The entire Godgrace was abuzz, and the reason for the stir was not the ongoing martial arts tournament, but rather that the Bear Hunter Lind, a knight from The Reach, had tamed two Wild Horse Kings from the Godgrace Mountains and, incidentally, taken possession of their herd.
Over two hundred wild horses were all high-quality warhorses, not to mention the two incredibly magnificent Wild Horse Kings; even Velas couldn't help but envy Lind's haul, let alone the Dornish.
Immediately, many Dornish people gathered at the entrance of The Reach's camp, demanding that Lind exchange the Wild Horse Kings and their horses for Dornish horses, especially the two Wild Horse Kings.
Facing these people's unreasonable behavior, Lind simply had Red Viper give a response: as long as someone defeated him in a martial arts tournament duel, the victor could take the Wild Horse King and the herd, but there was a precondition for participating in the duel, which was to pay one hundred gold dragons.
Although one hundred gold dragons was not a small sum, enough for an ordinary person to live a prosperous life, the value of the Wild Horse King and the herd was even higher; just the two Wild Horse Kings alone were worth at least several thousand, or even tens of thousands, of gold dragons, not to mention over two hundred high-quality wild horses.
Thus, some Dornish nobles and lords directly hired knights and warriors to challenge Lind; even though they had heard of Lind's prestige and knew that Red Viper had once been defeated by Lind, they still wanted to try their luck.
The result, as expected, was that these Dornish nobles and lords were all just giving Lind money for free; in these martial arts tournament duels, Lind often didn't even draw his sword, resolving the fight with just his fists, and even when he did draw his sword, it was only a broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword from his back, not even using the Peace Envoy's twin-sword technique, let alone the Lost Country Knight's sword technique.
Initially, some people wanted to set up gambling on these martial arts tournament duels to make a good profit, but after one or two duels, everyone who had set up gambling lost badly, and no one dared to set up gambling anymore.
Some noble lords who had set up gambling wanted to renege on their debts, but they found that except for a small portion of the gambling debts owed to ordinary Dornish people, all other gambling debts were owed to Red Viper, and could not be reneged upon.
The outside world thought that all the gambling debts belonged to Red Viper, but they didn't know that the person who actually funded Red Viper was Velas; Red Viper, when he had money, spent it all on entertainment, and didn't have much cash on him, needing to draw from his fief.
However, the time it took for such a back-and-forth was too long; not to mention the gambling, even the martial arts tournament would have ended, so he borrowed money from Velas to participate in the gambling; the reason he didn't borrow money from other Dornish lords and nobles was to avoid having his intentions guessed.
Velas also did not refuse, enthusiastically taking out the funds he had brought to bribe Dornish nobles as lobbyists and lending them to Red Viper, and they agreed on a profit-sharing arrangement afterwards.
As a result, after two rounds of gambling, although the funds did not double, they increased by about thirty percent, which was a significant profit.
However, this money was still just gambling debt and had not been converted into cash, so Red Viper tried to persuade Velas to sell him the gambling debt he held, allowing him to collect it from the nobles and lords who had set up the gambling, while Velas could simply take the money he had already received and return to The Reach; of course, the price of the gambling debt could not be based on the face value, as he would need to deduct a commission from it.
And so, the two most powerful men from The Reach and Highgarden debated eloquently in the tent over the ownership of a dozen gold dragons, which was quite amusing to witness.
"Because of me, you've earned so much; shouldn't you give me a cut?" Lind, having just dealt with another challenger, returned to the camp and, seeing Red Viper and Velas still calculating the value of the gambling debts, raised an eyebrow and said.
Velas and Red Viper looked at Lind in unison, then said nothing, completely ignoring Lind's request, and continued their argument.
Although Velas and Red Viper had completely different personalities and had only known each other for a little over ten days, their relationship was excellent, like old friends who had known each other for years, talking about everything; this good relationship even made Red Viper's mistress, Ellaria Sand, almost misunderstand their relationship.
The martial arts tournament quickly concluded, and the jousting was far more exciting than expected; Gals and Red Viper both reached the finals, fighting for seven rounds and breaking three lances.
Ultimately, Gals, exhausted, failed to defend against Red Viper's lance thrust and was unhorsed.
Red Viper, as expected, became the champion of the jousting, and he presented the victor's wreath to his mistress, Ellaria Sand.
