"What are your plans next?" After the crowd in the tavern thinned out, Old Man Bain finally had time to rest. He sat down opposite Linde and asked with concern.
Linde thought for a moment and asked, "Old Man, do you have connections in the Red Lake City guard?"
"You want to be a guard in Red Lake City?" Old Man Bain frowned, looked down at his missing hand and leg, and said in a deep voice, "Being a guard is not a good job."
Old Man Bain used to be a Captain in the Red Lake City guard, and had even traveled to Highgarden with the patriarch of House Crane, meeting most of the nobles in The Reach. He could be said to have seen a lot of the world.
Unfortunately, he had very bad luck. During an operation organized by House Crane to clear out bandits in Red Lake Forest, he fell into an ambush and was severely wounded. If he hadn't happened to meet Linde's father, he might have died at the hands of the bandits. This is why Old Man Bain treated Linde so well.
Although he had been retired for a long time, he still had some connections in Red Lake City, and it wasn't particularly difficult to recommend someone to become a Red Lake City guard.
Old Man Bain reminisced about his past, then asked Linde, "Why do you want to be a guard in Red Lake City? Didn't you used to want to be an excellent hunter like your father?"
"I want to see the outside world," Linde said, finding an excuse. "I don't want to only know White Villageand Red Lake Forest until I die. I want to see Highgarden, I want to see King's Landing, and I want to see the legendary Wall in the North. If I continue to stay in White Village, I'm afraid I won't be able to see what I want until the Stranger greets me."
Old Man Bain looked at Linde and said, "It seems this injury has had quite an impact on you. You've changed from before."
Upon hearing this, Linde felt a slight panic in his heart, but he showed no abnormalities on his face.
"Indeed, death can completely change a person's character. I was the same back then," Old Man Bain sighed, providing an explanation for Linde's change. Then he said very seriously, "Do you think being a guard in Red Lake City will allow you to go to those places and see what you want to see?"
Linde replied, "At least I'll have a better chance than now."
Although Linde could also leave White Village alone and go anywhere in Westeros, doing so would mean losing his commoner status and becoming a vagrant. Once he became a vagrant, it would be very difficult to rise again. He would either rot away in a corner of some city, become a bandit, or, worst of all, be captured by certain nobles and sent to mine, or secretly sold as a slave across the Narrow Sea.
It was already difficult enough to climb up as an ordinary commoner; after becoming a vagrant, this difficulty would increase exponentially. Even if Lindehad talent and a golden finger, he wasn't absolutely confident in gaining the power and status he wanted as a vagrant.
Therefore, becoming a Red Lake City guard, getting close to the nobles of this world, and seeking opportunities from them, was the best path he could think of right now.
Old Man Bain watched Linde for a while before slowly saying, "The current Captain of the Red Lake City guard is Smiling Will. He used to be my subordinate, and we have a decent relationship. It shouldn't be a problem for me to recommend you to him."
Upon hearing this, Linde felt joy in his heart, but his face remained calmly restrained.
Old Man Bain, however, greatly admired Linde's calm demeanor. In the past, although Linde also had a cold face every day, he didn't hide his emotions; others could easily tell his mood from his facial expressions. Now, he seemed like a different person, with all his emotions hidden within. This made Old Man Bain sigh again at the impact of this life-and-death experience on him.
Old Man Bain continued, "Although I can recommend you, and Will will give you a test because of me, whether you can ultimately become a Red Lake City guard still depends on your own ability."
"The ability you're referring to is…?"
"Follow me." Old Man Bain stood up, gestured to Linde, then instructed the tavern's staff before heading towards the courtyard behind the tavern.
Linde stood up, leaning on his crutch, and followed closely.
The two arrived in the backyard. Old Man Bain motioned for Linde to wait in the courtyard for a moment, then he returned to his room. After rummaging under his bed, he emerged a moment later with a broadsword and a round shield inlaid with iron, and walked out.
