Chapter 7: Ned: "Let him go back..."

In King's Landing, the capital of the crown territory and the capital of Westeros, the Tower of the Hand of the King is located next to the famous throne hall.

The Hand of the King's Tower, as the name suggests, is where a country's Hand of the King handles government affairs. It also serves as part of the functions of the Hand of the King's official residence. Ned handles government affairs in it.

Since the day he arrived in King's Landing, Ned has hardly had a moment of leisure.

He never imagined that Robert, who had been king for more than ten years, had never properly handled state affairs for even a single day.

After the death of Jon Arryn, the country's former Hand of the King and Robert's adoptive father, several months of government affairs had been piled up on his desk.

It is said that Robert would get a headache just by looking at all these official duties, so as soon as Arryn was buried, he rushed to the North without stopping to invite himself to be his Hand of the King.

Moreover, not long after he arrived, he was about to hold a martial arts tournament. He found that Robert seemed to have no concept of money, spending money like water, and had no idea what moderation was. It turned out that the royal family had already been heavily in debt.

They actually owed the Lannisters millions of gold dragons! When Ned thought about the mess he had taken over, he felt his head swelling.

He rubbed his tired eyes, put on his cloak and prepared to return to his residence. He looked outside and saw that the noise could not be stopped even at night. For some reason, he felt a strong sense of crisis.

"Lord Stark, your letter came from the Wall."

The speaker was Jory Cassel, who had been the captain of the garrison at Winterfell for nearly ten years and now came to King's Landing as Ned's personal guard.

Ned took the letter from him, his expression relaxed a little, and while cutting the envelope with a letter opener, he asked, "No news from home recently?"

The home that Ned was referring to was naturally Winterfell. Jory was different from the others. When Ned and Catelyn got married, he was the one who took the lead in making a scene in the bridal chamber and tore Catelyn's skirt. He has long been as close to Ned as a family. In Bran's eyes, he is an interesting uncle just like Benjen Stark.

Jory shook his head. "No... Well, I don't know what happened to Bran."

When it comes to Bran, both of them feel heavy in their hearts. This poor child first fell from a height and became unconscious, and then was assassinated...

But now, in addition to Bran, there is another child that makes him worried, and that is Jon on the Wall.

He believed that Jon's willingness to put on black clothes and become a member of the Night's Watch was indeed an option for him to live a good life.

Although he didn't understand Lyanna's intention in naming Jon Aegon, if she wanted him to restore the Targaryen kingdom, he really couldn't do anything about it. As long as Jon could live a good life, he thought he had lived up to his sister's wishes.

Walking out of his study and passing by the long table in the Hand of the King's reception room that was large enough to accommodate two hundred people for meetings, Ned opened the envelope and read it as he walked, his expression becoming more and more solemn until his eyebrows were almost twisted together.

He originally thought that the letter was Jeor Mormont's report on the recent situation on the Wall, but he didn't expect it to be about Jon, and it caused such a big commotion!

Seeing that Ned seemed to be in a strange state, Jory asked with concern, "What happened, sir?"

But Ned seemed not to hear it. He stared at the word "departure" on the envelope, wondering if Jeor Mormont was covering up for him.

For thousands of years, there has been no such thing as leaving the Wall. In his opinion, Jon was most likely to have "escaped", which meant that his illegitimate son had become a "deserter".

Ned's hands were shaking as he held the letter. He had just chopped off the head of a Night's Watch deserter not long ago. Could it be that the child he had protected for so many years at the cost of his honor would eventually die in his own hands because of something like this?

Ned felt a little dizzy and held on to the table with his hands, unable to calm down for a long time.

Seeing that Ned seemed to be in a strange state, Jory asked with concern, "What happened, sir?"

Ned did not answer him immediately, but fell into thought. He thought that Jon joining the Night's Watch was a good choice, so that he could at least live his life without being threatened.

Ned thought about it and felt that he still had a chance to save Jon's life. That was to ask the Greatjon of Hearthfort to send people to stop him before he ran far.

Ned was well aware of the noble divisions in the North. He chose the Greatjon because they were closest to the Wall and because he was loyal to him enough.

