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Chapter 243

​"Chiu—"

The sound should have been crisp and sharp, yet it was so piercingly loud that it made everyone’s ears ache. Melisandre let out a muffled groan, lost her balance, and fell backward onto the filthy, ice-covered ground.

Aegor broke into a cold sweat. He hadn’t even seen the trajectory of the incoming projectile—only a brief glimmer of light in his peripheral vision had triggered deeply buried instincts, an immediate response born of past danger. He understood the ...

Chapter 242

The wights tore down long stretches of the wooden barricades and began flooding into the camp from all sides. The living were forced back step by step, soon finding themselves relying on piles of debris, flickering campfires, and the bodies of their fallen comrades as makeshift defenses.

The situation was utterly desperate, yet the repeated explosions and bursts of fire offered a glimmer of hope. Each barrel of oil wreaked more havoc among the wights than a dozen Kingslayers could, but...

Chapter 241

"Ser Jaime... the portcullis... it's been lowered!"

"I saw it!" Jaime snapped, his voice laced with irritation as he turned to take in the seething throng of thousands of wildlings packed at the gate. It became immediately clear why Mormont had given the order: the newly reinforced and walled-in Castle Black was far more defensible, but at the cost of reduced space—its grounds now only a fraction of the original size. With over a thousand Night’s Watch brothers and militiamen from ...

Chapter 240

One by one, the wildling tribes gathered inside the wooden barricade at the Wall's gate. After surrendering their weapons, they queued to enter the tunnel. Truth be told, the scene bore an eerie resemblance to prisoners lining up outside a gas chamber in a concentration camp—it gave an unsettling sense that once inside, there would be no return. Coupled with the strict terms requiring disarmament and surrendering supplies, some of the 30,000 wildlings hesitated despite Mance Rayder’s assu...

Chapter 239

The procedure for allowing the Free Folk to pass through the Wall was as follows: At the entrance to the ice wall in Castle Black, the Night's Watch erected a temporary wooden barricade surrounded by a deep trench. The bulk of the wildling horde remained in a camp at the edge of the Haunted Forest, within a designated quarantine zone. Groups, such as the three giants scheduled to pass through with an assigned tribe, gathered inside the barricade, surrendered all weapons, and then, with their ...

Chapter 238

"Then, I'll wait for your good news." Melisandre smiled at Aegor before turning to head back to her tower.
----


What a sorceress. Teasing her really was asking for trouble. Watching her retreating figure, Aegor couldn't help but wonder: if he had kept joking and insisted on her warming his bed tonight, would she actually have come?

Her age and identity were both mysteries, but did that even matter? Men and women came together for their bodies, not their souls.
----
...

Chapter 237

In front of Mance Rayder, none of the Night’s Watch officers openly questioned the Lord Commander’s decision. Once the King Beyond the Wall was escorted out of the chamber to be taken atop the Wall and lowered back beyond it, Bowen Marsh immediately voiced his objection.

"That’s it? That’s the decision? I don’t know what Aegor whispered to you, but making such a hasty agreement is reckless! We’re talking about thirty thousand wildlings! Even if they surrender their weapons,...

Chapter 236

With one sharp statement, Aegor cut through Mance Rayder’s pretense. The King Beyond the Wall fell silent, his arms resting on the table as he brooded. After a moment, he spoke, his face grim.

“The days grow shorter, the nights colder, and the creatures stalking the woods grow stronger. Their range creeps closer to the Wall, and fire and dragonglass no longer kill them as effectively as they once did. If we cannot pass the Wall soon, my people and I will all die in the Haunted Fore...

Chapter 235

Throughout history, negotiations often required the weaker side to send representatives into the territory of the stronger. The same was true in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. In the original timeline, Jon Snow was forced to enter the wildling camp under duress, unable to defend Castle Black against the massive wildling army.

But this time, the Night's Watch could remain safely behind their fortress walls, waiting for the opposition to come to them.

The trope of a lone her...

Chapter 234

Storm's End itself was a massive tower, encircled by outer walls a hundred feet high and forty feet thick—on the seaward side, the walls were even double the thickness.

It was one of the strongest castles in the Seven Kingdoms, on par with Casterly Rock and the Eyrie, and had never fallen to a direct assault. The Golden Company had seized Storm's End through deceit and a surprise attack during the chaos following Renly’s death and the leaderless state of the Stormlands. But under n...

