Six hundred thousand gold dragons?!
Even Jorah Mormont, who had grown accustomed to Illyrio's lavish lifestyle, felt his throat go dry as he spoke the number.
That sum was enough to buy the entirety of Lys, with plenty left over.
"Six hundred thousand?"
Viserys's shriek shattered the silence.
He bristled instantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"That damn slaver! Why doesn't he just rob us?!"
"Who does he think we are?"
" The Iron Bank of Braavos?"
Daenerys's heart sank as well.
Though she had little concept of money, she knew this was an astronomical figure—an impossible one.
Lynn, however, smiled.
He took a pristine white silk handkerchief and leisurely wiped the blood orange juice from his fingertips.
"Ser Jorah, do you think if I truly had six hundred thousand gold dragons, I would use it to buy slaves?"
Jorah Mormont paused, then quickly understood Lynn's meaning.
If a man truly possessed such immense wealth, he could hire a massive army of sellswords—enough to conquer Astapor twice over.
"He isn't selling anything."
Lynn tossed the handkerchief onto the table and stood up.
"He is insulting us."
"Or rather, what he wants to see isn't my gold dragons at all."
Lynn walked to the window, his gaze drifting over the Astapor night sky, sliced apart by the silhouettes of countless pyramids.
"He wants my dragon."
The sentence sent a chill through everyone in the room.
"You can't trade him!" Daenerys blurted out.
"Winter is your..."
She stopped halfway, swallowing her words.
She didn't know how to describe the relationship between Winter and Lynn.
Partner?
Pet?
Or something else entirely?
"Is he mad?"
Viserys let out a ridiculous sneer.
"Does he think a dragon is livestock that can be bought with gold?"
"In the eyes of a merchant, everything in the world has a price."
Lynn turned around, his pitch-black eyes looking exceptionally deep in the candlelight.
"Kraznys is testing me."
"He wants to see what price I am willing to pay to get his Unsullied."
"If I were foolish enough to haggle with him, he would decide I was weak and easily manipulated."
"He would raise the price step by step until I offered up what he truly desires."
Lynn's analysis sent a shiver down Jorah Mormont's spine.
He realized then that his confrontation with the Good Master had been unequal from the start. They had no army, and their bargaining power was pitifully small. The other side never intended to trade; they were just afraid the dragon riders would fly away.
"My Lord, what should we do?"
"Should we leave Astapor?"
Jorah's voice held a trace of doubt.
Lynn pulled a heavy pouch of gold coins from his belt and tossed it to Jorah.
"Leave?"
"We don't have our army yet."
"I need you to go out again. But not to see Kraznys."
"I want you to find out everything about Astapor."
"How many Unsullied there are, and how many are still in training."
"Where their barracks are located, who commands them, and how the shifts change."
"How many men are in the City Watch, what their equipment is like, and how well they fight."
"And the Good Masters—how many private guards do they have, and what are their weaknesses."
Every sentence from Lynn was a precise command.
"I want a map of Astapor. A map that clearly marks every street, every barracks, even every sewer tunnel."
"Use this money to bribe the greedy overseers, to buy off slaves who hold grudges against the Good Masters."
"I want all the answers within a day."
Jorah Mormont held the pouch of gold, feeling it weigh a thousand pounds in his hand.
He finally understood. Lynn never intended to buy anything.
From the moment he set foot in this city, he had planned to take it all without paying a copper!
"Just like that?"
Viserys scoffed from the side, breaking the heavy atmosphere.
"Sending a spy to ask questions? That's too slow!"
"If you ask me, we should just let Winter bite Kraznys's head off!"
"Then tell the rest of those fat pigs: either hand over the Unsullied, or turn to charcoal along with their city!"
He waved his arms, as if he could already see himself ruling over Astapor.
"You're right. That is indeed the simplest way."
To everyone's surprise, Lynn nodded in agreement.
Viserys paused, a look of smug satisfaction spreading across his face.
"But what happens after?" Lynn asked back.
"We get a horde of walking corpses ruled by fear. And then?"
"We take them to the next city and burn it too?"
"It wouldn't take long for all of Slaver's Bay to know that two madmen on a dragon have arrived from Westeros."
"Madmen who know nothing but destruction."
"By then, what awaits us will be the combined fleets of every Free City, and countless assassins from the Shadow Lands and Braavos."
