Just like Myr, Lynd also left Pentos by boat after staying for two days.
During these two days, he introduced Scholar Xiu Fu to Illyrio, allowing the two of them to cooperate and handle the affairs of Sphinx Academy.
At the same time, he also secretly met with his subordinates ambushed in Pentos, helping them solve some minor troubles.
However, for the nobles of Pentos and some controllers of underground forces, these two days were not easy, as their people were assassinated one after another, making them extremely nervous and speculating that their opponents had hired Faceless Men to do it.
As a result, an undercurrent began to surge in Pentos, and everyone could feel the atmosphere becoming tense.
Illyrio was one of the informed, and even one of the participants, for example, by providing some lists, which allowed him to make arrangements in advance and get a share in the coming chaos of Pentos.
When Lynd left, Illyrio also tentatively mentioned the Targaryen siblings, and to Lynd's surprise, Illyrio did not bring the Targaryen siblings to his manor, but merely observed them in secret.
At first, Lynd thought that the other party was hesitant because of him, after all, he had sent people to bring the siblings over, and he thought that he might have some arrangements for them.
But he quickly realized that he had guessed wrong; Illyrio did not avoid contact with the siblings because of him, but because he felt that the siblings had not suffered enough, so shortly after they disembarked, he had someone steal their money, returning them to poverty.
The reason he tentatively brought this up was that he was worried his actions would displease Lynd.
Lynd said nothing about it, nor did he intervene to change the siblings' fate; he had already intervened once when he met them on Black Stone Island, giving them something to change their fate. Whether Daenerys would take out and use that necklace was no longer his concern; even if she didn't use it, everything would simply return to the starting point.
The ship Lynd took when he left Pentos was just an ordinary merchant ship. Due to the rampant pirates in the Narrow Sea, ships sailing in this area always formed convoys of seven or eight merchant ships traveling together, and sometimes even more than a dozen ships.
However, even so, they still inevitably encountered pirate attacks. Most attacks occurred late at night, and when pirates attacked, they would not target all ships, but rather focus on a single ship.
The advantage of doing this was to reduce the resistance of other ships, as not every ship owner had a sense of shared destiny, and moreover, the attacked ships were usually relatively isolated within the convoy. Therefore, Lynd speculated that there must be pirate informants within the convoy, marking suitable ships for robbery.
Through conversations with people on board, Lynd learned that not only the Free Trade City States had tried to encircle and suppress these pirates, but even White Harbor and Dragonstone from Westeros had also attempted it, as an increase in pirates would also affect King's Landing and White Harbor.
However, their encirclement efforts were not very effective. These Narrow Sea pirates learned from the failure of the Stepstones pirate alliance and would never directly confront the encircling fleet. As soon as they saw a patrol fleet appear, they would immediately flee.
Because the pirates' ships were fast longboats, their speed was very high, and the armed ships of the patrol fleet simply couldn't catch up. Coupled with the darkness of night, it was difficult to see the situation at sea, and they were often led by pirate ships into unfamiliar reef areas, causing them to run aground and capsize.
Therefore, after losing some ships, Dragonstone and White Harbor both gave up on encircling the pirates and instead switched to patrolling the waters along the Westeros coastline. Although this did not solve the problem of pirates robbing merchant ships, it was better than nothing.
Perhaps it was because Dragonstone and White Harbor had also given up on encircling the pirates that the Free Trade City States wanted the Miracle Fleet to be stationed in various port city-states to be responsible for the safety of the Narrow Sea. Although this would cost some money and involve giving up a little power, for the merchant-dominated Free Trade City States, it was a good deal.
From Pentos to Braavos, the journey was relatively fast as it followed the ocean currents, estimated to take six days of sailing.
The merchant ship Lynd was on belonged to a Tyrosh merchant guild. All the goods transported on board were high-grade pewterware produced in his own territory, of considerable value. To avoid accidents, the ship owner not only joined a temporary convoy but also hired ten mercenaries to protect the ship. Lynd boarded as one of the hired mercenaries.
From the moment they left Pentos, the convoy had been sailing north along the coastline, with the ships always remaining in waters where the coastline was visible, not daring to venture too deep into the Narrow Sea.
