Chapter 127: White Sands Arena
"You found out so quickly?" Black Falcon Dorian asked in surprise, looking at Bronn who had returned so swiftly.
"Ser Lucien's orders were merely to investigate the location of the fighting pit where Ander Poole was stationed, and the assessment of his strength and status by the ordinary sellswords there. It didn't take long." Bronn still referred to Ian as Lucien; like the other sellswords, he didn't know Ian's current identity.
"That's all?" Dorian asked doubtfully, not having read Ian's letter, as the envelope was addressed to Bronn.
"That's all. Ser Lucien doesn't want anyone to know we're investigating Ander Poole, and in this city, he doesn't trust our discretion, so I only casually asked the sellswords around me a few questions while pretending to apply for the role of Symon Tetrus's proxy fighter." As he spoke, Bronn looked around. "By the way, how are we going to report this to Ser Lucien?"
"He delivered this letter by raven," Dorian replied.
"We don't have any damned ravens, and even if we did, we wouldn't know where to send them!" Bronn spat.
"That's not a problem, because just now," Dorian said, pointing to the black raven on the windowsill, "it came to fetch it itself."
"Uh..." Bronn paused. "Can ravens be trained to this extent?"
"Don't ask me, I'm no maester."
"I don't care if you're a maester or not, the question is, can you write?"
"Of course, I spent a long time learning."
After leaving Dorian's residence, Ian-the-raven first returned to Illyrio's manse, where he had Rol retrieve Bronn's reply and throw it into the fireplace.
He didn't need to read the letter anymore, because while waiting for Dorian to write back, he had already heard the necessary information from Bronn.
The player named Ser Ander Poole was currently at a fighting pit called "White Sands" on Freedom Street in the Lower City.
It was one of the few remaining fighting pits in the city since Pentos's defeat to Braavos ninety-one years ago. One of the secret arenas, it became the property of Magister Cecito Morn, a 'slave trader,' three years ago.
It was briefly closed a few months prior during Pentos's large-scale slave ban.
However, after Symon Tetrus officially declared his challenge against Prince Hazan, Magister Cecito lent the pit to Symon to recruit proxy fighters.
Ser Ander Poole, a player and member of Symon's household guard, was one of Symon's designated examiners.
According to the rules, sellswords who passed the preliminary rounds could compete against one of the three proxy fighters, including Ander Poole. They would challenge for Symon Tetrus's spot.
If they could defeat one, they would replace them and obtain a temporary position as Symon's proxy fighter—becoming the new examiner. If they could hold that position until the start of the trial, they could officially represent Symon.
Symon offered a bounty of approximately three hundred gold dragons' worth of Pentoshi coin for each successful temporary position, while the bounty for official participation was approximately one thousand gold dragons' worth of Pentoshi coin. This attracted countless sellswords eager for glory and gold.
Not many actually signed up; Symon wanted true elites, and signing up without sufficient strength was tantamount to suicide.
They'd been recruiting for half a month, and Ser Ander Poole had only fought four matches. However, even with just those four matches, he left a deep impression on the sellswords.
Bronn heard Ander described as having "extremely refined swordplay, extremely dirty fighting style, and extremely brutal methods."
Given that Ander Poole had already qualified to represent Symon Tetrus, Ian initially judged that this assessment was unlikely to be an exaggeration.
In other words, this player's combat ability was extremely high—he was most likely like the gold cloak player in the Flea Bottom den, someone whose original combat ability was already very strong. After gaining attribute points by hunting players, he could now unleash combat power far exceeding his initial statistics.
Based on this, Ian decided to personally (in raven form) watch one of Ander's matches to assess his actual level in order to plan his next move.
After having Rol retrieve the letter, Ian-the-raven set off again, flying towards the Lower City of Pentos.
Soon, he arrived at the fighting pit called 'White Sands.'
It was already past dusk, and a group of young nobles from the Volantene faction had arrived at the VIP platform, ready to watch the upcoming nighttime matches.
Ian didn't linger for long, but instead landed directly on a pillar next to the VIP platform.
From here, he could see three fully armed warriors standing before the VIP platform; if nothing unexpected happened, they should be the three 'examiners' of this pit.
Immediately, Ian's gaze fell upon the warrior standing on the far right. He guessed this man was Ander Poole, as Bronn had described him as a master swordsman, and of the three, he was the only one wielding a longsword. The other two wielded an arakh and a long-handled axe, respectively.
Soon after, the pit fights began.
Unfortunately, none of the three examiners entered the pit. Judging from the number of people in line, the remaining matches for the day were likely still in the 'preliminary rounds.'
Just as Ian's plan to watch Ser Ander's fight fell through, and he was about to observe something else, he suddenly heard a name—'Ambassador Oranto.'
Oranto was Braavos's ambassador to Pentos, and he himself had close ties to the Iron Bank.
In Ian's initial plan, to ensure Daenerys could gain Braavos as an ally as soon as possible when she abolished slavery in Slaver's Bay, Oranto was someone he urgently needed to befriend.
Unfortunately, after Illyrio refused to help with the introduction, Ian hadn't been able to find an opportunity to meet this ambassador.
Just then, Ian heard people talking about him. He immediately flew down from the top of the pillar and landed on the balcony railing closer to the source of the sound.
There were only two people on this platform, sitting side by side, talking in hushed tones.
"Your plan worked. The Sealord's Palace agreed to let those two Water Dancers represent us in the trial... but I don't understand."
"I told you, Symon, the Sealord's Palace wouldn't allow those Keyholders (descendants of the Iron Bank's founders) to seize control of Pentos. Maryam wants her son Hazan to be the true power in Pentos, which undoubtedly harms the interests of the Sealord's Palace and the other Keyholders."
"For that, they'd rather cooperate with us, the Volantene faction?" Symon was still puzzled.
"Unless Volantis becomes ruled by the Triarchs of the Tiger faction—the Tigers haven't won a Volantene election in centuries—our so-called Volantene faction in Pentos will forever remain insignificant. Once the fleet sails south, they can crush us in no time.
More than us small fry, the Sealord is worried about his rivals in the Iron Bank growing powerful. When faced with interests, the distinction between friend and foe isn't always so clear."
(End of Chapter)