Perhaps it was because he had already come to believe in the Seven, so Varys felt nothing unusual when Lord Lynd mentioned divine matters again.
Afterward, the two discussed methods for future meetings and communication, and Varys prepared to leave.
However, when he reached the place he had entered from, he suddenly stopped, his body tensing as if startled by something.
Then, a Shadowcat with white fur and black patterns slowly emerged from the shadows, growling at Varys as it moved, ready to pounce at any moment.
"Honor," Lord Lynd reprimanded the Shadowcat.
The highly aggressive Shadowcat immediately became much tamer, no longer targeting Varys, but it still bared its teeth threateningly as it walked past Varys.
Honor walked directly to Lord Lynd's feet, rubbed its neck against Lord Lynd's calves a few times, then raised its head forcefully, licked Lord Lynd's hand, and then rested its head on Lord Lynd's hand, signaling Lord Lynd to rub its head.
Lord Lynd rubbed Honor's head, making it purr contentedly, and then Lord Lynd, disregarding Varys's presence, proceeded to check Honor's current physical condition.
Perhaps due to absorbing the energy of the resentful spirits in the Dragon Lair, Honor's body had more than doubled in size; when standing upright, it was almost level with his knees, making it impossible to carry it in his cloth pouch anymore.
Its fur had also become very lustrous, the white parts whiter, the black parts blacker, and the patterns had become more angular, especially the patterns on its head which subtly formed an irregular skull shape, making it appear even more sinister.
"That's the Shadowcat you found in the Kingswood, isn't it?" After the danger passed, Varys also breathed a slight sigh of relief and looked at Honor curiously, asking, "Was it really given to you by that female Shadowcat?"
"No," Lord Lynd shook his head and said, "It was given to me by a Children of the Forest."
"Children of the Forest?" Varys was stunned after hearing this, seemingly thinking of something, and said, "I've heard of her. She often appears in the villages around the Kingswood, giving medicine to some sick people. Many people regard her as a deity and offer sacrifices to her."
"A deity?" Lord Lynd also felt a bit surprised, but considering the magical abilities displayed by Spark, the Children of the Forest, it wasn't so unbelievable that the farmers and peasant women around the Kingswood villages regarded her as a deity.
Varys looked at Honor, then at Lord Lynd, and slowly said, "Do you know? In Asshai, an albino Shadowcat is considered an envoy of the Night Lion, and it always accompanies the Human Emperor, the son of the Night Lion and the Daughter of Light." He paused again and added, "By the way, Lord, I don't like magic, nor do I like deities. Please don't talk to me about such things again next time."
After speaking, he didn't wait for Lord Lynd's reaction, but turned and walked into the passage he had come from.
Upon hearing this, Lord Lynd couldn't help but frown, taking Varys's taboo to heart. Then he grabbed Honor by the scruff of its neck, brought it in front of him, meeting its dark, glistening eyes, and muttered, "Human Emperor!"
The Tournament celebrating the birth of the House Baratheon heir concluded successfully, and the ultimate winner was somewhat unexpected.
It was neither Jaime Lannister the Kingslayer nor Barristan the Bold, but a foreign knight from the Free City States Alliance across the Narrow Sea.
This knight's name was difficult to pronounce, with many sounds that could not be read in the common tongue, which forced the translator to simplify his name to two syllables, the first two sounds of his name, Balin.
However, this Knight Balin disappeared after the tournament, and along with him, his prize money of fifty thousand gold dragons also vanished.
Many people believed that this Knight Balin had likely met a grim fate, though no one knew who was lucky enough to ultimately acquire those fifty thousand gold dragons.
After the Tournament ended, warriors, knights, and mercenaries from all over the Seven Kingdoms gradually departed, but their departure did not signify the end of chaos; rather, it was more like the spread of chaos.
This was because only a small fraction of the warriors gathered in King's Landing were hired by passing merchant caravans and could leave with them; the vast majority of others had to leave at their own expense, and during their time in King's Landing, they had indulged in revelry, having long spent their last copper coin, their pockets emptier than their faces.
In this situation, except for a very few knights who valued Honor, the other mercenaries, warriors, and wandering knights all moonlighted as bandits; although they dared not rob within King's Landing and its sphere of influence, once they were far from King's Landing, they became completely unrestrained.
