When Illyrio mentioned letting Daenerys bleed as well, a lewd smile crept into the corner of his eyes.
Yet this obscure phrasing sickened Connington somewhat.
At the same time, he was also pondering: if they married Daenerys off to the Dothraki, would they truly dispatch troops?
And what was the success rate of this endeavor?
Just as Connington was agonizing over this, Belwas came to report.
“Master, the little master has come to see you.”
“Let him wait a moment.” Illyrio frowned, a trace of disgust and impatience flashing in his eyes.
But the next second, a voice came from afar, “Old thing, you’re here again?”
That arrogant voice interrupted their conversation, and a hint of displeasure also surfaced in Jon Connington’s eyes as he turned to look in the direction the voice came from.
Aegon’s silver-gold hair left him somewhat dazed, yet the other’s behavior fell far short of Prince Rhaegar in his memories.
In Westeros, silver hair was almost the exclusive trait of the Targaryens.
But in the Free Cities, Connington had seen far too many people with silver hair and purple eyes.
Illyrio claimed that his wife, Serra, had silver hair and purple eyes, and this child had inherited his wife’s traits.
“Mine, haha, my son,” Illyrio said somewhat sheepishly, and by this time Aegon had already arrived before him.
“Old man?
Oh?
And who might this lord be…”
“This is Lord Griff, the father of young Griff.”
“Good day.” Aegon nodded at Jon Connington.
Of course he knew the other’s identity, but at this moment he still needed to maintain his image as a prodigal.
It was impossible for him to say words like — ‘Connington, I am Rhaegar’s son, take me away quickly’ — at this time.
First, he could not produce any evidence, and rashly exposing his identity would only invite fatal disaster.
Not only might schemers in Pentos think of taking his head to exchange for some coin with Robert, but Illyrio also had a high probability of making a move.
Up until now, Aegon did not know why Illyrio did not kill him, so he had continuously played the role that he desired.
Secondly, the enormous wealth accumulated by Illyrio and Pentos’s current social condition made him feel that much could be accomplished.
The Pentoshi magistrates’ exploitation of the lower classes had turned this place into a pile of dry firewood, needing only a tiny spark…
Of course, right now Aegon did not yet have the conditions to’spark the fire’.
As for Robert and his’Stag-Falcon-Wolf-Trout Alliance’, it would blow up on its own in a couple of years, so there was nothing to rush about.
When the time came, all he had to do was go reap the harvest.
The pressing priority now was to strengthen himself.
However, before his greeting gesture had even finished, Aegon turned his head to look at Illyrio and said, “Old man, get me some coin; I need to use it.”
“How much money do you want?” Illyrio was long accustomed to Aegon’s demands.
“About 10,000 Pentoshi gold coins.”
“How much?!” Illyrio’s eyebrows nearly flew off, letting out a shriek as if someone had stepped on his foot.
Although he held an indulgent attitude toward Aegon, his own fortune and future were meant to be left to young Griff; how could he let Aegon squander it like this?
And upon hearing this number, the corner of Connington’s eyes couldn’t help twitching, thinking to himself that he really dared to ask.
“10,000 gold coins, which word of mine didn’t you hear clearly?!” Aegon said word by word: “I want to buy horses, and I need to recruit more soldiers.
The field cavalry regiment should originally have over 300 men, but now there are only a little over 100.
I at least need to recruit another 200 men; otherwise, what will we do when we go to war in the future?”
“That’s not your place to worry about.”
Illyrio said with some helplessness.
He had originally thought Aegon only wanted to join the army to satisfy an urge, and being able to buy him an officer’s position was already quite good.
His own money didn’t come from a strong wind, and it couldn’t withstand this kind of spending.
Illyrio knew profoundly just how massive an amount of gold coins it took to support an army.
A cavalry unit of three hundred men was no small burden, even for him.
Pentos nominally had forty magistrates sharing power, but those with true strength and a weighty voice were only two or three.
Only they could afford to maintain private armies of over a thousand men.
“Are you sure you won’t give it?” Aegon demanded with his arms crossed,
“Don’t even think about it.” Illyrio was somewhat impatient,
“Then I’ll just sell your ships, it’s the same.”
Watching Aegon’s prodigal appearance, Jon Connington at the side shook his head inwardly.
Thinking of the humble and diligent ‘true prince’, he couldn’t help but feel secretly grateful.
“You dare?
See if I don’t lock you up!”
“Really won’t give it?
Then I’ll go to the army and investigate who embezzled my military pay.”
Aegon’s threat made Illyrio feel as though his head was about to burst open.
He absolutely could not let this brat go investigate; what if he actually dug something up?
By then it would only bring endless trouble upon himself. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
His own rise had only been within the last decade or so; he wasn’t deeply entrenched like the other magistrates of Pentos.
Thus, he had no choice but to compromise.
“No 10,000, at most I’ll give you 5,000.”
“Eight thousand!”
“6,000.”
…
After some tug-of-war, this nominal father-and-son pair reached an agreement.
Having achieved a satisfactory result, Aegon swaggered away, while Illyrio repeatedly expressed his apologies to Connington at the side.
“I’ve made a fool of myself before you, My Lord.
I’ve spoiled this child out of all shape since he was little; his mother passed away early, just like that child’s.”
Jon Connington nodded and said nothing.
What he did not know was that Illyrio intentionally let Aegon display this unseemly appearance in front of Connington, completely severing Aegon from the image of the prince in Connington’s mind.
Seeing that Connington still seemed to hesitate regarding his plan to ally with the Dothraki, Illyrio spoke up to persuade him:
“If our alliance with the Dothraki can be achieved, then when they attack Westeros later, won’t their supplies still have to rely on Pentos?
We will have plenty of time to bring the little princess back.”
“What I’m worried about is not just this,” Connington shook his head and said, “I have witnessed the conduct of those Dothraki; whenever they conquer and pillage a place, they must kill everything and loot everything clean.”
“They kill the men, rape the women, sell the children…”
Connington’s heart was torn with conflict.
If the plan succeeded, what would happen to the innocent common folk of Westeros?
“This is an unavoidable sacrifice, Lord Connington!” Illyrio said solemnly.
“The Dothraki have no ships.
If they want to return, they can only rely on us.
How could we sit idly by and ignore their actions by then?”
Illyrio attempted to comfort him, but Connington’s heart remained deeply conflicted.
Back then, because of his strong moral baseline, he had not killed Robert at Stone Hedge, indirectly causing the downfall of the Targaryens.
Could it be that now, because of his inner morality, he would cause the Targaryens to fail to rise again?
“Let me think further, Lord Illyrio, let me think further…”