Melisandre was speaking in Valyrian, and Iger couldn't understand the rest of the text except for the name "Soros...... At this moment, the shopkeeper who had escaped from the trap and hid on the side of the night watchman also spoke to him with a smile on his face: "Your Excellency, in Lower Tob Mott, the man you sent earlier has already reached the ...... You've come to the right place. I don't dare to say all of Westeros, but I'm definitely the only one in King's Landing who can reforge Valyrian steel!"

It turned out that this person was the main person he was looking for on this trip, but Egg had no intention of talking to him at the moment—his attention was on the red-robed man opposite.

Whether it was just to confront Melisandre or to consider whether the others present would understand, Soros replied in the lingua franca: "The Lord of Light has delivered an oracle to me in the flames, ma'am." He told me that we must get to the Great Wall as soon as possible to participate in His decisive battle with his old enemy...... Such an epic battle, of course, has to be matched with the best equipment. So, we're here to shop for goods. ”

Tob Mott did not accept this explanation, and with the support of a group of night watchmen who seemed to be very capable of fighting, he even raised his voice a lot louder: "What an epic battle, what nonsense, you just go to the sky to kill the gods, and you can't rob me of the equipment I left here for the officers of the garrison!"

But no one paid attention to the shopkeeper, and both looked at the leader of the other with surprise: Egg and Melisandre stared at the young golden-haired nobleman beside Soros, while the other side watched carefully at the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch who suddenly appeared in front of them as if it had fallen from the sky.

After a moment, the young nobleman walked up to Iger with a smile and bowed over his chest with one hand, "It's an honor to see you here, Lord Commander-in-Chief. In Lower Berry Dondelion, Count of Black Harbor. These two are my friends: 'Marksman' Angay, who won a tournament of bows and arrows in celebration of Eddard Stark's ascension as Prime Minister, Luke, who is skilled in swordsmanship and is known as 'Reliable', and the boy watching the horses outside is my squire, Edric Dane. ”

"Lord Dondelion, it's a pleasure to meet you. Egger returned the favor, introducing Nina and Cobain in the same simple way, but his heart has already made waves - Berry Dondelion, who was killed by Tywin's army n times in the original plot but did not die?

"That's right. Berry's face was full of spirit, "Lord Commander-in-Chief, you and I are simply fateful comrades-in-arms, and we are worried that we will not be able to leave King's Landing and go north, so we happened to meet you here, presumably ...... Your ship won't miss us for five spots!"

Of course, these five positions are not bad, and the small half warehouse has thousands of pounds of nitrate in the jar, but it is far from enough to fill the Blackbird. However, when he went to the Iron Street of King's Landing to invite Tob Mott, he was able to bump into several Red God believers and warriors who obeyed the will of the Lord of Light, who had a role in the original plot!

Is this a coincidence?

Devils believe it.

Could it be the mysterious Lahlo - after learning about his idea and specific itinerary of melting swords and arrows, he informed Soros and Berry and his party through the flames that they would come here to wait for him today, so as to send himself a sharpshooter and three excellent warriors to cooperate, so as to give full play to the maximum power of the arrow version of "Lightbringer"?

The above is still a relatively good guess, and there is a worse possibility, and Iger doesn't even dare to think deeply: the idea of melting the sword that popped up in his mind not long ago was not a decision made by his own free will?

Is it possible that it was Lahlo who led himself to Tob Mott's blacksmith by influencing the idea of implanting a molten sword in his subconscious, and then gave Thoros an oracle to give him the same idea of "come to the best blacksmith shop in King's Landing to buy equipment", so as to logically let the two groups meet and help the last group of people missing from this war also take their own hitchhiker back to the Great Wall?

This speculation seems to fully explain everything!

He lied to Melisandre that it was Lahllo who had instructed him to forge his sword into a ranged weapon. Will...... Is this not actually a lie, but an inadvertent truth?

......

Just like the classic brain problem in a vat, how can I tell the current self - whether I have been influenced by Lahlo and even manipulated my mind?

