When Linde left Fotimo's tent, his head was still spinning, and he even canceled his original decision to test Glory's abilities. After returning to his tent, he lay on the bed, unconsciously stroking the Glory beside the bed with one hand, and resting the other hand behind his head, his mind pondering the things Fotimo had just said.
The reason Fotimo thought that Countess would fancy him was entirely because Countess had once offered a courtship condition: only those who defeated her were qualified to pursue her.
Countess's strength, however, was universally acknowledged as formidable. Since she was sixteen, she had participated in various martial arts tournaments as a mysterious knight more than once and had won many championships. The few instances of her defeat were only when she encountered powerful opponents like Arthur Dayne of Dawn, Sword of the Morning and Barristan the Bold.
When Countess first set the condition, many knights went to challenge her, but without exception, they all ended in failure. Moreover, after these knights failed, Countess would take a piece of their accessory and hang it on the gate of Tengshi Town. Over time, no knight dared to challenge her again.
After all, challenging Countess, even if one won, only gained the qualification to pursue her, and failure meant losing face and greatly diminishing one's reputation. So, those knights, after a little consideration, knew how to choose.
What's more important is that at first, Countess still held back against challengers, but later, perhaps Countess grew annoyed, she no longer held back. Almost every challenger died by her hand. The deterrent force formed by the deaths of over a dozen knights was enough to scare many people.
However, in Fotimo's opinion, although Countess was powerful, she was still far inferior to Linde, so challenging Countess should not be a problem for Linde.
In addition, Fotimo also mentioned that Countess might be connected to the bandits formed by the remnants of the Dragon family entrenched north of Bitterbridge, because Tengshi Town, with fewer than twenty guard soldiers and no city walls, had never been attacked by bandits in the past year. So, if Linde could take down Countess, then completing Duke Tyrell's mission would be much easier.
Although Linde had never considered the idea of a marriage alliance, it must be said that Fotimo's proposal still made his heart pound. After all, if he really followed Fotimo's suggestion, his ultimate gain would not just be a landed knight, but a true lord who governed a territory.
Furthermore, he could use the special geographical location of Tengshi Town to control the vast area north of Bitterbridge, east of the Tengshi Mountains in the Western Regions, west of Kingswood, and south of Blackwater River, becoming a significant great lord.
But all of this was based on him not having a golden finger. Now that he had a golden finger, he didn't need to gain power and status through marriage so early. He was only fifteen years old and had enough time to get what he wanted.
However, this did not mean that he did not value Countess. In fact, he felt that Countess Na Melilia Fudeli was the key to him completing that mission with the least cost.
Just as Linde was thinking about how to make good use of Countess, Garlan lifted the curtain and walked in from outside, and without further ado, asked Linde, "Lord Linde, are you troubled by military expenses and manpower?"
"Yes, Lord Garlan," Linde sat up and admitted.
"My father's reward to you after you won the martial arts tournament has not been given to you yet. Now is the time," Garlan said, handing him a rolled parchment.
Linde unrolled it and saw that in addition to a reward of three thousand gold dragons, the most important content written on the paper was his official appointment as the captain of the cavalry team.
In this appointment letter, Duke Tyrell increased the number of the ten-man cavalry team to one hundred, and the commission for these one hundred men would be fully covered by House Tyrell for the next two years. As for his authority as the captain of the cavalry team, it also increased significantly, such as being able to recruit cavalry nearby, independently decide targets for attack, and so on, practically handing over the right to wage war to him.
However, these so-called rewards were not without restrictions. He had to accept the bandit suppression mission for the area north of Bitterbridge to get these rewards, and all the powers related to the cavalry team captain were limited to the area north of Bitterbridge and south of Blackwater River. Once he left that area, he would only be an ordinary cavalry team captain.
Although there were many restrictions, it must be said that such conditions were already very good for him.
Three thousand gold dragons alone already far exceeded the rewards other lords would give. After all, not every lord could offer tens of thousands of gold dragons as prize money for a champion like King Robert.
