The second day of the team martial arts tournament was the highlight of the martial arts tournament: the knightly jousting competition. In the past, this would have been the most anticipated event, but after witnessing such an exciting team martial arts tournament yesterday, the knightly jousting seemed rather dull.
Not to mention ordinary people, even King Robert, who was always keen on martial arts tournaments, did not attend. Of course, King Robert's absence might also be related to the fact that he was beaten black and blue yesterday and still hadn't recovered.
Because of this, although the number of participants in the knightly jousting competition was the highest in history, with over eight hundred knights competing for the final championship, the atmosphere of the entire martial arts arena was very cold and deserted. Most of the spectators were only relatives and companions of the knights.
This atmosphere caused the participants to lose their fighting spirit and even become careless. As a result, various accidents frequently occurred in the martial arts arena, and many originally excellent knights were defeated for various inexplicable reasons.
However, such a bad martial arts tournament actually attracted many spectators who had originally lost interest. These spectators came not to see the exciting duels of each knightly encounter, but to see those high-and-mighty knights fall embarrassingly due to ridiculous mistakes.
Compared to the deserted martial arts arena, the various taverns inside and outside King's Landing were incredibly lively. Those who had wisely withdrawn yesterday and did not participate in the team martial arts tournament celebrated their escape while also discussing yesterday's team martial arts tournament. However, the direction of the discussion shifted from the initial exciting combat scenes in the martial arts arena to a debate about the actual combat power of Bear Hunter Lind.
In yesterday's martial arts tournament, Lind's performance was truly outstanding, far surpassing anyone else in the martial arts arena, and his near-feat of killing a hundred men captivated countless people.
Especially after learning about Lind's background, countless low-level warriors gradually came to regard Lind as an object of worship, much like the admiration some knights of the Seven Kingdoms once held for Arthur Dayne of Dawn, Sword of the Morning.
However, even the greatest people do not lack opponents and detractors, let alone Lind.
Many people who were jealous of Lind gaining such a great reputation, as well as the relatives and friends of those who died at Lind's hands in the martial arts arena, scoffed at Lind's character. In their view, most of the warriors killed by Lind were ambushed and killed from behind while fighting others. Therefore, even if Lind was very strong, he was extremely despicable.
However, Lind's admirers had a different view on this, because in their opinion, yesterday's martial arts arena was like a battlefield, and using all means to kill the enemy was the most important thing. As for being despicable or not, it was not so important, because only those who ultimately survived were qualified to be discussed as despicable or not.
Both sides argued endlessly over this, eventually even coming to blows. Of course, there were also some drunkards who just wanted an excuse to cause trouble.
Because of this, the Gold Cloaks of King's Landing were more than a dozen times busier than usual. From morning to night, they could be seen appearing in teams in taverns big and small throughout King's Landing, arresting those troublemakers and throwing them into the dungeon.
Although the Gold Cloaks complained about this, they were secretly overjoyed, because everyone who was arrested had to pay a fine. Although most of this fine had to be handed over, some of the small change could be kept for themselves, which undoubtedly provided them with an extra income.
As for the residents of King's Landing, they were even happier and had no complaints at all. In their eyes, the chaotic brawls in the taverns were much more interesting than knightly duels. Therefore, around every tavern, many idle commoners of King's Landing could be seen watching the brawls in the taverns with great relish, occasionally shouting out encouraging cheers to add to the excitement.
However, not all taverns were this lively. Some high-end taverns on Silk Street were much quieter.
Although the guests there were also discussing Bear Hunter Lind, most of them did not think Bear Hunter Lind was anything special. Even though his displayed combat power was astonishing, in their eyes, he was just a high-level thug, at most another Mountain.
What they truly envied was House Tyrell, because Lind was a member of House Tyrell. Last night, news came from the Red Keep that King Robert not only did not resent being beaten by Lind but instead greatly admired Lind, believing that he was a true warrior who was not afraid of his status as king and dared to make a move in the martial arts arena. Therefore, he was preparing to give Lind additional rewards beyond the championship prize money.
