Aegor confessed his plan, but not because he was an honest man.
Besides wanting to maintain a relatively good mutual trust with Lady Melisandre, there was another point. After learning that this was not an ordinary Valyrian steel sword, he wavered.
Since the original sales plan was likely to fall through, what did it matter if he said it?
As an item whose symbolic meaning was greater than its practical value, Valyrian steel swords basically did not circulate, priceless and without a market. If forced to estimate its worth, conservatively, it would be about two to three hundred thousand golden dragons. At this critical juncture, selling it to Tywin for half price, a hundred thousand golden dragons, seemed like a small loss, but overall it was a win-win.
But a Dragon King sword, how should its value be measured? The magic applied to the blade of Dark Sister, its strength and power were dozens of times that of an ordinary Valyrian steel sword. Did that mean the price should also be dozens of times?
No, even the most unprofessional person should know that for a magic item, as its performance improves, its manufacturing difficulty and value increase exponentially. The value of Dark Sister, set at tens of millions of golden dragons, would not be excessive.
However, just like the Wall, as the largest magical creation in the world of ice and fire, its value is simply immeasurable. But no one would ever pay to buy its ownership. Lannister only wanted an ordinary Valyrian steel weapon that would not rust or dim with time as a family sword to bolster their image. The magical ability possessed by the dragonsteel sword was meaningless to Tywin, and to anyone not fighting White Walkers.
And Aegor, precisely, was now someone who was about to fight White Walkers.
Selling a Valyrian steel sword worth hundreds of thousands for a hundred thousand was acceptable to him, but selling Dark Sister for one percent of its price, the wastefulness of such a transaction was so great that Aegor himself would wake from dreams cursing himself as a prodigal.
"Alright, I admit, this sword might indeed be extraordinary," Aegor explained with a forced bitter face. "But I was thinking, would having a large sum of money to buy military equipment and improve the overall combat effectiveness of the Gift's army not be much better than having one more sword that can kill White Walkers?"
Melisandre scoffed at Aegor's words. Lightbringer, which countless followers of the Lord of Light had searched for without success, was finally delivered into the Prophet's hands, and the man wanted to sell it. It was a joke, and not a funny one.
Her gaze was sharp. "Who are you going to buy from?"
Though short, the question hit the nail on the head, and Aegor was instantly speechless.
In a world with backward productivity, what was lacking was not money, but goods.
In the most peaceful times, a wandering knight only needed ten golden dragons to buy all the weapons, mounts, and even armor from head to toe, wrapping himself and his horse like an iron can, then go to tourneys and seek employers in a respectable manner.
But if a big shot like Tywin Lannister suddenly had a whim and decided to purchase equipment to arm a thousand-man Lannisport guard, would ten thousand golden dragons be enough?
Far from enough, even a hundred thousand would be difficult. No suppliers or artisans could produce so many weapons and equipment at once, and once someone started buying in large quantities, the price of similar goods would skyrocket, quickly reaching a prohibitive level.
In fact, any Lord would have been, in peacetime when prices were low, continuously purchasing weapons and equipment made by blacksmiths at low prices in advance, stockpiling their armories in preparation for war.
Now, everywhere was filled with the smoke of war, caused by the Baratheon civil strife, and no one in the Seven Kingdoms was unaffected. Not to mention those fighting fiercely, even those not currently at war were waiting for someone's return, wearing armor at night and ready for battle. Not only were the armories guaranteed to be empty, but even the artisans and technicians who could make new equipment had mostly been conscripted by the Lords, providing customized and maintenance services for the army for free.
Someone would surely ask, what about across the Narrow Sea?
Thanks to the "freedom fighter" Daenerys Targaryen stirring up Slaver's Bay and the Red God widely spreading doomsday theories, cities and towns of all sizes in Essos, whether they had abolished slavery or not, were all anxious, everyone preparing for war, training horses and stockpiling equipment.
In the current situation, with smoke everywhere, Aegor realized he really might not be able to buy military supplies even with money, and could only rely on the Gift to work overtime, producing both cold and hot weapons, and arming as many as possible.
"Alright, I might not be able to buy much military equipment," Aegor admitted frankly that his previous thinking was not thorough. After all, it was a thought that came to him in an instant, and it was normal for there to be problems. "But Queenscrown is developing special weapons specifically to deal with wights and White Walkers, and that also requires money."
"How much money do you actually need?" the Red Priestess asked sharply.
How much money do I need?
After calming down and thinking for a while, Aegor quickly reached a conclusion that surprised even himself. Although the Night's Watch was now heavily in debt, they were not actually short of money at the moment.
The cost of building warships at Ice Canyon Port and the food consumption of the Gift and the Wall, these two major expenses, were borne by the North and the Iron Bank respectively, while the expenses of the Night's Watch Industry southern branch for finding nitrate mines and researching local methods of making nitrate were managed by Nina and the industrial park to be self-sufficient.