Although the martial arts tournament had ended, the martial arts tournament duels concerning the ownership of the Wild Horse King had not; many people, either hired by noble lords or genuinely wanting to keep the Wild Horse King in Dorne, continued to challenge Lind, even resorting to continuous, successive challenges to wear down Lind's stamina.
It wasn't until the third day after the martial arts tournament ended, after Lind spent most of the day defeating over a hundred continuously challenging Dornish knights, that no one else stepped forward to challenge Lind, and everyone agreed that Lind was the rightful owner of the Wild Horse King.
Through these martial arts tournament duels, Lind could be said to have made a fortune, filling several large chests with over thirty thousand gold dragons, which also earned Lind a very high reputation in Dorne; even though he was a knight from The Reach, the Dornish would not stint on their praise in the face of such immense strength.
Similarly, Velas, leveraging Lind's reputation and accompanied by Red Viper, met and spoke with almost all the lords and dignitaries from across Dorne who were outside Godgrace.
It is unclear whether it was due to Velas's own eloquence and the attractive peace treaty he proposed, or the additional effect generated by Red Viper, or the impact of Lind suppressing the Dornish knights, but in any case, Velas's negotiations with the Dornish lords and nobles went very smoothly; many lords had already agreed to the peace treaty, and the number quickly exceeded one-third.
Although Doran Martell had remained in Water Gardens, he closely monitored the situation in Godgrace; almost as soon as the number of people agreeing to the peace treaty reached one-third, Doran Martell's raven flew to Godgrace and was delivered into Velas's hands.
In the letter, Doran Martell agreed to cooperate with Velas in promoting the peace treaty to end the millennia-long feud between Dorne and The Reach, but the peace treaty was not merely a piece of paper; it also required some tangible elements, and intermarriage was the best foundation for peace.
After Velas received the letter, he summoned Lind and his maester advisors and informed them of the letter's contents.
Lind smiled after hearing it and said, "So Doran Martell wants you to marry Princess Arianne Martell, and then have Prince Quentyn marry Miss Margaery. This is good news! I've heard that Princess Arianne is exceptionally beautiful. Your trip to Dorne has not only brought peace between The Reach and Dorne but also allowed you to marry a Dornish princess. I imagine the Duke and Duchess will be happy for you, and the Citadel's histories will record your trip to Dorne, with the title being..."
"Lord Linde, please don't joke; we are discussing serious matters now." Velas interrupted Lind with a frustrated expression, sighed, and asked everyone, "What do you think we should do about this?"
Everyone looked at each other, and the maester advisor who had accompanied Velas to Dorne stepped forward and said, "Lord Linde is not wrong; this is indeed good news. I think you should agree to Doran Martell's proposal."
"Not just agree," another person, Olmon Bulwer from House Bulwer, spoke up, "You should also quickly get engaged to Princess Arianne, and as for Miss Margaery's marriage, that can be decided after returning to Highgarden."
Olmon was Jon's cousin; after Jon unilaterally decided to follow Lind, the current Earl of Black Crown City, Great Jon Bulwer, sent Olmon to replace Jon in Highgarden, and Olmon had also voluntarily offered to accompany Velas on this trip to Dorne.
Olmon and Jon's relationship seemed strained; after such a long time together, they had barely spoken, and even when in the same tent like now, they ignored each other.
The maester advisor and the aide Olmon also spoke up, expressing their agreement with the two's opinions; after all, the terms offered by Doran Martell could be said to be full of sincerity, as both Princess Arianne and Prince Quentyn were future heirs to Sunspear, meaning the bloodlines of Highgarden and Sunspear would merge, which would undoubtedly have an excellent effect on easing relations between The Reach and Dorne; even if the peace treaty ultimately failed, as long as both sides could intermarry, the conflicts between the two regions would significantly calm down.
"I think you should think this matter through carefully," amidst everyone's agreement, Lind, however, changed his playful attitude from before and very seriously said to Velas, "Signing a peace treaty with Dorne is one thing, but the intermarriage of House Tyrell and House Martell is another. Lord Velas, you need to think this through carefully; it's best not to make a hasty decision, and discuss it with the Duke and others after you return before making a decision."
A noble who had been whipped said with displeasure, "Lord Linde, how quickly your attitude changes, like a chameleon."
