It was late at night when Linde returned to the camp, his late arrival entirely due to getting lost in the forest.
Logically, it was impossible for him to get lost in the forest given his abilities, but he had indeed gotten lost, and the process was rather inexplicable. He felt as if the entire forest was moving with him, leading him to wonder if Spark, the Child of the Forest, was playing tricks on him.As for why he would tease himself, it was probably because he had coveted Spark's potion before, allowing Spark to sense it in some way, so Spark wanted to give him a little lesson.
However, in any case, Linde was not harmed in any way, only slightly depleted of his physical strength, and he also hunted a few wild rabbits along the way to feed the little guy in his arms.
Throughout this journey, the little guy in his arms was very well-behaved, not moving around, and completely treating Linde's clothes as a sleeping bag.Having nothing to do, Linde also gave the little guy a name, Glory.
"You're finally back. I was about to send someone into the forest to look for you." The scout captain, having learned from the night watch that Linde had returned, hurried over, rebuking Linde for returning so late. He also looked Linde up and down, and only after confirming that Linde was not injured did his tense face relax slightly.
In his opinion, Linde probably hadn't hunted a shadow lynx, otherwise he would have had some injuries, more or less, and he would have carried the shadow lynx's corpse back."It was too dark, and I got lost in the forest," Linde explained simply.
The scout captain didn't bother to consider whether the explanation was reasonable or not. He patted Linde on the shoulder and said, "Lord Galan and Lord Fortimo are waiting for you in the tent in the hall. You'd better go there immediately."
Linde was stunned upon hearing this, but without asking the reason for the wait, he followed the scout captain to the hall of the post house.Thanks to the several bonfires in the hall, the dampness and cold of the rainy day were completely dispelled. The nobles and knights each found a clean spot to sleep, with only a few servants remaining awake, ready to answer their masters' calls at any moment.
In addition, flickering light could be seen inside the extremely conspicuous tent in the hall, and shadows were projected onto the tent's fabric, indicating that the people inside had not yet rested.Seeing Linde, the attendant sitting beside the tent immediately stood up, gestured for Linde to wait a moment, turned and ducked into the tent, and softly woke up Garland and Fortimo, who were dozing off.
"Linde, come in!" Fortimo said for Garland after clearing his head a little.
Hearing this, Linde lifted the curtain and walked in, but the tent was carpeted, and the rain from his clothes dripped onto the floor, leaving puddles on the carpet, which made him stop and stand at the edge of the carpet, so as not to get it even wetter."Don't worry about it, I didn't even want this carpet in the first place, those guys insisted on putting it down, so it's no big deal if it gets dirty." Garland rubbed his sleepy eyes, then looked at Linde's condition, a hint of disappointment in his expression as he said, "Judging by the looks of you, you didn't catch that shadow lynx."
"No, I caught it," Linde replied. "But I didn't kill it."
"Didn't kill it?" Garland was taken aback.At this moment, Fortimo noticed something in Linde's arms, something that seemed to be alive and moving. So he pointed to Linde's arms and asked, "Is this your reward for tracking the shadow lynx?"
"Yes," Linde nodded, then took out the albino shadow lynx cub sleeping in his arms and said, "This little guy was given to me by its mother, the shadow lynx I was tracking."
Hearing this, Garan and Fortimo were both stunned, staring at the lynx cub Linde held out, speechless for a long time.The next morning, the rain had stopped, and although the ground was still a bit muddy, it was much easier to walk than yesterday. As usual, the scout team went ahead to check the situation, but unlike usual, Linde, the core of the scout team, was accompanied by a shadow mountain cat cub, and this cub was an extremely rare albino.
