Chapter 70: The Angry Buyer
Wasn't Tyrion supposed to be out looking for that young papermaker? How could he appear here at this exact moment, and managed to successfully pull in their first customer? Moreover, they had clearly agreed to wait until the official seals arrived before starting this venture. Why the premature start?
A flood of questions jammed Egger's mind, but generally speaking, fundraising was just a different form of business—and for a businessman, a customer at the door is never a bad thing.
Pausing the adventure story he was telling, Egger stood up, pushed open the office door, and stepped into the outer room of the branch.
Framed against the familiar stunted silhouette of the Imp, a figure Egger recognized stood remarkably imposing and tall, completely defying his expectations.
"Ser Jaime!"
"The Imp!"
Accompanying Egger's surprised voice, Arya's joyful and excited shout rang out simultaneously.
Impressive. The currently unopened Night's Watch office was truly teeming with big names: Tyrion and Jaime, two pivotal figures of House Lannister, and Arya, the younger daughter of House Stark—plus a handful of guards wearing the liveries of both houses. For a split second, Egger almost thought he hadn't transmigrated at all, but had accidentally stumbled onto the backstage set of Game of Thrones.
...
Watching Arya run out from the inner room of the office, Tyrion's surprise was no less than Egger's recognition of Jaime. He didn't like people calling him by his nickname to his face, but he certainly wouldn't take offense with a little girl. He offered a friendly and composed greeting: "Good afternoon, Arya. What are you doing here?"
"I'm learning the sword from my Master."
"You... learning the sword?"
Ten-year-old Arya was already nearly the same height as Tyrion. As the two of them began to chat, the dialogue between Jaime and Egger also commenced.
...
"Just what exactly are you after?"
Jaime frowned, making no effort to hide the irritation in his heart. Whenever he recalled the mess that happened at Winterfell, it felt somewhat surreal. He and Cersei had always been careful with their trysts, which was why Robert hadn't found out for years; yet that day, it was as if a wire had crossed in his brain, and he had been bold enough to continue the tryst even after being seen. That would have been one thing, but then, by some stroke of miserable luck, he'd scared the Stark boy into falling.
(You, this Night's Watchman who knows too much—why aren't you staying at the Wall waiting to die? What are you doing in King's Landing?)
Egger caught the subtext of the Kingslayer's words and thought to himself that this was bad. He had intended to avoid other major plot characters and make his fortune quietly, but who would have thought Tyrion would drag his older brother directly into this? Though Egger had suggested Tyrion start with his own circle, this was... a bit too close to home.
He couldn't show weakness, nor could he let Jaime believe he was there to blackmail him. After a moment's consideration, Egger could only play it coy: "I am here by order of the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch to raise provisions and armaments in King's Landing to resist the wildlings."
(I'm not here to look for trouble with you two lovebirds; I'm here on official business.)
"Humph. The Night's Watch has so many men, and they just happened to pick you. How very coincidental."
(Drop the act. Who's going to believe that?)
"The Lord Commander thinks highly of me. For the time being, I have full responsibility for the Night's Watch logistics."
(I'm telling the truth. Believe it or not.)
"Fine. Since Tyrion is your friend, I'll take one of those 'bonds' of yours."
(Consider it my bad luck. Will paying some 'disaster relief' money make you shut up?)
"Excellent. Then please, Ser Jaime, take a seat in the inner room. I shall explain the rules of buying and selling Night's Watch bonds, the returns, and other details to you."
(If you don't believe me, that's your business. I won't say no to money.)
...
While Tyrion dealt with Arya—who was overly interested in the dwarf—he didn't miss the conversation between Egger and his brother. It sounded normal enough, but why did something always feel off?
"Alright, alright, Arya. You'll have plenty of chances to run into me in the future. Can you let us get to business with your Master today?"
"Fine. What are you guys doing anyway? What is a Night's Watch bond?"
"Come in, you'll understand once you hear it." Egger rubbed his head, inviting several people into the office with a headache. He moved stools and chairs, letting everyone—including Arya—take a seat.
"No need for long explanations. Isn't it a hundred gold dragons per share? Just tell me how many you want me to buy."
(Stop playing games. How much money will it take for you to keep your mouth shut?)
