Although there were too many people being punished, their injuries were only superficial. Every one of them was a strong knight, so these injuries were nothing to them. They would be fine after applying medicine.
Even Velas, who seemed to be the most severely injured, had no major problems. Linde's strikes were precise; each whip seemed to tear the skin, but in reality, it only injured a bit of his epidermis. After applying medicine, he would recover in a day or two.
However, even though it was just a superficial injury, the pain Velas felt was not weak at all; it was even stronger. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let out screams in public and eventually fainted from the pain.
Because of this, even though the accompanying Maesters and herbalists thoroughly examined Velas's injuries and confirmed they were only superficial, they were still concerned about Velas's condition and advised him to stay in Oldtown for two more days. He could continue his journey once his injuries had stabilized.
Initially, Velas was not too keen on this, as staying in Oldtown for two more days would make the schedule tight.
However, news came from Hightower, also suggesting he stay in Oldtown for two more days, waiting to confirm whether the Ironborn pirates were still in the waters around Whispering Sound before continuing the journey.
Velas thought about it and found it reasonable, so he postponed his journey by two days, which also conveniently allowed Linde to reorganize the existing army.
Although Linde currently only holds the positions of cavalry captain and military judge, his authority has actually extended to every position within this army of several thousand, even the two thousand soldiers are under his jurisdiction.
Despite having great authority, Linde did not randomly command or arrange things. He merely added a military judge and a supervisory team to the soldier's ranks; other matters remained as usual.
As for the cavalry unit, composed of several hundred knights, knight squires, and accompanying knights, he divided them into two parts: one was the heavy cavalry composed of knights and knight squires, and the other was the light cavalry composed of accompanying knights skilled in horsemanship and close combat.
Those noble offspring who were knights were assigned to these two units, and if they were not, they were sent to Velas as advisors.
After settling these main matters, Linde handed all affairs over to Jon and the three knight squires who survived the battle at Starry Sept. These three knight squires were promoted to junior sub-officers by Linde to assist Jon in handling affairs.
With affairs delegated layer by layer, Linde only needed to control the general direction to ensure no major problems.
Compared to the tedious army affairs, Linde found Moroya Hightower's stay in the military camp a bit of a headache.
Moroya Hightower moved into the military camp with her maid, stating that she wanted to travel to Dorne with the army. After that, she stayed quietly in the tent prepared for her, rarely showing up in the military camp, but Linde knew very well that this crazy woman was probably coming for him.
However, Linde found that even though he knew the trouble was coming for him, he was somewhat helpless against it.
After all, after Moroya arrived at the military camp, she never contacted him, nor did she even appear in front of him. Even if he revealed Moroya's true intentions, no one would believe him, only thinking that Linde was coveting Moroya's beauty.
Moreover, even before Linde conquered this army with force, Moroya had already conquered it with her beauty.
On the day she moved into the military camp, more than a dozen knights, still injured, ran to her tent, swearing to protect her for life and become her honorary knights. They even got into a conflict over it, having a knight's martial arts tournament right outside Moroya's tent.
This farce only ended when Linde arrived. Each of those dozen knights was whipped ten more times, but this time not on their backs, but on their buttocks, and the execution took place right outside Moroya's tent. It was hoped that after such a humiliating incident, these dozen easily love-struck fellows would quiet down for a while.
After this incident, Linde also forcibly demanded that Moroya must wear a veil in the military camp, otherwise, he would directly drive her away, showing no quarter to Hightower.
Moroya did not refuse. After that, she would wear a veil to cover her face before leaving her tent. Although it still caused some commotion, it was much better than before. Of course, it was also possible that Linde's execution of the dozen knights had some effect.
After Moroya moved into the military camp, her brother Gals Hightower moved in with her. However, he was not alone; he also brought over a hundred mercenary knights and more than three hundred soldiers to join Velas's journey to Dorne.
Nominally, it was to protect Moroya's safety, but in reality, it was to supplement Velas's manpower, which Velas gladly accepted.