Moreover, most lords would not even give any reward to their own family's martial arts tournament champion. In their opinion, you had already gained honor and prize money in the martial arts tournament, so why should you expect more rewards from me? As for the position and power of a cavalry team captain, don't even think about it.
Compared to that, House Tyrell could be said to be extremely generous.
"If I accept this bandit suppression mission, what other support will the family give me?" Since the conversation had reached this point, it would be a bit excessive for Linde to continue to hold back, so he asked.
"Tax exemption," Garlan, clearly prepared, said, "Before you complete the bandit suppression mission, you can supplement military expenses through trade, and during this period, you will have tax exemption. I believe this is enough to fill the military expense gap."
Linde smiled, "If I can never complete the bandit suppression, will I have tax exemption forever?"
"Of course not," Garlan shook his head and said, "If you don't complete the mission within five years, the mission will be automatically canceled, you will be transferred back to Highgarden to join the Duke's Guard, and your authority as cavalry team captain will be revoked."
"Within five years? That's enough," Linde said with extreme confidence, then curiously asked, "Was this bandit suppression mission prepared specifically for me?"
"No, it was prepared for Lord Fotimo, but Lord Fotimo refused, believing you were more suitable," Garlan explained, "Later, we analyzed it and also felt you were more suitable, as there's no shadow of other noble lords behind you..." Perhaps feeling that this was not appropriate to say in front of Linde, he immediately changed the subject, saying, "The summoning of knights just now was merely a formality, so that no one would think House Tyrell is biased after you accept the mission."
Although Garlan had revealed all the hidden conditions, Linde still did not immediately agree, but instead thought calmly.
Garlan did not urge Linde, but stood by, looking at Glory, who was honestly lying beside the bed, wanting to reach out and stroke Glory's fur, yet also feeling a bit worried and scared.
After a while, Linde seemed to have thought it through and said, "Lord Garlan, please help me reply to Duke Tyrell. I accept the bandit suppression mission."
Hearing Linde's words, Garlan's face also broke into a smile, and he did not linger there, turning to leave. However, as he reached the tent entrance, he suddenly turned back and said to Linde, "Lord Fotimo must have mentioned Na Melilia Fudeli to you, right? I think this should be a good opportunity for you."
Upon hearing this, Linde raised an eyebrow, stared at Garlan, and said in a deep voice, "You wouldn't be worried about having to marry Countess, would you...?"
"How could that be?" A hint of embarrassment appeared on Garlan's face, and he quickly denied it, then said with a serious expression, "I just genuinely think you and she are a good match."
After speaking, he didn't give Linde a chance to question him, and lifted the tent flap and ran out.
As Linde agreed to Garlan, the ownership of the bandit suppression mission was no longer in suspense. Many people mocked Linde for being carried away by the title of martial arts tournament champion, waiting to see his twenty thousand gold dragons go to waste.
Duke Tyrell did not announce the rewards and tax exemption that Garlan had presented that day, but instead wrote them as a secret order and gave them to Linde. The only thing announced was the decision to expand the cavalry team to one hundred men.
In fact, the expansion of the cavalry team was already considered public knowledge, just not officially announced, so the nobles and knights in the camp were not surprised, and they also believed that even if the cavalry team was expanded to one hundred men, it would not change the difficulty of the bandit suppression mission.
Because he had already received a hint from Fotimo, Linde had already selected the cavalry personnel for the expansion. Scarface Mite and those who had paid money earlier were all recruited by Linde and formed into a team, led by Scarface Mite.
Although this was very different from the cavalry they wanted to become, they did not dare to question Linde for deceiving them, but instead obediently followed Linde's arrangements.
As for the remaining people, Linde chose all scouts, archers, and hunters who knew how to ride a horse.
Everyone was puzzled by Linde's choice, because in their opinion, Linde should have chosen free riders or mercenary cavalry who were proficient in horsemanship and skilled with various weapons.
They all believed that Linde had made a random choice for the cavalry team because he had not learned relevant military knowledge. Therefore, fewer and fewer people in the camp believed that Linde could complete the bandit suppression mission. Everyone was waiting to see Linde's embarrassed appearance after he failed and fled back to Highgarden in disgrace.
