Public Weapon Display

On January 18th 280 AC all the nobles of Westeros and merchants of Essos that were interested in the new weapons of House Di Natale gathered in a specially decorated show room at Canahs.

Many glass boxes were placed in the hall with a red fabric covering them. Randyll Tarly was already waiting impatiently for the start of the presentation when Oberyn Martell came next to him.

"Lord Tarly, the best soldier of the Reach, are you trying to buy a new weapon for yourself? How about selling your Targaryen steel sword to me?"

Oberyn jokingly said to the cold-faced military commander, while keeping a respectful distance, in case he gets angry.

"The Red Viper of Dorne, famous for whoring and being a nuisance, right? It's a shame that a respectful person like Edgar Yronwood was humiliated and killed by you."

Randyll Tarly hated people like Oberyn the most. Someone calling themself a warrior but being frivolous and deceitful. He was getting angrier as he continued.

"I would rather throw my ancestral blade into the sea, never to see the light of day again, than see someone like you throwing it around."

The Red Viper was completely unfaced by Lord Tarly's tirade. He heard and seen way worse than this and he honestly didn't care at all, he even enjoyed when people lost their composure because of him.

"Lord Tarly, you are already behaving like an old man. I heard you got married recently. Maybe I should pay Horn Hall a visit when I return to Westeros."

This time Oberyn hit a pain point for the sturdy Randyll who was already reaching for his weapon, but stopped when he noticed the guards around the room locking him in their sights. He was aware of the fame and power of the elite soldiers of House Di Natale and could feel their battle spirit from far away. He didn't want to cause a mess and hurt the relationship of House Tarly and House Di Natale just to teach the dornish bastard a lesson.

Randyll Tarly was a brute and direct man but a great commander and could keep his calm when it really mattered. Oberyn noticed the reaction of the heir of House Tarly and was amused but at the same time more vary of this famous warrior.

A skilled commander is a problem but not unsolvable, but a skilled commander that can stay calm headed even when suffering humiliation from people he despised is a serious threat when facing them in battle. He decided not to make the relationship too stiff, even though the nobles of the Reach and the nobles of Dorne were hating each other anyways.

Before the conversation could continue Victor entered the venue. He walked on a small podium and the whole audience started focusing on him. The heir of House Di Natale was not excited and calmly started the introduction to today's event.

"Welcome my Lords to the presentation of the newly developed weapons of House Di Natale. I am very glad to see many familiar faces in the crowd, that have been present at my birthday three days ago. I hope you have enjoyed your stay in Lys so far. But today is not about me, but about the weapons in the glass boxes and what they represent for future wars and what influence they might have on the future of the family. Let's start with the first glass box right to my left."

After Victor pointed to the glass box two servants removed the red fabric. The guests could see a regular long sword but with a few marks along the blade. They looked like small veins along the sword body (Damascus Steel).

"This sword was made with regular steel that has been mixed with a small part of 'Cloud Steel'. This newly developed special steel is extremely sharp, and weapons made purely from cloud steel can even rival Targaryen steel swords in pure sharpness. But what makes this special steel very valuable is, that by only adding a very small amount to the forging of a regular steel sword you can increase his sharpness and endurance by a lot. The veins on the sword body are signs of the use of cloud steel."

The crowd was already getting a little restless after seeing the sword and listening about the use of pure cloud steel. Everybody wanted to see a sword made purely out of this special steel and whether it could really compete with the ancient Targaryen swords. But Victor just kept going at his own pace.

"The sword you can see is already very high in quality and I would have no problem equipping even the Kingsguard with this sword. Currently only the elite soldiers of House Di Natale are allowed and capable of really using this sword. The current price for a single of those swords is 300 golden dragons. Furthermore, House Di Natale doesn't except only cash payment. At least half of those 100 golden dragons need to be paid in resources and transported to the production base in Redwater Island."

For comparison, 100 golden dragons could buy a high-quality prostitute in Lys or dozens of jugs of highest quality Dorne wine. This price seemed a little too much for many nobles present now, especially after hearing that only a very small amount of Cloud Steel was used.

Victor could of course see the dissatisfaction about the price of the lowest grade sword but was not too disturbed. He knew they would soon realize it's value after a test between a regular steel sword of Westeros and a low-level Cloud Sword happened.

"I know many of you don't want to spend such a fortune on a single sword that is even the lowest level of all swords that will be shown today. I can understand your confusion and rejection. Therefore, I offer you a free presentation. Any noble present can use a regular Westeros steel sword to compete with the edge of this Cloud Sword. If the results are not satisfying, I will gladly adjust the price."