The letter written to The Wall had already been sent. Separated by thousands of miles, Aegon was unable and had no other way to exert any influence on the Night's Watch. He knew very well: given that he was not the sole, or even temporarily the main, source of logistics for the Night's Watch, the so-called "impact of logistics on the front line" was likely to be extremely limited. Now, all he could hope for was that the raven carrying the letter would deliver it safely and quickly, and that the person who read the letter would take its contents to heart.
Life in King's Landing had to continue. After discovering that Arya could serve as his ears in the core of power, Aegon put more effort into winning her over. Except for certain things he absolutely couldn't let her know, he was basically willing to take her with him wherever he went... While the deepening "master-disciple relationship" was good, it was also true that their relationship became so familiar that he was often overwhelmed by her clinging. If the girl didn't look like a rather decent noble lady when dressed up, allowing him to enjoy the double pleasure of being a "master" and "nurturing" her when she was by his side, Aegon wasn't sure if wasting so much effort just for a bit of information was worth it.
He somewhat missed the compulsory education from the world he came from – a mischievous child with no homework was truly terrifying.
...
Although the mischievous child was troublesome, finding ways to deal with her was manageable. But the other fellow gave Aegon a headache: Jaqen H'ghar neither hit it off with Arya at first sight, nor did he take his leave as early as originally expected. Instead, he seemed to honestly and peacefully settle down in the residence Aegon arranged, commuting with him every day in black clothes, doing light chores for the office as instructed, and taking on the task of watching the storefront when Aegon occasionally left the office – even after Aegon quickly hired another local employee in King's Landing, he still didn't mention leaving at all.
What was the use of keeping such a top-tier spy and assassin by his side if he neither gathered information nor killed for him? Aegon decided to put him and Arya together – either he would share some of the burden, or he would be driven away by the mischievous child: "Aqun, I'm busy today. Go practice swordsmanship with Miss Stark for a while."
"Huh?" Arya's face immediately filled with displeasure: "No, I only practice with Master. Don't fob me off with someone else!"
"You're so bad. Practicing swordsmanship with you every day is a waste of Master's time. Come find me again when you've mastered what I've taught you and can defeat Master's subordinates."
"A certain person does not wield a sword, Lord."
"You can get into the Royal Library, and you can't handle a little girl?" Aegon narrowed his eyes, looking at Jaqen: "I won't ask about your background or restrict your coming and going. Please be a bit more honest and don't treat everyone like a fool... If you can't use a sword, just teach her something else. Your task is... not to be defeated by her before I'm free."
Jaqen hesitated for a moment, finally agreeing: "A certain person understands."
To avoid restricting Jaqen, Aegon didn't watch him and Arya practice swordsmanship in the backyard. The girl was initially full of displeasure, but soon became full of excitement, competing with her new sparring partner. Aegon finally breathed a sigh of relief: if Jaqen not only stayed in King's Landing for unclear reasons but also shamelessly pretended to be weak and helpless, he really wouldn't know how to deal with him.
***
After experiencing an incident where bond buyers came to the office but he wasn't there, Aegon and Tyrion learned their lesson and formulated a bond issuance schedule precise to the day – on the agreed-upon days, Aegon would strictly stay in the office from morning to night, waiting for customers to come, while at other times, he could let the hired employees keep the office open and busy himself with other matters – such as going to Neil and Nina's experimental workshop to supervise the papermaking progress and participate in discussions about improvement plans, urging the mining of dragonglass, and purchasing supplies for the Night's Watch.
...
The summer in King's Landing was as hot and smelly as usual, but without Catelyn Tully's recklessness and Petyr Baelish's meddling, life in the Seven Kingdoms seemed somewhat uneventful compared to the original plot – the King was eating, drinking, playing, and sowing his seed everywhere, the Queen was nervously continuing her affair with her brother, and the Hand of the King was overwhelmed by the mystery of his foster father and predecessor's death and the rampant rumors spreading throughout the city...
Beneath this seemingly peaceful surface, the first batch of Night's Watch Bonds were quietly being issued, and the papermaking technique they supported was being improved. After the first batch of ore from the ancient dragonglass mine on Dragonstone was loaded onto a ship at Dragonstone port, squeezed into the cabin along with a large amount of auxiliary items Aegon purchased for the "wight capture plan," and sailed shakily towards Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, the first practical plant fiber paper on the Westeros Continent, and possibly in the entire Ice and Fire World, was finally born in that small workshop.
This was an important historical moment, especially for the few individuals who planned to make a fortune relying on this.
Aegon and Tyrion came together to the workshop where the paper was born, standing with the papermaking siblings... Of course, Arya, who wouldn't miss any excitement, also followed along.
Just from the appearance, the paper in front of Aegon... apart from being slightly grayish-yellow in color and having somewhat uneven edges, already had the texture of the lowest quality pirated books or hell money he had seen before his transmigration. Trying to fold or roll it – the flexibility was acceptable; pulling it gently with his hand – it only deformed slightly without tearing... Now, as long as the ink was clear and didn't bleed when written on with a pen, this was what they needed.
"Bring me a pen." Aegon extended his hand.
Nina quickly fetched a pen and ink. Arya snatched the items: "I'll write!"
Aegon sighed somewhat helplessly, with a hint of indulgence: "Alright, you can be the first one then."
The girl certainly wouldn't be the very first. The papermaking siblings dared to call both bosses over, clearly having already conducted experiments. The girl held the pen, dipped it in ink, and excitedly wrote her name on the paper: Arya Stark.
Not only that, she also doodled casually below her name, drawing a cloud, a tree, and a little person...
The room fell silent. The siblings nervously stared at Aegon and Tyrion. Tyrion glanced at Aegon with a questioning look.
"How is it?"
"How is what? Aren't the printers under your management? Do you think this paper can be used for printing?"
Tyrion looked at Arya's name and drawing on the paper, stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and nodded: "I think it's fine now."
"Then it's fine," Aegon said decisively. "Nina, tell me, how much does one sheet of this paper cost?"
"Cost?" The young inventor blinked her bright eyes a few times: "Raw material cost... for a single sheet, it's almost negligible. It's mainly equipment, processing agents, dyes and fuel... and labor!"
"Excluding equipment and venue, just give me a rough number."
"About ten copper cents."
"Very good. With mass production, even including equipment and rent costs, the actual cost will continuously decrease and approach this number. Moreover, this number should continue to fall as the process matures and improves." Aegon calculated in his mind, then suddenly turned to ask Tyrion: "What's the approximate cost of parchment on the market now?"
Two months ago, Tyrion couldn't have answered this question no matter what, but now, he had done his homework: "A sheet this size costs over one silver stag. If you want something thicker and better, it's hard to say."
"Then the situation is very clear now. Even without further process improvements, the cost of our paper is only a fraction of parchment's." Aegon took a deep breath: "The show is about to begin. To commemorate this historic moment, let's give this paper a name."
Nina was the first to suggest: "Lord Aegon offered many suggestions for the birth of this paper and contributed the most. Let's call it Wester Paper."
"Ha, I wouldn't dare claim the biggest contribution. But calling it Neil and Nina Paper would be too strange – how about Lannister Paper?"
"Let's call it Arya Paper! Look, my name is written on it!"
Amidst the relaxed laughter of the crowd, Tyrion made a decision: "How about I make the decision this time? I say, let's call it Night's Watch Paper. It not only identifies the sponsor of this paper's development but also provides free advertising for our bonds!"
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