So Ned returned to his study, picked up a pen and paper. He estimated that Jon should not have arrived at Hearthtown yet, so he could ask the Greatjon, the lord of Hearthtown, to stop him and send him back to the Wall.

Ned sealed the envelope with wax and handed it to Jory. "Tell the maester to take this letter to Hearth."

Seeing Ned's big reaction, Jory stopped asking questions, took the envelope, and trotted off to find the maester in charge of sending and receiving ravens.

Watching Jory leave, Ned sat down in the chair somewhat tiredly.

In fact, with the assistance of bureaucrats in government affairs, he was not too tired. What worried him was Bran and Catelyn. Under the guidance of Littlefinger, he had begun to believe that the death of his adoptive father, Arryn, might be closely related to the Lannisters.

And before Ned came to King's Landing, the letter from Arryn's widow Lysa seemed to point to this.

He glanced at the item under the table again. Not long ago, his wife Caitlin had taken the dragon bone dagger belonging to the little devil. Now he had all the physical evidence.

Ned decided to find time to talk to Littlefinger Baelish again to see if he could get any useful advice.

...

Jon walked for a long time. When he climbed up a high slope again and looked back, he saw the Wall, which looked like it was made of white ice and snow, standing in the north like a shining sword.

Just then, a white shadow appeared in Jon's peripheral vision. It was Jon's wolf, Ghost.

Because it is too cold north of the Great Wall and there are fewer prey, Ghost spends most of his time "hunting" south of the Great Wall.

Jon got off his horse, stroked him for a while, and gave him a catchy name - Ghost. Ghost didn't care how Jon called him, he only cared that the cake in Jon's hand tasted really good.

Seeing that Ghost was eating happily, Jon decided to take a short break and took out the dagger that Old Bark had given him to check.

He pulled the dagger out of the cowhide sheath and found that the dagger was black!

'Dragonglass Dagger'!

This word popped into Jon's mind. Dragonglass is a magical material in this world, just like Valyrian steel. Using it to make weapons can have both strong toughness and rigidity.

To put it simply, it is not only sharp but also not easy to break.

At the same time, because of its excellent elasticity, the "dragonglass bow" made of dragonglass is also extremely precious, and its value far exceeds the same quality of gold!

Carefully putting away the card, Jon closed his eyes again and felt the changes that the experience card brought to him.

He discovered yesterday that after the trial card expired, it did not mean that he was back to square one, but it still left him with something.

For example, the body aches caused by carrying supplies have completely disappeared. At the same time, he also feels that his physical strength has increased a lot, roughly estimated to be one third. This is the change that makes Jon most happy, because it means that after he uses up all three experience cards, his strength will double.

You have to know that for ordinary people who want to gain strength, apart from the rapid progress in the initial period, if they want to make any further progress, they have to rely on time.

This experience card undoubtedly gave Jon a shortcut to quickly enhance his martial arts. Not only that, Jon discovered that he seemed to have some unique insights in slaughtering pigs.

'It seems that this system is much more useful than I thought.'

Jon was in a very happy mood after receiving the unexpected surprise. Not long after, he saw a low village. This was the human settlement closest to the Great Wall. Because the residents here liked to dig holes and live underground, it was also called Mole Village.

At the same time, the lifestyle of the people here is very ancient and primitive, and the population is becoming increasingly scarce. Jon was worried about encountering unnecessary troubles traveling alone, and he still had enough food on him, so he just passed by without stopping.

Two days later, Jon arrived near Queencrown, a completely abandoned town named after a Targaryen queen who once stayed there.

Jon's target is the Hearth Castle of the House Umber. He plans to replenish supplies there. He plans to take the water route along the Riverland to reach the crown territory, and then walk a distance to King's Landing.

Considering that Catelyn was intercepted by Littlefinger almost as soon as she arrived in King's Landing, Jon was worried that Littlefinger would know his whereabouts in advance, so he wanted to use this method to bypass his eyes as much as possible.

Although he left the Wall, most people now thought he was going to Winterfell. However, his actual goal was to go to King's Landing, so he chose to go south secretly and try not to let anyone know where he was going.

However, what Jon didn't know was that a raven letter about to fly from King's Landing would disrupt his plans.