Lynd did not know what kind of commotion his arrival caused in Kohor, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.
After passing through the ruins of Ar Nor Yi, Lynd continued upstream along the Qin'en River. With the absence of torrents from the Dark Current River, the boat's speed increased significantly, and it only took him one day to reach the dock waters of Kohor.
Lynd saw a large number of torches lit on the dock, illuminating it brightly, and many people were gathered on the dock as if waiting for someone.
However, he quickly understood who these people were waiting for, because when those on the dock saw his small boat appear on the river outside the dock, it immediately caused a stir, and he could hear people shouting his name or the title of Godsworn in a heavily accented common tongue of Westeros.
Lynd was not surprised that his whereabouts were discovered, because he had encountered so many boats on the way. As long as they paid a little attention to his boat, which was going upstream at an unusual speed, they would be able to see him on the boat, and with a little analysis, they could guess his identity.
Therefore, it was not incomprehensible for the people of Kohor to wait at the dock in advance, even if the commotion was a bit large and the scene was a bit too enthusiastic.
Unfortunately, the enthusiasm of these people did not change Lynd's attitude in any way.
He stopped creating strong winds and instead used telekinesis to drive the small boat closer to the dock. He raised his hand to signal for silence to the people waiting on the dock, and then, using some amplification-like runes he had obtained from the Cloudtop Bell, he spoke to the people on the dock in pure Valyrian: "Are there any people from House Soyid on the dock? Or rather, the patriarch of House Soyid?"
With the effect of the Cloudtop Bell runes, Lynd's voice seemed to descend from the sky, penetrating into the ears of everyone, not only in the dock area, but even throughout the entire city of Kohor.
Although Kohor was known as the City of Wizards, and its people more or less understood or had seen some mysterious powers, this was the first time they had encountered such a mysterious power that allowed everyone to hear a voice directly. Many of them thought of the divine voices mentioned in certain religious scriptures.
Amidst a commotion and clamor, an old man dressed in the robes of a Black Goat Church priest walked out from the crowd, bowed to Lynd, and said, "I am Kos Soed, the patriarch of House Soyid, Lord Linde Terra."
Lynd looked him over, then threw the House Soyid token he had found on the Dothraki bandit leader onto the dock, landing right at the other's feet, and followed with, "The group of Dothraki bandits you raised have died over by the deep pool. If you need to, you can go clean them up. The ice on their bodies should not have melted yet, so the corpses should still be very fresh."
Upon hearing Lynd's words, Kos Soed's face turned incredibly grim. The words he had wanted to use to defend himself were now stuck in his throat, because at this moment he was absolutely certain that Lynd already knew he was the one who had seized the magical armor, and he also realized that Lynd knew where the magical armor was now.
"I am going to retrieve my armor now. When I return, I hope you will have figured out how to compensate me for my losses. You only have one chance. If you cannot satisfy me, I will be very willing to erase House Soyid from this world." Lynd threatened the old Kos while looking at the other powerful figures in Kohor around him, saying, "Of course, you can also ask for help from your allies within Kohor, but in that case, I will consider the entire Kohor to be my enemy, and my strike range will expand to the entire Kohor. At that time, appeasing my anger will no longer be your family's problem alone. Think carefully! You still have time."
After speaking, Lynd used telekinesis to quickly draw an arc on the river with the small boat, heading upstream on the Qin'en River, deep into the Kohor Great Forest, leaving an entire city of people stunned by Lynd's astonishing declaration.
Archmaester Marwyn, sitting at the stern, was also startled by Lynd's astonishing declaration. It wasn't until Kohor was completely out of sight that he returned to normal and asked Lynd with a hint of worry, "Lord Linde, if House Soyid doesn't offer compensation that satisfies you, will you truly act against Kohor?"
"Of course, I mean what I say." Lynd nodded seriously and said.
Marwyn asked again, "Are you planning to dispatch troops from Summerhall?"
