Chapter 124: The Slave Master's Strategy

It seemed as if Mero the Bearded was sitting on a hot iron, fidgeting constantly. "Dragon Queen, listen to me. The mercenary company isn't solely under my command. After all, we have a sacred, binding contract with Kaeyuan. Could I discuss this with my brothers and give you an answer tomorrow morning?"

"Answer what?"

"Uh, about pledging allegiance, of course!"

It took only a few words for him to soften.

"Fine, go discuss it with them," Dany replied dismissively, clearly unimpressed.

The Titan's Bastard didn't rise. He gripped the back of his chair tightly, his expression hesitant. "About the... reward?"

"Depends on your answer tomorrow morning. The attack doesn't begin until the afternoon anyway," Dany said nonchalantly.

"Alright then." Mero, towering as he was, finally stood up and added, "Dragon Queen, you gifted the Rose Company hundreds of barrels of fine wine. Don't the Second Sons deserve a token of friendship too?"

"Sure, you can have ten barrels."

"That's too little. I have a large group of brothers under me! The Titan's Bastard doesn't drink alone," he replied with a cheeky grin.

"Thirty barrels. The Rose Company already..." Dany abruptly coughed, her head tilting slightly as if covering up a slip. She added awkwardly, "They're different from you. They are descendants of Westerosi nobility."

"Your Grace!" Barristan's stern voice interrupted her, his gaze sharp as he fixed his eyes on Mero. After a long, tense moment, the killing intent faded from his blue eyes, replaced by helplessness and a sigh.

Oh ho, the old man isn't simple. That quick reaction, the seamless coordination, the acting… Dany gave Barristan an inward nod of approval. She cleared her throat lightly and said, "Captain Mero, the Rose Company shamelessly claimed most of my wine. We still need to host other esteemed guests. Sorry, but thirty barrels it is."

A glint flashed in Mero's eyes, but he didn't press further. Instead, he grinned widely, "Khaleesi, we shall toast to you three times and give you our answer when the sun rises."

While waiting for the next mercenary captain, Barristan remarked thoughtfully, "Your Grace, it seems Mero genuinely considers switching sides. His earlier ramblings felt more like testing your tolerance.

The more tolerant you are, the more desperate you appear to need his company. The more desperate you seem, the higher his price. If the price outweighs the cost of breaking his contract, he might lead the Second Sons to our side.

In contrast, the Rose Company showed the most respect towards you. They were visibly impressed by your wisdom and grace. However, their credibility far surpasses that of the Second Sons.

On the continent of Essos, the Golden Company holds the highest reputation without question. The Rose Company, if not second, is certainly among the top three.

They will fight us to the bitter end unless they are utterly defeated."

Dany glanced at him with a smile. "Weren't you just helping me with the act?"

"Sowing distrust between the anti-Dragon Queen alliance and the Rose Company?" Barristan chuckled bitterly. "As I've often advised you, never place complete trust in mercenaries.

The Ghiscari share similar wisdom. Whether our ploy works or not won't lessen the slave masters' vigilance towards the mercenary companies."

"Heh, just watch," Dany replied with a faint smile.

Afterward, Dany met with seven or eight more small mercenary captains.

Essos is teeming with mercenary companies. Aside from a few century-old "brands," the lesser-known ones have modest numbers. The strongest mixed infantry-cavalry units barely form a regiment of four to five hundred. The smallest had just over fifty foot soldiers, more suited as bodyguards for merchants and caravans—even less impressive than Dany's forces back in the Red Waste.

Don't be fooled by the Second Sons and the Stormcrows having only about 500 men each. They are all cavalry, fully armored, with their steeds clad in iron as well. Each cavalryman has three fine horses and a personal squire—true knights in every sense.

Dany treated all captains equally, regardless of their company size. She didn't summon them in groups or belittle them based on their strength.

As long as they held the title of captain, they were granted a private audience and invited to join the noble cause.

If anyone requested wine, Dany generously offered five or ten barrels without hesitation.

Unlike the captains of the Stormcrows and Second Sons, these small-time leaders lacked the confidence to be insolent toward Dany.

She kept busy until the early hours, when the final guests arrived.

There were quite a few of them—great masters from Yunkai and Meereen. Dany had to leave the wooden palace and stand at the camp gate to greet them.

A hundred attendants surrounded ten obese slave masters. Ghiscari guards rode tall, robust black horses, while the Wise Masters of Yunkai and the Great Masters of Meereen sat atop towering double-humped white camels.

Like the Ghiscari soldiers of Astapor, they had tall black-and-red hair, wore yellow skirts, leather armor, inner tunics, and silk cloaks adorned with neatly arranged polished bronze discs.

However, these warriors had an additional piece of equipment: bronze helmets nearly a meter tall, cylindrical and about the length of two heads stacked together.

Although it was Dany's first time encountering such bizarre helmets, she quickly accepted their design. After all, with hairstyles like the Ghiscari's, only such helmets wouldn't ruin the towering, peculiar hair beneath.

To allow the guests to walk in with their heads held high, Dany had the Unsullied remove the wooden doorframe and cut away the attached canvas with knives.

Thankfully, the palace ceiling had been built exceptionally high to accommodate bonfires inside.

Eighty Ghiscari attendants remained outside as there wasn't enough room inside.

