Chapter 376: Blackwall Keep
The sensation was so familiar that, with a bit of reflection, Egger realized this was actually the second time he had been blindsided by this place. Years ago, when King Robert had forcibly drafted him as the attending man of the Night's Watch to accompany the grand army of the six kingdoms to the Vale, he had returned to King's Landing to find the Industrial Park appearing out of thin air, as if dropped from the heavens. Who would have thought that as time passed, he would experience that same shock from the very same spot?
However, once he calmed down and cleared his thoughts, Egger realized that his internal reaction was largely exaggerated. Compared to the true metamorphosis occurring in the Gift, the growth and change of the Industrial Park wasn't actually that massive. It was simply that Egger had been away in the North, seeing only the original state of the park from over a year ago versus its current splendor. It was like parents returning home from working abroad to suddenly see a child they hadn't seen in years: there is nothing inherently magical about a child growing up, but if you skip the process and jump straight to the result, the change feels earth-shattering.
That being said, while the magnitude of change in the Gift was greater, it was built on a patchwork of loans and external blood transfusions—a tower of resources. Once the war ended, the threat of the Others vanished, the Iron Bank began to call in its debts, and the Lannisters came looking for their gold, it would face immediate collapse... Here in the Industrial Park, however, what was happening was truly sustainable, healthy development.
Unfortunately, the Night's Watch's stake in this lush, massive money tree was now below 50% (though fortunately, they remained the largest shareholder and the actual controllers). It was no longer entirely the property of the men on the Wall.
The arrival of the Blackbird quickly drew the attention of the dockworkers. The clouds of war had already gathered here; the cargo ships that once moved in a constant stream were nowhere to be seen. As the only vessel currently approaching the shore, Egger's small warship was successfully berthed with exclusive service. After verifying the identity of the arrivals, someone immediately ran toward the dark castle to deliver the news. Within moments, Nina, who managed the site day and night, rushed to the docks with several attendants in tow.
The face of this young iron lady held a mixture of surprise and irrepressible joy. "My Lord, can you foresee the future? We were trying every possible way to contact you, and yet you arrived first!"
Egger nodded in greeting and asked with concern, "What of the ravens? Had I not happened to receive news from Winterfell, I fear my entire estate would have been burned by the Dragon Queen before I even knew I was in danger."
"Alas..." Nina's excitement faded into a sigh. She explained as she led him toward the castle, "It is a long story. The park originally had five ravens capable of flying to the Gift. Not long ago, a localized outbreak of disease killed two of them, and the remaining three were all sent out with news regarding saltpeter collection and production progress... just before that Targaryen Queen suddenly appeared and seized Dragonstone. The Red Keep in King's Landing might still have ravens for Castle Black, but in these chaotic times, how would we dare trouble the King to borrow royal ravens for the business of the Night's Watch?"
The ravens unique to the world of Ice and Fire are similar to homing pigeons, but far larger, stronger, more intelligent, and capable of fending off birds of prey. With proper training, they can easily fly between two locations, or even navigate between several fixed points. But as clever as they were, King's Landing was simply too far from the Gift. Furthermore, the Night's Watch lacked the guidance of top raven experts from the Citadel and had to rely on hired apprentices and semi-professionals. While there were enough ravens for communication between the twenty fortresses along the Wall, the north-south raven line between the park and the Gift was sparse and could only send one-way messages. This meant that after Nina's ravens reached the Gift, someone had to carry them a thousand miles back to King's Landing to use them again.
And people cannot fly... A cage of a few ravens might seem like plenty, but during critical moments when several urgent messages are sent at once, one often faces the awkward situation where all ravens have been released and none have returned, leading to a temporary communication blackout. Any accidental losses only made the situation more severe.
As for the ravens in the Red Keep, those were for the King to issue proclamations to the Seven Kingdoms. How could they be used frequently for the commercial reports of an unofficial organization like the Night's Watch Industry?
