Chapter 73: Waiting Patiently
To Egger's slight exasperation, while he was racking his brain to backstab Littlefinger in the shadows, the man himself sent over a hundred gold dragons in defense funding the very next morning after the rumor slips were dropped. This contrast made Egger feel, for a fleeting moment, like the villain of the piece.
Of course, he didn't harbor any actual guilt. Setting aside Baelish's personal character and history, Egger felt no psychological burden taking the money on principle. While these hundred gold dragons might have come directly from Littlefinger's private purse, the man would eventually use his position to charge it to the Crown's debts. It would be repaid by this King, the next, the one after that, or even a new dynasty—unless a new ruler emerged strong enough to stabilize a kingdom while simultaneously refusing to pay back both the Iron Bank and the Lannisters. Otherwise, these hundred gold dragons would ultimately be squeezed out of the taxpayers at the bottom of Westeros, particularly those in the Crownlands.
The garrison at the Wall was fighting a hundred thousand wildlings and the ancient enemies of mankind in the far North to protect all of humanity, yet the protected could only manage a paltry hundred gold dragons—and even then, only through the intervention of Eddard Stark. How ironic!
...
A hundred gold dragons delivered directly to the Night's Watch would barely feed the entire Order for a month, assuming no equipment was lost and no death benefits were paid. But in Egger's hands, it was enough to make the newly established office financially comfortable and allow him to gain a rock-solid foothold.
Furthermore, this money wasn't from bond sales but was a specialized grant from the Hand of the King. Legally and morally, it belonged entirely to the Night's Watch. This was public funds, and in the Hand's eyes, Egger was on public duty. As the head of the office, he could use this money openly without needing to hand it over to Tyrion for safekeeping, nor could he use it to repay personal favors.
With this first batch of usable funds, Egger finally escaped the days of having only a handful of silver deers and feeling guilty about ordering a decent meal.
...
He had actually mastered the Common Tongue and script of Westeros for the most part, but for several reasons—the fear of his handwriting being recognized on the rumor slips—he kept this hidden. Even in front of Tyrion, he maintained a facade of being able to listen and speak fluently while still struggling with reading and, especially, writing.
Under these circumstances, nearly every task requiring writing in the office or the fundraising plan—aside from his signature—was handled by Tyrion personally. After the Imp hand-wrote the notices for hiring, recruitment, and the call for donations to be posted at the door, and after Egger gave Arya a brief sword lesson followed by more adventure stories, the custom-made sign finally arrived.
A few workers bustled about, hoisting the wooden plaque above the entrance. The Night's Watch office finally had a proper face; it was fully equipped and open for business. Against a background lacquered jet-black, the gold lettering reading "Night's Watch Office" shimmered in the sunlight. Amidst the colorful signs of the street—black being rarely used for business due to local customs—it stood out with unexpected prominence.
Egger didn't know how effective his rumors were, nor did he dare to ask or investigate too pointedly. The sham recruitment and supply drives had begun, and his first big gamble—the initial samples from the papermaking siblings—hadn't arrived yet. Being ignorant of the craft, he couldn't intervene and could only wait for results. The obsidian mining on Dragonstone had started; the father-and-son mining team Tyrion introduced seemed reliable... Until he hired someone to manage the office for him, Egger could only clock in like a regular worker, opening the doors on time and waiting for Tyrion to bring in bond buyers (along with the likely non-existent donors or volunteers), while letting the political situation ferment on its own.
Having been as busy as a ghost recently, the sudden idle time made Egger glad he'd agreed to Arya's request. Otherwise, in this vacuum of inactivity, he really wouldn't have known what to do with himself.
...
Open the doors, wait for Arya, spend most of the day together, then close up and head back to the inn to sleep. After two days of this routine, Tyrion brought in the first genuine bond buyer, Ser Leck. This noble from the Crownlands clearly had little interest in the specifics of the bond; he was purely there to give face to House Lannister. Once he understood the interest rate, he readily purchased the minimum requirement of one hundred gold dragons and left with his bond in hand.
The return rate Tyrion offered this first guest was a full three times what the two had originally discussed, but for a fundraising plan that might have already found its exit strategy, it wasn't outrageous.
After seeing off the first buyer, Tyrion didn't leave. "The first batch of sample paper is out. Let Jakken watch the shop... er, the office. Shall we go have a look now?"
"It's out?" Egger's spirits rose instantly. "Let's go! Arya, you go with—"
"I'm not going back! Wherever you and the Imp are going, take me with you!"
"Mhm..." Egger looked at Tyrion, and seeing no objection, he shrugged in compromise. "Fine. Let's go."
Arya, born of the North's ruling house, was a clever and cunning girl. High-born yet perpetually energetic, she possessed a boisterousness and ease with strangers that ordinary girls lacked. In just a few days, under Egger's intentional guidance, she had become thick as thieves with him—close as if they'd known each other for years, sticking to him like a piece of taffy.
In truth, Egger hadn't had to expend much effort to ensnare Arya. To be blunt, what the girl liked wasn't Syrio Forel, the First Sword of Braavos, nor was it Egger West, the Logistics Officer. She simply liked her sword coach and partner. With her indiscriminate nature when it came to making friends, anyone who sparred with her and talked nonsense could become her friend—Egger had simply used his knowledge of her and a stomach full of adventure stories to vastly accelerate the process.
Aside from indulging her, Egger hadn't forgotten to establish authority, simultaneously pleasing the girl's father. He set a rule for Arya: to study the sword, she had to be dressed properly and behave with manners. From the Stark guards, Egger learned that Ned was very pleased with his younger daughter's changes over the past two days; consequently, he tacitly allowed Arya to run out every day.
Papermaking wasn't a dark secret, especially since a Stark was unlikely to be anyone's commercial spy. Even if Arya and her guards told Ned what they saw, it wouldn't harm his or Tyrion's interests. Without much hesitation, Egger took the girl and the guard responsible for her school run and set off with Tyrion.
The cheap house Tyrion had mentioned was in the northwest corner of King's Landing. After dozens of minutes of winding through the streets on horseback, they arrived at the city's first papermaking workshop that didn't use animal hides as raw material.
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