"Debtor: the Night's Watch, Purchaser and Creditor: Jaime Lannister, Purchase Amount: Two Hundred golden dragons, Date: 298 AC…"
Muttering as he wrote, Tyrion quickly filled most of the blank spaces on the bond. Coincidentally, Jack, who had left early to run errands, also finished the two tasks Aegon had assigned him and brought back the seals he and Tyrion had ordered to the Night's Watch Office—this first bond could now be completed without regrets.
"These boxes on the back are for when you need to transfer the bond due to lack of money. By endorsing it with the transfer date, the original holder's and receiver's signatures and fingerprints, you can sell the bond to another person."
"I've never known what it feels like to be short on money," Jaime said flatly—obviously, no one in the room would doubt this.
"I believe you, but at least let me finish my lines and rehearse," Tyrion said after finishing everything, handing the bond to Aegon. "Alright, this first bond will have the signature and seal of me, your guarantor. Once the Night's Watch's credit is established, this step can be omitted. Here."
The Night's Watch Chief Quartermaster nodded, lowering his head to sign his name in the handler's column: Aegon Westerling.
***
"Westerling" was the surname chosen after some consideration at Tyrion's request. The Dwarf told him that Westerosi placed great importance on surnames. If Aegon wanted to raise funds from the middle and upper classes in King's Landing under the name of the Night's Watch Quartermaster, failing to even have a basic "name and surname" would cause great insecurity among those nobles and wealthy people, adding unseen resistance to the fundraising plan—he not only needed a surname but preferably one that was sufficiently localized and wouldn't sound out of place.
Tyrion had given few suggestions throughout the plan, but each one was quite useful. After some thought, Aegon agreed with his idea and finally took control of his surname.
"Westerling," a homophone for the English word "Western," subtly hints that he comes from west of the Sunset Sea. Although there are significant differences between the Common Tongue of Westeros and English, this surname is at least much more normal than names like Aegon Zhang or Aegon Li… He didn't want to have to explain to every client that he was from China, a foreigner, and thus had an unusual surname. This explanation was effective in attracting Tyrion and Arya's attention, but it would backfire when trying to borrow money from these people in King's Landing who had long lost their thirst for knowledge and curiosity.
Hopefully, this very localized surname could compensate for some of the disadvantage of his appearance being different from the locals, making him seem out of place.
***
What needed to be filled was filled, what needed to be signed was signed. Aegon took out the seals he and Tyrion had custom-made two days prior from the bag Jack brought back, pressed them into the inkpad already prepared on the desk, and forcefully stamped the front of the bond: Tyrion's personal seal was standard, containing his first and last name, while Aegon's seal read "Night's Watch Logistics Department." In addition, the outer edge of the seal had a circle of serrated lines he specifically requested, mimicking the crenellations on a city wall, making it very striking and highly recognizable.
The three of them pressed their fingerprints at the bottom of the bond. Aegon wrote a password in a blank space on the bond and dripped melted sealing wax over it, then pressed it with the newly arrived sealing wax stamp… Lifting it to his mouth and blowing on it, the first valid Night's Watch bond in the world was completed.
…
This small piece of paper had three levels of anti-counterfeiting: low, medium, and high.
The "low-level anti-counterfeiting" was the high-quality parchment used for the bond itself, the content copied and filled in by Tyrion, and the signatures and seals of the few people. As the game grew bigger and more bonds were issued, the difficulty of counterfeiting was clearly the lowest.
The "medium-level anti-counterfeiting" was Aegon's unique password and sealing wax anti-counterfeiting stamp. The sealing wax was extremely sticky and would adhere tightly to the parchment after cooling and setting. The pattern of The Wall printed on it was itself a low-intensity anti-counterfeiting measure. The so-called "password" covered by this layer of sealing wax was actually Aegon copying the borrower, date, and amount in Chinese. This was a unique string of characters that would never be repeated. The "password book" was in Aegon's mind; only he could verify the authenticity. Even if a Westerosi who didn't know Chinese forcibly peeled off the sealing wax or melted it with high heat to see the content underneath, they would absolutely not be able to deduce the password on another bond from the password on one bond—although not as reliable as fingerprint anti-counterfeiting, adding an anti-counterfeiting mark that was difficult to forge at a low cost could deter many people who fantasized about counterfeiting bonds.
