Mufasa brought Melisandre back to the line of words he had written.
Melisandre gently rubbed the inscription with her fingernail, and the writing she touched suddenly changed color, transforming from translucent ice into an ink-like black.
"Is this shadow magic?" Mufasa asked.
"Yes, shadows are servants of light and fire. Where there is light, there is shadow. Only the Lord of Light is the one true god."
Mufasa scratched his ear; she was preaching again.
However, Mufasa held the Lord of Light in the same regard as the Seven Gods. He couldn't openly declare his faith in the Lord of Light right now.
The King's entourage, traveling south, arrived near the Neck, and Eddard Stark decided to visit Howland Reed at Greywater Watch. He presented this request to King Robert.
"Howland Reed, the man rumored to have single-handedly killed two Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy. I want to see him too." King Robert said.
"Your Grace, he didn't kill two Kingsguard. Like me, he was merely lucky!"
Eddard Stark replied.
Because only the two of them survived the Battle of the Tower of Joy, rumors spread: that Eddard Stark had single-handedly slain Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, and that Howland Reed had taken down the other two Kingsguard alone.
"Luck is part of strength, Ned. Although I never believed you killed Arthur Dayne alone, you are the most honorable man I know." Robert said.
Eddard Stark offered a wry smile.
Subsequently, Eddard Stark and King Robert, protected by several Kingsguard and guided by Jojen Reed, arrived at Greywater Watch.
This place was land situated within a swamp.
Along the way, Robert and the others suffered numerous insect bites, making them extremely uncomfortable.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have come with you, Ned, hahaha! We've become blood feasts for the mosquitoes this time." King Robert said, looking at the large, red, swollen bumps on Eddard Stark's forehead.
Eddard Stark was equally helpless; the environment in the Neck was harsh—not the ice and snow of the North, but man-eating swamps.
The crannogmen were very short, though they were not dwarves; they were taller than dwarves but shorter than average men, existing between the two.
Howland Reed led his people to welcome King Robert and Eddard Stark.
Although he was a lord, in essence, he was the chieftain of the crannogmen, not a count or other noble.
"Your Grace, Lord Eddard. Welcome to the Neck. This is the home of the crannogmen. I hope your journey here was not too troubling." Howland Reed said.
"Howland Reed, what do you have to offer us? Your King is hungry!" King Robert demanded.
"We have frog soup, roasted lizard, freshly caught crocodile meat, and python meat."
Although King Robert had never eaten them, he had heard Grand Maester Pycelle say that crocodile and python meat contained many viruses and bacteria and should not be consumed.
But Robert was stubborn; he was determined to try the crocodile and python meat today. He hadn't eaten dragon meat, so trying these two types of meat would have to suffice.
The crannogmen did not sing, dance, or hold grand feasts because of the King's arrival. Their lives continued as normal.
Robert considered finding a crannogwoman to satisfy his lust, but he noticed that every crannogman had their own family, making it difficult to use force.
Because he knew that if he forced himself upon a crannogwoman, he might be caught in a large net on his way back, dragged into the swamp and drowned, his body stinking after a day, then rotting and turning into a pile of mud.
While Robert was feasting on crocodile meat, Eddard Stark and Howland Reed went to a treehouse.
"Ned, you have made the wrong choice. The South is not where you belong. Have you forgotten the lesson of your father and brother?" Howland Reed said with a grave expression.
"I am a wolf from the North, but my brother is in danger in the South, and I must go help him." Eddard Stark replied.
"Hasn't King Robert managed perfectly well for the past decade and more without you?" Howland Reed asked.
"But after Jon Arryn died, he lost his support!" Eddard Stark said.
"He still has his brothers, the Kingsguard, and the other ministers on the Small Council to advise him. If your presence changes anything, I suspect it will only be that he places the Hand of the King pin on your chest." Howland Reed continued.
"I must go to King's Landing, not just because of Jon Arryn, but also because of the matters at the Wall." Eddard Stark said.
"I heard that child is also with the entourage." Howland Reed changed the subject. Only Eddard Stark knew who he was referring to.
"He is!"
"Ned, you fool!" Howland Reed exclaimed angrily.
"Only the two of us know his identity. I swore to you that I would never reveal it, but in King's Landing, given who he is, it poses the greatest danger!"
"No one knows his true identity, so no one pays him any mind. To outsiders, he is merely my bastard son!" Eddard Stark countered.
"Alas! Ned, there are few honest men like you left. I hope you can survive. Live as long as possible."
"Trust no one in King's Landing. That is my final piece of advice to you."
