Game of Thrones: Royal Game

Chapter 27 Crossroads Inn
Until late at night, Ian and others arrived at their destination.

The Crossroads Inn is located at the intersection of the north-south King's Avenue and the east-west Riverside Avenue and Valley Avenue. It is a small three-story building with a white stone chimney.

There is a thatched cowshed and a clock tower on the north side of the inn, and the whole building is surrounded by broken white stone walls.

The south wing was built on piles of weeds, which used to be the channel of a tributary of the Green Fork River. At that time, half of the inn building was on the water, but later the river changed its course, and it became what it is today. .

The Crossroads Inn has a profound historical heritage. It is said that it was built during the reign of Jaehaerys I, the fourth monarch of the Targaryen dynasty, Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne. , so the inn was renamed "Double Crown Inn" to show this honor.

Later, with the change of the owner of the inn, it was renamed "Zhongming Inn" because a new clock tower was built here.

Later, Sir Jon Hyde got the inn, and he cast a new signboard for the inn with his own hands—a black iron dragon with three heads, because it jingled every time the wind blew by it, so the inn opened again. The name was changed to 'Xianglong Inn'.

The name of the Sound Dragon Inn has been used until the period of the 'Blackfyre Rebellion', and it was abandoned because the signboard was removed.

The Blackfyre Rebellion [Note 195] that occurred in 1AC was another civil war within the Targaryen family after the "Dance of the Blood Dragon" for the Iron Throne.

At that time, because Aegon IV, the 11th king of the Targaryen Dynasty, legalized all his illegitimate children before his death, a large number of his noble illegitimate children obtained the right of inheritance.

In addition, the insignificant Aegon IV had always suspected that his wife and brother were still in love because the queen he married back then was the one who robbed his younger brother. In order to humiliate them, he even declared his eldest son heir Daeron Targaryen is the bastard son of his wife and brother (who the hell is this insulting?).

As a result, after the death of Aegon IV, a large number of nobles who were dissatisfied with the status quo took advantage of the issue to question the legitimacy of his successor, Daeron II, and supported Daemon Blackfyre, the eldest of Aegon IV's illegitimate children, to become king.

Of course, this Daemon Blackfyre is really awesome, not to mention handsome, and his combat effectiveness is also first-class. Those who have seen him fight call him a "warrior descending to the world" [Note 2].

Damon defeated all his opponents in a melee at the age of 12. Aegon IV recognized him as his son on the spot and made him a knight (this is the youngest knight in the history of the Seven Kingdoms), and sent him The family sword of the Targaryen family, the Valyrian steel sword used by Aegon I the Conqueror [Note 3] was given to him by the 'Black Flame', and since then Daemon has used the 'Black Fire' as his surname.

After Daemon Blackfyre launched a rebellion, he reversed the flag of the Targaryen family's red dragon on a black background, and chose the black dragon on a red background as his family emblem.

Therefore, the black dragon signboard of this inn was quickly angered by the local lord Earl Darry, who was a loyal supporter of Daeron II. Earl Darry angrily chopped off the black dragon signboard of the inn, split it into pieces, and threw it into the river inside.

Daemon Blackfyre's first Blackfyre Rebellion failed when he was shot by Brynden Rivers' Raventooth Guard in the 'Battle of the Red Grassland'.

After that, the descendants of the Hyde family never replaced the new signboard, and this place has become an unknown inn ever since.

It has since been referred to as the 'Riverside Inn' or the 'Crossroads Inn', simply by location.

In the original book of Ice and Fire, the Crossroads Inn can be regarded as a very important and iconic location, and many stories happened here.

Therefore, in Ian's initial speculation, there is a high probability that this place will become the alliance meeting point agreed by the players.

As the inn approached, Ian's heart began to lift gradually.

Although he knew that his current camouflage was perfect to the point where it could not be improved, and the power in his hands was enough to hang any player who had just started playing.

But he was nervous.

Because it was too late, the owner and the clerks of the inn might have already rested, so that Ian and the others had already arrived at the door, but no clerk came to open the door and lead the horse.

Ian and the others could only take the initiative to knock on the door and wait for a response from inside.

After about 5 minutes, when Luo Er knocked on the door for the third time, a woman's lazy voice came from the inn. Judging from her tone of voice, she was obviously very unhappy that someone came to stay at this time.

The voice gradually increased, and Ian heard the cursing whispers of the visitor.

Of course, it's not humiliating abuse, but just some simple chatter and complaints.

The person who opened the door was a fat middle-aged woman. From her terrible appearance, Ian guessed that this was the proprietress of the inn, Martha Hyde.

The moment she saw Ian and the three of them, Martha's complaints stopped abruptly. She never dreamed that the people who came to stay at such a late hour were actually three goddamn knights.

The Hyde family used to have knights, and the ancestor Jon Hyde who first got this inn was a knight, but as the last knight of the Hyde family was beheaded in the 'Second Blackfyre Rebellion', They are now indistinguishable from civilians except for their surnames.

"Sorry, my lords." Martha was quite frightened by her broken mouth just now, and when she didn't know how to explain it, Ian ended her predicament.

"Prepare us a big empty room, and the most abundant wine and food here." Ian ordered directly, as if he had never heard Martha's previous complaints.

"Okay, my lords, wait a moment." Martha quickly agreed with a sigh of relief, and then signaled to the maid who came out late to take Ian and the others to their room.

Although Martha was a little puzzled why these knights didn't want a single room with a bed, but asked for a large mixed room that was usually provided for the lower class, and there could be more than ten or twenty straw mats in one room.

But she also knew that this was not the question she should ask, so after giving orders to the maid, he hurried to wake the helper to get up and prepare to go to the kitchen to start the stove.

Under the leadership of the maid, Ian and others came to their room. At this moment, the entire inn was almost extinguished, and there was no one in the hall. Ian wanted to judge whether other players came here, at least until tomorrow.

Ian bought two oil lamps from the maid at his own expense, and after hanging them in the room, the whole room was lit up.

Although this room is called a big room, it is actually not big at all.

Twelve straw mats neatly arranged in two rows occupy more than 90.00% of the area of ​​the room, leaving only a narrow gap in the middle that can accommodate one person to pass through, which is called the aisle.

Notes: 1. This refers to the first Blackfyre Rebellion launched by Damon Blackfyre. Since then, there have been five Blackfyre Rebellions initiated by Damon's descendants (including the Battle of the Nine Copper Kings).

2. The warrior is one of the seven gods in the Westeros religion, symbolizing strength and victory. Its image is an adult man holding a sword.

3. Valyrian steel is a kind of steel infused with fire magic. It is light in texture and extremely sharp. It was forged by the ancient Valyrians.

(End of this chapter)