By the Seven, what happened here?
However, no one around him answered his question; everyone looked around anxiously, afraid that the seemingly harmless branches would suddenly turn into deadly weapons.
"Go check it out," Roman Webber instructed a soldier.
The assigned soldier was extremely reluctant but still had to step out of the crowd, cautiously approaching the corpse. He quickly examined it and shouted back, "It's a trap, Lord, he must have been killed by some kind of trap."
"Some kind of trap?" Seeing no danger, Roman Webber led his men over, looked at the situation, and said with a puzzled expression, "What kind of trap has such power that it can pierce a person and hang them on a tree?"
This question left the surrounding soldiers speechless for a moment because the traps they had seen, like Roman Webber, were the kind used to hunt rabbits, and this was the first time they had seen a trap with such immense power.
Seeing that he couldn't get an answer, Roman Webber said nothing more. He could feel that these traps were likely set to deal with bandits, which meant that the person who set them was on his side. However, he still dared not let down his guard. His cautious nature led him to order, "Everyone, be careful and continue forward." After speaking, he turned to the soldiers of his own House beside him and said, "What are you standing around for? Get your shields out and block for me."
Hearing the command, the soldiers fumbled to get their shields out, held them to their chests, and surrounded Roman Webber, protecting him.
The other Coldmoat soldiers who had been assigned could only guard the periphery and scout ahead.
As they delved deeper into the Red Lake Forest, they saw more and more corpses. Some, like the previous one, had died in traps, while many others had died from weapon attacks. The veterans in the team could tell that, without exception, all the bandits killed by weapon attacks had died instantly, never knowing where the attack came from until their last breath.
This immediately made everyone's mood tense. Everyone involuntarily imagined an unseen, intangible evil spirit, and they even heard the terrifying stories they had listened to as children echoing in their ears. Their hands, gripping their weapons, trembled slightly from nervousness.
In this terrifying atmosphere, everyone's pace quickened. The Red Lake Forest was not very large, and soon they reached its edge. Those at the very front could already see through the gaps in the trees to the relatively open flat ground outside.
However, just as the soldiers at the front wanted to speed up and leave this dangerous place, a short sword flew out from nowhere, passing directly in front of him and embedding itself in a nearby tree trunk.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The startled soldier immediately stopped, then shouted loudly while quickly retreating to the back of the formation, gripping his spear tightly and yelling, "Someone just attacked me! Someone just attacked me!"
"Shut up, I saw it!" Roman Webber, who was following behind, couldn't stand the soldier's shouting. At the same time, the soldier's panicked shouts caused a commotion in the ranks. He immediately yelled to stop the soldier from shouting further and ordered, "Be careful, be careful! Spears out, shields up! Don't panic, we have more men than them, and our weapons are better than theirs!"
While Roman Webber was shouting loudly, calming the team's emotions, he did not wait for an enemy attack. Instead, a warrior, wielding two swords and dressed in leather armor, emerged from the dense Red Lake Forest not far ahead. He unhurriedly walked to the short sword impaled in the tree, pulled it out, and slid it into the scabbard at his waist.
Then, the man turned and looked at the extremely tense hundred-man company before him, at the spider banner carried on the standard-bearer's shoulder, and addressed Roman Webber, who was dressed completely differently from those around him, saying, "Lord of House Webber, you are late. These men have already been eliminated by me, but I haven't had time to clean up their spoils. If you don't mind, could you help me clean up? After all, there are too many people, and I cannot do it alone. Of course, I won't ask you to help me for nothing; I can share half of the spoils with you."
At this moment, Roman Webber finally got a clear look at the warrior who was loudly asking for his assistance in cleaning up the spoils, and he quickly recognized who he was.
"Bear Hunter, you are Bear Hunter Lynd of Whitegrove!" Roman Webber couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, confirming with Lynd.
Lynd heard him, bowed slightly to Roman Webber, and said, "It is an honor that you have heard of me."
