The feeling of looking at the ruins of Old Tumbleton from a distance and up close was completely different. Only by truly standing before these ruins could one truly understand why the Green and Black factions fought over this place during the Dance of the Dragons.
Lynd's Highgarden warhorse, mounted beneath him, refused to go any further once they reached the town's outskirts. Clearly, its animal instincts sensed that the atmosphere within the ruins was off. Honor, however, became exceptionally excited, jumping back and forth, unwilling to settle down.
Lynd had no choice but to tie his horse to a small tree outside the ruins and walk towards the ruined castle at the top of the hill.
The moment they entered the town, Honor couldn't help but begin devouring the resentful spirit energy freely roaming the area. What it couldn't swallow, it channeled into Lynd's body.
Having experienced it once before, Lynd was able to handle it well, though his face still uncontrollably turned very pale.
Lynd walked quickly, and before long, he had already reached the outside of the castle ruins. At this point, he saw a very faint flicker of firelight inside the castle ruins, which he hadn't noticed earlier because the walls had blocked his view.
"Who's there?" The person who had lit the fire inside the castle had clearly heard Lynd's footsteps and asked.
"A woman?" It was a woman's voice. Lynd couldn't help but be stunned after hearing it. A woman appearing alone in the deserted ruins late at night was clearly unreasonable, so he pulled up the hood of his cloak, covering his face, which had turned pale from the resentful spirit energy, and said, "A traveler who has come to admire the Dance of the Dragons ruins."
Hearing Lynd's self-introduction, the woman in the castle ruins was silent for a moment, then, like a host, said, "Come in! This is just a ruin, nothing worth seeing."
Upon hearing this, Lynd waved his hand at Honor, signaling it to stay outside, and then walked in alone.
The moment he entered the castle ruins, what first caught Lynd's attention was not the ruins themselves, but the woman standing within them.
"So tall! So strong!" The first time Lynd saw the woman, he couldn't help but exclaim in his heart.
It was no exaggeration to say that the woman was at least two meters thirty or forty centimeters tall. Lynd, with his height, would be a head shorter than her. He suspected that there was giant blood in her body, as giants truly existed in the world of Ice and Fire.
Through the faint firelight, Lynd saw the tall woman's face. While not beautiful, it was passable. Beneath her golden hair were a pair of bright, large eyes. Her high-bridged nose was somewhat crooked, appearing to have been injured and not healed properly. She had some small freckles on her face, but they weren't unsightly. Additionally, her facial features were somewhat sharp, giving her a more masculine and heroic look.
For some reason, the first time Lynd saw this woman, he felt that she looked somewhat familiar. After quickly recalling, he realized what caused his sense of familiarity.
The woman in front of him, in both stature and appearance, was very similar to the female Nord warrior who single-handedly defeated a werewolf in the promotional animation of the game Elder Scrolls Online, which he had played in his previous life. The only difference was that this woman was only wearing ordinary peasant clothes, while that female warrior was clad in armor and wielding a great axe.
However, even without armor or a weapon, this woman still possessed an extremely strong deterrent. No wonder she dared to come to these supposedly haunted ruins alone at night, completely unafraid of a strange man's arrival.
While Lynd was observing the woman, she was also sizing Lynd up and down, and in the woman's eyes, Lynd was also very strange.
His strangeness was not because he deliberately wore a cloak hood in such a dark environment, nor was it that his exquisite leather armor and war boots were completely unlike a traveler's attire. What truly made the woman feel strange was that Lynd was equipped with four swords. In addition to the two swords at his waist, he also carried two swords on his back.
The woman was also proficient in various weapons. She easily discerned from the hilt and other details that the two swords on his back were hand-and-a-half swords. What truly caught her attention were the two Knight's Greatswords at his waist.
While she could wield both of those Knight's Greatswords with her strength, she could certainly not do so with ease.
However, this stranger, who claimed to be a traveler, seemed to follow a dual-wielding path, as it was not difficult to tell from the position of the two Knight's Greatswords at his waist that he used two swords. She truly could not imagine what it would be like to fight with a Knight's Greatsword in each hand.
