Tyrion was right, Aegon was truly unhappy now; the initial excitement of learning he could leave The Wall just moments before was largely extinguished, replaced by thoughts of how to complete this pile of tasks. He lost the mood for teasing and joking, and as he returned to his room with Tyrion, discussing the schedule for leaving The Wall and other matters, even his steps became heavy.
A tall, ugly Night's Watch man carrying a large sack came towards them, catching Aegon's attention.
"Othor, what are you carrying?"
"Grain. Lord Benjen decided to head the North tomorrow morning to search for Waymar Royce, Wildlings, and whatever else is out there—if it really exists." The older Ranger stopped, looking Aegon up and down as he carried the sack, as if seeing him for the first time: "Hmph, Otherslayer, now you're a grain recruitment officer. Going to King's Landing to enjoy yourself, are you happy?"
"You wouldn't guess how many tasks I'm going with." Aegon forced a smile and shook his head. Let alone outsiders like Tyrion, even among the Black Brothers, many still didn't believe in the existence of White Walkers, thinking the First Ranger and the Commander had gone mad to believe the nonsense of three deserters. But now that Benjen had been blunt with him, there was no need to hide or cover anything up: "Of course, compared to your dangerous job of looking for White Walkers, this is indeed a good assignment... How are the special weapons for dealing with White Walkers coming along?"
"valyrian steel weapons? The entire Castle Black only has one, which belongs to the Commander. Benjen refused the Commander's kind offer to lend it to him. We did get some dragonglass; we made three Dragonglass spearheads and a dozen Dragon Crystal Arrow. If you weren't lying about the number of White Walkers, it should be enough."
"I can only guarantee I saw five, but there can't possibly be only five White Walkers in the world. They must be like lords and Lord s, usually acting separately Beyond the Wall in groups of two or three, harvesting the lives of small groups of Wildlings and stealing their infants to replenish their army of the dead. Once there isn't a single living Wildling left in the Haunted Forest, and their strength is sufficient to attack The Wall, they will gather."
Aegon temporarily set aside his thoughts about that pile of tasks and became serious. As a Ranger... perhaps now a multi-functional officer, in short, as a member of the Night's Watch, he naturally hoped his comrades' actions would be safe and smooth. Even without considering any great cause and only from a personal standpoint, losses and defeats for the Night's Watch meant an increased possibility of being forcibly recalled or compelled to recruit more resources and personnel.
In a word, the interests of the Night's Watch were now his interests.
"There are some other things I must warn you about. White Walkers are not monsters; they are intelligent magic lifeforms. The act of me killing one of them must have alerted the remaining White Walkers. Even though you are taking dragonglass weapons, you still need to be careful."
Othor yawned: "You should just tell Benjen these things. I'm just a soldiers; I do what the officers tell me and don't worry about too much."
"I've already told him, but with things like this, the more people who know the better." Aegon was still a little uneasy: "Also, please remember, if anyone is sacrificed or you encounter bodies along the way, you must burn them... And, fire can deal with wights, but it cannot kill White Walkers."
"Got it. My brain isn't good; I won't remember any more than that. I'm going." The tall Ranger was getting annoyed by his nagging, waved his hand, and walked past him with the sack on his shoulder without looking back.
***
"I'm used to your concise, to-the-point way of speaking; I didn't expect to see such a long-winded side of you." Tyrion watched the burly Ranger leave, suppressing a laugh: "You make it sound so real, I'm almost starting to believe White Walkers actually exist."
Aegon returned a helpless smile and didn't intend to persuade Tyrion to believe in the existence of White Walkers.
Regardless of how many reasons and excuses there were, although he was an outsider, at this very moment he was a member of the Night's Watch in this world. Using the advantage of information he possessed that others didn't, combined with lies, he was about to escape danger.
Benjen's trip would take seven elite Rangers, including Will, the North to look for evidence of the return of humanity's natural enemy... Seven, every one of them a chosen man among hundreds, but without valyrian steel weapons, facing an enemy with absolute physical strength, weapon, and means advantages, and who were already on guard, even with dragonglass weapons, they were still lambs entering a tiger's den, with little chance of survival.
He himself was supposed to be one of them, but at the last moment, he withdrew, throwing his share of the responsibility onto someone else—if Benjen had originally planned for him and Will to lead the way, then his departure increased the danger faced by the remaining eight by one-ninth; if Benjen only chose Will as a substitute because of his absence, then he had turned this fellow soldiers who lived in the same tower and spent time with him day and night into a scapegoat.
There was no deep friendship between him and Will; in fact, Will would have died even without his presence... But every time he thought of someone else taking his place to risk their life, Aegon's heart couldn't help but clench. He quietly sighed, suppressing the urge to stay and participate in this mission.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I guess I'm just an honest person." Aegon tried to make his tone lighter. The team of Rangers leaving tomorrow had a high probability of not returning, but saying that would only sound like cursing his comrades. Having learned from the lesson of Bran's fall, he understood that until he had enough status and authority, some things he couldn't change. "Finally able to leave, yet I feel a little reluctant..."
Tyrion looked at him with some surprise: "If I remember correctly, you were press-ganged."
"Yes, but the Night's Watch didn't press-gang me." Aegon shook his head, "After I joined the military, I enjoyed the same treatment as everyone else, food and lodging included, plus a small allowance for spending... Although the conditions were poor, it was essentially equality. Some broken noble whose name I don't even know banished me here, but the Night's Watch didn't treat me unfairly, do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand, you mean you don't hate the Night's Watch."
Aegon nodded and stopped talking. Seeing his former comrades preparing for tomorrow's patrol, the distress and headache from being assigned a pile of tasks vanished. He realized: Although he faced difficulties, even with a large number of impossible missions, compared to the team of Rangers who were about to head the North to find White Walkers, how lucky he was! Not only that, the round trip from The Wall to King's Landing would take at least three months. From a time perspective, he not only avoided Benjen's patrol, but if Jeor Mormont stubbornly prepared for a Ranger expedition to find the missing Benjen, he would also similarly avoid the next major crisis—compared to the safety of his life, what was the pressure of a few complex tasks?
He had just used a bit of 'heaven is about to bestow a great mission upon this person' motivational talk to fool Jon Snow, but now, he felt he also needed some motivation.
Which line was more suitable?
Got it—If a person doesn't push themselves, they will never know how excellent they are.
Before crossing over, the conditions created by a powerful country and a pair of hardworking parents were too superior, allowing him to live well without striving or working hard. After crossing over, his identity as a member of the Night's Watch and the equal treatment meant that no matter what he did, he couldn't live well... to the extent that he never knew what it felt like to put all his effort into doing something.
Now, the easy days were over, and his future would entirely depend on the decisions he made himself. So what if he held multiple positions as material recruitment officer, King's Landing and Crownlands conscription officer, Dragonglass mining manager, and Night's Watch image ambassador? Aegon decided to challenge himself. Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it!
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