Whether he was overthinking it or it was an actual intuition, Egger felt as if he and Jaime could understand each other's unspoken thoughts. Just as he was pondering how to respond, Tyrion interrupted their silent exchange with confusion: "What's with you, Jaime? Didn't you say at noon you had nothing to do today? Why are you suddenly in such a frantic rush now that we're here?"
"It's nothing." Jaime folded his arms across his chest and sighed. "I just find myself inexplicably annoyed whenever I see a man in black."
"I didn't know you had that particular ailment," Tyrion rolled his eyes.
"I just caught it." Jaime looked at Egger, then at yet another troublesome Stark child. "Aren't you going to let your apprentice go play somewhere else for a bit?"
"What for?" Arya pouted in protest. "Why does everything have to be so secretive!"
"It's fine. Let her stay." Egger shook his head. Truthfully, he didn't want Arya too deeply involved with the Night's Watch bonds either, but the venture itself wasn't a secret. They were in the crucial period of building a rapport, and if he forcibly drove her out and locked the door, her curiosity-induced sulking would be the least of his worries. If she went back and told Ned he was having a secret meeting in a room with two Lannisters, that would be truly disastrous. "Now then, I shall explain the detailed rules of the Night's Watch bonds to Ser Jaime."
...
After several rounds of discussion and revisions over the past few days, the mature version of the bond rules had already been finalized. Based on minor adjustments to the original content, they had added some supplementary clauses and, at the very bottom, included a common—yet practically invalid—rogue clause from Egger's previous world: The Night's Watch retains the final right of interpretation for this bond.
In front of Jaime and Arya, Egger read out the rules one by one according to the instructions and explained them clearly. At first, the second Stark daughter listened intently with curiosity, but she soon began to yawn and lose interest. In contrast, the Kingslayer, who had initially looked impatient, began to listen seriously as the explanation continued.
"If you came to King's Landing without money and needed a temporary loan, that would be understandable. But based on your explanation, you clearly intend to maintain long-term borrowing. Why doesn't your Lord Commander just send men with the money? From the Wall to King's Landing, a rider can make the trip in a month."
He hit the nail on the head instantly. Egger was a bit surprised; he had thought Jaime—before losing his hand—was just a simple-minded, impulsive fellow, but it seemed his head was quite clear.
"Ser Jaime is one of our own, so I won't hide it from you. The Night's Watch faces a massive threat and needs a large amount of military supplies immediately... and since the Long Summer is ending, the Northern lords have already begun preparing for winter and cannot support the Wall with full strength for the time being. We can only use every means possible, swallow our pride, and get through this stretch first. We'll worry about what comes after when it comes."
"You can't pay the money back in the short term, so you rely on interest to drag out the creditors while you pay it off slowly over a long period? Loans to the King are guaranteed by the national treasury; what guarantees a loan to the Night's Watch?"
Jaime was Tyrion's brother, but he wasn't the same person. The core secrets naturally couldn't be shared with him; this was as far as the explanation needed to go.
Tyrion stepped in to bail him out: "This loan is secured by the Gift and all the assets of the Night's Watch, as well as the guarantee of the Hand and myself. At least, that's what we'll declare publicly. In reality, Egger and I intend to stir things up and make a big score in King's Landing to solve the follow-up issues."
"Make a big score? I never knew you knew the first thing about business."
"Humph. You'll be shocked when the time comes. Just tell me, are you backing me or not?"
Jaime smiled. He finally believed somewhat that Egger hadn't come to King's Landing to blackmail him. "Of course I'm backing you. You're my dearest little brother, after all. I'll buy two hundred as a gesture. If you pull it off, great; if not, don't worry about paying it back. Consider it my donation to the Night's Watch. Just don't keep coming back for more."
As he spoke, he looked at Egger with a gaze that clearly said: (Consider this hush money for you, but don't get greedy.)
The Watchman had no choice but to shrug slightly, offering no futile explanation to avoid making matters worse.
"Alright then. Let's start filling out the bonds."
"Jakken went to get the seals and hasn't returned yet. What should we do?"
"Just use a thumbprint. No need to be so troublesome." Tyrion waved his hand, pulled out the blank bonds he had copied from a drawer, dipped a quill in ink, and began to write.
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