"Old man, you know the forging techniques for Valyrian steel?" Lancelot suddenly perked up.
"In my youth, I traveled to Volantis, Braavos, and Qohor. It was there I learned the incomplete techniques for forging Valyrian steel."
"However, I believe that through you, Lancelot, the glory of Valyrian steel can be restored."
"You have the Red Charcoal Fire Dragon Steed that can breathe fire like a dragon, and you have learned magic from the priestess of R'hllor. Combine that with the forging techniques I pass on to you, and Valyrian steel can be recreated."
Lancelot learned the forging techniques from him. Combined with the magic he learned from Melisandre and Little Fire's (Red Hare's) fire breath...
Lancelot had experimented. Using ordinary steel plus magic and dragonfire, applying the special forging techniques, he could indeed forge a Valyrian steel sword.
But it was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Using existing Valyrian steel to melt down and reforge would be much simpler.
Later, Lancelot felt that would be a waste. Why destroy a perfectly good gate?
If that Valyrian steel gate were installed at the Bloody Gate, it might stop the advance of the wight army, making the Vale an excellent place for a counterattack.
Back to the present.
Lancelot said to Yohn Royce:
"In one month, my Lord, you can come here to collect a Valyrian steel sword. However, I'm not giving it to you for free. I want a set of your family's bronze armor in exchange. How about it?"
"Agreed!" Yohn Royce replied.
His family had plenty of bronze armor. He wore a set, his two sons each had a set, and there were many more in the armory. Perhaps if Waymar Royce had worn a set of bronze armor beyond the Wall, he wouldn't have died. It was a pity he hadn't.
After Yohn Royce and his party left, Lancelot rode the Red Charcoal Fire Dragon Steed to the North Sea Kindergarten. Gendry had set up his smithy here. Besides training the children, he also did blacksmithing work for people in the nearby villages.
Not far away, in the quarters Lancelot had built for the thousand Unsullied, they would also come to Gendry to repair their damaged weapons.
These thousand Unsullied were effectively Lancelot's private army. He trusted them more than the Lannister Red Cloaks.
However, Lancelot didn't use the Unsullied often. While they were excellent in combat, they weren't suited for other tasks.
Housing the Unsullied outside the city was also a matter of following the rules. Someone like Renly, the King's own brother, didn't even have a hundred personal guards within King's Landing.
In the original story, after Robert died, Renly told Eddard Stark, "Give me an hour, and I can gather a hundred swords. We can seize Joffrey and stabilize the court. We cannot let Cersei take him."
Those hundred swords Renly planned to gather likely weren't all his own men; they probably included some of Ser Loras's retainers.
"Gendry! Give them the day off today! We're going to forge a Valyrian steel sword, and while we're at it, enchant your Damascus steel blade," Lancelot said.
Lancelot had told Gendry long ago that his blade wasn't Valyrian steel and had no magical effects.
So Gendry told Babalu and the others to practice on their own, and followed Lancelot into the smithy.
Little Fire breathed a mouthful of fire, igniting the coal in the furnace. Gendry placed his blade inside. As the flames licked at it, the blade turned red.
"Ser Lancelot, can you turn this blade into a hammer for me? I still prefer using a hammer," Gendry asked.
"Sure! But do you want to add some iron? Once I start chanting the spell, I can't stop," Lancelot warned.
Gendry grabbed two more swords and threw them in.
All three weapons glowed red in the fire.
Lancelot used magic to fuse them together.
"Flame Enchantment! Evil be gone!"
"Cold blade body, burning sword heart!"
"Evil things shall not touch!"
"Touch and perish, bones and all!"
When Lancelot pulled out the fused lump of metal, no longer distinguishable as blade or sword, he and Gendry began hammering it together. The hammer fell, creating a rhythmic clang, clang, clang.
To forge a Valyrian steel sword, four conditions were needed.
1. Steel: Easy to obtain. Ordinary steel sufficed.
2. Magic: Hard to obtain. Ordinary blacksmiths weren't moonlighting as mages.
3. Dragonfire: Hard to obtain. Ordinary blacksmiths weren't dragonriders and didn't have dragons.
4. Special Forging Technique: Hard to obtain. Only with the support of magic and dragonfire, applying the special technique, could true Valyrian steel be forged.
Lancelot and Gendry worked for a day and a night. During this time, Cosette brought them food and water.
By the next morning, an iron hammer was complete, but it was still a long way from being ready to wield.
The Red Charcoal Fire Dragon Steed had to continuously breathe fire on the hammer, once every two hours, for seven days. Only then would the Valyrian steel hammer be considered fully forged.
Gendry was overjoyed to receive such a divine weapon. He swung it around in the yard like a god of hammers descended to earth. The wind howled, and explosive sounds cracked through the air.
Gendry's strength has increased again recently! Looks like pumping iron really is the best way to train strength! Lancelot thought.
Subsequently, they spent another seven or eight days forging a Valyrian steel sword. Lancelot reserved the right to name this sword, deciding to leave it for Yohn Royce.
There was still half a month left before the agreed-upon month was up. Lancelot began practicing alchemy again. Because he had been busy forging iron, he had forgotten about Margaery taking the statue of the Seven.
Margaery, seeing that Lancelot hadn't come to find her after half a month, gritted her teeth in anger.
"Hmph, damn Lancelot, where did you run off to? I went to find you in the Red Keep, and you weren't there either."
Margaery threw a tantrum at home, fiercely bullying her Bambi doll, pulling its ears and tugging its arms.
During this time, Bran finally stood up again. Under the shocked and emotional gazes of the Stark family, he walked on the ground again under his own power.
"Wonderful, Bran! You're finally standing!" Arya laughed.
"Congratulations, Bran!" Sansa said demurely.
"My child!" Catelyn held him in her arms and wept. Who knew how she had suffered through these past three months?
Eddard Stark also showed a long-absent smile.
"Bran, don't climb towers anymore! Especially broken ones!"
"We should hold a feast to celebrate Bran's new lease on life!" Arya suggested.
"Yes, yes, yes! We must invite Lancelot as a guest!" Sansa added.
"That's right, I need to thank him. If not for his Black Jade Intermittent Paste, I would have been miserable!" Bran laughed.