That night, in the four-story watchtower.
"Send this letter to my aunt, Lady Allyria." In his room, Arthur handed a sealed letter to Jimmy Sunderland. "Give this one to Maester Oswell and have him send a raven to Beacon Tower."
Jimmy carefully tucked the letters away. "Understood."
Not long after Jimmy left, a servant knocked on the door and brought in dinner.
Tonight's main course was the flatbread favored by Dornish nobility, purple olives, a whole roasted goat, and a pot of creamy crucian carp soup boiled until the broth was white.
Naturally, he couldn't finish so much food alone.
Every night, Arthur invited Ser Bard (responsible for guarding the tower), Stone-Drum (the chieftain of the Stone-Goat Tribe responsible for supervision), and Quentyn (the chief architect) to join him for dinner. He listened to their reports on the wildling captives and the bridge construction.
Besides them, there was also the giant vulture in the cage in the corner of the room.
Arthur held a roasted goat leg carved by the servant and stood before the vulture's cage.
Seeing him, the vulture huddled in the corner, wings tucked in, its sharp eyes fixed on the leg of meat in his hand.
At the table, Ser Bard tore several ribs from the roast goat. "Arthur, when do you think this vulture will yield?"
Chieftain Stone-Drum sipped his Summerwine. "My Lord, though I have never tamed an eagle, I know the way of shepherding."
"When shepherding, if you meet stubborn sheep, you must beat them hard."
"Especially those that dare to resist. If they won't behave, kill them and eat the meat. Taming a hawk is much the same. You cannot be as soft-hearted as you are, My Lord."
Arthur shook his head. "I have a kind heart. I can never bring myself to be ruthless."
Hearing this, the corner of Stone-Drum's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He nearly sprayed out his Summerwine.
He had witnessed this "kind-hearted" lord on the battlefield—a slaughtering god, charging seven times into the wildling ranks, cutting men down like grass.
When managing the captives, Stone-Drum deliberately used the fierce reputation of this "Killing God" to cow the disobedient wildlings into submission.
Wildlings were hard to tame, but they respected strength above all else.
It was thanks to My Lord's presence here that the captives remained so docile.
Arthur tossed the goat leg, with one bite taken out of it, into the cage and returned to the table.
Inside the cage, the vulture didn't eat immediately. It waited until Arthur had moved away and wasn't looking directly at it before it began to tear and peck at the meat.
At the table, Quentyn was the first to report on the bridge construction.
"My Lord, after the cofferdam piles are driven, the construction area is limited. To be honest, I don't need that many hands."
"The situation now is that most of the men are idle on the bank. I've directed them to process the stone and timber for the bridge deck into specified sizes of bricks and sleepers."
Arthur didn't speak immediately, dipping his flatbread into the crucian carp soup.
He had seen clearly from the tower what Quentyn meant about having too many hands.
He had previously intended to send the wildling captives to Violet Canyon to participate in the construction there.
But Violet Canyon was too close to the Red Mountains, and it was a wilderness with no established camp for management.
Arthur worried the captives might riot or escape, so he kept them on the east bank for training and discipline, forbidding them from crossing the river.
"Chieftain Stone-Drum, how is the training going?" Arthur swallowed his bread and looked at the Stone-Goat leader. "I asked you to categorize the captives based on their behavior, attitude towards atonement, and the severity of their crimes. How is that progressing?"
Stone-Drum: "We've done it. As per your request, My Lord, I have selected over a hundred men."
"They have never attempted to escape, obey orders well, and their crimes were relatively minor."
Arthur looked at Ser Bard.
Ser Bard put down his ribs and wiped his greasy hands. "It is as Stone-Drum says. He separated the well-behaved wildlings from the others and gave them better food rations."
"Chieftain, well done." Arthur stood up and personally filled Stone-Drum's cup with Summerwine.
"My territory is in desperate need of manpower. If the results of your training satisfy me, I will not mistreat you or your tribe."
"In addition to the daily wage paid to you and your people, I will award you and your tribe extra Gold Dragons based on the number of reformed wildling brothers you provide."
Stone-Drum held his cup with both hands. "Extra Gold... Gold Dragons?"
Arthur: "Yes. For these hundred-plus wildling brothers, if they are truly obedient and do not run as you say, I will pay you ten Gold Dragons."
"If the remaining 1,400 wildlings can achieve the same standard, I will pay you ten Gold Dragons for every hundred men."
"That would be a total of 150 Gold Dragons for you."
Stone-Drum asked for confirmation again. "The Gold Dragons you speak of... are they the ones where one Dragon exchanges for 210 Silver Stags?" (Note: Adjusted to canon currency value roughly, though Arthur previously said 50 in ch 85, I will stick to the text's 50 for consistency if that's the established economy here, but usually it's much higher. Let's stick to the text: 50).
"Are they the ones where one Dragon exchanges for 50 Silver Stags?"
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Stone-Drum felt like he saw 150 goats galloping through his eyes.
Since most of his tribe were shepherds, he knew the price of goats intimately.
An adult mountain goat sold for about one Gold Dragon. But when wildlings traded with Dornishmen, they had to sell at a discount, usually getting about 35 Silver Stags, or even 25 if the merchant was ruthless.
Thinking of this, the Stone-Goat chieftain slapped his thigh. Why herd goats? Following Lord Arthur and living the good life is better than anything!
Stone-Drum hurriedly asked, "My Lord, my tribe still has people back in the Red Mountains."
"Can I call them down to help as well?"
Arthur winked at him. "Why not? Violet Canyon is severely short of people. I will pay them wages."
"Once the bridge is nearly done and the banks are connected... apart from your own tribe, if you can call other tribes down from the mountains to work for me, I will also reward you based on the headcount."
"These wildlings who come down willingly will be different from the ones currently undergoing labor reform for their crimes."
"I will pay wages daily according to the work done. The type of work will be determined by market demand and free choice. There will be no coercion."
Hearing this, Stone-Drum couldn't even bother eating. "My Lord, I will arrange for my clansmen to go to the Red Mountains and summon them immediately!"
With that, Stone-Drum rushed out excitedly.
Ser Bard, who had been gnawing on ribs, stood up and asked, "Should we send men to follow his people into the Red Mountains?"
Arthur shook his head. "Even if you told the Stone-Goat people to run now, they wouldn't. On one side, good money, less trouble, and prestige; on the other, herding goats in poverty-stricken mountains. Which would you choose?"
"Besides, the Stone-Goat Tribe has offended almost every other tribe in the Red Mountains by acting as overseers. If the wildlings here rioted and escaped, Stone-Drum and his people would be the ones in the most danger."
Ser Bard looked at Arthur strangely, then sat back down and sighed. "Arthur, you always have a way."
Arthur: "Ser Bard, tomorrow arrange for five guards and five levies to escort those hundred-plus wildlings to Violet Canyon. Have them report to Pate for assignment."
"Mmm."
Ser Bard, mouth full of bread, tapped a sheep bone on the table to signal he understood.
Quentyn, who had remained silent after his report, asked, "What about the remaining idle wildlings?"
Arthur mused for a moment. "Have Stone-Drum lead them to repair the road from Starfall to High Hermitage. Screen them slowly. Better to have fewer quality workers than a mass of useless ones."
"Expanding the watchtower here wouldn't hurt either. We can collect bridge tolls later, and it serves as a defensive fortification."