Chapter 343

He led his army through the forest. Using forest trails that his wargs had already scouted and proclaimed as safe.

He wanted to have the element of surprise against the Lannisters so they stayed away from the main road as much as possible.

"You think the Freys might betray the Tulleys?" Ygritte asked as she rode her horse beside his.

"Possible but doubtful." He replied "If the army of the Vale was not coming to join the war and if Tywin defeated the Northern Host then Warder Frey would definitely change sides and support the Lannisters. But with the destruction of the 2nd Lannister army in Riverrun and with what I'm going to do next, I doubt the old coot would do such a thing anymore."

"I might not respect Lord Tywin for his cruel methods against the innocent commoners but he did the right thing when he destroyed the Raynes and the Tarbecks. Without those two unruly houses, House Lannister no doubt has the best grasp over it's vassel lords in the whole seven kingdoms."

"Even better than House Stark."

"Yes." He nodded "It might not look like in the surface but House Glover, House Dustin, House Ryswell and House White Hill amongst a dozen small houses don't support the Starks. Before me, House Bolton didn't either. And together we made the largest block of opposition against the Starks."

"And you support House Stark now?" Ygritte asked.

"In a sense." He replied "They're good people and I wouldn't mind having them by my side during the Long Night. But after that… I'll separate from the North and from Westeros, creating a Free City like Braavos of my own."

"Do you think the Starks would fight against us if we did that?" she asked.

"Doubtful." He replied "Acnologia would become too powerful by that point. And once we conduct the Dragonlord ritual on you, I plan on giving you three dragons as well."

Ygritte frowned "Why didn't you hatch more than one dragon?"

"Because dragons are prideful beings. And with how powerful Acnologia will become, I'll not be able to control more than one of him." He said with a chuckle "But the dragons you hatch won't be as powerful as Acnologia. And they'll be subservient to him. Meaning that they won't try to rebel against us. Which is why I'm allowing you to have more than one dragon in the first place."

Ygritte nodded "Having more dragons on our side during th…"

The magical mirror in his pocket vibrated and he raised a hand for Ygritte to stop.

He took out the mirror and saw that it was a call from Muron.

The took the call.

"Muron." He said.

"My lord." Muron's cheerful voice came from the other side "Reached Yunkai yesterday. Had a little skirmish with them. Those bastards ran away with their tails between their legs. The Wise Masters now offer us their ships and gold."

"How many ships?" he asked.

"300" Muron replied and his eyes widened his surprise.

"What did you do to have them give you half of their ships?" he asked.

Muron chuckled "Made a few examples. Nothing too gruesome. Those Wise Masters gave in more easily than even I expected. It seems like no one really posed them any problem before us."

He nodded.

He had not expected the Wise Masters of Yunkai to give them so many of their ships and had thought that he would either have to declare war or pay for those ships.

But it seems like that is not the case.

He would not even need to go to Slavers Bay anymore.

"How much did the Yunkai pay you to not attack them?" he asked.

"300,000 gold coins." Muron smiled "Their gold coins are not even half the size of our own but they're something."

He nodded "Give one third of it to your men, one third of it to the Unsallied and keep the rest for yourself."

Muron's smile widened at that and he bowed "Your humble servant accepts this gift."

He almost scoffed at that.

Muron and humble would never be used in a sentence unless that sentence was a sarcastic one.

"Very well. Return to Bolton Port with the ships, the Unsallied and the craftsmen as quickly as possible. You'll have a gift waiting there for you." He said.

Muron nodded and he cut the connection before letting out a sigh.

If he had not made the man sign so many magical contracts and had not made the man totally loyal to him, then he would really fear giving some much power to some one under him.

Muron and Bronn were the only men whom he had made loyal to him with the help of magic.

He usually didn't go so far with his subordinates but these two held a great deal of power so he couldn't have them betraying him.

As it was now. They were completely loyal to him and would not be able to betray him even if they wanted.

He put the mirror back in his pocket and smiled at Ygritte.

"300 more ships." He said with a huge smile "Once I've selected the captains and crew for them, I'll have more than 800 ships in my fleet."

Ygritte rolled her eyes at him muttering something about 'boys and their toys.'

"Hey. I'll have you know that I take my Fleet very seriously." He said, half in jest and half seriously "By the end of the Long Night, I'll have a larger Fleet than the Redwynes and become the man with the largest personal Fleet."

"Don't the Braavos have like 3,500 ships in their fleet?" Ygritte asked.

"They do." He replied with a nod "But those ships mostly belong to individual merchants with the wealthiest house having some 500 ships of his own. As of it, House Redwyne has the largest personal Fleet. And I aim to get that title from them sooner or later."

Ygritte gave him an unimpressed look and muttered something about 'men and their dick measuring contests.' Much to his amusement and exasperation.