With a "ding!", Josh and Daenerys completed their trade. Daenerys now had four rifles and 400 rounds of ammunition in her stockpile, while Josh received 120 ounces of gold.
Unlike their previous trade, which included some gold jewellery, this time the gold was in the form of twelve neatly melted bars of gold. It was clear that Daenerys had prepared a large amount of gold in advance for this transaction. Despite the differences between their two worlds - such as language, script and measurement systems - system automatically translated and converted everything, making it quite convenient.
Seeing such a large amount of gold at once, Josh couldn't help but feel a little excited.
It was 3.4 kilograms of gold, which would be worth over a million yuan at the price of gold before his time travel. (T/N: USD equivalent ~10,000.)
Although Josh's financial situation in his previous life hadn't been bad, apart from the property he owned, he'd never seen so much cash before.
He had seen more gold, but only in jewellery shops.
Resisting the urge to take the gold out and play with it, Josh prepared to close the system. He had to think carefully about how to liquidate such a large amount of gold. Although his last gold sale had gone smoothly and the shopkeeper, Old Hawke, seemed trustworthy, this time the amount of gold had increased twelvefold and things might not go so smoothly.
"Wait, Josh!" Daenerys called just as Josh was about to log off.
"Is there something else?" Josh asked, a little surprised. After all, Daenerys was on her way back to Slaver's Bay with the Dothraki army to put down a rebellion, and she was pretty busy.
"I really liked that book The Prince you traded me earlier. The description of what qualities a ruler should possess was particularly enlightening. If I had read this book a few years earlier, Slaver's Bay might not be as chaotic as it is now. However, the book is limited in content. For example, it doesn't give detailed records of the rulers it mentions. I'm very interested in their experiences. Could you help me find more books ?" Daenerys asked, holding up the copy of The Prince that Josh had traded her.
As a princess in exile, Daenerys had spent her childhood constantly on the run, with few days of peace.
As a result, she never received any formal training in ruling, and even her basic education was incomplete.
This didn't seem to matter much when her forces were small.
But as her army grew, her shortcomings became more apparent.
How to mediate between the different factions and social classes in her territories, how to manage her subordinates, how to govern her lands, and what kind of ruler she should strive to be.
These were all things she had to learn.
It was also one of the main reasons why she was still stuck in Slaver's Bay. Her lack of experience as a ruler meant that the cities of Slaver's Bay were constantly in rebellion. Not only did she fail to build up her forces, but she also lost resources and influence.
While some of her most important advisors, such as Tyrion, who had recently joined her, helped to advise her on what kind of ruler she should be, their advice was based on their own expectations of what they wanted her to be, rather than helping her to become the ruler she wanted to be.
In the past, Daenerys hadn't seen through this and simply believed she wasn't good enough, which led her to constantly compromise.
But 'The Prince', though brief, hit the nail on the head and allowed her to see things more clearly.
Daenerys was a quick learner, and her ability to reach her current position showed that she had a sharp mind. It was only her limited perspective that held her back.
Now that she had access to the Interdimensional Knowledge through Josh, a whole new world of knowledge had opened up to her.
Naturally, this aroused her interest in the literature and history of Josh's world.
"Of course I can help, but it will take some time. There are many books on the subject," Josh agreed without hesitation.
As Daenerys was his only trading partner at the moment, her rapid growth would be beneficial to him.
The sooner Daenerys matured and became a competent ruler, the more likely she would avoid the mistakes of the original story, where she met a tragic end.
Only then could Josh maintain his trade with her.
If Daenerys were to die, the Interdimensional Beacon would randomly select a new host.
If the new host turned out to be another lord or noble, that would be fine, but if it was someone like a beggar or a person with nothing to their name, things would get tricky. Josh would then have to spend time and effort helping them build up enough resources to trade with him.
Finding someone as powerful and wealthy as Daenerys as his first trading partner had been a stroke of luck for Josh.
There was no guarantee that the new beacon to be generated next year would bring him such luck again.
So aside from trading with Daenerys for profit, Josh was happy to help her in other ways.
In fact, if he hadn't been worried about overwhelming her, he would have told her the whole Game of Thrones plot by now.
"That's wonderful! Thank you so much. I had originally planned to go to Westeros as soon as I got back to Slaver's Bay. But now I think I'll take some time to learn more and gather some extra strength. Besides, if possible, I'd like to equip the entire Unsullied army with these rifles," Daenerys said.
"That might be difficult in the short term. I'm not like you, after all. I'm still a small figure in my world. Buying dozens or even hundreds of guns is one thing, but eight thousand? That's a much bigger challenge," Josh replied helplessly.
Although the US didn't ban guns, buying eight thousand rifles at once would require going through arms dealers, which would inevitably expose Josh.
As a 15-year-old with considerable wealth but no power to back it up, he'd quickly become a target.
In the end, Josh's real problem was that he was all alone, without any trustworthy help.
But finding reliable allies wasn't easy, especially for someone in Josh's position.
Josh's full name was Josh Kahn, and he was of Austrian descent, which in a way made him a citizen of the infamous dictator. Five years ago, when the dictator annexed Austria, Josh's parents fled the country, eventually immigrating to the United States.
The Kahn family had some wealth in Austria, but they sold most of it at a loss during their escape. By the time they arrived in America and bought a small apartment, they were nearly penniless.
Josh's father supported the family with a job on the docks.
Although they had been in the US for five years, the family had been slow to integrate, as only Josh's father spoke fluent English.
Josh had gone to school in the US for a few years, but apart from improving his English, he hadn't learned much. He also hadn't made any friends because of his introverted nature.
Things got worse three months ago when his parents died of food poisoning from improperly cured sausage while Josh wasn't home. Their deaths were sudden and unexpected.
For a 15-year-old boy, it was a huge blow.
Without the help of a local priest, Josh wouldn't even have known how to pay for his parents' funeral - which used up almost all the money they had left.
Since then, Josh had stopped attending school and drifted aimlessly for three months before his current self took over.
With such limited social connections, Josh couldn't find any trustworthy friends or family to rely on.
Understanding Josh's explanation, Daenerys nodded in sympathy, having experienced similar hardships herself.
"Well, if you need reliable help... how about I send you some Unsullied?" Daenerys suggested after a moment's thought.
"Unsullied?" Josh was tempted by the idea.
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