"For a port city, a drop in trade volume is undoubtedly a massive blow."
"If we drive these merchants away, caravans from other Free Cities will stop coming. We won't need anyone to attack us; we'll collapse on our own," Viserys said calmly.
God knows, although Mouse_Is_Duck was a rich second-generation kid in real life, he only knew how to spend money. He knew absolutely nothing about this stuff.
After Viserys's explanation, Mouse_Is_Duck slowly realized the gravity of the situation.
If Viserys fell, leaving aside whether it would disrupt his gaming experience, who else would appoint him as an Intelligence Assistant?
Having been a Spy Chief for just one day, Mouse_Is_Duck was already addicted to the thrill of arresting anyone he pleased.
The feeling power gave him was something his "rich kid" status in reality could never compare to.
Besides, the Secret Police had already pocketed 300,000 Gold Dragons. It wasn't like he had to return his own money. So, Mouse_Is_Duck didn't really resist.
He immediately took his men and returned the remaining seven or eight hundred thousand Gold Dragons to the merchants.
"Sigh." Watching his retreating figure, Viserys shook his head.
"Your Grace, what about these..." Ser Jorah looked at the remaining Gold Dragons and asked the King how to handle them.
"Seal the rest in the treasury," Viserys said. He had zero guilt about keeping the Magisters' money. "However, it is time to find a Master of Coin."
Viserys muttered the last part to himself.
The remaining gold was still nearly a million dragons. That was a substantial sum. He really needed someone with financial acumen to manage this wealth for him.
He vaguely recalled from the original story that a knight buying a good warhorse, plus a full set of armor, only cost a few Gold Dragons.
This proved the purchasing power of the Gold Dragon was incredibly strong.
A million Gold Dragons was enough to hire tens of thousands of mercenaries and a massive fleet.
The first person Viserys thought of was Littlefinger. That guy was indeed a talent, but unfortunately, there was no way he would defect to Viserys right now.
I wonder if there are any talents like that among the players?
---
The 400 new players who had successfully registered for the beta logged in the next day, chattering excitedly.
It was the usual "Holy crap," "Awesome," and "This is insane" triple combo.
Except this time, there were quite a few "Oh my Gods" mixed in.
Viserys did a rough count. There were about thirty or forty foreigners.
Wait, that's not quite right. To him right now, everyone here was a foreigner.
They were all "visitors."
Facing the new players, Viserys used his old routine.
The new players dutifully stood there, letting his speech go in one ear and out the other.
The fact that these new players successfully registered wasn't entirely random. Viserys had secretly manipulated the process. For those who screamed about entering the game to murder and pillage, Viserys lowered their success rate—like making the website lag when they tried to register.
For those who discussed the lore or seemed relatively controllable, Viserys secretly boosted their success rate.
Therefore, while he couldn't say these 400 players would go East if he pointed East, at least when he issued quests with rewards dangling in front of them, most would be willing to work.
As for the few troublemakers mixed in, Viserys had ways to deal with them.
For example, when the new players were choosing guilds...
Just as the Brotherhood Without Banners and the Grenadier Corps were ready to recruit, Viserys stepped forward and announced the establishment of the Royal Kingsguard Knights. The Commander would be the player Roland.
He also announced the establishment of the Royal Enforcement Squad, with the player Jump_Off_Train_Halfway as Captain.
The Royal Kingsguard Knights were essentially the Emperor's personal army.
The Royal Enforcement Squad's duties, however, conflicted somewhat with the Secret Police.
For instance, the Enforcement Squad also had the authority to investigate high-ranking nobles and officials, as well as counter-espionage duties.
Viserys did this intentionally. If the players were always united as one, how could he, the number one NPC with only one life, ever relax?
Aside from that, the most important duty of the Enforcement Squad was the authority to arrest players who violated military discipline.
"Killing without orders, indiscriminate destruction, and indiscriminate arson after occupying an enemy city are all included."
And the power Viserys granted the Enforcement Squad next shocked all the players present.
The Captain of the Enforcement Squad, Jump_Off_Train_Halfway, held the Cooldown Power over players deemed to have violated military discipline!
For those confirmed to have violated discipline, Train had the right to impose a cooldown penalty: a maximum of three months of in-game time, and a minimum of 24 hours of real-world time.
Viserys turned and left after his announcement, leaving the players buzzing with discussion.
Of course, Viserys intentionally gave the Secret Police extra-legal immunity. Crafting/Life-skill players were also excluded, because if they broke the law, the Enforcement Squad would simply announce the confiscation of their properties and funds.
That's right, the Enforcement Squad would announce it. How could Viserys publicly announce a player's punishment himself? That would just draw player aggro. What if a player felt it was unfair and decided to pull an "Allahu Akbar" right in front of him one day?
If players wanted to hold a grudge, let them hate the Enforcement Squad!
As the saying goes: Let the heroes fight the heroes; let the tough guys fight the tough guys!
Most of the 400 new players were divided among the four groups present, except for a few determined solo players or small pre-organized guilds.
The Royal Kingsguard Knights and the Royal Enforcement Squad were officially "open for business" immediately.
The new players were well-behaved. People are like that; if you set the rules from the start, they tend not to break them.
As for the veteran players... the Secret Police continued to act like tyrants of the streets. They loved this feeling too much.
Until they got bored of it, the citizens of Pentos were in for a rough time.
On their first day, the Enforcement Squad members watched from a distance as the Secret Police ran wild.
A few Secret Police agents, under their Director's secret orders, even went up to provoke them, but the Enforcement Squad members remained unmoved.
But when other players tried to follow suit, the Enforcement Squad swarmed them.
On that very day, they caught three unlucky bastards who tried to test the law.
Viserys watched every move of the players in the city through the System interface.
If you want players to obey, the first step is to give them work. The second step is to make sure they can't unite.
If you guys are all buddy-buddy, it makes my job as King really hard!
As for the innocent citizens of Pentos, His Grace could only say: Suffer a little longer for the greater good.
Days passed like this.
The Enforcement Squad had successfully intimidated most players on the first day by making an example of the few. A small number of rebellious players still caused trouble secretly, and thanks to the Enforcement Squad being understaffed and overworked, most of them got away with it.
The Secret Police continued to play the role of street tyrants. The wealthy merchants of the city didn't dare step foot outside their homes, terrified of being dragged into the Icebox for torture.
The common citizens were equally terrified. It got to the point where one day, when Viserys took Daenerys out for a walk, the entire street was lined with citizens "welcoming" them.
The sight of them jumping up and down with raised hands shouting "Long Live the King" made Viserys return home with a dark face.