The Five Great Cities of Westeros referred to King's Landing, Oldtown, Lannisport, Gulltown, and White Harbor. These port cities were the most densely populated areas of Westeros and reported their taxes directly to the Iron Throne.
Whenever a tournament was held in any of these cities, knights and mercenaries would pour in from all directions—some even hailed from noble houses.
Jousting tournaments, in particular, were games of the aristocracy. To win one in any of these cities—even in Gulltown, the second smallest—meant you were not just skilled, but wealthy as well. As for White Harbor, the smallest of the five, jousting wasn't even a thing in the cold and sparse North.
To put it bluntly, did a rookie player like Alex have any business joining such a high-tier tournament?
Never mind actual combat ability—just the required gear alone was out of reach. Tournament-grade plate armor was at least 4mm thick and far more expensive than the 2mm-thick battle plate used in real combat. And the horses? Tournament destriers were purebred warhorses, costing several times more than your average riding steed.
Meanwhile, the average mercenary knight—like Alex—was lucky to have a beat-up chainmail suit and a barely trained riding horse.
Sure, a bold and overconfident player could still sign up for a joust, but Alex was no fool. He had zero intention of showing up to get skewered like some clown.
No, he'd been thinking more along the lines of low-tier melees held in the backyards of minor lords or some scrappy free-for-all in a village fair.
"So, what does 'Change' mean here?" he asked internally.
"We've designed at least three different main questlines for every class. You may review all available options before accepting one. Once accepted, it becomes locked."
Alex nodded and tapped [Change], silently praying the next option would be something more doable.
---
Main Quest I: The Road of the Bandit
Description: They say mercenary knights and robber knights are two sides of the same coin. Even if you've never plundered a thing in your life, the stench of your comrades' misdeeds follows you everywhere. So why cling to meaningless honor? Perhaps it's time to embrace what you truly are.
Objective: Raid a landed knight's castle or manor and loot at least 100 gold dragons worth of valuables.
Reward: 5 points, 3 attribute points, 3 skill points
[Accept] [Change]
---
"Rob a knight's manor? And loot over 100 gold dragons' worth?" Alex exhaled sharply. His expression soured.
A sense of despair washed over him.
Even taking the poorest of landed knights as an example, you'd still have to face at least one knight and a squire. Sure, he might win such a fight—but in a manor that poor, the loot might not even be worth as much as the knight's armor and horse.
To reach a haul of 100 gold dragons? That would take multiple high-stakes heists. Possibly dozens.
For context: After King Joffrey's death by poison at the infamous Purple Wedding, Ser Addam Marbrand issued a wanted poster for Sansa Stark—suspected of conspiring with the Imp. The reward? 100 gold dragons.
Now let's talk high-end knight gear. A full set of quality plate armor, a top-tier longsword and warhammer, one trained warhorse and two packhorses—all of that together cost roughly 30 gold dragons. And even then, only rich knights in the Reach or mine-owning lords in the Westerlands could afford such gear. Most other regions had to make do with less.
In the Vale, knights preferred half-plate. In the Stormlands, padded plate armor was the norm. In the Riverlands? They were still rocking chainmail like it was the Age of Heroes.
"This quest was made for someone with a god-tier build," Alex muttered bitterly. "Like, just kill six Kingsguard and strip their gear—boom, done."
Shaking his head, he forced himself to calm down and tapped [Change] one last time.
---
Main Quest I: The Golden Path
Description: The first time you raised your sword for coin rather than justice or fealty, you glimpsed the true nature of this world. Gold is the only true god. All else is illusion.
Objective: Earn 1000 gold dragons.
Reward: 5 points, 3 attribute points, 3 skill points
[Accept] [Change]
---
Alex just stared at the screen.
He was done. Absolutely done.
If 100 gold dragons was already outrageous, then 1000 was downright laughable.
Sure, this time the system didn't specify how the money had to be earned—but come on, a thousand dragons?
Back during the War of the Five Kings, when Catelyn Tully secretly released Jaime Lannister in exchange for her daughters' return, it was seen as a massive betrayal. Lord Edmure Tully, furious, issued a bounty for Jaime's capture: 1000 gold dragons. That was the highest bounty ever mentioned in the entire A Song of Ice and Fire saga.
Jaime—Commander of the Kingsguard, heir to the richest house in Westeros, one of the realm's most powerful swordsmen, and the father (ahem) of the current king—was worth 1000 dragons.
Some readers might recall King Robert offering 40,000 dragons as prize money in a tournament and think gold was cheap. But that figure came from the very first book—written before George R.R. Martin had fully nailed down his in-world economy. It's considered a lore inconsistency now.
Later, when Littlefinger tried to bribe the City Watch, he offered 6000 dragons. And Eddard Stark considered that a reasonable price for buying out the entire guard.
So yeah. 1000 gold dragons could buy one-sixth of the entire City Watch.
And the system expected a newbie player to make that much from scratch?
A chilling thought crept into Alex's mind.
What if the devs never intended for these quests to be completed in the first place?
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Note: The exchange rate in this world is:
1 Gold Dragon = 30 Silver Moons = 210 Silver Stags
1 Silver Stag = 49 Copper Stars
1 Copper Star = 8 Copper Pennies
Also, based on some estimates, one Gold Dragon weighs 7.56 grams—a medium-sized gold coin.
Important: This data is for this novel's setting only and not meant as canonical or historical accuracy. So don't overthink it (and definitely don't try to calculate modern gold values).
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