"Alright, Ser Barristan, I have other matters to attend to!" After speaking, Lancelot headed towards Jaime's room on the second floor.
"Where are you going? What matters?" the old knight asked.
"I'm going to claim the legacy of the Mad King Aerys!" Lancelot said with a smile.
Hearing this, Barristan frowned. He followed Lancelot into Jaime's room.
"Found it! It was here all along!"
Lancelot pulled a copy of The Seven Kingdoms' Knights (likely meant The White Book or a book where Jaime hid something) from the desk.
Ser Barristan hadn't expected Jaime to read such books.
"Ser Jaime, he..."
"The Mad King left quite a rich legacy. This much wildfire is enough to blow all of King's Landing sky-high!" Lancelot declared.
"What? That map you're holding... is it?"
Barristan suddenly snatched the map from Lancelot's hand. Caught off guard, Lancelot was shoved aside.
"Such strength!" Lancelot remarked, looking at Barristan. He recalled how he had once spent 100 popularity points trying to view Barristan's stats but failed due to the distance.
"Let's check his stats now!"
Name: Barristan Selmy
Identity: Lord Commander of the Kingsguard
Class: Knight
Strength: 22
Speed: 22
Intelligence: 20
Spirit: 24
Magic: 10
Talent: Glory Incarnate. When glory is upon me, I know no fear! Even facing the most terrible enemy, I will not take a single step back.
"Terrifying! He's this old, yet his stats are still so high!" Lancelot clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Wildfire... Aerys really intended to destroy King's Landing!" Barristan seemed to take a massive blow.
Back then, he had risked his life to rescue Aerys from Duskendale, never imagining the King would eventually want to drag everyone into the grave with him.
"Are you going to destroy this wildfire? How?" Barristan looked at Lancelot.
"Just making the best use of things! Please return the map to me!" Lancelot said.
"No!" Barristan stuffed the map into his tunic.
"What? What are you doing, Ser?" Lancelot asked.
"I'm going with you to destroy this wildfire. Its existence is a powder keg ready to blow King's Landing apart at any moment."
"Fine! Let's go. First stop, the Great Sept of Baelor. There are thousands of jars of wildfire beneath it!" Lancelot said.
The Great Sept of Baelor was a magnificent structure with a marble dome and seven crystal towers soaring into the sky.
When Lancelot and Ser Barristan arrived, many septons and septas were singing hymns led by the High Septon.
Lancelot and Barristan waited quietly to the side. After an hour, the hymn to the Seven concluded.
The High Septon, trailing his long robes, approached Lancelot and Barristan.
"My apologies for the wait, Sers! I wonder why you have come today. If you seek the Seven's blessing for victory in the upcoming tourney, you should light a candle for the Warrior."
"No, Your High Holiness. We are here to reclaim the legacy of the Mad King Aerys," Lancelot said calmly.
"What? What did you say?"
Upon hearing this, the High Septon's face changed drastically.
"The Mad King's legacy... do you mean wildfire? Here? Where? Where is it?"
The previously dignified High Septon instantly turned into a frantic mess, like an ant on a hot pan.
"Your High Holiness, please carefully check for any secret chambers. They might contain large quantities of wildfire," Lancelot advised.
A comprehensive search of the Great Sept of Baelor began. Beneath the statue of the Stranger, a long tunnel was discovered leading to a massive underground space.
Lancelot went down first, followed closely by Barristan.
"This space is truly enormous!" Lancelot commented.
"Yes, and the air is damp. There seems to be water! Likely to preserve the wildfire!" Barristan noted.
They didn't carry torches but used lanterns instead.
Under the lantern light, Lancelot saw rows upon rows of wildfire jars.
"Looks like we're in the right place! Tell the septons to move them carefully!" Lancelot ordered.
Barristan didn't respond immediately; he was staring at the wildfire, lost in thought.
"If... I say if... if I hadn't saved Aerys at Duskendale, would fewer people have died?" he asked.
"Ser, what's done is done! Whether you saving Aerys or Jaime killing Aerys!"
"But Jaime killing Aerys might have saved more people than you did. Don't you think?" Lancelot asked.
"Jaime, he..." Barristan found it hard to speak.
"What about him?" Lancelot asked.
"If I hadn't broken precedent by joining the Kingsguard as an heir to a lordship, he wouldn't have followed in my footsteps, joining as the heir to a great house. It's a pity, no matter how you look at it."
Barristan sighed.
"There's a saying: What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again. Perhaps you'll have to save another king's life in the future!" Lancelot said.
After emerging from the secret chamber, they directed the septons to move all the wildfire out.
However, when Lancelot had all the wildfire brought into the Red Keep, Barristan was dumbfounded.
"Lancelot, you aren't crazier than the Mad King, are you? Why bring so much wildfire into the Red Keep?" Barristan demanded.
"Oh, right, you don't know I know alchemy! This is one of the raw materials!" Lancelot explained.
"Don't worry, with me here, they won't explode!" Lancelot assured him.
He had the Snow-Treading Wuzhui use its freezing ability to encase all the wildfire in ice, taking out jars one by one only when needed.
Wuzhui's freezing ability had been enhanced after Lancelot fed it an Ice Crystal Stone obtained from a lottery draw. Now, Little Snow (Wuzhui) could cross rivers slowly.
With every step she took on the water, ice would form under her hoof. Step by step, freezing the path as she went.
She could cross rivers this way. You could call it "Little Pony Crosses the River."
Over the next few days, Lancelot collected blood samples from many people at the North Sea Kindergarten and Nanshan Nursing Home. He had previously tried monkey and gorilla blood but found them unusable; their purity was too low. It seemed only human blood would work.
More and more nobles from all over began gathering in King's Landing, not just for the tourney, but because King Robert had issued a summons to the lords of the realm.
Tywin Lannister arrived with the lords of the West. Mace Tyrell arrived with the lords of the Reach.
Lords from the Stormlands and the Riverlands arrived as well. Fewer came from the North and the Vale. The North because of the distance, and the Vale because Jon Arryn was dead and they currently lacked a suitable Warden of the East.
As for Dorne, further away still, only some hedge knights came; they didn't owe allegiance to any Dornish lord.
There was no movement from Dragonstone.
However, a few representatives from the houses on Claw Isle and Driftmark did arrive.