Mufasa and his group returned to Black Castle. They planned to rest for a few days before heading west to explore.
Unlike the Night's Watch Road to the east, which was as straight as a sword, the western path was winding, like a coiled snake.
While Mufasa was resting at Black Castle, he met a new batch of Night's Watch recruits. One of them was particularly tall and robust.
His name was Samwell Tarly, from Horn Hill in the Reach. He was the Earl's eldest son, but because he was timid, fearful, and incompetent, his father sent him to The Wall to join the Night's Watch.
"I'll give you two choices: either join the Night's Watch, or we go hunting together, and by the next day, your body will be found in the woods."
The Earl of Horn Hill had said that to Samwell at the time.
They say even a tiger won't eat its cub, but this Earl of Horn Hill was truly ruthless, actually wanting to kill his own son.
[I hope readers remember our domain here: read Taiwanese novels on Chaozan]
Mufasa watched Master Alliser train this group of new recruits. He gave them many nicknames.
"Rats, Frogs!" "Scorpions, Ants!"
Only Sam was given the nickname "Mr. Sausage."
"Beyond the Wall, if you get hungry and can't find anything to eat, if our Mr. Sausage is with you, perhaps his flesh can keep you alive for another month, ha ha ha!"
Master Alliser mocked. Others also joined in with jeering sounds.
Samwell, though as massive as a big bear, was a timid big bear.
He just lowered his head, staring at his shoes, not saying a word despite being insulted.
With a "thwack!" Master Alliser struck Samwell with his sword.
"Ah! Ah! Ahhh!" Samwell fell to the ground in fright, covering his head with his hands, seemingly wanting to hide.
Everyone else also started to bully Samwell, as if they had found a new toy.
Mufasa couldn't stand it any longer. He waved his hand, and Heraka immediately let out a roar.
Startled, the many Night's Watchmen fearfully looked in the direction Heraka was approaching from.
"Mufasa, what do you want? We are training new recruits for the Night's Watch!" Master Alliser glared at Mufasa through gritted teeth.
"Ser Alliser, if you had any knightly honor, you wouldn't bully someone who has no will to resist," Mufasa said.
Mufasa then jumped onto Heraka's shoulder.
"A strong person bullying a weak person is not a true strong person. If you dare to draw your sword and strike at me, then I will believe you are strong," Mufasa said.
Looking at Mufasa riding the great lion, Master Alliser's face turned green. He then ignored the situation and left the training ground. The other recruits also left, leaving only Mufasa and Samwell.
Mufasa jumped off Heraka and approached Samwell, "Get up, big fellow."
Hearing Mufasa's voice, Samwell cautiously raised his head.
"They're all gone. Thank you for saving me, Ser Mufasa," Sam said, wiping the sweat from his face.
"With your build, you could crush them directly. What are you so afraid of?" Mufasa asked.
"I've been timid since I was a child. I've never even killed a chicken."
Mufasa was a bit speechless upon hearing this.
"You have the physique of a butcher, why would you bother killing a chicken?"
"King Robert is even shorter than you by a head, and he's a strongman. I think you are too."
Mufasa then checked Samwell's stats.
"Name: Samwell Tarly"
"Identity: Eldest Son of the Earl of Horn Hill"
"Occupation: Night's Watchman"
"Strength: 36"
"Speed: 4"
"Intelligence: 22"
"Spirit: 8"
"Magic: 6"
"Talent: Read ten thousand books. Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will become clear. Skilled at discovering secrets others don't know from books."
After looking at Samwell's data, Mufasa found him extremely strange. His strength was displayed as "36" points, which was even one point more than Robert's "35" points.
But he didn't even dare to kill a chicken.
Mufasa then understood: he was timid, not weak. After all, size and weight equate to strength. The bigger the build, the greater the strength.
The Giants Beyond the Wall don't need to train; they just live their ordinary lives.
But each of them is over ten feet tall, all three meters and up, some even reaching four or five meters.
It can be said that their strength is definitely greater than the Mountain's; the Mountain, at eight feet tall, is a child compared to them.
For them, strength isn't trained; it comes from growing taller and gaining mass.
"Sam, the Night's Watch isn't all good. This can be said to be the most chaotic place in all Seven Kingdoms, because it gathers too many murderers, rapists, and thieves."
"Abandon your aspirations for noble black knights! Here, you need to pass Master Alliser's test first before you can officially become a Night's Watchman," Mufasa said.
"Thank you, Mufasa!" Samwell said.
He thanked Mufasa, first because he saved him from Alliser and the others, and second because he told him many things.
