"This is the intelligence on House Frey's members. I instructed the White Harbor Guard to gather this information before your return."
The old man pulled a booklet from his desk and tossed it in front of Clay. As Clay picked it up, he continued, "You must also meet with the former commander of the White Harbor Guard before you go to The Twins. He needs to hand over the entire White Harbor Guard to you before you leave."
Clay could only nod. In his heart, he was also curious about the power of this mysterious White Harbor spy agency.
Opening the small, leather-bound booklet, Clay turned to the first page and saw a portrait with a high level of skill. Clearly written beneath the portrait was the name: Walder Frey.
It was an old face, bald, with loose skin. Clay thought the face looked a bit like a weasel.
Turning to the second page, it noted some of Lord Walder Frey's characteristics and points to note. For example, he was a vengeful man with a strong desire for revenge, and he was extremely averse to being called "The Late Lord Frey."
It also said that this lord was obsessed with women, having married his eighth wife just as Clay had returned to Westeros. It was recommended that female members of the family avoid contact with this lord, or simply avoid going to The Twins altogether.
Moreover, the intelligence indicated that The Late Lord Frey had a very strong grip on his family, with almost no dissenting voices. When dealing with House Frey, there was no need to consider the feelings of other Freys, only the Lord himself mattered.
In total, there were four or five pages. After reading them, a vivid image of a grim, lecherous old man, dwelling in a deep castle, took shape in his mind, making him realize the importance of intelligence work.
There were only the old man and Clay in the room. Aside from the crackling of the firewood in the fireplace, the only sounds were Clay's rustling pages and the old man's gulping as he drank.
The Late Lord Frey himself occupied the most space. The rest of the information recorded the various situations of about seven or eight Frey offspring. This was unavoidable, as the old lecher had eight wives, twenty-two legitimate sons, and seven legitimate daughters, along with a large number of illegitimate children without the Frey surname.
Most of these people had completely lost The Late Lord Frey's "attention" and had long since withdrawn from the core of House Frey's power, so they were not worth paying attention to.
However, the funny thing was that the book mentioned three girls who were suitable marriage partners for Clay, and who The Late Lord Frey was most likely to propose to Clay. Two of them had the exact same name: Walda Frey.
If this name was given to a man, it would be Walder Frey, which was also what made Clay speechless.
The first Walda Frey was the great-granddaughter of The Late Lord Frey's eldest son, Stevron. She was only eight years old, but for nobles, age was not a problem at all. They could arrange the marriage first and wait for the girl to have her first period before sending her over to get married.
The second Walda Frey was the daughter of Ser Stevron's third son, Waltyn Frey. Known as "Walda the Fair," she was an eighteen-year-old virgin, and the intelligence reports considered her the most likely candidate.
The third was Marilyn Vance. Her position within House Frey was similar to "Walda the Fair's," but because her mother, Meggna Frey, had married into House Vance, she had lost the Frey surname.
The booklet gave some descriptions of these three women, but Clay didn't think it meant anything. Besides, to be honest, he wasn't that interested.
Time passed quickly. By the time Clay put down the booklet, nearly an hour had gone by. The old man had waited patiently for him to finish, but the empty wine bottles on the table had multiplied from one to two.
"Finished reading? Anything you want to say?" The old man asked Clay with a smile.
Clay shook his head, but said with a sigh, "Our intelligence work in White Harbor is truly impressive..."
The old man considered the rather novel term "intelligence work" and understood Clay's meaning. He nodded with some satisfaction and said:
"Of course. This is a force that our House Manderly has cultivated for over a hundred years. Obtaining this information is really not difficult."
"Indeed, it's very impressive." Clay agreed with the old man once again.
"When you take over, you'll find the White Harbor Guard is even bigger than you think, but you'll need this…"
The old man pulled a brand-new Gold Dragon from his coat pocket. This coin, minted during the previous Targaryen Dynasty, probably hadn't been used much. It still gleamed under the sun, showing no signs of wear.
"Our White Harbor Guard is mainly concentrated in the North, the Riverlands, the Westerlands, and King's Landing. Further south isn't very useful. After all, people from White Harbor aren't used to living there, and the cost of hiding would be too high."
"Couldn't we recruit some locals?" Clay suggested.
"No, this is a clandestine force. Recruit locals? Hmph, they'd be forced to leave in two days because other people would infiltrate them." The old man snorted, dismissing Clay's idea.
"Alright, get ready. I've written the letter for you. You'll depart for The Twins in five days. I'll make up a reason for you; don't worry about it, just say what I tell you to say."
Five days wasn't too tight of a schedule. Clay's plan for the Hunter army had just begun. The merchant caravan the old man sent out to buy materials and the other purchasing caravans used to confuse people were just about ready to set off. There was no point in rushing.
Since there was nothing else to do, five days it was. However, Clay thought of something else. The Three-Eyed Raven seemed to have promised to send the dragon egg with Hodor, the Winterfell stableboy, soon. If he went to The Twins, would he be standing the Raven up?
Even though he felt in his heart that the Three-Eyed Raven was just talking nonsense, what if he wasn't? He couldn't guess what the Three-Eyed Raven, who had been watching the North for nearly a hundred years, had hidden away.
Kray couldn't figure out what this neither-man-nor-ghost Three-Eyed Raven was planning, but now that he had allowed Kray to use the magic within the weirwood, Kray didn't need to go against him for the time being.
Kray believed from the bottom of his heart that this guy with a full-map view, who could also peek at other people's privacy at any time, was better off destroyed sooner rather than later. Or, if he could have this ability himself, that would be great; he didn't want to keep experiencing the thrill of being spied on.
The words were spoken. The old man yawned, and Kray said goodbye and went out. It was almost noon, and after transforming into a food-loving person, he had other things to do in the afternoon.
Misspelled words will be corrected later, doge head protects life! Also, tomorrow the book will be recommended, please vote for it, and chase the read! Little White Whale thanks everyone here! I didn't feel it when I watched the TV series, but when I really checked the information about House Frey, I was really shocked. He was really close to creating a race. Walder Frey was really out of line in this regard.
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