"Take these, try them out." Old Man Bain walked up to Linde, handed him the sword and shield, and said.
Linde set his crutch aside, took the sword and shield, and swung them casually a couple of times. When he tried to use the broadsword in his hand according to the swordsmanship in his memory, a strong sense of discomfort surged up, making the once simple movements extremely clumsy and rough.
Seeing Linde's clumsy movements with the broadsword, Old Man Bain wasn't surprised. In his eyes, this was exactly how someone who had never handled a longsword should act.
However, Linde was clearly not satisfied with his current performance. He stopped after two swings, turned to Old Man Bain, and asked, "Old Man, can you give me another sword?"
Old Man Bain was stunned. He thought Linde felt his movements were clumsy because the weapon wasn't suitable, so he wanted to try a different one. So, he didn't say much and returned to the room, taking out a knight's sword.
This knight's sword, like the broadsword, was well-maintained, with no rust on its surface. Judging from the polished-off emblem at the hilt, this knight's sword was likely Old Man Bain's spoils of war from back then. However, from the craftsmanship of this knight's sword, the person who wielded it was at most a knight's squire or a hired knight, not some famous figure.
Linde did not put down the broadsword in his hand; instead, he put down the shield he was holding in his other hand, then took the knight's sword, making himself dual-wielding.
Seeing Linde holding both a knight's sword and a broadsword, Old Man Bain couldn't help but be stunned. While there were indeed some dual-wielding knights among the knights of Westeros, those knights were all great figures who had left their names in history, each possessing the ability to fight ten men.
Those famous knights could double their combat power by dual-wielding, but for ordinary people, dual-wielding weapons would only lead to self-destruction.
Just as Old Man Bain was about to correct Linde's misconception and tell him that more weapons in hand wasn't necessarily better, Linde bent slightly, and then his body, which normally required a crutch to walk, moved rapidly, propelled by his feet. As he moved, the two swords of different lengths in his hands slashed and thrust in an extremely perfect manner.
Old Man Bain's position as Captain of the Red Lake City guard itself meant he possessed excellent sword and shield skills. Moreover, he had witnessed many knightly duels and martial arts tournaments, so his perspective was naturally extraordinary. Yet, the swordsmanship Linde displayed at that moment made him feel as if he were watching those famous knightly duels.
It was no exaggeration to say that he felt even if he stood fully armed in front of Linde, it would be difficult to withstand Linde's dual-sword attacks, because he could see that the thrusting directions in Linde's swordsmanship were all aimed at the weak points of the armor, and they were all very difficult places to defend.
"Is this swordsmanship specifically for knights?" A thought quickly surfaced in Old Man Bain's mind.
At this point, Linde also stopped, not because he had demonstrated all the swordsmanship he possessed, but because his body had reached its limit. If he continued, his old injuries might flare up.
"Old Man… do you… think my… current… ability… is… enough… to be… a guard?" Linde propped himself up with the two swords, supporting his sore and tired body, breathing heavily, and asked.
"It's enough." Old Man Bain calmed his turbulent mind and gave Linde a positive answer, then curiously asked, "When did you learn this kind of swordsmanship? Why haven't I seen it before?"
Regarding Old Man Bain's question, Linde had already considered it while performing his dual-wielding swordsmanship. Now, hearing the question, he naturally spoke the answer he had prepared.
He made a prayer gesture over his chest, then said to Old Man Bain with an incredibly pious expression, "When I was injured and unconscious, I saw the Warrior. He was moved by my bravery in hunting the mountain bear for revenge, and blessed me, granting me a large number of a warrior's combat skills, allowing me to master these combat skills like a true warrior." As he spoke, he feigned regret and said, "It's just a pity that my body is too weak. I can only master this dual-wielding swordsmanship. Other combat skills are still sealed in my mind and need to wait until my body recovers and grows to a certain extent before they can be re-endowed."
Old Man Bain was completely stunned at this moment. He had never expected Linde to give him such an incredible answer, one that bore no resemblance to what he had guessed.
