Aegon had no idea that Illyrio’s mind was running through so many calculations.
He continued speaking.
“As for the horses we’ll need for the racetrack, we can naturally use the warhorses assigned to the cavalry.”
Although the plan sounded feasible, Illyrio still refused to give in too easily.
“And don’t threaten me with investigating the military pay.
I can simply declare that you’ve withdrawn from the army.
As your father, that’s within my rights!”
Illyrio was mostly bluffing.
Things weren’t actually that simple.
He could still use bribes and connections to get Aegon removed from the army, but doing so would require considerable effort behind the scenes.
“Fine.
I promise this will be the last time.”
As he spoke, Aegon personally poured Illyrio another cup of tea.
Seeing Aegon’s attitude soften, Illyrio relaxed his tone as well and began reasoning with him.
“Actually, I’ve recently made contact with a merchant from the Shadow Lands.
He has some dragon eggs that he’s looking to sell.
You know that a large part of my business is built around goods related to dragonbone.
Dragon eggs are worth far more than dragonbone!”
“Dragon eggs?”
Aegon deliberately widened his eyes, putting on an appropriately astonished expression.
“You mean the kind of dragon eggs that belonged to House Targaryen and could actually hatch into dragons?”
Of course, Aegon already knew.
These were the very same fossilized dragon eggs that would eventually be given to Daenerys, and he understood just how important they were.
Without them, Daenerys would have died in the Red Waste.
There would have been no Mother of Dragons to stir up Slaver’s Bay, and beyond the Wall, the ice wights and the Others would very likely need dragons to stand against them.
After realizing that he had been transported into this world, Aegon had repeatedly tried to gather information about the whereabouts of the dragon eggs.
He had assumed Illyrio had already secured them long ago, so he hadn’t expected the deal to still be in progress.
Until he knew exactly where the dragon eggs were, Aegon had no intention of falling out with Illyrio.
After all, dragons were one of the fundamental forces shaping the entire world of A Song of Ice and Fire.
They were simply too important.
“They’re only fossilized dragon eggs,” Illyrio explained.
“They can’t hatch.
If they could, they wouldn’t have ended up in my hands in the first place.”
Seeing Aegon’s astonished reaction clearly pleased him.
Illyrio took a leisurely sip of tea.
Aegon, of course, knew that the eggs were merely fossils.
In the hands of an ordinary person, there was no way to hatch them.
But Aegon had considered another possibility.
Perhaps Daenerys had managed to hatch the eggs not solely because of her Targaryen blood. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, king’s blood was also a substance possessing powerful magical properties.
When Daenerys lost Drogo, she had burned herself in despair.
As the most powerful khal among the Dothraki, Drogo’s blood should have qualified as king’s blood.
Then there was Daenerys’s stillborn child.
Had the child survived birth, he would have been Drogo’s heir—and therefore possessed king’s blood as well.
There was also the Lhazareen witch, a woman skilled in sorcery.
Despite being from the eastern continent, she had somehow managed to travel all the way to Westeros and study at the Citadel.
Her background was certainly far from ordinary.
Aegon couldn’t help wondering if there was a hidden pattern.
Could one portion of king’s blood correspond to one dragon egg?
Perhaps Daenerys stepping into the flames was merely the visible part of the ritual.
Could the true secret behind the birth of the dragons have been the sacrifice of three sources of king’s blood?
These complicated thoughts flashed through Aegon’s mind.
Even so, he strongly encouraged Illyrio to acquire those three dragon eggs no matter the cost.
After all, the most fundamental requirement for hatching dragon eggs was simple:
You needed dragon eggs to hatch in the first place.
“Those dragon eggs must have cost you quite a fortune, didn’t they?”
“Yes.
This batch of dragon eggs cost me a tremendous amount of money.
That’s why I really don’t have much spare capital available at the moment.”
“Three thousand Pentoshi gold coins.”
Aegon smiled.
“I promise you, I won’t ask you for another penny for the rest of this year.
