"Seven Gods above, what happened here?" A soldier looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but say in terror.
No one around answered his question. Everyone stared nervously at their surroundings, afraid that those seemingly harmless tree branches might suddenly turn into deadly weapons.
"Go up and check," Roman ordered, pointing at a soldier.
The soldier who was singled out was extremely reluctant, but he still had no choice except to step out of the group. He cautiously approached the corpse, quickly examined it, then turned back and shouted, "It's a trap, milord. He was killed by some kind of trap."
"A trap?" Seeing that there was no immediate danger, Roman led his men forward. After taking a look, he frowned in confusion. "What kind of trap could have such power, enough to pierce a man through and hang him on a tree?"
The question left the surrounding soldiers speechless. Like Roman, the traps they knew were all for catching rabbits and the like. A trap with such terrifying power was something they were seeing for the first time.
When no answer came, Roman didn't press further. He could sense that these traps were likely meant for bandits, meaning the person who set them was on the same side as him. Even so, he didn't dare lower his guard. His cautious nature made him order, "Everyone, stay alert. Continue forward." After that, he turned to the soldiers of his own house beside him and said, "What are you standing around for? Get your shields out. Cover me."
At the command, the soldiers hurriedly pulled out their shields, raised them to their chests, and surrounded Roman, protecting him in the middle.
As for the Coldhowl Castle soldiers who had been temporarily assigned, they could only stay on the outer perimeter and probe the way ahead.
As they went deeper into the forest, they saw more and more corpses. Some were just like the earlier one, killed by traps, while many others had clearly died from weapon strikes. The veteran soldiers in the unit could tell at a glance that every one of those killed by weapons had died from a single blow—right up to their last moment, they had no idea where the attack came from.
This immediately made everyone tense. Unconsciously, each of them imagined an unseen, intangible evil spirit. In their ears echoed the terrifying stories they had heard as children, and the hands gripping their weapons began to tremble slightly from nervousness.
In this dreadful atmosphere, their pace quickened. The forest itself wasn't very large, and soon they reached its edge. The men at the front could already see through the gaps between the trees to the relatively open terrain beyond.
However, just as the leading soldier was about to speed up and leave this dangerous place, a short sword suddenly flew out of nowhere, slicing straight past his face and embedding itself firmly into a nearby tree trunk.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The startled soldier immediately stopped, shouting as he quickly retreated back into the formation. Clutching his spear tightly, he yelled, "Someone just attacked me! Someone just attacked me!"
"Shut up, I saw it!" Roman, following behind, couldn't stand the shouting. The soldier's panicked cries were already causing unrest in the unit. He immediately shouted to stop him and ordered, "Stay alert! Stay alert! Spears outward, shields up! Don't panic—we outnumber them, and our weapons are better!"
While Roman was shouting to steady morale, the expected enemy assault never came. Instead, from the dense forest ahead, a warrior emerged at an unhurried pace. He held twin swords and wore leather armor. Walking calmly to the short sword embedded in the tree, he pulled it free and slid it back into the sheath at his waist.
Then he turned around to face the extremely tense hundred-man unit. His gaze fell on the spider banner carried on the standard-bearer's shoulder, and finally on Roman, whose attire clearly set him apart from the rest. He said, "Milord of House Vyper, you're a bit late. These people have already been dealt with by me. I haven't had time to clean up the spoils on them yet, though. If you don't mind, could you help me with that? There are too many for me to handle alone. Of course, I wouldn't ask for help for nothing—I'm willing to share half of the spoils with you."
Only then did Roman clearly see what the warrior asking for assistance looked like, and he quickly remembered who the man was.
"Bear Hunter… you're Lind, the Bear Hunter of White Village!" Roman couldn't suppress his shock and called out to confirm.
Hearing this, Lind bowed slightly to Roman and said, "I'm honored that you've heard of me."
After receiving confirmation, Roman recalled the intelligence he had gathered about Lind earlier, as well as how Joel Flor had made special arrangements for Lind the previous night. Lind's out-of-place appearance in the council hall had already drawn House Vyper's attention, so after the meeting they had sent someone to investigate him—and that someone happened to be Roman himself.
Only then did they learn that the commoner warrior wearing twin swords in the council hall was the very Bear Hunter sung of by tavern bards.
At the time, after learning Lind's identity, the people of House Vyper hadn't taken him too seriously. In their eyes, Lind was just a fifteen-year-old boy. They admired his act of avenging his father and hunting a bear alone, but as for the details of the hunt in the stories, they believed those were merely exaggerations by bards for dramatic effect. In their view, Lind's success in hunting the mountain bear must have been thanks to hunters from White Village who supported him—and it was those hunters who had likely saved Lind from the bear's attack.
Roman Vyper shared that opinion as well. He had personally seen mountain bears, and he had also seen how a maddened mountain bear could destroy a hundred-man hunting party. Because of that, he had been almost certain that it was impossible for Lind to hunt a mountain bear alone.
However, now Roman was beginning to believe the bards' tales. Thinking back to the bandits who had died miserably in the traps, and to those who hadn't even known where the fatal blow came from, it was clear that all of this had been done by Lind alone. A warrior of such strength hunting a mountain bear didn't seem impossible anymore.
At the same time, he realized why Joel Flor had agreed to Lind's outrageous request—to let him guard this area alone. Perhaps Joel had known all along that Lind was capable of holding it by himself.
Once he confirmed the man's identity, Roman signaled his subordinates to lower their weapons, then asked eagerly, "Earlier, two bandit leaders in plate armor fled here with their men. They are now…?"
"They've already been taken by the Stranger," Lind replied calmly as he sheathed his swords. Turning, he pointed outside the forest. "Their bodies are out there. I'll have to trouble you to take care of them."