Linde did not directly incorporate these people into Velas's army but let them form their own unit, specifically protecting Velas, Moroya, and the Maesters and other civilian personnel in the camp.
Compared to Moroya, Linde quite liked Gals, because this man possessed the basic qualities of a military camp in Linde's mind: obedient to orders, strictly self-disciplined, meticulous in his work without cutting corners, and very straightforward in his speech, never hiding anything.
When Gals first arrived at the military camp, he immediately sought out Linde and challenged him to a Greatsword duel, giving a very direct reason: he did not accept Linde's title as the so-called first swordsman of the Seven Kingdoms.
Although Linde did not care about the title of the first swordsman of the Seven Kingdoms, he had to accept Gals's challenge because Gals had challenged him in front of many people. If he did not accept, the prestige he had established through punishing the knights might cease to exist.
So, he simply held a martial arts tournament duel with Gals in the evening, in front of everyone in the military camp, but it was not just against Gals alone, but against Gals and the hundred mercenary knights he brought.
Gals challenging Linde, and Linde accepting the challenge on the condition that he would fight one against a hundred, happened in the morning and in the military camp outside the city. Logically, the outside world should not have known about this.
Because Linde had issued a curfew after the execution in the early morning, requiring people in the military camp not to leave until they officially set off, and people outside the military camp, such as prostitutes and merchants, were also not allowed to enter. There was no longer any communication between the military camp and the outside.
However, by the afternoon, this news had spread throughout Oldtown, immediately attracting the attention of Oldtown's residents and nobles.
Although yesterday's Ironborn invasion caused great damage to Oldtown's economy and commerce, for the ordinary residents and nobles of Oldtown, they were not greatly harmed.
Because the Ironborn mainly attacked the dock area and commercial district, the attack on the municipal district was blocked by the garrison, so the residents in that area did not suffer too much damage. As for those who attacked the religious district, they all died in Linde's hands before they could cause any destruction.
And the ordinary residents and nobles of Oldtown all lived in the urban area near the Citadel, which was separated from the Ironborn-invaded urban area by a mead river, so they were not harmed at all. Many people even woke up the next day without knowing that Ironborn had landed and plundered Oldtown last night.
The biggest losses from the Ironborn invasion were suffered by the sea merchants who stored their goods in warehouses; almost all warehouses were emptied by the Ironborn. Next were Hightower and the banks that lent money to sea merchants, such as House Tyrell's Rose Bank.
Because many sea merchants died at the hands of the Ironborn, and their goods were plundered, the bank's loans were also considered lost.
Hightower needed to provide compensation to the sea merchants who rented dock warehouses, as there was already a protection agreement when renting the warehouses. Although the compensation mentioned in the agreement only accounted for about 10% of the goods' value, the accumulation of so many losses was still a considerable sum.
However, compensation was secondary. What truly bothered Hightower was that as the news of this Ironborn raid on Oldtown spread, sea merchants would become suspicious of Oldtown's safety, reducing sea trade with Oldtown, directly affecting Oldtown's future tax revenue. At the same time, the income of Oldtown residents would also be affected, leading to discontent and further impacting the morale of the entire Oldtown.
Therefore, Hightower urgently needed to find a way to boost Oldtown's morale, and the duel between Linde and Gals was just such an opportunity.
During this period, Linde was definitely the most famous person in Oldtown. The effect of Linde's hunter of bears song made people recognize Linde, this legendary figure from a hunter background.
Originally, they were still skeptical of the rumors about Linde, but when they saw Glory, their doubts were greatly reduced. After all, if he could subdue such a fierce giant beast, Linde's strength must be very strong, and the rumored killing of a hundred people might also be true.
Later, Linde's slaughter of the Ironborn in the square in front of Starry Sept, although no one saw it, those who cleaned up the bodies afterward could prove that all the bodies were made by the same person, because their wounds were all identical, and by the number of heads, it could be confirmed that a total of over seven hundred people died there.
The news of one person killing over seven hundred Ironborn quickly spread in Oldtown. Although the people of Oldtown did not believe it was true, they were still very curious about who that person was.
