Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

"How old are you, old man, to be applying for the position of Castle Steward?"

The recruiter who received the applicants at the office looked at the old man with white hair and beard in front of him strangely and couldn't help but ask.

"I can read and write, and the castle recruitment post didn't say that old people can't apply, right?" He stood up straight, showing a strong physique that didn't match his appearance, "Look, I'm not old enough to need anyone to take care of me yet. People often say that wisdom comes with age, and I think I fit the bill for what the Castle is looking for.”

"." When faced with this situation, the receptionist didn't know what to do. He stood up from his seat and walked inside the building, "Then you wait here and I'll go ask."

Barristan took a seat in front of the receptionist's desk.

Here, he saw the middle-aged man he had encountered on the bulletin board sitting in the tea seat in the reception room, waiting silently. Seemingly noticing Barristan's gaze, the man turned his head and gave him a shy and reserved smile.

Barristan smiled back at him, then sat back and waited.

Not long after, the receptionist came back from the back room, bringing with him a man who looked like a manager.

The steward looked Balistan up and down.

"Old man, how old are you?"

"The last name day was 60."

"Sixty?" the manager said, "You should play with your grandson at home."

"I know my situation better than you. I can do this job for at least another ten years. Doesn't recruitment require that you can read and write? Believe me, I have rich experience in this. The castle needs a seasoned veteran like me."

"This," the steward thought for a while, "the affairs here are different from what you did before. What you do elsewhere does not conform to the rules of the castle."

"Then I want to try it even more."

"Okay, then go in and wait inside. Fill in your personal information. There will be an assessment at noon."

Barristan kept hearing something weird: "Personal information?"

"Let's just say you're not used to it."

He put on a straight face and simply stopped asking.

The receptionist led Barristan into the back room and asked him to sit down at the tea table. Then he gave him a piece of hard paper that had obviously been treated in some way - not the parchment or kraft paper that Barristan was familiar with. , but a large uncut letter paper from Old Town. He knew that this kind of paper produced in Old Town is usually cut into letter paper. It is said that the production method of this kind of paper was passed down from Yi Di in the East, and it is not as good as parchment paper and kraft paper. Corrosion-resistant, the only advantage is that it is cheaper than parchment paper and kraft paper, and it is also tough enough.

On the paper was a table that seemed quite complicated at first glance.

But if you look closely, there are boxes for filling in personal information.

On it are the name, age, gender, place of birth, current residence, and work experience written in plain English.

This posed a problem for Barristan. The fake identity he prepared for Asstan didn't have enough information to fill in, but he still had the courage to write down Astan and his place of origin as the northeast of Nightsong City in the Dorne Frontier. It is a town very close to the Ministry and the Harvest Hall, and the work experience is vague. It only says that he worked for a certain lord in King's Landing for more than forty years, and later worked for a new lord for more than ten years.

After vaguely filling out the information, Barristan couldn't help but wonder, what did the middle-aged man sitting next to him in the tea seat fill in on this paper before he came in?

The middle-aged man was reserved and shy, somewhat silent. Barristan wanted to test him, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he found that the other man was pointing his finger behind him.

Barristan looked back and saw "Please keep quiet" written on the wall.

Looking at the receptionist outside, I don't know what he is busy with. He is writing and scratching on a book with a strange carbon stone.

Barristan had no choice but to sit quietly and wait, watching the middle-aged man close his eyes in deep thought.

I sat there like this until noon, but no third applicant showed up.

At a certain moment, something knocked outside, and the receptionist outside stood up and came in, greeting them: "Okay, you two come in with me to take the written examination."

Barristan couldn't help but ask: "Written test?"

"It's just a written test." The receptionist couldn't find anything to describe it to the old man, so he could only say, "You'll know it when you see it."

They were taken to an empty warehouse compartment, which contained more than a dozen tables and chairs of the same standard specifications, as well as a raised stand with tables and chairs on it.

Barristan and the man were seated at two tables far apart.

The man who looked like the steward who had met Barristan before came with a few documents-like things. He stood in front of the table in the stand and said, "Two of you, the next thing to do is the written examination of the Castle Affairs Officer. Next, I will send you two test papers and pen and ink. Please answer carefully. Everyone does his or her own work. Don’t look at others’ answers. Keep quiet and don’t disturb others. You can hand in the test paper directly after finishing it. If you are not finished, you can stop answering when the time is up. "He started to read the exam rules. Barristan sounded weird but also found it reasonable. At the end, he said, "Then let's start the exam."

The so-called written test actually consists of four questions.

Barristan looked at the so-called "exam paper". There was a place to fill in your name. After filling in your name, you could start answering. The first step is calculation, which is very simple. "Question: In a military camp, a person consumes 1 kilogram of grain per day, and a horse consumes 7 kilograms of fodder per day. How much grain and fodder are needed to prepare 200 men and horses for a three-month battle? When answering the question, you can write down the calculation process."

The second way is also counting. "There are currently 1,000 units of supplies in the military camp. 10 units are consumed every day, and 5 units are transported into the camp from outside every day. How many days can the military camp last?"

The third question is the pursuit issue. "There is a fast ship that travels 100 nautical miles a day, and a slow ship that travels 50 nautical miles a day. The slow ship leaves five days in advance. How many days will the fast ship catch up with the slow ship?"

The fourth question is a tax law combination question. "If the spice tax at a certain port is divided into ten and the wine tax is divided into five."