It was precisely because of this that he loved the house for the sake of the man and had a different view of House Tyrell. It seemed that he no longer cared about House Tyrell's actions in the Usurper's War a year ago, which also meant that trade with The Reach would return to normal. This was the real reason they gathered in these high-end taverns.
In the topmost private room of Todd's Pumpkin, Littlefinger, who had not returned to Gulltown, signed several transactions with a few big merchants from The Reach, and with a smile on his face, carefully put the transaction contracts into a small box beside him.
From the thickness of the contracts in the box, it was clear that these big merchants were not the first transactions he had completed.
Unlike others who were still discussing the resumption of trade activities in The Reach, Littlefinger had already foreseen what would inevitably happen in the future. In his opinion, King Robert's resentment towards House Tyrell had already been worn away during the year of neglecting Duke Tyrell. Reconciling with House Tyrell and completing the subjugation of The Reach was only a matter of time, and the appearance of Bear Hunter Lind just gave King Robert the perfect excuse.
So, while everyone else was still waiting and watching, Littlefinger negotiated more than a dozen large contracts related to The Reach at the lowest prices. As long as trade in The Reach returned to normal, the large contracts in his hands could bring him a massive fortune of more than a hundred thousand gold dragons, which would undoubtedly help him achieve his long-cherished wish of entering the center of power in the Seven Kingdoms more quickly.
"My Lord, the things have been sent over." As Littlefinger was looking through the list for the next merchant he needed to meet, his subordinate entered the room and reported, "He is very satisfied with your Lord's gifts, especially those antiques from the Valyria period."
Littlefinger reached out and touched the Dragon Egg dagger he had kept at his waist, and asked, "Is he only satisfied with those antiques? What about the Dragon Egg?"
The subordinate hesitated for a moment and said, "He said that Dragon Egg is fake, but it is a beautiful work of art, which is also very good."
"Fake?" Littlefinger was stunned, but he didn't say anything. In his opinion, there were countless fakes among things related to dragons and Valyria, so it was normal for his people to buy a fake. The important thing was that his goal had been achieved.
The subordinate continued, "That Lord said that now you just need to achieve some outstanding results in Gulltown, and he is confident that Duke Jon Arryn will transfer you to King's Landing."
Littlefinger's face showed a confident smile upon hearing this. For him, achieving results in Gulltown was a very simple matter, and how to get his achievements to Jon Arryn's ears was the most difficult thing.
The reason he didn't choose to let that woman Lysa Tully speak for him was to avoid arousing suspicion in the naturally suspicious Jon Arryn. Lysa Tully was his most important chess piece, and he would not use her unless absolutely necessary.
Now that he had found the right person to help him spread the word and build momentum, things would naturally fall into place. Perhaps he would be able to live in King's Landing permanently without waiting until next year.
Thinking of this, an irrepressible expression of joy appeared on his face, and he picked up the wine bottle on the table and poured himself a glass of fine wine from Arbor, celebrating his brilliant future in advance.
As he drank the wine in his cup, he suddenly heard the tavern hall downstairs fall silent, followed by a melodious and magnificent chant that reached his ears.
It was the first time he had heard this stirring song, and he couldn't help but ask his subordinate beside him, "What is this song called?"
The subordinate heard him and replied, "It's called hunter of bears song. It's the most popular song in the taverns these two days. Almost every bard is singing this song, but the best ones are still those bards from The Reach."
Littlefinger listened for a moment and asked, "hunter of bears song? Is the person mentioned in the song Bear Hunter Lind?"
"Yes." The subordinate nodded and said, "The song talks about Bear Hunter Lind avenging his father, entering the forest alone to hunt a mountain bear, and then being valued by Joel Kleen of House Crane, who took him to participate in the bandit suppression operation in the Red Lake Forest area of The Reach not long ago. However, this is the old one. Now, bards have already written what happened in the martial arts arena yesterday into the song and compiled it into a new ballad. I believe that ballad should be popular in King's Landing for a long time."
