More than three hundred horses rumbled out of Pentos, leaving Illyrio dumbfounded on the spot.
He had originally intended to give a few more admonitions, especially wanting to take advantage of the gap while instructing Aegon to quietly remind Young Griff to be sure to stay safe, but Aegon left in such a rush that he didn’t manage to catch a single opportunity.
“That little brat!” Illyrio cursed inwardly.
Taking advantage of the time before the sun’s temperature climbed, Aegon led the entire army in a sprint of fifty or sixty li in one go, and only ordered the soldiers to slow down their marching speed when the midday heat was at its fiercest.
Seeing the soldiers behind him pulling hard at their collars, trying to let as much cool breeze in as possible to cool themselves down, Aegon suddenly discovered that the suit of armor he was wearing actually possessed a certain temperature-regulating function.
Reasonably speaking, iron armor like this would have long made people unbearably hot in such weather.
But Aegon felt nothing of the sort.
At first, some people were still waiting to see Aegon make a fool of himself, especially the bodyguards and guards sent by Illyrio to be dispatched by Connington.
Aegon’s armor was pretty enough, but sooner or later it would turn into a heating iron shell, and they believed he would sooner or later become a wretched sight of casting away his armor and weapons.
But they didn’t expect Aegon to remain consistent throughout, without even any obvious change in his complexion.
“Isn’t it hot for the lord to wear a black cloak and iron armor?”
“It’s definitely hot.”
“Then why not take it off?”
“Such a pretty armor, I wouldn’t be willing to take it off either.”
“Bullshit, the lord is the commander, how can a commander casually take off his own armor.”
“The lord is indeed not an ordinary noble scion.” Listening to the soldiers’ whispered discussions, Roget looked toward Aegon’s direction and thought to himself.
“The lord is indeed extraordinary.” Mago looked toward Aegon’s direction, especially eyeing his black horse with intense envy.
In the customs of the Dothraki, those Khals would form ‘bloodriders’ for themselves; a Khal and his bloodriders could even share their wives with one another, but the one thing they would never share was their warhorse.
Discussion was discussion, but seeing that Aegon did not strip off his pretty armor even in the hottest times, the soldiers felt too embarrassed to undo their own protective gear, and could only cool down by constantly drinking water. This story is hosted at NovelPing.
With this kind of leading role, military discipline also invisibly rose a bit.
Even Connington had to admit that Aegon’s ‘endurance’ was top-notch.
Along the way, Connington tried several times to find an opportunity to converse with Aegon; he had long promised Illyrio that he would take good care of Aegon on this trip.
But Aegon was the commander of this cavalry, and if a youth’s temperament was stubborn, no matter how he tried to persuade him then, it wouldn’t get through, only increasing trouble in vain.
When it truly came to that step, the only thing he could do was to risk all his strength to protect the lives of both Aegon and Young Griff.
At this moment, Aegon finally ordered a rest, and Connington finally found the opportunity to step forward.
“Lord Cyrus,” Connington opened his mouth to say, “I want to chat with you about the relevant situation of this batch of bandits.”
“Oh, Lord Griff. Roget, pour tea,” Aegon said.
Regarding the matter of the Griff father and son joining his army, although Aegon felt somewhat surprised in his heart, he also roughly guessed the two men’s purpose.
First, Connington’s trip was to look after and protect him; second, Young Griff was just taking the opportunity of joining the army to suppress bandits to temper himself.
As for the matter of confessing to Connington and revealing his true identity, Aegon had never had half a thought about it, at least not for now.
He did not have a shred of evidence in his hands to corroborate his identity; Illyrio had been able to keep everyone in the dark for so many years, so his methods must not be simple, and he himself could almost be said to have been under his surveillance for all these years.
Besides this, Varys, far away in King’s Landing, had an unclear stance, making it hard to distinguish friend from foe.
Therefore, before possessing strong enough strength of his own, Aegon intended to maintain his current disguise all along.
This was Aegon’s first time interacting with Connington at close range, and he noticed that although Connington also dyed his hair the popular blue of Pentos, red and white hair strands were already showing through at the roots.
Seeing that Aegon’s attitude toward him was fairly friendly, Connington breathed a slight sigh of relief and advised, “Lord Cyrus, you should already understand the bandits we are about to face. Their leader Lucci is skilled in small-unit infiltration and raid operations; I propose that we should send out more scouts, and be much more cautious during the march.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
Aegon’s peripheral vision swept across Belwas at his side, as well as those warriors sent by Illyrio to guard him, and then he spoke casually, “Lord Griff, there’s no need to be so overly cautious. Just look at the men and horses under our command. A mere band of bandits, we only need a single charge to directly overrun them.”
Seeing Aegon display such excessive self-confidence, Connington’s heart sank abruptly.
If he couldn’t listen to his advice and stubbornly went his own way, it would be troublesome when the time came.
However, it wasn’t that Aegon didn’t want to take Connington’s advice; he definitely had real goods in his belly, and agreeing to let him join his own team was because he recognized that he was much more reliable than Geralt or Mago.
Aegon believed he could display a certain amount of talent, but didn’t want Illyrio to know that he and Connington were getting too close; anyone who dared to use his own son to replace the true prince was definitely a ruthless person.
Not to mention that when he was young, he was still a swordsman who licked blood from the edge of a blade.
Therefore, right from the start, Aegon made up his mind that if Connington approached him, he would push him away.
“Cyrus, listen to me, I once served in the Golden Company for a period of time, and I can be considered to have accumulated quite a bit of actual combat experience…”
Connington’s words hadn’t finished yet before he was interrupted by Aegon’s voice, “What does that mean? Could it be that you think I don’t understand warfare?”
Seeing Aegon’s facial expression and tone abruptly change, Connington hurriedly waved his hands, “No, no, no, that is by no means my intention. I only meant to say that if you need it, I can provide you with some combat advice.”
Right at this moment, Belwas on the side also chimed in to help, “Little master, master once instructed me that Lord Griff is rich in combat experience, and at critical moments, you can consult him more for opinions.”
Before Belwas’s voice had faded, Aegon’s pair of purple eyes, as if about to breathe fire, glared viciously at him, “Shut your mouth for me, is it your turn to butt in here? Believe it or not, I’ll cut out your tongue!?”
Sensing that Aegon’s tone was extremely displeased, Belwas could only bring up Illyrio’s injunction, “Little master, master instructed that in times of crisis, we need to obey Lord Griff’s dispatches.”
Aegon’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he sneered as he turned his head to look at Roget, “Roget, you heard it all? They obey Griff’s orders, and are not people of the same path as us. Let’s go.”
Having finished speaking, Aegon turned around and walked away straight ahead, with Roget following closely behind in quick steps.
“Cyrus, we didn’t mean that!” Connington hurriedly explained repeatedly, but Aegon did not look back in the slightest, leading the troop straight away into the distance.
Connington looked helplessly at Belwas, “Lord Belwas, from now on, it’s better for me to communicate with Cyrus alone.”
Belwas knew he had stirred up a huge disaster just now, and could only nod repeatedly, while Young Griff on the side, seeing such a scene, only felt at a complete loss.