"I heard about what happened yesterday, and you did well; you didn't disgrace House Tyrell." Garlan slightly raised his head, letting a servant adjust his clothes, and at the same time said to Lynd, who was standing nearby, "Bitterbridge is located in the middle section of the Rose Road, guarding the most important bridge. It is a vital area of The Reach, and successive Lord of Highgarden have always highly valued Lord Caswell." Saying this, he turned to look at Lynd and said very seriously, "I need you to go see Lord Caswell later and apologize for yesterday's actions with the utmost sincerity, Bear Hunter, do you understand?"
"As you command, Lord Garlan." Lynd showed no dissatisfaction, maintaining a calm expression throughout, not taking the apology to heart at all.
"Hmm, you may go now." Garlan nodded, then, as if remembering something, added, "Remember to change your clothes before you go."
Lynd nodded and left Garlan's room. However, he did not immediately return to his room to change clothes and go to Bitterbridge Castle to apologize. Instead, as usual, he went to the stables, led out Vortimer's warhorse, brushed it, put on the bridle, and saddled it. Then he went to Vortimer's room to help him organize his armor.
"The arm guard's strap needs to be replaced. Tonight, after we set up camp, take it to the leatherworker to get a new one." When Vortimer tightened the arm guard strap, he saw that it was severely worn and reminded Lynd.
"Yes, Lord." Lynd nodded, simultaneously tightening the strap on Vortimer's back to ensure the plate armor fit snugly against his body.
"Alright, leave the rest to others! What you need to do now is go to the castle and apologize." Vortimer indicated that it was tight enough, then turned to Lynd and said with a serious expression, "You shouldn't have laid hands on Laurent Caswell yesterday. He is destined to be the future Lord of Bitterbridge, and you are just a knight's squire. You are very fortunate to be from House Tyrell, otherwise, given the old man Caswell's character and his Pay attention to for his only heir, he would probably have already sent an army to hunt you down."
Lynd did not respond to Vortimer's words. He simply placed the armor cleaning tools on the table, bowed, and withdrew.
After Lynd left the room, the servant attending Vortimer spoke, "This boy is, after all, from a hunter's background and doesn't know the gravity of things. Thankfully, Lord Garlan intervened, otherwise…"
The servant's words stopped halfway because Vortimer had turned his head and was looking at him with cold eyes.
"He is my knight's squire, and he may become a knight in the future." Vortimer said with a cold face, "You should address him as Lord, or Lord Lynd, not 'this boy'."
"Understood, Lord Vortimer." The servant quickly lowered his head and responded fearfully.
While Vortimer was disciplining the servant, Lynd had already returned to his own room, changed into the formal attire House Tyrell had prepared for him, and then walked directly towards Bitterbridge Castle.
Bitterbridge Castle was built by the river, and by connecting its walls to the bridgehead, it became integrated with the stone arch bridge spanning the river.
Last night, when Maester Holly was teaching the history of Westeros, he specifically talked about the history of Bitterbridge, especially the origin of the name Bitterbridge.
Although the massacre of that year had passed more than two hundred years ago, its impact on this place was still significant. It was said that people living here often heard the screams from the massacre, and some even claimed to see the ghosts of the deceased constantly re-enacting that massacre.
It was precisely because of these ghost legends that the entire Bitterbridge Castle appeared extremely gloomy. The local commoners, fearful at heart, would not choose to build houses near the castle, but rather choose a settlement far from it.
This left a large open space around Bitterbridge Castle, providing an unobstructed view from the city walls.
In Lynd's opinion, those ghost legends might have been intentionally spread by successive Lords of Bitterbridge to ensure that there were no obstructions around Bitterbridge Castle, preventing sneak attacks.
