"Care for a drink, Lord?" In the basement, a small table was set with some wine and food. He picked up a beautiful bottle of wine and asked Lord Lynd.
Lord Lynd shook his head and said, "Lord Varys, you should know that I don't drink."
Varys, in his characteristic effeminate tone, said, "Oh, I forgot! That's good, not drinking is a good habit. Many conspiracies and deaths occur with wine."
"Lord Varys, you didn't call me here just to tell me that drinking is harmful, did you?" Lord Lynd was not used to Varys's way of speaking, so he asked very directly, "What do you want from me? Just tell me clearly."
Varys smiled and said, "I have some little birds that often tell me interesting things. I heard that you want to forge a full suit of Valyrian steel armor and a pair of Knight's Greatswords. Is that true?"
"It's true. The twin swords I'm using now are a bit unsuitable," Lord Lynd patted the broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword at his waist, then asked suspiciously, "Does Lord Varys have news about Valyrian steel to tell me?"
"Yes," Varys gave an answer that surprised Lord Lynd.
Lord Lynd, somewhat incredulous, confirmed, "But enought to forge a full suit of Valyrian steel armor and two Knight's Greatswords?"
Varys smiled and said, "Don't worry, as far as I know, there's a lot of Valyrian steel there, enough to forge a suit of armor and two Knight's Greatswords."
Lord Lynd was silent for a moment, then asked cautiously, "What price do I have to pay?"
Varys whispered, "It's simple. It's just that when I need your help, you can lend a hand."
Hearing Varys's request, Lord Lynd did not immediately agree, because although Varys's request sounded simple, its scope was too broad. If he agreed rashly, he might unknowingly suffer a great loss.
So, after some consideration, Lord Lynd said with a serious expression, "Your request is too vague. I need to know more specific conditions."
Seeing Lord Lynd's caution, Varys was not displeased; instead, he nodded with satisfaction, because in his opinion, such a cautious attitude indicated that Lord Lynd took promises seriously, and the possibility of him breaking a promise would be much smaller.
"Please rest assured, the times I need your help may be very few, or perhaps never appear at all," Varys explained, but then felt the explanation was a bit vague and wouldn't be effective, so he added, "Since you need some specific conditions, then... how about this! Help that does not harm your interests and does not put you in danger. How does that sound?"
Lord Lynd was silent for a moment, looking as if he was considering Varys's words. After a while, he asked with confusion, "Why would Lord Varys help me like this?"
"As I said, you are a very special person," Varys looked at Lord Lynd and said, "When I was on the continent of Essos, I saw many strange people, but compared to you, they all seemed very ordinary."
"Am I really as special as you say?" Lord Lynd asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Very special, more special than you think. In the Seven Kingdoms, no one has ever become a knight from an ordinary person in just half a year. No one has ever achieved a near-hundred-kill feat in a group martial arts competition, and no one has ever dared to beat His Majesty the King black and blue in front of everyone. I wasn't there to watch, but I imagine it must have been spectacular." Varys picked up some food from the table again and asked Lord Lynd, "Want some?"
"Thank you, I'm a bit hungry," Lord Lynd did not stand on ceremony, taking the food and eating it generously.
Seeing that Lord Lynd did not refuse, but generously enjoyed the food, not at all worried about whether there was poison in it, made Varys a little surprised, but he quickly returned to normal.
"Lord Lynd, I investigated your past," Varys paused, perhaps worried that Lord Lynd would misunderstand, then explained, "Of course, this was not my intentional investigation, but a routine procedure. After all, His Majesty the King wants to knight you, and our Lord Hand must understand your background."
Lord Lynd chewed his food unhurriedly and asked, "It seems my background has now passed the inspection of Lord Arryn."
Varys smiled and said, "No, I made Lord Arryn believe that your background had no problems."
Lord Lynd was stunned, turned to look at Varys, and asked, "Lord Varys, what do you mean by that?"
