RoWE - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Explanation and Retrospection

Whether it was due to sensing the killing intent in Aeg or feeling guilty, the casual look on Melisandre's face faded. She stared silently at Aeg for a moment before finally smiling. "Alright."

The Night's Watch was a crucial force in the battle against the Lord of Light's nemesis, and Aeg was the first member of the Black Cloaks she had encountered since arriving in Westeros. Despite her disdain for mortals, she chose not to offend a potentially important ally so quickly.

The red-robed woman turned and led Aeg to two chairs in the corner of the room, gesturing for him to sit and talk. "Ask away, I'll tell you everything I'm not forbidden to answer by my lord."

Aeg did not hesitate and walked towards one of the chairs. "You said I have the aura of a foreign god. What does that mean?"

"To be precise, you have two auras. One is filled with evil but is extremely weak; the other has residual powerful energy but no malice. Overall, it's quite fortunate that you're still alive today."

"Why do I have these two auras?" Aeg asked, half-believing. He was a materialist, but this was not the world he originally came from, and the woman before him had demonstrated powers he couldn't explain. He decided to approach her words with cautious belief. "I'm just an ordinary Night's Watch soldier."

"No, you're not. I just saw in the flames a scene of you fighting a servant of the Cold God. You were very brave, and it's rare for a mortal to kill such a magical creature. The moment you killed it, you ceased to be an ordinary Night's Watchman. instead, you became one who has caught the attention of the Cold God." Melisandre signaled the guard to leave and close the door. "The evil aura on you is a remnant of that battle. Because of this, you will be detected faster than your other comrades when you appear within the perception range of the Cold God and its servants."

Aeg was taken aback, both by Melisandre's ability to see his past with just a few drops of blood and by the content of her words. He had been noticed by the Cold God, but what was the "Cold God"? The Night King's nickname? Wait, did she really see the scene of him killing a White Walker in the flames, or did she learn about it from letters sent by Eddard Stark or Jeor Mormont to Stannis?

"What about the other 'powerful' aura?" Aeg asked, his mind racing but his expression unchanged. "I did kill a White Walker, but it was the strongest enemy I've ever faced. I only managed to win because of its underestimation of me. if I only picked up a trace of evil from that battle, then to carry an aura you consider 'powerful,' I would have had to fight some kind of monster?"

"The strange thing is here. The being that left the other aura on you is far weaker than the Cold God, but the trace left behind is so obvious. Theoretically, this abnormal situation could only occur if you directly confronted It, or even clashed with It face-to-face. But as a mortal, there's no way you could have survived a battle with such an entity. What's even stranger is. the scene I saw in the flames was of a little boy falling from a very high place. If you want me to explain further, you'll have to tell me what happened there first."

"Can't you see everything? Why do I need to tell you?"

"Seeing past events from the flames isn't as magical as you think," Melisandre explained, waiting for Aeg to sit before taking a seat opposite him. "I put your blood into the flames and saw some things. in this step, it wasn't your blood that mattered, but the two forces contained in your blood. The evil aura was weak, so it only allowed me to see a few brief scenes. I saw your fight with the servant of the Cold God. what you Night's Watch call White Walkers, almost dying together, and the moment you stabbed it with dragonglass. Although that was all I saw, it was enough to explain everything. The other aura, however, was the opposite. It was so strong that it allowed me to see several continuous scenes. You were running around talking to a boy on a roof, and he fell. I couldn't hear your conversation, nor could I analyze the connection with a god, so I need you to elaborate. What were you doing at the time?"

"I was trying to stop." Aeg frowned as he explained, and suddenly a flash of insight hit him, a word instantly popping into his mind: Green Seer!

The transmigrator's heart was stirred by turbulent waves. Failing to prevent Bran from falling was embarrassing, but it taught him a lesson: interfering with the plot must be done in a more subtle way, not by brute force.

Aeg prided himself on learning from failure. But today, after hearing Melisandre's words, he wondered if his failure to change the outcome was not due to poor consideration or a mistake, but rather because he was going against a powerful entity.

It was akin to the stock market: no matter how skilled individual investors were, they couldn't stop the big players from profiting; and no matter how wealthy and well-connected the big players were, they wouldn't dare challenge the national team. When two sides of completely different levels clash, the outcome is predetermined!

Bran's fall wasn't a coincidence; someone or "god" deliberately wanted it to happen!

After much thought, only the Green Seer seemed suspicious. But why did he insist on Bran falling? Would the boy not be able to go beyond the Wall to receive his legacy if he wasn't crippled? Also, that day, the two Lannisters acted as if possessed, having an affair in front of him in the First Keep, and the Stark children were determined to go to the top of the tower to feed the crows. Was all of this the doing of the Green Seer?

Melisandre watched Aeg hesitate, his expression changing and then falling into contemplation, thinking he was hiding something. A shadow of unease flashed across her charming face. "Friend of the Night's Watch, I've been too rude. I haven't even asked your name yet."

"You can call me Aeg."

"Then Aeg, if you know something, it's best to tell me."

The witch was also human, and she had a first impression of things she had only heard about. unlike the people of Westeros who didn't believe in White Walkers, in her eyes, the Night's Watch, stationed at the Wall and standing on the front line against the White Walkers, were definitely tough guys. So, after some thought, she decided to take a softer approach. "The two gods who left their auras on you don't have much power in the south, but they are still beings who could crush you with a finger. Now, only the Lord of Light can protect you."

Aeg was hesitant. He wasn't sure if the "gods" in this world were truly omnipotent transcendent beings as legend had it, or merely more powerful life forms that had mastered magic. But regardless of which, one thing was certain: the Lord of Light, also known as the Red God, was one of the extraordinary powers that truly existed in this world.

If he had to choose a powerful ally, R'hllor's would definitely be strong enough. Under normal circumstances, believing in Him wouldn't be a bad choice, but Aeg faced a problem: he wasn't an ordinary person, he had too many secrets. The saying "no crime for the commoner, but a crime to possess treasure" applied here. If he recklessly threw himself into the arms of a god and could be open and cooperative, that would be fine, but if the "god" coveted the vast amount of knowledge in his mind or was curious about the wider world beyond this one, wanting to squeeze out all the information and then discard or even silence him, he would have no power to resist.

He couldn't even deal with a priestess of the Red God; he wasn't qualified to negotiate with any entity in this domain. Before he had the strength to sit at the same table, entrusting his life to an unknown figure was not wise.

Moreover, he had to consider the identity he had fabricated for himself: a foreigner who had crossed the Sunset Sea, it was already rare to quickly integrate into Westerosi society, so how could he speak so knowledgeably about secrets that even ordinary locals didn't know?

In this cold, cruel world, where incomprehensible supernatural forces exist, caution was definitely not a mistake.

Aeg made a puzzled expression, organized his words slightly, and spoke. "It was during King Robert's visit to the North. I accompanied Benjen Stark, the First Ranger, to report on the movements of the wildlings and White Walkers beyond the Wall. That day, I was training alone in a corner of Winterfell when I saw the second son of Lord Stark climbing a wall. I was afraid he would fall, so I tried to stop him. But the child wouldn't listen no matter what. In the end, he was startled by someone who suddenly popped their head out of the First Keep and fell. But no matter how you look at it, this was just an accident, right? If I offended any god in this process, it could only be because that god wanted Bran to die or be crippled? But what's the point of that?" 

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