Although seeing the corpses in the forest had already led Roman to suspect that those who fled here had been dealt with, hearing the answer directly from Lind finally put him at ease.
After that, he ordered his men to help Lind collect the spoils and handle the bodies. These would all count as military merit later. If it were someone else, he might have coveted that merit, but this time he wouldn't. It wasn't just because of the unclear relationship between Joel Flor and the Bear Hunter—more than that, it was the shock and fear brought to him by the corpses he had just seen.
Even though his numbers now held an absolute advantage, he couldn't shake the feeling that if he fell out with the Bear Hunter, he would end up just like those corpses, forever left in this forest.
On the other side, Lind didn't know what Roman Vyper was thinking, but he had considered the possibility that Roman might seize his military merit. Old Bane had mentioned such things more than once.
If that really happened, there would be nothing he could do about it. He might be able to kill Roman Vyper and use the terrain to slaughter these Vyper soldiers, but if he did that, he wouldn't be able to stay in the Reach—he likely wouldn't even be able to remain in Westeros at all, and would be forced to flee to Essos. That was absolutely not what he wanted.
But he soon figured it out. Even if Roman Vyper really did forcibly take his military merit, it wouldn't matter. All he needed was Joel's recognition of his achievements. To him, military merit wasn't the most important thing—Joel's recommendation was.
Even if his merit was stolen, as long as Joel acknowledged that he truly had killed so many bandits, his goal would already be achieved.
With that realization, the slight tension in Lind's heart finally relaxed. While the soldiers were moving the bodies, he went to other parts of the forest and dismantled all the traps that hadn't been triggered.
He didn't know how things were going on the battlefield over there, but since Roman Vyper had now arrived with a hundred-man unit, the task of guarding this area naturally passed to Roman. Lind only needed to assist from the side, and with that being the case, there was no longer any need for those lethal traps.
With over a hundred people working together, it didn't take long to clear all the bodies from the forest. Along with the corpses outside the woods, they were neatly arranged together.
Looking at the dozens of corpses before them, everyone—including Roman Vyper—felt an indescribable shock, and they all looked toward Lind, who was sitting nearby wiping down his weapons, with deep reverence.
In the many wars throughout the history of the Seven Kingdoms, stories of a single knight facing a hundred enemies were not uncommon. All kinds of knightly legends spread across Westeros. Just like after Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, led the purge of the Kingswood Brotherhood, there were tales claiming that Arthur Dayne had slaughtered hundreds of outlaws with his sword Dawn.
But those who truly understood the battlefield knew that such stories of "one against a hundred" couldn't withstand scrutiny. Many of those feats were accomplished by knights together with their squires and soldiers. It was only because the knight's reputation was great enough that all the kills were ultimately credited to him alone.
Yet what they were seeing now was a living example—one man who had taken down dozens of bandits. Even if he had relied on hunting traps, it was still incredible. And judging by appearances, the fight had been remarkably easy, because there wasn't a single injury on Lind.
Looking at Lind, calm even after such a battle, Roman Vyper suddenly felt something strange—an intuition that this lowborn hunter's son would one day become someone truly important.
It was precisely this feeling that made him decide to befriend Lind early, to place a bet in advance on Lind's future rise.
Having made up his mind, Roman walked over to Lind. When he reached his side, he pointed at the broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword in Lind's hands and said, "This is the first time I've seen a sword of this design. May I take a look?"
Lind didn't refuse. He handed over the hand-and-a-half sword he had already wiped clean.
After taking it, Roman examined it and said, "This sword is much broader than a typical bastard sword. That's good for chopping, and it can even be used to parry attacks. The only drawback is that it's a bit short—you need to get in close to make full use of it."
Listening to Roman's analysis, Lind looked at him with slight surprise. Seeing the pros and cons of a broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword wasn't difficult, but being able to grasp them just by picking it up and taking a look showed that Roman had some real understanding of weapon forging.
"Did you design this sword yourself, Lord Lind?" Roman asked as he handed the sword back, using a somewhat noble form of address.
"Yes. I designed it specifically for my swordsmanship," Lind replied honestly, nodding to confirm Roman's guess. At the same time, he corrected him. "Lord Roman, your form of address is incorrect. I'm just a commoner, not a noble. You shouldn't call me 'lord.'"
Roman smiled and said, "No, no! With the strength you've shown, Lord Lind, you'll certainly become a noble in the near future. I'm just getting used to it ahead of time."
At this moment, Roman seemed less like a noble and more like a merchant, openly expressing his intent to befriend Lind.
Although Lind didn't understand why a landed knight like Roman, who owned his own manor and fief, would take the initiative to befriend him, he could sense that Roman bore no ill will. This made him quickly weigh the pros and cons of forming ties with Roman.
In the matter of the Red Lake Forest bandits, House Vyper had engaged in some less-than-honorable behavior, but they had already perfectly erased all traces of it. In the future, they likely wouldn't be punished by their liege, House Rowan, over this incident, nor would their strength be affected.
House Vyper, in the Reach, could only be considered a second-tier noble house, but like most noble houses of the Reach, they possessed a long and ancient lineage and marital ties with many houses across the Seven Kingdoms. For example, House Lannister of the Westerlands had marriage ties with them. Even the current Warden of the West and Lord of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, carried Vyper blood—his grandmother had come from House Vyper.
It was precisely because of this deep foundation that even when House Vyper had made mistakes this time, House Rowan, as their liege, hadn't directly exposed them. Instead, they allowed House Vyper to participate in the bandit suppression campaign and erase the traces of their wrongdoing themselves.
So regardless of Roman's true purpose in befriending him, Lind felt that this was a good thing for him.
...
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"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
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(End Chapter)