Almost a month had passed since the Dragon Feast Ritual was performed. Lynd had returned to Tengshi Town more than ten days ago from Summerhall, and since then, he either spent his days leisurely fishing on the Mander River or training Brienne and Asha.
He entrusted all matters within his territory to his subordinates. For instance, Jon was dispatched to Miracle Port to serve as the steward, Scarface Mite became the Commander of the Miracle Port garrison, and the former financial officer, Rhys, was transferred to Summerhall as the steward, with Deputy Raoul taking over as the Commander of the Summerhall garrison.
Additionally, Brin-He Wen was also transferred to the Crimson Guard River Valley to oversee the construction of Crimson Guard City and the Crimson Guard River, and to ensure things went smoothly, Lynd also borrowed Scholar Yves from Nameria to assist Brin-He Wen.
Lynd also established an advisory body centered around Moroa, similar to the Small Council but more akin to an ancient cabinet or military affairs office from his previous life. He extensively recruited capable wandering scholars and impoverished nobles to fill its ranks. Aside from political affairs related to other territories and the Iron Throne, all ordinary matters within the territory were also handed over to this small cabinet.
Furthermore, he recruited a group of scholars specializing in law and Assistant Scholars from the Citadel, having them form a circuit court with monks from the Seven Gods Church. They would travel through the towns and villages within the territory, adjudicating various disputes that arose in these places. Only crimes related to serious offenses like murder would be sent to Lynd for his personal judgment.
It's worth noting that most other lords spend the majority of their day sitting in their castle halls, listening to visiting commoners recount trivial disputes and making decisions on these minor conflicts.
Therefore, the circuit court established by Lynd undoubtedly greatly reduced the miscellaneous affairs he needed to handle. Moreover, this method was difficult for other lords to imitate, as no lord would hand over judicial power to the church, let alone to scholars. Judicial power is a lord's most important right and the easiest way to display a lord's authority.
Only someone like Lynd, who could gain higher prestige from other sources and was himself blessed with divine authority, would not care about this judicial power.
However, the vassals in the territory were working so diligently not merely out of duty, but because they wanted to create more opportunities for Lynd and Nameria to be alone.
For the vassals in the territory, an heir was always the top priority, even though Lynd and Nameria were still very young.
Lynd and Nameria had shared a room for two years, and whenever they were together, they almost always shared a room, yet there had been no news, which made the territory's vassals anxious.
Moroa and Qyburn examined the two and concluded that Lynd's body was too strong, or more precisely, his bloodline was too robust, creating an absolute suppression over Nameria, which in turn prevented Nameria from conceiving normally.
Moroa offered only two solutions: one was to bleed Lynd, weakening him to a similar extent as Nameria, and the other was to increase the frequency of their intimacy. With increased frequency, the chances of pregnancy would also increase, and perhaps she would conceive at some point.
Therefore, when Lynd proposed establishing the cabinet, everyone except Moroa expressed their approval. Moroa also emerged from her laboratory to temporarily serve as the cabinet's steward after Lynd promised to find a replacement as soon as possible.
Lynd, having handed over all sorts of matters, remained in Tengshi Town, living a leisurely life.
"You've been too idle lately!" Nameria said, arriving in her boat beside Lynd's small boat, which was anchored in the middle of the river.
During this time, Lynd fishing on the Mander River had become a sight in Tengshi Town, because his boat seemed unaffected by the river's swift currents upstream, always remaining steadily in the middle of the river. This miraculous sight had come to be regarded as one of Lynd's many miracles, and according to outside rumors, after mastering storms and thunder, Lynd had also gained control over rivers.
Lynd smiled and said to Nameria, "Have I? I only appear idle; in reality, this is training."
Just as Lynd said, he was indeed training, and he was training his control over the power of the Dragon Rune.
After the Dragon Feast Ritual a month ago, the physical changes the Dragon Feast Ritual brought to Lynd, besides a further increase in basic qualities like strength and speed, the greatest enhancement was that the Dragon Rune from the Dragon Feast Ritual had integrated into his heart, becoming a part of it. This also brought the extraordinary power of the Dragon Rune to Lynd.