Precisely because of this, nobles from various regions who had come to King's Landing for the Tournament all received distress letters from their respective territories, forcing them to leave King's Landing early and rush back to their lands to suppress the bandits.
House Tyrell also received reports of a large number of bandits in The Reach, but they did not panic; after all, bandits in The Reach had never truly subsided this past year, and now there were just a few more. Moreover, in the view of Lord Tyrell and his people, this was not necessarily a bad thing, because with the appearance of new bandits, there would inevitably be conflicts among them over territory, which would actually bring more stability to various regions.
However, this did not mean they would just let these bandits run rampant; they were now planning to focus on eliminating these bandits, because just yesterday they had finalized several trade agreements with King's Landing, the Westerlands, the Riverlands, the Vale, and the North. These trade agreements could earn the nobles of The Reach a large sum of money and also restore normal trade in The Reach, but this was all predicated on the complete disappearance of the bandits and the remaining Targaryen loyalists in The Reach.
The bandits south of Bitterbridge were relatively easy for them to deal with, as the lords of various territories could cooperate to clear them out, but the bandits in the mountainous and hilly region north of Bitterbridge, extending to the Kingswood, were very difficult to deal with.
This area had numerous caves and dense forests where people could hide; no one knew how many men were hidden in this area, and even if a large army was sent to encircle them, they could hide in the Kingswood and re-emerge after the army left.
Furthermore, there were many Savage Tribes here; an encircling force might end up fighting the Savage Tribes before even engaging the bandits.
At the meeting, Maester Lomys proposed forming three forces; two of these forces, composed mainly of cavalry and numbering around five hundred men, would be formed by House Tyrell and other lords of The Reach. Their task would be to patrol the Rose Road back and forth, establish outposts at key points along the Rose Road, and permanently station soldiers there to ensure the safety of merchant caravans on the Rose Road, as well as provide safe resting places for caravans at night.
The other force would be led by a capable knight, with House Tyrell and the various lords contributing only a portion of the military expenses, and the remaining funds to be raised by the knight himself.
This force would be permanently stationed north of Bitterbridge, specifically tasked with clearing out the bandits until they were completely eliminated.
A noble, after hearing Maester Lomys's proposal, questioned, "Will anyone be willing to take on such a task that requires money, effort, and risking one's life?"
"Of course, someone will be willing, because the knight who completes the eradication mission will be heavily rewarded," Lord Tyrell interjected, taking over from Maester Lomys, "I will offer an estate and a village as a reward, making him a landed knight."
Hearing Lord Tyrell's words, many nobles in the tent realized that the Lord and others had clearly discussed this beforehand, so they all approved of the proposal.
At the same time, when they heard the conditions offered by Lord Tyrell, they couldn't help but take a deep breath, their faces unable to suppress expressions of temptation.
It should be known that, except for a small portion who owned territories, most of the others in the tent were merely court nobles of Highgarden; although they also possessed some power, they were still far inferior to true lords, much like the difference between commoners and knights.
Although an estate and a village were not exceptionally valuable, and might even require significant financial investment to manage after acquisition, it was, after all, a territory, a hereditary territory, the territory they had always dreamed of.
However, after their initial excitement, they quickly calmed down, and no one dared to step forward and voluntarily accept this task, because they all clearly understood how high the danger of this mission was.
These court nobles, more or less, had access to some intelligence; they knew that Bitterbridge had once attempted to send troops to clear out the bandits in that area, dispatching over five hundred men, but only over a hundred escaped back to Bitterbridge. King's Landing and Storm's End had also sent several thousand men, but found no trace of them, only returning after hunting a few wild deer.
If Highgarden could fully support it, sending troops, men, and sufficient military funds, then they might have a chance to clear out some bandits, cooperate with the other two patrolling cavalry forces on the Rose Road, ensure unimpeded trade routes, and then with some further clearing, it might be considered a completed mission.
But now, Lord Lord explicitly stated that he would only provide a portion of the military expenses, and even the manpower had to be raised by themselves, which undoubtedly doubled the difficulty of this mission; if they took it on, they would only be going to their deaths.
