"I must apologize for my skepticism," Garlan Tyrell said, walking up to Lynd and bowing respectfully. "Lord Lynd, your swordsmanship is indeed as exquisite and magnificent as the rumors say. I hope your swordsmanship will be able to play its proper role in House Tyrell in the future."
After speaking, Garlan instructed his attendants to find a room to accommodate Lynd and Joel, and to prepare clothing and other items for Lynd.
Lynd was stunned after hearing Garlan Tyrell's words because he could tell that Garlan was likely preparing to take him as a direct subordinate of House Tyrell.
Joan had recommended him to Fortimo, and by common sense, his identity should have been a member of House Crane, because no matter Joan, or Fortimo, or the Whitegrove he came from, all belonged to House Crane. Although as a hunter he was Free Folk, and not a neighbor of Red Lake City, from all aspects, the moment he became Vortimer Crane's attendant, a Crane clan name was added to his identity prefix.
However, Garlan's words now undoubtedly implied that he intended to take Lynd's ownership from House Crane, making him Lynd of House Tyrell, which was undoubtedly a good thing for Lynd.
Although Vortimer Crane was a famous swordmaster in The Reach, the drillmaster of Highgarden's guards, and House Tyrell's swordsmanship teacher, the branch of House Crane he belonged to was, after all, a loser in the family's internal struggles. Now he had no choice but to reside in Highgarden, owning only a manor granted by House Tyrell and some of House Crane's properties in Highgarden. His status had changed from a lordly family to a court noble of House Tyrell, so the most help Fortimo could offer Lynd was merely knighthood.
House Tyrell, on the other hand, was different. Although they had sided with the wrong party in the The War of the Usurper, they had not caused any substantial harm to House Baratheon, so after Robert Baratheon ascended the Iron Throne, he did not punish them excessively, which can be seen from the fact that House Tyrell was still allowed to serve as Warden of the South.
Furthermore, Robert Baratheon's valiant character also made him extremely respectful of House Tyrell, who had given him a hard time in the war, or more accurately, extremely respectful of Lord Randyll Tarly. Out of love for the house, he naturally would not have any ill thoughts about House Tyrell.
What's more, House Tyrell had been continuously repairing its relationship with the Iron Throne through various methods throughout this year. Although the effect was mediocre, it still achieved some results. From Lord Mace Tyrell's primary attendance at JoffreyBaratheon's birth feast, to the current invitation for Highgarden to send people to participate in the Tournament commemorating the birth of the Baratheon heir, everything showed that the relationship between House Tyrell and the Iron Throne was improving.
Without external pressure, House Tyrell also had the energy to begin clearing out internal forces within The Reach, such as House Fossoway of New Barrel City, House Florent of Brightwater Keep, House Rowan of Goldengrove, and other noble families that had always prided themselves on their ancient lineage. Therefore, House Tyrell was certainly not lacking opportunities to achieve merit.
Although Lynd's mind wandered due to Garlan's single sentence, his facial expression did not reveal any unusual emotions. After sheathing his weapon, he followed behind the attendant, walking with Joel towards their assigned lodging, while kneading the muscles of his arm to relieve the soreness caused by overexertion during the recent fight.
Although the fight just now lasted only a little over a minute, it put a significant strain on Lynd's stamina. His sudden slowdown in movement at the end was precisely a sign of his exhaustion. Although Fortimo said they were evenly matched, he knew very well that he had actually lost.
Lynd had long been aware of his stamina problem, so he began systematically enhancing his physique and training his strength while in Whitegrove. In a short period, the results were indeed remarkable. However, even so, his current stamina was not enough to support him through a high-intensity battle, and stamina training cannot be completed overnight. For a long time to come, this will undoubtedly be his weakness.
Just as Lynd was thinking about how to compensate for this weakness, the group arrived in front of a detached small building in the encampment. The attendant settled Lynd and Joel in two separate rooms on the second floor of the building, then asked if they needed anything before turning and leaving.