Chapter 233

Two lightly wounded wildlings were dragged out of the cells, fed a proper meal, and given the message they were to deliver. The Night’s Watch lowered them from the Wall, and once the prisoners reached the ground, they bolted, sprinting away into the vast, shadowy Haunted Forest. Their figures quickly disappeared into the trees, overwhelmed by their newfound freedom.

With the three major keeps of the Night’s Watch and seven newly restored forts now manned and fortified, the defense ...

Chapter 232

Time was pressing. Now that Aegor was fully aware of the looming logistical crisis threatening the Wall, he dared not waste a single moment. Early the next morning, he departed Crown’s Rest with the reinforcements and recruits from the South, heading back north to Castle Black.

Arya was left behind in Crown’s Rest. Aegor had initially planned to send her back home, but the King’s Road was far from safe. Dispatching ten or so guards might not suffice, while sending more would leav...

Chapter 231

Talking to mystics always had its drawbacks—after a long conversation with Melisandre, Aegor felt like he'd gained plenty of useful information, yet couldn't tell how much of it was genuine insight and how much was simply his imagination running wild under her influence. Leaving the welcome feast behind, he decided to tackle some planned, practical matters instead.
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After escorting Arya back to her assigned room, Aegor made his way to the guesthouse to meet with the prison...

Chapter 230

“Is putting on a show really that entertaining? Is it? Really?” Aegor’s patience was wearing thin. If he didn’t know that Melisandre truly possessed some mysterious powers, he might have been tempted to grab his weapon and chase this charlatan out. But when faced with an unpredictable sorceress, he dared not risk confrontation.

“I’m all ears, my lady,” he said, maintaining a veneer of courtesy.

“Food need not only come from friends—it can also come from enemies...

Chapter 229

“It’s not… a stomachache!” Arya wiped her tears and sniffled, her reddened eyes staring up at Aegor. “My father… he died in King’s Landing.”

Eddard Stark was dead? Aegor felt a wave of shock and regret. Ned had survived Stannis’s attack on King’s Landing, yet now he was gone. Beyond personal feelings, this was a devastating blow. As the head of House Stark, Ned’s presence—either as the Hand of the King in King’s Landing or the Warden of the North in Winterfell...

Chapter 228

Aegor had requested Samwell Tarly be assigned to New Crown's Rest a month ago to manage the ravens, but training birds to carry messages reliably was not an overnight task. The lack of an efficient communication system was becoming glaringly obvious—any news required runners going back and forth. To ensure clarity, Aegor decided to visit in person once again.

...

“The Castellan of Winterfell has called on Northern lords to reserve a quarter of their harvests for winter store...

Chapter 227

The Flint Clan settled into Nightfort with over 1,100 members. Being close to the Wall, their migration was swift. Following them were 800 members of the Wull Clan, and then over 400 of the Norrey Clan. Hundreds and thousands of mountain clanspeople arrived as scheduled. Although the agreement was to count people individually, the clans were surprisingly cooperative, arriving in family units with a balanced ratio of men, women, elderly, and children, rather than sending only the weak and sick...

Chapter 226

News arrived from the west of the Wall: Mance Rayder had officially launched his full-scale assault. The wildlings were intensifying their efforts to cross the Gorge and had begun attacking Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, attempting to capture and repair the ancient Skulls Bridge, which the Night’s Watch had long since destroyed to prevent crossings. Ser Denys Mallister and the Shadow Tower garrison had repelled several attacks, but their casualties were heavy, prompting Mormont to send another hu...

Chapter 225

Aegor couldn’t reach a definitive conclusion based on observation alone, but he had both a sharp mind and a sharp tongue—he could ask questions and judge for himself.

“Why did Ser Rodrik execute the Bolton bastard but let this foul-smelling man live?” he asked.

The lead soldier among the Northerners replied, “Ser Rodrik wanted this man to testify to Lord Bolton about his bastard’s crimes when he returned to the North, hoping the Boltons would relinquish their claim t...

Chapter 224

The Wall stood a thousand leagues from King’s Landing, and Aegor, knowing the dangers of remote micromanagement, had no intention of repeating the mistakes of countless administrators before him. He decided to place his trust in Nina, his clever apprentice. In his reply, he offered her words of encouragement and laid out clear instructions: transport the processed wildfire north as soon as possible, allocate surplus funds monthly to New Crown's Rest, and regularly dispatch newly trained rec...