"Bear Hunter Lind?" Littlefinger chewed on Lind's name while listening to the melodious singing from downstairs, a thoughtful expression on his face.
The most frequent name he had heard these two days was Bear Hunter Lind, and his impression of Lind was limited to that of a powerful warrior. Now, hearing the hunter of bears song, he vaguely felt that Lind was somewhat similar to him, which sparked a hint of curiosity about Lind.
At the same time, in House Tyrell's camp, Lind received an invitation. This invitation was for him to attend the banquet held at the Red Keep tonight. House Tyrell also received an invitation, but that invitation was for the entire House Tyrell, while this invitation was only for Lind personally. Clearly, at the moment the invitation was sent, King Robert's admiration for Lind had reached the same level as for House Tyrell.
"No, your movements are too stiff. You look like a moving scarecrow. You should do it like this."
To prevent Lind from embarrassing himself at the banquet, Duke Tyrell specifically sent an etiquette teacher to instruct Lind in some court etiquette.
Originally, the etiquette teacher thought that Lind, being from a humble background, would be difficult to teach, so he only prepared a few basic etiquette rules. However, to his surprise, Lind learned very quickly. Aside from some deficiencies in language, at least in terms of etiquette, he was no worse than an ordinary noble.
In the tent, Garlan and Fotimo, who had come to watch Lind make a fool of himself, were also somewhat surprised by Lind's performance. However, thinking of Lind's past miraculous performances, they felt that Lind's current display of learning ability was nothing to be surprised about.
"Hmm, very good! You've performed these etiquette movements very well. Now I'll teach you how to converse with court nobles." After repeatedly observing Lind perform some extremely standard etiquette movements, the etiquette official nodded with satisfaction and then planned to over-fulfill the task assigned by Duke Tyrell, allowing Lind to learn more noble etiquette.
"Let's forget about those!" Fotimo interrupted the etiquette official's enthusiasm, then looked at Lind and said, "I don't think any of the Lords in the Red Keep would want to use noble accents when talking to him. You also don't need to learn those cumbersome etiquettes. The sword in your hand is your etiquette. Nothing else matters."
Lind deeply agreed with Fotimo's words, so he refused the etiquette official's kind offer.
After the etiquette official left, several tailors came in to measure Lind. Although they couldn't make a finished noble outfit in less than half a day, they could adjust an already finished noble outfit to Lind's size.
After the tailors finished measuring Lind, Fotimo ordered them to leave, and then told Raul to leave and stand guard outside.
When only he, Garlan, and Lind were in the tent, his expression became serious, and he asked Lind, "I heard some rumors in the camp today, saying that you are selling spots in the cavalry team. What's going on? Is it true?"
Garlan also looked at Lind with some seriousness at this time.
Lind nodded and admitted, "Yes, it's true."
Before Fotimo could speak, Garlan asked with great concern, "Why? You shouldn't be short of money, you shouldn't be doing this for just a little..."
"No, Lord Garlan, I am very short of money," Lind interrupted Garlan and said.
Garlan exclaimed in confusion, "Short of money? How is that possible? Your prize money is with me, you can take it at any time. That's a full twenty thousand gold dragons, and I exchanged it according to the full amount of the Rose Trading Company's gold notes, without deducting a single copper coin."
Lind explained, "I want to forge a set of armor and new weapons, and I don't have enough money yet."
"What? Twenty thousand gold dragons is not enough to forge a set of armor and weapons? Are you planning to use gold to forge armor and weapons?" Garlan looked at Lind in shock, but seeing Lind's calm expression, he then speculated in disbelief, "You're not really going to use gold to forge armor and weapons, are you?"
Fotimo, who was beside him, also looked at Lind with confusion.
And Lind nodded and said, "It's not wrong to say that I'm using gold to forge it, because I want to use Valyrian steel to forge my armor and weapons, and its value might even exceed gold. Twenty thousand gold dragons is really not enough."
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