As for the "high-level anti-counterfeiting," that was naturally the fingerprint itself. In Westeros at this time, forging fingerprints was almost impossible. If Aegon were not at the office one day, his hired staff only needed to confirm whether the fingerprint was authentic; it wouldn't matter if they couldn't understand the password under the sealing wax.
Of course, there was one last safeguard, which was the record of bond issuance kept within the office. After all, this world had magic and supernatural powers. If someone could truly forge fingerprints and all other anti-counterfeiting marks and create bonds that were indistinguishable from the real ones, they could at most fraudulently claim one or two loans, but it would be absolutely impossible for them to claim a large sum of money that Aegon had never even borrowed.
As Jaime had his attendant bring over a money bag and throw it onto the table, the first step of the scheme Aegon was running in this world had been taken.
After paying the "hush money," Jaime probably felt at ease. His tense face relaxed significantly, and his tone was no longer so aggressive. After chatting idly for a few more minutes, he made an excuse to leave and departed the office with a few followers.
…
"You told me to scam my own people, and here comes the scam."
"Ah, your brother is naturally willing to support you, but he is not my ideal target audience. Your Lannister family is truly too rich. Growing up in this environment, Jaime has no feeling for money at all. As he himself said—he doesn't even know what it feels like to be short on money," Aegon shook his head. "So, although he came to buy bonds because of you, he will never introduce or recommend our bonds to those around him. What I need is precisely the kind of person who has some foundation in their family but isn't so rich as to have no feeling for money, who is attracted by our return rate and interest, and can bring me more clients. I need 'greedy people,' not 'donors.' Do you understand what I mean?"
"Understood. I just happened to run into Jaime when I was returning to the city, so I brought him directly," Tyrion quickly understood the problem, frowning. "It was my oversight."
"It's fine, haven't we just increased our funds by two hundred golden dragons… forty-two thousand silver stags… two hundred ninety-four thousand copper stars out of thin air? And it's the highest quality—the kind we don't need to repay in the short term," Aegon couldn't overly criticize his benefactor and partner, so he made a cold joke that only someone good with numbers could follow, and then changed the subject. "How about it? You went to find that papermaking young man today. What was the result?"
"Well… let me first say I'm impressed," a smile appeared on Tyrion's thoughtful face. "You're simply prophetic. That young man makes paper by crushing raw materials and soaking them in water."
"Excellent," Aegon breathed a sigh of relief, narrowed his eyes, and quickly made a significant decision. "The one percent monthly interest we originally discussed is too low. When you bring people to buy bonds, increase it appropriately based on the actual situation. You decide how much."
"Increase it again? It's already seventeen percent a year!"
"If we just wanted to maintain a stable capital chain, seventeen percent would be too high," Aegon thought, remembering how Madoff had defrauded Americans for twenty years with a 10% return rate, and it still eventually collapsed. "But the situation is different now. The birth of new paper is a foregone conclusion. As long as we operate properly, what we are going to do next—the money we can earn is far more than seventeen percent."
"What are you talking about!" Arya, who had been sitting for a long time, shouted in dissatisfaction. She could understand every word the adults were saying, but she couldn't understand the meaning at all.
This girl couldn't hear the following content anymore. Aegon used his head-patting skill, rubbed the girl's head, and said with a smile, "That's all for today. Go back with the guard who brought you. See you tomorrow."
"But it's still early before dark. I have nothing to do when I go back!"
"You have nothing to do, but Master is busy. Be good. Go back and look through the clothes you brought from Winterfell and figure out how to dress yourself up. Come back tomorrow wearing a more beautiful new outfit, and I'll tell you stories about survival in the wilderness."
"Hmm… okay." Aegon was thinking about quickly closing the gap between himself and Arya, and Arya was also thinking about being a little more obedient in front of her new sword master. The man's action reminded the girl of her bastard brother Jon. She pouted, felt sad for a while, and finally decided not to make a fuss. "Then I'll go back. Tell me more stories tomorrow, and the class time can't be shorter than today!"
—