Last night, those who had gone hunting with Linde had returned to their respective ranks and told others about Linde's tracking of the shadow mountain cat, and they also spread the misunderstanding about the Ten Hunting Trials.However, as Linde didn't return for a long time, many people speculated that something might have happened to him. After all, they were in the Imperial Woods, and no matter how skilled Linde was with a sword, he couldn't fully utilize his abilities in such an environment. Moreover, the danger of shadow lynxes in the forest was far greater than elsewhere. They could silently approach their prey under the cover of trees and bushes, tearing open their throats with claws and fangs, killing them with a single blow. Even formal knights might not be able to avoid a shadow lynx's ambush. So, as the night deepened, more and more people felt that the Bear Hunter might meet his end in the Imperial Woods this time.However, Linde did return, and he returned unscathed, without even a trace of having fought, so everyone in the camp thought that Linde probably hadn't tracked the Shadow Lynx this time.
But not long after, new news came from the hall of the post station. It turned out that Linde had tracked down the Shadow Lynx and completely defeated it without taking any damage, and then captured it alive. However, when Linde was preparing to bring the Shadow Lynx back to the post station, he discovered that the Shadow Lynx was a female and had several cubs with her.When Linde was a hunter, there was an unwritten rule: never capture a female animal with young. So, he released the shadow lynx at the time. But as he was about to leave, the shadow lynx blocked his path and presented Linde with an albino cub.
At first, when the people in the camp heard this news, they all thought that whoever spread it was definitely talking nonsense, because they had never heard of a shadow lynx being tamed, let alone being humane and repaying kindness.Only, when Linde emerged from the post station hall, cradling an albino shadow lynx cub, everyone's faces were etched with shock, and their gazes towards Linde became increasingly reverent, because such things were only seen in legends and only happened to legendary heroes, so much so that Linde began to resemble a legendary hero in their eyes.In fact, this is the effect that Linde hoped to achieve. He deliberately concealed the matters of the Children of the Forest and the Faceless Ones, and slightly adapted the process of obtaining the cub's glory. In his opinion, killing a shadow lynx would only make people think he was a powerful hunter, but having a shadow lynx voluntarily offer its cub would make people think it was something that would only happen to a legendary hero.
Moreover, more importantly, he didn't need to promote himself at all. Others would actively help him promote it. This kind of thing narrated by others is far more convincing than telling it himself.So, by the dawn of the next day, the entire Rose family's company knew about the shadow lynx, and many curious people, before Linde even set off, ran to the scouts' encampment to see the albino shadow lynx cub from the story. And those who still doubted the rumors, after seeing Glory, the lynx cub clinging to Linde and baring its fangs at others, had all their doubts dispelled.However, even so, there were still those among them who harbored jealousy. These were mostly the Highgarden nobles and knights who had accompanied the team. In their eyes, someone of Linde's low status was unworthy of such a legendary experience.
However, due to Fortimo, they didn't dare to deliberately belittle Linde too much in front of Galan, and could only slightly question the authenticity of Linde's story. But when Galan asked them the reason for their doubts, they couldn't say. All of this made them feel like Linde was a hedgehog, and they couldn't find a way to attack him.Ultimately, they could only attack Lynd with their glorious albino forms, because in Westeros, albino beasts were never considered auspicious omens. They were as discriminated against as human deformities, and many folk tales described albino beasts as evil creatures that devoured human souls. Those who died at the jaws of an albino beast would not be welcomed by the Stranger, but would forever wander between life and death, eventually transforming into evil Others.Although Garland didn't believe in such absurd legends, and he had no prejudice against deformed animals or humans, he had to consider the thoughts of those around him.
However, he didn't want to do anything to Linde because of these people's jealousy, so that evening, while making repairs, he had a servant give Linde a collar made from a rein, as a way of showing his attitude.Lynd was already planning to make a collar to restrain Glory, because besides being particularly affectionate towards him, Glory maintained its wild beast nature towards everyone else. Even Raul had a small piece of flesh bitten off him inadvertently. Therefore, Lynd had to bring forward his plan to train the shadow lynx. Until he had trained Glory to a satisfactory level, he would restrain it with a collar and rope to prevent further injuries.
