Although in the TV series, Westeros seemed not very large, with cities close to each other and reachable in just a few days, in reality, the distance between cities in the Seven Kingdoms is vast, and travel time can be measured in months or even years.
For example, when Lynd traveled from Goldengrove to New Barrel before, because he went downstream, the speed was very fast, taking only four or five days. However, if he traveled by land, it would probably take more than a month to arrive, and this is assuming good road conditions; if the road conditions were poor, it could even take another month.
After the House Tyrell's party left New Barrel, they traveled northeast along the Rose Road, stopping and resting along the way, and it took them over a month to reach Bitterbridge.
Lord Caswell, who had received the news in advance, waited outside his castle to welcome Garlan Tyrell's party and stated that a banquet had been prepared, requesting Garlan to stay for the banquet and spend the night, departing the next day, to fulfill his duties as a host.
Lord Caswell, only thinking of pleasing House Tyrell, acted extremely humbly, leaving Garlan Tyrell no reason to refuse. Consequently, the party set up camp outside Bitterbridge Castle, and Garlan, along with the knights and nobles in the party, went into the castle to attend the banquet.
Although Lynd was Vortimer Crane's squire, he was not qualified to attend such a noble banquet. He could only stay in the camp with the rest of the party and enjoy the food provided by Lord Caswell.
During this past month, Lynd had not learned any combat-related skills from Vortimer. Vortimer directly told him that he could no longer teach him anything in terms of swordsmanship and combat, and advised him to continue practicing using his previous methods. The only thing he could do was teach Lynd how to be a squire.
Thus, taking care of Vortimer's warhorse, helping Vortimer maintain his armor and weapons, and learning some basic knightly etiquette became his daily routine. For the rest of the time, he followed his past methods to improve his physique and train for group combat.
However, what was truly useful to Lynd had nothing to do with knightly combat: the cultural lessons.
Every evening, Vortimer would have Maester Holly teach Lynd the history of the Seven Kingdoms, the family histories of the great noble houses, and each family's sigils and mottos.
Originally, Lynd's understanding of the Ice and Fire World came from TV series and forum discussions in his previous life, and a portion from an Ice and Fire World setting book (interestingly, Maester Holly said this book truly existed in the Citadel, but only a very small number of Maesters could read it), so he didn't know much about the real Westeros.
Being able to systematically learn this knowledge, while not directly improving his combat power, would play a crucial role in him achieving a higher status in the future.
Maester Holly came from a small vassal house under House Tyrell. He had a high level of accomplishment in history and culture. This time, he was merely accompanying House Tyrell's party to King's Landing, and was not a member of House Tyrell.
Initially, Maester Holly was very resistant and unwilling to teach Lynd, not because he had an issue with Lynd's status, but because he had his own tasks to do, and teaching Lynd knowledge took up too much of his personal time.
However, as time went on, his mindset gradually shifted from passive to active. Sometimes, he would even call Lynd into his carriage on the road to teach him lessons that weren't finished the previous day.
The reason for Maester Holly's significant change was entirely because he experienced the joy of being a teacher for the first time through Lynd.
The noble family Maester Holly belonged to was located at the border between The Reach and Dorne, and frequently clashed with Dornishmen. Therefore, this family was extremely martial, and held other knowledge in low regard. Family members only needed to learn some noble etiquette and a partial history of The Reach's nobility, which meant Maester Holly had no use for his skills in that family.
This time, Maester Holly went to King's Landing despite the hardship primarily because a good friend of his in the Citadel wrote to him, informing him that Grand Maester Pycelle intended to compile and write a history of the Targaryen Dynasty, and hoped the Citadel would send Maesters with bronze links to King's Landing to assist.
Maester Holly was known in the Citadel for his specialization in history, which perfectly matched Grand Maester Pycelle's requirements. His friend, knowing he was unhappy serving that noble family, thus informed him of this matter.
On the day Maester Holly received the letter, he immediately resigned from the noble family he served and set off alone.
Fortunately, he had good luck and encountered several merchant caravans heading to Highgarden, and traveled with them, arriving safely at Highgarden.
Afterward, in Highgarden, he learned that House Tyrell was sending people to King's Landing to participate in a Tournament, so he joined House Tyrell's party.
Therefore, when Vortimer found him and asked him to teach Lynd knowledge, he had no way to refuse.
The sword fight at the New Barrel encampment left a very deep impression on Maester Holly, coupled with Bear Hunter's reputation and Lynd's identity as a hunter, causing him to subconsciously equate Lynd with the noble students he had previously taught.
However, after teaching Lynd for a few days, he discovered that Lynd was completely different from his previous students. Lynd showed extraordinary enthusiasm for all the knowledge he taught. Every day, in addition to the planned lessons, Lynd would even ask him about knowledge outside the curriculum. Later, he even engaged in some academic discussions with him about the content of the lessons, and sometimes Maester Holly could not answer some of the questions Lynd raised during these discussions.
However, what truly astonished Maester Holly was the learning ability Lynd displayed. Almost all the knowledge he taught only needed to be explained once, and Lynd had already fully grasped it. Books only needed to be read once, and he had already completely memorized them, which gave Maester Holly the illusion that a Sphinx resided within Lynd.
"You should go to the Citadel!" This became Maester Holly's daily mantra.
This matter quickly reached Garlan's ears, and after confirming that Lynd indeed possessed extremely high learning ability, he allowed Lynd to borrow the books he carried for travel, though only one at a time.
Lynd's astonishing learning ability once again caused a considerable stir in the party, though this time the commotion was much less than the sensation created when the party members learned he was Bear Hunter Linde upon leaving New Barrel.
