The next day, Linde and Nameria, as planned, each led a hundred men to the Free Folk Village closest to Tengshi Town.
However, to their surprise, reclaiming the Free Folk Village was easier than they had anticipated; they barely had to utter a word before the village expressed its willingness to swear allegiance to Nameria and become her subjects.
This was not an isolated incident; over the next three days, the two of them, with their two hundred men, visited seven Free Folk Villages located near the abandoned road. The people in these villages had no resistance to becoming Nameria's subjects again, and all were willing to swear allegiance to Nameria and become subjects of Tengshi Town.
Later, through fragmented words revealed by the people of these villages, Linde and Nameria finally understood why these Free Folk Villages, which had previously been extremely resistant to becoming subjects, had undergone such a significant change in attitude.
Half of the reason for this was due to the bandits Linde had deliberately let escape. As these bandits fled in all directions, they spread the news of how Linde had effortlessly annihilated a bandit alliance of seven or eight hundred people, causing no small stir among the bandit groups north of Bitterbridge.
After all, although there were many bandits here, the largest bandit group was only one or two hundred people, and most were only a few dozen. Now, a bandit alliance of several hundred people was easily annihilated, which made them inevitably recall the scene of the Kingsguard eradicating the Kingswood Brotherhood back then.
Afterward, they learned that the person leading the army to encircle and suppress the bandits this time was Linde, a legendary figure who had almost achieved a hundred kills in the martial arts tournament in King's Landing. They became even more worried, feeling that Linde alone could easily slaughter a hundred people, so with the addition of an army, their numbers would not even be enough to fill Linde's teeth.
Consequently, the bandits entrenched in this area either hid in the mountainous forests to observe the situation before deciding their next move, or they headed north to the Blackwater River to temporarily avoid Linde's Edge, and some even directly crossed the Rose Road to seek a living in the Stormlands on the other side.
These bandits had more or less connections with the villages in this area, and their movements were naturally noticed by the people in the villages. The villagers were also affected, feeling that the noble lords were probably determined to solve the bandit problem this time.
Under the influence of this fear and panic, when the villagers saw Linde and Nameria arrive with fully armed troops, how could they dare to resist? Naturally, whatever demands Nameria made, they agreed to.
As for whether those demands could be fulfilled, they couldn't consider it; they just wanted to get through this difficult period first. Perhaps, in their eyes, even if they couldn't fulfill them, they could always escape into the mountains and become mountain folk.
In addition to the deterrent power generated by Linde's encirclement and suppression of the bandit alliance, the people of these villages were also unable to continue living as they had, which was another important reason why these Free Folk were willing to be ruled by Nameria.
Although these villages cultivated various grains, because they were not subjects and had no lord to protect them, anyone could steal their belongings without being punished by the laws of the Seven Kingdoms. Therefore, fearing that their harvested grain would be easily stolen, they had no inclination to manage their fields, and the grain produced was barely enough to survive.
The main source of income for these villages was actually helping bandit groups fence stolen goods.
Fencing stolen goods was not just about selling the stolen items; sometimes, it also required disguising them, and these villages primarily engaged in this industry, obtaining a portion of the profits from the stolen goods.
However, since the Usurper War began, the trade route of the Rose Road had been in a semi-abandoned state. Even if merchant caravans passed through the Rose Road, the accompanying guards were numerous, and they couldn't plunder much.
No plunder meant no stolen goods, and no stolen goods meant these villages had no extra income.
After a year, the money these villages had accumulated in the past was almost depleted. If they continued like this, they would definitely starve. Now, Nameria's arrival just gave them an opportunity to solve their survival problems.
"If it's all like this, then can't I now reclaim all the villages without losing a single soldier?" Nameria said excitedly after understanding the situation.
"Do you have that much grain?" Linde poured a basin of cold water on Nameria, saying, "Before the autumn harvest, you need to provide grain to feed them. After the autumn harvest, they won't have much grain either, and you'll still need to provide grain to fill the gap. Next spring, you'll also need to provide seeds and pray for good weather, otherwise, you'll still need to continue providing grain to take care of them."
Nameria listened to Linde's words, stunned for a long time, unable to speak.
Linde continued to add, "Of course, you can also completely ignore them and let them fend for themselves. In that case, your bad reputation will spread, and it will be much less likely for you to reclaim these villages so smoothly then."
Nameria's expression also became somewhat grim. She realized the seriousness of the problem and was also glad that Linde had stopped her, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Now, let alone taking care of all the villages, even the few villages that had already sworn allegiance to her were a struggle to manage.
Linde looked at Nameria's gloomy expression and comforted her, "You don't need to worry too much. We can implement work-relief programs to solve their living problems and, incidentally, solve the problem of road repair."
"Work-relief programs?" Nameria looked at Linde in confusion, clearly unaware of such practices in this world.
Linde explained, "We can pay to hire people from these villages to repair the roads. Once the roads are repaired, the docks are restored, and ships are ready, the trade route will begin to operate. When merchant caravans use this road, these villages can serve as inns for them to rest. At that time, they will find ways to earn extra income to support themselves, without needing your care."
Nameria nodded after hearing this, then asked Linde, "Are we still going to those mountain folk villages?"
Linde shook his head and said in a deep voice, "There's no need to go. If those mountain folk villages also surrender directly like these villages, we'll be in real trouble. They say the smallest mountain folk village nearby has over two thousand people."
"Mountain folk won't submit so easily," Nameria laughed. "The ferocity of the mountain folk here is incomparable to the Free Folk in these villages. They are much wilder. Either you beat them so badly they can't lift their heads, or you chop off their heads directly, otherwise, they won't submit."
Linde looked at Nameria and said, "It seems you've dealt with mountain folk before."
