RoWE - Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Night's Watchman Aegon

To avoid the attention of the Gold Cloaks, Aeg and Yoren deliberately chose a spot outside the city walls for their clandestine transaction. As soon as the question was asked, the surroundings fell silent—in an era with a single-digit literacy rate, "people who can read and write" were not exactly scarce but also not abundant. Those in the Night's Watch who met this criterion were either volunteers like Benjen Stark and Jon Snow or unlucky individuals like Alliser Thorne who were forced to don the black after choosing the wrong side in a war. But now was a time of peace, so how could there be such individuals here, led by a crow to the Wall?

There was absolutely no one among the dozen or so Night's Watch recruits who could read—except for Jaqen H'ghar.

Without suspense, after a few seconds of silence, a gentle male voice slowly spoke up.

"Someone happens to know some of the writings of Westeros."

Someone, someone, can't you just say "I"?

Although Aeg couldn't help but silently complain, he understood that Jaqen's behavior was not for show but to hide his identity from Braavos: He had disguised himself as a Lorathi noble to infiltrate King's Landing, and in Lorath, the upper class considered referring to oneself as "I" to be extremely vulgar, only using "someone" instead.

Although he was annoyed, Aeg could only pretend not to notice the Faceless Man's pretentiousness—Jaqen's response indicated that his mission was not at the Wall, and he didn't want to make a detour to the far north only to return.

"You can read?" Aeg also played his role diligently. He took out a slip of paper and held it up to the cage: "What does it say?"

"Night's Watch... office?" Jaqen squinted at it and gave the correct answer: "Night's Watch office."

"Very good," Aeg put away the paper and turned to Yoren: "What crime did he commit?"

Don't you know? Yoren rolled his eyes at Aeg, but since he had taken a gold dragon from the other, cooperating in this little play wasn't too much to ask. As a crow, he was much more clever than most of the Night's Watch: "He was caught reading the king's books."

"Reading the king's books?" Aeg raised his eyebrows and looked at Jaqen: "What book?"

"Books about dragons. Someone has always been curious about these powerful magical creatures. Valyria is already destroyed, and only Westeros might have information about dragons."

This answer was too vague, and there was no way to know if it was true: "Just for that, he's being sent to the Wall?"

Yoren didn't know how to respond, so he just shook his head: "Who knows, it's not up to me."

"Since he's not a murderer, then it's settled." Aeg made a satisfied expression. Who knows how many people Jaqen had killed, probably more than everyone present combined. But as long as he didn't intend to harm him, who cared? They just needed a way out: "Before I let you out, I need you to make some promises—I believe books are meant to be read, and your crime isn't heinous. If you ever want to leave and go home, that's fine. But before I find someone else to replace you, you must work diligently at the office for a while... Also, before you decide to leave, you must inform me and pay a suitable ransom. Do you agree?"

"Someone agrees."

"Very good, make an oath."

"Someone swears by the new and old gods—"

"Stop, I'm not from Westeros, and I don't believe in the new or old gods." Aeg suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "There is only one true god in this world, and that is death. Swear by the name of the Lord of Death, and in addition to the above, you must also promise never to harm the interests of the Night's Watch."

Under Aeg's gaze, Jaqen hesitated noticeably before slowly speaking: "Someone—Jaqen H'ghar, swears by the Lord of Death that I will never harm the interests of the Night's Watch. Before I must leave, I will serve the Night's Watch with all my heart and ensure that I inform the Night's Watch before leaving and pay the ransom."

...

（Good guy, so this kid was thinking about the ransom? How cunning, compared to ransoms of dozens or hundreds, a gold dragon is nothing!）Yoren realized with a grumble, but he understood that this money would never come to him, a crow, so he held back from showing his displeasure.

Aeg didn't know what his brother in black was thinking. He only noticed that Jaqen had quietly changed the oath—"before I must leave"? Who knows if Jaqen would have to leave immediately to carry out his mysterious mission? Maybe he would find Aeg before nightfall, tell him he had to leave, and then leave some money behind before walking away.

However, the fact that the other party was playing tricks with the details of the oath indicated that he at least didn't intend to ignore it. Aeg hadn't planned to keep him anyway, and without high expectations, he naturally turned a blind eye to his little tricks. Aeg could force Jaqen to swear eternal loyalty to the Night's Watch, but just like Aeg himself had made the same oath and now was thinking of leaving: When forced to make an obviously unreasonable oath, people also have a reason to break it.

And for a high-level spy from Braavos, changing his name and claiming that Jaqen was dead would naturally break the oath.

***

"Alright, let him out."

Why does it feel like I'm your subordinate? Yoren glared at Aeg and handed him the key. "Do it yourself, I need to watch the other two." With that, the crow drew his sword: "Whoever dares to run, I'll kill them. Swords don't have eyes!"

If he has to do it himself, then so be it. Back in his previous life, the other two in the cage might have scared Aeg, but now he was a Night's Watch warrior who had stood guard on the Wall and killed wights in the Haunted Forest. A year as a ranger had transformed his physical and mental qualities. With a sword-wielding colleague by his side, if he still feared two prisoners firmly controlled by shackles, then his time as a soldier would have been in vain.

Looking straight at the three men in the cage, Aeg calmly walked to the door, opened the lock briskly, and pulled open the cage door.

Jaqen bent down and climbed out of the cage, jumping to the ground and standing steadily. The other two prisoners growled from the depths of their throats, ready to rush out, but were ultimately forced back into the corner of the cage by Yoren's flashing sword. Aeg calmly locked the door again, removed the shackles from Jaqen's hands and feet, and threw the key back to Yoren, who sheathed his sword. Aeg clapped his hands.

...

"Put on the black clothes." Aeg took out a prepared bundle and threw it to Jaqen: "From now until you leave, you are a member of the Night's Watch. Consider yourself lucky that you don't have to go to the Wall to deal with those ghostly things in the north, but it's best to change the name you used when you went to prison... Hmm... Let's call you Aegon, how about that."

"Someone has no objection."

"No objection is good... Well then, Yoren, and all future brothers of the oath, may your journey be smooth." Aeg looked at the remaining dozen people and bid them farewell loudly, mounting his horse to return.

"My lord, do you need any other helpers? I can do anything except read and write!" someone from the remaining recruits shouted. Although everyone was still unclear about what the Wall was like, it didn't take a genius to figure out that life there would be much harder than in King's Landing.

Can do anything... For tasks like sweeping and guarding the office, wouldn't it be better to hire locals from King's Landing with clean backgrounds instead of picking you thieves? Aeg smiled and politely declined the speaker's suggestion: "Let's go, Aegon."

...

Aeg hadn't prepared a separate horse for Jaqen, so the two had to ride back to the city together on the same horse. Riding with a Faceless Man was undoubtedly a unique experience: Even though he knew the other party was no threat, you couldn't help but suspect that the man behind you might pull a dagger from somewhere and stab you in the stomach... By the time they finally returned to the office in the eastern part of the city, Aeg found his legs were actually a bit weak when he dismounted.

Bringing his newly acquired, and who knows how long he'll be useful, subordinate back into the office, he found quite a few people waiting for him.