Fotimo also found him that night because of this matter and taught him some military knowledge. Although he studied diligently, he did not use it in the matter of forming the cavalry team, but still formed the cavalry team according to his own method.
On the contrary, Garlan trusted him very much, believing that he must have his own ideas to form the cavalry team in this way, and also persuaded Duke Tyrell not to interfere in this matter, telling Duke Tyrell to wait for the results.
Although the cavalry conditions Linde offered were very low, they were not fully met, still lacking more than twenty people, because not all scouts, archers, and hunters knew how to ride a horse. Most people had never ridden a horse in their lives, and even if they had, they could only make the horse move slowly. Once it galloped, their bodies would sway from side to side, eventually falling off the horse.
For this reason, Linde had to recruit suitable candidates from outside. Duke Tyrell did not say anything about this, seemingly having listened to Garlan's advice.
At this time, there were still many mercenaries and free riders in King's Landing who had not left. After learning that Bear Hunter Linde was recruiting cavalry, they eagerly rushed to House Tyrell's camp, and soon more than a thousand people gathered. Among these more than a thousand people, there were some famous figures, such as Brin-He Wen, the archer champion of this martial arts tournament.
Linde naturally would not refuse an archer of Brin-He Wen's caliber joining the cavalry team, but he was very curious. Brin-He Wen had just won the archery championship and should not be short of money, and he was also good friends with Lord Blackfish of Riverlands. Going to Riverlands should have more prospects, so why would he choose an ordinary cavalry team like his?
Brin-He Wen did not explain in detail, only saying that he had done something dishonorable and had been exiled by Duke Tully. If Linde had not been recruiting cavalry, he might have taken a ship to leave Westeros and settle in a city of the Free City States Alliance across the Narrow Sea.
Although Brin-He Wen did not explain the situation, from the fact that he had to leave Westeros, it was not difficult to see that the dishonorable thing he had committed was probably very serious, and his joining Linde's cavalry team was more about using House Tyrell's name to protect himself.
Although Brin-He Wen joined with a purpose, it didn't matter to Linde. He only needed the person to be useful.
Perhaps because too many people came wanting to join House Tyrell's cavalry team, these people had completely surrounded House Tyrell's camp, causing Duke Tyrell to worry about the situation getting out of control.
So, without informing Linde, he directly announced that the number of the cavalry team would be increased by another hundred. But secretly, he also had Garlan find Linde and tell him that for the additional hundred men, House Tyrell would only provide half of the salary, and the other half would be Linde's responsibility.
Linde naturally would not refuse this. For him now, expanding personnel within the budget was a case of the more the merrier.
Although the cavalry team was expanded to two hundred men, it did not mean that Linde only recruited two hundred people. In fact, Linde also recruited a bankrupt merchant named Mus from across the Narrow Sea to serve as the cavalry team's financial officer, and more than twenty logistics personnel such as stable hands and leatherworkers were also recruited.
He had not yet fully staffed his team until House Tyrell officially set off to return to Highgarden. For this, he could only stop and slowly supplement his staff along the way.
Because everyone did not believe that Linde could complete the bandit suppression mission, even though House Tyrell's knights admired Linde's personal strength, not a single one was willing to voluntarily join his cavalry team.
When Linde left King's Landing with House Tyrell's large contingent, he left Mus, the newly recruited financial officer, in King's Landing to find horse merchants who could provide a large number of warhorses, and to purchase an additional three hundred warhorses.
In addition, Varys also gave Linde a gift before he left King's Landing. This gift was a topographical map of the Tengshi Town area, and the map also marked the hiding places of several large bandit groups and their member numbers, among other information.
The importance of this map to Linde was self-evident. Without this map, he might have needed several months to gather local intelligence, but now these few months were saved, and he could complete the clear-up mission more quickly.
It's unknown if it was Varys's mischievousness, but on this map, he also marked Tengshi Town, and below it was the name Na Melilia Fudeli.
------------------------
If you like this story and want to read more, I have posted chapters on Patreon.
You can check it out here: [patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you for your support.