There was nothing in the big room except for the straw mats. Jon Snow asked Rohr to pile most of them into a corner, then went outside and brought in a table and three stools.
The place was in rough shape, and the smell inside made Jon wonder if the straw mats had ever been replaced.
But then again, it wasn't surprising. This room was meant for farmers traveling between villages and castles. It only cost one copper penny a night—less than one-eighth of the price of a normal single room. It was basically free, and people who paid nothing usually didn't complain much.
After all, if you had the money, you would simply stay in a private room.
Of course, Jon hadn't chosen the big room to save money. He just thought it was safer to stay in the same room with two knights.
What he didn't want to admit was that the memories of the battles and massacres back at the salt mines still haunted him.
Once everything was set up, Martha, the inn's proprietress, appeared at the door of Jon's room.
"Ser, your food is ready," she said, her voice heavy with sleep. Jon figured she was probably annoyed about being dragged out of bed to cook.
"Come in," Jon called back. He didn't care about her mood. What mattered to him was Martha's cooking, which, according to Catelyn Tully and Tyrion Lannister in the original tales, was supposed to be quite good—especially her ale.
After getting Jon's permission, Martha and two maids opened the door and entered.
Soon, a meal was laid out: whole wheat bread, potato and bacon, onion beef soup, roast lamb, roast quail, and ale. It all went onto the table Jon had brought in.
Jon didn't rush to devour the food. Instead, he noticed Martha staying in the room, not leaving after the maids had finished.
"My lords," she began carefully.
"We don't need any other services. Thank you. You can go rest," Jon said, already guessing what she might ask.
But Martha quickly shook her head. "I wasn't going to ask about that, ser. I'm sorry."
"Relax," Jon said, putting down his fork and looking at her. "Speak slowly."
"Thank you, my lord," Martha nodded, taking a breath to calm herself. "You're knights of the Lannister family, aren't you?"
"Yes," Jon answered directly. He had already dealt with everyone in the Carmel Mercenary Company and didn't plan to drop his disguise anytime soon. His sword, bearing the lion's head sigil, was in plain sight anyway.
Martha must have noticed it.
When she heard Jon's confirmation, her face lit up, showing her teeth stained red from years of chewing tobacco. "Then you must be coming from King's Landing?"
Jon tore a leg off the roast quail and bit into it. "What makes you say that?"
She chuckled. "I've run this inn for years. I can recognize knights from all over the Seven Kingdoms. The black armor your companion wears has intricate designs—that's the style from King's Landing or Highgarden. And since you're Lannister knights, and King's Landing is half run by Lannisters these days, I guessed you came from there."
Jon raised an eyebrow. "You guessed right. I'm Ser Lucien Lannister, and these are my men," he said casually, scooping up a big spoonful of soup. "So, what business do you have with us?"
Martha nodded eagerly. "Well, ser, if you're not in too much of a hurry..."
"It just so happens we're free at the moment," Jon said, his instincts telling him that what Martha was about to say might trigger a quest.
It was a good chance. He wanted to test how side quests were triggered.
After all, according to the organizers, no one would interfere once the game started. This meant that tasks would likely be triggered automatically by the system whenever a local asked for help.
In this real world, if the task-triggering mechanism was fixed, Ian, once a professional game planner, could say with certainty: as long as it was handled properly, bugs would definitely appear.
Of course, that was something to think about later, after he fully tested the system.
Right now, he wanted to test the simplest question—would a task be triggered simply by an indigenous person asking a player for help?
"So," Ian continued, "how can I help you?"
"Yes, Ser Lucien," Martha said, encouraged by his response. "A group of bandits has been terrorizing the area lately. They rob, kill, and commit all sorts of crimes. Since their lair is near the ruins of the old Whitewalls, we've started calling them the 'Ghosts of Whitewalls.'"
"Ghosts of Whitewalls," Ian repeated, thinking back through everything he knew. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any information about such a band. He had never even heard of the name before.
Which meant one thing: there was no mention of these bandits in the original A Song of Ice and Fire novels or any of their spinoffs.
"Have you heard of them?" Martha asked.
"No," Ian shook his head. "Never heard of them. But since they're bandits, I'm guessing you want us to help deal with them?"
Bandits, Ian thought with a slight chuckle. What medieval game with quest systems didn't include a "suppress the bandits" mission? It was practically tradition at this point.
But to his surprise, Martha shook her head. "Not me. It's actually Ser Wilder and the others."
"Others?" Ian raised an eyebrow.
"They're an alliance of wealthy knights from around here," Martha explained. "They're the ones who need help."
"You mean," Ian said, puzzled, "the nearby landed knights already formed an alliance just to deal with these bandits?"
"No, no," Martha said quickly. "The alliance has always existed. But this time, they've gathered their forces specifically because of the Ghosts of Whitewalls."
"How many knights are we talking about?"
"There are seven in total: Ser Wilder, Ser Willi, Ser Kahn, and four others. Plus their squires and guards."
This went far beyond Ian's expectations.
In his mind, since the original books hadn't even mentioned the Ghosts of Whitewalls, he had assumed it would just be a small gang of petty thieves. He thought Martha would simply trigger a mission, and he could hire a few mercenaries to wipe them out in a clean, classic side quest.
He hadn't expected the situation to be serious enough for the local nobility to form a full alliance.
"If there are already so many knights preparing to deal with them," Ian asked, unable to hide his surprise, "why are they looking for us?"
"Well," Martha said, lowering her voice, "Ser Wilder is worried they still don't have enough men. He asked me to keep an eye out for any trustworthy knights passing through. He's hoping you'll lend your strength."
"A foreign knight," Ian muttered, narrowing his eyes slightly.
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