"Get out! What are you fools trying to do? " Just then, Robert Baratheon's furious roar echoed, and he was seen, bruised and bloody, standing up with Ser Barristan's support, glaring at the Gold Cloaks and saying, "Who told you to break into the martial arts tournament? You fools, do you know what you've done? You've ruined this incredibly glorious tournament! You've shamed me, and all the participants! Now put away your damned weapons!"
All the Gold Cloaks showed fear upon hearing this, putting away their weapons and retreating from Linde's side.
Jaime Lannister also withdrew the longsword he had placed on Linde's neck, then walked back to Queen Cersei's side.
Cersei shrieked in a fit of pique, "Are you mad? He tried to kill you just now!"
"Shut up, woman! This is a matter between warriors, you are not to interfere!" Robert forcefully pushed Ser Barristan away, steadied himself, walked up to Cersei, and said to her with an angry face, "You should go back to your chambers now, and dutifully look after the children. Don't cause me any more trouble." As he spoke, he glared at Jaime Lannister, who was standing nearby, and said, "What are you waiting for, Kingslayer? Take your sister back to the Red Keep now, and don't let her disgrace me here again."
Robert Baratheon's rude outburst towards the siblings in front of so many people inside and outside the martial arts tournament made both their faces extremely awkward, and Duke Tywin's face, watching from the sidelines, also turned incredibly grim. But he did not step in to support his children; instead, he quietly gave a few instructions to the person beside him, who then relayed his words to the siblings.
After Jaime and Cersei heard Duke Tywin's message, they looked at Duke Tywin, then at King Robert, and without a word, they left the martial arts tournament one after the other, accompanied by Red Keep guards and Gold Cloaks.
After the Lannister siblings left, Robert turned to Linde, who was picking up the two hand-and-a-half swords from the ground and sheathing them, and asked in a deep voice, "Warrior of House Tyrell, what is your name?"
"Linde, Bear Hunter Linde!" Before Linde could answer, people from Highgarden around him shouted loudly. At the same time, people from other cities in The Reach who had heard the hunter of bears song also cheered and called out Bear Hunter Linde's name.
"Bear Hunter Linde, it seems you are not an unknown. I remember you, Bear Hunter Linde, the one who defeated the King." Robert nodded, then walked up to Linde, grabbed his arm, raised it high, and shouted loudly, "Cheer for our champion, Linde, the King Slayer!"
"King Slayer, King Slayer!" Cheers rose and fell around the martial arts tournament, gradually spreading throughout King's Landing.
Although Linde won the team martial arts tournament, the nobles of House Tyrell did not seem happy about it. After Linde returned to the camp, he was taken into the tent before he even had time to take off his armor.
From the expressions on everyone's faces inside the tent, Linde could easily guess that they weren't looking for him to celebrate winning the team martial arts tournament; they were there to hold him accountable.
Before Duke Mace Tyrell could speak, a nobleman beside him preemptively questioned, "Do you know what you've done, Linde of White Village?"
This nobleman deliberately mentioned Linde's origin to subtly hint at Linde's low status, but Linde showed no sign of panic or worry. Instead, he said very calmly, "Of course I know what I did. Is the Lord confused? Didn't I just win the team martial arts tournament for House Tyrell in this martial arts tournament? Did the Lord forget what just happened? Has the Lord become so forgetful?"
"Pfft!" Hearing Linde's words, Garlan Tyrell couldn't help but laugh out loud, but immediately realized it was rude, so he suppressed his laughter, keeping his expression tight.
"Damn it, of course I know we won the team martial arts tournament." The nobleman said angrily, "But you dared to lay hands on the King…"
"Wrong! Lord, I think you seem to have misunderstood. I did not lay hands on the King; I merely laid hands on a warrior participating in the team martial arts tournament." Linde directly refuted the nobleman's accusation, then, with a look of indignation, questioned Mace Tyrell, "Duke Tyrell, I remember you were the one who asked me to participate in the team martial arts tournament, and also asked me to try my best to win. Now I have won, earned Glory for House Tyrell, helped House Tyrell gain the respect of all nobles, and also gained the respect of King Robert. Did I do something wrong?"
