After nightfall, Fotimo left the Golden Rose Garden. Linde told Jon to go meet his friends in Highgarden and not to wait there for his orders.
After Jon left, he ordered the guards of the Golden Rose Garden not to disturb him, then closed the door, lay on the bed, and adjusted himself into a comfortable sleeping position.
As usual, he directly ordered Glory, who was in the courtyard, through a mental connection, then entered a visual sharing state, attaching himself to Glory.
Glory, having received the command, silently slipped into the shadows, avoided the guards of the Golden Rose Garden, left the Golden Rose Garden, and galloped towards Highgarden.
Perhaps because it had been cooped up on the ship for several days, Glory became particularly active after being freed and running outside alone. Several times, it wanted to run to nearby farms and play tricks on the farmers there.
After being stopped by Linde, Glory ran into a nearby flower field and rolled around. Although rose thorns could not cause it any harm, they would get caught in its fur, weakening its stealth ability. Fortunately, there was no one in the wild at night, otherwise it would surely have been seen, and by then, Highgarden might have gained a legend of a monster tangled with roses.
Linde did not stop Glory from venting its excess energy, only guiding it appropriately to prevent Glory from being influenced by its innate wildness and ferocity to attack people in the surrounding farms.
After venting for a period, Glory became well-behaved. Under Linde's command, it rubbed off the flowers and branches caught on its body using trees and rocks, and then, following Linde's instructions, secretly infiltrated the foot of Highgarden's city walls.
Highgarden's outermost city walls were all constructed from marble, with a smooth, flat surface and few places to gain purchase. Unlike the inner ring walls, there were no vines hanging on these walls.
Additionally, at regular intervals along the high wall, a slightly protruding circular tower was built. This circular tower was covered with arrow slits, which, in addition to being used to attack enemies during a siege, could also serve as lookout points to observe the situation on the city walls.
Glory arrived at the foot of the city wall without stopping. The sharp claws hidden in its toes extended outwards, gripping the marble city wall and piercing into the stone, helping Glory move quickly up the nearly vertical wall as if on flat ground.
Soon, this wall was scaled, and Glory directly plunged into the shadows of the bush maze, stealthily moving towards the inner ring city.
Although there were many patrolling soldiers moving back and forth, to Glory, these patrolling soldiers were as good as invisible. Its completely black fur perfectly blended into the shadows, and even if a patrolling soldier walked past, as long as it remained motionless, it could not be discovered.
Relying on its extraordinary stealth ability, Glory moved freely through the various ring areas of Highgarden. Linde, through vision sharing, observed the internal situation of Highgarden, gaining an understanding of its various defensive facilities and castle guards, and even formulating several plans to breach the castle.
Glory did not enter the interior of some important buildings because its size was simply too large. Even with its extraordinary stealth ability, this ability could not make its body completely disappear, so it could easily be discovered in cramped spaces.
However, even without entering the buildings, Glory could still use its special vision, similar to thermal imaging, to locate the residences of House Tyrell and other Highgarden nobles.
Although Linde might not necessarily become an enemy of House Tyrell, being prepared is his habit, to avoid being flustered if something truly happens.
After having almost surveyed the entirety of House Tyrell, Linde was about to have Glory return, but at this moment, Glory seemed to be attracted by something, constantly looking towards the Godswood within the castle. Only because Linde had not given the command, it did not go over.
Linde recalled some rumors about Highgarden's Godswood and thought that what attracted Glory must be some extraordinary power hidden within the Godswood. Driven by curiosity, Linde also signaled Glory to go and take a look at the Godswood.
Upon receiving the command, Glory eagerly rushed towards the Godswood, and soon arrived outside the Godswood.
Without Linde's command, Glory had already entered the Godswood and arrived before the three Heart Trees said to have been planted by Qing Shou Jialesi.
Through Glory's eyes, Linde saw something different. The three Heart Trees disappeared, transforming into a giant with antlers and green skin. This giant lay on the ground, as if in a deep sleep. With its breathing, gusts of green breeze blew from its mouth, flying into the air, spreading in all directions, and then scattering onto the surrounding land.
Seeing this scene, Linde realized that what he was seeing was likely the reason Highgarden has always enjoyed favorable weather and abundant harvests for everything planted. These three Heart Trees planted by Qing Shou Jialesi seemed to have transformed into his avatar, continuously nourishing this land.
