Chapter 184: Economic Invasion

Since Arianne arrived in Pentos, Daenerys, who formed an alliance with Dorne, had no worries, and her power experienced rapid growth.

She successively gained the allegiance of many Magisters in the Free Cities.

Subsequently, the Dragon God Church and the Dragonblood Merchants Guild from Pentos began to settle in Lys, Qohor, Norvos, Myr, Tyrosh, Volantis, and Lorath. 

Many Magisters in these cities joined the Dragonblood Merchants Guild and converted to the Dragon God Faith. 

Additionally, the armies of these cities underwent a series of major changes and retraining amidst covert activities. Even priests of the Dragon God Church also entered these armies.

At the same time, these cities coincidentally began hiring a newly established mercenary group called the Dothraki Mercenaries to help defend the cities and escort caravans. 

This mercenary group was newly formed, and all the warriors in the legion were retired Dothraki soldiers from Pentos, fervent followers of the Dragon God Faith.

In this way, Daenerys openly and covertly controlled eight Free Cities. 

Whether it was economics, military, or faith, these eight cities were under her and the Dragon God Church's control, bringing her one step closer to actual rule.

However, she did not directly declare her rule over these cities.

It was not that she didn't want to, but because Alaric proposed that the political situation in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros was on the brink of eruption. 

With just a slight push, the situation could collapse like a row of dominoes, leading to the unification of the Seven Kingdoms.

At that time, the Seven Kingdoms, deeply embroiled in war, would have no capacity to manage the situation on the continent of Essos. 

Once the war began, the ambitious individuals of the Seven Kingdoms would lose their control entirely. 

After the entire Seven Kingdoms turned into a mess of mud, with the war potential greatly exhausted, Daenerys could enter the game from Pentos and sweep through the Seven Kingdoms with ease, unifying Westeros in one fell swoop.

But for now, she had to lie low, not revealing her fangs too much, lest the Seven Kingdoms become overly vigilant. 

If the Seven Kingdoms realized the threat posed by Daenerys before the chaos, they would unite. Internal conflicts would turn into external ones. 

In such a scenario, she would have to fight a hard battle beyond her home territory, confronting the entire armies of the Seven Kingdoms. 

Though victory might be achievable, it could be a pyrrhic one, and it would likely garner the hatred of the people of the Seven Kingdoms, which would be detrimental to future rule.

Although King Robert is currently incompetent, the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms are not particularly sensitive to the situation on the continent of Essos. 

However, once Daenerys unified the eight Free Cities in one go, gaining almost equivalent power to the Seven Kingdoms, regardless of Robert's incompetence, he would become extremely vigilant.

The contenders for the throne would also surely postpone their actions, lest they benefit others.

So far, Daenerys's actions seemed quite successful. 

Although she controlled Pentos, became the reincarnation of Azor Ahai, and hatched three dragons, the response from King's Landing was not significant. 

They only attempted assassination a few times, but with Daenerys who was protected by magic, easily evaded them.

On the other hand, Daenerys was also taking action. The Dragon God Church and her merchant guild were gradually infiltrating Westeros.

Regarding the Dragon God Church, although the Seven Kingdoms' faith in the Seven Gods was quite firm, the Dragon God Church quickly gained a foothold with its countless miracles. 

A large number of nobles had abandoned the Seven Gods and turned to the more effective Dragon God Church.

However, compared to the Dragon God Church, the ones reaping richer rewards were the merchants under Daenerys's command.

During this period, a new organization called the Free Trade Bank was established in the Free Cities.

This organization did not conduct any business nor produce any goods. They opened stores called banks in all major cities. 

Any merchant could deposit their wealth in any bank and withdraw it from any other branch using the receipts provided by the bank, greatly reducing the inconvenience and risk of carrying large sums of money while trading.

As a result, the Free Trade Bank was warmly welcomed by merchants upon its inception.

Although such a banking organization would naturally arouse suspicion, the Free Trade Bank had an extraordinary background.

Its shareholders included most of the Magisters of the Free Cities, each of whom was extremely wealthy. 

If each of them contributed even a fraction of their wealth, the combined wealth would be astronomical.

So, no one doubted the Free Trade Bank's ability to provide funds.

Moreover, the Free Trade Bank also engaged in lending business.

Anyone could borrow money from the Free Trade Bank with certain collateral, and the interest was much lower than that of general usury. 

The bank's background allowed it to ensure the recovery of debts in most cases.

Of course, on the surface, the Free Trade Bank had nothing to do with Daenerys.