Upon hearing Linde's questioning, Duke Mace Tyrell was momentarily unable to answer.
Although Linde laid hands on King Robert, almost causing House Tyrell to be implicated, Duke Tyrell could not say that Linde did anything wrong.
Because, just as Linde said, he perfectly executed the task he was given. He should receive praise and rewards, not questioning and blame. If Duke Tyrell said he did something wrong, then who would be willing to serve House Tyrell in the future? It's likely that many of the vassals in the tent would have second thoughts. While they wouldn't become disloyal, they probably wouldn't put their heart and soul into serving House Tyrell in the future.
At this moment, Duke Tyrell also recalled receiving congratulations one after another from other nobles of the Seven Kingdoms on his way back to the camp. Even Stark of the North sent someone to hope that he could send someone to discuss some matters with the leader, Benjen Stark. This was a level of attention he had never experienced in the past year, and it was clear that the change in attitude of these new dynasty nobles towards him came from Linde's victory in the team martial arts tournament.
Therefore, no matter how he looked at it, he felt that Linde should not be questioned or blamed, which also made him confused as to why he would suddenly make the decision to hold Linde accountable, and he also didn't know how to calm the situation down.
Seeing Duke Tyrell in a predicament, Garlan took the initiative to explain for his father, "Bear Hunter, of course you are not wrong. Your performance in this team martial arts tournament was excellent. Actually, the main reason we called you here is to ask what reward you would like. After all, you have established prestige for House Tyrell in the Seven Kingdoms and gained Glory. Such a great contribution certainly deserves a reward." As he spoke, he looked at the nobleman who had jumped out to accuse Linde and said, "Ser Iz, I think you must have misunderstood my father's meaning."
"Yes, yes! Ser Iz must have misunderstood the meaning." Duke Tyrell quickly echoed Garlan's words.
Since the steps were already laid out, Linde naturally wouldn't continue to make a fuss. He respectfully bowed to Duke Tyrell and said, "It is my honor to serve House Tyrell. As for rewards, I dare not speak presumptuously. I believe House Tyrell has its own standards for rewarding meritorious service, and I will completely follow the family's arrangements."
Duke Mace Tyrell said with feigned authority, "Rest assured, House Tyrell will absolutely not be stingy with rewards for those who have contributed. You should go back and rest now! I imagine you must be very tired after such a chaotic battle."
Upon hearing this, Linde bowed and withdrew, preparing to return to his tent.
"Wait!" But as he was about to walk out of the tent, Garlan called out to him. When Linde turned to look at him questioningly, Garlan pointed to the sword at his waist and said, "I think you should return these two swords to me."
Linde smiled, took off the swords, held them in both hands, and handed them back to Garlan, saying, "The final victory in this team martial arts tournament was largely thanks to this pair of swords you lent me, Lord Garlan. I was just thinking of returning them to you after cleaning them…"
Garlan forcefully took the twin swords and handed them to a servant beside him, then shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, no! Cleaning them would diminish the value of this pair of swords. You know, these are the swords that almost completed a hundred-kill feat in the martial arts tournament! After today, this pair of swords will surely become legendary artifacts. I must preserve them well."
Hearing Garlan's words, the people inside the tent couldn't help but laugh, and the previously tense atmosphere immediately eased.
At this point, Fotimo added, "Later, don't clean my armor either. Just take it off and have someone send it directly to me."
"Yes, my Lord." Linde replied with a smile.
After exiting the main tent of the camp, Linde walked towards his own tent. At this time, whether it was the House Tyrell warriors who had walked with him or those who had remained in King's Landing since the Usurper's War, they all stepped forward to salute Linde, and their gazes towards Linde were filled with awe.
After all, Linde's power had been deeply etched into their minds through this martial arts tournament. Even though Linde's current status was only that of a knight's squire, they treated him with the same reverence as if they were meeting important figures.
Linde, citing extreme fatigue and the need for rest, persuaded everyone gathered outside his tent to leave. Then, he had his assistant Raul help him remove all his armor, and, as per Fotimo's request, did not clean it, sending it directly to Fotimo.