"Crazy!" This was the first assessment the woman had of Lynd in such attire.
"Or a fool!" The second assessment followed closely.
"You are not a traveler." The woman spoke very directly, picking up the woodcutting axe she had placed aside, and looked at Lynd, saying.
"You are not a farmer either." Lynd had already vaguely guessed who this woman was, so he bowed slightly to her and said, "Lady Nymeria Footly."
The woman was not surprised that Lynd recognized her. After all, her stature and physique were so prominent that it would be difficult for anyone who had heard of her reputation to mistake her.
"Who are you?" Nymeria asked in a deep voice.
Lynd did not hide his identity and said, "Lynd of Whitegrove, but now I have a name, Lynd Terra."
"Lynd of Whitegrove?" Nymeria was stunned, as if she had thought of something, and said, "Bear Hunter Lynd?"
Clearly, the Bear Hunter Song must have already spread here.
"That is I," Lynd bowed slightly, admitting.
Nymeria tightened her grip on the axe handle again and said in a deep voice, "Are you here to kill me?"
Lynd was stunned, very surprised by this question, and retorted, "Why would you think I am here to kill you?"
Nymeria seemed to sense that Lynd had no ill intent, relaxed a little, and said with a hint of teasing in her tone, "Perhaps it's because I am the bastard daughter of Prince Lewyn, a martyr of the Targaryen Dynasty, or perhaps it's because I occupy a good place that makes people envious."
Lynd smiled and said, "The bastard daughter of Prince Lewyn is just a rumor, and even if you are Prince Lewyn's bastard daughter, King Robert would not take his anger out on you for a dead person. You should know that he can even tolerate Barristan the Bold, so how could he not tolerate you? As for occupying a good place and making people envious, that is possible."
"You seem to know something?" Nymeria was very clever and heard some hidden information in Lynd's words.
"A little," Lynd admitted.
Nymeria looked at Lynd and said in a deep voice, "I've heard your Bear Hunter Song. You're not quite like what the song describes."
"People change," Lynd explained. "I think the Bear Hunter Song you heard, my lady, should be the old version. A lot has happened since the events described in that song, for example, I am now a Knight."
"A Knight?" Nymeria also showed surprise on her face. Although she was destined to be an Earl from birth, she was also very aware of how difficult it was for an ordinary person to become a Knight, so she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Can you tell me about it?"
"Of course," Lynd didn't intend to stand while talking. Instead, he found a suitable large stone to sit on, and then, with some omissions, told Nymeria about how he became Vortimer Crane's Knight's squire at Joel Flower's recommendation, and then went with the House Tyrell contingent to King's Landing to participate in the Tournament, and some things that happened during the Tournament.
"You beat up the King, and then the King knighted you and invited you to join the Kingsguard?" Nymeria's face was filled with disbelief when she heard that King Robert had knighted him.
Lynd smiled and said, "Our King Robert is not a qualified King, nor is he a qualified noble, but he is a good warrior."
Nymeria didn't seem to agree with Lynd's words, but she didn't refute them. She then asked Lynd, "So what are you doing in my backwater now? Don't tell me you're really here to see these ruins."
Lynd did not hide it and frankly admitted, "I came here this time mainly on Lord Tyrell's orders to clear out the bandits in this area, and Tumbleton's location is very suitable as a central stronghold."
"Bandit suppression? Did you bring an army?" Nymeria hesitated for a moment and asked.
Lynd honestly said, "My cavalry unit is currently stationed in the dense forest not far from here. There are two hundred official combat personnel, all cavalry, and dozens more in the logistics team."
"You want your people to be stationed here with me?" Nymeria frowned, confirming.
"That is indeed the idea, of course, that still depends on whether you are willing," Lynd said, seeing Nymeria's thoughtful expression, adding, "However, before that, I think there are other things to do."
"What do you mean by that?" Nymeria clearly misunderstood Lynd's words and tightened her grip on the axe again.
Lynd calmly said, "On the way here, I wiped out a group of bandits called the Bloodshoe Brotherhood. I think you should know their origin, Countess?"
