Aemond gave an order, and two guards walked in, dragging Hidolf to feed him to Vhagar.
"Put him down."
Aegon glared at Aemond; he hadn't finished speaking yet.
Hidolf broke free from the restraints and glanced at Aemond with lingering fear.
Although he wasn't afraid of death, he couldn't die so carelessly; at the very least, he had to have a proper talk with Aegon.
"My brother is ignorant, please don't mind him."
Aegon chuckled.
"Someone, bring Hidolf... bring the leader a chair and serve wine."
"I have always believed that fairness is the basis of everything. I intend to support the Rebel Army in fighting against Tyrosh."
"But I am not the only beneficiary of the Rebel Army fighting Tyrosh; the Rebel Army is too."
"Helping you break through twice was merely to disgust Tyrosh; don't think of the Rebel Army as too important."
"In fact, whether the Rebel Army exists or not is not important to me."
"If you want me to support the Rebel Army, give you weapons and food, you must offer benefits that move me."
Hidolf's expression froze, but he quickly retorted, "If Your Highness believed in fairness, you would not have burned the granaries and farmland on the Lango Highlands."
"Heh."
Aegon sneered.
"What does it matter to you that I burned the granaries and farmland on the Lango Highlands?"
"I have a dragon; I can burn whatever I want."
"You are truly interesting, speaking as if I owe the Rebel Army something. Were those granaries and farmland yours?"
"Furthermore, without me, could the Rebel Army have reached the Lango Highlands?"
"Without me, could the Rebel Army have broken out of Tyrosh?"
"Without me, could the Rebel Army have avoided worrying about being attacked from both sides by slave masters?"
Aegon's words rendered Hidolf speechless, his lips trembling, unable to speak.
Aegon was right.
He was only thinking of fighting for the Rebel Army's interests, but he forgot that in Aegon's eyes, the Rebel Army was actually nothing.
However, Hidolf quickly adjusted his mindset.
"Your Highness, we can borrow. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as you said. You lend us supplies, and once we gain a foothold, we will surely repay you double!"
Hidolf changed his attitude.
The original method of negotiating for aid was definitely not going to work.
But he had pretty much guessed Aegon's attitude; Aegon definitely didn't want the Rebel Army to fall.
So Hidolf proposed borrowing a batch of supplies and repaying double, while also probing what Aegon truly wanted.
"Let me ask you a few questions, tell me your thoughts." Aegon suddenly changed the subject.
"Wh- what?" Hidolf couldn't follow Aegon's train of thought for a moment. "Sorry, please ask."
"What are you rebelling for?" Aegon swirled the wine in his cup. "Freedom?"
Hidolf frowned slightly. "What else?"
Isn't rebellion just about breaking shackles and chains, pursuing freedom?
"Alright, let's say it's for freedom. Then what is freedom?"
"Freedom is freedom, being free and unrestrained, without chains and shackles, without collars and masters!"
Hidolf's answer was without hesitation.
"Freedom is freedom, quite good. But once you've left the shackles and collars, how will you survive, by robbing?"
"Of course not, we can grow our own food."
"Grow your own food? How many of you have ever farmed? How many farming tools and oxen do you have?" Aegon asked.
Hidolf remained silent.
Most slaves had their own work before regaining freedom, and that work generally didn't include growing food.
However, Hidolf wasn't worried about the food cultivation issue.
In his view, growing food was just about scattering seeds in the ground.
What he was truly worried about was how to survive the period before the harvest!
"Let's not talk about this; farming is the easiest problem to solve." Aegon waved his hand.
"Let's change the subject. There's a flock of sheep who felt the fence imprisoned their freedom, so they banded together and knocked it down. Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Of course it's a good thing; they are free, they can go wherever they want and eat whatever grass they want."
"What if outside the fence there's a pack of hungry wolves?"
Aegon drained the bright red wine in his cup.
"The fence is down, the flock is celebrating wildly, and the wolves are also about to welcome a feast, aren't they?"
Hidolf fell silent, and after a long while, he said in a low voice, "We are sheep, but the slave masters are not wolves."
Aegon nodded. "The Rebel Army are sheep, the slave masters are not wolves, so where are the wolves?"
Hidolf did not speak, staring silently at Aegon.
After they stared at each other in silence for a while, Aegon suddenly raised the corner of his lips.
"Where the wolves are is not important. What's important is that there is now a rare opportunity before the Rebel Army."
Hidolf took a deep breath.
"What opportunity?"
"An opportunity to live a relatively free, stable, peaceful, and prosperous life!"
The next day.
Hidolf left Dragonstone with dark circles under his eyes, tightly clutching a parchment booklet in his hand.
On the first page of the parchment booklet, five large characters were clearly written: "The Leader's Struggle".
Hidolf's heart surged with emotion, and he couldn't wait to return to the Lango Highlands!
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