Chapter 223

Regarding the mountain clans' overenthusiastic hospitality, Aegor had been warned beforehand, so he wasn’t particularly surprised. Out of respect for local customs and courtesy, he and Jaime accepted the company of two young women who visited their tent late at night, sharing their bedding and blankets. Among the clanfolk, the women could be considered attractive, but Aegor and Jaime weren’t yet close enough as comrades to engage in anything unseemly together. As such, "warming the bed" r...

Chapter 222

Jaime and the Westerland volunteers he brought to the Wall were well-equipped and highly trained. After their arrival, Mormont quickly arranged for them to join the Night’s Watch in a trial by fire. As expected, Jaime became a ranger captain—a position of minor authority that, at least in name, made him Aegor’s sworn brother.

After the feast, the visiting Night’s Watch members were assigned accommodations by the elder Flint. As officers, Aegor and Jaime were granted one of the ...

Chapter 221

Aegor had thought that once he left the treacherous King's Landing and returned to the Wall, he could rely on the wealth of the Night's Watch's industries and his position in the corps to live without bowing and scraping or relying on clever words to smooth over trouble. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Upon reuniting with Lord Commander Mormont, the first new task the old bear handed him was, once again, to convince someone to lend their aid.

Fortunately, this time, the ta...

Chapter 220

The veins on Stannis’s forehead bulged, his face turning faintly red as an ominous silence filled the tent. Everyone braced themselves, wondering how the king would react to Melisandre’s public challenge. Yet, to everyone’s surprise, Stannis didn’t explode in anger.

“Gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned. I have matters to discuss privately with my priestess,” Stannis said, his tone clipped.

At the king’s command, none dared to linger. One by one, the lords and comm...

Chapter 219

“Whether this Aegon Targaryen is real or a fraud, the moment he chose Storm’s End as the starting point for his rebellion against the Iron Throne, he stepped into a death trap,” Stannis said, his tone icy as his eyes scanned the map before him. A sneer twisted his lips. “They’ve likely only heard that Storm’s End is the strongest castle in the world but forgot—no one knows better than I how to bring it to its knees.”

“No one questions that, Your Grace,” Robb Stark r...

Chapter 218

As Ygritte was dragged away by Jon, her face full of defiance, the hall erupted into chaos once again.

Some cursed Jon for being blinded by lust, while others hurled insults at the wildling woman’s ingratitude. But it was undeniable that every member of the Night’s Watch was deeply unsettled by the sheer scale of Mance Rayder’s invasion plans and their own dire lack of manpower. The more astute among them had already begun discussing possible strategies.

Aegor sighed as he...

Chapter 217

In the hall where Aegor had once been interrogated as a deserter and where generations of Night’s Watch commanders had held council, another emergency meeting was underway. Unlike his previous visits to this chamber, Aegor now sat on the raised platform at the front, in the seat to the left of Lord Commander Mormont, the position reserved for the fifth-ranking officer of the Watch: the Chief Logistician. For the first time, he looked down upon the sea of black-clad officers and soldiers of ...

Chapter 216

The wildfire, mixed with a large amount of lamp oil and pitch, had lost its explosive properties. In a typical siege, a wall of fire wouldn’t prevent attackers from scaling other sections of the defenses or breaking through. But here, before the unique fortifications of the Wall—where the only viable breach point was the gate—a strange green flame engulfing the entrance had become the best line of defense.

The wildlings had no intention of risking further attacks under the deadly...

Chapter 215

The Wall was an insurmountable monolith—so tall that no ladder or siege tower could ever reach its summit, so thick that any battering ram would shatter against it in futility. Arrows fired by ordinary bows could not even graze the top, and trebuchets could not hurl stones heavy enough to damage its icy facade. Fire? Snowmelt would swiftly quench it. True, the wildlings could climb over it, as their raiders often did, but only those strong, agile, and skilled enough could manage such a feat...

Chapter 214

“Why are they setting the forest on fire?”

“What else is fire for?” Aegor replied through gritted teeth. “To burn, to illuminate. One, it can incinerate the dead; two, it can signal others. They might be using the blaze to block the wights or to send a signal to the wall climbers. Combining these possibilities, it’s clear—Mance Rayder intends to use the flames as both a signal to launch his full-scale assault and a barrier to ensure that, during the attack on the Wall, th...