Nameria raised the axe in her hand and said, "Half a year ago, an arrogant mountain folk leader came to be my suitor, and I chopped off his head."
Just as Linde was about to ask if the mountain folk's village had sought revenge later, he suddenly felt someone observing him, so he turned his head and looked towards the top of the hill where the observation originated.
Nameria also noticed Linde's movement and glanced at the top of that hill. Although she saw nothing, she still guessed the reason for Linde's actions and immediately raised her great axe, shouting loudly, "Alert!"
Following Nameria's command, the hundred sword-and-shield soldiers from Tengshi Town immediately surged forward, protecting Linde and Nameria in the center, while the guard, upon seeing Linde's gesture, quickly charged up the hill, simultaneously drawing their short bows, ready to attack at any moment.
After a while, the guard quickly escorted two people down from the hill. Although the distance was somewhat far, it was still clear that the two people's attire was not like that of Free Folk or mountain folk, nor were they wildlings.
When the two reached Linde and Nameria, before Linde could speak, they both knelt before them, saying in unison, "Ambassador, Ambassador! We are ambassadors, we are ambassadors!"
Hearing their self-identification, Linde and Nameria looked at each other, then Nameria asked in a deep voice, "Whose ambassadors are you?"
"Our boss's ambassadors," one of them quickly replied.
"Who is your boss?" Nameria asked again.
"Our boss is our boss." Clearly, the person answering was a bit simple-minded.
Just as Nameria was about to ask again with some impatience, Linde stopped her and asked, "What does your boss want you to do?"
"Negotiate, our boss wants to negotiate with Bear Hunter Linde," one of them replied, his gaze flickering between Linde and Nameria, then settling on the noticeably taller and stronger Nameria, he said, "Our boss wants to negotiate with you, Bear Hunter Linde."
Seeing the other party's mistaken judgment, Nameria immediately felt an impulse to cleave him in half with an axe. Then she saw Linde's smiling face, raised an eyebrow, and asked through gritted teeth, "Is this funny, Bear Hunter Linde?"
Linde did not answer the somewhat annoyed Nameria. He looked at the two bandits in front of him and asked, "How does your boss want to negotiate with us?"
The two looked at each other and said, "Four nights from now, in the valley outside Tengshi Town."
"The valley?" Linde and Nameria looked at each other, vaguely guessing where this valley was.
The two bandits, thinking they didn't know which valley they were referring to, then pointed out the valley's location in detail. Just as Linde and Nameria had thought, this valley was the same one where the remaining members of House Targaryen had previously hidden.
"Release them," Linde ordered.
The riders released the two bandits. The two bandits looked at Linde and Nameria, then hunched their bodies, squeezed through the crowd, and ran like they were escaping towards the nearest patch of woods, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Do you believe they are really ambassadors?" Nameria asked doubtfully.
Linde said nonchalantly, "Anyway, there's no loss. They're just two bandits."
"I'll go too that day," Nameria requested.
Linde looked at her, nodded, and did not refuse.
Although eight villages were successfully reclaimed, the matter did not end there. Afterward, Nameria still needed to send people to transport some grain to these villages, and also to assign tasks regarding their employment for road repair and so on.
However, Linde did not intend to personally manage these matters. Two days later, when he was at his camp, he fully entrusted these responsibilities to Bulin and Jon, and Nameria's affairs were also handed over to Scholar Yves.
Since there were no bandit suppression operations for the time being, Linde also handed over the army's daily training to Bulin, Raoul, and Scarface, while he went to the castle ruins at the top of old Tengshi Town to look after Glory, who was currently evolving.
Ten days ago, after Glory consumed food almost equivalent to its size, it fell into a deep sleep. Linde could sense, through his mental connection with Glory, that Glory's body was undergoing some unpredictable changes.
To avoid unnecessary attention, he sent Glory to the castle ruins at the very top of the hill, had people guard the perimeter of the ruins, and waited for Glory to complete its physical transformation and awaken on its own.
However, ten days had passed, and Glory showed no signs of waking up. If Linde hadn't been able to sense Glory's condition through their mental connection, he might have already thought something had happened to Glory.
Just as he returned to the camp, he sensed that Glory's physical changes had stopped, and Glory was gradually awakening. This evolution caused by the wraith energy seemed to have ended.
So he put down what he was doing and specifically came to the castle ruins to wait for Glory to wake up.
After this evolution, Glory's size grew again as Linde had expected. Just lying on the ground, it was already much taller than Linde's waist. If it stood on all fours, it might be as tall as Linde's current height. Such a massive creature could already be considered a giant beast.
Such a huge size reminded Linde of Arya Stark's direwolf Nameria more than a decade later. It seemed that direwolf later became the wolf king and was active in the Riverlands, and its form was also extraordinarily large.
A large form has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is naturally that it can give people an unimaginably shocking feeling. If this shocking feeling were applied on the battlefield, it might have the effect of turning the tide of battle. The disadvantage is that a larger body is also more easily hit by weapons like arrows, and one might accidentally become a living target.
However, Glory seemed not to need to worry about this, because Linde stroked Glory's fur and found that Glory's own black and white fur acted as soft armor, capable of defending against certain weapon attacks, and the hide beneath the fur was even more extremely tough; ordinary swords would probably find it difficult to wound it.
Although Glory's physical mutation had stopped, its awakening was very slow. Linde watched over it for another day and night before it fully awoke.
However, upon waking, it seemed not yet accustomed to its enlarged body. When it saw the much smaller Linde, its eyes were filled with confusion. It took a long time for it to confirm that Linde was its master, and it affectionately rubbed its head against Linde.
However, it clearly underestimated its own strength. When it rubbed against Linde, it didn't hold back, and it knocked Linde away. Afterward, it looked at Linde with a wronged expression, as if complaining that Linde wasn't being affectionate with it.
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