"Hey, what are you two doing!"
"We... we..." Being yelled at by Arya like that, the originally normal interaction suddenly had a strong sense of being caught in the act. Myrcella was so scared she couldn't speak properly at first, only realizing after several seconds, why was she panicking? "I'm massaging Lord Aegor's shoulders, he works day and night to guard the Wall, it's very hard."
Arya found herself speechless, so she strode over aggressively as well, going around behind Aegor, and used her strength to push the Little Princess aside. "Who doesn't know how to massage shoulders? I'll do it!"
"What are you doing," Myrcella complained softly.
"Hey, you didn't even close the door!" Aegor reminded loudly. Fortunately, the guards outside the door were quite dutiful and tidied up after Arya, preventing too much precious heat from escaping the room. "You should knock before entering someone else's room, don't you know manners?"
"No," Arya replied grumpily, lifting her chin to look at Myrcella next to her, like a mother wolf asserting dominance over her territory.
"Alright, Maeve, you can go back." Aegor couldn't stay comfortable any longer, so he sat up straight, comforting the innocent-looking Myrcella apologetically. "I've had someone arrange accommodation, ask the guards at the door... someone will call you for dinner."
"Okay, I'll go now, thank you again, Lord Aegor!"
...
After the Little Princess obediently left, Aegor turned his head and glanced at Arya somewhat reproachfully. "What's wrong with you, why are you bullying her?"
"Who's bullying her! I treat her like a sister... she... she actually wanted to..." Arya had been going to say, wanted to be my master's wife, but felt a bit embarrassed when the words reached her mouth. Reflecting on it again, it did not seem that was really the case, it was purely her overreaction, so she mumbled and did not finish speaking.
"What did she want?" Aegor found it a bit funny. Arya looked like she had jealousy written all over her face, why was she acting like a concubine vying for favor in a harem drama? "Her family suffered a great change, she was forced to come to your home alone to be adopted, and she's so obedient and sensible, weak, pitiful, and helpless, you should be nicer to her."
"I'm very good to her!" Arya argued quickly, but perhaps realizing her previous behavior wasn't very convincing, she reluctantly lowered her voice. "Hmph, I'm also weak, pitiful, and helpless, and I don't see you being nicer to me."
What a heartless little fellow, I'm not good to you? Aegor rolled his eyes. He knew that what Arya wanted now was for some powerful person to step forward and help her break off her engagement to regain her "freedom," but where in the world was there such true freedom without a price? And which Lord had the time to do such a ridiculous thing?
"Alright, alright, weak, pitiful, and helpless Lady Stark, let me ask you, why did you give me the cold shoulder when I came to pick you up just now?"
Arya punched him angrily. "Isn't it because, last time you passed through Winterfell, you stayed for just one night and left without even saying hello, what do you mean! If you don't want to give me advice, just say so, who cares!"
Although she replied huffily, Arya's face was slightly flushed. She had originally planned to give Aegor the cold shoulder for a couple more days, but unfortunately, she had just finished a heart-to-heart talk with her mother and her brother Bran, and after leaving, she unconsciously wandered around for a while, and her legs inexplicably led her back to the Commander's office door along a familiar path. Having failed several times to have a cold war with Aegor, she finally surrendered to instinct and couldn't help but want to come in and see. It was a good thing she did... otherwise, she probably wouldn't have known if her master had been snatched away!
"Ahem, I really remembered I had an urgent matter to return to that day, I didn't intentionally leave without saying goodbye." This was where he was in the wrong. Aegor didn't dare ask if Arya's first meeting with her fiancé was pleasant, for fear of being pestered again about breaking off the engagement. "Never mind, you came at a good time, I was just about to ask you, did you hear any news about Daenerys Targaryen in Winterfell? Did she return to Westeros with an army? Where did she land, and what is she doing now?"
"I won't tell you!"
So you did hear something. Aegor raised his eyebrows. "Stop messing around, I'm asking you seriously, this concerns the survival of the Gift and the North!"
"The Mad King's daughter, what does she have to do with our survival?" Arya didn't believe it. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly shouted, "Ah! I get it, you must have heard that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, so you want to go and see! You, you, you... don't you know that beautiful women have hearts like snakes and scorpions, they are very dangerous!"