A moment later, several maids led the two to the downstairs bathroom to attend to their bathing.
Perhaps because Lynd was in the adjacent tub, Joel felt a bit awkward, or perhaps he was worried about doing something wrong that would affect his image with House Tyrell, so even though he was burning with desire, he did not do anything to those maids when they were attending to him.
As for Lynd, there's even less to say; he didn't let the maids attend to him at all, but bathed himself according to his habits from his previous life.
After bathing, Joel looked at Lynd, who had changed into new clothes, and teased, "You're still a virgin, aren't you? You should try it sometime; in this world, only fine wine and beautiful women are truly real."
"Fine wine and beautiful women?" Lynd gave Joel a roll of his eyes and said, "Like you, who can be easily knocked out by a street thug after two cups of mead, or like just now, having no reaction at all when those women touched you all over?"
"You brat!" Joel couldn't help but curse, saying nothing more. Back in the room, the attendant had already laid out food and wine on the table. House Tyrell's food was naturally exquisite, and the wine was even finer vintage from Arbor. This made Joel unable to resist picking up the wine and dishes and heading to Lynd's room, as eating and drinking are always more enjoyable with company.
"Didn't they prepare wine and food for you?" Joel asked, surprised, upon entering Lynd's room and finding the table empty.
Lynd replied, "You forgot, I don't drink. As for food, I already ate at the tavern, so I don't need anything else."
Joel did not force Lynd to drink. He poured himself a glass from the wine bottle and drank it in one gulp, seemingly preoccupied.
After Joel drank his second glass, Lynd asked, "You didn't come to me just to watch me drink, did you?"
Joel was silent for a moment, then said, out of the blue, "He's truly formidable."
Lynd was stunned at his words. At first, he thought Joel was talking about himself, but he quickly realized he was mistaken; the formidable person Joel spoke of was someone else.
"House Tyrell being able to become Warden of the South is indeed not something an ordinary family can compare to," Joel exclaimed sincerely. "Even a ten-year-old child can subtly employ political maneuvering, which is not seen in other families. There's a reason why House Tyrell has been able to suppress the various noble families of The Reach for so many years."
"Are you worried about the future of House Crane?" Lynd asked.
Joel rolled his eyes at Lynd and said, "What does the future of House Crane have to do with me? That's for the adults of the family to worry about. Besides, even if something happens to the House Crane that currently governs Red Lake, isn't there still a branch that survived? House Crane will not disappear."
"If that's the case, why are you so melancholic?" Lynd asked, looking puzzled.
Joel merely glanced at Lynd, saying nothing. After taking two sips of wine, he seemed a bit tipsy, and his words became more numerous, like an elder reminding Lynd of things to pay attention to after joining House Tyrell, and so on. Then he gestured for Lynd to rest well and got up to return to his own room, where snoring soon emanated.
Joel's actions left Lynd somewhat bewildered. He didn't understand why Joel had suddenly become so sentimental, and his attitude had also changed, completely different from their interactions on the journey from Goldengrove.
Just then, someone at the door suddenly said, "He sees you as his former attendant. Your personalities and ages are very similar, though your swordsmanship has a slight difference. Back then, he also sent his attendant to Lord Barristan, but the attendant made a mistake in front of the Mad King and was tortured to death by the Mad King."
Lynd's expression changed slightly, and he looked up towards the doorway, only to see an ordinary-looking old man dressed in servant's clothes, who had appeared at the door at some unknown time.
From the old man's words just now, it was not difficult to tell that he had been standing at the door for some time and had heard Joel's instructions, yet neither Lynd nor Joel had noticed anyone eavesdropping outside the door, which undoubtedly put Lynd on alert.
Lynd felt that it was understandable for Joel not to have noticed someone outside the door, but his own senses had been extraordinarily enhanced after his rebirth. He could easily hear all sounds within a radius of twenty to thirty meters through his hearing, such as footsteps, speaking voices, and even breathing sounds.
