Chapter 26: Letterhead

Jon had anticipated these people's tough attitude, so he took out the letter from his arms again, indicating that he wanted to talk to Beric alone.

Beric turned and signaled to Edric, then he and Jon walked to within twenty steps of the group.

Jon handed him the letter and said, "My lord, this is the letter from Lord Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, which authorizes me to leave the Night's Watch."

"My father, Lord Ned, told him to do it."

Beric asked, "Has the Prime Minister realized something? Why did he only let you come?"

Jon said, "No, I cannot tell you the specific arrangements yet, but the soldiers from White Harbor will be arriving soon, and they will travel by water."

"Sir, please at least let me take my father's guards with me."

Jon's words were half true and half false, and Beric already believed them to about 70%.

At the same time, Beric also felt that he might not be able to judge the Mountain this time, and having more or fewer people would not actually make much difference.

He turned to a northern soldier and shouted, "Sir Tomard, follow him back to King's Landing."

Tomard is a lord around Winterfell, and he is responsible for leading this group of northern soldiers.

Seeing that Beric had given the order, he took the others and left the team.

The others were surprised to see Beric suddenly change his mind, thinking that something big must have happened.

If you want to stop or slow down a person's thinking about the truth, the best way is to divert his attention or to fill him with more information to disrupt his thinking.

Jon said to Beric, "Sir, I heard that the Mountain is active in the Mummer's ford area. You must be careful. After all, he is a Lannister, and Lannisters are the most common people in King's Landing."

Beric didn't take the Mountain seriously. He glanced at Jon and said, "Thanks for the reminder. Is there anything else you need?"

Seeing Jon shaking his head, he turned his horse around and returned to the team.

It is not known whether the fate of the Brotherhood Without Banners can be changed this time, but Jon believes that he can't do more. Besides, all of Ned's guards were taken away this time, so at least they will not die there.

Seeing Jon coming towards him, Tomard took the initiative to step forward and asked, "Jon, can you tell me what happened?"

Jon took out what he had just shown to Beric and simply repeated his words.

"Lord Tomard, we must rush to King's Landing as soon as possible, and at the same time, we must keep it secret as much as possible. There are many spies near King's Landing, and we must not let others know our whereabouts!"

When Tomard saw Beric and his group following Jon, he no longer had any doubts.

Although Jon is just an illegitimate child, he is also Ned's illegitimate child. Moreover, as a guard of Winterfell, he knows Ned's attitude towards Jon.

The education he received in Winterfell was exactly the same as Robb's. Ned also found a swordsmanship master for Jon, which shows that Ned liked his "illegitimate son" very much.

Tomard did not dare to be careless, so he gave the command of the team to Jon.

Seeing that the situation was finally developing in the direction he hoped, he also knew that now was not the time to refuse or act pretentiously.

Jon turned to the others and said:

"Everyone, time is running out. We'd better be back to King's Landing before sunset the day after tomorrow."

After hearing what Jon said, the Northern soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment. It had taken them nearly five days to walk from King's Landing to here, and now Jon asked them to turn back in less than three days. They couldn't even imagine such an intensity of march.

Tomard frowned even more, feeling that Jon was giving blind orders.

"Jon, you may not know that it's four or five days' journey from here to King's Landing. It's impossible for us to get there in three days."

Unexpectedly, Jon ripped open his trouser leg in front of them, revealing the bandage wrapped around his thigh.

"Everyone, how long did it take you to walk from Winterfell to King's Landing? One and a half months? Do you know how long it took me? Ten days."

Seeing their shocked looks, Jon continued

"During these ten days, I ate and drank on horseback. Except for peeing and taking a one or two hour break every day, I traveled almost non-stop day and night. You are all the most trusted guards of Lord Stark, so I think you must be better than me."

Jon first made his attitude clear, and then praised them so that his proposal could not be refused.

Tomard and others are now moved by Jon's desperate spirit. He is not just rushing on the road, he is simply risking his life.

Only then did they realize that although Jon was thin, he had a bright gaze, and his back was straight, like a standing spear.

Pirp on the side was even more shocked. He never thought that the bloodstain on Jon's pants came from that place.

"Oh my god, ten days from Winterfell to the Crownlands, I'm afraid my dick will be broken!"

Pilp was so shocked that his mouth was wide open. He thought that if it were him, his bones would have fallen apart by now. If he continued to travel as Jon did, he would not be able to last two days, let alone ten days.

"Wait, this guy is going to take me with him when he returns to King's Landing."

'Seven Gods, let him forget me.'

Pirp prayed silently in his heart, but Jon turned his head and looked at him. Their eyes met and Pirp felt a chill down his spine.

"You come with us, or I'll kill you if you run away!"

The reason for bringing this guy along is to make Ned realize the seriousness of the situation. If he can see Pilp as a witness, then the subsequent work will be much easier.

What Pilp didn't know was that a few years later, after being made a baron, he would be extremely grateful that Jon forced him to travel in such a deadly way.

What made him even more fortunate was that Jon killed Poppy and then put the sword to his own neck instead of the other way around.

More than twenty people traveled day and night. To be honest, they had not experienced such a forced march for a long time. They were indeed a little overwhelmed at the beginning, but when they saw Jon gritting his teeth and not saying a word, they all thought that they should at least not embarrass themselves in front of a child who was less than fifteen years old, so they all persisted.

At the same time, in order to conceal their whereabouts, Jon asked them to put away the Stark's direwolf flags and take the less crowded paths as much as possible.

There was no way. He remembered that when Catelyn came to King's Landing with a Valyrian dagger, Littlefinger knew the news almost immediately and sent someone to meet her.

Jon was worried that he might have spies nearby, so he tried to be as cautious as possible.

Along the way, Tomard and others kept sighing at Jon's energy, and at the same time they also believed that he had reached King's Landing in ten days.

About three days later, the few people saw the outline of King's Landing and smelled the unique salty smell of the sea in the air.

"Sir Tomard."

Jon called out.

"You lead some of the men around to the Mud Gate (River Gate), and I will lead the others to the King's Gate. Lord Stannis will send his men by then."

It has come to a critical moment, Jon must keep these people steady...