What the hell, a girl's way of thinking is truly hard to understand. If she hadn't mentioned it, Aegor would have almost forgotten that Daenerys was a woman. The White Walkers are at the city gates with an army of the dead, who has the time to care if she's the most beautiful woman right now?
His forehead was full of black lines. The words of denial were on the tip of his tongue, but instinct still made him take a detour. "But I think you're also quite pretty today, am I in danger right now?"
"Ah, really?" After all, she was female. Hearing the compliment, Arya's voice subconsciously mixed with secret delight and shyness. It took her several seconds to realize this was a rebuttal to her own words, and she angrily used more force with her hands. "That's right, you are in danger right now!"
"Hey, stop, stop, stop, are you massaging shoulders or committing murder?"
This girl's hand strength is really great. Wait... I was clearly thinking about the important matter of the decisive battle with the White Walkers, how did the whole atmosphere in the Night's Watch Commander's office change as soon as Arya burst in? She's young and doesn't understand the danger of the situation, but I bear a heavy responsibility.
Aegor quickly put away the thought of continuing to tease this girl, grabbed Arya's hand and took it off his shoulder, and began to seriously and solemnly explain the potential great battle between Daenerys and Stannis in King's Landing, and the possible impact this war could have on the Night's Watch Industry... as well as how this impact would interfere with the progress of the war against the White Walkers.
...
"Something to restrain the White Walkers?" Arya seemed half understanding, but she did understand this sentence. "If there's something like that, why don't you get it in Crown Town instead of keeping it so far away in King's Landing?"
A reasonable question, but things aren't that simple.
Researching the method of making saltpeter from scratch and directly moving existing smelting and forging technology to Crown Town are not the same thing. Although he knew that saltpeter was produced by a certain type of bacteria, and could therefore give some general pointers, he was not an expert himself and knew nothing about the details beyond the basic principles. The raw materials, tools, and equipment needed to establish a production system, he couldn't list a complete inventory. Since he couldn't list an inventory, in terms of the richness of infrastructure and materials, Crown Town naturally couldn't compare to the Seven Kingdoms...
Furthermore, not every inventor in the King's Landing Industrial Park is willing to come north to freeze.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you, hurry up, tell me everything you know!" Aegor urged, pretending to be fierce.
"What's the hurry?" Arya shook off Aegor's hand and put it back on his shoulder. This time she started massaging seriously. "It's news from several days ago. The Mad King's daughter suddenly appeared outside Blackwater Bay with a large fleet, defeated the Dragonstone fleet and occupied it, and then quickly captured the Crab Claw Peninsula as well. It is said they are advancing toward King's Landing by sea and land... the Hand of the King, Davos, wrote to Winterfell hoping the North could mobilize fully and send some troops south to relieve the siege, but where do we have spare people? Robb is also out there, I don't know if he received the news through other channels. Alas... endless fighting, no wonder some people in the castle say we should be independent."
...
Still Dragonstone, this point is no different from the original plot. It seems the correct strategy is the preferred choice regardless of the timeline, which is a good thing, ships from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea can go directly to Dragonstone. If I decide to go with Melisandre to see Daenerys, at least I can save time searching for her everywhere.
"She didn't attack King's Landing directly?"
"Hmph, she wouldn't dare. The King has already made preparations to deal with those three dragons. If she dares to ride a dragon to King's Landing, she'll be shot down immediately."
Aegor breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, an old general as meticulous as Stannis Baratheon could not have had no reaction to the news of the enemy having three dragons for so long. Being prepared is the normal development. Speaking of which, this Second Deer is truly the most unlucky King since Westeros was unified. He is clearly not incompetent, yet after more than two years on the throne, he still has not seen a complete kingdom. He is also clearly capable in battle, yet enemies keep popping up one after another. Just when he had almost crushed Aegor's Golden Company in the Stormlands, with only Storm's End left to take, his old base at Dragonstone was occupied by another genuine Targaryen queen. It is truly frustrating just thinking about it for him.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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