Didn't Tyrion go find the young man making paper? How could he be here right now, and even successfully make his first deal? Also, the two of them clearly agreed to start this after the seal arrived, so why did they start early?
A pile of questions clogged his mind, but overall, fundraising was also a form of doing business, and for a businessman, having customers show up was never a bad thing, no matter what.
Stopping the adventure story he was telling, Aegon stood up, pushed the door open, left the "office," and came to the outer room of the office.
Against the backdrop of the Little Imp's familiar short stature, a figure Aegon knew appeared so tall and imposing, so much to his surprise.
"Ser Jaime!"
"Little Imp!"
Along with Aegon's surprised voice, Arya's cheerful and excited cry also rang out simultaneously.
***
Amazing, the Night's Watch Office, which hadn't even opened yet, was truly filled with big names at this moment: Tyrion and Jaime, two important figures from the Lannister family, and Arya, the youngest daughter of the Stark family, along with several guards wearing the attire of both the Stark and Lannister families... For a moment, Aegon thought he hadn't transmigrated but had stumbled into the backstage of the *Game of Thrones* set.
...
Watching Arya run out from the inner room of the Night's Watch Office, Tyrion was no less surprised than Aegon was at recognizing Jaime. He didn't like being called by his nickname to his face, but there was naturally nothing to fuss about with a little girl, so he greeted her in a friendly and open manner: "Good afternoon, Arya, what are you doing here?"
"I'm learning swordplay from my Master."
"You, learning swordplay?"
Ten-year-old Arya was already about the same height as Tyrion; the two of them started chatting, while the conversation between Jaime and Aegon also began.
...
"What exactly do you want?"
Jaime frowned, not hiding his inner irritation at all: Whenever he recalled the mess that happened in Winterfell, he felt a bit unreal—he and Cersei had always been careful with their affair, which was why Robert hadn't found out for so many years, but that day, he didn't know what nerve in his head had burned out, to actually dare to continue their tryst even after being seen. That would have been one thing, but then, just his luck, he scared that Stark child into falling.
(You Night's Watchman who knows too much, why aren't you staying properly at The Wall waiting to die? What are you doing running to King's Landing?)
Aegon heard the Kingslayer's subtext and inwardly cursed that things were bad. He had originally planned to avoid other important plot characters and quietly make a fortune, but who would have thought Tyrion would directly bring his older brother over? Although he himself had suggested Tyrion start with people close to him, this... was a bit too "close."
He couldn't show weakness, nor could he let Jaime think he was here to extort him. After some thought, Aegon could only play it cool: "I am here under the orders of the Night's Watch Commander to raise grain and military supplies in King's Landing to resist the Wildlings."
(I'm not here to trouble you two dogs and bitches; I'm here on official business.)
"Hmph, the Night's Watch has so many people, and they just happened to pick you. What a coincidence."
(Give me a break, who believes that?)
"I am honored that the Commander thinks highly of me. The logistics work of the Night's Watch is currently entirely my responsibility."
(I'm telling the truth, believe it or not.)
"Alright, since Tyrion is your friend, give me a copy of your whatever-it-is bond."
(Consider me unlucky, can I just pay to get rid of this trouble?)
"Excellent, then please come in and take a seat, Ser Jaime. I will explain the trading rules, returns, and other details of the Night's Watch Bonds to you."
(If you don't believe it, fine. I'm not going to turn down money.)
...
While dealing with Arya, who was overly interested in the Dwarf, Tyrion didn't miss the conversation between Aegon and his brother. It sounded normal, but why did it feel like something was off?
"Alright, alright, Arya, you'll have plenty of chances to meet me in the future. Can we let you and your Master handle your business today?"
"Okay, what are you guys doing? What are Night's Watch Bonds?"
"Come in, you'll understand if you listen." Aegon rubbed his head and invited the few people into the office with a headache. He moved stools and chairs so that everyone, including Arya, could sit down.
"No need for much explanation, isn't it one hundred golden dragons per copy? Just tell me how many copies you want me to buy."
(Stop playing so many tricks. How much money will it take for you to shut up?)
