As news of the Dragonstone tournament spread and construction began in earnest on the Dragonstone New Island arena, a large number of vagrants and merchants from across the Seven Kingdoms flocked to the island.
Every year, nobles in Westeros go bankrupt due to mismanagement or local conflicts.
This forces the people of their territories to seek a living in major cities to escape war and survive.
At the same time, countless commoners became vagrants because various natural and man-made disasters meant farming could no longer support their families.
What's more, many nobles and religious organizations used every means to drive farmers from their land to annex more land, raise more livestock, or cultivate special cash crops.
This not only seized land through cunning and force but also forced landless farmers to become their cheap labor, at their beck and call.
Although Westeros prohibits the keeping of slaves, the lives of many commoners were virtually indistinguishable from slaves.
They toiled tirelessly every day, only to find that they might not even earn a single warm meal in return.
In the eyes of many nobles, commoners were merely two-legged livestock.
Therefore, they didn't care about their lives or deaths; occasionally providing relief to vagrants in their territory was already considered a virtue to be sung about.
This might also be a significant reason why the population of Westeros, despite having a history of several millennia, has not seen much growth.
The chances of vagrants surviving their wanderings are actually not high.
Therefore, those who do survive usually possess some skill.
Their sensitivity to news across the Seven Kingdoms offers a glimpse into this; no wonder the King's Landing rioters became the strongest fighting force in the Game of Thrones world!
Glutton
As Dragon Kiss Garden spread to major cities across the Seven Kingdoms during this period, a stable route for transporting vagrants to Dragonstone New Island was essentially established.
Therefore, as soon as news of the tournament spread, it was the vagrants from various places who arrived before the nobles.
For these vagrants, Daenerys had already instructed Samwell and his team to devise a strategy.
Those willing to live in White Sheep Town, after passing an audit and meeting the requirements, were placed in work at ranches and farms.
Generally, those who passed the audit were families with dependents, as people with ties are more likely to be law-abiding.
The remaining people were settled in the vagrant camp located between White Sheep Town and the tournament grounds.
The vagrant camp was surrounded by tall black stone walls, inside which tents could be pitched.
Samwell also arranged a squad of militiamen to be responsible for security here, and they would also distribute food to them for free every morning.
Most of the able-bodied men were recruited for the construction of the arena.
The elderly, weak, women, and children could also find odd jobs in White Sheep Town, such as sorting wool, cleaning streets, or transporting manure.
Although the earnings were not much, it was enough for them to make a living there.
Some of those from impoverished noble backgrounds or with some martial prowess were temporarily organized by Samwell into a hundred-person strong security coordination team.
These people, being from vagrant backgrounds, were most familiar with the unsavory dealings among vagrants, making them the most suitable for managing and supervising the vagrants.
And with fixed salaries and generous treatment, these security team members became the most stringent in their demands on the vagrants.
On this day, Daenerys was leading Dreamfire and Miraxis in forging black stone at the arena.
A security team was escorting a dozen thieves past them, and a tall, silver-haired woman immediately caught Daenerys's attention.
So Daenerys ordered someone to stop them.
The squad leader of the security team escorting these vagrant criminals was known as Clever Jack.
He immediately came before Daenerys with a fawning smile and reported, "Reporting to Your Highness, these are the thieves caught in the past few days.
After being judged by Lord Samwell, all their possessions were confiscated, and they were exiled from the island."
Daenerys loudly said to the tall, silver-haired woman,
"You, the silver-haired woman, look up.
What is your name?
Why do I feel like I know you?"
The silver-haired woman had kept her head deeply bowed since arriving, not daring to look directly at Daenerys.
Only after Daenerys called her name did she hesitantly raise her head.
"You, you are Janna?"
Daenerys looked at the beautiful woman before her, whose face was a bit dirty but still radiantly charming, and was immediately astonished.
Because Janna was a maid of House Targaryen's bastard descendants whom Daenerys had personally selected for Dragonstone!
Although Daenerys was very surprised, she calmly instructed Clever Jack,
"Now is the time when people are needed on the island, so there's no need to rush to exile them.
Let them first serve as laborers at the arena, and once the arena is complete, send them to The Wall to join the Night's Watch."
"As for the women, sell them to the brothel.
Since we offer such good conditions here, and they don't want to do honest work, then we might as well grant their wishes."
"Yes, yes, yes, Your Highness!
Understood, I will arrange it immediately."
Being able to gain some presence in front of Daenerys, Clever Jack felt extremely proud, so he arrogantly waved the whip in his hand and loudly reprimanded the thieves,
"Hurry up, you lazybones!"
"Your Highness gives you such good days and good work, but you don't cherish them, insisting on doing those unspeakable things.
You lowlifes just need a good beating!"
"Hurry up!
Otherwise, watch out, my whip has no eyes!"
Glutton
Daenerys led Janna aside and said coldly, clearly angry at her lack of ambition, "Are you still not going to tell me the truth?
You are squandering the Targaryen bloodline like this.
Tell me quickly, what exactly happened?"
Upon hearing this, Janna immediately knelt down, her eyes filled with tears, and tearfully wailed, "Your Highness, I am pregnant with Prince Daemon's child!
My parents are all forcing me to abort this child.
I don't want to, so I deliberately stole, wanting to leave Dragonstone.
Your Highness, please let me leave!
Please let me keep this child!"
"Does Uncle Daemon know about your situation?"
Daenerys hadn't expected things to be this way, so she quickly pressed for more information.
Janna shook her head and whispered, "Prince Daemon only favored me a few times during Prince Baelon's funeral, and he hasn't paid any attention to me since.
What good would it do to tell him?!"
Janna was not wrong; Daemon was so ruthless and cold to his own wife, let alone a fleeting lover.
Daenerys pondered for a while, already having an idea in her mind, and then continued to press Janna, "Even if I send you away, how will you live then?
How will you support yourself and the child?"
Janna was speechless upon hearing this, and after a long while, she spoke helplessly, "I just want to leave Dragonstone first, otherwise my parents will definitely force me to drink moon tea.
I haven't thought much about the future.
The world is so big, there must be a place for me to belong!
Even if I become a maid, or even a prostitute, I will surely be able to raise my child."
Upon hearing this, Daenerys almost laughed in exasperation,
"No wonder you are so beautiful, yet Daemon still cast you aside.
A brain is a good thing, but unfortunately, you don't have one!"
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