Initially, the coastal scenery was very attractive, but as days passed, the monotonous scenery became tiresome, so the mercenaries and sailors on board began to play games, such as bare-handed combat similar to boxing.
However, not everyone was interested in fighting. A mercenary wearing leather armor and carrying a longbow walked up to Lynd and asked, "Li, interested in a contest?"
When Lynd left Pentos, he did not continue to wear Onstein's vest, but left the Lion Knight armor in Pentos. He disguised himself as a mercenary skilled in archery, using his surname from his previous life, which was also the Chinese character on the sword hilt of his family crest.
"How do you want to compete, Anguy?" Lynd looked at the young mercenary with red hair and freckles, and asked in return.
After boarding the ship, Lynd noticed that the ship owner had hired this mercenary, because all the mercenaries, in addition to being equipped with bows and arrows, also carried longswords, while he only had a bow, and his only melee weapon was a small knife used for processing game.
Later, after learning the mercenary's name and background, Lynd gradually confirmed that this mercenary should be Anguy, the divine archer who would win the archery competition at the martial arts tournament in King's Landing a few years later.
However, this divine archer was not most famous for his miraculous archery, but for spending tens of thousands of gold dragons won from the competition in just a few months. It should be noted that the annual land tax revenue of most lords in Westeros might not even reach ten thousand gold dragons in several years.
"Let's use an hourglass. See who can shoot down more sea swallows," Anguy said, looking at the sea swallows on the distant coastal cliffs.
"Alright," Lynd nodded and said, "What's the stake?"
"I want your bow," Anguy said, pointing to the bow hanging from Lynd's waist.
Ever since Lynd boarded the ship, Anguy had been eyeing Lynd's bow, constantly looking for an opportunity to get it. Now that the opportunity had arrived, he naturally wouldn't let it go.
"What about you? My stake is a bow, what's yours?" Lynd smiled, pointing to the longbow on Anguy's back, and said, "You're not going to tell me you're also using your own bow as a stake, are you?"
Anguy, whose intentions were exposed by Lynd, froze for a moment, unsure how to answer, because just as Lynd said, he indeed wanted to use his own bow as a stake, hoping to win big with a small bet.
The onlookers also saw his thoughts from Anguy's expression and booed. Everyone could tell that there was a world of difference in value between Anguy's bow and Lynd's bow.
"What stake do you want?" Anguy was still a bit thin-skinned. Hearing the boos, his face flushed, and he looked at Lynd and asked.
Lynd said in a deep voice, "I'm looking for someone to do things. Your archery is good; you are qualified to work for me. If you lose, you will work for me for one year. After one year, you can decide whether to stay or leave."
Anguy hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, let's make that the stake."
Subsequently, the two found a sailor on the ship to act as the starter, each found a stable position, then took off their bows and nocked their arrows.
The chosen sailor held a small hourglass and stood in front of the two. At the command, he also inverted the hourglass onto a bucket in front of them.
Anguy drew his bow and shot an arrow first. He appeared incredibly confident, and the arrow flew straight towards the sea swallow in the sky.
However, Lynd, a step behind, also shot an arrow. Only, his arrow was twice as fast as Anguy's, directly catching up to Anguy's arrow, cutting it in half, and then continuing to fly, accurately piercing the heads of three sea swallows before falling into the sea.
Although not every mercenary on the ship was a divine archer like Anguy, they were all skilled in archery and had excellent eyesight, so they could clearly see what had happened with the arrows. They all immediately let out exclamations of surprise.
They had never seen such miraculous archery; not only did he come from behind and cut the opponent's arrow in half, but he also continued to hit three sea swallows.
While the mercenaries on the deck were still amazed by Lynd's archery, the lookout standing on the mast also clearly saw the situation and eagerly shouted out what he had just witnessed.
Those sailors who hadn't seen clearly but heard the lookout's shout were all dumbfounded, feeling as if they had heard some mythical tale.
For a moment, everyone's gaze fell upon Lynd, who remained calm and composed. Even Anguy, his opponent, looked at Lynd with astonishment, as if seeing some legendary monster.
