Chapter 99: Gifts for Guests
"Gifts?" Kraznys was puzzled, and then pointed at the old man in surprise and asked, "How do you speak Valyrian?"
The old man opened a cowhide box as big as a cello. Inside was a thick layer of exquisite Yidu silk. On the soft silk cloth were eight black scepters, almost two meters long, as crystal clear as obsidian, but with an indescribable luxury and majesty.
The tops of the five scepters were inlaid with large pieces of gold, and the gold was carved into the shape of a harpy head. The eyes were inlaid with bright golden crystals, and the teeth were also carved from white jade-like ivory.
There were also golden hoops at the armrests of the scepters, with fine lines to prevent sweat from slipping.
Kraznys opened his eyes and found that there were Valyrian characters inlaid with fine pink diamonds on the gold hoops. One of them was "Krazny Mo Nakroz", which was his own name.
The other two were inlaid with silver on the tops, and the style was the same as before.
The slave trader's heart moved, and he looked at the silver hoop. Sure enough, the name on it represented the good master who could only wear the tokar robe with silver tassels.
The last one was even more gorgeous. Although it was also mainly made of gold, it was inlaid with at least 80 pearls as big as broad beans. It had the name of Grazdan with pearl tassels on it.
"Are you really giving these to us?" Krazny, who was always stingy, widened his eyes with disbelief, "If I'm not mistaken, this is a dragon bone staff?"
Dragon bones are very special. They have a metal texture, but they are much lighter than black iron - if they are not light, a dragon can't fly.
At first, Krazny thought they were sent black iron scepters, but after picking them up and flipping through them for a while, he was completely sure that they were all dragon bones.
"That's dragon bones." Whitebeard placed the box in front of the slave owner, "I hope all the good masters like it. I'm leaving."
After saying that, he turned around and left with his hardwood crutch.
"Wait," Kraznys stopped the old man and asked with a puzzled look on his face, "But why is this? Eight exquisite dragon bone scepters are worth at least thousands, or even tens of thousands of gold dragons."
"We left Astapor today, and the queen asked me to come here to deliver the gifts." Whitebeard said lightly.
In fact, he himself was a little puzzled, and didn't even know when Dany prepared these gifts.
When they set out in the morning, she asked the centaur who had changed his job to blacksmith to deliver a large box, and asked him to personally deliver the gift to the good master after she left with the Unsullied.
"Hey, tell your bitch queen of Westeros." Looking at the luxurious dragon bone scepter, Kraznys felt that he should give something back to the other party. He called Whitebeard and suggested sincerely: "It is best to let the slaves gain some combat experience first.
There are many small cities along the way to the West, which are very suitable for looting. No matter what spoils are obtained, they can all be taken for themselves, because the Unsullied have no desire for money and jewelry.
The captured prisoners can be escorted back to Astapor by a team of guards, and neither Meereen nor Kaiyun will stop you.
Well, warriors with superb martial arts skills will be sold to Meereen, young women and slender men will be sold to Kaiyun, and we will buy healthy boys at a preferential price.
Maybe before she returns to the Sunset Sea, she will earn back the money from selling slaves. Maybe ten years later, the boy she sends us will become an Unsullied. This will form a virtuous circle, which is good for everyone."
"Huh!" The old man's face was ashen. He glared at the slave owner and rode away without saying a word.
When he walked out of the city gate, he saw a mighty army on the vast plain of the Worm River.
Riding a horse for a few hundred meters, Whitebeard saw Dany on the side of the dirt road covered with yellow soil.
She was riding on a horse and talking to several Gis people wearing tokar robes. Nearly a thousand centaurs with bronze slave collars around their necks were standing on the plain nearby.
"All the centaurs in Astapor are here, a total of 936. If you buy enough, I will give you a 20% discount. One silver coin can buy five." The old slave trader with red and black upright hair said with a smile.
"Ago, give this good master 200 silver coins." Dany said to the blood guards behind her.
"Hehe, it's a lot, a lot," the slave trader rubbed his hands and said happily, "and I'm just a small businessman, I can't be considered a good master."
"It's not easy for you to find all the centaurs in the city. The extra silver coins are my gift to you." When talking about the "gift", Dany smiled meaningfully at him, "One day, you will enjoy the same treatment as the good master."
"Hehe, thank you for your good words." The slave trader was even happier.
After the Gis left with a large bag of coins, Whitebeard came over and said, "The gift has been sent out, and the slave trader likes it very much."
"Yes." Dany nodded and ordered the blood guards to lead the centaurs to join the large army.
In the Red Waste, although the centaurs are old and weak, everyone has a horse, and the number is small, it is easier to manage, and they can travel more than 100 kilometers a day.
Now the environment is better, there is no shortage of water resources, nor is there a shortage of grass for horses to chew, but the army is large and they are all infantry. It is estimated that it is difficult to walk 30 kilometers a day.
"The slave traders will give you more." The old man hesitated for a long time, but loyalty still overcame his conscience. He stammered and relayed Kraznys' words, "We can let the Unsullied plunder the towns along the way, which can not only replenish military supplies, but also... "
In the end, he still couldn't persuade her to sell slaves.