For a military stronghold like Bitterbridge Castle, not only did the local House Caswell attach great importance to it, frequently renovating and reinforcing it, but even the Lord of Highgarden and Warden of the South, House Tyrell, also valued it. They would provide various materials to strengthen the castle whenever House Caswell needed them. After so many years of strengthening and reinforcement, Bitterbridge Castle is more of a pure military fortress than a habitable castle. It is extremely difficult to conquer the castle from the outside; one can only do so from within.
These were all thoughts that came to Lynd's mind after he entered Bitterbridge Castle and observed his surroundings.
And he himself found it a bit amusing. He currently had no soldiers and no foundation, yet he was thinking about conquering a castle. This was not only because of his inherent tendency to overthink but also due to the influence of the Peacekeeper's memories.
Through continuous training with House Tyrell's guards during this time, the Peacekeeper's energy bar had filled up by nearly three-quarters. Lynd felt that the energy bar should be completely full before reaching King's Landing, at which point he might be able to activate another character from For Honor.
The progression of the energy bar not only represented the accumulation of experience points but also the fusion of the character's experience and memories he had gained. As this memory fusion occurred, even though Lynd had noticed it and taken some countermeasures, he was still inevitably affected. For example, now when he saw a castle, he thought about how to conquer it, and when he saw someone with a weapon, he thought about how to quickly deal with them, and so on.
Fortunately, this influence was still within Lynd's acceptable range and could be controlled by him. Otherwise, if the influence continued long-term, Lynd could not be certain that his personality would not be completely twisted.
However, this did make Lynd a little worried about whether the influence would deepen if another For Honor character was activated.
Lost in thought, Lynd arrived in the castle hall. At this moment, Almon Caswell was seated on the chair in the middle of the hall, with some commoners of Bitterbridge below him, seemingly dealing with matters of the territory.
Lord Caswell, with his hair already white, looked somewhat frail, but from his sturdy build, it was not difficult to see that he was definitely a powerful warrior in his youth.
As Lynd entered the hall, a Maester-dressed person standing beside Almon leaned close to his lord's ear and whispered a few words, seemingly introducing Lynd's identity.
"I need to rest for a while. You can come back later to report the remaining matters." Almon raised his hand to interrupt the commoners' report, then motioned for the idle people in the hall to leave, and then waved to Lynd, signaling him to come over.
Lynd walked over, bowed to Almon, and then, following the etiquette Vortimer had taught him during this period, very solemnly and earnestly apologized for his actions of yesterday and hoped to receive Lord Caswell's forgiveness.
"Bear Hunter Lynd, I've heard songs about you, and it's clear you're a lucky fellow to possess such a healthy body, while my child can't even lift a sword," Almon assessed Lynd, a long-accumulated lord's prestige settling upon Lynd, "You are my guest, and as your host, I provide you with food and safe lodging, yet you harmed my child. My initial thought was to seize you and mince you into paste, but you are, after all, Lord Vortimer's squire. Lord Vortimer and I have a good relationship, and harming you would cause a rift between us. However, I cannot simply let you off so easily, as that would only damage my prestige and cause people to lose their reverence for me."
As he spoke, Almon stood up and walked towards a side door of the hall, motioning for Lynd to follow.
The group quickly left the hall, passed through a corridor, and arrived at an open area on one side of the castle.
There, at the hitching post in the open area, two men had their hands tied behind their backs, facing upwards. Because the hitching post was somewhat short, they could only kneel on the ground.
Seeing these two, Lynd frowned slightly, as he recognized one of them as Raleigh, who had asked him for sword-fighting advice last night. Although he was seeing the other white-haired old man for the first time, he could guess from the current situation that he was likely Raleigh's father, Almon's weaponsmith.
Almon Caswell walked to a short distance behind the two men, raised his hand to signal an executioner, took the whip from the executioner's hand, and then handed it to Lynd, saying, "I have inquired about the cause of the incident. If this fellow hadn't sought you out for a sword duel, the incident wouldn't have happened. Therefore, he must be punished, and his father must also be punished for not teaching his child what is proper deference, and I think you, Bear Hunter, are very suitable to be the executioner."