Next year, I might even be able to put some money back into the family coffers.
Surely you can see that my racetrack will start turning a profit very soon!”
In the end, the two nominal father and son reached an agreement.
…..
Pentos was blessed with a rare rainy day, the downpour bringing a precious touch of coolness to the sweltering land.
Aegon had been in charge of the cavalry for a little over a month, and the military camp had already undergone enormous changes.
First, every damaged roof had been repaired, the weeds choking the training ground had been cleared away, and the ground itself had been leveled and refurbished.
After that, they had built a large covered shelter specifically for training.
Whenever rain or excessive heat made it impossible to practice horsemanship and formations outside, the soldiers could conduct physical training beneath the shelter instead.
The soldiers were currently training enthusiastically beneath the roof while the rich aroma of roasting meat drifted through the air.
Aegon had deliberately hired a cook to roast fish and meat for everyone, serving it alongside corn and turning the occasion into a simple barbecue feast.
Following Aegon’s earlier recruitment orders, the soldiers had returned to their hometowns during their leave and recruited new men.
The cavalry had now grown to two hundred and ten men.
Besides native Pentoshi, Aegon spotted Andal men among the recruits, and even several Dothraki.
The Dothraki were particularly conspicuous.
Their almond-shaped eyes and tawny-brown skin made them immediately recognizable.
His bare chest was remarkably broad, and his horsemanship was exceptional.
During sparring exercises, he could face three opponents at once without being pushed onto the defensive.
This Dothraki immediately caught Aegon’s interest.
The reason Aegon had organized this feast was partly to use the abundance of food to show the newly enlisted soldiers how good the conditions in his camp were, reassuring them that they could devote themselves to training without worrying about their livelihoods.
Aegon opened the quest panel and checked the progress.
The Army Development side quest had now reached 58 percent.
If he recruited a few more soldiers and then provided the entire force with a proper set of new equipment, they should be close to achieving the minimum army rating.
“Do you really think this commander is going to pay off a year’s worth of our debts?”
“Of course.
All the veterans who joined earlier got the same treatment.
Just train hard and you’ll be fine.”
Although the veteran who had recruited him had spoken with complete confidence, the new soldier was still uneasy.
The reputation of Pentoshi officers had always been terrible.
In the past, an officer who merely refrained from cheating and exploiting his soldiers was already considered unusually decent.
Who had ever heard of a commander willingly reaching into his own pocket to subsidize his men?
As the sun gradually sank toward the horizon, the day’s training finally came to an end.
The soldiers rubbed their aching arms, backs, and legs while the rich aroma of roasted meat and cooked food filled the air, making their stomachs rumble loudly.
The sounds rolled through the shelter like distant thunder.
The soldiers gathered beneath the covered training area.
Aegon stood on a raised platform assembled from wooden crates, looking down at the more than two hundred men before him.
“Our force has grown considerably,” he began.
“Many of you have probably already heard what kind of commander I am.”
“I’ll make you all a promise here today.
As long as you train seriously and do your duty, I will cover six months of any debt you incur during your service.
Your military pay will also be issued in full and on time.
Not a single coin will be withheld or delayed.”
There was still an important distinction between veterans and recruits.
The veterans had originally been promised a full year of debt relief, while the new recruits were receiving only six months.
Even so, the new soldiers were still deeply grateful.
After Aegon finished speaking, he motioned for his men to carry over a large wooden chest.
The lid was thrown open, revealing a glittering mountain of silver coins.
“This month’s military pay will be distributed early.
Come forward one by one to collect it.”
The soldiers had never encountered a commander so generous.
Under Rogett’s organization, they formed several long lines and stepped forward one after another to receive their monthly pay.
Those who received their silver coins cradled them in their palms, turning them over again and again as though the coins themselves radiated heat.
All the complaints caused by the exhausting training vanished in an instant.
No one doubted the words of the veterans who had recruited them anymore.
At that moment, the new soldiers had only one thought in their minds:
They wanted to stay here and serve this commander wholeheartedly.