"A good plan, Commander. Hearing your words has truly swept away all confusion and uncertainty." After being briefly immersed in the beautiful vision of the future, Daenerys returned to reality. "But as you also said, this is the best solution derived from an extremely simplified problem, assuming I have already achieved victory. The current issue is that the situation on this continent is far from as simple as you've drawn on this paper, and I haven't achieved victory yet."
Indeed, the real world is not a game of drawing circles and crosses on blank paper. The complexity of the situation increases exponentially with each additional variable. What Daenerys faced was not the loose and fragmented Seven Kingdoms that Aegon the Conqueror dealt with, but a Westeros that had once been unified and then fractured. With Stannis as a "legitimate" king, and an unknown Aegon and the Golden Company interfering, the situation was incredibly chaotic.
Incorporating all the realities of Westeros into the model, and then considering the lands across the Narrow Sea, especially Braavos where the Iron Bank was located, Pentos where Illyrio, Varys's accomplice, resided, and Volantis, with whom the Queen had just fought due to differing attitudes toward slavery, the attitudes and inclinations of these Free Cities would make the difficulty of breaking the deadlock through pure political maneuvering skyrocket to astronomical levels, far beyond Aegor's analytical and judgmental capabilities. Not even Littlefinger or Varys would dare claim that everything was under control.
Fortunately, he had never intended to take the ordinary path from the start. He had even prepared half the tools for a violent breakthrough, only lacking the final push.
"Your Grace asked me for the second half of that book, and I presented it," Aegor said, leaning back in his chair and smiling at the Queen. "As individuals, people are merely fleeting moments in the long river of history, here and gone in an instant. While families and powers can continue through inheritance, they too are ephemeral. Only 'geopolitics' is the eternal, unchanging primary factor, an insurmountable obstacle that human effort cannot overcome. The plan I presented takes 'insurmountable obstacles' as its sole consideration, aiming only to provide Your Grace with an idea, a possible path to realize your great ideal. That is all. If you listen and find it reasonable, and prepare to act on it, then you should start thinking about how to overcome the 'surmountable obstacles.' But if you even need to ask me about the specific operations and implementation, that would be overestimating me."
"The idea you came up with, surely it has follow-up ideas?" Daenerys blurted out unhappily, completely unaware that this sentence subconsciously revealed her complete trust and reliance on him.
Aegor shrugged. "Your Grace wanted the second half of the book. I have basically dictated the content. If you need it, I can even find time to organize it into a second volume and present it to the Queen again. But for more specific ideas, please forgive my inability. This is not something a Night's Watch Commander should consider. It is the task of you and your advisors."
Daenerys's expression turned serious, gradually returning to the state befitting a Queen.
Although the man in front of her said he was powerless, his expression clearly read, "I've thought of everything, but I just don't want to tell you." Though her experience was limited, her mind was sharp. How could she not understand? The free content was over, and what came next would come at a price.
Anger flashed and quickly dissipated, because she remembered a fact: the man in front of her was not yet her subject or follower, and they had only met for the second time.
Thinking of this, she suddenly felt a bit awkward.
When she first met the Night's Watch Commander on Dragonstone and offered an olive branch by lowering herself, only to be refused, Daenerys had truly been somewhat furious and embarrassed, feeling the other party was ungrateful. Now, having personally visited The Gift, she realized how ridiculous her thoughts that day had been. The Night's Watch was not at all the "few hundred old, weak, and disabled" she had originally imagined. Whether it was the wide, straight King's Road section in The Gift, visible even from hundreds of meters above, or the unimaginable scale and grandeur of Crown Town, or the dense crowds surrounding the landing field when she landed on her dragon, who still managed to evacuate in an orderly manner, or even the fully armed, disciplined soldiers in the inner castle, all left a deep impression on her.
Such a Commander, with both fame and soldiers, possessing strategic depth and in his prime, and she had actually thought of using the condition of "not attacking the Night's Watch Industry" plus a smile to gain his loyalty? Thinking about it now, it was practically an insult.