Varys replied, "I have always had a hobby of collecting intelligence on famous people in the Seven Kingdoms, and this past year, this hobby has even turned into work. Our Lord Hand is uneasy about the remnants of the Targaryen, fearing that these remnants will change their appearance and continue to cause trouble, so this past year, every person of some renown in the Seven Kingdoms has been investigated and recorded. And you, Lord Bear Hunter, a legendary figure so famous in The Reach, are naturally on the investigation list."
"What did you find out?" Lord Lynd asked curiously.
"Very interesting things," Varys looked at Lord Lynd meaningfully and said, "Before you hunted that mountain bear, you were just an ordinary hunter. But after being severely wounded and falling unconscious by the dying mountain bear, you seemed to have become another person. Not only did you possess astonishing swordsmanship, but your words and actions also became somewhat different from before."
Lord Lynd looked at Varys with a slight surprise. He was not surprised that some of the suspicious points about him had been discovered. Even with some concealment, it was not enough to hide those suspicious points, as they were too obvious and could not withstand close scrutiny.
But he was not afraid of those suspicious points being exposed. When a person's reputation is great enough, even legendary, those suspicious points about him will naturally be spontaneously embellished by people, becoming part of the legend, and as various legendary stories arise, those suspicious points will also be mixed in, eventually disappearing.
However, what Lord Lynd did not expect was that Varys would pay attention to him so early and discover those major suspicious points about him.
Varys spoke slowly, "Although your father's good friend did some disguise, those disguises were too simple. They might fool knights, but it's hard for them to escape the eyes of someone like me."
Lord Lynd put down the food in his hand, looked at Varys with interest, and retorted, "Why do you think I would have such a change?"
Varys poured himself a glass of wine, cleared his throat, and said, "At first, I thought you might have been replaced by someone, but from the intelligence gathered, that guess should be wrong. After all, if you were replaced, your father's lifelong friend wouldn't possibly not know."
Lord Lynd asked, "Couldn't it be the Faceless Men? I remember the Faceless Men can perfectly imitate anyone."
Varys replied, "I did have that guess too, but after meeting you in person, that guess completely vanished."
"So you talked to me at the banquet just to confirm whether I was a Faceless Man?"
Varys smiled, did not answer, but continued, "I have carefully reviewed all the intelligence collected. I found that Lord Lynd's changes are not only in your words, actions, and superb swordsmanship, but your body has also undergone incredible changes. In just a few months, you've grown much taller and several times stronger. This is clearly against common sense, and I've seen a situation like yours once before."
"You've seen someone in my situation before?" Lord Lynd's face showed confusion and curiosity as he asked, "I'm a bit curious, could you tell me about it?"
"Of course, many people actually know about this person's change, they just didn't find it too unusual," Varys's eyes flashed with a hint of emotion, and he said, "That person was the last monarch of the Targaryen Dynasty, Mad King Aerys Targaryen II."
"It was him?" Lord Lynd was somewhat surprised.
"The Mad King wasn't mad from the start. When I first met him, he was the smartest and most charming person I had ever seen. Even an excellent person like Lord Tywin was convinced by him and willingly served him." When mentioning the Mad King, Varys's tone carried a hint of nostalgia, but he quickly reined it in and said, "However, after the Duskendale incident, he seemed to have become a different person. Not only did his words and actions change, but his body also became... in a short period of time..."
Varys paused, did not continue, but raised his wine glass, took a sip of wine, and slightly composed himself.
"Some people say he was driven mad by Lordd Denys during the half-year he was imprisoned in Duskendale, but I know it's not that simple," Varys now seemed to be unburdening a secret he had kept for years, saying, "I saw the shadow of another person on him, and that person was constantly controlling His Majesty, making His Majesty burn everything with fire."
After hearing Varys's narration, Lord Lynd couldn't help but picture the Mad King being manipulated, and the dark figure manipulating the Mad King in the picture was a Three-Eyed Raven.
