The ghost this time was not discovered during the night patrol; it appeared in the Burning King Tower during the day.
It was here that "Blackheart" Heren was burned to death all those years ago.
Roman immediately shared his thoughts with Lady Helaena and Old Jessy, as he needed their authorization.
"Lady Helaena, I hope to arrange patrol missions during the day as well, mainly focusing on areas where people gather. Let everyone stop venturing into the ruins or uninhabited areas; this will make management easier."
Old Jessy naturally agreed wholeheartedly. Roman was the only one who had taken down a ghost before; anyone else would likely be terrified into a stupor if they encountered one. Such matters were best left to those with experience.
"Of course. Once the Servants realized the ghosts were real, they were too scared to wander about, let alone run into the ruins. From now on, you lad better teach us well how to deal with ghosts!"
Old Jessy slapped Roman's shoulder hard, though Lady Helaena remained somewhat worried.
"They are ghosts, after all, and perhaps even the vengeful spirit of Blackheart Heren. You must be careful!"
"Rest assured, my Lady!" Old Jessy took out Roman's training iron rod. "When this rod was driven into the wall, it shattered the entire stone block. This lad Roman is definitely fine. Now, we should be worrying about whether that bunch of idle Guards can handle ghosts."
Old Jessy paused for a moment before going to the Guard room to assign tasks.
Roman remained behind to protect Lady Helaena.
"My Lady, since we don't know what the ghosts are planning, I shall remain by your side as a Guard."
While organizing his weapons, Roman reminded Lady Helaena to watch out for any anomalies, as those ghosts often appeared suddenly.
Had Roman not already known about these rumors, he would have likely suspected they were Shadow Assassins of the Red Priestess.
Watching Roman's busy figure, Lady Helaena couldn't help but envision him as her own child.
For a moment, bitterness stirred in Lady Helaena's heart. She slowly walked to Roman's side and held his hand.
"Child, if an accident really happens, run. Don't hold on and lose your life!"
Roman stared at Lady Helaena, guessing that she was recalling the pain of the Usurper's War.
In the original story, after Count Riveran was visited by his younger brother Oswell, he held the Harrenhal Tourney; at that time, the main branch of the Hean Family still had at least eight members.
But by the time A Game of Thrones began, only Lady Helaena of House Hoare remained, living alone at Harrenhal.
The original story didn't state which side the Hean Family supported during the Usurper's War, but judging by the situation, they were likely Royalists.
Looking into the old woman's caring eyes, Roman also grasped the back of Lady Helaena's rough hand.
"My life was given to me by you, my Lady. I will protect you until you pass away of old age; before then, I will never die!"
After speaking, Roman struck his armor over his heart with his right fist, the dull thud echoing in the room.
A flash of gratification and emotion crossed Lady Helaena's eyes, but she still kept nagging Roman to be careful.
There was no other way; Roman could only take Lady Helaena along with other Guards while on duty, which finally allowed her to feel slightly at ease.
After some time, Old Jessy brought over a leather pouch. Opening it, Roman saw it was filled with steel javelins.
Looking at these iron things that were clearly heavier than traditional wooden spears, Roman asked in confusion: "My Lord, why give me javelins? Shouldn't it be a bow and arrow?"
Old Jessy rolled his eyes at Roman: "Can you shoot an arrow?"
Only then did Roman realize the key to the problem, and for a moment, he could only scratch his head where he stood: "I will have to rely on your guidance for that, my Lord."
"Forget it." Old Jessy interrupted Roman. "For now, ensure Lady Helaena's safety first. You can practice other weapons later; these are enough for now."
After speaking, Old Jessy handed him a long-handled war hammer with a large hammerhead, estimated to be the size of a goose egg.
For an ordinary person, this hammerhead was already large enough, but in Roman's hands, it was still too light. However, he didn't intend to dwell on it further for now.
"It's good enough to be able to use something," Roman thought to himself.
Everything was ready; now it was just a matter of the ghosts delivering themselves to their doorstep.
————
But several weeks later, there was still no major change; the ghosts had not come to bother the residents of Harrenhal since then.
The Servants had changed from their initial fear to indifference. They already had a lot of work to do, and since the ghosts didn't come, no one was in the mood to worry about them.
After some thought, Lady Helaena decided to lift the high alert. The long-term tense patrols had exhausted the Guards, and everyone was asking for a rest.
After all, not everyone had Roman's stamina.
In this atmosphere, more than a month passed peacefully, and life at Harrenhal gradually returned to calm.
However, Roman remained by Lady Helaena's side.
Although the tense defense was gone, Lady Helaena still liked having Roman around her.
Although Roman was just an Attendant, he understood that what Lady Helaena needed was communication between family members.
Therefore, he intentionally or unintentionally communicated with Lady Helaena from the perspective of a younger generation, and Lady Helaena was happy to have it so.
During this time of contact, Lady Helaena grew more and more fond of Roman.
He could always complete various tasks well, was diligent in his Guard duties, and was meticulous in his work.
Moreover, Roman treated everyone at Harrenhal with kindness and friendliness, neither servile nor overbearing.
This earned Roman unanimous praise from everyone at Harrenhal, and he also gained a lot of gossip and intelligence from it.
"My Lady, last time the old drunkard John got drunk and was afraid of being beaten by his wife, so he wanted to come to you for help. However, you were resting at the time, and in the end, he was caught. You could hear his screams in every corner of Harrenhal that day."
"Recently, the priest of the Sept of the Seven has done many outrageous things again, and everyone says they want to come to you for justice."
...
Through Roman's eyes, Lady Helaena was able to proactively understand her territory for the first time.
During this time, Roman also built the prototype of an intelligence network, although for now, it generally only collected gossip and trivial matters of the territory.
Lady Helaena was also often amused by Roman. She didn't even realize herself that the melancholy of the past ten-plus years was slowly dissolving during this period.
She suddenly discovered that she was becoming increasingly dependent on Roman.
Other Servants had respect for her, but this was only out of duty or the gap in status.
But Roman was different; his attitude toward Lady Helaena was more like that of a younger generation toward an elder.
Roman would tell jokes, share daily observations, and sometimes calmly offer his own insights.
Coming to her senses, Lady Helaena realized she was increasingly treating Roman as a child rather than an Attendant, and the Servants also noticed this.
However, Roman's reputation had always been good, and Old Jessy couldn't find any faults, instead using Roman as an example to lecture other soldiers.
"You bunch of fellows, you cry and howl after only training for a while. Look at Roman! No matter how much I lecture him, he endures it, and he even takes the initiative to ask me for extra training. You all are so lazy and slippery; do you want the washerwomen to Guard the city in the future?"
Everything was so wonderful, but the peaceful days eventually came to an end.
That ghost came again.
Not just him, but several other ghosts as well. They were different from the one killed before; flames burned within several clusters of black mist.
Roman felt a restlessness coming from his blood, and he immediately recognized the identities of these few.
"Blackheart... Heren, you really are here."