The Seven Gods faith is the official religion of the Seven Kingdoms, and The Reach is also predominantly of the Seven Gods faith, but Old Man Bain was not a devout follower of the Seven Gods.
He had witnessed how corrupt Seven Gods Churchclerics abused the name of God, how nobles gained church support and painstakingly fabricated so-called miracles of the Seven Gods, and he had even seen how some merchants packaged worthless items as holy relics of the Seven Gods to sell to devout believers, taking the last copper coin from their already poor pockets. Therefore, he did not believe in the Seven Gods, merely feigning to be a follower of the Seven Gods.
However, now someone he knew very well was telling him that he had received the blessing of the Warrior among the Seven Gods. This made him feel utterly absurd, instinctively believing it to be a lie.
But, when he saw the breathless Linde, he began to feel that what Linde said about the Warrior's blessing might be true.
Because Linde was someone he had watched grow up. In those fifteen years, Linde had never displayed any swordsmanship ability; he was simply a typical hunter from White Village. Yet, the swordsmanship Linde had just demonstrated, let alone for a fifteen-year-old boy, even an adult knight might not possess it. This required long-term, continuous training to acquire such exquisite and powerful swordsmanship, and Linde simply did not have the time for such training.
After ruling out Linde acquiring such advanced dual-wielding swordsmanship through normal means, the only plausible explanation for this situation was Linde's earlier explanation: only the blessing of the Warrior, one of the Seven Gods, could turn someone completely ignorant of swordsmanship into a warrior who mastered exquisite swordsmanship.
Furthermore, the reason for the Warrior's blessing was entirely reasonable. After all, in countless legends of the past, there had never been a fifteen-year-old boy who single-handedly hunted a giant bear the size of a small hill. His experience of avenging his father was enough to be written into poems and sung by bards.
In fact, bards who passed through White Village had indeed recorded Linde's story, intending to compose it into a poem and spread it.
"Are you telling the truth?" Old Man Bain asked Lindevery seriously.
"I swear to the Seven Gods, everything I said is true." Linde placed his hand on his chest, swearing like a devout believer.
In Linde's opinion, even if the Seven Gods existed, his oath had no problems, because his golden finger, in a sense, could indeed be considered the Warrior's blessing.
"Who else have you told about this?" Old Man Bain asked again.
"Besides you, I haven't told anyone else," Linde said, looking at Old Man Bain very sincerely. "I also feel that this matter is too incredible, and I'm worried that saying it might have a bad impact, so I never intended to tell anyone. But you, Old Man, are different. You are the person I trust most in this world, so telling you is no problem."
Hearing Linde's words, a relieved smile appeared beneath Old Man Bain's thick beard. Then he asked, "Is your idea of going out to see the world also because of this?"
"Somewhat," Linde replied.
"I understand." Old Man Bain nodded and said, "Once your injuries heal, I will go to Red Lake City to recommend you. However, before that, you need to forge two weapons."
Linde looked at the knight's sword and broadsword in his hands and asked, "Are these two swords in my hand not good enough?"
"You must leave the knight's sword behind; that thing will cause you trouble," Old Man Bain said, shaking his head. "Also, if you just want to be an ordinary guard, my broadsword is enough. But if you want to have better prospects, forging your own suitable weapons is essential, and a set of suitable equipment will make it easier for you to survive on the battlefield and earn military merits."
Linde nodded in agreement after hearing this. Although he had perfectly used the two swords just now, relying on the dual-wielding swordsmanship already integrated into his body, he could still feel a sense of discomfort. If he could forge a pair of longswords suitable for himself, his combat power should become even stronger.
After Linde understood, he asked, "Can the village blacksmith forge them?"
"He can only forge sickles and horseshoes." Old Man Bain snorted disdainfully, then motioned for Linde not to worry, saying, "Leave this to me. Your five gold dragons are still with me, and they are enough to forge two decent swords."