In the past, Lynd needed to draw upon the Dragon Rune from the Dragon Rune necklace or the Lost Knight's Greatsword to utilize the corresponding extraordinary powers, but now he could directly use the power of the Dragon Rune in his heart to produce some extraordinary effects, such as fixing a boat on the water so that it wouldn't drift with the current, which was one such effect.
At the same time, he could also feel a large amount of scorching power gathered within the Dragon Rune. He felt that when he could completely control the power of the Dragon Feast Dragon Rune, he might be able to unleash this scorching power.
By then, he might be able to breathe fire like a dragon. After all, some forbidden prayer spells of the Lost Country Knight included abilities similar to dragon's breath, and not just fire, but also ice, storms, and thunder-like dragon's breath.
Although the Dragon Feast Ritual granted Lynd greater power, it also left him somewhat disappointed that the progress bar of the Golden Finger had not changed due to the Dragon Feast Ritual; it remained the same as before.
However, he was not in a hurry. He still had plenty of time to try and find ways to speed up the progress bar.
"I think your idle days should be over," Nameria said, taking out a letter and handing it to Lynd. "It's from Highgarden."
Lynd was startled, took the letter, opened it, and read it, then asked, "Lord Velas wants me to assist Lord Fotimo and Lord Joel Flower in transporting a group of criminals to the Wall to join the Night's Watch?"
Nameria looked slightly surprised and said, "It seems the impact of that incident is quite significant, to require your escort."
Lynd also nodded with a serious expression, indicating his agreement.
Three months ago, Velas gathered a group of about two hundred death row prisoners, intending to send them to the Wall to join the Night's Watch. This was not the first time Velas had done this, and previous attempts had all gone very smoothly.
Velas had even become the Night's Watch's most valued partner because of this. Commander Cogell of the Night's Watch had even personally written a letter of thanks and sent it to Highgarden.
Along with the letter of thanks came many precious gifts that could never be seen in the South, only north of the Wall, such as complete mammoth skeletons and giant skulls, which caused quite a stir in Highgarden.
Everyone thought this was just an ordinary escort, and no one expected anything to go wrong, but unexpectedly, an accident did occur, though it wasn't with the people from Highgarden, but with the Night's Watch members responsible for the escort mission.
As the party reached the vicinity of Harroway's Town, the Night's Watch suddenly attacked the Highgarden soldiers escorting the convoy.
Because the attack was sudden, friends who were drinking and eating together moments before became mortal enemies with swords drawn the next, and all the unprepared soldiers died in the first wave of the attack.
Afterward, the rebellious Night's Watchmen, leading the death row prisoners, went to Saltpans, where they plundered a good deal of wealth and also stole several boats used for transporting salt. They then traveled by sea, through Crackclaw Point, and disappeared over Across the Narrow Sea. If there were no accidents, they might already be on Across the Narrow Sea.
This incident caused a huge commotion, directly leading to places like the Riverlands and the Vale prohibiting men in black from entering, which made it impossible for the Night's Watch recruiting officers to go south to recruit. Velas could only send the death row prisoners he had prepared for the Wall with his own people.
"Isn't he overreacting by doing this? Isn't it enough to send Lord Fotimo and Lord Joel to escort them?" Nameria asked, somewhat puzzled.
Lynd paused after hearing her, then pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps sending me isn't for escorting death row prisoners to the Night's Watch; it should be for something else."
"Something else?" Nameria took the letter from Lynd's hand, read it, and asked, puzzled, "It doesn't say anything about anything else?"
Just as Nameria's words fell, an eagle's cry was heard from the sky, and then a sea eagle with white feathers and a red crown descended from the sky, landing steadily on the edge of Lynd's boat.
Then, the sea eagle cried twice at Lynd, and then shook the small cloth bag tied to its leg.
"Lord Velas?" Seeing this unusual sea eagle, Lynd immediately recalled the scene of Howland Reed possessing a raven to deliver messages.
The sea eagle's eyes showed surprise, evidently somewhat taken aback that Lynd recognized him. It then cried twice at Lynd and nodded.
Lynd didn't think any further, reaching out to take the cloth bag from the sea eagle's leg.
After the bag was removed, the sea eagle did not linger and quickly flapped its wings and flew away.
"Is Lord Velas a Shapeshifter?" Nameria asked in surprise, having witnessed all of this.