When Linde was alone in the tent, he didn't immediately rest. Instead, he released Glory from the iron cage. Although it had only been confined for a short while, Glory had become somewhat agitated. The iron bars of the cage had been gnawed with cracks, and upon release, it even expressed its anger at Linde for caging it, biting Linde's wrist.
However, it didn't bite hard; it was more like holding his wrist in its mouth, using it to express its displeasure.
Linde soothed it for quite some time and fed it some food before Glory was completely calmed down.
At this time, he lay on the simple wooden bed, stroking Glory while allowing his body to fully relax, quickly recovering from his fatigued state.
Although he had seemed to effortlessly kill his enemies in the martial arts tournament before, in reality, his mind and body were performing at their peak.
In the martial arts tournament, he didn't feel it when his mental focus was highly concentrated, but now that he was back at the camp, back in a relatively safe place, he completely relaxed. The mental fatigue and physical damage brought about by his high-speed mental and physical exertion also surfaced, and he could only lie on the bed to slowly recover.
Fortunately, that extreme fatigue and soreness did not last long. Once his body and mind adapted to this adverse reaction, he returned to a normal state, though his movements might be considerably slower than usual.
Although his body had recovered somewhat, he did not get out of bed. His attention was now focused on the energy bar of the Golden Finger in his brain.
Before participating in the team martial arts tournament, Linde had checked the progress of this energy bar. At that time, it was still about a quarter unfilled, but now the energy bar was completely full, which seemed to indicate that Linde could gain new power from the Golden Finger.
However, he quickly fell into confusion, because he found that after the energy bar was full, there was no movement whatsoever. The energy bar remained unchanged, as if it were just a decoration, with no difference between being full and not full. Even concentrating his mind on the energy bar, there was no sign of it being activated.
This made Linde wonder if his Golden Finger could only be used once, which was when the Peace Envoy merged with him.
But he quickly dismissed this speculation. He felt that his Golden Finger shouldn't be that simple.
After a moment of contemplation, he thought of something, and his gaze fell on the box in the tent that contained dragon bones.
He remembered that he had previously accidentally discovered that dragon bones could make the Golden Finger energy bar react, and after that, he had made various attempts to see what kind of changes the dragon bones could cause in the Golden Finger.
But in the end, nothing was found, except that the hot aura flowing into his body from the dragon bones could make the Golden Finger continuously flicker, and there was no other reaction.
Now he thought about it and wondered if the activation condition after the Golden Finger energy bar was full was related to the reactions produced by those dragon bones.
Thinking of this, he endured the soreness in his body, dragged the box full of dragon bones to the bedside, and then instructed his assistant Raul to guard outside the tent and not let anyone disturb his rest. Only then did he open the box and place his hand on the dragon bones.
Just like the tests he had performed before, the dragon bones emitted a hot aura that spread throughout his body, and the energy bar also began to flicker on and off. He once again concentrated his mind on the flickering energy bar, but the result was no different from before; the energy bar remained unchanged.
Discovering that things were not as simple as he had imagined, Linde was somewhat disappointed, but not discouraged. He still believed that the dragon bones should be related to the energy bar's activation, but his method might be wrong.
Just as he was about to temporarily stop the test and remove his hand from the dragon bones, he suddenly noticed that the energy bar had changed subtly without him realizing it.
These changes were not obvious; they were undetectable without intense concentration. At both ends of the energy bar, faint shadows appeared, and as time passed, the shadows gradually became more distinct, eventually forming two human figures.
One of these figures was blurry and seemed to be constantly changing shape, while the other was extremely clear, depicting a person holding two swords.
When the two figures were fully formed, Linde tried to focus his mind on them, and at the same time, some information appeared in his mind.
It turned out that these two figures were two choices the Golden Finger offered him: the blurry figure represented an unknown power, which meant selecting a new hero from other Glory battle souls to grant him new character abilities and mastery of new weapon usage. The other figure, holding two swords, likewise offered to bestow upon him another character skilled in using twin swords, enhancing his ability to wield twin swords and elevating his twin-sword swordsmanship to a higher level.
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