Whether he was overthinking or it was an illusion, Aegon always felt like he and Jaime could understand each other's unspoken thoughts. Just as he was thinking about how to respond, Tyrion interrupted their subtextual communication with a puzzled voice: "What's wrong, Jaime? Didn't you say this afternoon that you had nothing to do today? Why do you look so impatient now that you're here?"
"Nothing." Jaime crossed his arms over his chest and sighed: "I just get inexplicably annoyed whenever I see someone wearing black."
"How come I didn't know you had this problem?" Tyrion rolled his eyes.
"Just got it." Jaime looked at Aegon, then at another brat from the Stark family: "Can't you let your apprentice go play for a bit?"
"Why?" Arya pouted in protest: "What's going on that's so sneaky!"
"It's fine, let her stay here." Aegon shook his head. Actually, he didn't really want Arya to get deeply involved with the Night's Watch Bonds, but it wasn't a secret itself, and they were just getting to know each other, which was a critical period for building relationships. If he forcefully chased her out and locked her outside, this curious child getting emotional was secondary. If she went back and told Eddard that he was having a "secret meeting" with two Lannisters in the room, that would be bad. "So, next, I will explain the detailed rules of this Night's Watch bond to Ser Jaime."
...
After several rounds of discussion and revisions over the past few days, the mature version of the detailed bond rules had already been released. Based on minor modifications to the original content, they added some supplementary clauses and, at the very bottom, included a very common, but actually invalid, rogue clause from the world he was in before transmigrating: The Night's Watch retains the final right of interpretation for this bond.
In front of Jaime and Arya, Aegon read out the rules one by one according to the instructions and explained them clearly. The second daughter of the Stark family listened carefully with a face full of curiosity at first, but soon yawned and lost interest. The Kingslayer, on the other hand, initially looked impatient but became serious as he listened.
"If you came to King's Landing this time without money and needed to borrow some temporarily, that would be understandable. But listening to your explanation, it's clearly a long-term borrowing. Why didn't your Commander send someone to bring the money? From The Wall to King's Landing, traveling by horse, it would take at least a month, wouldn't it?"
He hit the nail on the head immediately. Aegon was a little surprised. He had thought that Jaime before losing his hand was just a simple-minded and impulsive fellow, but who would have thought he had a clear head too?
"Ser Jaime is one of us, so I won't hide it from you. The Night's Watch is facing a huge threat and urgently needs a large amount of military supplies... And the long summer is ending, the Northern Lords have also begun preparing for winter, so they can't fully support The Wall for the time being. We can only find all sorts of ways, swallow our pride, and get through this period first. We'll deal with what comes later, later."
"You can't possibly repay the money in a short time, so you can only rely on interest to keep the creditors waiting and repay slowly over a long period? But money borrowed by the King is guaranteed by the state treasury. What guarantees money borrowed by the Night's Watch?"
Jaime was Tyrion's brother, but after all, they weren't the same person. Naturally, he couldn't tell him the core secret. Having said this much, it was almost enough.
Tyrion interjected to help out: "This loan is collateralized by The Gift and all assets of the Night's Watch, and guaranteed by the Hand of the King and me. Anyway, that's what we'll claim publicly. In reality, Aegon and I plan to stir something up and make a big score in King's Landing to solve the subsequent problems."
"Make a big score? I never knew you could do business."
"Hmph, you'll be very surprised when the time comes. Just tell me if you'll support me."
Jaime smiled. He finally somewhat believed that Aegon wasn't here in King's Landing to blackmail him: "Of course I'll support you. You are my dearest younger brother, after all. I'll buy two hundred copies just to show my support. If you succeed, great. If you don't, you don't have to repay it. Consider it a donation to the Night's Watch. But don't keep borrowing endlessly."
After speaking, he looked at Aegon, his eyes clearly saying: (Consider this hush money for you, fellow. Don't be insatiable.)
The Night's Watchman was helpless about this, shrugged slightly, and didn't make futile explanations, lest he make things worse.
"Alright then, let's start filling out the bonds."
"Jack went to get the seal and hasn't come back yet, what should we do?"
"Fingerprints will do, no need for so much trouble." Tyrion waved his hand, took out the blank bonds he had copied from the drawer, dipped a quill pen in ink, and began to write.
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