Upon receiving the response, Roman Webber recalled the intelligence he had gathered about Lynd earlier. Joel Flower's private arrangements for Lynd last night, and Lynd's out-of-place appearance in the council hall, had also caught the attention of House Webber. So, after the meeting, they sent someone to inquire about Lynd, and the person responsible for the inquiries happened to be Roman Webber.
It was then that they learned the commoner warrior with two swords in the council hall was actually the Bear Hunter mentioned by the tavern bards.
At the time, House Webber, upon learning Lynd's identity, did not pay much attention to him. After all, in their eyes, Lynd was just a fifteen-year-old child. They merely admired Lynd's heroic feat of avenging his father and hunting a bear alone. As for the details of the bear hunt in the stories, they believed the bards had exaggerated for dramatic effect. In their view, Lynd's eventual success in hunting the mountain bear was probably thanks to the hunters from Whitegrove who supported him, and it was the hunters who rescued Lynd from the mountain bear's attack.
Roman Webber held the same view because he was someone who had truly seen a mountain bear and had witnessed how a frenzied mountain bear could destroy a hunting party of a hundred men. Therefore, he was almost certain that Lynd could not possibly hunt a mountain bear alone.
However, Roman Webber now somewhat believed the stories from the bards. Recalling the bandits who had died miserably in traps earlier, and then thinking of those who had died without knowing where the attack came from, all of this was done by Lynd alone. A warrior of such strength hunting a mountain bear was not impossible.
At the same time, he also thought that Joel Flower had agreed to Lynd's outrageous request, allowing him to guard this area alone, perhaps because he knew Lynd had the ability to guard it by himself.
While confirming the identity of the person before him, Roman Webber motioned for his subordinates to sheath their weapons, then eagerly asked, "Before, two bandit leaders in plate armor led their subordinates to flee here. Where are they now...?"
"They have been taken by the Stranger," Lynd replied calmly, sheathing his sword, and then turned to point outside the Red Lake Forest, saying, "Their bodies are outside; you will need to clean them up, Lord."
Although the corpses seen in this Red Lake Forest had already led Roman Webber to guess that the people who had fled here earlier had also been dealt with by Lynd, receiving the desired answer directly from Lynd truly put his mind at ease.
Subsequently, he ordered his subordinates to help Lynd clean up the spoils and bodies. These would later be counted as military merits. If it were someone else, he might have coveted these merits, but this time he would not. This was not only because of the unknown relationship between Joel Flower and this Bear Hunter, but more so because of the shock and fear the corpses had instilled in him.
Although his numbers now held an absolute advantage, he had a feeling, for some reason, that if he were to fall out with the Bear Hunter, he would end up like the corpses he had seen earlier, forever remaining in this Red Lake Forest.
On the other side, Lynd did not know Roman Webber's thoughts, but he had considered that Roman Webber might try to claim his military achievements. Old Man Bane had spoken of similar situations more than once.
If such a thing really happened, he would have no way to resolve it. Perhaps he could kill Roman Webber and use the terrain here to kill these House Webber soldiers, but doing so would make him unable to stay, let alone in The Reach, even in Westeros. He would ultimately have to flee to Essos, which was absolutely not what he wanted.
However, he quickly realized that even if Roman Webber truly forcibly claimed his military achievements, it didn't matter. He only needed Joel Flower to acknowledge his military achievements, because for him, military achievements were not the most important thing; Joel Flower's recommendation was the most important.
Even if his military achievements were stolen, as long as Joel Flower acknowledged that he had indeed killed so many bandits, his goal would have been achieved.
After realizing this, Lynd's slightly tense emotions relaxed. While the soldiers were moving the bodies, he also went to other parts of the Red Lake Forest and dismantled all the traps that had not been triggered.
Although he did not know the situation on the battlefield, now that Roman Webber had led a hundred-man company here, the task of guarding this area was naturally transferred to Roman Webber. He only needed to cooperate from the side, and thus, those deadly traps were no longer needed.
With over a hundred people working together, the corpses inside the Red Lake Forest were quickly cleared out, and along with the corpses outside the Red Lake Forest, they were all neatly arranged together.
