Chapter 163 The Drowned Man Chasing

"The Hunter boy wants to learn fishing from me, but his legs and feet can no longer dig in the mine."

In the yard in front of the wooden house in the fishing village, an old man with gray hair squatted on the ground and said to an old woman next to him: "Maybe he wants to move here. You can clean up the house of Bud's house next door in the next two days." , no one has lived in it for more than ten years, so it needs to be cleaned.”

"That kid is already over sixty, why should he learn to fish?"

"I have no choice but to learn. If I don't learn, I won't be able to eat."

"Who allowed him to marry so many concubines and pay taxes to pay off all his family property?"

"If you want your son to live long, you have to marry more concubines. If you don't have a son to support you, who will care about you when you get old?"

"You didn't take a concubine. Don't you have three adult sons?"

"Three sons are of no use. They all went off to fight. Hallage, Carey, and Pilf. I will be satisfied if only one of them can come back."

"At least you had three sons."

"That's my seed health..."

Under the sunny sky, the two ironborn old men talked about their lives without any scruples. The black-haired boy squatting aside silently drank a bowl of fish soup and listened to all this.

There was no useful information, but it was a relaxing experience for Renly, especially after running around continuously and thinking about his left hand for a long time. He had not lived such a quiet life for a long time. Looking back on the past, it seems that this kind of tranquility disappeared after leaving Storm's End...

Thinking about it, he suddenly frowned, and then raised his hand to pull at his empty left shoulder.

He didn't see anything there, but his hand clearly encountered an obstacle. While pushing, fleshy paws seemed to rest on the back of his hand, and he also felt a kind of furry warmth.

This is the black cat named Balerion, an invisible but real cat, Renly confirmed.

After leaving the Seven Sons copy, he found that the cat had disappeared, or in other words, after seeing its reflection in the water, he thought the cat had turned into some kind of ghost.

He speculated at the time whether the black cat was also affected by the mark on his wrist and disappeared. However, there were not many clues, so he didn't think much about it.

When he was living in the High Garden, he always felt that there was someone next to him when sleeping, so he thought of the cat that "turned into a ghost" again, and even speculated that the cat might have transformed into an incompletely replaced animal state. See Not seen, but present.

It's just that that kind of animal doesn't leave a reflection in the water, and it can also be touched. No matter how he groped, he couldn't touch the existence of any cat at all.

So this question became an unsolvable mystery. Renly took it out and pondered it when he had time, but he didn't think much about it.

Later, when he left Highgarden and stepped onto the battlefield, he had no time to think about such unimportant things in his opinion - the continuous running around even made him forget the existence of the cat.

It wasn't until he saw the reflection of the cat again at the beach two days ago, and it wasn't until he was hit by the air that he was sure that the black cat named Balerion had indeed become as invisible as the replacement animals. It just seems a little special in comparison...

Because of the "scales" on its chest?

Renly guessed.

There is a "scale" mixed with gold and gray between the hair on the black cat's chest. Renly can clearly see it through the reflection, and thinks that the scale may be made from the dragon eggshell he lost.

And he didn't forget that the dragon eggshell and Laya had the same origin...

But he didn't know exactly how. Not only could the invisible black cat not see it, but it could also make no sound. Renly even hoped that his psychic heart would take effect here and understand the "heart" of the black cat. , the result was also unresponsive, not as good as his "octopus son".

I don’t know if it’s because the black cat has no desire to communicate with him, or because he’s in a special state and can’t communicate.

For the same reason, Renly couldn't understand how the cat came to be in front of him.

You know, he was diving into storms along the way. Even if the cat followed him out of the High Garden, it would be impossible for him to follow him?

This is another unsolved mystery...

Subconsciously chewing a piece of fish meat that was fresh and not fishy in his mouth, Renly was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't even realize that ripples were forming on the surface of the bowl of fish soup he was holding. It was obviously being touched by some strange pet that he pushed off his shoulder. While he was eating secretly, the two old men squatting next to him were still talking, and they also didn't notice this special situation.

"I really hope King Balon can win the war, so that those younger generations don't have to suffer like us anymore, mining and fishing all day, fishing and mining, and have to be fooled by the merchants from the green land..."

The old man drinking fish soup chattered, and finally looked at the boy beside him.

"Little Robb, are you leaving today?"

Renly, whose thoughts were interrupted by the words, came to his senses. He spat out a fish bone in his mouth, then nodded and said, "Yes, the appointed time has come. If I don't go, I won't wait for me."