Barristan has experience in leading troops in the army, and he quickly identified the first three problems as the most common problems in military camps. Material consumption, material reserves, pursuit and interception, these are all parts he is familiar with, but he has never dealt with them in this way. I answered this question on paper. Except for the last tax question, which gave Barristan a headache, he answered the rest quickly.

While Barristan was having a headache over the tax issue, the middle-aged man with him had already handed in the paperwork.

By the time Barristan handed in the paper, the middle-aged man had disappeared.

When he went out, Barristan met the receptionist who had been in the reception room before: "Hey, old man, you looked like you answered well. Maybe I can see you again tomorrow. Here is the lunch card." The receptionist handed it to He made a wooden sign, "Everyone who comes to apply for a job will have a free lunch, which can be taken to the canteen. If you don't want to eat lunch, you can take it to the canteen to exchange for fruit. Don't leave with it. By the way, if you have nothing to do in the afternoon, you can go back. Come here tomorrow and you’ll have the results.”

Barristan took the wooden sign and squeezed it strangely in his hand. He felt it, but he didn't feel anything in the town, but the closer he got to the so-called affairs office, the more these weird things became. However, he did not forget his purpose and asked: "Where was the person who took the exam with me just now?"

"Oh, he finished the exam before you. Let's go after dinner. Are you friends?"

"No." Barristan paused, "Thanks. I'll still come here tomorrow, right?"

"right."

Then Barristan went to the so-called dining hall to exchange the wooden sign for lunch. Not to mention, the lunch was pretty good, with a side dish and plenty of portions.

When Barristan arrived, there were not many people eating, only the employees in the canteen chatting at the table. Barristan chatted with the chef for a while during the meal, and unexpectedly learned that he used to be the chef of the castle, and many of the employees here were servants of the former castle. After Dragonstone was captured by the Dragon King, the original cooks and servants were kicked out of the castle. They were at a loss for a while. Later, when the office of the steward was opened, the Dragon King re-employed them, the old men of the castle, to work here.

It arrived the next day in the blink of an eye.

When Barristan came here again, it was the steward-like steward who received him.

"Astan, congratulations. You have been hired by the castle as an honorable financial officer. I am your current Bursar, Max, Max Weishui." Max introduced himself, "Follow me in, After signing the contract, I will take you to pre-job training."

Weishui. Barristan clicked his tongue, which meant that the Bursar was the illegitimate son of a certain family. But compared with yesterday, he was inexplicably enthusiastic about Barristan today, and Barristan couldn't figure out what was going on.

This doubt was not solved until Barristan was in the so-called pre-job training class.

At the same time, in addition to him and the man from yesterday, there were also several people who were said to be sent to study by the Narrow Sea princes. As soon as a half-grown boy saw him, he quietly found him and asked, "Are you that Astan?"

Barristan asked strangely: "That Astan?"

The young man said ambiguously: "You got off the Dragon King's finance minister's ship, didn't you?" He introduced himself in a low voice, "I am Miles Weishui, Celtija."

"Count Adrian is yours?"

He whispered: "It's my grandfather. No, Adrian is no longer the Earl of Crab Island."

During the Battle of the Blackwater, Earl Adrian surrendered to King Joffrey I after being captured by the enemy. The Dragon King announced that Adrian had been dismissed from his title and appointed one of his sons as the new Earl of Crab Island. However, because Adrian surrendered to Joffrey and surrendered with 300 troops, Crab Island is now in an embarrassing situation under the Dragonstone regime.

"I saw you on the list of candidates for Castle Steward training. I daresay it was the Chancellor himself who put your name on it."

"." Barristan was embarrassed and silent.

"You must have no idea how many people want the Castle Steward's position. Let me tell you." Miles was a talker, and he quickly made it clear to Barristan.

Although Dragonstone is just a big place, the affairs officers are divided into local and central affairs. It is said that Barristan is actually applying for the local affairs officer of Dragonstone. He is not qualified to enter the castle and can only work on Dragonstone. Do things everywhere. After the training, you will be assigned to work as an accountant or measurer in one of the departments of accounting, port affairs, taxation, and customs. You will be responsible for recording the income and expenditure status of a certain type of financial affairs, reporting, managing certain types of accounts, and supervising tax and customs matters. collection, loan

When it comes to borrowing, local lords are generally the largest local lenders. A lot of land is annexed from property-owning farmers through accumulated loans. This has nothing to do with whether the lord is good or not, but the feudal system determines the ability to resist risks. Stronger landowners would naturally acquire land from property-owning peasants, forcing them to become vassals of their lords.

All in all, Barristan understood clearly. He didn't know who had transformed him from an ordinary person to a central financial officer-in-waiting on Dragonstone Island with a stroke of a pen.

Barristan couldn't help but feel a headache. He really didn't want to accept Illyrio's favor.

He didn't have a good impression of the fat governor. Although the fat governor was highly valued by the Dragon King, in his eyes, he was just a speculator, ambitious, and didn't look like a good person.

Barristan couldn't help but glance at the shy and silent man sitting in the corner of the pre-job training classroom. He thought that if he had known that this man would never get in touch with Viserys by taking this path, he would never have followed him to apply for a steward.

Is it too late to leave now? Barristan suddenly thought.

In fact, Barristan was really wrong. Illyrio didn't know that he had secretly applied for the castle steward.

Someone else added his name.