Brandon brought not only an army of Unsullied, but also a defeated mercenary company. It wasn't just any company; it was the Company of Roses. The man had forgotten to mention that in his letters.
The massive army attracted attention from all sides. The workers, the merchants, everyone paid attention.
The Unsullied moved as one man, like a perfect machine, designed to obey. The only army with more discipline would be that of the dead on the other side of the wall.
Jaehaerys could imagine the cries of the lords, but he couldn't care less. He had an army, he had dragons. All that was missing was his castle. By that time, the foundations were already complete. Three of the seven towers were already built. Construction on Daenerys' library was about to begin.
It had been a challenge to find the right conditions, but with the towers already built, he ordered a harness system to be created for the workers.
Brick production was sufficient at that point.
Jaehaerys looked at his army and even thought about putting them to work. It was not uncommon in times of peace for armies to assist in civilian development.
The prince decided to put men on patrol and assigned the rest to construction. Other lords might consider him foolish, Tywin foremost among them. But he did not care; if it increased construction speed, he would not hesitate to use them.
The men patrolling brought peace to their lands, and with that, he hoped that migration would increase even more.
"Brandon," he greeted as he approached, the man riding alongside a beautiful woman with gray-blue eyes and silver hair.
Jaehaerys wanted to arrange a marriage between Brandon and one of Walder Frey's ugliest daughters, perhaps Lady "Fat" Walda Frey.
"My prince," the man made a move to kneel.
Jaehaerys allowed his knee to touch the ground for a second before reaching out to help him to his feet. The woman beside Brandon only bowed her head slightly.
"I think you forgot to mention a few things, Brandon," the prince said as he reached out his hand to the woman.
She was dressed in leather. She was beautiful, but she did not appear to be a maiden. When she took his hand, he could feel the calluses from wielding a weapon.
"This is Rowena Stark," Brandon introduced her, with a smile, as if he expected Jaehaerys to go mad.
"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Stark," he said, not bowing to kiss her hand; the woman gave him the impression of hating courtesies.
"The pleasure is mine, My Prince," she replied. "Brandon has spoken wonders of you. You are as attractive as he describes," she teased the young bastard a little.
"It's nice to see that Brandon remembers me on his loneliest nights. Although it's a little disturbing," joked the prince. "Men with extravagant tastes can rise high, Brandon, but not with me. I'm sure I could find a knight willing to crown you in tournaments," Brandon's face turned green.
"Well, no, that's not happening," denied the bastard of Manderly. "Here, take this," he handed him a leather whip. "This controls all the ball-less men back there. I'm going to find Tohrren," he left quickly, leaving the woman with Jaehaerys.
The prince looked at the army. They had a spear, a shield, and light leather armor. Their faces showed no reaction—only coldness.
"Dany, you can take Miss Rowena inside. I'm sure Lyanna could find common ground with her," his wife had remained by his side.
Perhaps that was why Brandon didn't say anything extremely vulgar. The man somehow had an impeccable reputation with Daenerys and didn't seem to want to change that.
Both women left quickly. Daenerys tried to talk to the leader of the company of roses. The woman was rude and, besides mocking Brandon, was not very talkative.
The woman arrived with six hundred men, who separated from the Unsullied and were now camped outside the castle walls. Brandon had brought another two thousand purchased slaves, who looked at him with indifference.
The Unsullied were not like other men, not in any way. They underwent hellish training to become what they were. The men who trained them were devoid of even the slightest bit of empathy.
Trained from a young age, they endured pain, exhaustion, and hunger. Those who couldn't endure it are no longer among the living.
Jaehaerys remembered that their last training session, something like their graduation, consisted of taking a baby from a slave woman and killing it in front of its mother. It was cruel, but they couldn't refuse, or rather, they didn't have the capacity to refuse.
Among the slaves, there were two types: those who were enslaved and those who were born slaves. The first group would be the most difficult to keep, while the second was almost 100% certain to stay with him.
He had thought about how to avoid the issue of slavery. He could ignore it before, say that they were free men, and that was that; no one would question it. But with such a large army, he couldn't. He had to say it publicly. Both to avoid problems and to gain the loyalty of the Unsullied.
"Everyone!" he shouted. His voice broke the silence like a hammer striking glass—the eyes of the slave warriors fixed on him. "Days before your arrival, I gave an order, a new law. All those who set foot in ArgentStone will be free," he continued. He got no reaction from the immaculate ones. "If you had a family, if you had a place to go, you are free to leave. I'll find a way to help you," he said sincerely, although deep down he hoped no one would leave.
He couldn't keep them there against their will, even though he appreciated their obedience.
"If you stay here, I'll give you a home, I'll give you food, I'll give you purpose," he proclaimed. He watched as some of them looked at him as if nothing had happened, indifferent. "I don't want slaves under my command. I'll have free people. Free warriors," his speech might not have worked.
His argument was weak. They didn't know him. They probably didn't know his name; he was just another owner.
"I want to create a world where there are no slaves, where no mothers are crying because their child was murdered. I want to create a world full of peace," he said at the end. "If you want to stay here, under my command, under my rules, under my protection. If you want to help me create that new world: Take a step forward."
To his delight, most of them did. Only a few of the ordinary slaves remained where they were. He would deal with them later.
"This," he raised the whip. "It's just a reminder of your slavery. You don't obey whips. You are free," he shattered the whip in his hands, the leather splitting apart like freshly baked bread.
The Unsullied began to beat their spears on their shields. The thunderous noise ended with the civilian slaves pounding their fists on their chests to show their support somehow.
They were slaves, at the end of the day. Despite what Jaehaerys said, not all of them had a place to belong. The best he could do was give them a better quality of life.
Jaehaerys had already ordered barracks to be built for the Unsullied, although for now they would have to camp outside the walls. His plans included building several outposts throughout his lands.
At that moment, he needed to speak with Brandon to obtain a more accurate report. And probably negotiate with Rowena.
There was also Lord Manderly, who was traveling to ArgentStone. Apparently, he had spent too much time in Maidenpool and was unable to accompany them. Probably Brandon just left him behind.
Jaehaerys did not particularly enjoy politics, but that was the way it was.