"Highgarden has replied," Nameria said excitedly, walking in from outside and placing the letter in front of Linde.
Six days after the letter about the discovery of the silver mine was sent via the fleet bound for Highgarden, a reply from Highgarden arrived, still using the old method: ravens to Bitterbridge, then fast horses to deliver the message.
Upon receiving the reply, Nameria immediately brought it to Linde without even looking at it.
Linde picked up the letter, whose wax seal had not yet been broken, opened it, and his brows furrowed slightly.
"What? Highgarden didn't grant the minting rights?" Nameria asked, seeing the change in Linde's expression.
Linde didn't answer, but instead handed the letter to Nameria, letting her read it herself.
The content of the letter was very simple, only three lines of text, each line describing one matter.
The first line stated that the Duke agreed to grant Tengshi Town minting rights, but first needed to understand the size of the silver mine, and that Highgarden had already contacted the Citadel to dispatch a relevant Scholar to Tengshi Town to assist Nameria with mining and minting matters.
Clearly, Highgarden also intended to get involved in the silver mine matter; even if they couldn't control the mine, they at least wanted to obtain certain rights in the minting process, as this directly related to their interests.
Moreover, they weren't taking these benefits for free; they would announce the discovery of the silver mine to the Seven Kingdoms and the Iron Throne via Official correspondence, meaning they would fully bear all sorts of pressure from the Westerlands.
The second line re-emphasized to Nameria the importance of Mander River shipping and expressed hope that Nameria could increase the number of ships, and so on.
Although the Rose Road had resumed normal merchant traffic and was patrolled by cavalry, the threat of bandits still existed, and transportation took much longer; unless it was only for lordly territories along the Rose Road, otherwise, goods directly transported to Highgarden were still more efficient going by water from Tengshi Town.
And Highgarden had also gained a significant amount of tax revenue due to the opening of this shipping lane, which made Highgarden attach even greater importance to this route, even proposing to provide funds for ship construction and dock expansion, and so on.
Linde and Nameria did not consider this proposal, because this shipping lane was the foundation of Tengshi Town's prosperity, and naturally, they would not allow other forces to interfere.
As for the last line, it concerned Linde; the letter instructed Linde to arrange his affairs in Tengshi Town as soon as possible and return to Highgarden before the end of the month, which was the reason Linde frowned.
"No, how can you leave now? Absolutely not," Nameria said, directly tearing the letter in her hand. "We'll just pretend we never received this letter."
Looking at Nameria's childish behavior, Linde couldn't help but smile, saying, "This letter wasn't delivered by a raven, it was by a messenger. Even if you tear the letter, it's useless."
"How about we get rid of that messenger?" Nameria said, a ruthless look on her face.
Linde shook his head, saying, "It has nothing to do with the messenger. Even if you get rid of one messenger, Highgarden will send someone else to deliver the message again. Can you get rid of all the messengers? If so, even the dumbest people in Highgarden would know there's a problem here."
Nameria's face darkened. After a moment of thought, she seemed to have made a major decision. She took a deep breath and said to Linde, "Let's get engaged! You, Linde Terra, as my suitor, will get engaged to me."
When Nameria spoke these words, everyone else in the office, such as her two handmaidens, Burt and Scholar Yves, who were still waiting to report on bridge construction progress, and the guards at the door, all stared at Nameria in astonishment, making Nameria's face instantly flush as red as if it had been scalded, ready to bleed at any moment.
Linde was completely stunned by Nameria's words. He hadn't expected Nameria to suddenly propose engagement to him, which left him at a loss for how to respond.
Although Linde initially only saw Nameria as a collaborator, a partner who could help him accumulate initial capital, over this period of time together, Linde had indeed developed some fondness for this straightforward woman.
However, marrying Nameria, becoming the husband of Tengshi Town's Lord, or even accepting Nameria's abdication to become Tengshi Town's Lord, had always been the very last option on his list of considerations, meaning he would only consider marrying Nameria if all his other plans completely failed.