Egger remembered receiving two or three progress reports from King's Landing in quick succession a few weeks prior, all of which were good news. Knowing Nina's words were likely true, he waved a hand to end the topic. "Never mind. Contact the Citadel more frequently; put increasing the number of ravens on the agenda... What is the story with that castle? Did King Stannis order it built to protect the industry?"
"Oh... that." Nina looked toward the dark, castle-like structure. "It has nothing to do with His Majesty. As the industry grew, the valuable assets, raw materials, and commercial or technical secrets requiring protection increased as well. This was a plan passed by a majority vote of the shareholders at an important meeting six months ago: to allocate funds from the expansion budget to build a high wall at the most critical location of the park, enclosing the core departments, high-level warehouses, and the research institute to protect them from threats like bandits or rebels. To mark its identity, the project utilized dark materials whenever possible without increasing costs, and supplemented the rest with black dye, black cloth, and black flags. The result is what you see. It isn't technically a castle, but the nearby residents and the people of King's Landing who rely on the industry have taken to calling it by a nickname—'Blackwall Keep'."
"Blackwall Keep? Quite fitting indeed..."
Egger smiled knowingly. He recalled that the industrial reports he had seen in Queenscrown months ago did mention the construction of this wall, and he had written back in approval. He had originally thought it was a wall surrounding the entire park; he hadn't expected Nina to focus so heavily on the core area and build it into such a grand spectacle. No wonder the amount of capital involved seemed significantly higher than for a common stone wall.
However, while the Night's Watch Industry earned thousands of Gold Dragons a month and he had approved substantial funds for the wall, it was impossible to build a complete, functional castle with that amount. Though he had instructed the park to keep its funds for its own use rather than sending them to the Gift, the goal was to "concentrate forces on solving the saltpeter supply problem," not to build vanity projects. If King's Landing had taken it upon itself to build such a massive castle, where would the extra funds for collecting saltpeter and researching production methods come from?
Egger felt a prickle of unease. His previous orders had been given face-to-face when Nina was in the Gift; she definitely understood his intent and was unlikely to make such a counterproductive mistake. Suspecting there was more to the story, he didn't question her directly but raised his concern diplomatically: "This whole setup must have cost a fortune. I didn't approve such a massive sum. Who provided the excess—or rather, the majority of the funding?"
"No one did, and there is no 'majority' that doesn't exist. Building 'Blackwall Keep' did cost quite a bit and went slightly over budget, but it wasn't nearly as much as you imagine, my Lord... As for why, you will see once you step inside."
The castle was a short walk from the docks. Suppressing his urgency, Egger led his group behind Nina and finally entered the structure.
Egger soon understood why Nina said it hadn't cost as much as he thought: this dark, fortress-style building was truly just a Blackwall keep.
It wasn't as solid or majestic as it appeared from afar. The near-jet-black outer walls looked as high as the walls of King's Landing, but their actual thickness was quite thin—roughly three meters at the base and less than two at the top. Subtracting the thickness of the inner and outer battlements, the walkway on top was just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. It was fine for daily patrols and lookouts, and more than enough to deal with refugees or bandits without siege engines, but it would never hold against a real army or siege weaponry.
Aside from this landmark wall, the interior of the castle looked nothing like a military fortress. There were no tall, sturdy watchtowers, keeps, drill grounds, or armories. Instead, there were rows of civilian and commercial buildings whose original forms were still visible: one was the management office, another the security department dormitory, another a primary warehouse... compared to when Egger had left, they had simply been slightly reinforced or heightened to increase space. From the outside, it looked like a dark, iron-clad fortress, but in reality, the materials and purposes hadn't changed; it could never withstand the fires of war.
It made sense. King Stannis was plagued by constant war and had empty pockets; the fact that he hadn't demanded money from the Night's Watch Industry was a sign of his rigid principles—there was no way he would provide funds himself. Though slightly disappointed, Egger felt it was for the best... If the Iron Throne had funded a castle to protect the industry, Egger wouldn't know how to untangle himself from the Baratheon camp to maintain his neutrality.