Lynd calmly looked at the whip extended to him and took it.
"Begin! Whip them until I am satisfied." Almon walked to the side, motioned for a servant to kneel and lie prostrate, then sat on the servant's back and said.
Lynd said nothing, walked behind Raleigh and his father, and swung the whip in his hand, striking their backs.
Although this was Lynd's first time using a whip, the Peacekeeper's memories contained skills for using a whip, which he was now putting to good use.
Due to his unfamiliarity, the first dozen or so lashes varied in force, causing some severe injuries to the father and son. However, as he gradually became familiar with the whip's use, the situation changed.
The lashes on the father and son looked severe; each strike left deep marks on their bodies, even tearing the skin and flesh. However, this was only superficial. In reality, they were just easily healed flesh wounds. Moreover, after mastering the whip's technique, he directly knocked the father and son unconscious, allowing them to temporarily not feel the subsequent flogging, and at the same time making them appear very miserable.
"Enough!" Not long after Raleigh and his father were knocked unconscious, Almon spoke, stopping the execution, and said, "If I let you continue whipping them, I'll have to find another weaponsmith."
After speaking, he stood up and left, returning to his council hall.
Lynd returned the whip to the executioner, looked at Raleigh and his father, but did not go to untie them. Instead, he turned and left directly, because he knew very well that if he showed even a little concern, Raleigh and his father's days in Bitterbridge would be even harder.
Although the matter was resolved smoothly, Lynd was in a very bad mood and felt an even more urgent desire to possess noble status. Otherwise, incidents like today would continue to happen, and no matter how superb his swordsmanship, in the eyes of those nobles, he would be nothing more than a powerful thug.
"Is the matter resolved?" When Lynd returned to the encampment, Vortimer called him over and asked.
Lynd nodded and then recounted what had happened.
"Do you feel wronged?" Vortimer asked after hearing it.
"A little," Lynd replied truthfully.
Vortimer nodded, then said earnestly, "You have ambition and capability, and you will achieve great things in the future. But before your wings are fully grown, you had best rein in your ambitions and ideas and not let anyone see them. I do not wish for incidents like today to occur again, do you understand?"
"Understood, Lord," Lynd responded.
"Let today's incident be a lesson. You must clearly remember your current status. Once you forget your status, you will do things inconsistent with it. Some things may not be problematic, but some things can be fatal." Vortimer continued, "If Lord Caswell had intended to blow this out of proportion this time, he could have easily claimed that we violated guest rights, harming the host's descendant after eating the food provided by the host. In that case, even Lord Garlan would be implicated, and as for you, House Tyrell would hand you over without hesitation to appease Lord Caswell's anger."
Lynd said nothing, but his expression had become solemn due to Vortimer's words.
"Although you possess superb swordsmanship and a bright future, that is only the future. For a long time to come, you will only be my squire, and in the eyes of great figures, you are no different from other soldiers. You became my knight's squire from the beginning, and your own abilities have given you some misconceptions. Now I need to correct your misconceptions." Vortimer pointed to the House Tyrell guard's uniform on the table and said, "You don't need to serve me during this time, nor do you need to do the things I've assigned you. You will stay in the scout team as an ordinary soldier. When you earn military merits, then you can return to being my squire."
"Yes, Lord." Lynd did not argue or plead, but calmly responded to Vortimer's command.
Lynd's calm reaction, however, surprised Vortimer. He sized Lynd up, seemingly trying to ascertain whether Lynd truly understood his meaning or was merely sulking. But Lynd's expression remained consistent, giving him no information, so he could only wave Lynd away and secretly observe Lynd for the next few days to see if Lynd had truly recognized his problem.
Regarding Lynd joining the scout team, some of House Tyrell's guards gloated, while others felt regret, but regardless of their differing thoughts, they were all surprised by the matter. As for the scout team, Lynd's addition filled them with immense joy, after all, the inclusion of such a strong individual like Lynd would make their subsequent journey safer.