One month later, the king brought his family on a long, exhausting journey and finally arrived in the North.
Even though they had not seen each other for many years, their relationship was still very good. It was just that their children didn't seem to get along quite as well.
However, the noble eldest daughter of House Stark, Sansa Stark, seemed to have already been completely captivated by the handsome and dashing prince.
Of course, no one knew yet that this handsome and dashing Prince Joffrey Baratheon was actually a cruel little monster.
Just like how Jack had no idea that docking fees in Astapor actually cost one silver coin per day.
"Damn it, by the Drowned God, how the hell do they dare charge me one silver coin?" Jack cursed loudly.
"Captain, actually one silver coin isn't that bad," Newgate explained to Jack. "Astapor mainly relies on maritime trade, and slaves are their most prominent product. For merchants, they're also the cheapest commodity."
"After slaves are bought, you don't need to pay them wages. You just need to give them enough food so they don't starve to death. So a cost of one silver coin is completely acceptable to merchants."
Jack understood this to some extent—just like the slave trade in the West in his previous life.
The prosperity of all of Essos was built upon the corpses of slaves.
The misery of a slave's life was far worse than most people could imagine.
As a young man of the new era who grew up in the Celestial Empire, he had an instinctive resistance to slavery.
This wasn't because Jack was some kind of saint. Rather, the education he had received over more than twenty years made him instinctively reject the institution of slavery.
Still, Jack had no intention of personally freeing slaves—because that was the Mother of Dragons' job.
His job was to build an invincible maritime empire, so he could freely and extravagantly indulge himself through his short lifetime.
Of course, if Daenerys was willing to pay a sufficient price, he wouldn't mind offering her some reform ideas that had already been proven to work.
As for how to deal with kings and nobles?
The rabbit's dragon-slaying technique was written right there in the nine-year compulsory education textbooks!
Astapor had many Good Masters, and Jack planned to find a small slave owner to buy Unsullied from—doing so would make bargaining much easier.
Taking Newgate with him, he found an inn.
"Boss, two rooms."
"Four silver coins."
"How much?" Jack's eyes went wide. It wasn't that he lacked money, nor was he being stingy—it was just that this was fucking expensive!
Normally, two rooms would cost at most two silver coins. A reasonable price should have been around one silver coin.
But the innkeeper said confidently, "If you don't want to stay, you can leave. But I guarantee you'll come back in the end and obediently hand over four silver coins."
The innkeeper was very sure his place was the cheapest in the area. After all, among nearby inns, he was the one who fleeced outsiders the least.
They had their own way of judging people—almost at a glance, they could tell whether someone was a local from Slaver's Bay.
The corner of Jack's eye twitched, and in the end, he still took out four silver coins.
Damn it. Astapor is so close to the sea. Once my fleet grows strong, I'll come rob you every day—just wait.
The broad-minded Jack recorded this grudge in his heart and decided that in the future, he'd come collect protection fees once every four weeks.
Fuck, you're not even inside the city, and you dare charge prices like this?
The most famous area of Slaver's Bay was the three cities of Meereen, but there were countless villages and towns scattered around them.
At the same time, there were large numbers of slave-owner estates, where all kinds of valuable spices were grown.
As for grain, it was usually grown by free folk. Slave owners preferred to buy grain from the Lhazareen.
"Captain, I can just sleep on the floor. There's really no need to book two rooms," Newgate said.
Jack waved his hand, signaling that Newgate didn't need to worry. "I'm not short on money. But the fact that he dared to fleece me—that's his fault."
Only pirates fleece people. Since when did people get to fleece pirates?
Newgate was deeply moved. He thought Jack had booked an extra room out of consideration for him.
In reality, from Jack's perspective, when taking subordinates on a trip, of course he should cover the lodging. But for Newgate, who had been a slave since birth, even the slightest kindness was enough to move him deeply.
They would rest here for the night, then enter the city the next day to buy Unsullied.
After that, the two of them found a table in the hall. Jack ordered two servings of grilled meat sausages and toasted bread.
After spending so much time on the ship eating grilled fish and dried bread, Jack felt like he was about to get stomach problems.
As a modern man who had been reborn, he wasn't like Poseidon, eating food raw.
Nor was he like Newgate, who was satisfied as long as there was something to eat. Jack was extremely picky.
At this point, Jack already had 700 gold coins in hand. If he didn't have to keep drilling holes through ship hulls every time, his gains would definitely be far greater.
But that situation would end soon. Once he bought the Unsullied, he'd have the ability to "buy for zero" a large ship—and then start robbing at sea.
That's right. Once Jack had enough Unsullied, the first thing he planned to do was go on a zero-cost shopping spree.
Soon, the grilled sausages and bread were served. Even though Newgate had already tasted hotpot and crispy noodles, grilled sausages were still a rare delicacy to him.
(End of Chapter)