"These are all the intelligence reports we managed to gather this time."
On Lion Hill outside King's Landing, inside the main command tent, Lind stood upright and methodically reported everything they had collected in King's Landing to Garlan, who sat at the seat of honor.
Inside the tent, besides Garlan and Fortimo, there was also an elderly man dressed as a maester and a slightly plump middle-aged knight. From the moment Lind entered, the two of them had been sizing him up with curious gazes, as if they were looking at some rare specimen.
While reporting the results of the mission, Lind also swept his eyes over the two of them without leaving any obvious trace.
Their identities were easy to guess.
The elderly maester wore a maester's chain around his neck, made up of links forged from eight different materials. Among the Tyrell family's maester advisers, only one possessed such scholarly achievements—he could only be Maester Molas, the most learned maester of House Tyrell and the Duke's chief adviser. The Maester Selick who had previously assisted Garlan was his student.
As for the middle-aged knight, he was Rogel Redwyne, the Tyrells' castellan. He was the Thorn Queen's nephew. His parents had died early, and he was never valued much within House Redwyne. From a young age, he followed the Thorn Queen to House Tyrell, later becoming Mace Tyrell's attendant. After Mace Tyrell became the Duke of Highgarden, Rogel was appointed castellan of Highgarden.
Though both bore the title of castellan, Janos Slynt's authority could not compare to Rogel Redwyne's, nor could his status.
However, despite holding great power, Rogel Redwyne rarely exercised it. He even split up his authority as castellan and distributed it among the various knight-commanders of the garrison, while he himself lived like an idle man who only ate, drank, and enjoyed life.
He was very clear about his own abilities—and knew they were about on par with Mace Tyrell's. Letting him handle matters would only make things worse. For example, during Robert's Rebellion, he handed over full command of the troops under his control to Lord Randyll Tarly of Horn Hill, while he himself served as a logistics officer. This kind of self-awareness was one area where he surpassed Mace Tyrell.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that he earned House Tyrell's trust and remained in the position of castellan all these years.
After Robert's Rebellion, both men stayed in King's Landing together with Duke Mace Tyrell. Unfortunately, neither of them was skilled at social maneuvering. Their strengths lay mainly in support and counsel, and they could not really发挥 any influence in King's Landing.
Thus, after Garlan went to meet the Duke of Highgarden, the two of them proactively offered to help here instead. Compared to Duke Mace Tyrell, who already had his own firmly formed views, young Garlan clearly needed them more.
Because their relationships with Garlan were unusual—one was his teacher, the other his uncle—their conversations on the way back from King's Landing to the camp were much more casual than usual. Garlan also recounted what he had experienced along the way, especially mentioning Lind, the legendary bear-hunter. This naturally drew the attention of the two senior ministers of Highgarden.
When they finally saw Lind in person, reporting on the mission, neither of them initially felt that there was anything particularly special about him. The only notable point was that Lind was extremely tall and powerfully built. Once he entered the tent, his head nearly brushed the top, and he looked like a mountain bear standing upright. They found it hard to imagine that such a man could, as Garlan and Fortimo had described, move like a dancer in battle and employ elegant, exquisite swordsmanship.
Because this first impression was so strong, the two of them subconsciously categorized Lind as the type of warrior who preferred using his hands over his brain.
But that impression quickly began to change.
As Lind reported the mission results, he laid out every piece of intelligence he had obtained in a clear and orderly manner, arranged by priority and importance. This made them realize that Lind must have organized and processed the intelligence beforehand—and such an ability required an extremely meticulous mind, completely at odds with his rugged appearance.
The stark contrast between his rough exterior and his delicate, thoughtful capabilities created a powerful sense of dissonance. This contrast greatly amplified the psychological impact of his display of ability. Not to mention the two senior ministers who were seeing Lind for the first time—even Garlan and Fortimo revealed looks of surprise.
After Lind finished reporting all the intelligence, Maester Molas could not help but laugh and say, "For a moment just now, I almost thought the one reporting to us was Lord Varys, the Master of Whisperers of the Iron Throne."
"You felt that too?" Rogel Redwyne said in astonishment. "I thought I was the only one."