"To survive here at Black Castle, you need to find some friends. That's up to you."
Mufasa patted his shoulder and left.
Over the next few days, Mufasa and his companions prepared food and wine, then began their exploration westward.
Exploring westward was difficult because the path was hard to traverse.
One night, they arrived at Nightfort, the largest castle of the Night's Watch.
"There are quite a few ghost stories about this place. Shall I tell you a few?" Tyrion asked.
They spent the night at Nightfort, cooking by the campfire.
Podrick was a perfect squire; he could take very good care of his knight.
Bacon, sausage, black bread, cured meat, and ale—that was their dinner for the night.
"Tell us, Uncle. A'guda and Podrick probably haven't heard them, and Melisandre might not have either," Mufasa said.
"Cough, cough!"
Tyrion cleared his throat and began to tell the story of the Night King. It was said he was the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and at that time, the Night's Watch was incredibly powerful.
This Night King was also said to be Brandon Stark of House Stark.
One day, he returned from Beyond the Wall, bringing with him a woman whose skin was as pale as moonlight.
The black brothers in Nightfort all looked at this woman with fear.
Because this woman had blue eyes and skin as pale as cream.
She had no warmth at all, and she didn't eat or drink.
Brandon Stark seemed to have been seduced by this woman. He began to declare himself king, and because this was Nightfort, he called himself the Night King.
The Night King established a cruel rule over The Wall. Thirteen years later, the King in the North at the time collaborated with the King-Beyond-the-Wall to defeat this Night King.
"So, the relationship between the North and Beyond the Wall wasn't always so rigid; they had cooperated before, right?" Podrick asked.
"That's right, they cooperated many times before, but that was thousands of years ago. Nowadays, the Night's Watch and the wildlings, due to various prejudices and professional duties, are very hostile towards each other, aren't they, A'guda?" Mufasa asked.
A'guda nodded.
"However, among the crows, there are still people we admire, such as Qhorin Halfhand of Castle Black. He is a revered crow."
After they finished eating, they each went to sleep, but Mufasa heard the sound of rats gnawing on something in the night, so he got up to check.
Following the squeaking of the rats, Mufasa came to a well.
"Is this...?"
Mufasa felt as if he had stumbled upon a secret passage from the original story, one that led Beyond the Wall.
"But the path down there seems difficult! Should I go down and take a look?" As Mufasa hesitated, Tyrion also arrived.
He had also heard the rats squeaking.
"Mufasa, did you find the rats?" Tyrion asked, tightly wrapped in his greatcoat.
"The sound went into this well, and I can still hear faint noises," Mufasa said.
"However, I don't recommend we go down. It might have fallen into disrepair years ago! It's very dangerous."
"Then let's find something to block it?" Tyrion suggested.
"Alright! I'll go find a big stone."
Mufasa carried a huge stone slab and used it to cover the wellhead. Then he left with Tyrion.
However, after they left, other rats scurried out.
Mufasa and his group continued west, documenting the condition of every damaged castle.
Since the Night's Watch castles don't have outer walls and aren't very large, repairing them isn't extremely difficult; it just requires a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources.
They reached Castle Black on a crisp morning. This was the last castle on the eastern side of the Great Canyon, although there was still Westwatch-by-the-Bridge to the west, but it had long been abandoned.
Ser Mallister was the commander of Castle Black. He was over eighty years old and had long lost his awe-inspiring authority.
However, Qhorin Halfhand was at Castle Black, so the wildlings Beyond the Wall were still very afraid of them.
After meeting them, Mufasa explained that he was the King's Envoy.
"We can fully cooperate with your work, but you must not interfere with our daily training and patrols," Commander Mallister said.
"Naturally."
After staying at Castle Black for a few days, Mufasa and his group arrived at the edge of the Great Canyon to the west.
"What's beyond the canyon?" Tyrion asked.
"Why don't we go see?" Mufasa said.
All five of them planned to fly across on Heraka.
However, there was strong cold air above the Great Canyon, buffeting Heraka back and forth, and some of them almost fell. Heraka's size was comparable to a mammoth at this point, and while he was a giant from a human perspective, he was still vulnerable in the face of strong winds.
Fortunately, Mufasa had tied ropes around Heraka beforehand.
Everyone held tightly to the ropes to avoid being blown off.
As they passed over the Great Canyon, Mufasa glanced down and seemed to see some dark figures moving below. Were they animals or wildlings?
Øóffer going on for diamond tier
pàtreøn (Gk31)
Grab the offer soon it's going to end