To avoid the notice of the Gold Cloaks, Aegon and Yoren specifically chose a location outside the city The Walls for this clandestine transaction. As soon as the question was asked, the surroundings fell silent—in an era where literacy rates were in the single digits, "people who could read and write" were a resource that wasn't exactly scarce but wasn't abundant either. If they also knew a bit of arithmetic on top of that, they were truly considered "talents." Members of the Night's Watch who met these criteria were either volunteers like Benjen Stark and Jon Snow, or unfortunates forced to don the black like Alliser Thorne, who had backed the wrong side in a war. But this was a time of peace, how could such a person appear here, led by a Crow to The The Wall?
Among the dozen or so Night's Watch recruits here, absolutely no one was literate—except for Jaqen H'ghar.
Without suspense, after a few seconds of silence, a gentle male voice slowly sounded.
"Someone just happens to know some of the writing in Westeros."
...
Someone, someone, can't he just say "I" properly?
Although he couldn't help but inwardly grumble, Aegon knew in his heart that Jaqen wasn't doing this to show off, but to hide his identity from Braavos: he had infiltrated King's Landing disguised as a Lorath noble, and in Lorath, the upper class considered referring to oneself as "I" an extremely crude behavior, using only "someone" as a substitute.
Although annoyed, Aegon, who was also disguised as a "China" noble, could only pretend not to notice this Faceless Man's pretense—since Jaqen had spoken, it proved that the mission he was undertaking was not at the The Wall; he didn't want to go north of the North just to come back.
"You're literate?" Aegon Westerling was also professionally playing his role. He took out a slip of paper and held it close to the cage: "What does it say?"
"Office... Night's Watch?" Jaqen squinted and glanced at it, giving the correct answer: "Night's Watch Office."
"Very good," Aegon put away the slip of paper and turned to Yoren: "What crime did this man commit?"
You don't know? Yoren rolled his eyes at Aegon, but having taken a golden dragon from the other party, cooperating with the act wasn't too much. As a Crow, he was much more astute than most Night's Watchmen: "Peeking at the King's book."
"Peeking at the King's book?" Aegon raised his eyebrows and looked at Jaqen: "What book?"
"A book about dragons. Someone has been curious about these powerful magic creatures since childhood. Valyria is destroyed, only Westeros might have relevant information about dragons."
This answer was too broad, and he didn't know if it was true or false: "And because of this, he has to be sent to The The Wall?"
Yoren didn't know how to respond, so he just shook his head: "Who knows? It's not up to me."
"Since he's not a murderer, you'll do." Aegon put on a satisfied expression. Heaven knows how many people Jaqen had killed, probably more than everyone present combined. But as long as he didn't intend to harm him, who cared about anything else? Everyone just needed an excuse. "But before I let you out, I need you to make some guarantees—I think books are meant to be read, what you did isn't a heinous crime. If you want to leave and go home someday, that's fine. But until I recruit other usable people, you must first help out at the Office diligently for a period... Furthermore, before you plan to leave, you must tell me and pay a suitable ransom. Do you agree?"
"Someone agrees."
"Very good, take an oath."
"Someone by the Old Gods and the New—"
"Stop, I'm not from Westeros, I don't believe in the Old Gods and the New." Aegon suddenly had an idea, "There is only one true god in the world, and that is Death. Swear by your name to the God of Death, and in addition to the above, you must add one more condition: you will never harm the interests of the Night's Watch."
Under Aegon's gaze, Jaqen clearly hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking: "Someone—Jaqen H'ghar, swears to the God of Death that he will never harm the interests of the Night's Watch in this life. Before someone must leave, someone will serve the Night's Watch diligently with all his heart and might, and promises to inform the Night's Watch before leaving and pay the ransom."
...
(Well, well, so this kid is thinking about the ransom? How cunning! Compared to ransoms of dozens or hundreds, what's a golden dragon worth?) Yoren muttered inwardly with sudden realization, but knowing that this money would never fall to him, a Crow, he forced himself not to show his displeasure.
Aegon didn't know what his Black Brother was thinking. He only noticed that Jaqen had quietly changed the oath—"Before someone must leave"? Heaven knows if Jaqen had to leave immediately to carry out that mysterious mission? Maybe before nightfall he would find him, tell him he had to leave, drop some money, and turn and go.
However, the fact that the other party was playing tricks with the details of the oath showed that he at least didn't intend to treat it as nothing. Aegon hadn't planned to keep him anyway, and had no high expectations, so he naturally turned a blind eye to his cleverness. He could certainly force Jaqen to swear eternal loyalty to the Night's Watch, but just like he himself had taken the same oath and now was intent on leaving: when forced to take an obviously unreasonable oath, a person also gained a reason to break it.
And for such a high-level spy from Braavos, changing his name and then claiming Jaqen was dead would naturally break the oath.
***
"Alright, let him out."
Why does it seem like I'm your subordinate? Yoren gave Aegon a glare and handed him the key. "Open it yourself, I have to watch the other two guys." With that, the Crow drew a sword: "Anyone who dares to run, I'll slaughter them! Swords have no eyes!"
Open it himself, fine. Before he transmigrated, the other two guys in the cage might indeed have scared Aegon, but now he was a Night's Watch warrior who had stood watch on the The Wall and killed White Walkers in the Haunted Forest. A year as a Ranger had brought about earth-shattering changes in his physical and psychological qualities. With a sword-wielding comrade by his side, if he was still afraid of two prisoners firmly controlled by shackles, then he had truly served in vain.
Looking directly at the three people inside the cage, Aegon calmly walked to the door, cleanly opened the lock, and pulled open the cage door.
Jaqen bent down and crawled out of the cage, jumping to the ground and standing steadily. The other two prisoners let out roars from deep within their throats and made to rush out after him, but were ultimately forced back into the corner of the cage by Yoren's flashing sword tip. Aegon calmly locked the door again, removed the shackles binding Jaqen's hands and feet, threw the key back to Yoren, who had sheathed his sword, and clapped his hands.
...
"Put on the black clothes." Aegon took out the prepared bundle and threw it to Jaqen: "From now until you leave, you are a member of the Night's Watch. You're lucky you don't have to guard the The Wall and deal with those ghastly things North, but you'd best change the name you used when you entered the cell... Hmm... Let's call you Aqun, how about that?"
"Someone has no objection."
"No objection is good... Well then, Yoren, and the rest of you future sworn brothers, I wish you a smooth journey." Aegon looked at the remaining dozen or so people, said goodbye loudly, mounted his horse, and prepared to return.
"Lord, do you need any other helpers? I can do anything except read!" someone among the remaining recruits shouted. Although everyone was still unclear about what the The Wall was like, they knew from common sense that life there would definitely be much harder than in King's Landing.
Can do anything... For sweeping and guarding the Night's Watch Office, wouldn't it be better to hire local people from King's Landing with clean backgrounds? Why pick you guys who steal and sneak around? Aegon smiled and politely declined the speaker's offer: "Let's go, Aqun."
...
Aegon didn't prepare another horse for Jaqen, so the two could only ride the same horse back to the city. Riding together with a Faceless Man like this was undoubtedly a special experience: even if you knew the other party wasn't a threat, you still couldn't help but suspect that the man behind you might pull out a dagger from somewhere and stab you in the stomach... After finally returning to the Night's Watch Office in the eastern part of the city, Aegon found his legs were a bit weak when he dismounted.
Leading his newly acquired subordinate, whom he didn't know how long he could use, back into the Night's Watch Office, he found that quite a few people were waiting for him.
—