Egger was so frightened by the thought that he was stunned for a few seconds, and he didn't even hear the next sentence of the Count of Black Harbor.

"Your Excellency?"

He hurriedly returned to reality: "Oh, of course, the Night's Watch Legion welcomes the help of anyone with lofty ideals in the Seven Kingdoms!"

"Commander-in-Chief, let's talk about it, we're just going to help you deal with the dead. The big boy-like archer Angai added, "It's not to join the Night's Watch, I haven't tasted enough of women, and if I swear not to marry a wife, then you might as well kill me." ”

......

Nearby, Melisandre and Soros were arguing in lingua franca, and the red-robed woman asked the drunkard why Soros had not completed the task assigned by the High Priest, who unceremoniously retorted that he had his own way of serving Lachlo. Melisandre's haughty expression and aggressive tone showed that she had a higher status within the Red God Cult than Thoros, but the latter looked like a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water, and did not seem to buy much into the accounts of the high-ranking priest in front of her.

"Hey......" The shopkeeper was expecting Egger to support him, but he didn't expect that the two groups of people would become accomplices in a few words, and suddenly looked at Iger with some concern, "Lord Commander-in-Chief, you seem to be a reasonable person, you can persuade your friends, these are the equipment ordered by His Majesty the King, and I can't explain if you take them away." ”

The trusty Luke glared at the shopkeeper viciously: "Let's go north to fight against the natural enemies of the human race, end the long night and protect all the inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms, it is your glory to use the equipment in your shop!

Egger also recovered from his chilling conjecture at this time, and with great difficulty suppressed the thoughts that were about to fly, and looked up at the equipment that several of his new companions had fancied: the luster was shiny and well-made, and it was indeed quite good, but it was just a few ordinary sets of mid-to-high-end armor, and the batch that Tywin donated to the Night's Watch Legion was no worse than this, and there were more than a dozen sets left for the cronies and officers.

"Forget everyone, after all, Mr. Mott still has to continue to do business in King's Landing, and he has his difficulties, so let's not toss him. When I get to the land grant, I'll open the warehouse and let a few of you pick the right gear first. ”

With this promise, he settled the dispute. Pressed against his suspicions, Iger continued to get down to business as planned—he asked Tob Mott what he was thinking about if he would be willing to go north with him and reforge an "unknown" Valyrian steel sword for the Night's Watch.

......

"Well, of course, I do, but why don't you bring your sword?" Thob sighed, "It's not impossible for me to go north to work myself, but I have to explain in advance: as the best smith in Westeros, my appearance fee is quite high, and we must negotiate a good price here." ”

"Make an offer. "Egger never expected everyone to be so conscious that they would be willing to offer their services for free because the Night's Watch claimed to be fighting the Stranger, but a civilian blacksmith, no matter how good his skills are, will be 1,800 in the sky, how high can he be?

"You decided to fuse a Valyrian steel sword into as many arrows as possible. Tob Mott hesitated and quoted, "No matter how big that sword is, how about I pay for a tenth of its Valyrian steel?"

"One-tenth of Valyrian steel?" Berry next to him laughed, "It's a good price, Duke Tywin is probably willing to buy any Valyrian steel sword with 100,000 gold dragons, but he hasn't found a seller for half his life...... You are a blacksmith, and the appearance fee is tens of thousands of gold dragons, which is more than the tax collected by me, the Earl of Black Harbor, in a year?"

"An original and complete Valyrian steel sword is more than a hundred thousand gold dragons, because it is not only a weapon, but also an out-of-print collectible! But after melting, it is only a material with excellent performance, and how much is a tenth of the amount of material worth, I really dare not judge at will until I see the size of this sword - in short, it is definitely not worth ten thousand gold dragons. Instead of responding directly to Berry's taunt, Tob analyzed it in righteous words, "But my lord, when you trusted and chose me to reforge your tile steel weapon, did you ever think that I had learned the tile steel casting technique on the other side of the Narrow Sea many years ago, and after such a long time, it would be unfamiliar?"