Soon, someone found out that outside Starry Sept, there was only Velas Tyrell's guard unit, and among the guard unit, twelve knights were at that time leading the Tyrell army from outside the city into Oldtown to support the garrison's counterattack. The actual people guarding Starry Sept were only Linde, as the captain of the guard unit, eight knight squires, and twenty ordinary guards.
Afterward, someone else found out that the knight squires and ordinary guards met the enemy on the street below Starry Plaza, killing over eighty Ironborn, and only three knight squires remained, the rest having all died in battle, which was heroic.
So everyone realized that when over seven hundred people rushed to Starry Plaza, the only person guarding it was Bear Hunter Linde, meaning that Linde indeed might have single-handedly killed over seven hundred ferocious Ironborn.
Originally, the rumor that Linde almost achieved a hundred kills at the martial arts tournament in King's Landing was already outrageous enough in the eyes of ordinary people. Now, it was said that he killed over seven hundred fully armed Ironborn. People who heard this rumor naturally found it very hard to believe it was true.
Just as everyone thought Linde was a liar, news came from the Tyrell military camp outside the city that Linde was preparing to challenge Gals Hightower and his hundred mercenary knights alone.
Everyone's attention immediately fell on this matter, and even the plundered merchants couldn't help but pay attention to it.
The people of Oldtown's understanding of Linde came from various rumors, but their understanding of Gals Hightower was concrete.
Everyone who knew Gals gave similar evaluations: a serious person, a powerful warrior, a knight who could serve as an example.
Gals once served in the Oldtown garrison. In just one month, the dock area under his jurisdiction transformed from the most chaotic area to the most orderly. The method he used was very simple: directly locate the dock's gangs, then kill his way in, eliminate everyone, and leave.
The scar on his face, which cut through his lip, was left during this period.
Now, such a powerful warrior was to lead a hundred mercenary knights against one person. This naturally attracted everyone's attention.
This matter also alarmed Earl Layton, who did not stop it. Instead, he personally came to the House Tyrell military camp outside the city and asked Linde to hold this martial arts tournament duel at the newly cleared dock square.
Linde had no objection to this; for him, it was all the same no matter where.
Thus, by evening, the area around the dock square became crowded with people. The surrounding buildings were filled with Oldtown nobles and officials, and temporary high platforms on the streets were also packed with sea merchants who had heard the news. Even the rooftops were full of people; they were all waiting for an exciting martial arts tournament duel.
However, this martial arts tournament duel left them both disappointed and satisfied. Disappointed because it ended too quickly; they had waited for several hours since evening, but the martial arts tournament duel ended in less than five minutes.
And they were satisfied because they witnessed the emergence of a legendary warrior. All the rumors about Linde, even the most outrageous one about a single person killing over a thousand Ironborn, now held no doubt in their hearts.
Because they personally saw how Linde, wielding two training Greatswords, knocked down one hundred and one knights without taking a single hit.
Almost every time he moved his feet, it was accompanied by a direct and domineering sword swing, and each swing would send three or four knights to the ground. Those knights, who were incredibly powerful in the eyes of ordinary people, were as fragile as newly weaned children in front of Linde.
No one would doubt that Gals and the hundred mercenary knights were faking it, not only because of Gals's own reputation but more so because they could personally feel the domineering power contained in Linde's attacks.
Some knights, after taking Linde's swing, were sent flying, crashing into nearby wooden frames, almost breaking them. Some knights also fell into the crowd, knocking several people aside, showing the immense and genuine force behind his blows.
Among the one hundred and one, the only one who could take a sword strike from Linde without falling was Gals.
However, after taking a thrust, the sword in his hand had been knocked away, and his hands were numbed by the immense force transferred, making him unable to exert any strength. He could only watch as Linde walked over and touched his neck with the sword, signifying a kill.
At this moment, Linde's prestige not only reached its peak in Oldtown, but even the House Tyrell army worshipped him, and this influence would also quickly spread to other places with the merchants traveling to and from Oldtown.
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