"What's going on?" Lord Linde asked Varys, who was standing beside him, as he looked at the frozen corpse.
"That's what I wanted to ask you, my Lord," Varys calmly replied, looking at Lord Linde.
Lord Linde frowned and said, "What do you mean by that?"
Varys pulled his hand out of his sleeve, pointed to something pressed under the corpse, and said, "My Lord, what do you see there?"
Lord Linde looked over and quickly discovered that two Greatswords were pressed beneath the frozen corpse. The blades were completely covered by the body, with only the two hilts visible.
"My Greatswords have been forged already?" Lord Linde asked with some excitement.
"Yes," Varys said, looking at Lord Linde. "They were forged over two months ago. I originally intended to send them to you along with the full armor once it was finished, so I kept the already forged swords here. However, your armor is very difficult to craft; not even a single plate has been forged in over two months. So, I decided to send you the swords first. A few days ago, when I came here to retrieve the swords, I saw this scene."
"This corpse is…" Lord Linde asked.
"One of my servants," Varys said, looking at Lord Linde. "Fortunately, I sent him down to retrieve them. If I had come myself, I would be the one frozen here."
Lord Linde was now certain that the frozen corpse before him was caused by the pair of Greatswords inscribed with Dragon Runes. The reason the Greatswords did not display this supernatural power initially was likely because the Dragon Runes had just been carved and had not yet absorbed the surrounding magic to integrate into the sword blades.
After being stored for over two months, the Greatswords had accumulated a certain amount of magic, but without Lord Linde, the Lost Country Knight, to guide it, the magic transformed from the Dragon Runes remained in an activated state, ultimately causing the first person to touch the Greatswords to become a victim of the Dragon Runes.
In fact, now that the magic had been completely released, even if Varys were to touch the two Greatswords, he would not be harmed.
However, Lord Linde did not explain this to Varys. Under Varys's gaze, he walked towards the frozen corpse, bent down, and grasped the exposed hilt.
Varys watched Lord Linde reach for the Greatswords, his mouth slightly agape, as if he wanted to warn Lord Linde to be careful, but ultimately, the warning was not spoken.
However, when Lord Linde's hands gripped the Greatswords, a look of concern still appeared in his eyes, and his hands also came out of his sleeves. It seemed that as soon as he noticed anything amiss with Lord Linde, he would immediately push him away.
However, Varys's preparations were destined to be useless. After Lord Linde grasped this pair of Valyrian steel Greatswords, he was not affected in the slightest. But the moment he pulled the swords from the frozen corpse, the corpse shattered into countless fragments of ice, like broken glass.
Varys couldn't help but hold his breath at this sight, feeling a strong shock within. He had witnessed various mysterious rituals and powers on the continent of Essos, but none could compare to what was before him. Even though he deeply hated and loathed magic, at this moment, he couldn't help but feel an urge to possess such power.
Lord Linde was also startled by the sight of the frozen corpse shattering, as it reminded him of the Others harmed by dragon glass. It seemed the Others also broke apart like this when they died.
In the Lost Country Knight's memory, the Lost Country Knight's swordsmanship also contained the extraordinary power of freezing cold, capable of freezing people, and even slowing their movements and continuously harming their bodies through the spreading cold. However, the effect of shattering an already frozen body into so many fragments, as seen now, did not exist in his memory.
"Will the effects of Dragon Runes also differ based on the world?" a question arose in Lord Linde's mind.
"Lord Linde, are you alright?" At this moment, Varys saw Lord Linde standing still, lost in thought for a long time, and felt somewhat worried. He wanted to push him with his hand, but felt it was unsafe, so he randomly found a piece of wood on the ground, nudged Lord Linde's back with it, and asked.
"I'm fine." Lord Linde shook his head, temporarily setting aside the doubts in his mind, then looked down at the pair of Greatswords in his hands.
Upon receiving the Greatswords, Lord Linde felt a cold aura transfer into his body, similar to the vengeful spirit energy transmitted from Glory, but much weaker in intensity, not even enough to cause abnormal changes in his skin.
