Saga of Astral Mysteries (LOTMxASOIAF)

"That is even lot more than I have initially anticipated... even more than you have anticipated."

The initial estimation was around 13,000 Gold Dragon Coins, so this was even more than that by two thousand Gold Dragon Coins. This was rather excellent news for Valkorion, which always welcomed more money. 

"Better circumstances of the auction, Extraordinary Cores of the Mutated Extraordinary Creatures are very precious, especially for some scholars who want them for their research, and we were in luck that one such person came from the Golden Empire of Yi Ti for the auction and paid 15,000 Gold Dragon Coins right at the start of the auction in the very first bid."

Even though Valkorion wasn't an expert in this area, he understood that anything that came from the Mutated Extraordinary Creature had immense value in the research and understanding of the Extraordinary Creatures. 

He could see that many scholars who were studying the Extraordinary Creatures, especially those who were researching the goblinoids and bugbears specifically, would benefit the most from their research if they could get their hands on the Core of the mutated one. 

Mutation rarely occurred, and often, the areas that faced the overpopulation of monsters and Extraordinary Creatures had many more mutated monsters and creates than one could imagine.

Another thing that was vastly different from the canon was that, in this world, the Faerûn had rather developed a Banking System in this world and they were very close to cracking out the credit cards.

Benefit of Beyonder World, one could say.

However, to the Banks, the Iron Bank was the most prestigious Bank in the world, followed by the Dragon Bank of the Valyria and Celestial Bank of the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, which was tied for second place. There were also a few minor banks, such as Hightower Bank in the Oldtown of the Westeros or Rogare Bank in the Lys. 

Though, the Iron Bank was best, because, contrary to the other banks and financial institutions, the Iron Bank was truly neutral compared to the other Banks, which were either owned by the state or some noble family.

Iron Bank's ownership was divided into the several people that owned stake in the Bank and some were dwarves, thus some of their vaults were located in the dwarven thaigs deep under the ground in some of the most protected locations in the world.

"It seems that I will need to visit the Iron Bank in the future... unfortunately, the closest branch of the Iron Bank is in the Qohor."

Due to the relationships between the Valyrian Freehold and Braavos, as tense they were, the Iron Bank wasn't allowed to build a branch in the Valyrian Freehold and its City States, so if Valkorion wanted to visit the Iron Bank, he would either need to go to the Braavos where their headquarters was located or to one off the cities where they had their branch.

The closest was the city of Qohor.

Fortunately, he managed to create an account through the distance with the help of Camille Ferros some time ago.

The money that was stored in the Iron Bank was in the safest place possible, so he planned to have the rest of the money, or at least part of the money obtained through the Ferros Chamber of Commerce, be stored in his account within the Iron Bank.

"When you wish to do so, you can take one of the caravans of the Ferros Chambers of Commerce; Qohor is one of the cities that we often engage in trade with. I should be going, we have been talking for more than two hours already and my schedule is tight."

Valkorion nodded as they had indeed been talking for a longer time than predicted.

He was aware that Camille Ferros was a busy person, and this small outing they had together was a serious dent in her schedule, as she needed to gather the forces to attack the Dothraki and also hire some Dragon Riders for the mission.

Much less about the fact that most probably there was someone behind this entire endeavor and attacks on the merchant caravan of the Clan Ferros. And as the Heir of the Clan Ferros, she was in charge of the investigation into this incident, and he could tell that this would be rather bloody.

"It was nice to see you again; when I return from the Orange Shore, I will stop by and drop the loot. Will you still be here, or are you leaving for the combat?"

Valkorion asked as the woman in question frowned at the stupid proposion of his.

"Going to fight? Are you really that stupid?"

All that she received was a grin to her face as he showed her his tooth.

"I am remaining in the comfortable safety of the Black Walls. Going to the battlefield like that is nothing for me, though; I would be overseeing everything from the Dragon's back as one of the Dragon Riders would take with him one of the Glass Cadle to use as the observation method."

He nodded because as he observed and from some talks, he figured out that she wasn't a frontline fighter. Most probably something related to her Beyonder Pathway, she was more like rogue or something like that; Camille Ferros wouldn't ever fight someone head one. 

She would weaken them, hint at them, poison them, and once the prey was on its last legs, she would just deliver the finishing blow. That was her style and her powers, not to mention, she was also someone who preferred to fight using her mind rather than her fists. 

That was something that he could relate to.

"The information that the Ferros Clan has on the Orange Shore will be gathered in a day or so, so take a stop by then. If I am not present, go to one of the managers of the place; they will give you everything that you need."

Valkorion wanted to obtain more information about the Orange Shore because he wouldn't really like to put all of his eggs in one basket. In this, the basket was the Red Temple, and he didn't really trust them entirely because they didn't give him the reason.

Fortunately, she didn't charge anything for the compilation of the information about the Orange Shore; it was a rather nice gesture, something that he would replay by bringing them the exclusive goods from the ruins in the Orange Shores.

When he was done with the business with the Ferros Clan, they bid each other goodbye as it seemed that he would need to remain in the Volantis for another day or so, which wasn't really according to his plans right now. 

Because he still had a lot of time on his hands, he went to another part of the city as he went to check out the gladiatorial arena. Within the Valyrian Freehold, gladiatorial matches were rather common, and there were many, many types of them.

They originated from the pit fighting that was organized by the Ghiscari slavers, who were forcing the slaves to fight for their very own lives in the deep pits dug in the ground. The ancient Valyrians not only took the concept of slavery from the Ghiscari, but also many of the elements of their culture.