As for the avatar of Qing Shou Jialesi before him, the feeling it gave Linde was very similar to Spark, the Forest Children in the Kingswood. The only difference was that Spark was a physical entity, with more solid and powerful strength, while this Qing Shou Jialesi was just a virtual energy mass, feeling less real.
At this moment, Glory's mind transmitted a strong desire to devour, a desire even dozens of times stronger than when it saw the resentful spirit energy containing dragon souls, as if this avatar of Qing Shou Jialesi before it was a tempting delicacy.
Upon sensing Glory's desire to devour, Linde immediately issued a strong command to stop Glory from devouring Qing Shou Jialesi's avatar. However, Glory's desire to devour was too strong, stirring its instincts, causing it to break free from Linde's control several times, wanting to violate Linde's command.
Fortunately, it was only by Linde repeatedly issuing extremely strong commands, and simultaneously using his own mental presence to soothe Glory's emotions while attached to its body, that Glory was able to break free from the desire to devour.
However, to prevent Glory from being affected again, Linde immediately had Glory leave Highgarden and return to the Golden Rose Garden.
Although Linde knew very well that if Glory devoured Qing Shou Jialesi's avatar, Glory should be able to evolve by leaps and bounds again, doing so would cause irreversible damage to the entire Highgarden. The land around Highgarden would certainly no longer enjoy favorable weather and annual harvests as it did now.
In this way, House Tyrell would inevitably suffer a great loss of strength. At that time, the ancient nobles and lords of The Reach, who already looked down on House Tyrell, would stir, and The Reach would inevitably fall into prolonged internal strife.
Although chaos is a ladder, it depends on one's position.
For someone like Littlefinger, who is a court noble, does not have too many usable troops at hand, and whose position has almost reached its peak with no further possibility of advancement, chaos is naturally needed as a ladder to elevate his status.
But for Linde now, he already has plenty of room for advancement and has not yet reached the peak. He only needs to proceed step by step to smoothly improve his status and strength, and all of this is built on the stable foundation of House Tyrell. Therefore, if House Tyrell's strength were to be greatly reduced and The Reach fall into chaos now, it would only benefit great lords with ancient bloodlines, like Fossoway, and he would find it difficult to gain enough profit from the chaos.
Moreover, the more important point was that Linde worried that Qing Shou Jialesi was still alive, and that having Glory absorb Qing Shou Jialesi's avatar would attract the attention of this mysterious existence, the ancestor of The Reach.
In all the legends related to Qing Shou Jialesi, there is no mention of the death of this legendary figure. Instead, he appears beside legendary figures in different eras. For example, Qing Shou Jialesi existed in the legends of the First Men, and later, in the legends of Brandon the Builder, he also appeared, with thousands of years separating these appearances.
Considering that the Forest Children also possess nearly endless lifespans, this Qing Shou Jialesi should also possess a similar lifespan. The possibility of him being alive now is very high. The reason he has not appeared before people again might be due to the weakening of the magic tide in this world.
Although the current Qing Shou Jialesi might not be as powerful as in the ancient legends, compared to the current Linde, such a nearly god-like existence is still someone he would avoid at all costs.
Glory quickly returned to the Golden Rose Garden, but Linde's previous action of preventing it from enjoying the delicacy made it very unhappy. So, upon returning, it did not seek Linde for petting or rewards as usual, but instead lay directly in front of Linde's door, blocking it, as a silent protest.
Linde did not pay too much attention. He knew very well that Glory's temper came and went quickly, and it would soon forget the reason for its anger.
As expected, after a while, Glory, who was lying at the door, forcefully pushed open the door and came to Linde's side. It lay down under the bed and leaned its head against Linde's arm until Linde stroked its head, then it fell asleep.
The next day, Linde placed Glory on the back mountain of the Golden Rose Garden, while he equipped a sword, without wearing armor, preparing to have Jon take him to explore the outer city of Highgarden.
Yesterday, he had only walked along the main road of the outer city. There were too many people on the road, and he hadn't properly seen the prosperity of Highgarden, so he decided to explore the outer city today to understand the city's construction planning and prepare for his future city construction.
However, plans often don't keep up with changes. Just as he and Jon were about to leave the Golden Rose Garden, Fotimo arrived at the Golden Rose Garden with Velas Tyrell and his two siblings, meeting them right at the outer gate.