Although this pair of Lost Knight's Greatsword in Lord Linde's hands were thicker and wider than the normal Greatsword hanging at his waist, the weight of these two Greatswords was lighter, equivalent to the weight of a normal pure steel Greatsword.
The Dragon Runes Lord Linde designed for this pair of Lost Knight's Greatsword were perfectly inscribed on the Greatsword blades, integrating with the Greatsword. When touched, it was even difficult to feel the raised or sunken texture of the inscription, as if these Dragon Runes had grown within the blade itself.
This phenomenon is called Dragon Mark Precipitation, a characteristic of Dragon Runes when they take effect and completely merge with weapons and equipment.
Lord Linde inscribed three types of Dragon Runes on these two Greatswords, corresponding to freezing, hurricane, and lightning. Currently, only the Frozen Dragon Rune has taken effect. As for the other two Dragon Runes, they likely require a period of magic absorption and integration before they can be activated one by one.
"Are you satisfied?" Varys inquired.
"Satisfied, very good, absolutely perfect!" Lord Linde gave a very high evaluation.
"That's good." Varys nodded and said, "Let's go up first! I've prepared a pair of scabbards for you; your current scabbards probably aren't suitable for this pair of swords."
With that, he turned and started walking back up the way they came, and Lord Linde followed him.
Upon returning to the top, Varys asked Lord Linde to wait a moment, then retrieved a pair of scabbards. These scabbards appeared to be made from the hide of some reptile and were perfectly sized for the Valyrian steel Greatswords.
Lord Linde then eagerly removed his temporary Greatswords, hung this pair of Lost Knight's Greatsword at his waist, and walked out of the room into the courtyard in the center of the small villa. He tried drawing the swords, performed a few simple movements, and then sheathed them again, repeating the process several times, adjusting the position of the scabbards slightly until there was no abnormal sensation.
"Thanks! I'm very satisfied with this pair of Greatswords," Lord Linde thanked Varys again. For Lord Linde, his Lost Country Knight's swordsmanship was now complete. Now, let alone fighting a hundred enemies, he wouldn't even fear facing a thousand.
Varys could tell that Lord Linde was truly satisfied, and a smile appeared on his face, because the stronger Lord Linde became, the more beneficial it was for him. In Varys's mind, Lord Linde's standing now was completely different from a few months ago.
When Lord Linde left King's Landing a few months ago, Varys considered him merely a powerful warrior who had come into contact with mysterious powers. But now, having observed the changes in Tengshi Town during this period, he vaguely sensed that Lord Linde's potential was not limited to just being a warrior.
Whether it was thwarting Duke Tywin's plans for Tengshi Town or restoring the Mander River shipping route, everything showed that Lord Linde had an excellent grasp of political developments.
Although a large number of bandits and Savage Tribes still lurked around Tengshi Town, Varys subtly felt that Lord Linde should be able to resolve these troubles easily. The reason he kept these people might be for other purposes.
And recently, what truly astonished Varys was Tengshi Town's acceptance of a Savage Tribes as its own people.
Being very familiar with Tengshi Town, he knew that Lord Linde must have been involved in this matter, and such a thing was something he had never heard of before.
If such a thing were to happen on the continent of Essos, it would be akin to the Wise Masters, Good Masters, and Great Masters of Slaver's Bay treating their slaves as ordinary citizens.
Although Varys found this matter somewhat absurd to an extreme, he also felt that what Lord Linde was doing aligned somewhat with his own ideals, perhaps even surpassing what he himself could achieve. This led him to gradually stop viewing Lord Linde as merely an exploitable asset, but rather as a true collaborator.
Lord Linde then asked, "Lord Varys, can you tell me what problem the armor forging encountered? I understand a bit about forging techniques, perhaps I can offer some help."
The Lost Knight's Greatsword was already so powerful; he was even more eager for the full armor made of Valyrian steel.
"It's not that forging encountered a problem, but rather that it's simply impossible to forge," Varys explained. "When Valyrian steel is created, it's determined what that particular Valyrian steel can be used to make. For example, it can only be used to make swords, or only to make armor. If it's used to make anything else, the Valyrian steel becomes extremely brittle. It's said this is because some kind of spell was added during the creation of Valyrian steel, and only through extremely mysterious reforging techniques can these Valyrian steel be reforged into different items."
