Taking in this female apprentice who came knocking, Aegon rubbed his temples. There were more things to do now, it was tiring.
Born into a peaceful and prosperous modern world, his nutritional level during his growth process was no worse than that of most nobles in this world. His excellent physical fitness allowed his strength and reaction speed, with a little training, to be better than many veterans in the Night's Watch... but that was all. In the eyes of the old, weak, and sick Artisians and Stewards of the Night's Watch, and ordinary Wildlings Beyond the Wall, he might be a core Ranger, the elite of the elite; but looking at the entire Westeros, he was just a little more disciplined and had slightly more practical experience than young recruits. The gap in short training time—less than a year—and the level of his teacher—Ser Alliser Thorne—could not be made up by a transmigration halo and cleverness.
Not to mention those famous experts, just Jory, the captain of the guards Eddard left behind to watch over Arya, was someone he was absolutely no match for.
Fortunately, Arya was still just a simple-minded little girl without any schemes. He only needed to put in half the effort he used to attract Tyrion's attention to study how to coax her effectively, and then pretentiously teach her some basic skills like holding a sword, standing, moving, and even chopping and blocking... Before her skill level was high enough to realize that he wasn't the expert she imagined, he could definitely trick her into seeing him as a trusted friend, a second Jon Snow.
After that, if she wasn't just having a three-minute burst of enthusiasm but genuinely wanted to continue advanced sword training, then at worst he could find someone more suitable to be her sword instructor. For example, Jaqen, or the Sea Lord's chief swordsman... wait, what was that damn guy's name again? Lyoford? Olivar? Forget it, don't think about this.
***
Having settled the matter of teaching Arya sword fighting, the two left the inner room. The empty Night's Watch Office, besides tables, chairs, and cabinets, offered no fun. The girl looked around here and there and quickly became restless again.
Fortunately, Eddard Stark soon returned with his original entourage and took his daughter away. Judging by the King's Hand's thoughtful expression, he had clearly been 'made aware' of something under Littlefinger's guidance. If the great troublemaker were allowed to operate step by step like this, Eddard's trust in him would quickly build up, and by then, it would be too late.
The plan to sow discord must be implemented as soon as possible, this is the priority above all else.
Today's work was almost done. After Aegon gave Jack more than a dozen silver stags to buy a few lightweight practice swords, he was ready to close up shop and return to the inn to think about how to instigate conflict between Littlefinger and Eddard.
"Aegon!"
Tyrion arrived on horseback at the entrance of the Office, seemingly in a hurry, accompanied by Maurice. He dismounted and walked in.
"I was just about to head back to the inn. What's so urgent it can't wait?"
The Little Imp was panting, waving his hand: "Come to the inner room, we'll talk sitting down."
Aegon didn't know what had happened and followed him in somewhat anxiously, sitting down again in the same spot where he had spoken with Arya, waiting for Tyrion to tell him what had transpired.
***
After an explanation, the Night's Watch Chief Quartermaster understood the reason for Tyrion's hurried visit: the paper merchant simply couldn't provide the "stable, cheap, and large quantity" of paper the two needed. Papermaking had not yet appeared in this world!
All existing books in Westeros were copied onto parchment, and parchment was truly made from sheepskin. This resulted in books being expensive, with the bulk of the cost being the paper, not the copyist's wages as Aegon and Tyrion had previously taken for granted! Simply manipulating the small portion of the cost related to printing could not achieve a huge, era-defining breakthrough or earn enough money to fill the large pit of the Ponzi scheme!
"To be honest, I only learned about this today when I specifically looked into it," Tyrion said apologetically. With his family background, in the past, whenever he needed paper, he would just give Maurice or Jack a golden dragon to buy a stack, with the excess being a tip—as for whether a sheet of paper was worth one silver stag or two, what difference did it make to him?
But it wasn't until he became serious about doing something big that he realized the seemingly substantial funds or pocket money he usually had were utterly insignificant.
And Lord Tywin... not deducting the expenses of his Dwarf son was already generous, how could he possibly lend him money for 'fooling around'?
Excitedly preparing to open a factory to print books, spread knowledge, and make money along the way, only to find that his money wasn't even enough to buy paper, the feeling of being doused with cold water wasn't pleasant.
***
"That shouldn't be right," Aegon frowned in confusion. The era of Westeros was similar to the late European Middle Ages; papermaking should have already spread here... Wait, spread! This world didn't have China, nor did it have Cai Lun, and even less did it have the Arabs acting as carriers and disseminators of knowledge, so naturally, papermaking wouldn't have spread here!
Although he understood the reason, Aegon was still somewhat indignant: Papermaking wasn't high-tech. Without the Chinese, wouldn't the natives of this world invent it themselves? While he was frustrated by their lack of progress, upon careful consideration, due to the prevalence of the 'live for today' backward mentality caused by irregular seasons, the rulers and common folk of this world had little motivation for invention and creation... it seemed somewhat understandable.
"Aegon," Tyrion asked expectantly, "Isn't everything advanced in your homeland? How is paper made in China?"
"I'm just an adventurer. The process of papermaking in China has been mature for thousands of years; it's simply a commonplace technique. I never imagined there would be a place in the world where paper couldn't be made." Aegon scratched his head in frustration. What prosperity and budding capitalism? Westeros's backwardness had once again lowered his predicted baseline. The busy shops and workshops in King's Landing were probably just a special phenomenon.
Did he have to develop papermaking in this world now? But his understanding of papermaking was only at the level of popular science; he really couldn't be the Cai Lun of this foreign world.
"The paper merchant said there's a young man outside the city who's trying to make paper using grass, but 'what he makes can only be used to wipe asses.' I plan to find some time to go see what's going on."
"Making paper with grass?" Aegon was racking his brain for a solution and his heart stirred upon hearing this: Although he didn't know how to make paper, he knew that modern paper was made from plant fibers after chemical treatment. Could the young man the paper merchant mentioned, who was making paper from grass, become the Cai Lun of the world of Ice and Fire?
Perhaps he couldn't originally, but as long as the direction was right, and with research funds invested, it *must* become possible!"This is good news. Here's the plan: Tomorrow, you take some people to find this young man and see what his idea for making paper from grass is. If he's just pasting large grass leaves together and drying them or something, then it has no developmental value. But if he's crushing the grass and making paper through other methods, then hire him, invest a few dozen or even a hundred golden dragons, and have him improve the process and select suitable raw materials as quickly as possible, in order to produce usable paper."
"Crushing grass to make paper?" Tyrion couldn't understand, but over the past few months, he had developed almost unconditional trust in his adventurer friend. Hearing this, he nodded without hesitation: "Okay, I'll go tomorrow. To look on the bright side, this might be a huge opportunity. Replacing hand-copying with printing can only reduce the cost of making books by a few tenths, but if we control the entire process from papermaking to finished books ourselves, the profits will be astonishing!"
"Indeed. In China, we call that a complete industry chain." Aegon also realized this point. Remembering something, he quickly added: "If you find that the young man's idea for papermaking is correct, spare no expense to get him, sign a non-disclosure agreement, and keep the business secret firmly in hand!"
"Complete industry chain? Good term!" The smile reappeared on Tyrion's previously dejected face. Things were starting to get more and more interesting.
—