Once the ten bloated slave masters were seated, each flanked by two attendants, Dany politely asked, "Would you like to remove your helmets for comfort?"

Her courtesy was met with scorn. "The sons of harpies aren't as delicate as little girls like you."

"Heh, do you know how heavy my armor is? At least I don't need help to stand," Dany sneered.

Though her armor wasn't as heavy as Barristan's sixty-five pounds, it was still a full suit covering her from head to toe, weighing forty pounds.

After half a year of intense training, aided by the rapid recovery effects of her dragon spirit, she could now run—yes, run, not just walk—in such heavy armor.

"Woman, stop flaunting your sharp tongue," said the middle-aged man seated in the center.

He was also a Grazdan, but he hailed from the renowned Uraz family of Kyzai, not the one associated with the crematorium business.

Yes, according to the intelligence reports, this was the so-called "War God of Kyzai."

To be fair, this Grazdan did have the lean, sinewy build and sharp gaze of a warrior—if you ignored the unicorn-like hairstyle protruding twenty centimeters from his forehead.

With such a ridiculous style, unless he planned to use that "horn" to gore his enemies, it was hard to imagine him making any vigorous combat moves.

Grazdan seemed to have been rudely awakened from his sleep, and he was in a foul mood. "This should be the time for the Great Wise Master to rest, yet I am forced to negotiate with an arrogant and ignorant woman like you.

It's good that you've chosen to sit down and talk. At the very least, it shows you have some sense—you understand you have no chance of victory on the battlefield.

Now, listen carefully. Take your eunuch and leave Astapor, leave Slaver's Bay immediately. That is the greatest mercy we can offer you."

"Sorry, but I will not leave."

Dany clasped her fingers together, the lobster-shaped iron gauntlets covering her hands glinting under the light. Her cold gaze swept across the ten men before her as she spoke slowly and firmly, "I will conquer Slaver's Bay. I will conquer Kyzai. I will conquer Meereen. I will see to it that no slaves remain in Slaver's Bay, that no Ghiscari ever dares trade in flesh again. I will turn this land into a realm of freedom!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Hehehehe!"

The ten slave masters and their twenty Ghiscari guards burst into raucous laughter, some even laughing to the point of tears.

"This little whore thinks she can conquer us?" Grazdan sneered, turning to his companions.

"The sun must have set—she's dreaming!"

Nodding in amusement, Grazdan looked at Dany with disdain. "We are the Sons of the Harpy, the heirs of the ancient Ghiscari Empire. When your Valyrian ancestors were still herding sheep with sticks, we had already conquered the world."

"If boasting about ancestors counted for anything," Dany replied coolly, "I would be the ruler of 300 dragonlords right now."

"Hmph. You stand before an army of one hundred thousand. Behind them are unbreakable city walls, within which live proud and fearless nobles, as well as a people who will never surrender. Beyond Slaver's Bay, countless trade cities stand with us, with thousands of warships and hundreds of thousands of troops.

Perhaps we will lose tomorrow. Perhaps we will lose the day after. Perhaps we will suffer defeat countless times. But this world needs us. Many will support us. We will never truly perish.

As for you—"

Grazdan pointed a cruel finger at Dany. "You may win once. Maybe twice. But your Unsullied will dwindle with each battle. The moment you suffer your first real defeat, you will never taste victory again."

"I can already see your fate. The best future you could hope for is losing tomorrow afternoon and being taken captive. That way, we might have some interest in keeping you as a slave, bringing you to Kyzai to teach you the Seven Sighs of Pleasure.

Hehehe, I imagine the pleasure houses of Lys and Tyrosh would pay handsomely for the chance to bed the last Targaryen."

Dany tilted her head slightly, cracking her neck as she mused, "I always thought you slave masters had nothing but shit in your skulls, completely devoid of intelligence or reasoning.

But I see now that you at least understand that tomorrow's battle could end in your defeat. And you plan to use attrition tactics to wear down my Unsullied."

She had always wondered—everyone in the world knew that over twenty thousand screaming Dothraki warriors had fallen to just three thousand Unsullied.

So why did these slave masters believe that thirty thousand slave soldiers, three thousand Yellow Silk Cloaks, and five thousand mercenaries could stand against ten thousand Unsullied?

As it turned out, they had never intended to destroy her in one decisive battle.

Dany couldn't help but think of the wealth she had looted from Astapor.

It was endless.

Even counting only the gold and silver, she had taken fifteen million gold dragons—enough for Robert Baratheon to squander for thirty years!

Yes, that much gold.

It seemed excessive, but then again, Astapor had never been conquered. It had been steadily running its slave trade for five thousand years. That meant it had only saved an average of three thousand gold dragons per year?

Well, most of this wealth had accumulated over the last four centuries. When Valyria still stood, its greedy dragonlords had taken most of the gold and silver for themselves.

Kyzai was several times richer than Astapor, and Meereen was even wealthier than Kyzai.

And Valyria? Its treasures were beyond imagination. No wonder so many people braved the Smoking Sea despite knowing they would never return.

But that was beside the point.

With such vast wealth, how many mercenaries could the Ghiscari slave masters hire?

According to the plans of the anti-Dragon Queen alliance, they could grind Dany down in Astapor alone.

(End of Chapter)

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