be enough until you leave the danger zone."

The owl nodded in a very human-like manner, taking the head in its talons before flying off.

Asha, Ellaria, and the rest of the crew were in shock. Euron, though an enemy, was a nobleman. In Westeros, if a nobleman was captured and not killed on the battlefield, it was customary to keep them alive, at most to torture them. But even if you for some reason killed a nobleman outside of the battlefield, you didn't send his head back home...

So, under the frightened gazes of the ship's crew, the severed head flew westward.

"Captain Andzhey... Is this...?"

"Our goal is to lure as many troops as possible into direct confrontation so that after the siege, the enemy will have no strength to attack. That's why Lady Rovena thought such a provocation would make the enemies attack more fiercely."

Asha nodded slightly, feeling somewhat lost, and walked towards her soldiers.

Seeing Asha leave, Andzhey shook his head and muttered to himself, "So this is what we looked like to wizards before we were able to use magic... Beetles that could be squashed at will? Then what did Muggles represent before Magification...?"

Andzhey cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts and went to issue orders to his people. They still had about two days left to sail to Dorne, and he approached this task given to him by Lord Asmodeus with responsibility.

_______________________________________

Meanwhile, as Andzhey cleared the battlefield, Asmodeus arrived at Highgarden. All this time, he and Athena had flown high enough not to be noticed, so no one in Westeros knew about the dragon yet. When he reached Highgarden, Asmodeus dismounted from Athena and hovered in the air next to her.

"Alright, get into the bag. I need you to remain unnoticed for now."

"Meow..."

"I know you don't like it in there, but you'll have to bear with it for now. I'll release you in a maximum of two days."

"Meow."

Despite Athena's displeased meow, she climbed into the spatial bag. With Athena in the bag, Asmodeus nodded satisfactorily, tied the bag to his belt, and stopped maintaining flight, allowing himself to fall. But Asmodeus wasn't worried; he descended headfirst, surveying the area. When he was about 20 meters from the ground, he formed walls of varying densities in front of himself with air and landed softly.

Adjusting his clothes, he looked around. Apparently, the wind had blown him a bit off course, and he found himself about a kilometer from the castle. He had hoped to land no farther than 200 meters...

"Well, walking is good for you."

Asmodeus shrugged and headed towards Highgarden. When he approached the castle, he saw dozens of archers aiming arrows at him from the walls. It seemed they already knew that the Lannisters had sent troops to Highgarden.

As Asmodeus was about to open the gates to let in Olenna and the other Tyrells, he heard a man's voice.

"Who are you, lord, and why are you here?"

"My name is Asmodeus Morningstar. I've come to return the Tyrell family to Highgarden after their journey."

"I don't see anyone beside you!"

"Oh, that's easily remedied."

Asmodeus waved his hand, and behind him, the gates of Kamar Taj appeared. The archers tensed up, readying their bows, but stopped when they heard,

"You idiots, if you don't lower your bows right now, I'll personally shove an arrow up each of your behinds!"

The people on the wall were in shock. They saw Lady Olenna emerging from the strange red circle and yelling at them.