Lynd shook his head and said, "How could that be? It's too far. Before the two city-states of Na Sa Star and Ge Dohe are rebuilt, I will not send troops to the inland areas."
In fact, there was one more thing he didn't say, and that was that before conquering the Three City States of the Disputed Lands, he wouldn't even officially send people to rebuild Ge Dohe and Na Sa Star. At most, he would only send some people to survey the ruins and formulate a reconstruction plan for the ruins.
"Then are you planning to fight the entire city of Kohor alone?" Although he had already guessed the answer, Marwyn continued to ask.
"Yes." Lynd nodded.
Marwyn said somewhat seriously, "Although I admit that the power you possess, Lord Linde, is very strong, like a god, I do not think you can deal with the entire city of Kohor alone right now."
"You're right, it is indeed a bit difficult for me to deal with the entire city of Kohor right now." Lynd nodded, admitting Marwyn's point of view. He was not being humble, but truly felt that with the power he currently possessed, dealing with the entire city of Kohor was a bit challenging.
Because the Warlocks, witches, Pyromancers, blood witches, and so on in Kohor, who possessed various strange abilities, although their individual strength was not very strong, their methods were very bizarre. When used, Lynd might not be able to fully resist them, and if they united, they would indeed pose a considerable threat to Lynd.
But he could still handle all of these. What truly made Lynd feel threatened was actually from the Black Goat Temple.
From Uda U, the cannibal river pirate who believed in the Black Goat God, Lynd already knew that the Black Goat God, like some ancient gods such as the Thousand-Faced God, truly existed. So before coming to Kohor, he had already prepared himself mentally.
But just now, when he approached the dock of Kohor, just like in the Godswood of Highgarden, he also saw the Black Goat God standing in Kohor through his special vision.
Although the other party was just a black mist, unlike Garth the Gardener who had a complete form, the pressure the Black Goat God brought him still far exceeded the pressure Garth the Gardener brought him. Obviously, the power the other party possessed should also be above Garth the Gardener.
Although the Black Goat God brought great pressure to Lynd, that was only on a spiritual level. But in terms of power, the Black Goat God, who found it difficult to fully display his divine power in the real world, was clearly not his opponent.
"Since you know that you cannot deal with the entire Kohor alone, why did you say such arrogant words just now?" Marwyn looked at Lynd in confusion and asked.
"Archmaester Marwyn, you didn't understand that I only said I cannot deal with the entire city of Kohor alone right now." Lynd corrected Marwyn's statement, saying, "But as long as I get my fallen knight armor, then everything will be different."
After speaking, Lynd did not offer any further explanation but instead asked Marwyn about the Kohor mines.
Just like Norvos, Kohor was also a city-state that practiced slavery, and Braavos's hatred for Kohor far exceeded that for Norvos, because Kohor completely inherited Valyria's mines in the Kohor Great Forest, and many people in Braavos were once slaves who escaped from that mine.
The mines in the Kohor Great Forest existed during the Ghis Empire. They were first developed by the Ghis Empire, but soon after the Ghis Empire was destroyed by the Valyrian Freehold, the mines were transferred to the Valyrian Freehold.
When Valyria controlled this mine, the captives whose countries and city-states had been destroyed by Valyria were sent to this mine in batches, never leaving it for the rest of their lives.
Later, after the destruction of Valyria, before Kohor had time to control the mines, a large number of slaves and prisoners of war escaped from the mines and went to Braavos, the city of freedom in their hearts. The mines were once abandoned due to the lack of slave miners.
Kohor later gained control of the mines and purchased a large number of slaves from Slavers Bay and the Dothraki, and the mines quickly recovered.
This mine produced very high-quality iron ore, tin ore, and copper ore. Just like the ores produced from Lynd's veins in the Red Mountains, they did not require too many refining processes to be used for forging various metal machinery, and their reserves were very large, so much so that they had been mined for thousands of years and still had not been exhausted.
It was precisely because of this that the mine tunnels deep within the mine were like a labyrinth. Ordinary people who entered would easily get lost and be trapped to death in the mine tunnel labyrinth.