On that day, after the sword fight with Vortimer, all the nobles, soldiers, servants, stablemen, and others in the party speculated about Lynd's identity. Although among the various guesses, some people guessed "Bear Hunter" because Lynd used two swords, this guess was the first to be dismissed due to Lynd's age and physique being vastly different from the public's perception of the Bear Hunter.
As a result, the next day, when Garlan very publicly announced that Bear Hunter Linde had joined House Tyrell before the party set off, everyone realized that Lynd was the legendary figure praised in the bards' songs.
After the initial shock, the people in the party accepted Lynd's inclusion and welcomed him greatly. After all, there were various dangers on the way to King's Landing, and having another powerful warrior like Lynd meant an extra layer of safety.
In the more than a month they had spent together since then, Lynd had not encountered any instances of being deliberately difficult or having his abilities questioned. After all, his sword fight with Vortimer that day had already shown the party how strong he was, and discerning people could also see that Garlan Tyrell highly valued Lynd. Therefore, whether nobles, guards, or servants, all showed Lynd sufficient respect, and some even deliberately tried to befriend him.
However, some of these deliberate attempts at friendship were the individuals' own ideas, while others were instructed by someone else. So, during this time, both Vortimer and Garlan secretly observed Lynd's performance to see if he would get lost in these sweet words.
However, Lynd's performance satisfied them greatly. When faced with deliberate attempts at friendship, he acted as naturally and casually as a true noble, not becoming arrogant or conceited because of these flattering words. Instead, he was more like a humble student, learning various knowledge and skills from everyone around him, such as how to feed horses from stablemen, how to maintain armor and weapons from warriors, and what etiquette to observe when facing nobles of different statuses from servants, and so on.
However, what pleased Garlan and Vortimer the most was Lynd's highly disciplined character. Everything he did each day was clearly planned, and his entire life rhythm followed his schedule. This highly disciplined character made them inevitably think of Lord Randyll Tarly.
For ordinary people in the party, Lynd's highly disciplined character was not particularly endearing, but it earned him extra respect. Compared to Lynd's character, his displayed combat prowess attracted them more.
Because Vortimer's training of Lynd was basically hands-off, Lynd could only follow his original plan to conduct targeted training on his physique and combat ability. Physical training could be done alone, but practical combat ability required others' cooperation. Thus, Lynd's daily combat training became a fixed entertainment time for the party, as Lynd's practical combat was not one-on-one, but one-against-many.
From the initial four people, to later five, then six, Lynd had completely adapted to this one-against-many combat style. Later, perhaps feeling that increasing the number of people no longer brought training benefits, he had the sparring soldiers wear armor, hold shields and spears, and form combat formations to fight him. Only then did he feel pressure again, and he even almost got defeated by the sparring soldiers several times.
For the rest of the party, being able to watch exciting battles every day added a touch of interest to the otherwise somewhat monotonous march. They would always gather around the training ground, cheering for Lynd and the sparring soldiers. Some maidservants would even throw wildflowers picked from the roadside at their crushes when the training ended, and Lynd, naturally, received the most flowers.
Through repeated practical combat training, Lynd's formidable combat power subtly influenced these warriors. The respect he received also grew day by day. Even though he was only a squire, his influence in House Tyrell's party was far greater than that of an ordinary knight.
This also caused some knights and nobles to feel a sense of jealousy towards Lynd. These people had tried to speak ill of Lynd to Garlan, but to no avail. And this time, Lynd's absence from the Bitterbridge Castle banquet was more or less related to these people; otherwise, even if a squire's qualifications were somewhat low, he would have been able to take a seat in a corner of the banquet hall.
Lynd did not care about not attending the castle banquet, at least not as much as the jealous knights and nobles thought. After having dinner at the party's camp, he went alone to a flat area in the small town outside the castle for his daily throwing practice.
The Peacekeeper's combat experience included the skill of throwing weapons. This skill could achieve surprising results in one-on-one duels, but it was not suitable for group combat.
However, Lynd, thinking that practice had no downside, would also take time to train this ability.
However, after a period of training, Lynd felt he had underestimated this ability. He discovered that this throwing ability could produce unusual effects in both single combat and battlefield group combat. The only change he needed to make was not to throw his melee weapons, but to throw small weapons and hidden weapons he carried, such as throwing knives, short axes, and short spears.
Unfortunately, among the personnel accompanying the party, there were only leatherworkers, no blacksmiths. Lynd could not forge throwing weapons according to his ideas and could only borrow a few daggers and short axes from the warriors in the party for practice.
Although it was night and there was no firelight around, because there were no clouds in the sky and the moonlight shone down, Lynd could still see his surroundings clearly, which had no impact on his practice. Moreover, he could also take the opportunity to practice night combat.
After repeatedly hitting the marked positions on the trees in front with daggers and short axes, Lynd felt that continuing this practice would not have much effect. He needed to increase the difficulty, such as throwing moving targets.
Just as Lynd was contemplating the next training method, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from not far away.
Ever since he met the Faceless Men, Lynd had consciously trained the sensory abilities of his various organs, instead of passively enjoying the talents produced by the physical changes after his rebirth. Although the training time was short, it had already shown initial results.
Relying on the training during this period, Lynd quickly determined the approximate build of the approaching person by the lightness and frequency of their footsteps. Then, he turned his head to look in the direction of the sound and a satisfied smile appeared on his face when he saw that the height and build of the approaching person matched his estimation.
There were two approaching figures. One was a House Tyrell guard warrior named Raul, who had frequently sparred with Lynd recently and was one of the people Lynd had a good relationship with.
The other person was dressed in a Bitterbridge guard uniform. He was very tall, half a head taller than Lynd, and not much older, probably around Lynd's age. However, his body was very robust, with arm and upper body muscles straining his clothes. Additionally, to make himself look more mature, he had grown some beard, but it was very sparse, looking more like a baby's lanugo.