Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 108: Dragonstone Island (Part )
"How old are you, old man, to apply for a position as castle steward?"

The recruiter who was receiving the applicants at the office looked at the white-haired old man in front of him strangely and couldn't help asking.

"I can read and write, and the castle's job posting didn't say that elderly people can't apply, right?" He stood up straight, revealing a strong physique that didn't match his appearance. "You see, I'm not old enough to need someone to take care of me. People often say that wisdom comes with age, and I think I meet the castle's recruitment requirements."

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

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

Here, he saw the middle-aged man he had met on the notice board earlier sitting in the tea booth in the reception room, waiting silently. As if noticing Barristan's gaze, the man turned around and gave him a shy and reserved smile.

Barristan smiled back at him, then settled into his seat and waited.

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

The steward looked Barristan up and down.

"Old man, how old are you?"

"The last naming day was 60."

"60?" the butler said, "You should be at home playing with your grandchildren."

"I know my situation better than you do. I can at least do this for another ten years. Isn't it required to be able to read and write when recruiting? Believe me, I have a lot of experience in this area. The castle needs an experienced worker like me."

"This..." The butler thought for a moment, "The affairs here are different from what you did before. What you did elsewhere is not suitable for the rules of the castle."

"Then I'll try even more."

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

Barristan kept hearing something odd: "Personal data?"

"Just say you're not used to it."

He frowned and simply stopped asking.

The receptionist led Barristan into the inner room and asked him to sit down at the tea table. He then handed him a piece of hard paper that had obviously been processed in some way - it was not the parchment or kraft paper that Barristan was familiar with, but a large uncut sheet of letter paper from Oldtown. He knew that this kind of paper produced in Oldtown was generally used to cut into letter paper for crows. It was said that the production method of this paper came from the Yi Land in the east. It was not as corrosion-resistant as parchment and kraft paper. Its only advantage was that it was cheaper than parchment and kraft paper, and it was also tough enough.

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

But upon closer inspection, there are boxes for filling in personal information.

There is name, age, gender, birthplace, current residence, and work experience written in standard common language.
This gave Barristan a dilemma. The fake identity he prepared, Arstan, did not have such complete information to fill in, but he still gritted his teeth and wrote down Arstan. His birthplace was listed as a town northeast of Nightsong and very close to Harvest Hall on the Dorne border. His work experience was vague, only writing that he had worked for a lord in King's Landing for more than 40 years, and later worked for a new lord for more than ten years.

After filling out the information vaguely, Barristan couldn't help but wonder what the middle-aged man sitting next to him at the tea table had filled in on the paper before he came in?
The middle-aged man was reserved and shy, and was somewhat silent. Barristan wanted to test him with words, but just as he opened his mouth, he found that the other party was pointing a finger behind him.

Barristan looked back and saw the words "Please Keep Quiet" written on the wall.

Looking at the receptionist outside, I didn't know what he was busy with. He was holding a strange piece of carbon stone and writing on a booklet.

There was no choice but to sit and wait, watching the middle-aged man sitting in his seat with his eyes closed in deep thought.

I just sat there until noon, and no third applicant showed up.

At a certain moment, there was a knock outside, and the receptionist stood up and came in, saying to them, "Okay, both of you follow me in to take the written test."

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

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

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

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

The steward-looking man who had seen Barristan before came with some documents. He stood in front of the table on the stand and said, "You two, the next thing to do is the written examination for the castle affairs officer. You will be given two test papers and writing materials. Please answer them carefully. Everyone should do your own test. Don't look at others'. Keep quiet and don't disturb others. You can hand in the test paper directly after you finish it. If you can't finish it, you can stop answering when the time comes." He began to read the test rules. Barristan thought it sounded strange but reasonable. At the end, "Then let's start the test."

The so-called written test actually consists of four questions. Barristan looked at the so-called "test paper". There was a place to fill in his name. After filling in his name, he could start answering. The first question was calculation, which was very simple. "Question: In the military camp, one person consumes 1 jin of food every day, and one horse consumes 7 jin of fodder every day. How much food and fodder are needed to prepare 200 people and horses for a three-month battle? When answering the question, you can write down the calculation process."

The second question is also a calculation. "There are 1000 units of supplies in the barracks. 10 units are consumed every day, and 5 units are transported into the barracks from outside every day. How many days can the barracks last?"

The third question is about pursuit. "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 sets out five days in advance. On which day will the fast ship catch up with the slow ship?"

The fourth question is a tax law combination question. "If a port's spice tax is 10% and its wine tax is 15%"

Barristan had experience in leading troops, and he quickly identified the first three questions as the most common problems in the military camp. Material consumption, material storage, pursuit and interception were all familiar to him, but he had never answered such questions on paper in this way. Except for the last tax question, which gave Barristan a headache, he answered the rest quickly.