Nymeria was stunned and said, "The Bloodshoe Brotherhood? Aren't they the bandit group from the Golden Road?"
Lynd nodded and said, "Yes, but Lord Tywin recently sent troops to clear them out, and their remnants fled to the area east of the Mander River, which is within your territory."
"In that case, I should thank you," Nymeria raised an eyebrow and said.
Although the actual territory controlled by Nymeria was only the small village of Tumbleton, the land she nominally controlled was very large. Large areas of land on both sides of the Mander River, extending to the Rose Road and the Golden Road, were nominally House Footly lands.
However, these lands had begun to break away from the House Footly's control since the Dance of the Dragons, so much so that Nymeria now completely disregarded these lands as her own territory and felt no particular gratitude towards Lynd for clearing out the bandits entrenched there.
"No, that's not the point," Lynd emphasized, saying, "Later, I obtained some more intelligence. The intelligence mentioned that more than a dozen bandit groups are currently forming a bandit alliance under the organization of a bandit group called the Poison Scorpion Society, and their target is to plunder Tumbleton."
Nymeria said with a surprised look, "Plunder Tumbleton? Are they all crazy? Are they coming here to steal stones?"
While surprised, Nymeria also felt a hint of doubt. The bandits in this area knew very well how poor Tumbleton was, so they would generally not waste manpower and resources to steal things here. The Poison Scorpion Society was also a bandit group entrenched in this land, so they should logically know the actual situation of Tumbleton and should not have made such a decision.
Lynd continued, "The dozen or so bandit groups gathered by the Poison Scorpion Society are all bandit gangs from near the Golden Road, and they are all targets of Lord Tywin's current clear-out."
Nymeria was very clever and quickly realized what Lynd wanted to say, confirming, "You mean Lord Tywin wants to use these bandit groups to…"
Nymeria did not continue speaking. She knew very well that some things should not be said too clearly.
She was silent for a moment, picked up her axe, and walked out of the castle ruins, telling Lynd, "Come with me."
Lynd did not refuse either. He stood up and followed Nymeria out of the castle ruins.
After walking for a while, Nymeria suddenly stopped, raised her axe, and stared at the shadow of a nearby ruined wall, while also warning, "Be careful, over there…"
"Don't be nervous. That's my companion." Lynd stepped forward, stopping Nymeria's attack. He then saw Honor emerge from the shadows, come to Lynd's side, rub against Lynd, and then curiously look at Nymeria.
Honor's reaction also surprised Lynd, as this was the first time Honor had not bared its teeth at anyone other than him. Even Raul, who fed it daily, would elicit a display of fangs and an attacking posture when he approached.
"Is this a Shadowcat?" Nymeria was stunned and confirmed.
"Yes," Lynd nodded.
"Are you a Skinchanger?" Nymeria couldn't help but ask curiously.
"No," Lynd shook his head.
Perhaps feeling that further probing might touch upon Lynd's secrets, Nymeria did not continue to ask. After glancing at the Shadowcat again, she continued walking down the hill.
They quickly walked down the hill and entered Tumbleton.
Although it was just a town the size of a village, there was still a tavern here, and the sounds coming from it indicated that many people had gathered there.
Nymeria walked directly to the outside of the tavern, motioned for Lynd to tie his horse at the entrance, and then led Lynd into the tavern.
Just as Lynd had guessed, the tavern was full of people, but what surprised him was that the people in the tavern were not farmers from Tumbleton, but a group of Dornishmen wearing armor and carrying weapons. Some of these Dornishmen even looked familiar; Lynd seemed to have seen them at the Tournament, as they were House Martell warriors sent from Dorne to participate in the Tournament.
Among this group of Dornishmen, there was one person who was extremely special: short black hair, well-defined features, a face somewhat similar to Nymeria's, but his gaze was colder, and combined with his languid expression, he felt like a coiled, seemingly harmless, but in fact deadly, viper.
"Red Viper." Seeing this Dornishman with a special temperament, a name surfaced in Lynd's mind.
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