Chapter 122: The Merchant of Lorath
"My dear Hand of Serra, my old friend:
After much effort, I have found the most suitable person to be our eyes—Jorah Mormont, the Lord of Bear Island, sentenced to death by Eddard Stark for selling poachers to slavers.
Robert has promised him a pardon, and I have promised him something more important to him. You need not worry about him harming Viserys and the others.
In short, after sending Jorah, Robert should not send any more assassins for a while, which is enough time to buy us breathing room until Khal Drogo's wedding.
And after Princess Daenerys marries Khal Drogo, any new assassins Robert sends, whether successful or not, will enrage Khal Drogo and strengthen his resolve to invade Westeros.
As for the other matter you mentioned—immediately introduce Ian Rivers to Young Griff [the alias of Aegon VI, son of Rhaegar], and let him follow Griff [Jon Connington's alias, former Hand of the Mad King, a close friend of Rhaegar, and now tutoring Aegon VI] directly.
I do not agree with this plan.
Although it would be beneficial for our plans to establish a friendship between this young man you admire and Young Griff as soon as possible, it is now common knowledge that the descendants of House Darry and House Grafton have gone to Pentos to join Viserys.
Preventing them from coming to Viserys at this time and sending them elsewhere will inevitably arouse suspicion.
Moreover, you know Viserys's character; anyone who meets him in person will be greatly disappointed.
If Ser Ian is truly as wise as you believe, even if he follows Viserys for a while, he will surely switch allegiance without hesitation once we reveal Young Griff.
I hope you will seriously consider my suggestion.
—Locket"
After writing the letter, Varys cut a small piece of sealing wax, melted it over a candle with a spoon, poured it onto the envelope, and stamped it with the seal engraved with an eight-legged spider.
"Hand of Serra" and "Locket" were the code names used in correspondence between Illyrio and Varys.
They originated from Illyrio's deceased wife—a Lysene courtesan named Serra.
After Serra's death, Illyrio preserved one of her hands as a memento of his lost love and placed her portrait in an exquisite locket.
These two items were always kept by Illyrio.
"Jorah, you shall now sail to Pentos and deliver this to Magister Illyrio," Varys said, handing the sealed letter to Jorah Mormont. "Then Illyrio will inform you of the specific arrangements."
The tall knight took the envelope, responding with a nasal grunt; Varys could clearly see the disdain in his arrogant expression.
Varys, however, didn't seem to care, only smilingly instructing, "By the way, if your assassination attempt makes no progress, Robert might try to send other assassins. Remember, the Targaryen siblings must not be harmed."
"And remember our agreement," Mormont didn't answer Varys, only offering a reminder before hurrying away.
"That's all," the Mouse handed Ian a thick stack of papers. "This is information we've gathered over a long period on people who only arrived in Pentos in the last two months, but whose power has grown rapidly."
"One hundred and six people?" Ian's eye twitched.
"We've done our best," Quhuru said helplessly, thinking Ian believed it wasn't enough.
"Of course, I can tell." Ian chuckled awkwardly. This list was outrageous; it seemed as if they had found anyone who even slightly matched the characteristics he described.
No wonder it was Illyrio's intelligence network in Pentos. Ian was almost certain that there were players or their publicly known agents on this list.
However, with so many people, the difficulty of verification also increased, and this list didn't even include those who might have managed to replace someone who was originally from Pentos.
"Share some interesting things that have happened in Pentos lately," Ian said, noticing that Quhuru was sitting there idly while he was reviewing the information.
Quhuru immediately launched into a long explanation.
Most of the tales concerned Pentos's newly formed city guard; these sellswords, drawn by the scent of gold, had thrown the city into chaos.
This made Ian smile, because increasing city guards was superficial self-comfort. If Drogo's khalasar were hostile to Pentos, even increasing Pentos's guards tenfold wouldn't help.
Of course, this didn't mean Drogo could storm Pentos.
On the contrary, the Dothraki had no siege weapons or experience in siege warfare; even if Pentos didn't increase its guards, Drogo wouldn't be able to breach its walls.
But unlike the nations of Ian's previous world, filled with cities and castles, free trade cities, which developed by supporting a giant city with a vast tract of land, were powerless against the 'incapable of siege warfare' Dothraki.
Only when a nation possessed enough cities and military strongholds would nomadic tribes be cautious about deep raids and plunder; they needed to worry about the garrisons of unconquered cities behind them escaping and attacking their supply lines.
The Free Cities had virtually no cities or castles outside their walls, allowing Drogo to easily unleash his fury on the villages and towns of the vast eastern lands of Pentos. He could reduce the land south of the Velvet Hills and west of the Little Rhoyne to scorched earth.
Pentos, deprived of the sustenance of millions of farmers from the hinterlands, would fall into chaos and decline even without Drogo's siege.
Therefore, the Pentoshi were essentially left with only two choices in the face of the Dothraki: defeat them in open battle or obediently pay tribute.
Increasing the city's defenses was pointless, as there would be no siege.
Ian pondered this as he continued flipping through the documents in his hands.
Suddenly, a name nearly made him jump out of his chair:
"Kinvara Tem, a Lorathi merchant, arrived in Pentos two and a half months ago and, with a small crew, made a small fortune at the docks through questionable means.
Soon, they used that coin to generate even greater wealth, even forming a large sellsword company."
Suspicious points: Several Westerosi who attempted to visit Magister Illyrio died mysteriously after being turned away, and this merchant and their companions were always near the scenes of their deaths.
Current location: Unknown. This person was last publicly seen half a month ago at the red temple atop Pentos's highest hill.
This profile... isn't this clearly that of a player? And a player from the same country as himself? Ian pulled this sheet of parchment from the stack of documents.
But damn, this sneaky bastard is so brazen? And he didn't even come after me—wait, isn't he afraid of getting wrecked by a hardcore fan?
(End of Chapter)