Lord Lynd was not surprised by what Varys said, because in the forum posts of his previous life, there were many analyses of the Mad King's madness, and being possessed by the Three-Eyed Raven was the most popular among all posts.
Now, through Varys's description, the inference in that post seemed to be correct.
Lord Lynd's current situation also seemed similar to the Mad King's. Perhaps the difference was that the Mad King had two consciousnesses fighting for control of the body, thus influencing each other and going mad, while he himself was completely integrated into the body. Even if he was influenced by the memories of different warriors bestowed by the golden finger, there was a clear primary and secondary, not as severe and uncontrollable as the Mad King.
"Are you suspecting that I'm also possessed by something?" Thinking of this, Lord Lynd asked tentatively.
"Of course not," Varys perfectly missed the correct answer and continued, "If you were really like the Mad King, then you wouldn't be calmly talking to me right now, but directly drawing your sword and cutting off my head."
Lord Lynd deliberately placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist and said, "Can't I wait a bit longer to cut off your head?"
Varys showed no fear, but calmly looked at Lord Lynd.
"Alright! You guessed right, I really won't harm you," Lord Lynd moved his hand from the sword hilt. Although he said he wouldn't harm Varys, in fact, he had just had the thought of killing Varys. After all, Varys had already touched upon his biggest secret. Although he had already self-denied it, Varys might not stop having doubts if he thought back on it later.
However, given Varys's character, he couldn't possibly meet Lord Lynd without any preparations. Perhaps if he killed him now, the next moment, false intelligence about him being a remnant of the Targaryen would be placed on Lord Arryn's desk.
"Lord Varys, do you believe the Seven exist?" Lord Lynd suddenly asked a strange and inexplicable question.
Varys looked at Lord Lynd in confusion, not understanding why he suddenly asked such an unfounded question, but he still replied, "When I have time, I go to the Great Sept of Baelor to sit."
Lord Lynd understood the meaning in Varys's words and clarified, "So you don't believe the Seven exist."
Varys merely smiled at Lord Lynd, neither denying nor admitting.
"I didn't believe it before, but now I do."
Varys was stunned and asked, "Why do you believe it now?"
Lord Lynd's words were astonishing: "Because I am the best proof of the Seven' existence."
Facing Lord Lynd's words, Varys showed no reaction, only calmly looking at Lord Lynd.
"You don't believe it?" Lord Lynd said.
"Should I believe it?" Varys looked at Lord Lynd with a hint of an unusual gaze and said, "Lord Lynd, do you know who your words just now reminded me of? Prince Rhaegar. Back then, he also confidently claimed that he was born in the land of smoke and salt, and was the reincarnation of Azor Ahai."
"I know you won't believe it, but what I'm saying is the truth," Lord Lynd ignored Varys's mocking gaze and said with a serious expression, "The intelligence you gathered only said that I was severely wounded and fell unconscious after hunting the mountain bear, but in fact, it was not just a simple severe injury and unconsciousness. Actually, after my father rescued me from the mountain, I died that very night."
Varys, hearing Lord Lynd's words, couldn't help but put away his unusual gaze, and the expression on his face became much more serious.
Lord Lynd spoke slowly, as if recalling, "I still remember after I died, I entered a dark world, floating in the air, with no time, and feeling nothing. I don't know how long I stayed there until a beam of light appeared in that pitch-black world. That light took me out of that world, and then..."
"And then what?" Varys seemed to have also become interested in Lord Lynd's words and couldn't help but press him.
Lord Lynd's expression also became somewhat excited, and he said, "Then I returned to this world, but not on the ground, but in the air, very high in the air, in the air where I could overlook the entire world."
As he spoke, Lord Lynd suddenly squatted down and quickly drew a topographic map of Westeros and part of Essos in the dust on the ground with his finger.
Varys looked at the topographic map Lord Lynd drew, and his whole body completely froze, his face filled with shock.