While Barristan was struggling with the tax questions, the middle-aged man with him had already handed in his paper.
By the time Barristan handed in his paper, the middle-aged man had disappeared.

When he was leaving, Barristan met the receptionist who was in the reception room before. "Hey, old man, it seems that you answered well. Maybe I can see you tomorrow. Here, this is the lunch sign." The receptionist handed him a wooden sign. "Everyone who comes to apply for the job will have a free lunch, which you can take to the cafeteria. If you don't want to eat lunch, you can exchange it for fruit in the cafeteria. Don't leave with it. By the way, you have nothing to do in the afternoon, you can go back, and you will have the result when you come back tomorrow."

Barristan took the wooden sign and squeezed it in his hand. He felt it. He didn't feel anything in the town, but the closer he got to the so-called official agency, the more weird things he saw. But he didn't forget his purpose and asked, "Where is the person who took the exam with me just now?"

"Oh, he finished the exam before you, and he left after dinner. Are you friends?"

"No." Barristan paused. "Thank you. We'll come here tomorrow, right?"

"Correct."

Then Barristan went to the so-called dining hall and exchanged the wooden sign for lunch. It turned out that the lunch was quite good, with a small meat dish and a large portion.

When Barristan arrived, not many people were eating. Only the employees in the dining hall were chatting at the table. Barristan chatted with the chef for a while and unexpectedly learned that he used to be the castle's cook. Many of the employees here were also servants of the castle. After Dragonstone was captured by the Dragon King, the original cooks and servants were driven out of the castle. They were at a loss for a while. Later, the office of the steward was opened, and the Dragon King re-employed these old people in the castle to work here.
The next day arrived in a blink of an eye.

When Barristan came here again, he was received by the steward-like steward.

"Ashant, congratulations. You have been hired by the castle as a glorious financial affairs officer. I am your current general manager, Max, Max Weishui." Max introduced himself, "Follow me in, and after we sign the contract, I will take you for pre-job training."

Weishui. Barristan smacked his lips, which meant that the general manager was a bastard of a certain family. But compared to yesterday, he was inexplicably enthusiastic towards Barristan today, and Barristan could not figure out what was going on.

Barristan's doubts were not resolved until the so-called pre-job training class.

Besides him and the man from yesterday, there were also several people who were said to be sent by the lords of the Narrow Sea to study. When a teenager saw him, he quietly approached him and asked, "Are you the Astan?"

Barristan asked curiously, "That Arstan?"

The young man said ambiguously, "You came from the Dragon King's treasurer's ship, didn't you?" He introduced himself in a low voice, "I am Miles Weishui, Celtigar."

"Count Adrian is yours?"

He whispered, "It's me. Grandfather. No, Adrian is not the Earl of Crab Island anymore."

During the Battle of the Blackwater, Lord Adrian was captured by the enemy and surrendered to Joffrey I. The Dragon King announced the removal of Adrian's title and appointed one of his sons as the new Lord of Crab Island. However, because Adrian surrendered to Joffrey and surrendered with 300 soldiers, Crab Island is now in an awkward situation under the Dragonstone regime.

"I saw you on the list of candidates for Castle Steward training. I dare say the Chancellor added your name himself."

"." Barristan was silent in awkward silence.

"You must not know how many people want the position of castle steward. Let me tell you." Miles was a chatterbox and he quickly explained it to Barristan.

Although Dragonstone is just a tiny place, there are local and central officials. Barristan actually applied for the position of Dragonstone local official. He was not qualified to enter the castle and could only work in the Dragonstone office. After the training, he will be assigned to one of the accounting, port, taxation, and customs departments as an accountant or surveyor, recording the income and expenditure of a certain type of financial affairs, reporting, managing a certain type of account, supervising the collection of taxes and tariffs, and borrowing.
When it comes to borrowing, local lords are usually the largest lenders in the local area. Many lands are acquired from wealthy farmers through accumulated borrowing. This has nothing to do with whether the lord himself is good or not, but the feudal system dictates that landlords with stronger risk resistance will naturally obtain land from wealthy farmers, forcing them to become vassals of the lords.

In short, Barristan understood that he didn't know who had used a stroke of the pen to turn him from an ordinary man into a candidate for central financial affairs officer of Dragonstone.

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

He did not 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 speculative businessman with great ambitions and did not look like a good person.
Barristan could not help but glance at the shy and silent man sitting in the corner of the pre-job training room. He thought to himself that if he had known that this man would never be able to contact Viserys by taking this path, he would never have followed him to apply for the position of administrative officer.
Is it too late to leave now? Barristan suddenly wondered.

In fact, Barristan was really wrong. Illyrio had no idea that he had secretly applied for the position of castle steward.

Someone else added his name.

(End of this chapter)