RoWE - Chapter 76

Chapter 76: No Trouble Too Big

"What does the letter say?" Tyrion asked curiously.

"It's not good news." Aeg's frown deepened: "As of the sending of this letter, Benjen and his patrol have still not returned to the Black Castle. Mormont has sent out several more groups without finding any trace of them, so he's preparing to organize a large-scale, in-depth reconnaissance to the north. The letter not only wants Yoren to bring the new recruits back to the Wall as soon as possible but also asks me to prepare a batch of weapons that can deal with the wights, cold-weather gear, and portable rations to be sent north."

"Why is it always about the wights?"

Tyrion was puzzled. He really didn't believe in ghost stories, but the two of them were currently partnering in business with considerable honesty. He couldn't think of any reason why Aeg would lie to him about something so irrelevant.

When someone you trust speaks seriously and repeatedly about something you don't believe in, it's rare for even him to be slightly shaken... Shaking his head, the dwarf abandoned his thoughts about the wights and stroked his chin: "That's not right. Our first batch of supplies has already been sent out, and according to the agreement, the next batch should be a month or two later. What's the rush now?"

"The ship probably hasn't reached Eastwatch-by-the-Sea yet, since it's departing from King's Landing." Aeg's expression was solemn, "I need to go and urge the obsidian mine to speed up their work in a couple of days. This is my personal matter, so I won't say more. Let's eat and rest."

***

Aeg just wanted to start a business in King's Landing with Tyrion, live a decent life, and do his own thing, but why couldn't the waves of the plot leave him alone for even a moment?

Benjen Stark's disappearance could be said to be within expectations, but now the situation was different from before. At the Wall, Aeg thought the First Ranger's insistence on going north to search for signs of the wights was just a matter of duty and stubbornness. However, after learning a lot of insider information from Melisandre, his perspective on things changed. He vaguely felt that Benjen's disappearance and transformation into "Coldhands" might also be the arrangement of the "Old Gods" or the Green Seers.

That false god likely needed a servant who, because he was "not alive," didn't need supplies and was "without body heat," making it harder for him to be detected by the wights, to operate north of the Wall to ensure that Bran would still have someone to meet him after passing through the Wall and reaching the lands beyond. Thinking further, the direwolves might have been sent to the Stark children for the same purpose, because their warg abilities needed a medium to be activated... especially Bran, with a direwolf that was far stronger and more sensitive than humans as a companion, the process of heading north to receive his inheritance would be much safer.

***

Aeg pinched his thigh, reminding himself once again of that iron rule: "Everything can be explained by conspiracy theories, but that doesn't mean everything is a conspiracy." Instead of wildly speculating about the supposed arrangements of the Green Seers, it would be better to think about things that haven't happened yet, are related to his own interests, and might still be changed: the large-scale reconnaissance to the north that Mormont was about to organize.

This bold military operation, known as the rangers' expedition, couldn't be considered a wrong decision in itself—with the elite forces accompanying them, the three hundred Night's Watchmen could almost walk sideways beyond the Wall. Without the cooperation and siege of thousands of wildlings, it would be impossible to destroy this group composed of young and strong men, half of whom were professional soldiers. Unfortunately, the expeditionary force encountered not wildlings but an incomprehensible and never-before-seen army of the dead at the Fist of the First Men...

In that battle, the already weakened garrison of the Wall lost almost all of its elite forces, including the rangers, and most of its command structure, leaving only two-thirds of the old, weak, and sick who stayed behind, which could be said to be a serious blow to morale. If it were an ordinary army, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to cancel its designation. Even if they gritted their teeth and persisted, they were almost powerless against the subsequent wildling attacks, barely managing to hold off the first probing assault of the wildlings...

Thinking about this, Aeg's instinctive thought was: Could it be that the Green Seers deliberately facilitated this expedition to weaken the Night's Watch, allowing the wildlings to easily cross the Wall and hide behind it, to prevent the army of the dead from growing stronger?

But he quickly dismissed this thought. He was becoming a bit neurotic due to the existence of these supernatural powers, always inclined to think in that direction. Not to mention that the Green Seers couldn't possibly command the army of the dead. If they wanted the wildlings to enter the Wall, wouldn't it be much simpler to just implant the idea of "letting the free folk pass" into Mormont's mind?

Moreover, from the original plot, these gods' so-called whispers and subconscious nudges might not be as powerful, direct, and effective as he thought—the Green Seers were in a weakened and dying state, and the initiation of this expedition was likely just Mormont's personal idea.

Calm down. What should a rational person think about at this moment?

—Whether this plot has any impact on him, whether he needs to intervene, and if so, how?

From the outcome, the disastrous defeat and retreat of the rangers' expedition, and the subsequent mutiny at Craster's Keep, directly led to the death of the old fox Mormont and the eventual rise of Jon Snow. On one hand, the weakening of the Night's Watch and the ascension of his young friend, who "knows nothing," to power might make it easier for him to increase his influence and voice, paving the way for his departure from the Night's Watch... But on the other hand, the southern part of the plot had already changed due to his intervention, affecting the whole situation. If the War of the Five Kings didn't happen, then Stannis wouldn't be able to rush to the aid of the Wall at a critical moment to repel the wildlings. If the Night's Watch couldn't hold the Wall and were annihilated, allowing the wildlings to enter, what should he, a fish that had slipped through the net and was living comfortably in the south, do?

Wait, if the War of the Five Kings didn't happen, the Northern lords themselves would have the strength and reason to send troops north to help. The wildlings still wouldn't likely achieve their goal of entering the Wall... And the participants would certainly have a say. If these Northern families gathered their armies to defend the Wall, they would inevitably interfere with the Night's Watch. At that time, what should he, the self-proclaimed "Chief Logistics Officer" far away in King's Landing, do? No one could say for sure.

***

After a simple mental simulation, Aeg quickly felt dizzy. There were too many factors that would affect the future development. Analyzing and predicting future situations was the job of large think tanks and national intelligence agencies. It was an impossible task for one person to do the work of a team, not to mention—even those professionals and teams would make mistakes when they should.

He had no ability to preview the future, nor did he have Littlefinger's talent for profiting from chaos. Thinking about these issues was a waste of energy. What should he do? The easiest thing would be to do nothing, follow Mormont's instructions to provide supplies, and then let them fend for themselves...

Suddenly, a scene from the latest season of the television show he had watched before his time travel gave the Night's Watchman inspiration—in the original plot, it wasn't until the War of the Five Kings had concluded, with the dead dead and the fugitives fled, and Daenerys had ended her adventures and trials in the East and returned to Westeros, that Jon Snow foolishly led a group out beyond the Wall to capture a wight and bring it back to King's Landing for all to see, telling them: "Your previous wars were all nonsense. The real enemy is here!"

Because of this stupid and belated expedition beyond the Wall, Daenerys even gifted the Night King a dragon that could destroy the Wall—the scriptwriters made the story develop this way undoubtedly for plot needs and to balance the strength of both sides. But Aeg was different. He wasn't a scriptwriter; he was a time traveler. He didn't care at all about whether his story was exciting. If possible, he wished that none of those heart-stopping stories would happen. He wished to strangle the wights in their nest and not let a single one escape. He wished to live a peaceful life until he died of old age in bed.

If at this critical moment, when history was about to take a turn, the Night's Watch could capture a wight and bring it to King's Landing, showing Robert, who was feasting and enjoying himself in the Red Keep, thinking that bringing his brother Eddard to King's Landing to play the game of thrones for him would solve everything and that the world was still peaceful, what explosive impact would it have on the future?

Since he had decided to change the plot and had already started making trouble, he wasn't afraid to make it big!