Lind ignored the noble's provocation, simply looking calmly at Velas.
Velas, too, pondered for a moment because of Lind's words, and said, "Maester, write back to Doran Martell, stating that I cannot decide on the marriage myself, and need to wait until I return to Highgarden to inform my parents and let them decide. Also, express my long-standing admiration for Princess Arianne and my hope to invite Princess Arianne to visit Highgarden."
"Yes, my lord." The maester advisor wrote down Velas's words.
Velas then motioned for everyone to leave, but asked Lind to stay behind alone. Once only the two of them were in the tent, Velas asked with a slight hint of confusion, "Lord Linde, I don't quite understand what you meant by what you said just now. Why is the intermarriage of House Tyrell and House Martell another matter?"
"Lord Velas, in fact, you've already figured it out; why ask me?" Lind looked at Velas, and seeing that he still looked like he was waiting for Lind's answer, sighed and said, "The Reach possesses the most fertile lands in Westeros, with abundant wealth and provisions, and it is also a land of knights, with countless powerful knights. Dornish warriors have been renowned since ancient times; the desert has forged their tenacious character, and they dared to fight even a king like Aegon the Conqueror. Their only flaw is their barren land and insufficient logistics. If the Lord of The Reach and the Lord of Dorne intermarried, then the entire South would become incredibly powerful, and sweeping across the world would not be impossible. At that time, what would the Iron Throne think, and what would the other kingdoms think?"
"Lord Linde, you are right; there would indeed be such drawbacks." Velas nodded, and said earnestly, "But have you considered that your concern is only based on us not being strong enough? If we were strong enough, strong enough that they wouldn't dare to act rashly, and at that time, an even stronger and rebellious enemy appeared, would we still need to worry so much?"
As Velas spoke these words, a glimmer of ambition shone in his eyes; this was the first time Lind had seen Velas's ambition. Before this, he had felt that Velas was a calm, unassuming person, but now he realized that he didn't seem to understand this teenage boy as well as he thought.
Seeing that Lind did not respond to his words, Velas thought Lind did not understand the meaning of his words, so he handed Lind a letter he had recently received from Oldtown.
Lind took the letter and read it, a thoughtful expression also appearing on his face.
This letter had been specially sent by Earl Layton, day and night, and its content concerned intelligence about the Iron Islands.
On the day the Iron Islands attacked Oldtown, Earl Layton intensified his intelligence gathering on the Iron Islands; as a result, he didn't collect any news about the Iron Islands' attack on Oldtown, but instead gathered other interesting news: the Iron Islands were gathering people, preparing for a rebellion.
If it were anyone else seeing this news, they might still doubt its authenticity, as the strength of the Ironborn of the Iron Islands and the Iron Throne was too disparate; only a madman would rebel when the disparity in strength was so great.
However, Lind knew very well that the Iron Islands had indeed rebelled; Balon Greyjoy had declared himself king, and the Ironborn were attacking the Westerlands.
Lind surmised Velas's intention: "You want to use the Ironborn rebellion to attract the Iron Throne's attention, allowing House Tyrell and House Martell to complete their intermarriage during this time. By the time the Iron Throne resolves the Ironborn rebellion, the intermarriage will already be a foregone conclusion, and the two houses will have already joined forces; they will simply have to accept reality."
Velas nodded slightly, smiling as he said to Lind, "Lind, fortunately, you are a knight of our House Tyrell!"
Lind said in a deep voice, "The plan is indeed very good, but have you considered what you would do if, after resolving the Iron Islands rebellion, the Iron Throne, with the momentum of a great victory, united the forces of the other major kingdoms and recklessly marched south into The Reach?"
"No, they won't." Velas gave a very definite answer, but he didn't seem to tell Lind what made him so certain.
Lind did not continue to ask, but instead ended the topic, saying, "I can only give you advice on this matter; the specific decision on what to do should be between you and the Duke."
"Indeed, the decision-makers should indeed be my father and I." Velas looked at Lind with a serious expression, saying, "However, for things to succeed, your assistance is still needed."
"Me? Are you joking, Lord Velas?" Lind was stunned, looking at Velas in confusion; although he had absolute confidence in his personal strength, he still didn't feel that he currently had the influence to prove anything across Westeros.
Velas shook his head, and again said with certainty, "No, I'm certainly not joking."
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