This meant that at this stage, the only place Aegor needed to spend money was in Queenscrown. The salaries of hundreds of Night's Watch Logistics Department employees, the purchase of various tools and daily necessities that the Gift could not produce on its own, one thousand golden dragons per month. The remuneration for metallurgy, casting, and forging experts required for researching artillery and explosive shells, as well as the cost of materials consumed in trial and error, currently reaching two thousand golden dragons per month, and about to reach three thousand as the scale expands and the process adapts.
A monthly expenditure of nearly four thousand golden dragons sounded like spending money like water, but Tyrion had just approved a loan for the Night's Watch, forty thousand golden dragons in cash.
Not only did it solve the urgent need, it could also last for a while.
Just like buying military equipment. In real technological development, especially in a world with backward productivity and scarce resources, the biggest problem is not a lack of money, but a lack of personnel, prerequisite basic technology, and materials.
For personnel, Aegor, with the Pyromancers as the core and talents discovered by the Night's Watch Industry as a supplement, formed a trusted team through recruiting and training, which was barely enough. For basic technology, everyone worked together to overcome difficulties, and it was almost done. But materials were more troublesome. The charcoal needed for powder was burned by themselves. The sulfur was dug from Dragonstone by men sent there, and the nitrate was temporarily scraped from toilets, stables, and livestock pens in various places by Night's Watch crows who were originally conscripting people, and the shells for explosive rounds and the bodies of cannons were even more complex. The material had to be mined, smelted, and mixed by themselves. The shape had to be designed and improved by themselves, and the molds had to be kneaded, cut, and shaped by themselves.
It was like a hardcore collection game without a top-up system or built-in store. Except for some common tools and experienced masters, not many parts could be directly obtained by spending money.
True technological progress can certainly be accelerated by investing a large amount of capital, but the most obvious difference from those web games is that the time required cannot be infinitely shortened by paying or cheating.
The current size of the research institute was insufficient, and there was a lack of experience. Spending more than two thousand golden dragons per month was already close to the upper limit. Even if Aegor forcibly increased the allocation, the researchers would not have many channels to spend it except for eating and dressing better and getting more bonuses.
In a word, although the Night's Watch currently had a huge deficit, they would definitely not run out of money before the war began. The song of ice and fire was about to begin, and the first priority was to survive until the end of the song. What was the point of rushing to stuff golden dragons into the warehouse?
"I know the Night's Watch owes a lot of foreign debt right now, but now is not the time to think about how to repay it. Bennero, the High Priest of the Red Temple in Volantis, is raising funds for the Night's Watch from his followers, and the pressure of repaying after the war is definitely not as great as you think." Seeing Aegor lost in thought, Lady Melisandre also softened her tone. "In any case, Lightbringer must be held by you personally. There is no room for negotiation."
So the Red Priestess asking how much money he needed was not because she had foresight and saw the Night's Watch's finances, but because she had other sources of funding. He did not know how many followers of the Red God there were in Volantis, what social class they generally belonged to, and whether they were rich.
Aegor muttered to himself, but still reluctantly nodded and agreed. "Alright, you do not need to emphasize it anymore. I promise, I will not sell this sword externally."
He agreed, but Dark Sister, as a sword, is only useful if it is plunged into the body of a White Walker. And this means that the wielder must have the opportunity to duel with a White Walker or even the Night King to unleash its power as a bane.
Aegor had always presented himself as a warrior and hero in public, which had a huge positive effect on boosting and maintaining morale. As Lord Commander, he really did not want to tell Lady Melisandre that, having fought desperately with White Walkers, he truly did not want to fight these ghosts again, especially possibly the Night King in close combat.
Was this cowardice? Of course it was. But Aegor did not feel ashamed. Following one's heart is not a sin. A truly brave warrior is not fearless, but one who can overcome fear.
If he were truly forced to duel the Night King, would R'hllor, who might have chosen him as her agent, bless him? Aegor thought this and felt uncomfortable all over. For Aegor, who was used to controlling the situation and preferred to keep everything under control, leaving his fate to others, even to a god, was unacceptable.
Melisandre, relieved after getting the assurance, softened her tone and continued to chatter about some irrelevant instructions, but Aegor's thoughts drifted elsewhere. Ordinary Valyrian steel swords could kill White Walkers, and the magic of the same origin contained in a Dragon King sword was dozens of times that of the former. Did this mean that even if Dark Sister was divided into dozens of pieces, each piece could still independently kill White Walkers?
Aegor had not forgotten that he was a transmigrant. How had he lived in this world for more than four years and instead limited his thinking? Dark Sister was a sword, but who said the wielder had to use it in the form of a sword?
"Lady Melisandre, I am sorry," Aegor raised his hand to interrupt the witch again. "Please allow me to interject. I want to ask, if I melt this sword down and recast it into dozens of small pieces, can these small pieces still maintain the ability to kill White Walkers?"
(To be continued.)
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