As a divine archer, he understood better than anyone else how difficult it was to achieve what had just happened. It not only required extremely good equipment, but also archery skills had to reach a higher level. At least he could be sure that he absolutely could not do such a thing now, even with a better bow.
"Not continuing? You're already behind by three sea swallows; time will run out," Lynd said, ignoring the surrounding gazes and pointing to the hourglass on the bucket, which was already half empty.
Although Anguy knew Lynd's archery was much better than his and that he was destined to lose, he still didn't give up. After regaining his composure, he focused intently on drawing his bow and shooting arrows. Before the hourglass completely ran out, he shot sixteen arrows, each incredibly accurate, but all in vain.
Because, without exception, every arrow was intercepted by Lynd, and each time Lynd's arrow intercepted, it could simultaneously shoot down three sea swallows, and all three sea swallows were also hit in the head.
The sailor chosen as the starter, the moment the hourglass completely ran out, eagerly announced the result, shouting loudly, "The match is over! Li shot seventeen arrows and hit fifty-one targets! Anguy shot seventeen arrows and hit no targets! Li wins!"
Everyone gathered around Lynd, lavishly praising his archery. Even the ship owner was startled, emerging from his cabin. After understanding the situation, he expressed his willingness to hire Lynd long-term at a high price.
At this moment, Anguy on the other side looked somewhat dejected, but there wasn't much frustration on his face; instead, he seemed somewhat relieved. Then, as if venting the gloom in his heart, he casually drew his bow and shot an arrow into the air without even looking.
This arrow, unimpeded by Lynd's arrows, soared straight into the sky, precisely piercing its target, shooting through five sea swallows before falling into the sea.
Lynd, surrounded by the crowd, witnessed this scene. He knew that after this contest with him, Anguy's confidence had not been shattered; instead, due to Lynd's continuous pressure, his slowly developing potential had been suddenly unleashed, greatly improving his archery skills.
Judging from the arrow Anguy just shot, if both of them used the same bow, Lynd, without using some of the Dragon Rune's power, would probably find it very difficult to intercept the opponent's arrow mid-flight as easily as before.
"A bet's a bet. I'm your subordinate now. What should I call you? Boss, or Lord?" Anguy slung his bow behind his back, pushed aside the people in his way, and walked directly up to Lynd, asking.
"Call me Lord!" Lynd said in a deep voice.
"Lord?" Anguy paused, then chuckled, "I guess my luck is pretty good; I even ended up following a noble."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Anguy with a hint of envy. For mercenaries, gaining the appreciation of a noble and becoming a noble's subordinate was definitely the best possible outcome for them.
As for the fact that Lynd was a noble, it didn't cause any stir, because there were many nobles from Westeros traveling in the Free Trade City States, the most famous among them naturally being Prince Oberyn, the Red Viper of Dorne. Lynd was merely one of them.
And they didn't shamelessly flock to Lynd, wanting him to take them in as well, because from the contest between Lynd and Anguy just now, they clearly knew they weren't qualified, so there was no need to humiliate themselves.
After the ship owner learned that Lynd was a noble, his attitude towards Lynd also changed. He no longer mentioned hiring him and even arranged a small room for Lynd in the cabin, so he didn't have to stay on the deck like the other mercenaries, exposed to the sun and rain.
After this small interlude, the ship returned to its peaceful state. Like the previous days, they sailed until evening, then the convoy found a suitable bay to dock, waiting for daybreak to continue their journey.
When it was late at night, a piercing horn blast startled everyone on board. They quickly realized they were under pirate attack and rushed to the deck with their weapons.
Under the moonlight, four or five pirate longboats could be seen in the distance, approaching at an extremely fast speed. They could vaguely make out more than a dozen pirates on each longboat.
All the ship owners immediately ordered their ships to gather together and connected all the ships with prepared planks, preparing to defend against the enemy together.
"Another contest, see who shoots down more pirates?" Lynd stood by the ship's rail, looked at the rapidly approaching pirates in the distance, then turned to Anguy and said.
"Alright!" Anguy nodded, not to be outdone, and quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow, getting a head start, aiming an arrow at the pirate ship.
From the screams that followed, it was not difficult to guess that his arrow had hit its target.
Lynd, seeing this, smiled and drew an arrow, nocking it to his bowstring.
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