The reason he hadn't considered it, besides his extreme confidence in his own abilities, was more importantly that Tengshi Town was only suitable for those who would maintain the status quo, not for anyone with an pioneering spirit.
Tengshi Town's geographical location already determined that there was basically no possibility of expansion here, and at the same time, its unique location meant that the surrounding great Lords would absolutely not allow a powerful Lord to control this territory.
Because Nameria was a woman, even if Tengshi Town developed very strongly, the surrounding Lords would underestimate Tengshi Town's strength due to their discrimination and incorrect perceptions of women, and would not consider Tengshi Town a threat.
But Linde was different; if he controlled Tengshi Town, then the surrounding Lords, even Highgarden, would probably become wary of him.
At this moment, seeing that Linde had not responded for a long time, coupled with the surprised looks from those around her, the blush on Nameria's face turned into embarrassment and annoyance, and she had an urge to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
Just as Nameria was about to bury her head and immediately leave this incredibly embarrassing place, Linde stood up, took her hand, and then gestured to the others in the room, telling them to leave.
"You really surprised me today," Linde said, motioning for Nameria to sit down, then very directly said to Nameria, "I have a good impression of you. If I were to choose a wife right now, it would definitely be you."
Hearing that Linde had a good impression of her, Nameria couldn't help but smile, but she also heard that Linde hadn't finished speaking, and the part he hadn't finished was definitely not what she wanted to hear.
"But I cannot marry you," Linde said, as she expected, a remark that displeased her.
"Why?!" Nameria was not angered by this, but instead looked at Linde very seriously and asked.
Linde did not hide anything, telling Nameria a part of his plans and ambitions, and also carefully explaining the disadvantages that would arise if he and Nameria were to combine.
Nameria's expression gradually returned to normal. She seriously considered Linde's plan and the various disadvantages they would face if they combined. Although she was unwilling to admit it, she also felt that she had been a bit impulsive just now.
Now, calming down and thinking carefully, she did have a good impression of Linde, and even a hint of admiration for a strong man within that impression, but it was still too early for her to combine with Linde.
"Pretend I didn't say what I just said, and you should forget it too," Nameria said, after understanding, taking a few deep breaths to suppress her embarrassment and trying to appear calm.
"Yes, Earl," Linde nodded in response.
Nameria asked in a deep voice, "What now? You're being recalled by Highgarden. Are you abandoning everything here and leaving it to me?"
"I think we might have both misunderstood," Linde said, picking up the torn letter from the ground, piecing the last sentence together, and looking at it carefully. "Highgarden seems to only be asking me to return alone, leaving the entire cavalry here to continue their bandit suppression mission."
Nameria speculated, "Are they going to send someone else to take over and steal your credit?"
"Possibly, but I think it's very unlikely," Linde shook his head and analyzed, "After all, you are the Lord of Tengshi Town. Anything my cavalry wants to do here requires your permission. The nobles of Highgarden might be good at power struggles, but they wouldn't be so foolish as to think that sending just one person can take over everything. House Tyrell also wouldn't allow such a breach of promise to occur."
He paused again, then added, "But we also cannot be unprepared. Before I leave, I will hand over the Gravel Tribe people to you. Additionally, I will take Jon with me. I will revoke Burt's Official status and have him serve in a nominal position in your territory. Scarface's Second Cavalry, being composed entirely of mercenaries, I will have him lead his men to join your garrison guards, temporarily serving as Rangers, leaving only the original cavalry assigned by House Tyrell in the barracks, led by Bulin."
"Hmm, I know what to do," Nameria nodded and said, "If Highgarden really sends someone to replace you, I'll make that person disappear. After all, there are so many bandits here, accidental death is a very normal thing."
Linde did not object to Nameria's harsh words. In fact, if House Tyrell really did send someone else to take over his bandit suppression mission, then he would indeed have to do something.
When Nameria left, she very seriously emphasized the importance of confidential information and the severity of punishment for leaking such information to everyone present in the room at the time.
