Chapter 245: Sudden Turn of Events
The militia from Queensgate and Sable Hall quickly arrived at Castle Black. Under the forceful maintenance of order by over a thousand soldiers, the several thousand Wildlings temporarily staged outside the castle were forced to cooperate. After undergoing the necessary procedures, they officially became the newest residents of the Gift.
Given that nearly every Wildling who had recently crossed the Wall had lost kin in the wight assault, this lack of sympathy and the hostile treatment they received naturally left them harboring deep resentment and shouting curses... However, the Wildlings had never held much affection for the Night's Watch to begin with. A little extra frost on the snow wasn't going to change the trajectory of Egger's plan. Given the productivity levels of the current era, it was an impossible task for high-level managers to satisfy every resident. To concentrate power for great undertakings, the most logical approach was to apply moderate pressure while ensuring the populace's emotional state remained just above a certain red line.
In this regard, the Gift held a natural advantage: its ruling class, the Night's Watch, was a military organization. The soldier-to-civilian ratio in the Gift was staggeringly high, and the new Gift-dwellers were accustomed to lives of extreme hardship. These conditions meant the red line for this small society was much higher than anywhere else.
Ultimately, nearly thirty thousand Wildlings were fully settled within the Gift. One-third were moved into the nine ruined forts that Mormont had not reactivated due to their dilapidated state, with a strict prohibition against building walls; another third were stationed around the ten active forts—living outside the curtain walls, under the constant surveillance of the garrisons; the final third were distributed throughout the heart of the Gift, spread across a vast area centered on Queenscrown.
Ordinary new Gift-dwellers were easy enough to handle, but the hundred or so giants proved the most difficult. Although giants, like their mounts, were gentle herbivores, they were quite a handful when their tempers flared. Egger specifically designated a region for them not too far from Queenscrown—a place with plenty of water and grass that could easily sustain their mammoths.
The people were in; now, it was time to figure out how to manage them.
The first work project Egger assigned to the new Gift-dwellers was road construction.
To get rich, one must first build roads—this was an unshakable truth. Although the Gift's immediate concern wasn't wealth, the principle remained the same: without convenient transport, nothing else could be discussed.
In the Gift's current state, infrastructure wasn't exactly an urgent necessity. However, Egger's haste was simply born of a desire to give these newcomers something to do, providing a legitimate way to keep them fed so they wouldn't have the idle mind to plot mischief, while simultaneously instilling the concept of the importance of money.
New Gift-dwellers who accepted the work were given simple tools and led by supervisors to planned routes. They cleared weeds, moved rocks, dug soil to build embankments, and finally leveled and tamped the earth. The road surface was required to be visibly higher than the surrounding wasteland and wide enough for two horses to ride abreast. Under the sparse population and harsh conditions of the Gift, this was a fairly high standard.
Wages were paid daily. Though the labor was grueling, every participant received a day's pay equivalent to a single dollar by the end of their shift. If measured by the standard of staying fed, this high wage meant one person working could secure the family's bellies. With the Night's Watch providing a complete and sufficient supply of goods, the power of money quickly began to manifest. Initially, the recruiters struggled to fill their quotas, but before long, large crowds of new Gift-dwellers would run to the sites early every morning, waiting for the Logistics Department staff to assign tasks.
A bit of trouble arose over at the Nightfort. After Bran Stark and the Reed siblings were intercepted trying to sneak across the Wall, they were kept at the fortress to live while waiting for men from Winterfell to fetch them. Since Bran's status was significant and he was physically disabled, Commander Mormont had ordered men to keep a close watch on him, but Meera Reed, Jojen Reed, and Hodor were not restricted in their movements. While Meera Reed was active around the Nightfort, she was harassed by new Gift-dwellers settled nearby under the supervision of the Flint clansmen and was nearly dragged away to be raped.
The marriage customs and concepts of the Free Folk were quite strange—they believed a true man stole a mate from afar to strengthen his clan. Thus, men would go to other tribes' territories to steal women to bear their children. Clearly, the troublemakers had mistaken Meera Reed for a woman of a southern tribe and tried to steal her to breed.
This savage custom had been strictly forbidden in the new laws established by the Night's Watch, and only Wildlings who agreed to obey the law were permitted to cross the Wall. Yet, only a few days after being let in, some new Gift-dwellers who couldn't control their urges had committed a crime. Meera Reed was naturally not as important a figure as Bran Stark, but she was a high-born lady nonetheless—the daughter of Lord Howland Reed, one of Winterfell's most vital bannermen. If she were harmed on the Watch's land, it could not be ignored.
Since Egger refused to go to the Nightfort to handle the matter, Lord Commander Mormont decided to make the trip himself to capture and punish the offenders, while also bringing Bran and the Reeds back to Castle Black, where they could wait for Winterfell's party in a safer location.
The plan to entice the new Gift-dwellers into accepting Night's Watch rule via coin was proceeding smoothly. About two weeks after the entry of the thirty thousand Wildlings was complete, Egger announced the second major task besides roadwork: the recruitment of one thousand new Gift-dwellers to accompany the Logistics Department's grain convoy heading south into the North to secure the winter food aid promised to the Gift.
The pay was double that of roadwork.
Faster than Egger had imagined, the new Gift-dwellers came from all directions, gathering outside the high walls of Queenscrown and pitching camp to wait for the convoy's departure.
Egger certainly didn't expect to rely entirely on these recently converted savages to fight the war against the Ironborn. In addition to these thousand men, he was also recruiting a thousand warriors from the mountain clans; they were the true main force upon which Egger pinned his hopes.
But just as the ranks were forming, equipment was being finalized, and the second step of the Gift resettlement plan was about to be implemented, a sudden piece of news arrived that caught Egger completely off guard: Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, who had personally gone to the Nightfort to deal with Meera's attempted kidnapping, had been ambushed and attacked while investigating the offenders' settlement. He was struck in the head by a stone thrown from the mob and fell unconscious on the spot. After being rushed back to the Nightfort, medical efforts failed, and he died—senselessly and ignobly—at the hands of the very people he had personally ordered to be let through the Wall!
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MistaQuartz
On Patreon, you can explore Extra Chapters in advance!