Lynn had several suspicious outsiders escorted over, ordering that black cloth be stuffed into their mouths.
They passed through the streets and arrived atop the city walls.
The guard captain, Hood, was tensely arranging the city's defenses.
Seeing his own lord's strange actions, he brought along an attendant and stepped forward to meet him.
"There are pirates who've infiltrated the castle. They should be among these people. I think you might have a way to figure out which one it is."
Lynn walked forward at an unhurried pace and briefly explained the situation in a low voice to his guard captain.
Hood looked toward the short distance away where Lynn was pointing. Five men with their mouths gagged were huddled together, curled up tightly.
He froze for a moment. "Spies?"
Lynn nodded seriously. "That's right. Spies, or scouts. The long summer's probably gone on too long—made the pirates of Biting Bay a lot smarter."
Hood seemed to run through a vivid mental scenario, as if realizing something. Then he reacted, eyes flashing with ferocity as he slapped his chest. "Of course, my lord."
Seeing the corner of Hood's mouth suddenly twist into a malicious grin, Lynn watched as he leaned close and whispered into his ear, "To think those damned pirate accomplices would dare sneak into the castle… My lord, do you want them alive, or dead?"
Why are you grinning like a thug?
Lynn suspected he was letting his imagination run wild, but had no proof. "Alive. Find him. I'll judge him personally."
The system's mission required capture.
If the man died, how was he supposed to farm points?
"Understood."
Hood acknowledged the order and had the outsiders escorted to the watchtower by the city gate. He then ordered a few fishermen who were hauling rolling stones to bring over some rope.
With a vicious expression, Hood pulled the black cloths from the men's mouths one by one.
Then he gave each of them a savage kick in the backside, knocking them flat onto the ground.
Pulling out the rope, he walked over to the first man lying there and roughly forced his hands together, binding them tightly.
The dark-skinned man's eyes widened slightly as he looked at Hood with a bewildered expression, as if he wanted to say something.
But Hood shot him a fierce glare, scaring him so badly that he didn't dare utter a single word.
While tying him up, Hood spoke with apparent regret. "The Earl of White Harbor has sent people to support us. The pirate leader of Biting Bay is preparing to negotiate with my lord. But first, they want us to hand over their spy. Problem is, we don't know which one in the city is their pirate brother. So I'll have to trouble you few outsiders instead.
"In a bit, I'll hang you all at the city gate. If the pirates of Biting Bay are sincere about negotiations, they'll send someone to identify him. If it's a trick, then you'll hang from the watchtower as banner sacrifices for the people in the castle!"
Hood's bearded face was covered in sun-cracked skin and dark scars, enough to make anyone's heart race just looking at him.
At this moment, mixing truth with lies, his bluff frightened the men badly.
The people lying on the wall waiting to be tied subconsciously lifted their heads, peeking through the battlements to look outside the city.
Sure enough, they soon saw pirates gathered on the distant beach, seemingly with no intention of attacking the city for now.
On the high slope on the other side, knights in full armor stood in a neat line, holding aloft the banner of White Harbor as they kept watch.
Seeing this scene, the men immediately believed Hood's words a bit more.
Two of them, worried about suffering while being hung on the wall or becoming live targets for the pirates, wore faces full of despair.
Yet, intimidated by Hood's ferocious appearance and afraid of being beaten for speaking rashly, they bit their lips and stayed silent.
The other three buried their heads into the ground. Their expressions couldn't be seen, and they didn't move at all, as if they had resigned themselves to fate.
Just as Hood was about to bind the last man—a relatively fair-skinned, middle-aged, greasy-looking fat man—the man suddenly struggled violently, batting away Hood's hand that was holding the rope.
The greasy fat man sneered and shouted, "Let me go! I'm the uncle of King Sidi of Biting Bay! Let me out, or you can forget about negotiating!"
Seeing this, Lynn raised his eyelids slightly.
That really was unexpected. The one who looked least like a pirate turned out to be a pirate's relative.
Appearances truly are deceiving.
Lynn turned around, clasped his hands behind his back, and left in a cheerful mood. As he walked away, he called out loudly, "Break his leg! The left leg. Throw him into the dungeon and lock him up."
Watching the young lord leave with light, energetic steps, Hood's expression didn't look very good.
He had thought that the reinforcements his lord mentioned were cavalry from White Harbor. Hood himself had only come to the fishing port after leaving White Harbor's guard service, and he wanted to advise Lynn that people from White Harbor weren't trustworthy.
But when the words reached his lips, he didn't know how to say them.
By the time Lynn's figure disappeared at the far end of the wall, Hood sighed and still couldn't bring himself to speak. After all, White Harbor was nominally the superior city to Fishing Port. He didn't know if such blunt advice would displease his lord.
However, when he grabbed that greasy fat man who was trembling like a sieve, Hood fell into new contemplation.
The left leg? Why specify the left leg when breaking it?
Lynn's reinforcements were, of course, not from White Harbor.
He was in an excellent mood right now, because when he announced the capture of that greasy middle-aged fat man, he had successfully completed the mission. The system had promptly rewarded him with a point exchange card.
Returning to the lord's residence, Lynn couldn't wait to open the system and start operating it.
Ding!
[Welcome, Host, to the Troop-Explosion System!]
Ding!
[Congratulations, Host, for drawing 161 points, breaking through the Level 1 system's maximum exchange limit of 160 points! Euhao Achievement unlocked!]
Ding!
[Euhao Achievement completed. Reward: One Valyrian steel short blade!]
Lynn was overjoyed. Not only did he break the upper limit while drawing, he even unlocked the Euhao achievement. That was pretty nice.
But why Euhao, and not Ouhuang?
Before he could think too deeply about it, Lynn was stunned by the system's achievement reward.
Good heavens—a Valyrian steel short blade!
This was truly good stuff.
Valyrian steel was a powerful metal forged during the era of the Valyrian Freehold. When cast into a sword, its blade could remain eternally sharp. It was far stronger than ordinary steel swords, yet much lighter in weight. If described in real-world terms, it was similar to Damascus steel—but as a fantasy material, it possessed traces of magical elements.
Because of this, Valyrian steel was one of the few materials—aside from dragonglass—that could be used to kill the White Walkers. However, this knowledge was not widely known. Only a handful of Valyrian steel swords existed, owned by prominent noble families across the land of Westeros and passed down through generations.
A flash of light.
Lynn suddenly felt a weight settle at his waist. A sheathed short blade had appeared, hanging at his side.
For now, Lynn didn't stop to examine the Valyrian steel blade, because nearly three hundred members of the freshly summoned troops were still waiting to get dressed on the training ground.
Looking at them now—each one wearing only shorts and showing off their muscles—Lynn, whose own build was rather slender, felt a surge of irritation.
In a world full of muscular men, having a thin body could easily give rise to insecurity.
Among the top-tier nobility, the Lannister family had one such example—the dwarf little demon—who suffered greatly because of it.
With 161 points, he could exchange for 161 sets of padded armor.
Lynn didn't hesitate, nor did he drool over mail armor or plate armor. Being very pragmatic, he converted all the points into padded armor and prioritized equipping the infantry.
Not long after—
Witnessing the shock of 161 muscular men putting on armor at the same time on the training ground,
Lynn stood on the central platform, full of high spirits.
A niche novel. If you think it's decent, please help recommend it—my deepest thanks!
(End of Chapter)