The militias from Queenscrown and Black Sable Hall quickly arrived at Castle Black. Under the strict “order maintenance” of over a thousand soldiers, the several thousand Wildlings temporarily gathered outside the castle were forced to comply with the arrangements. After going through the proper process, they were officially registered as New Gift People.

Given that nearly every Wildling who recently crossed the Wall had lost family or friends to wight attacks, the cold and unsympathetic treatment they received naturally provoked resentment. They cursed incessantly. But the Wildlings never held much goodwill toward the Night’s Watch to begin with—too many past grievances numbed them to further indignities, and a new layer of frost atop old snow did little to change Aegor’s plan.

In this regard, the Gift held a natural advantage. Its ruling class, the Night’s Watch, was a military organization, and the military-to-civilian ratio in the Gift was astonishingly high. Moreover, the New Gift People were used to hardship. These conditions combined meant that the “red line” of this small society—the threshold of tolerance and resilience—was far higher than elsewhere.

…

In the end, nearly thirty thousand Wildlings were fully resettled within the Gift. One-third of them were placed in the nine ruined fortresses that Commander Mormont had left deactivated due to their severe dilapidation. They were explicitly forbidden from rebuilding walls. Another third were stationed around the ten fortresses that had been reactivated, living outside the walls and constantly under the watchful eye of the stationed garrisons. The final third were dispersed throughout the heartlands of the Gift, scattered across the vast region centered around Crown Town.

The ordinary New Gift People were relatively easy to manage. The greatest challenge came from the several hundred Giants. Although the Giants, like their mammoths, were gentle herbivores by nature, they could be difficult to handle once angered. Aegor specifically allocated them a designated area not too far yet not too close to Crown Town, with access to water and grasslands sufficient to sustain the woolly mammoths they lived alongside.

—

Now that the people had arrived, the next task was to manage them properly.

Aegor’s first project for the New Gift People was road construction.

“To get rich, build roads first”—an undeniable principle. Although enriching the land was not the immediate goal of the Gift, the logic remained valid. Without proper transportation, nothing else could proceed.

While infrastructure wasn’t an urgent need at the moment, Aegor was more concerned with giving the Wildlings, who had just become New Gift People, something to do. This allowed him to legally provide them with food, keep them from causing trouble, and simultaneously instill the concept of money and labor.

Those who accepted the work would be given a simple tool and led by assigned personnel to the planned construction sites. There, they would clear weeds and move stones, dig and pile soil, then level and tamp it down with the tools provided. The road surface was to be clearly distinct from the surrounding wilderness and wide enough for two horses to ride side by side. Given the harsh and vast terrain of the Gift, this was a notably high standard.

Wages were paid daily. Although the labor was tough, each participant received payment equivalent to dozens of coins at the end of the day. If the goal was simply to eat their fill, this “high wage” allowed one worker to feed an entire family. With the Night’s Watch supplying sufficient materials, the power of money quickly became evident. At first, labor assignments struggled to find enough volunteers, but before long, droves of New Gift People began showing up early each day, eagerly waiting for the Logistics Department staff to issue tasks.

…

Another problem arose at Nightfort. After Bran Stark and the Reed siblings were stopped while trying to sneak past the Wall, they were temporarily housed at the fortress, waiting for someone from Winterfell to collect them. Among them, aside from Bran—whose noble status and disability led Commander Mormont to order strict supervision—Hodor and the Reed siblings were not restricted in their movements.

During this time, Meera Reed was harassed near Nightfort by New Gift People settled nearby under the protection and oversight of House Flint. She was nearly dragged off and raped.

The Wildlings’ customs regarding marriage were quite barbaric—they believed a true man should seize a woman from another tribe to strengthen his bloodline. Males were expected to venture into the lands of other clans and “steal” women capable of bearing children. The culprit this time clearly mistook Meera Reed, who was alone outside Nightfort, for a woman from a southern tribe and attempted to take her as a mate.

This savage practice had long been strictly prohibited under the new laws of the Night’s Watch. Only those Wildlings who agreed to abide by these laws were allowed to pass through the Wall. Yet, just a few days after crossing over, a New Gift Person who couldn’t control himself committed a serious crime.

Meera Reed may not have been as politically significant as Bran Stark, but she was still a noblewoman, daughter of Lord Howland Reed, a crucial vassal of House Stark. If she were harmed on Night’s Watch territory, it would be absolutely unacceptable.

As Aegor refused to personally handle the situation at Nightfort, Commander Jeor Mormont chose to go himself. His goal was to arrest and punish the offending New Gift Person and also escort Bran and the Reed siblings back to Castle Black, where they could await pickup in a safer environment.

…

The plan to win over the New Gift People with money proceeded smoothly. About two weeks after all thirty thousand Wildlings had been fully resettled within the Wall, Aegor announced a second major initiative, in addition to road construction: conscripting a thousand New Gift People to accompany the Logistics Department’s grain transport team, which would soon head south to collect winter grain aid for the Gift from the North.

The wages for this task were double those for road construction.

Faster than Aegor had anticipated, New Gift People from all over rushed to Crown Town after hearing the news. They set up camp outside the city walls, waiting for the grain convoy to officially depart.

Of course, Aegor had no intention of relying entirely on these recently converted Wildlings to help fight the war to expel the Ironborn. In addition to the thousand conscripts, he would also recruit a thousand warriors from the Mountain Clans—his true core force, on whom he placed his highest hopes.

But just as the team was assembling, equipment and supplies were falling into place, and the second phase of the Gift resettlement plan was about to be launched, an unexpected and shocking piece of news reached Aegor: Commander Jeor Mormont, who had personally gone to Nightfort to handle the incident involving Meera Reed, had been attacked and besieged while pursuing the offender through the New Gift People’s settlement.

He was struck in the head by a stone thrown by one of the rioters, fell unconscious on the spot, and despite being rushed back to Nightfort for emergency treatment, he died shortly afterward.

Thus, the man who had personally ordered the Wildlings to be let through the Wall met his end at their hands.

(To be continued.)

***

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