"Do you want to be a conqueror, or an arsonist hunted by the entire world?"
Lynn's words poured like ice water over Viserys's fantasy.
He opened his mouth, but couldn't find a single word to refute him.
"Ruling a kingdom is far harder than fighting a war."
Lynn patted Viserys on the shoulder and walked away.
Leaving Viserys standing there alone, face green with rage, fists clenched until his knuckles cracked.
---
The night grew deep.
Daenerys tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
The bloody scenes of the day and the scheming of the night cast a shadow of unease over her heart, which had only just found a sense of belonging.
She quietly got up and walked out of her room.
On the highest terrace of the manor, she found the silhouette that put her heart at ease.
Lynn stood there alone, overlooking the city that slept in its sin.
The night wind tugged at his black robes, making him look like a statue merging with the darkness.
"Can't sleep?"
Lynn didn't turn around, yet it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
"I..."
Daenerys walked to his side, mimicking his posture, leaning her elbows on the cold stone railing.
"I was just thinking... those Unsullied... can they really be saved?"
"Their souls have already been killed by the Good Masters."
"No," Lynn shook his head.
"The soul cannot be killed, Dany. It can only be imprisoned."
"As long as you break the cage, even the faintest spark can ignite a prairie fire."
Daenerys wasn't sure if she understood.
She looked at Lynn's profile.
In the moonlight, his sharp features seemed somewhat cold and hard.
"Do you... do you really intend to free them?"
She asked softly.
"Why?"
"Because I promised you."
Lynn turned his head, looking into her violet eyes, which remained clear even in the night.
"I told you. I came to break the chains."
Daenerys's heart skipped a beat.
A warm current surged from the depths of her heart, instantly dispelling all the cold and anxiety.
She said no more, simply wrapping her arms gently around Lynn's waist.
---
The next day, Jorah Mormont returned, covered in dust and reeking of ale.
He spread a crude parchment map in front of Lynn.
"My Lord, everything you asked for is here."
His voice was tinged with exhaustion, but his grey eyes were surprisingly bright.
"Astapor's defenses are even more fragile than I imagined."
"There are eight thousand fully trained Unsullied in the city, and five thousand boys still in training."
"They are all concentrated in the Plaza of Pride and the surrounding barracks in the eastern part of the city."
Jorah's finger traced a line across the map.
"This information came from an Unsullied named 'Grey Worm.'"
"As for the city defenses..."
A look of disdain crossed Jorah's face.
"There are only six hundred men in the City Watch. Poorly equipped. They're little more than hired thugs for the Good Masters to guard their homes."
"Fine for bullying commoners, but useless on a battlefield."
"All the Good Masters' confidence comes from the absolute obedience of the Unsullied."
"They never worry about betrayal, because in their view, the Unsullied don't even have the concept of betrayal."
Lynn looked at the map and nodded.
It was exactly as he had expected.
A city that relied entirely on a slave army to maintain its rule was like a castle built on sand.
No matter how strong it looked on the outside, the inside was already hollowed out.
"One more thing, my Lord."
Jorah's expression turned serious.
"I heard a rumor from a drunken Good Master."
"Kraznys mo Nakloz never expected you to come up with six hundred thousand gold dragons."
"He boasted to all the Good Masters at the council that he would trade his eight thousand eunuchs for a real dragon."
"He wants Winter."
Hearing this, Viserys wore an expression that said I told you so, the corner of his mouth curling into a gloating smirk.
Daenerys looked at Lynn nervously.
But there was no surprise on Lynn's face.
He simply looked up at Jorah and asked a question that caught everyone off guard.
"Ser Jorah, how many Unsullied do you think a dragon is worth?"
Jorah froze.
"My Lord, you..."
He couldn't believe his ears. Was Lynn actually considering the trade?
"If I said I was willing to trade Winter for all his Unsullied, do you think Kraznys would agree?"
"He would!" Jorah said without hesitation.
"He would be ecstatic!"
"He would immediately package up every Unsullied, along with their weapons and armor, and give them all to you!"
"He would probably roll out a red carpet for you!"
Trading a group of slaves that could be retrained at any time for a unique, unparalleled dragon?
It was a temptation no merchant could refuse!
"Good."
Lynn stood up, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.
"Let's go. We're going for a walk."
"I want to see who loses their patience first."
---