"Originally, Lord Buckwell suggested we mount scorpions as densely as they are in King's Landing to prevent an attack by the Dragon Queen, but I considered that a blatant provocation and a declaration of war, which would violate the neutrality of the Watch. I eventually rejected the proposal and separated the production of scorpions as much as possible, moving it into King's Landing proper." Nina led Egger up a nearby staircase to the top of the wall, pointing toward the new industrial park that filled nearly her entire field of vision outside the walls. "Not only that, we've worked overtime to coat the roofs of all buildings within the industrial park with black ash... striving to ensure that when the Dragon Queen looks down from high above on dragonback, she can clearly distinguish the Night's Watch Industry from King's Landing, to avoid collateral damage."
"Well done."
Egger nodded in approval. Even if he were remote-controlling the industry, he couldn't have done more. If Daenerys truly wanted to destroy the park, she wouldn't even necessarily need her dragons; her army could do it with ease. While the discipline of the Night's Watch Logistics Security Force—this semi-modernized army—was good, it was untested in battle and numbered only a few hundred. He wasn't arrogant enough to think that as a military layman, a few pointers and a few hundred men could allow him to defeat the Unsullied at odds of one to ten. Against such a fearless iron army, no matter how much the industry prepared or how sturdy the fortifications were... even if they were equipped with first-generation firearms, it would be difficult to hold them back.
Despite the lack of communication, Nina had made a perfectly rational and correct decision: rather than misappropriating funds meant for technological advancement to pay a high price for a war they shouldn't fight and couldn't win, it was better to pay a small price to strengthen their neutral branding. This would avoid conflict, allow them to keep a low profile, and build strength for the more important cause.
Blackwall Keep was essentially a massive declaration of neutrality, telling Daenerys's side: This is the property of the Night's Watch. Every debt has its debtor; if you want revenge, go to King's Landing.
Indeed, this behavior could be called avoiding conflict if one were being kind, or cowardice if one were being blunt. Even the kind phrasing felt stifling. Egger surely wished he could punch the Night King and kick the Mother of Dragons, stomping his foot outside King's Landing to scare Stannis into handing over the Iron Throne. But reality wasn't a power fantasy. Even with the advanced concepts and knowledge advantage of a modern person, turning those into actual strength took time.
Nina, receiving the praise, did not look boastful. "Thank you for the compliment, my Lord, but this is the most we can do on our end. Though I wished to send someone to the Dragon Queen to state our position, I lack the status, and as for our shareholders..."
Egger understood. No matter how much Nina was trusted by him or respected by the executives, she was still a common girl without status, rank, or fame. She would never have been granted an audience with Daenerys. The investors were certainly wealthy and noble, but the lords of the Crownlands were, at least for now, all vassals and supporters of Stannis. Given the Second Baratheon brother's rigid and cautious nature, it was impossible for them to betray him repeatedly without him noticing.
"That's why I've come," Egger comforted Nina. "Don't worry, I've already spoken with the Dragon Queen; most likely, all will be well." He glanced at Melisandre, who stood beside him with a lack of interest in Blackwall Keep. In truth, his request hadn't received a definitive answer from Daenerys, but at this juncture, he couldn't speak discouragingly to his subordinates. He could only trust that the Red Woman and her charlatan partner were reliable. "All right, there's no hurry to finish the tour of the keep. The saltpeter... how is the progress, truly?"
Besides meeting the Mother of Dragons, the second major purpose of his journey south was for this substance. His primary task was to personally bring back the saltpeter collected and stored in the park by the logistics department—which had been unable to reach the Gift due to the war cutting off transport. Since he was here, he wouldn't let the trip be for nothing; he had to check the R&D progress to see if there was anything he could do to offer a few pointers.
"Wait a moment, my Lord. The saltpeter project has always been the responsibility of Associate Dean Qyburn. I'll send someone to call him now so he can report the specific situation to you in person."
"Good." Egger nodded, but his eyes widened in the next second. "Who? Who did you say?"
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