"Perhaps!" Lynd said, though he felt that Velas's abilities should be stronger than a Shapeshifter's, perhaps comparable to a Green Seer.
Lynd took a folded letter from the cloth bag, opened it, and read it carefully, his expression becoming somewhat serious due to the letter's contents.
After Lynd finished reading, Nameria also took it and read it carefully, then couldn't help but complain, "He actually wants you to go to the Eternal Winter Land north of the Wall to find some horn? When he fell off his horse, did he break his brain instead of his leg?"
As Nameria said, the content of Velas's letter was that he hoped Lynd would take this opportunity to escort prisoners to go to the Eternal Winter Land north of the Wall to search for the winter horn buried there, and he even drew a simple map indicating the winter horn's location.
Nameria said somewhat seriously, "You are no longer a knight of House Tyrell; you are a lord of The Reach. You have the right to refuse such an excessive command."
Lynd shook his head and said, "But I myself want to go to the Wall and the Eternal Winter Land to see."
"What's so good about the Wall and the Eternal Winter Land? Besides ice, it's just snow," Nameria asked, looking puzzled.
"There are Others to see," Lynd replied.
"Haha! Others!" Nameria initially thought Lynd was joking, but after only two laughs, she noticed that Lynd's expression was somewhat off, and her smile gradually faded, and she asked with a hint of seriousness, "Are you serious?"
Lynd nodded, then looked at the note in his hand again.
Lynd didn't know much about the winter horn, only that it was buried in a place called the Fist of the First Men, along with some dragonglass arrowheads. He wasn't very clear about its exact location, and it seemed to be damaged.
"Will you be in danger going there?" Nameria asked, somewhat worried, as in all the legends she had heard since childhood, Others were extremely dangerous and terrifying beings.
"You shouldn't ask me that question; you should ask the Others," Lynd said confidently with a laugh. Then, not wanting to dwell on the matter, he changed the subject, saying, "How's Old Man Bain's tavern?"
"It's already built," Nameria said, a trace of worry receding from her face. "However, he asked you not to sit in his tavern anymore. The last time you went, you caused too much of a commotion, which gave him a lot of trouble. Also, don't publicize your relationship."
Ever since Tengshi Town stabilized, Lynd had wanted to bring Old Man Bain from White Village, but Old Man Bain had always refused, saying that he still had many old friends in White Village and was comfortable there.
It wasn't until recently, after Old Man Bain's last old friend died of illness, that Old Man Bain agreed to Lynd's suggestion to move the tavern to Tengshi Town.
However, he did not accept the tavern Lynd had built for him but instead paid for a small tavern himself, built outside the town next to Tengshi Avenue. After the small tavern was built, Lynd only went once and never went again. Those who knew their relationship thought Lynd and Old Man Bain had fallen out.
The last time Lynd went to the small tavern, he felt that although Old Man Bain's feelings for him hadn't changed, due to their differing statuses, there was already some estrangement between them, and even speaking felt awkward. So, he wasn't surprised to hear Old Man Bain's request.
After asking Nameria to secretly look after Old Man Bain in the future, Lynd suddenly felt a slight tug on his fishing line. He immediately reeled it in and saw a three-foot-long fish being dragged from the water, arcing through the air, and landing on Nameria's boat. The end of the fishing line that dragged the large fish, however, had no hook.
Since he had decided to make a trip to the Eternal Winter Land, all matters within the territory needed to be arranged.
Lynd directly used ravens to inform the various stewards and garrison Commanders that he had accepted Velas's commission to escort a group of prisoners to the Wall, but he did not tell them that he would also be going to the Eternal Winter Land on this trip.
Because all affairs had already been categorized and assigned to suitable personnel, there wasn't much Lynd needed to instruct. Finally, he informed everyone that during his time at the Wall, all matters in the territory would be overseen by Nameria.
The vassals in the territory had no objections to Lynd's decision, as this was not the first time. On many previous occasions, Nameria had also taken over the management of territorial affairs in Lynd's stead. In fact, to many, Nameria's and Lynd's territories were one entity, and it didn't matter who managed whose affairs. In the future, when they had children, that child would perhaps be the sole heir to both territories, and the two territories would legally merge into one.
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