Fotimo immediately introduced the two, and Linde and Velas also sized each other up.
Fotimo had often mentioned Velas Tyrell before, praising him highly, especially his astonishing talent in jousting. If it weren't for his status and age, Velas would probably already be the undisputed champion of jousting tournaments throughout The Reach.
Although Velas was only thirteen years old now, his build was already similar to an adult's. However, due to his age, his body was somewhat slender, making him look more like a scholar buried in books than a knight skilled in swordsmanship and jousting.
It was unclear if it was influenced by the scene in the Godswood last night, but the moment Linde saw Velas, he vaguely felt that Velas before him was somewhat similar to Qing Shou Jialesi's avatar in Highgarden's Godswood. This similarity was not in appearance, but in temperament.
Velas was also currently sizing up Linde. In fact, he was also in the Hall of Affairs yesterday. When Fotimo came to the Hall of Affairs to inform Lord Mace that Linde had arrived at Highgarden and was being held at the inner ring gate, he was already eager to meet this first sword of the Seven Kingdoms, whom his brother Garlan spoke of as incredibly magical.
And later, when Fotimo revealed the reason for the delay was because Linde's Shadow Lynx pet was too large, he couldn't help but ask how large it was. After Fotimo gestured, it not only shocked everyone in the Hall of Affairs but also made him even more curious.
From a young age, Velas had a great fondness for small animals. He seemed to have an extraordinary affinity in this regard. Normally, small animals that were not fond of people liked to follow him.
It was precisely because of this that he became Highgarden's best dog trainer, falconer, and horse trainer. At the age of ten, he had already begun to improve Highgarden's horse breeds. The reason Highgarden's warhorses are so excellent now is all due to his horse breeding improvements.
However, he also had some regrets, which was that he had never tamed special animals like Shadow Lynx or ice wolves.
A year ago, a merchant once captured a Shadow Lynx and sold it to him. He wanted to tame that Shadow Lynx, but he failed. Although the Shadow Lynx did not attack him, it also did not show much affection, and even refused to eat, eventually starving to death in its cage.
He gave this Shadow Lynx to a knight skilled in making taxidermy, who made it into a specimen. This specimen is still kept in his study to this day.
This incident had left him dejected for a long time, only gradually recovering recently.
However, now there was someone who had tamed a Shadow Lynx, and that Shadow Lynx was so unusual, which made him curious about Linde as a person, vaguely believing that Linde and he were the same kind of people.
It was a pity that although he was the Duke's son, he did not have much say in the Hall of Affairs and could not persuade the decisions of those officials and nobles, so he was unable to meet Linde at the first opportunity.
Later, the Duchess asked him to meet Linde the next day and to apologize on behalf of his father for the rude behavior. He agreed without a second thought.
Now, seeing Linde, the protagonist of the hunter of bears song and the rumored first sword of the Seven Kingdoms, Velas was not disappointed by Linde's relatively ordinary appearance. Instead, he was very satisfied with Linde, feeling that Linde perfectly matched the image in his mind and also perfectly matched his brother Garlan's various descriptions.
As Linde and Velas were sizing each other up, Margaery, who was standing nearby, became a bit impatient. She walked up to Linde, tugged at his clothes, and said, "Ser Linde, where is your big cat?"
"Glory is playing in the mountains right now," Linde smiled. "Miss Margaery, if you want to see her, I'll call her back."
"Good, good! See the big cat, I want to see the big cat!" Margaery jumped excitedly.
Loras also wanted to jump like his sister but looked at Velas worriedly, finally suppressing the urge and standing obediently to the side.
"Ser Linde, where are you going?" Velas then took over the conversation and asked Linde.
Linde truthfully replied, "I want to go see the city. I walked too fast yesterday and haven't had a good look at Highgarden's outer city."
"Let him be your guide for the outer city?" Fotimo pointed at Jon and said disdainfully, "To take you to brothels? When he was captain of the city watch in the outer city, he spent more time sleeping in a prostitute's bed than in his own bed at home."
"Lord Fotimo, I have grown up," Jon said with a bitter smile, regretting his youthful indiscretions.
Velas suggested, "The outer city is very chaotic in the morning. Going now might disappoint you, Ser Linde. Let's go together at noon! It's been a long time since I've walked around the outer city myself."
Linde did not refuse, nodding, "As you command, Lord Velas."
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