Seeing Benjemin leave, Edgar also departed the room excitedly, intending to find Tyrion.
From beginning to end, Tyrion Lannister almost took the initiative to offer help. But Edgar is a self-aware man. He used half-truths and half-false lies to arouse the other party's interest and leave an impression on him.
This was intentional and could be considered a successful and wonderful performance... But then from the other party providing a feasible plan to leave the Great Wall, to the fact that he suddenly ran to ask the commander-in-chief for someone after just a few words of chatting and succeeded in one fell swoop - this is not because of his eloquence or the other party's simple mind that he was fooled around.
The fact is: Tyrion's IQ and EQ are high enough to hear that Edgar did not want to participate in this patrol in just a few words of casual conversation, and he is willing to meet his wish.
Sometimes Edgar can't help but wonder whether the other party was interested in the lies he made up and wanted to get more information and stories from him, or if he really, purely... just wanted to help himself, a poor guy in trouble?
The other party's purpose is not important. What is important is that Tyrion has indeed extended a helping hand to him. This timely assistance may save his life and completely change his future destiny. Such a huge favor can only be repaid with a lifetime of friendship and loyalty.
But a lifetime of friendship and loyalty cannot completely replace face-to-face thanks. Edgar walked out of the door and looked around, and soon found the target - it was too easy to find a dwarf in the Black Castle full of men in black.
.....
"Tyrion, thank you very much, I knew you would succeed!"
"Of course, don't you see who it is? If the son of the Lannister family wants to do something, who dares to stop him?" Tyrion raised his head proudly, "However, although I have always known that the Starks are poor, I now understand how poor they are."
"What do you mean?"
"It didn't take much effort to persuade the commander-in-chief and Maester Aemon, but Benjen Stark finally said that he wanted to 'talk' to me about the issue of funding." The dwarf couldn't help laughing: "Originally, I was prepared to be ripped off. At most, I would borrow some money from my brother after returning to King's Landing to settle the matter. As a result, his offer almost made me laugh out loud."
"Is it a little?"
"Not that little, just a few months' pocket money, a little less than what I originally intended to give them, but his solemn expression as if he was asking for a lot of money amused me." Tyrion shrugged: "I was 'shocked by his price' and cooperated with him. After bargaining with the chief steward and craftsman he called, I succeeded... huh?"
A few months' pocket money? Two or three months is also a few months, eight or nine months is also a few months, how much is it? Either Tyrion is just pretending to be rich, or the Lannister family is really rich to this extent... But no matter what, for himself whose personal net worth is less than a gold dragon, it must be a huge sum of money.
Edgar was waiting for the next words, but the dwarf suddenly made a gesture to silence and motioned him to follow.
In the Black Castle, where everyone can barley hear a shout against the howling winds, what is there to do secretly? Edgar was full of doubts, but he followed.
They passed through the training ground in the middle of the Black Castle and came to the armory, and then found Jon.
And a bunch of new soldiers.
It is easy to judge what happened here just now: a bunch of young people who were beaten by Jon on the training ground joined forces to block him in the house, intending to teach this bastard a lesson, but they were caught by Tyrion who just came out of the commander-in-chief's house, and the latter "just happened" to sympathize with the bastard and the unlucky guy the most, so he chased after him. Edgar remembered this plot, but he didn't know when it happened.
Seeing several new soldiers standing around Jon, he frowned, stepped sideways to make way for the door, and waved his head to signal: "Get out."
...
I don't know if it was his "old soldier" majesty that worked, or Tyrion's identity as Queen Tyrion's brother that scared the new soldiers. Several young men cursed in a low voice, left the bastard son of winterfall.
"What's wrong?" he asked. He originally planned to find Tyrion to thank him and discuss the time to leave the Wall. Now that Jon was here, it was naturally not good to rub salt into his wounds.
"Nothing." Jon turned away and continued to pack up his practice equipment. He sniffed and tried not to let tears flow out of his eyes. He took off his armor, leather clothes and sweaty woolen sweater, and put on his daily rough black shirt. Suddenly, he missed Winterfell and his brothers and sisters...even Sansa, who was not close to him.
No one told him that the Night's Watch was in such a state. Only the dwarf of the Lannister family and Edgar told him a little about the truth.
But at that time, all he could think about was killing the legendary natural enemy of mankind like the rangers in front of him, fighting side by side with other Night's Watch brothers to repel tens of thousands of wildlings, and using his military exploits to prove that he was no worse than any legitimate son... But here, even survival was so difficult.
Did his father know the true situation of the garrison at the Great Wall? He was the guardian of the North, he must know, but when he asked his father to join the Night's Watch, Lord Stark agreed without any hesitation or dissuasion, which made Jon feel even more heartbroken.
