Chapter 192: Slave Awareness Lesson
"Find my ship?" Kohruru was surprised to hear Ian's order. "That's impossible, my lord." He quickly explained, "I sold my ship three months ago and paid off all the crew."
"What happened to the coin from the sale?"
"It was all distributed to my crew as severance pay."
He really didn't leave any loopholes. Ian grimaced, clinging to his last hope, and asked, "Can you still find some trustworthy men?"
"Perhaps? I don't know," Kohruru shook his head. "Most of them should have already gone to find work on other ships. Perhaps some are still in Tyrosh. I'll have to look to find out."
"We'll stay in Tyrosh for a maximum of three days. During this time, try to recruit as many trustworthy veterans as you can find," Ian ordered. "Also, find me a large sailing ship with more than two hundred oars. I want to buy it. I'll have Darren help you with this."
"Yes, my lord." Kohruru accepted the order.
Afterwards, Ian led his men away from the inn and went to a pleasure house to buy a batch of slaves as promised to Bronn and his men.
After thinking for a moment and realizing he had nothing else to do in Tyrosh, Ian returned to the ship.
Seeing Ian return with a group of slaves, the sailors who had been forbidden from going ashore erupted in uproar. Ian could see that many of them were suppressing immense resentment.
However, when Ian announced that these slaves had been bought for all of them, all their discontent and anger instantly transformed into cheers of "Huzzah!"
Amidst the cheers, Ian walked to the other, deserted deck, waiting to see how Daenerys would react.
"Tell me," Celia said, staying close to Ian until they were sure no one else could hear her, "what benefit would it bring to the player who exposed Jaime and Cersei's affair beforehand?"
"Robert declared war on the Westerlands, didn't he? If Robert isn't dead, his two brothers won't rebel, and Littlefinger won't dare incite Lysa Arryn to refuse the King's summons. Casterly Rock is powerless against an attack from the Six Kingdoms," Ian said after a moment's thought. "And if the Lannisters fall, many castles will be vacant in the Westerlands. If the player sided with Robert, they might be able to get one."
"That's not enough," Celia shook her head. "Even if they get a castle in the Westerlands, once the Lannisters, the root of all chaos, are removed, Westeros will be less likely to descend into a major war. What kind of chaos can they cause in peacetime with a small castle?"
"Unless," Ian thought for a moment, "they want Casterly Rock itself?"
"How is that possible? In a war they were certain to win, they couldn't possibly achieve such a feat. Even if they could, in Westeros, where bloodlines are everything, the Seven Kingdoms wouldn't allow an upjumped sellsword to take Casterly Rock."
"Who am I?" Ian countered.
"Ian Darry." Celia understood what Ian meant.
"My family has a six-thousand-year history, so why can't they create a ten-thousand-year bloodline for themselves?
Besides, even without a bloodline, players can always find other ways... Weren't the Lannisters themselves adventurers back in the Age of Heroes?" Ian said, then sighed softly. "I just didn't expect them to act so quickly. Time is getting tighter."
"That's the advantage of player alliances. They can do several things at once, thus completing plans far more complex than a single person can," Celia said softly. "And it's easier for players to cooperate with each other to complete objectives."
"By the way, do you know how we broke the deadlock at the beginning?" Celia started to elaborate.
"How would I know?" Ian resisted rolling his eyes, but it did pique his curiosity. He had broken the deadlock by securing first blood, which laid the foundation for becoming the top player on the leaderboard.
But until the end of his time in Pentos, he hadn't gained any decisive advantage over other players. So how did the other top-performing players rise to prominence?
"I didn't expect you to answer," Celia chuckled, then began her story. "I remember when we first started, we were almost helpless against the difficult main quest.
Such a main quest was practically impossible for us, who had practically nothing, to complete in a short time. But when we got together to discuss how to break the deadlock, we suddenly thought of a way to exploit a loophole."
Typical player—the first thing she thought of when faced with a quest was how to game the system. Ian thought to himself.
"Because Jini Taime started as a merchant, he had 100 gold dragons from the start, and one of my sellsword teammate's three missions was to rob someone of 100 gold dragons."
"So you let him rob Jini Taime?" Ian was somewhat amused and exasperated. Wasn't this a mission deliberately given to allied players by the developers?
"Yes, that's how it happened. The sellsword got three points from the main quest. After lending one point each to me and Jini Taime, the three of us were basically guaranteed not to fall into the bottom rankings in the first month, and then we started to focus on getting close to Daenerys."
"Are you implying that I should give you more authority?" Ian raised an eyebrow.
"I'm hoping you'll give me more trust."
"Within Daenerys's sight, I trust you unconditionally, darling." Ian said, reaching out to touch Celia's cheek.
"Daenerys is behind you." Celia gave a sly smile, and Ian's hand froze.
"Who was that man who said 'everything on this ship is mine'? Don't you dare back down now. Mmph—" Celia never expected that Ian would be so bold as to kiss her even though he knew Daenerys was behind him.
"Lord Darry?" Ian only released Celia after Daenerys called out.
"Oh, Your Grace, what brings you here?" Ian turned around naturally and bowed to the Queen.
"I..." Daenerys had come to see Ian about the slaves on the ship, but seeing this scene inexplicably made her flustered, and she forgot all the words she had prepared.
"What are your commands?"
Daenerys only remembered her purpose when Ian asked again, and asked, "I heard you just bought a batch of bed slaves to bring to the ship?"
"Life at sea is boring and tedious. In order to keep the dragon's secret, I forbade all the sailors to go ashore, so I promised to find them some entertainment. This can effectively prevent mutiny and unrest." Ian deliberately exaggerated the role of these slaves.
"This..." Daenerys hesitated, as expected.
Ian's prediction was correct. Daenerys had already witnessed the existence of slavery during her time wandering the Free Cities. Her reason for seeking negotiations with Ian now was simply because she was her nominal Queen (of course, the word 'nominal' didn't really register in her mind), and her inherent kindness made her want to do something for these slaves.
But when Ian uttered the serious words "mutiny" and "unrest," she instantly backed down.
(End of Chapter)
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