[King Robert Baratheon I's army is steadily advancing toward the dragon's nest of the Targaryen remnants]
[The righteous allied army has already reached Velvet Mountain]
[His Majesty the King has suffered a few insignificant setbacks]
[The Usurper's army has retreated to Braavos]
[Tywin's battered forces will arrive in King's Landing tomorrow]
Inside the spacious and brightly lit Tower of the Hand, one newspaper after another lay scattered across Jon Arryn's desk.
The so-called newspapers were only about the size of a palm, with very little text and most of the space occupied by illustrations.
The printing quality was also quite good.
With the almost extravagant investment of resources from the other Free Cities, they had managed to produce printing presses of their own.
But both their quality and printing speed were far inferior to Viserys's presses.
At first, Jon had suspected that these newspapers might have originated from the Targaryens.
But since most of what they said was favorable to him, and he already had countless matters of state to deal with, he had not given the matter much priority.
He had merely ordered people to investigate their source.
But the contents of the past two issues had become increasingly troubling.
First, they had openly referred to Robert as the Usurper.
Then they had bluntly reported that Tywin's battered army had fled back to King's Landing.
What Jon found most unacceptable was that the common people of King's Landing seemed to have learned about Tywin's return even before he had.
It gave the old Hand a powerful sense that events were slipping beyond his control.
So he summoned Barristan Selmy and the young man he trusted most, Petyr Baelish.
Barristan was almost the same age as Jon, yet his body remained strong and his movements swift, something the old Hand secretly envied.
As for Petyr, he knew that at most he was there as an accompanying figure, and he was perfectly happy to remain behind Barristan.
"Ser Barristan, I need you to find the place where this is being printed as quickly as possible.
They must be somewhere in King's Landing!"
Jon spread the newspapers across the table.
Barristan knew about their existence, but had never paid much attention to them.
His impression of these "little newspapers" still came from the period when they had supported Robert.
But the moment he saw words such as "Usurper" and "routed army" appearing in print, he immediately realized how serious the situation had become.
"Yes, Lord Hand."
Barristan answered solemnly.
In truth, his heart was conflicted.
It was obvious that these newspapers had originated from Viserys.
His sympathies now leaned toward the Targaryens, but he was standing on the Baratheon side and could only fulfill his duty.
After receiving his orders from Jon, Barristan strode away.
Jon then turned his attention to Littlefinger.
"Petyr, you have always been a young man I have placed great faith in.
You now hold both the offices of Master of Coin and Master of Whisperers.
Stabilizing King's Landing and winning over the hearts of the people in the Crownlands must be our immediate priority.
His Majesty may indeed have suffered a defeat, but the situation in which the entire world stands against the Targaryens has not changed.
Victory will ultimately belong to us!"
Jon began by feeding him a generous dose of reassurance, and Littlefinger obligingly put on an expression of agreement.
"You are absolutely right, my lord.
The Dragonlords of Valyria possessed hundreds of dragons and still failed to conquer the world. Viserys has only three.
The present defeat is nothing more than a minor setback. I firmly believe His Majesty will achieve victory!"
Littlefinger spoke with complete seriousness.
In truth, he was somewhat regretting that he had not contacted Viserys during the war.
He had originally thought Gohor was doomed.
Who could have imagined that Viserys would achieve two unprecedented victories in less than two days?
The situation that had seemed so clear had once again become deadlocked.
But that was fine too.
'Chaos is a ladder.'
"I believe you should understand what Ser Barristan means to the royal family.
During this period, you need to increase your surveillance of him. Under no circumstances can you allow him to leave King's Landing!"
In fact, Barristan had already been preparing to submit his resignation when Robert burned the statues of the Seven Gods as an offering.
It was only Jon who stopped him, promising that the Faith of the Seven would be restored once the realm was stable.
He had also assigned people to keep watch over him, which was the only reason the man known as the "face of the Kingsguard" had remained.
Although Barristan had switched sides from the Targaryens to the Baratheons, his reputation was far beyond that of the "Kingslayer," Jaime.
First, he had nearly died fighting at the Trident.
One could say that he had already repaid his loyalty to the Targaryens with his blood.
Robert had then saved his life, pardoned him, and invited him to remain in the Kingsguard, after which Barristan agreed.
At least morally speaking, Barristan had nothing to be ashamed of.
If the "Bold" Barristan chose to leave, it would inevitably deal another blow to the reputation of the Baratheon royal family.
The common people and many of the lower-ranking nobles would no longer recognize their rule.
Jon's instructions to Littlefinger were to seize the printing press while simultaneously keeping watch over Barristan.
But Littlefinger intended to comply with neither order.
Through these two battles, Viserys might still be in a position where the entire world stood against him, but he had undoubtedly gained the freedom to advance or retreat as he pleased.
He could make peace with the Free Cities and then bring his army to Westeros.
But the Baratheons would be in serious trouble.
After a rapid assessment, Littlefinger decided that he still needed to find a way to move closer to Viserys.
After Littlefinger departed, Jon sat down wearily at his desk.
'The dragons. Where in the world did those dragons come from?!'
Jon stared at the illustration in the newspaper.
It depicted the Black Death God breathing black dragonfire and setting the Baratheon royal banner ablaze.
After gathering information from numerous sources, it appeared that the Targaryen dragons had grown to enormous sizes overnight.
It was difficult to make sense of.
But then again, they had already managed to use pyromancers to establish a "Targaryen Counter-Alliance" capable of real-time communication.
Perhaps dragons growing overnight was not such an unbelievable thing after all.
Jon casually set the little newspaper aside and began considering Tywin's arrival.
What exactly had caused Lord Tywin to leave the allied army?
House Lannister was the Queen's family and, more importantly, a crucial financial pillar of the royal family.
It was unlikely that Tywin would defect to the Targaryens.
But if he had simply withdrawn and chosen to hold the Westerlands, that would hardly be good news either.
Just as Jon was becoming troubled over Tywin, another piece of news arrived that left him completely overwhelmed.
The armies of the Reach, from Highgarden and Oldtown, were rapidly gathering and marching north!
And judging from their route, their target was none other than Harrenhal!
Harrenhal could be called one of the most strategically contested locations in all of Westeros.
If Harrenhal fell into the hands of the "Dragon faction," the Vale, Crownlands, Riverlands, and North would be cut off from one another.
Jon realized that Viserys now had more than enough strength to attack Braavos with one hand while simultaneously striking at the Baratheons in Westeros with the other, cutting out their foundation from beneath them.
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