Seeing the dozens of corpses before them, everyone, including Roman Webber, felt an inexplicable shock, and at the same time, looked at Lynd, who was sitting not far away cleaning his weapons, with an extremely respectful gaze.
In the various wars, large and small, throughout the Seven Kingdoms' past, stories of knights fighting alone against a hundred men occasionally occurred, and various knightly legends spread across Westeros. For example, after Arthur Dayne of Dawn, Sword of the Morning and others Encirclement and suppression the Kingswood Brotherhood, there was a rumor that Arthur Dayne, with his Dawn, slaughtered hundreds of Kingswood Brotherhood members.
But those who truly understood the battlefield knew very well that those so-called knightly legends of fighting alone against a hundred men could not withstand scrutiny. Many such achievements were accomplished by knights leading their squires and soldiers, but because the knight's reputation was great enough, all the spoils were attributed to the knight alone.
However, what they saw now was a living example: one person had dealt with dozens of bandits, even if it was accomplished with the aid of hunting traps, it was still remarkable. And it seemed the battle process was very easy, as they saw no injuries on Lynd.
Looking at Lynd, who remained calm even after the great battle, Roman Webber suddenly had a strange feeling that this son of a humble hunter would surely become a great figure in the future.
It was this feeling that made him decide to befriend Lynd, to place an early bet, gambling that Lynd would prosper in the future.
Having made his decision, Roman Webber walked towards Lynd. Upon reaching his side, he pointed at the broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword in Lynd's hand and said, "This is the first time I've seen a sword of this design. May I take a look?"
Lynd did not refuse and handed over the now-cleaned hand-and-a-half sword.
Roman Webber took it, looked at it, and said, "This sword is much wider than a typical bastard sword, which is good for chopping and can even be used to parry attacks. The only drawback is that it's a bit short, requiring close-quarters combat to be effective."
Lynd listened to Roman Webber's analysis and looked at Roman Webber with slight surprise. It wasn't difficult to see the advantages and disadvantages of a broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword, but to be able to analyze it just by casually looking at it showed that Roman Webber must have some insight into weapon forging.
"Did you design this sword, Lord Lynd?" Roman Webber handed the sword back to Lynd and gave him a somewhat noble address.
"Yes, I designed it specifically for my sword fighting style," Lynd did not hide it, nodding to confirm Roman Webber's guess, and at the same time, corrected Roman Webber's address, saying, "Lord Roman Webber, your address for me is incorrect. I am just a commoner, not a noble, so I cannot be addressed as Lord."
Roman Webber smiled and said, "No, no! With the strength you have displayed, Lord Lynd, you will certainly become a noble in the near future. I am just getting used to it in advance."
At this moment, Roman Webber did not seem like a noble; instead, he resembled a merchant, and he made no secret of his intention to befriend Lynd.
Although Lynd did not understand why a landed knight like Roman Webber, who owned his own manor, would actively seek to befriend him, he could feel that Roman Webber had no ill intent. This made him quickly weigh the pros and cons of befriending Roman Webber in his mind.
In the matter of the Red Lake Forest bandits, House Webber, where Roman Webber belonged, had acted somewhat disgracefully, but they had perfectly erased all traces of their misconduct. In the future, they should not be punished by their liege, House Rowan, for this matter, nor would their strength be damaged.
Although House Webber is only a secondary noble House in The Reach, like most noble Houses in The Reach, it has a long history of lineage and has intermarried with many noble Houses in the Seven Kingdoms. For example, House Lannister of the Westron has marital ties; the current Westron Protector, Lord of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, has House Webber blood in him because Tywin's grandmother was from House Webber.
It was precisely because House Webber possessed such deep foundations that even when House Webber made mistakes this time, House Rowan, as their liege, did not directly expose House Webber's errors. Instead, they allowed House Webber to participate in this bandit suppression operation themselves, to erase the traces of their wrongdoings.
So, no matter what Roman Webber's purpose was in actively befriending him, Lynd felt that it was a good thing for him.