Their conversation ended. This might not be their final farewell, but whether they would meet again was uncertain.
After leaving Greywater Watch, Robert and Eddard Stark returned to the entourage. However, it wasn't long before the King began to suffer from stomach pain.
"Ah! My stomach hurts so much! Quickly, summon a maester to look at me."
Gurgling sounds came from King Robert's stomach. No one knew what was wrong.
Then he began to suffer from incessant diarrhea, enveloping the entire entourage in a foul stench.
Many people couldn't stand it and started stuffing cloth into their noses, breathing through their mouths instead.
Since the King was ill, they had no choice but to rush to the house of a minor lord to rest.
Due to the severity of the diarrhea, after several days, King Robert looked visibly thinner, having lost a great deal of his bulk.
When King Robert recovered, he looked into a mirror.
"Is this ghastly sight really me?"
The Robert in the mirror had huge dark circles under his eyes, a dark complexion, and the appearance of a sickly, exhausted man.
"No, this won't do. From now on, I must resume my training and spar with someone every day."
Robert ordered his warhammer brought to him, then selected a Kingsguard member and began to spar with him.
He decided that before returning to King's Landing, he would revitalize himself and appear before his people in his prime state.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The man sparring with Robert today was Jaime. Facing Robert's hammer, Jaime Lannister dared not meet the blow directly and could only circle and evade.
Watching Jaime Lannister dart around him, Robert roared in frustration.
"Kingslayer, come on! Fight me!"
"Your Grace, my sword is very sharp. I would hate to nick your beard." Jaime said, his lips curling into a razor-sharp smile.
"Your King commands you to come and fight me."
Jaime Lannister then stopped retreating and met the King with his sword.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sword met hammer, and Jaime's arm throbbed from the impact.
"What tremendous strength. No wonder Rhaegar was hammered to death by him back then."
"However, his speed is slower than mine."
Jaime spotted Robert's weakness compared to his own strength and initiated a new tactic.
The two fought again, but the wooden shaft of Robert's hammer was sliced clean through by Jaime Lannister's sword.
"You!"
Robert stared dumbfounded at the sword halted just before his beard.
"My apologies, Your Grace!" Jaime sheathed his sword and stepped back.
Eddard Stark approached Robert at this moment.
"Robert, sparring with him is dangerous. He's the man who killed Aerys!"
"But he is also my wife's brother!" Robert said.
"I can't believe his weapon is a Valyrian steel sword! I thought Mufasa found Brightroar in the ruins of Valyria and that it should have been sent to Casterly Rock. I didn't realize Jaime still had one."
"Alas, if only Joff was as excellent as Mufasa." Robert felt a pang of "A son should be like Mufasa" sentiment.
Meanwhile, Mufasa was traveling with Benjen Stark toward Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
Along their journey, they passed several abandoned castles.
Upon reaching each castle, Mufasa and Tyrion would document its state of disrepair, noting whether it could be repaired or if it would be better to build a new one entirely.
They also checked the vicinity for any signs of wildlings.
In some places, they genuinely discovered traces left by wildlings climbing the Wall—scratches left by iron claws and hooks gripping the surface.
It was obvious that Agguta had found these, as he had crossed the Wall in the same manner.
"Agguta, if every wildling had tools like that, couldn't you all just cross over directly?" Tyrion asked.
Agguta shook his head.
"People die every time we climb the Wall, and there are almost no smiths Beyond the Wall. All our iron tools are stripped from the corpses of the Night's Watch."
"We simply cannot gather enough iron hooks."
"If we manufactured enough of these tools, could we secretly cooperate with the wildlings? Even if Robert doesn't intend to let them pass, we could covertly allow a few lucky ones to cross the Wall?" Mufasa suggested.
"Mufasa, this is a dangerous sign. You seem to be straying from the right path." Tyrion said.
"You must remember, you belong to the Seven Kingdoms, not the lands Beyond the Wall!" Tyrion pleaded earnestly. He was afraid Mufasa would make a terrible mistake.
"Uncle, there is no fundamental difference between the Seven Kingdoms and the lands Beyond the Wall. Westeros is one continent, not two. Our relationship with the Free Folk is not the same as our relationship with Essos." Mufasa argued.
"Are you truly going to implement a plan like this?" Tyrion asked.
"We can openly repair the castles while secretly helping people cross the Wall. The only difficult part is where to hide the extra wildlings?"
Mufasa was troubled by the latter problem.
"Sell them to Slaver's Bay as slaves!" Tyrion suggested, offering a ruthless solution.
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