Chapter 74: Mercenary

Night, King's Landing.

"Right here." Yule led Arthur to a brothel.

"This Anguy and his Dornish companions are all here."

Arthur nodded; these Dornishmen had quite the air of Prince Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper.

As another legendary warrior of Westeros, the Red Viper seamlessly transitioned between the identities of a Prince of Dorne, a mercenary of the Second Sons, and a regular at brothels everywhere.

This group of Dornishmen, aside from lacking noble status, were indeed very similar to their prince.

Yule led the way, and Arthur, having changed into bright yellow silk robes, followed him inside.

The melee had been without suspense, earning him another twenty thousand Gold Dragons.

Arthur's confidence grew, and he thought about recruiting more mercenaries in King's Landing to add some leverage to his opening in the War of the Five Kings.

It was a coincidence that the tourney had attracted many such mercenaries; although some of them did not participate in the competition, they had still come to King's Landing.

"My lord, let me arrange a tender one for you."

The brothel madam came up to greet them.

Yule in his Quanshen Banji and Arthur in his silk robes looked just like a noble and his guard, so the madam felt her business had arrived.

"No need, we are here to find someone."

Arthur refused.

"People who come here are naturally looking for women, let me arrange it!" The madam was persistent.

"I am looking for a man." Arthur refused clearly, his tone a bit firmer.

"Coming here to look for a man?" The madam muttered to herself.

She could not understand the behavior of coming to a brothel to look for a man; she was greatly shocked.

Yule led the way, and Arthur followed him into a large room.

"My friends, where is Mr. Anguy?" the Lord of Red Mill asked loudly.

"Looking for me for something? Andal."

Anguy, with black hair and black eyes, sat up from his female companion's arms and asked.

"I am a descendant of the First Men." Arthur corrected his small mistake, then stated his purpose, "I want to hire you lot to defend my family's territory, because I have had a conflict with another noble."

Naturally, Arthur could not explain that the War of the Five Kings was about to break out, and the conflict with Raventree Hall was enough to serve as a legitimate reason.

Anguy and his companions laughed out loud.

After they had laughed enough, Anguy said sternly: "This afternoon, the Hand sent someone to ask if I wanted to join his guard, and I refused. Why do you think I would accept your invitation?"

After thinking for a moment, Arthur replied: "Because I came in person, while the Hand only sent someone insignificant."

"Does that make a difference? Don't tell me you think you are more noble than the Hand?" Anguy asked back.

The other few Dornishmen chimed in:

"I think you're not even as strong as one of the Hand's guards!"

"Is your 'in person' more valuable than the Hand's?"

"Go away, we still want to have fun all night!"

Arthur was not angry at these men who were clearly just lackeys; it was enough for him to persuade Anguy.

"There is a story, in the extremely distant East, there was a man named Liu Bei, who in order to recruit a famous strategist, went three times to..."

He recounted the story of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage, and finally concluded:

"The difference between me and the Hand is not the nobility of status, but my sincerity."

"He sent a guard because he only wanted to recruit you as his guard, while I came in person to recruit you as a partner, a brother to live and die with, sharing honor and disgrace."

"If we speak of nobility, your prince, the Red Viper, is the brother of the Lord of Dorne, and the Hand is no more noble than him. Doesn't he do the same things as you? Has he ever said he was looking for you to be his guards?"

After Arthur finished speaking, he paused to let Anguy figure out the logic for himself.

To recruit such truly capable people under his command, one could not do it without spending some sincerity.

"Tell us in detail why you can't get along with the noble neighboring you."

Anguy did not express his choice immediately, but instead brought up another topic.

"It's like this, the heir to the Lord of Raventree Hall to our north disguised himself as a bandit... they killed three women, one of whom was pregnant with an unborn child... my nephew Arthur, out of Justice..."

Yule proved to be quite clever and busily recounted the reasons for the recent conflict between his house and Raventree Hall.

At the same time, several other Dornishmen whispered to Anguy.

Arthur, with his keen hearing, caught that they were talking about him beating up Cleos and his cousin.

"You are a just and kind good man," Anguy said after hearing the two stories.

He even used honorifics.

"I have decided to take my brothers here to be your mercenaries for a while, until Raventree Hall no longer harasses your territory."

He made his final decision.

"Excellent, I will pay you the standard reward."

【Anguy and thirteen Dornish spearmen have joined your party】

The blue light screen appeared at the right time, letting Arthur know that this group had joined sincerely.

After discussing where to meet up, Arthur left with Yule.

Next, they had to find another mercenary group.

The Brave Companions!

This group was much easier to fool.

In a very dirty and chaotic inn, Arthur met them.

Their leader, Vargo Hoat, from Norvos, was tall but spoke with a lisp.

This person stuttered out his request:

"Twenty gold... Gold Dragons per person, not a... not a single coin less."

"How many of you are there? If it's just the few people before me, twenty Gold Dragons each won't do," Arthur countered.

This group was all criminals, oath-breakers, and thugs from the Free Cities; they were recruited only to do things Arthur could not, and to serve as cannon fodder when necessary, so a small number would not suffice.

A middle-aged mercenary who spoke a bit faster replied: "Naturally, there are more than just this many, but the inns in the city are too expensive, so quite a few brothers are staying outside the city. If you really need a lot of people, we can summon the brothers wandering the east coast of Westeros, and if time permits, we can even bring some more from over in Essos. The total will be at least two hundred people."

"Yes, that is the case," the commander Vargo added.

Arthur was overjoyed.

"Then call them all here, and we'll count them at twenty Gold Dragons each. The deposit for your Task can be paid tomorrow."

This group of mercenaries were ready-made warriors who brought their own weapons and armor; with a great war about to begin, they were still a bit more cost-effective than training his own troops.

Vargo was also very happy, "My lord, I watched both of your... your matches today, you will be a..."

The stuttering commander wanted to butter Arthur up, but he was stopped by a wave of his hand.

After leaving an address, Arthur and Yule departed.

The night was already very deep, and they walked back to their lodgings.

Tomorrow, Yule would still take Arthur to visit other independent mercenaries; although their numbers were small, because they all fought alone, the number of visits required was higher.

But tonight, Arthur still wanted to talk to his uncle Yule, whose skills in finding people and objects were maxed out, about another matter.

Dragon Egg!

PS: Seeking recommendation votes and monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)