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"I did a little test afterward," Ian said with a smile.
"A test?"
"As I said before, the Blackfyre treasure isn't a secret anymore," Ian explained. "But so far, neither the Iron Throne nor any of the great houses have sent anyone to search for it. Why is that?"
"Uh—"
"Because the Blackfyre treasure is still just a rumor. No one has found any real proof. Without solid evidence, none of the powerful houses are willing to waste time on what might be a wild goose chase. I don't have proof either.
So when I said earlier that I would report this to the Lannister family, you must have thought I was bluffing. Even if I really did send for help, they might show up for a few days, find nothing, and leave.
Under normal circumstances, you should have simply ignored my threats. Maybe, if you didn't want trouble, you would've given me a little hush money to send me away.
But you didn't. Instead, you offered me a high price—twenty percent. That tells me you're desperate to make a deal.
In other words, you're terrified of the Lannisters sending people here. And that can only mean one thing: you've found something. You've found a key clue to the Blackfyre treasure, and you don't want anyone interfering."
Monster... Wilder and Willy exchanged a look. Even though they were standing in Willy's own hall, he still felt strangely cornered.
"This also explains why you claimed your operation had already ended the moment you heard my last name," Ian continued. "You didn't want anyone from the Lannister family involved. You were afraid that if I got my hands on the clues, I would report it to my family — and you'd end up with nothing."
"So even now, even though you're pretending to welcome me into your alliance, you have no intention of letting me take part in the actual hunt for the treasure. You just want to keep me quiet with a share of the profits."
"Your share will definitely be given, Ser Lucien!" Wilder said quickly. He found himself oddly afraid of this young knight who was barely the age of his own grandson. "We would never dare to cheat a Lannister."
"But I can't accept that deal," Ian said, shaking his head. "You want me to do nothing and just take twenty percent? No. That's not how I do things. I must take part in the action."
In the original story, Ian thought to himself, Ser Willy Ward was still poor when Catelyn Stark captured Tyrion. Which means you never found the Blackfyre treasure. If I don't take part, I'll get nothing in the end.
"This..." Wilder hesitated. If he allowed Ian to join them, he risked the boy uncovering everything. But if he refused, he risked offending a Lannister.
Ian pressed on before Wilder could speak. "At the same time, I don't want you to see me as some uninvited troublemaker, but as a true ally.
I swear, on the honor of House Lannister, that if I find anything related to the Blackfyre treasure, I will not report it to my family. May the judgment of the Father fall on House Lannister if I break this oath."
"You don't need to swear, Ser," Wilder said quickly, though seeing Ian take the oath so seriously finally pushed away his last doubts.
"The most important part of any alliance is trust," Ian said, offering a sincere smile. "I need you to trust me, so that we can move forward together."
"You really don't act like someone your age," Wilder couldn't help but sigh.
Guessed right, but no prize, Ian thought, and said aloud, "And what should I act like?"
"Greedy and reckless, of course. No offense."
"None taken," Ian said lightly. "Now, let's get back to business. Should we start with your recent operation?"
"Very well," Wilder agreed. Though Ian's tone was framed as a suggestion, Wilder instinctively treated it like an order. "You were correct earlier — we've made a very important discovery. We found a major stronghold belonging to the Ghosts of Whitewall."
"Another ghost camp?" Ian joked. "Is it the gate to the seven hells?"
"It's not their camp exactly," Wilder said, ignoring the second half of Ian's jest. "In fact, in all our previous operations, we only discovered their camp once — and it was already abandoned." He laughed at himself bitterly.
"You only found it once?" Ian immediately sensed something odd. "Tell me more."
His 'adopted son' Dorian had briefly mentioned this before, but back then, Dorian had delivered so much information at once that Ian hadn't thought much about this particular detail. Now, it struck him — finding the camp only once could be very unusual.
"Eh?" Wilder looked puzzled. "Why do you care about that? Shouldn't you be more interested in the stronghold we just found?"
"Curiosity," Ian said casually. "You've been clashing with them for so long, but only found their temporary camp once? That raises a lot of questions."
Wilder hesitated, obviously reluctant to waste time. But 'Ser Lucien' was firm, and after a few seconds, Wilder compromised.
Strange, Wilder thought. When facing this young Lannister, I instinctively don't want to argue.
He has the bearing of a true leader. What a pity he's just a distant branch. If Lord Tywin had a grandson like this, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about one son throwing away his inheritance to join the Kingsguard, and another being... well, a dwarf.
"Very well, Ser," Wilder said. "Let me recall what happened at that temporary camp."
"You can start with how you confirmed it was the Ghosts of Whitewall," Ian prompted when Wilder fell silent in thought.
"At the time, the patrol team from Taman Village reported seeing a group of mounted bandits operating north of their village. We immediately dispatched a light cavalry squad, and they found an abandoned camp in the woods."
"Any evidence tying it to Blackfyre or the Ghosts of Whitewall?" Ian asked.
"No hard proof," Wilder admitted. "But the camp was large — signs of cooking for around fifty men. Aside from us and the Ghosts, no other armed group that size exists in the area. Plus, the patrol captain of Taman Village swore he saw a cavalry troop enter the woods after raiding a caravan. Based on that, we concluded it was their camp."
"Were there any supplies left behind? Food, stolen goods, anything?" Ian pressed.
"None," Wilder shook his head.