The soldiers who had been sent out to recruit new men were also given their additional silver rewards.
Rogett received the largest reward of all, having recruited eleven new soldiers for the force, including the several Dothraki he had brought back with him.
Because Rogett had Dothraki blood in his veins, the horselords were willing to trust him.
In accordance with their original agreement, Aegon paid him the full eleven silver coins.
The weight of those coins in Rogett’s hands was deeply reassuring.
An ordinary Pentoshi commoner could work and save for half a year without necessarily managing to accumulate that much money.
After the soldiers received their pay, everyone gathered together to enjoy the lavish meal.
Pentos stood beside the sea, so fish was relatively plentiful.
The soldiers’ staple foods consisted of corn and potatoes, supplemented by the occasional precious serving of fatty meat.
Belwas stood beside Aegon, watching his young master happily spear an ear of corn with a wooden stick and eat it with obvious enjoyment.
The social gulf between soldiers and nobles was like a bottomless chasm.
Nobles would never sit down to eat with common soldiers, just as a slaveholder would never share a table with his slaves.
When Belwas had first arrived at the camp, he had even felt that the soldiers here lived worse than slaves.
Their lives seemed even more miserable.
Yet Aegon was nominally Illyrio’s son, and he was perfectly willing to sit and eat alongside these lowborn soldiers.
In Belwas’s eyes, it was almost unbelievable.
Almost heretical.
Before Illyrio had purchased him, Belwas had been forced to sit on the ground when he ate.
After becoming Illyrio’s man, he had at least been allowed to eat sitting in a chair.
That was one of the reasons Belwas respected Illyrio.
Even so, Belwas was still not permitted to dine at the same table as Illyrio.
Aegon, however, didn’t care about such distinctions in the slightest.
He actually enjoyed sharing these moments with his men.
The newly recruited soldiers were even more astonished.
After all, Pentos had only openly shed its reputation as a slave city about a century ago, and the abolition of slavery was still a relatively recent reality.
The belief that there should be a clear distinction between high and low remained deeply rooted in everyone’s hearts.
Perhaps precisely because Aegon ate and trained alongside his soldiers, the system quest progress increased by another two percent.
Aegon was delighted.
Apparently, sharing meals with his soldiers had greatly narrowed the distance between them.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Aegon ordered the soldiers to conduct free training in the afternoon.
He intended to speak with them one by one, learning about their circumstances as well as their individual abilities and qualities.
There were now more than two hundred men, enough to be divided, roughly, into three companies of a hundred men each.
Rogett was a good candidate for the position of centurion.
Aegon would personally command one hundred-man company, leaving one other centurion position vacant.
The conversations went extremely smoothly.
Aegon had been generous from the very beginning, advancing every soldier a month’s wages and promising to help shoulder their debts.
Cries of “I swear loyalty to you!” and “Long live the lord!” rose one after another.
Before long, Aegon arrived in front of the several Dothraki men Rogett had recruited.
They all had the characteristic brown skin of the horselords.
With sweat glistening across their bodies, they almost looked as though they had been coated in a layer of polished brown oil.
Although they had already lived in Pentos for some time, they still carried the wildness characteristic of the Dothraki.
One soldier in particular stood out.
His name was Mengo.
He was considerably more powerfully built than the others.
Several scars from arrow wounds marked his broad chest like medals, while a vicious claw-shaped tattoo covered one of his shoulders.
After speaking with them, Aegon learned that these men were wanderers who had been driven from their homeland.
The long summer had caused vast stretches of the grasslands to wither, making it increasingly difficult for smaller khalasars to survive, forcing them to wander from place to place.
Then, to make matters worse, another khalasar had attacked them.
Their own khalasar had been swallowed up, and only a small number of young and able-bodied warriors had managed to escape.
Once a Dothraki was separated from his khalasar, he lost his place and identity among his people.
The only choice left was to travel to the Free Cities and find a way to survive.
Because the governors of Pentos seemed relatively friendly toward the Dothraki, they had chosen to settle here.
The system seemed to sense Aegon’s interest in recruiting Mengo.
A notification immediately appeared before him.
[Use Recruitment Card to open a Conquest Quest for the current character, Mengo?]
Every great ruler who intended to dominate a realm needed at least one powerful personal guard at his side, someone strong enough to command respect simply by standing there.
Mengo fit the role perfectly.
He was tall and powerfully built, possessed exceptional Horsemanship, and was remarkably capable in individual combat.
During a recent training exercise, he had single-handedly fought off six or seven ordinary soldiers while remaining on horseback.
That required first-rate martial skill and Horsemanship.
If Aegon successfully recruited him, he would gain one of Mengo’s skills.
And because of the Recruitment Card, Mengo’s loyalty would be virtually guaranteed.
Aegon didn’t hesitate.
He chose to begin.
Character: Mengo
Recruitment Points: (0/100)
Aegon was still considering how he should begin the Conquest Quest when Mengo suddenly spoke first.
“My lord, as long as I remain beneath your banner, I will fight for you with all my strength.
But my khalasar was destroyed.
That is a blood feud that cannot be forgiven.
If the day comes when I must seek revenge, I hope you will allow us to leave.”
To them, leaving one’s employer could itself be considered an act of betrayal.
At the very least, Mengo believed he owed Aegon the courtesy of informing him beforehand.
The Dothraki’s blunt words instantly dampened the lively atmosphere around them.
Every eye turned toward Aegon.
The soldiers were terrified that this seemingly clueless Dothraki had offended their commander.
Even more frightening was the possibility that Aegon might become angry and withdraw his promise to help them with their debts.
But Aegon didn’t get angry.
He merely smiled.
“No problem.
As long as you remain at my side, all I ask is that you fight for me with everything you’ve got.
If an opportunity presents itself in the future, perhaps I’ll even join you in hunting down your enemies.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
Mengo had expected anger.
Instead, Aegon had not only accepted his request but had even promised to help him seek revenge.
Mengo raised his right fist and slammed it against his chest.
It was the Dothraki’s traditional gesture of respect.
Mengo didn’t know whether Aegon would truly honor his promise someday.
But Aegon had made one thing perfectly clear: if Mengo eventually wished to leave, he would be allowed to take his people and go.
That was enough.
Aegon certainly wanted to win Mengo’s loyalty as quickly as possible when he made the promise.
But there was also a trace of ambition behind his words.
If he ever gained the opportunity to rule Pentos, there was no way he would behave like the current governors.
He would never bow and scrape before the horselords, offering gifts and trading away the blood and sweat of Pentoshi commoners merely to purchase some laughable imitation of peace.
A war between himself and the Dothraki was inevitable.
Sure enough, after they reached their agreement, Mengo’s Recruitment Points changed.
Character: Mengo
Recruitment Points: (7/100)
Aegon wasn’t particularly pleased by the result, despite gaining seven points from a single promise.
After all, the higher the favor level climbed, the harder it became to increase it.
Holding hands was one level of difficulty.
A kiss was another.
And exchanging bodily fluids was the highest difficulty of all.
Of course, that was assuming no monetary transaction was involved.
The same principle applied to recruiting loyal subjects.
A target recruited through a Recruitment Card would remain one hundred percent loyal to the monarch forever, provided the monarch did not humiliate or seriously violate the target’s dignity or character.
As for Mengo…
Aegon was determined to have him.