How can anyone in business question himself like this and smash his own signboard? Egger was curious - he really didn't doubt it, not because he couldn't think of it, but because the other party successfully cast "Oath Keeper" and "Widow's Howl" in the original plot, so that he, a traverser, subconsciously trusted him.

"It's too late for me to ask, are you rusty?"

"I can answer you with certainty, no!" said the shopkeeper, "not because I have a good memory or a high level of talent, but because I have practiced consistently! Valyrian steel swords are hard to find, but small objects such as bachelor's chains, pocket daggers, rings, etc., can be found on the black market from time to time...... At the very beginning of my tuition to the Grand Technician of Kohor to begin learning the art of recasting tile steel, the Grand Technician reminded me that I would probably never have the opportunity in my life to meet someone who came to me to reforge a real Valyrian steel sword. But even so, I still spend a few hundred gold every year to buy small pieces of small tile steel, recast and recast again and again, until the final failure causes the Valyrian steel to deteriorate and lose all its properties, and then learn from the experience of failure and think about how to avoid it. Such a skilled worker who is raised at a huge cost...... After waiting for countless years just to one day serve you and your sword, think about it, and you still think that the price of one-tenth of Valyrian steel is ...... Is it expensive?"

It turned out that he was boasting about himself around the bend, but the shopkeeper's words were reasonable, and Egger not only did not feel disgusted with his self-selling boasting, but was even moved by his craftsman spirit - just like dragon slaying, spending time, energy and money to learn and practice repeatedly, but it is very likely that he will not be able to wait for a "dragon" for the rest of his life, this hopeless waiting, and the spirit of the night watchman are somewhat subtly similar: from ancient times to the present, how many night watchmen have guarded the Great Wall for a lifetime for the strange ghosts who will never come to attack?

If this is true, then Tob's appearance fee is indeed worthy of the price he wants.

"Forge Valyrian steel arrows?" said the archer Angay, "the Seven Gods, I've never used a Valyrian steel weapon, Lord Commander-in-Chief, if you're willing to give me ten of these arrows after the reforge is successful, I'll prove to you why I won the Prime Minister's tournament!"

"As long as Your Excellency's archery skills are as divine as the Earl of Berry said, I will consider it. Iger replied with a smile, then looked at Tob and answered his question in a deep voice, "Don't give you a tenth, I'll give you a fifth!" But there are two additional conditions: first, if there is a failure in the reforge process and the loss is caused, it will be deducted from your one-fifth first-which means that if the loss exceeds one-fifth, you will have to work for me for free, and second, I will use your reward to deal with the stranger and the Night King, and then pay it after the end of this war, and cash it out within a year at the latest, and if the arrow is shot and less than one-fifth is recovered, it will be compensated in gold. ”

Egger's conditions are quite harsh, but when it comes to craftsmen of Tob Mott's level, making money is no longer his goal and ideal in life. Forging a real, complete Valyrian steel sword is a rewarding experience in itself.

The shopkeeper didn't hesitate: "Okay! But let me prepare...... I am not familiar with the conditions of the land grant, and the melting of Valyrian steel swords, but it requires a complete and good casting facility and environment, as well as a lot of unusual props. ”

"Crown Town has everything in the foundry facilities and environment, and I can borrow it from Winterfell if I don't need it. As for the props, don't you practice them a lot, are you not prepared? I remember letting the people sent make it clear: either say yes and follow me immediately, or ...... I'll take the complete sword as a family heirloom. ”

......

This is not a trick or a threat in negotiation techniques, and Iger really decided to do so. Casting the Dark Sisters into arrowheads and changing their names was a gratuitous whim, and he couldn't afford to waste even a day at such a critical juncture.

If you want to use the influence of that well-known prophecy and directly change the name of the sword to "Lightbringer", the effect achieved will never be worse than half a point.

Tob Mott pursed his lips and struggled inwardly for more than ten seconds under the gaze of everyone, and finally decided that he could not let this golden opportunity slip out of his hands: "That's it, please allow me to take a moment to explain the operation and follow-up work of the store, and then set off immediately." Gendry, go get that little box under my bed out, and then go get two horses ready and follow me to the Wall!"

——/10_10572/