His gaze swept over the silent court nobles, and a hint of anger appeared on Lord Tyrell's face. Then he instructed his attendant, "Go and gather all the knights in the camp. I hope someone among them can satisfy me." Saying this, he turned to Vortimer and asked, "What about you, Ser Vortimer? Won't you try? It would be a good opportunity for House Crane to gain more land."
"Lord Lord, not being greedy is a rare virtue of mine," Vortimer smiled. In truth, he also wanted to accept this mission, but he was well aware of how dangerous it was. If he failed, it would undoubtedly be a fatal blow to his branch of House Crane. He could only choose the most stable method to preserve his family's strength, rather than rashly expanding.
Moreover, for him, even if he didn't accept this task, House Crane could still profit, because Lord Lynd was more suitable for this task, and Lynd's relationship with him was sufficient to ensure that after Lord Lynd became a landed knight, House Crane would gain an external ally.
While discussions about bandit suppression were ongoing in the Lord's tent, Lynd, at the other end of the camp, finished drawing the last component diagram of the Banished Knights's full plate armor, rolled it up, placed it inside a hollow wooden tube, and handed it to the little bird sent by Varys outside the tent, instructing it to deliver it to Varys.
Yesterday, during his meeting with Varys, he used various methods to form a partnership with Varys, which was one of his biggest gains from coming to King's Landing.
Because with Varys, he could at least understand the situation in King's Landing, and even more, he could gain insight into the situation of the Seven Kingdoms. Most importantly, Varys could help him obtain the dragon bones beneath the Red Keep at any time, so he wouldn't have to worry about not having enough dragon bones for the Dragon Communion.
Although he had influenced Varys's judgment with some true and false statements, Varys would certainly have doubts about his words once he calmed down, so he still needed to use other methods to solidify and deepen their relationship.
As Lynd pondered how to deepen his relationship with Varys, he felt Honor rubbing against his feet, occasionally looking up and licking his palm.
Lord Lynd stroked Honor's head and led it out of the tent. At this moment, the people outside the tent looked at Lynd with terror, or more precisely, at Honor.
The reason for their terror towards Honor was entirely due to its current extremely bizarre state; the night before last, Honor's size had already more than doubled, and by today, its size had doubled again. Although it was still far from the size of an adult Shadowcat, it was already roughly the size of a small pony.
They had never heard of any beast growing so much in such a short time, so during the day, rumors spread that someone had seen a strange beast with white fur and black stripes near the Dragon Lair the night before last. And since the Dragon Lair had so many people buried there in the past, there must be countless resentful spirits. This, combined with the legends about albino Shadow Lynxes, led many in the camp to speculate that Honor's transformation was due to devouring the resentful spirits in the Dragon Lair, thus making them even more fearful of Honor.
When Lynd heard these rumors from Raul, he couldn't help but admire these people's imagination, that they could discover the truth in such a way.
He did not explain anything for Honor, but let the rumors persist; for him now, adding a bit of mystery was not a bad thing.
What he was most concerned about now was the changes in Honor's current body; he had conducted many tests since returning to the camp the night before last.
During the tests, he found that Honor's strength and speed had significantly improved. Although Honor's size was still somewhat smaller than an adult Shadowcat, it was no longer a problem for it to face an adult warrior like Raul head-on.
In addition, Honor had become much smarter, able to understand some of Lynd's commands, and more obedient. It would not bite people indiscriminately without Lynd's command, but those who approached rashly would still be threatened by it.
The most important change was that Lynd could occasionally give commands to Honor from a distance through a mental connection, and could even possess Honor's body like a Skinchanger, using Honor's eyes to observe the surroundings. The only regret was that this Skinchanger-like state was uncontrollable.
Although he had discovered so many changes in Honor, Lynd still felt that there were undiscovered changes in Honor, so he decided to take Honor to the surrounding woods to continue testing.
Lynd, wait a moment." Just as Lynd was about to leave the camp, a voice suddenly came from behind him. Lynd turned to see that it was Lord Tyrell's attendant.
"Is something the matter?" Lynd asked suspiciously.
The attendant respectfully bowed toLynd and said, "Lord Lord wishes you to go to the main camp."
Lynd nodded, was about to leave, but then stopped and asked, "Is it just me?"
"No, Lord, there are other knights as well, all the knights in the camp," the attendant replied.