In fact, he finally found an opportunity to leave here, so he was ready to leave, but he would not tell this old man.

"Then go quickly."

The gray-haired old man nodded: "Don't keep our good king waiting, or you will suffer."

He wasn't talking about the actual king, but a nickname.

There is a popular saying among the Ironborn: He who owns a ship is not a slave, and another saying is that every captain is the king of his own ship.

These proverbs confirm the special nature of sailing and ships in the Iron Islands. Therefore, fishing and sailing plunderers have a high status in the Iron Islands, while those who mine and farm are looked down upon. They are generally the work of the slave labor class, but When the slave workers were liberated by the former king Colum Greyjoy, the ironmen had no choice but to take action in person.

During this period of stay, Renly felt many aspects of this special culture, and he also somewhat understood why the people here insisted on restoring the ancient roads all day long.

Without him, life is too poor, the Ironborn are too poor, resources are too scarce, and the geographical location is too fucked up...

Everything from all aspects converges into the unique ancient path of this race, rather than just nature. Therefore, throughout the history of the Iron Islands, although there were many rulers who wanted to abandon the ancient roads, none of them succeeded.

…

After eating his last fish soup here, Renly left a few pearls he touched while diving a while ago in the cabin where he lived, and then left wearing the quilted linen top and trousers provided by the old couple. .

The old Ironman man in the yard behind seemed a little reluctant to leave the boy. He kept watching his back until he could no longer see him, then turned back and said to his wife with emotion: "Look at the momentum he has when he walks. , and when he grew up, he became a well-known iron type."

"Little Robb is a good boy." The old woman was washing the dishes with a wooden basin at this time. She nodded in agreement and said, "It's just that running around at such a young age is a bit too wild."

"What are they wild about? Our cubs in the Iron Islands can't be like those sheep in the Greenbelt. We are raised in a stone house and bleat and wait for people to feed them. What future can we have?" The old man replied disdainfully, and then he was about to stand up with a cane. When he came, he suddenly saw a group of people hurriedly running towards him outside the yard, which made him sigh, and then he hurriedly tapped the old woman's knee with a cane.

"Get up quickly, Salttongue is coming!"

In fact, the old woman noticed him without calling him, so she hurriedly knelt down on the ground after her husband, and then said hello in a somewhat reserved manner.

"Hello, adults."

Usually when the common people greet them like this, the Drowned Priests will open the seawater bags they carry with them, and then water them and bless them. However, this group of Drowned people wearing rough linen robes and holding driftwood sticks did not act as usual. Return gift.

The leader, an old man with gray eyebrows, patted the kneeling old man on the forehead and asked hastily: "Do you have a child living here?"

"Little Robb?"

The old man replied: "That's what happened. Sir, you ask this -"

"Where is he now?" Drowned Man interrupted.

"Already gone." The old man replied: "I went to Sealskin Point and said I was going to take a boat back to Old Wake Island. That kid is from Old Wake Island."

These words made the group of more than ten drowned people look at each other, and then they murmured to each other in low voices for a while. They seemed to be quite excited. The old man looked puzzled and vaguely guessed the identity of the little guy who had lived in his house for more than half a month. Normally, so he couldn't help but ask.

"My lord, what are you doing with little Robb?"

"Don't call him by his first name, that's——" A young drowned man raised his eyebrows and was about to scold him, but the drowned man next to him grabbed him and shook his head.

The leader, Old Yanren, replied at this time: "That child is very important to us, Old Eddie, maybe you have made a contribution."

As he spoke, he picked up the seawater bag he was carrying, gave the two old men the blessing of sea salt, and left in a hurry with the group of drowned people, muttering something like that woman really didn't lie. .

This left the two old men standing at a loss.

"Isn't little Robb still the son of King Balon?" the old woman asked suspiciously.

"King Balon has many sons, and I don't see how polite these drowned people are." The old man who came back to his senses hummed in reply, then stood up with a little effort, walked into the house with a walking stick.

"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it, the big shot's affairs have nothing to do with us."

"They also said they had merit..."

"How many more days do you have to live? Is your credit useful?" The old man walked into the house and scolded: "I don't have time to think about these things. Why don't you think about what to eat for dinner! Fish soup, fish soup, all day long I'm tired of drinking fish soup..."

Thank you to the Heath Ice Tea book friend for the thousand rewards, thank you to the Don't Annoying book friend for the 500 reward, thank you to the xiaotang246 book friend and Lihentian Yitongzi book friend for the 100 reward~