On the other hand, Glory had no idea that its days of suffering were coming. Instead, it thought the collar Lynd put on it was a gift, a toy, and it was having a great time playing with it.The rest of the journey went very smoothly, with no more rain. After leaving the post station, it took another three days to finally exit the Kingswood and arrive at the end of the Rose Road, which was also the end of Copper Gate Road and King's Road, where the three roads converged.
Interestingly, this place, as the intersection of three roads and located at the exit of the Kingswood, with the Blackwater Rush connecting the Southern Reach and the Crownlands behind it, should logically be a very important military location. Even if a fortress castle wasn't built here, at least a military camp should have been built, and some troops stationed here to guard the key points.But in reality, there's only an abandoned military camp here, and this camp was hastily built back then to suppress the Kingswood Brotherhood. After the Kingswood Brotherhood was defeated, it was completely abandoned. Now that Robert Baratheon is on the Iron Throne, he hasn't built a military fortress here, but has instead allowed the original temporary camp to fall into disrepair.
The reason is likely that he believes the Copper Gate road leads to Storm's End, and Storm's End is the territory of his Baratheon family, so he sees no need to waste manpower and resources to garrison here.However, as the Rose family's group approached the crossroads, a detachment of troops emerged from the abandoned temporary military camp. This detachment was small, only about a hundred men. They wore suits of black armor, with gold-dyed cloaks draped behind them, which looked both striking and impractical. The only things that seemed practical were the iron hammers hanging from their waists and the iron-tipped spears they held in their hands.
"They must be the Gold Cloaks from King's Landing," Raul whispered to Linde at this moment.Linde listened to Raul's prompts, his gaze sweeping over the gold robes, finally settling on the person leading them.
This person was tall and handsome, with thick, long golden hair, a pair of confident emerald green eyes, and slightly upturned, blade-like lips that made him look extremely proud. Besides his appearance, his attire was also very striking. He wore a magnificent suit of armor, with a white cloak hanging from his shoulders. An elaborately decorated longsword was wrapped in the cloak, swaying slightly with his movements, appearing and disappearing beneath the fabric."Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer." Linde had no trouble identifying the man, thanks to his striking appearance and the obvious lion sigil on his armor.
Not only Linde recognized him, but everyone else in the group did as well. However, upon recognizing the Kingslayer, they couldn't help but reveal expressions of disdain and disgust, even the specially trained Garlan couldn't hide his contempt.Before, it was impossible to say for sure who was the most dishonorable knight in all of the Seven Kingdoms, as everyone had their own standards and could not agree. But after Robert's Rebellion, the title of most dishonorable knight was undeniably bestowed upon Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, for breaking his vows and killing the Mad King Aerys, whom he was sworn to protect.Jaime Lannister, as a party involved, seemed accustomed to such scornful and disdainful gazes, which a year ago might have infuriated him. But now, he was unmoved, knowing full well that no matter how he explained, no one would believe him, let alone listen to him quietly. The only thing he could do was to keep his head held high, lest the crown upon it should fall.However, as Jaime's gaze swept over the Rose soldiers before him, he noticed that among the countless scornful and disdainful looks, one person's gaze was unusually calm, showing no negative emotions towards him at all. This made him pause on that person for a moment before quickly moving on to Garlan Tyrell, who had already walked to the front of the line accompanied by Vortimer.
"I've heard of you, the valiant Garlan."Jaime rode his horse up to Garlan, insolently sizing him up and down as he sat in the saddle, saying in a very flippant tone, "I don't know if you're really brave, but judging by your figure, you're certainly not what I'd call valiant."
Jaime Lannister's casual teasing of Garlan made the knights and nobles of House Tyrell feel displeased, and Vortimer subtly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Jaime, as if oblivious to the Tyrell's displeasure, had an increasingly obvious contemptuous smile on his face, and he didn't take Vortimer's threat to heart at all.
...
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Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
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(End Chapter)