Maester Molas turned to look at Garlan and said, "Garlan, it seems that the greatest gain from your trip to King's Landing is this bear-hunter."
Hearing the praise, Garlan could not suppress the proud smile that spread across his face.
For House Tyrell, the more capable their subordinates proved to be, the happier they were. They understood very clearly that for the family to prosper long-term, relying solely on blood relatives was not enough. They needed to continuously absorb capable outsiders into the family in order to sustain their rise.
Especially now—after Robert's Rebellion and the subsequent internal turmoil in the Reach—House Tyrell had suffered a massive loss of talent. Even Garlan, who had just turned ten, was forced to step forward and take on responsibilities. This alone showed how severe the talent drain had been.
At present, House Tyrell needed new blood more than at any other time. This was precisely why, in New Barrel City, Garlan had so abruptly transferred Lind from House Cleland directly into House Tyrell.
However, among the Seven Kingdoms, there were not many noble houses that valued external talent as much as House Tyrell. Bloodline supremacy was the core belief of most lords. Even House Lannister, which also valued outsiders, was far less tolerant than House Tyrell in its attitude toward talent.
"Since you already organized the intelligence in advance, you must have analyzed it as well," Maester Molas said, looking at Lind with clear appreciation. "Tell us your thoughts first. Let's see if they're of any reference value."
Hearing this, Lind turned to glance at Fortimo. After seeing Fortimo give a slight nod, Lind began to explain his own analysis and thoughts regarding the intelligence—especially his speculations about the relationship between King Robert and Duke Eddard of the North, the rumors concerning the relationships among the three Baratheon brothers, and the current importance of Renly Baratheon to House Tyrell. He explained each point carefully.
In addition, Lind shared some ideas that had just occurred to him due to other intelligence:
"I think now is also a good opportunity to build ties with House Stark of the North. According to the information we gathered, the reason Lord Benjen Stark is leading the northern delegation to King's Landing this time, aside from attending the prince's birth celebration on behalf of Duke Eddard, is that he is also tasked with recruiting men for the Night's Watch."
"However, our King Robert seems to be resentful that Duke Eddard did not come to King's Landing in person, so he has been making things difficult for Lord Benjen Stark and has not approved any of his requests."
As he spoke, Lind paused slightly and looked around at the people in the tent.
"Right now, we could actually approach Lord Benjen Stark and express our willingness to send those prisoners in Highgarden's dungeons to the Wall in the North. I believe Lord Benjen Stark would be very happy to accept our goodwill. At that point, we could also express our desire to improve relations with House Stark, and ask Lord Benjen Stark to act as a mediator. Given the brotherly bond between Lord Eddard Stark and Lord Benjen Stark, I believe they would not refuse a proposal to mend relations with us. This would also indirectly improve our relationship with King Robert, after all, the closeness between the Warden of the North and His Majesty is well known. What do you gentlemen think?"
Lind received no response.
For a long time after his words fell, the tent remained silent. Everyone was looking at him with strange expressions, especially Fortimo and Garlan, whose gazes were as if they were seeing a stranger.
After a while, Rogel Redwyne asked solemnly, "If I remember correctly, you were once just a hunter. Why do you possess such strong intelligence-analysis abilities? This isn't something an ordinary person can master."
Having already learned from Joel's precedent, Lind was well prepared. He brought out the same explanation he had given to Joel a few months earlier.
The people in the tent did not doubt his explanation. In their eyes, only a maester from the Citadel could have trained Lind to such a degree.
Moreover, every year a large number of maesters left Oldtown and traveled across the Seven Kingdoms. Not all of them could gain the favor of nobles and become advisers with stable pay. The vast majority lived in poverty, barely able to feed themselves—not to mention those who had been stripped of their chains and exiled. Thus, it was entirely normal for commoners to hire maesters to teach knowledge.
However, in their view, anyone capable of teaching Lind to this level must have been no ordinary maester. As a result, they even began to entertain the idea of recruiting that mysterious teacher.
Unfortunately, when they asked further, Lind said he did not know the maester's name. His description of the man's appearance was also very ordinary, making it nearly impossible to track him down based on those clues.