"Hehe, shouldn't we sell the residents of the towns as slaves to the city-states in Slaver Bay to form a virtuous cycle?" Dany smiled and helped him continue.
"Uh," the old man was stunned for a moment, and advised: "Your Highness, you can't sell slaves. Not to mention the reaction of the people of the Seven Kingdoms after knowing it, you have seen before how miserable the slaves are."
"If we don't plunder small cities, how can we travel tens of thousands of miles and return to the Seven Kingdoms?" Dany asked deliberately.
When the slave owner sold the Unsullied, he only gave him a set of sleeveless leather armor, a short sword, a spear, a wooden shield covered with iron, a sleeping bag, and three days of rations.
The Unsullied who completed the training also had bronze spiked helmets, and the Unsullied apprentices didn't even have helmets.
If she didn't rob, Dany wouldn't be able to feed more than 10,000 people in a month.
Well, the property she brought from Qarth is still preserved.
After thinking hard for a long time, Whitebeard said tentatively: "Maybe, we can borrow money."
"Who can I borrow from?" Dany became interested.
"The bank merchants in the trading cities, the Iron Bank of Braavos." The old man glanced at the silent Knight Jorah, "Even the Earl of Bear Island can get a loan limit of tens of thousands of gold dragons from the Iron Bank. It's no problem for the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms to borrow millions."
"What do you know?" Jorah blushed, "My Long Claw is a Valyrian steel sword, and I didn't sell it for 800,000 gold dragons for Duke Tywin. The Iron Bank is very smart!
Moreover, in order to pay off the interest, I sold my life for them for several years, and hovered on the edge of life and death dozens of times."
The old man touched his chin, looked at the knight's gorgeous black armor inlaid with gold, and nodded: "Your Highness, the money from selling the armor is enough for more than 10,000 of us to go around the world twice."
"I can't--" Jorah's face turned red, and he looked at Dany pleadingly.
"Forget it, it's just a joke. I have a plan in mind." Dany waved her hand and smiled.
"What plan?" The two asked at the same time.
She pondered and asked, "Do you know why I have to give gifts to slave owners?"
The two looked at each other, both at a loss. After a while, Jorah's heart moved, and he suddenly remembered the topic he had discussed with her several times. He tentatively said, "Guest gifts?"
"Hehe." Dany smiled and nodded.
"But we don't have a guest relationship with slave owners?" The old man was puzzled. "They sell slaves and we buy Unsullied. It's a completely normal trade."
"It can be considered a guest relationship." Jorah gently pulled the reins, thoughtfully saying, "The situation in the trading cities is different from that in the Seven Kingdoms. In Westeros, when a stranger passes by the host's house, it is the prerequisite for a guest relationship. As long as the host takes in the guest, the guest rights will automatically take effect.
According to the previous theory of Her Royal Highness, this is actually a kind of credit, an "agreement", an agreement not to harm each other.
In the trading city-states, the normal completion of a credit transaction is also considered a guest relationship. We came to this city, and the owner of the city did not rob us. Yesterday he invited us to lunch and watch the beast fighting competition. Doesn't this count as a guest relationship?"
Whitebeard was persuaded by Jorah and gradually accepted this point of view. He nodded and sighed, "That's right, in Westeros, as long as you eat the salt provided by the host, the guest rights are--"
At this point he suddenly looked up, looked at Dany in shock, and stammered, "Your Highness, you...you...the gift you gave to the good master...is it a guest gift?!!!"
Jorah was stunned when he heard this: Isn't this very obvious? Is there any need to make such a fuss? But the next moment, after he understood the meaning of "guest gifts", his face changed and he said in a trembling voice:
"The main purpose of a guest giving a guest gift to a host is to express gratitude for the host's hospitality. But at the same time, it also represents the end of the guest relationship between the two parties. Neither we nor the good master enjoy the rights of guests anymore. You want to-"
Dany turned back calmly and interrupted him, saying: "You hate and detest slavery, but you only want to avoid it. I am different. I want to change all this. After tomorrow, I will see who dares to sell slave warriors."
Her words confirmed the two's conjectures. For a moment, they were stunned and didn't know what to say. "Will the Unsullied obey your plan?" Whitebeard hissed for a while.
Dany smiled and said, "I'm not sure, so I have to leave Aposta to test it."
If the Unsullied are obedient, then Plan A will be implemented and a big news will be made; if the situation is not good, she does not have the "queen temperament" of the original owner Daenerys, and cannot make the Unsullied bow down, so she will immediately run away with her centaur brothers. Anyway, it was several kilometers away from the city, so even if the slave owners knew she was going to get them, they couldn't catch up.
They were walking on the ancient Ghiskari Avenue along the coast, and four ships of Grolai were following her along the coastline!
But through the prophecy revealed by Queshi yesterday, Dany guessed that she would succeed 99% of the time.
Thinking of this, she turned her head and waved to the little black girl who was more than ten meters behind, and shouted: "Missandei, come here."
The maid Jhiqui prepared a small mare with red mane for her. It was short, gentle and docile, just big enough for her to ride.
"Master, what do you want from me?" Missandei rode over and asked respectfully.
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(End of this chapter)