Was the kindness in the past just a cover-up? Under this mask, his father actually hated him?
...
"No wonder." Jon said in a muffled voice, trying his best to cover up his grievances, "No wonder you want to do everything you can to leave here, this damn place... This damn place is so cold."
"Yes, it's cold." Just cold? It's also bitter and dangerous. Edgar laughed in his heart. No matter how precocious or tall and strong the boy in front of him was, he was just a child after all. "You have to look at it from other angles. I got the chance to leave here by chance because I met a kind-hearted big man, and I have to come back immediately once I am summoned. As for you, as long as you quit before taking the oath, you can return to Winterfell at any time and never come back again in your life."
Jon did not respond. He could return at any time. Theoretically speaking, it was true. Of course, it was impossible not to be tempted. But now his father, who could protect him, had left the North to serve as Prime Minister of King's Landing. Mrs. Stark was in charge of Winterfell at the moment.
And Catelyn Tully's attitude towards her illegitimate son could almost be described as hatred... In addition to better food and warmer accommodation, he might not be as comfortable as staying at the Wall.
He would never return to Winterfell after he came to the Wall. To put it nicely, this is called valuing honor over pleasure. To put it bluntly, it is a matter of suffering for the sake of face. Like Tyrion, who had been badly ripped off in the Lord Commander's office moments earlier, Jon would choose face.
"If you choose to persist, then you have to think carefully about how to fit in here." It's a choice to save face but suffer in life. Everyone, especially men, will go through similar choices. Edgar empathized with Jon's predicament. Seeing that he didn't say anything, he continued, "If you become a Night's Watcher, you will stay here for the rest of your life, and this life can be long or short, which is entirely up to you. If you still want to use the martial arts you learned from Ser Rodrik to bully the children of farmers, blacksmiths, miners, and even orphans, and want to vent your disappointment in the Night's Watch on your fellow recruits, sooner or later a brother will take advantage of your unpreparedness and stab you in the stomach."
"I saw you fighting with those new soldiers this morning." Tyrion also came closer. "That was not a practice at all. If you had a real sword, they would have died several times. You humiliated them mercilessly. I remember that you decided to join the Night's Watch after listening to Edgars stories about the White Walkers and the wildling army. Do you think it's something to be proud of to defeat these people who haven't even touched real weapons?"
Jon blushed. He was indeed proud when he won.
"He is a smart man. He knows everything he should know. It's just that he encountered a sudden setback and his mind is temporarily unbalanced." Edgar didn't intend to learn from Tyrion to be sharp-tongued and mock everyone he saw. The dwarf is not afraid of offending people, but he is not. Facing a potential protagonist, he is willing to take the trouble to show some friendliness: "Jon, let's not beat around the bush. We all know that you chose this path because you want to do something big, but have you ever thought that if the Wall is a place where you can do great things and stay comfortably, how could it be short of people?"
"I--" Jon was speechless. What Egg said made sense, he could always make sense, but what he needed now was comfort!
"In my hometown, there is an old saying. Before God arranges an important mission for a person, he will first make his heart suffer, his body exhausted, and make him meet with unsatisfactory things, so as to make him stronger and more talented."
Edgar brought out the famous sayings from his old world. When God gives a man a great task, he must first make his heart and mind suffer and his muscles and bones work hard. It was quite difficult to say this in the language of Westeros, and although the life of the Night's Watch was hard, they would not starve, so he omitted the second half of the sentence: "It is impossible to do great things smoothly, but as long as you survive the hardships, you will definitely gain something..."
The boy interrupted him unconvinced: "It's easy to say, then why don't you stay and suffer with me?"
"I'm not a bastard." Edgar shrugged and put himself in the identity of a noble: "I am the only son. I don't need to do great things to prove anything. As long as I can return home safely, I can naturally inherit the family business...but you can't. I don't discriminate against bastards, Jon. It was your father's fault that you were born, but this world is so cruel-you have to pay for your father's mistakes." Because his youth, Edgar soften his tone. After all, he was not here to teach the boy a lesson: "If you really feel confused, let me show you the way."
Jon raised his eyes and stared at Edgar, waiting for the next words.
...
"What do you think is the greatest glory that the Night's Watch can achieve?"
"Performing their duties faithfully and protecting the peace of the North and the Seven Kingdoms."
"No, what you said is just the basic mission that a qualified Night's Watch should accomplish." Edgar shook his head and bluntly denied the bastard's answer: "The greatest achievement of the Night's Watch is to destroy the Night's kings army, and finally abolished the threat once and for all, ending any need for the great wall."