Just as everyone was lamenting the loss of such a talent, Maester Molas suddenly proposed, "Once we return to Highgarden, let him work under me. I'm very short on manpower."
Maester Molas was responsible for intelligence affairs in Highgarden. However, due to his advanced age, he no longer had the energy to handle the massive volume of intelligence gathered from all directions, nor to manage House Tyrell's spy networks across Westeros. Several years ago, he had already handed over all of these duties to a few of his students.
Those students were excellent scholars, but when faced with complex intelligence work, they clearly struggled.
The fact that House Tyrell's various intelligence outposts in King's Landing had been uprooted by Jon Arryn and Varys in one sweep, while Highgarden could not produce a single effective response, was clear proof of his students' shortcomings in this area.
Now, seeing Lind's outstanding ability in organizing and analyzing intelligence, Maester Molas sincerely felt that Lind was more reliable than his own students. He wanted to transfer Lind to work under him for focused cultivation. If Lind continued to perform this well, it would not be impossible for him to eventually succeed Molas as House Tyrell's intelligence chief—after all, among all important positions, the intelligence chief was the least concerned with noble birth.
"No."
However, the moment Maester Molas finished speaking, someone immediately objected. And it was not Lind, the person concerned, but Garlan and Fortimo.
Neither Garlan nor Fortimo expected the other to object as well. They exchanged glances, trying to discern the reason behind the other's opposition.
Garlan's reason was simple: Lind had only just joined House Tyrell, and his loyalty had not yet been tested. Allowing him to come into contact with the family's most central power structure at this stage was clearly not a good idea.
As for Fortimo, his reason was even simpler. He knew very well what Lind's ambitions were, and he knew even more clearly that once Lind worked under Maester Molas, those ambitions would never be realized. No lord would allow someone who held all of the family's intelligence to become a landed knight—let alone a sworn sword.
Seeing both Garlan and Fortimo object at the same time, Maester Molas and Ser Rogel were surprised, but they did not ask for an explanation. In their view, the two must have had their reasons.
After that, the topic in the tent returned to the main matter at hand. Everyone began discussing how to make use of this intelligence. They did not ask Lind to leave; instead, they let him participate in the discussion. Soon, a conclusion was reached. Lind's earlier suggestions were accepted almost in full, with only some minor adjustments to the execution details.
"I didn't expect you to have such abilities," Fortimo said after returning to his tent. Taking a warm towel from a servant, he wiped his face, then turned to Lind, who had followed him inside. "I hope you don't blame me for not agreeing to let you work under Maester Molas. After all, that would have allowed you to directly access Highgarden's center of power."
Lind shook his head and said, "No. Even without your objection, I wouldn't have agreed. Being an intelligence chief is not my ideal."
"It's good that you think this way," Fortimo said, dismissing the servant and speaking earnestly. "This time, you performed exceptionally in front of Maester Molas. Your intelligence abilities, in particular, have already left a deep impression on him. Although I rejected his proposal on your behalf, Maester Molas will not give up so easily—especially when compared with Maester Selick and the others, your abilities stand out even more. In the future, Maester Molas will definitely come to you often with various intelligence matters and ask for your help. You must refuse him and try to minimize your involvement with those things. Do you understand?"
"Yes, my lord," Lind nodded. Then he hesitated slightly and said, "But with my current status, if Maester Molas insists that I help him, I won't be able to refuse, will I?"
Fortimo fell silent for a moment, then said, "Go pick ten men from the camp and form a cavalry unit. They'll be responsible for the camp's daily patrols. Dress a bit more splendidly as well. When you have time, stroll around the city. Let the people of King's Landing see our House of the Rose. Try to spend less time staying in the camp."
Lind could tell that Fortimo was effectively promoting him in disguise. Naturally, he had no reason to refuse. However, there was one more important thing he needed to confirm, so he asked, "My lord, does this count as meritorious service?"
Fortimo glanced at Lind, unbuckled the longsword at his waist, and tossed it to him.
"My sword hasn't been properly maintained for some time. Polish it tonight and oil it well. Also, take good care of my armor. Don't let it affect my performance at the tourney in a few days."
With his answer received, Lind broke into a smile and replied, "Yes, my lord."
...
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(End Chapter)