Lord Linde paused, then guessed, "I assume the blacksmith I introduced only learned how to reforge swords from Valyrian steel in Kohor, and not how to reforge armor?"
"Yes," Varys nodded.
Lord Linde said in a deep voice, "So, if I want to continue crafting my armor, I'll need to make a trip to Kohor."
Varys shook his head and said, "You don't need to go yourself, my Lord. I can give the Valyrian steel I have to a friend of mine in Pentos…"
"Illyrio," Lord Linde spoke the friend's name.
Varys admitted, "He should have some connections in Kohor, and forging Valyrian steel into armor shouldn't be a problem, it's just…" He hesitated, looked at Lord Linde, and continued, "It's just that the armor design you provided should also contain mysterious power, just like these two swords. Handing it over to the craftsmen in Kohor just like that, wouldn't it…"
"Are you worried they might learn from it?" Lord Linde spoke Varys's unspoken concern.
Varys worriedly said, "After all, if such powerful strength were to be mastered by others, it would likely become a disaster."
"Don't worry, they won't be able to learn anything," Lord Linde said with extreme confidence.
In fact, when Lord Linde designed the Dragon Runes on the weapons and armor, he incorporated a large amount of meaningless content, perfectly integrating the Dragon Runes into these patterns and symbols. The only thing the craftsmen in Kohor could do was to perfectly imitate all the patterns and create a new fallen knight armor from Valyrian steel.
Varys also thought of the same problem and asked, "What if they use your design to create a new armor?"
Lord Linde patted the Lost Knight's Greatsword at his waist and said, "Do you think anyone else in this world, besides me, could use such armor and not die?"
Varys was stunned by these words and immediately realized that these weapons and armor were like a deadly curse to them.
Having understood this, Varys told Lord Linde that he would arrange to transport the Valyrian steel he had to Pentos as soon as possible, asking Illyrio to help find craftsmen in Kohor to reforge it into armor.
Subsequently, he also mentioned that before the armor was completed, he had already prepared a temporary set of fallen knight armor for Lord Linde. This armor was made of ordinary steel, with no patterns on its surface, merely in the style of fallen knight armor.
With that, he led Lord Linde to a room upstairs, where there was only an armor display stand, on which a complete set of fallen knight armor was propped up.
The fallen knight armor designed by Lord Linde was a combination of heavy and light armor. Besides the common arm and leg guards, the body armor he adopted a heavy armor design, with an additional beast hide shoulder cape and a house crest skirt, plus a cloak, making the armor extremely heavy. His helmet, however, was a light armor dragon crown helmet, which looked extremely magnificent.
Upon seeing this full set of armor, some memories belonging to the Lost Country Knight in Lord Linde's mind were immediately awakened, creating a resonance. The impulse within him made him eagerly step forward, take off each component, and then put them on himself.
Because the buckles of the fallen knight armor were ingeniously designed, unlike other knight armors in this world, it did not require the assistance of a knight's squire to put on.
Lord Linde, now clad in the fallen knight armor, moved his body. Although the armor was made of steel and extremely heavy, making it difficult for an ordinary person to even walk while wearing it, for Lord Linde's current physical condition, this weight had no impact on him whatsoever.
At first, he only performed very simple movements, testing the range of motion of each joint. After confirming there were no issues, he quickly moved and dodged within the not-too-large room, even performing high-difficulty maneuvers like aerial rolls while wearing the full armor.
Varys, standing by, was completely dumbfounded. He was the one who truly knew how heavy this armor was. Not to mention anything else, just the armor itself, with its cloak, skirt, and shoulder cape, was already so heavy that a strong man wearing it would be unable to walk normally. Yet, Lord Linde, wearing the full set of armor, moved as if he were wearing only a thin cloth garment, effortlessly performing various evasive maneuvers that no normal person could, and doing so with such agility and speed. This gave him a more intuitive understanding of Lord Linde's strength.
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