The mine owners of Kohor would not enter the depths of the mine. After purchasing slaves, they would directly throw them into the mine, and then have people guard the mine entrances and exits, allowing the slaves to exchange ore for food.
Over time, the slaves in the mine tunnels formed underground city-states. The powerful slaves controlled other slaves, set rules, held power, controlled a mining area, and even fought fiercely over veins that were easy to mine or contained precious metals, launching underground wars and similar activities.
Although Kohor knew about this, it did not stop them; instead, it let them be, as long as the slave miners in the mine contributed ore.
After listening to Marwyn's description of the Kohor mines, Lynd asked with a hint of doubt, "You are quite familiar with these matters. Have you been down there?"
Marwyn nodded and said, "Yes, I have. When I first arrived on the continent of Essos, I was captured by a group of bandits and later sold as a slave to Kohor to be a slave miner."
"How did you escape later?" Lynd asked curiously.
"I didn't escape." Marwyn shook his head and said, "I treated a supervisor, and he saw my excellent medical skills, so he sold me to a necromancer in Kohor. As the necromancer's assistant, I helped him dissect corpses. Later, the necromancer took me to Asshai, and I lived in Asshai for a while until the necromancer was assassinated, and then I left."
Lynd suddenly asked curiously, "I've always been very curious about Asshai, but I may not have time to go there and see. Can you tell me about Asshai?"
"That's not a place suitable for humans to live. The people who live there are monsters." Marwyn clearly did not have a good impression of Asshai and summarized it very briefly and directly. Perhaps feeling that this was too simple and Lynd would not be satisfied with such an answer, he added, "It's a city built from a huge black stone—no, built isn't quite right. Carved out is more accurate. The entire city is carved out of a huge black stone, and that is a black stone full of mysterious power."
At this point, Marwyn suddenly seemed to fall into some kind of memory, becoming silent and not continuing to speak.
Lynd did not interrupt him but waited for him to return to normal on his own.
After about half an hour, Marwyn emerged from his past memories, and then he said to Lynd, "Asshai is a place that cannot be described in words. You can only truly understand what Asshai is like if you see it with your own eyes. Other people's descriptions, no matter how detailed, even if they describe every house and every person in the city, you will not truly understand Asshai."
Lynd listened, then smiled and said, "I have to say, your words have piqued my curiosity, Archmaester Marwyn."
"I apologize, I hope this doesn't cause you any trouble." Marwyn said in a deep voice.
North of Kohor, the Qin'en River began to enter the forest. The river channel also narrowed significantly, and there were many more nameless tributaries. Also, on the river channel, one could see the trunks of some rotten trees, suggesting that the current Qin'en River channel must have undergone a change, turning the original forest into a new river channel.
Because it was already night, there were a large number of rotten tree trunks and submerged rocks in the river channel, so the boats transporting ore honestly docked by the riverbank. Not a single boat dared to travel at night.
This also led to the surprise of the people on board when Lynd's small boat appeared on the water. What surprised them even more was the extremely fast speed at which Lynd's small boat moved on the water, completely unlike the speed of a normal flat-bottomed boat, and the boat was so flexible that it completely exceeded their understanding of boats, feeling more like a fish perfectly avoiding all obstacles and dangers during its rapid journey.
Thus, the talk of ghost ships began to spread among these ore-transporting cargo ships, and in the eyes of the sailors on board, only a ghost ship piloted by a ghost could do what that boat did.
Lynd completely ignored the commotion he caused. His attention was now fully focused on the fallen knight armor, because as he got closer and closer to the Kohor mines, the Dragon Rune between him and the fallen knight armor, the Lost Knights Greatsword, and the armor began to resonate.
The three of them were like three mutually attracting magnets. Lynd didn't even need Marwyn to guide him; he could find the correct river channel simply by sensing the fallen knight armor.
At noon the next day, Lynd and Marwyn arrived at the dock of the Kohor mining town.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"