After insulting him, she had put on a cold face during their second meeting, even attempting to use her dragon to establish deterrence. Under these circumstances, the other party still treated her as a guest, spending his breath to talk so much with her. This was already the height of benevolence. It was only normal for him to be reserved and guarded now.
Moqorro had misled her with his words, Daenerys thought unhappily. The first volume of The Prince, The Way of the Monarch, and the second volume, Ruling the Seven Kingdoms, were indeed of great help to her, but the author of this book, a living person, not a dead object, was the "most powerful follower" she could obtain according to the prophecy.
The emptiness of returning from the paradise of beautiful future imagination to cold reality could only be filled by this man in front of her immediately bending his knee and swearing fealty.
"What do you want?"
Daenerys sat back in her chair, becoming the proud Queen with crossed arms again, and prepared to be heavily exploited, because she believed that the hidden content of The Prince in Aegor's mind was worth paying a price to obtain.
She was asking him to name his price, Aegor thought, feeling both amused and exasperated. Daenerys was still too young and naive. Even if she wanted to solicit someone's allegiance, she should use euphemisms. How could one ask for someone's support so directly?
During that night talk at Ice Mark City several months ago, he had indeed engaged in a frank and exhilarating exchange of power and mutual benefit with Denys Mallister, thus ending the long and tedious Commander election and creating a new situation for The Gift.
That was truly the most satisfying negotiation Aegor had ever conducted in his life. Even job interviews before he transmigrated were not as enjoyable. Thinking about it now still felt good.
But the same frankness and lack of reservation could absolutely not be used in a conversation with the Queen.
The relationship between himself and Daenerys was completely different from that with Denys Mallister. The Shadow Tower Commander, though technically a subordinate of the Lord Commander, was actually more like a colleague in some sense. That old man Denys could openly state what he wanted and what he could provide, even play a small trick afterward, without worrying or fearing retaliation.
But the Queen was different. Once aboard her ship, she was the monarch, and he was the subject. To live long and go far, one must not only be valuable and useful to the monarch, but also maintain a positive, consistent persona, gaining her trust, pleasing her, and earning her respect. One could not reveal the slightest weakness before deciding to turn against her.
What did he want?
Power truly is the strongest catalyst for ambition. Just a few years ago, Aegor was a nobody who only wanted to escape the Wall and desert. Who could have imagined that he would now harbor ambitions so great as to want to devour the sky?
But these thoughts were ones he would not reveal a single word of to anyone.
He wouldn't name a condition.
But if, in the end, the Queen still didn't understand or give enough benefits to her meritorious subject, well, what he would do then would be hard to say.
Aegor showed a calm and indifferent smile. "I don't want anything. I only hope to see Your Grace's great ideal realized in my lifetime, peace across the lands, and the common people living in peace and prosperity. That is all."
Daenerys frowned slightly.
When she asked Aegor to name his price, she had no intention of probing his motives or uncovering his background, nor did she know that the other party had thought so much in an instant. She simply wanted to bring Aegor into her fold. As a result, with the man playing this game of deflection, she didn't know what to do.
"You are a Night's Watch man, yet you understand the situation of the Seven Kingdoms so clearly. Is it just to offer a plan when you meet me, and then calmly go back to watching the Wall? Don't you understand that no matter how noble and beautiful an ideal is, if you don't act on it yourself, it can never be realized?"
"If there were no Your Grace in this world, I would naturally have the will and motivation to act." The Queen was actually reasoning with him. Aegor, afraid that constant refusal would let the hooked fish escape, decided to play hard to get. "But since there is already Your Grace, I believe you can surely conquer the world and achieve your goal."
"Alright, since you say so." Daenerys raised her head, and the regal aura she had briefly restrained was once again fully displayed. "In the name of the Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, I pardon your past crimes and command you to immediately shed your black clothes, come serve me first, assist me in reclaiming the Seven Kingdoms, and establish the King's Landing region, breaking the wheel of history!"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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