However, even now, even though he saw a person standing at the door, he could not hear the old man's breathing, as if the old man was merely an illusion.
As Lynd wondered about the identity of the old man before him, the old man, hidden in the shadows of the doorway, spoke to Lynd, "You don't need to worry. I am merely a person who has lost his name and identity. I came here only to see an old friend. Originally, I should have left silently, but your swordsmanship piqued my curiosity, which is why I appeared before you."
"Is your friend Joel?" Lynd did not relax his guard just because the other party showed no ill will. His hand remained on the hilt of his sword as he tentatively asked.
"He was just an accident, like you." The old man paid no mind to Lynd's grip on his sword hilt. He merely shook his head slightly after hearing the question, seemingly unwilling to continue the topic, so he gave a brief answer, then asked Lynd, "Is the teacher who taught you swordsmanship a Water Dancer master?"
"No," Lynd shook his head.
"No?" The old man's face showed a puzzled expression as he said, "Although your swordsmanship is vastly different from that of a Water Dancer, your footwork when moving is very similar to a Water Dancer's footwork. It must be an improved version of Water Dancer footwork, specifically designed to complement dual-wielding swordsmanship. There are only a handful of people on the continent of Essos capable of improving Water Dancer footwork, and only one on the continent of Westeros." As he spoke, he looked at Lynd very seriously and asked again, "Are you sure your swordsmanship teacher is truly not a Water Dancer master?"
"I can be absolutely certain that my swordsmanship does not come from a Water Dancer master," Lynd replied with certainty. Then he looked at the old man and said meaningfully, "All men must die, all men must serve. Is that Water Dancer master your target, Ser? A Faceless Men master from Braavos."
The old man listened to Lynd's words and looked at him with great surprise. He neither denied Lynd's guess nor admitted it, but merely said with suspicion, "If I'm not mistaken, Lord Lynd should just be an ordinary hunter, who has never left The Reach, let alone traveled to the continent of Essos. How do you know about the Faceless Men of Braavos?"
Lynd did not answer him, but drew his twin swords and said to the old man, "I very much want to witness the legendary swordsmanship of the Faceless Men. You fight me, and I will tell you where I got this knowledge."
The old man shook his head and said, "If you understand the Faceless Men, you should know that the Faceless Men only kill targets marked by the The Many-Faced God, and you are not."
As he spoke, footsteps and voices came from outside the attic, likely some servants coming to clean the bathroom downstairs.
Seeing that someone was coming, the old man lost interest in conversing with Lynd. After bowing to Lynd, he retreated into the shadows.
Lynd did not stand there watching the old man leave, but pursued him, only to find that the old man had already vanished from the doorway. Yet, with his extraordinary vision, he could still see a figure moving swiftly on a tree not far from the attic, leaping onto the adjacent wall, then climbing over the wall and disappearing from sight.
Seeing that the old man had left, Lynd returned to his room, closed the door, and lay down on the bed. He did not return his twin swords to their scabbards, but placed them within reach, ready to be grabbed at any moment.
Although he hadn't suffered any harm just now, it taught him a great lesson, completely dispelling the slight pride he had developed from fighting Vortimer Crane. At the same time, it made him realize that the world of Ice and Fire still held many mysterious forces and unknown powerful individuals who could pose a threat to him, and a moment of carelessness could lead to an untimely death.
For the rest of the time, Lynd kept himself in a state of semi-sleep, semi-wakefulness, not relaxing his vigilance in the slightest, until dawn.
Upon hearing Joel stirring in the next room, Lynd went directly to Joel and told him what had happened last night.
Joel was stunned at first, but then quickly seemed to realize something, and his face turned very grim. He told Lynd not to worry about the Faceless Men, and said nothing more.
However, before Joel left, he spoke privately with Vortimer Crane for a long time.
Afterwards, the number of guards around Garlan Tyrell doubled, and Fortimo also stayed by Garlan's side at all times, as if to prevent an assassination.