"Fear," Aegon concluded. "The most massive fortifications and standing army must be used to deal with the most terrifying enemy. It is fear that allowed the First Men thousands of years ago to build such high walls, and to assemble and support an army of over ten thousand men that did no production and accepted no transfers. Other than this, there is no other reasonable explanation."
"Alright, you have a point," Tyrion admitted frankly. "But please forgive my little insistence, I will never believe in the existence of any legendary monsters before seeing them with my own eyes."
"Not believing is your right," Aegon shrugged. Anyway, convincing the other party that White Walkers exist wasn't his goal. "Actually, before personally fighting a White Walker and watching it shatter my steel sword with its Ice Sword like breaking glass, I didn't really believe it either."
"Just now I thought you were in charge of the accounts in the Night's Watch, how did you suddenly run off to fight White Walkers?" The Dwarf showed a curious expression. "Are you an Steward or a Ranger?"
"A Ranger, alas..." Aegon looked at Jon. "Young man, want to know why your uncle doesn't support you joining the Night's Watch? Come with me and take a look at the steel sword shattered by a White Walker. You'll quickly understand that your proud swordsmanship and skill are, in the face of that kind of enemy—worthless."
The bastard followed Aegon's steps without hesitation, while Tyrion hesitated slightly, then also followed closely with his two short legs. This made the otherworlder breathe a sigh of relief: he was nominally showing Jon something, but in reality, he wanted to find an excuse to get closer to Tyrion, so as to bring up the topic he hoped to discuss.
The Lannister and the bastard turned several corners, following Aegon to the room Benjen Stark had arranged for him. The Night's Watchman took out the evidence he had brought from The Wall to Winterfell to show Eddard Stark to request aid, and placed it on a small wooden table in the room for the two guests to see.
"Waymar Royce's was more severely broken, but Lord Benjen left it with your Father, to be given to the victim's family, the Earl of Runestone," Aegon introduced as he arranged the broken swords. "The two in front of you are my sword and the sword of my comrade Gared."
Tyrion raised his eyebrows. "The version I heard was that Waymar Royce went missing on patrol and was confirmed dead?"
"I saw him fight a White Walker and get killed with my own eyes," Aegon lied. He had actually only heard it, but Waymar Royce was indeed dead anyway, and the two in front of him could never expose him.
"Originally, I and another Ranger would have died too, but the Dragonglass dagger saved our lives. That dark thing, not to brag, I made it myself... If you're interested, you can piece these two swords together and take a look. A steel sword frozen and cracked by ice magic is not something everyone gets a chance to see."
Jon, being young, couldn't help but start piecing them together after hearing his words, while Tyrion wasn't interested in weapons... especially broken ones. He walked around the room with his hands behind his back, didn't find a wine flask or cup, and had to walk back to Aegon's side, looking up at him.
"Your name is Aegon, Aegon what? Surely it can't be Targaryen can't it?"
Aegon was delighted. Just as he was worried about not having a chance to continue his performance, the Dwarf gave him an opening.
"My name isn't Aegon. Aegon is just a name given to me by a few Westeros peasants. I don't even know what it means," Aegon showed a wry smile. "I don't have a surname in your usual sense. The place I come from has a different way of naming people..."
"I knew your appearance was a bit different. So you're not from Westeros. Where are you from, Essos or the Summer Islands? Surely not Sothoryos?"
"Neither. I'm from what you call... a continent west of the Sunset Sea called China. China means the Middle Land, because my people have believed for the past few thousand years that the place we are in is the center of the world, and in the boundless ocean around us, there is no other land except for islands."
***
"China?" Tyrion had originally just followed along out of boredom after drinking enough, looking for something new, and asked about this Night's Watchman's origin and identity just to make conversation. Unexpectedly, he got an answer he hadn't anticipated and immediately became interested. "I've never heard of this place. How did you end up in Westeros as a Night's Watchman?"
"That's a long story," Aegon hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly, successfully attracting the other party's attention in just a few words. But next, he had to find a way to secure the victory. "After a series of astronomical observations, calculations, and conjectures, our academic community reached a conclusion: the world is a sphere. If ships are sent out to sea and sail in one direction, they will return to their starting point after circling the world. The ruler of China decided to send a fleet of ships out to sea for ultra-long-distance voyages to verify this theory. We built several incredibly sturdy ocean-going vessels out of steel and sailed them out in the four directions: east, west, north, and south..."
"Building ships out of steel? How is that possible?"
"If you put an iron bowl in water, will it sink? The same principle applies to ships made of steel. What determines whether a ship floats or sinks is its displacement, not its material. China's technology is much more advanced than Westeros'. If there's a chance later, I can explain it in detail."
"Iron bowl... displacement." Tyrion was a clever man. After a slight turn of his mind, he understood the principle, but soon had a new question: "But how do you make iron bowls large enough to carry people? If there's even one leak, it will sink faster than a stone."
"We use a process called 'welding,' melting the joints between steel plates to make them one piece... As for the specific details, I'm not an expert, so I really can't explain them in detail."
"Sounds impressive, continue your story." The Dwarf pondered the scene of steel plates being joined together to become a ship, feeling for the first time that his imagination was so lacking. He stopped talking and gestured for Aegon to continue.
...
"As a somewhat famous adventurer, I naturally couldn't miss such an interesting exploration activity. After sponsoring this plan with a large sum of money, I obtained a cabin and set off from China with the fleet sailing east. After several months of sailing, we arrived in Westeros."
"I haven't heard of foreigners landing from the Sunset Sea. Where are your ships?"
"They sank. We discovered the existence of land, and encountered a storm while searching for a place to land. Originally, our steel ocean-going ships were designed to withstand storms, but a giant wave threw the ship onto a hidden reef... As you suspected just now, although ships made of steel are sturdy, once something goes wrong, they sink faster than anything. Fortunately, because I was on the deck at the time admiring the giant waves, I wasn't pulled to the bottom of the sea. After drifting on the sea for a few days clinging to floating debris, I made it ashore."
"And then?" Tyrion urged. "Are the Northmen so crazy that they grab anyone they see and send them to The Wall?"
"I drifted at sea for a few days, starving to death. The first thing I did after getting ashore was, of course, look for food. Unfortunately, after finally finding a populated area along the way, I couldn't communicate because of the language barrier. The villagers didn't understand me and refused to help... A living person can't be suffocated by urine, right? So I decided to take it myself," Aegon sighed. "Obviously, I'm not good at this. I was caught before I even filled my stomach. The people who judged me gave me a choice between cutting off a hand and putting on the black clothes, so I became a Night's Watchman."
"Uh..." Tyrion's eyes widened. "As possibly the first China man to arrive in Westeros in history, you were just conscripted by the Night's Watch?"
"You could say that."
"This is the most nonsensical story I've heard this year." The Dwarf's expression was strange. "If I had to choose, I'd rather believe that White Walkers actually exist."