Although Nameria was usually a gentle person, no one at that moment thought Nameria was just joking, and everyone consciously forgot the scene that had just occurred in the room.
There were still more than ten days until the end of the month mentioned in the letter, which was ample time for Linde, as it only took four or five days to reach Highgarden by sailing down the Mander River. Linde had plenty of time to arrange various affairs.
Although the letter simply stated that he should return to Highgarden without specifying the reason, he felt that this trip to Highgarden might take a long time before he could return to Tengshi Town. Therefore, he needed to arrange various matters as detailed as possible, and almost every officer and captain under him was called in individually to be briefed on their duties after his departure.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion according to Linde's plan. He spent a day arranging affairs and planned to spend a few more days clearing out the nearby bandits to lighten Nameria's burden after he left.
However, plans often change, and a letter from King's Landing made his previously ample time somewhat tight.
This letter was sent by Varys, and its content simply asked him to go to King's Landing, with no other additional information, but Linde could guess that it was likely related to the Valyrian steel weapons and armor.
Almost half a year had passed since he discussed Valyrian steel weapons and armor with Varys. Varys had not sent any follow-up messages, so Linde assumed there had been some trouble with re-forging the Valyrian steel. He also had other things to do, so he hadn't written to King's Landing to inquire about the situation.
Now that Varys had sent someone to deliver a letter, there were only two possibilities: either the re-forging of Valyrian steel had failed, or it had succeeded.
Because traveling to King's Landing, even without rest, day and night, would take several days, Linde wasted no time after receiving the letter. After informing his subordinates and Nameria, he left Tengshi Town with one person and three horses.
Glory wanted to follow, but Linde stopped her. He told Glory to move around among the other Savage Tribes near Tengshi Town to increase her deterrent power, lest these Savage Tribes cause trouble after Glory went south with him.
As Linde expected, he, one person with three horses, changed horses but not riders along the way, traveling day and night.
Even though the road from Tengshi Town to the Rose Road had been restored, eliminating the need to Around through rugged mountains, it still took almost three days to reach King's Landing, and two of the horses had collapsed from exhaustion on the way. The remaining horse barely made it to King's Landing and was almost at its limit.
Before Linde could even consider how to return, a little bird sent by Varys, waiting at the city gate, had already found him and led him directly to a small villa next to Night Shadow Street.
Night Shadow Street is close to the Red Keep, and from there up the slope of Aegon's High Hill are the residences of Red Keep nobles. Now, a child clearly from Flea Bottom and an unknown man in a cloak carrying weapons entering this area was very conspicuous. Linde couldn't understand why Varys would arrange to meet him in such a place.
Upon entering the villa, Linde did not immediately see Varys; he was likely still in the Red Keep at that moment.
About half an hour later, Varys rushed over. Upon seeing Linde, he bowed and said, "Lord Linde, it's been almost half a year since we…"
Linde interrupted Varys, saying seriously, "Lord Varys, after I received your letter, I immediately set off from Tengshi Town, traveling day and night for three days and three nights, wearing out three of the best warhorses from The Reach, to come here to see you. Don't waste any more of my time with nonsense. Just tell me directly why you asked me to come to King's Landing."
"Lord, please don't rush. Please follow me," Varys led Linde into a small house, then opened a cabinet, pushed open the secret door inside the cabinet, and led Linde down the stairs behind the secret door, arriving at a basement.
The basement was not very large; it looked like a grain storage warehouse. Now, some Sundries were still piled there, and it felt like no one had been in there for a long time.
Varys walked to the corner of the wall and pushed aside a few miscellaneous items, revealing what was pressed underneath.
What he saw was a corpse, a frozen corpse. From the clothes on the corpse, it appeared to be a servant.
If there were a freezer here, Linde wouldn't have been surprised by the appearance of this frozen corpse, but the problem was that this was King's Landing. Even though the autumn rainy season had passed and winter was approaching, it was still very hot here. Forget ice, there wouldn't even be snow.
But now, a frozen corpse with no signs of melting appeared before him, which made Linde feel somewhat incredible.
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