However, in reality, all the high-level executives of the Free Trade Bank were either under Daenerys's command or her loyal subordinates or fervent followers of the Dragon God Faith.

In short, the Free Trade Bank was entirely under her control, and even other Magisters as shareholders had no say.

This was one of Daenerys's means of controlling these Magisters.

Meanwhile, this bank, with its much larger funds, more advanced system, and more branches, replaced the position of the Iron Bank of Braavos.

The Iron Bank was the most important bank in Braavos—of course, these primitive banks could only be considered as usury collectors. 

It was extremely wealthy and often lent money to outsiders. Among its clients were Kings of the Seven Kingdoms.

Although all Free Cities had their own banks, the Iron Bank was richer and more influential than all other banks combined. 

It had a fearsome reputation when collecting debts. 

When princes or kings defaulted on their debts, or were foolish enough to disrespect their contracts with the Iron Bank, new princes or kings (supported by economic aid from the Iron Bank) would emerge like mushrooms after rain. 

These new princes or kings had to acknowledge previous debts and repay the money borrowed from the Iron Bank to win the throne, to avoid suffering the same fate as their predecessors.

Now, only Braavos among the nine Free Cities remained independent. It was obvious that they were staging a show against Daenerys. 

As the most powerful Free Cities, its wealth mainly came from navigation and the Iron Bank. 

However, the business of the Iron Bank was now devastated due to the Free Trade Bank, and in terms of navigation, it could only temporarily maintain an advantage.

Also, Alaric's knowledge enabled Daenerys to quickly build more powerful and advanced merchant and warships.

Although Braavos's Sealord possessed a formidable fleet, facing dragons, these wooden fleets were nothing. Dragons only needed to breathe fire in the air to sink any fleet.

Now, the Free Trade Bank had become a significant creditor for many nobles in the Seven Kingdoms, including King Robert himself.

In fact, under Robert's rule, the treasury of the Seven Kingdoms had long been heavily indebted.

After becoming king, Robert was unwilling to bother with state affairs, leaving everything to the Small Council.

He indulged in the money left by Aerys II to satisfy his various material desires.

Just recently, his first Hand of the King, also his foster father, Jon Arryn, unexpectedly died of illness. 

So Robert led a large royal retinue, traveled a long distance, and went to Winterfell to meet the last person he could trust—Lord Eddard Stark, the Warden of the North, and Jon Arryn's foster son along with Robert. 

Compared to the last time they met nine years ago, Ned had not changed much, but Robert had become obese and weak due to his indulgence in alcohol and women, completely a different person.

As his good friend, Eddard Stark had to take over the position of the Hand of the King, only to find out that the royal family had racked up a massive debt of six million gold dragons.

His creditors included his wife Cersei's maternal family, the Lannisters, the Tyrell family, who controlled the Riverlands, the Faith of the Seven, the trading company in Tyrosh, and the newly established Free Trade Bank.

Through lending money to the king, the Free Trade Bank quickly gained a foothold in the Seven Kingdoms and opened branches everywhere. 

Through the Free Trade Bank, Daenerys was able to obtain detailed information about Westeros and manipulate the power struggles in Westeros through financial support, even manipulating the future civil war of the Seven Kingdoms.

As for King Robert? 

He was oblivious to everything, still indulging in tourneys and material pleasures, and completely ignoring the state of debt.

In the name of welcoming the new Hand of the King, he ordered a grandiose tournament to be arranged.

However, Alaric knew that the entire plot of the Game of Thrones actually began here.

Yes, the year had already entered 298 AC—by the way, AC stands for After Conquest, referring to the year when Aegon the Conqueror, the first ruler of the Targaryen family to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, was crowned in Oldtown, a calendar used by scholars and educated people in Westeros.

Now, in the Seven Kingdoms, the seeds of chaos had long been sown and were about to erupt. 

Even King Robert himself and lords like Eddard Stark would perish under the political conspiracy, followed by the battle for succession—the War of the Five Kings.

All of this was Daenerys's opportunity.

And recently, Alaric's research has also come to an end. 

Through his study of Daenerys's bloodline and the bloodlines of Talonixa, Alexstrasza, and Ysera, he had found a way to control the dragon Animagus.

So, before returning to the world of Harry Potter, he planned to temporarily leave the continent of Essos and play a little game in King's Landing.

After all, coming to this world and meeting Daenerys of House Targaryen, who represented fire, and her three dragons, and then leaving without meeting House Stark, who represented ice, it felt like something was missing.

Furthermore, he also wanted to spice up this massive conspiracy, making this world a little more chaotic.

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