Over the next few days, Velas was mostly with Linde; even for meetings to discuss various matters concerning the trip to Godgrace, he would summon Linde to discuss specific details with the young nobles of The Reach.
Although Linde was called upon by Velas to discuss matters, Linde was well aware that any opinions he truly offered would not be accepted by these young nobles of The Reach.
This trip to Dorne saw almost all nobles and lords friendly with House Tyrell send their heirs or second sons. Besides wanting to use this opportunity to build good relationships with the heir of House Tyrell, it was also to train these young nobles.
Every time Linde attended such a meeting, he was fully armored, even wearing his helmet, and stood aside like a statue, saying nothing. Only when Velas genuinely asked for his opinion would he respond casually.
Highgarden's emphasis on Velas's trip to Dorne far exceeded Garlan's trip to King's Landing half a year ago. This time, two thousand ordinary soldiers were arranged, along with three hundred mercenary knights. Adding the sworn knights sent by various lords and nobles to protect their heirs and second sons, the total number of knights reached over five hundred. If the squires and servants of these knights were included, the number would at least double.
This was only the number of combatants; the number of accompanying servants and other logistical personnel also reached over a thousand.
Such a large number of people looked more like they were going to war in Dorne rather than attending a martial arts tournament.
Velas had previously raised objections to Duke Mace regarding the excessive number of people, believing that only knights were needed and not so many accompanying soldiers. However, the Duke rejected him on the grounds of safety, and even the Thorn Queen, who usually looked down on the Duke, agreed with his decision this time.
Linde's position was also arranged the next day, as expected by most informed people: he would serve as the captain of Velas's escort for this trip. To ensure he had enough people to command, House Tyrell specifically arranged twenty knights to be at his disposal.
These twenty knights were not ordinary sworn knights but personal knights trained by House Tyrell from a young age, whose loyalty was self-evident.
Moreover, although they were nominally only twenty, in reality, including the squires and accompanying warriors of these twenty knights, the true number of people obeying Linde was over one hundred.
Originally, Linde thought it would take some effort to truly command these twenty knights and their squires and attendants, such as demonstrating his strength. But it turned out to be completely unnecessary; the twenty knights completely obeyed him, even more so than the people he left in Tengshi Town.
Two months after the white raven from the Citadel's Conclave delivered a climate report indicating no major storms in the Summer Sea, the expedition to Godgrace departed Highgarden, heading towards Oldtown along the Rose Road.
The choice of route to Godgrace was the most discussed issue over these two days. Velas himself wanted to go through Prince's Pass, then through Sandstone and Hellholt, then north to Yronwood and Torr City, and finally south to Godgrace. This way, the team could pass through the territories of most Dornish lords, and he could also have some exchanges with these great Dornish lords during the journey, preparing for the peace agreement in advance.
However, Velas's decision was opposed by the vast majority because this route was too dangerous. The great Dornish lords along this route had very poor relations with The Reach, and many even had ancestral feuds. If one of them suddenly acted impulsively, the team would face the danger of being besieged, making escape very difficult.
Therefore, after everyone's discussion, another safer route was ultimately chosen: taking the Rose Road, heading south to Oldtown, then taking a ship from Oldtown, passing through the Summer Sea to Sunspear, and then going upstream along the Greenblood River to Godgrace.
The team traveled for nineteen days before reaching Oldtown. The journey was incredibly smooth, encountering no dangers. After all, this was an army of several thousand people; even the most foolish bandits knew to avoid this group. The only thing that Linde found troublesome was that the journey was a bit too boring.
However, the knights participating in this trip to Dorne did not think so; they seemed to regard this journey as a rare knightly exchange meeting.
Every day when they camped, they would gather together for a small martial arts tournament. The heirs and second sons of the lords and nobles in the team would also be present, cheering for their knights. The entire team felt more like an outing than a normal march.
Linde had reminded Velas on the way that he should restrain the knights' behavior and keep the army in a proper marching state. But Velas felt it was still very safe, and it was fine for everyone to relax; it wouldn't be too late to make changes once they reached Dorne.
Linde said nothing more about this. In his opinion, his advice had been given, and whether to listen or not was up to the person receiving the advice; there was no need for him to waste more words.
Therefore, during the subsequent journey, Linde never offered any more suggestions, only speaking a few words when arranging guard duties for his knights. He usually stood beside Velas like a statue. If not for him occasionally reaching out to stroke Glory at his side, perhaps anyone who saw him would think that the person wearing four swords was a dummy.
When the team assembled, Glory's appearance caused quite a stir. Its reputation among the knights was even much greater than Linde's. Many knights only knew Linde through Glory. As for Linde's title as the so-called "First Swordsman of the Seven Kingdoms," it was never taken seriously by these knights; they all believed Linde's reputation was exaggerated.
However, even if they looked down on Linde, they weren't foolish enough to challenge Velas's guard captain, especially after seeing Linde train Glory to tear a wooden dummy wearing plate armor to shreds; no one dared to provoke Linde.
Velas also noticed Linde's incompatibility with the knights and nobles in the team. He had tried to improve this situation, but neither side was very cooperative, so it was left unresolved.
Upon arriving in Oldtown, Velas decided to stay for two days: first, to prepare enough ships to transport the army, and second, to pay respects to the Hightower Family of Oldtown, visit various nobles in Oldtown, call on the Maesters at the Citadel, and pray at the Starry Sept.
As Velas's maternal family, the Hightower Family also attached great importance to Velas's trip. Therefore, when they were still a day's journey from Oldtown, they had already dispatched the Hightower heir, Velas's uncle Beller Hightower, to welcome them, and had already prepared a camp outside Oldtown to accommodate the thousands of troops.
After the team arrived, Velas and the noble knights in the team also tidied their attire. In the evening, they proceeded to the Hightower of the Hightower Family to attend the prepared banquet.
Although Linde's status was not enough for him to attend such a purely noble banquet, as Velas's guard captain, he was also among the invited. However, his twenty accompanying knights were arranged to wait outside the castle.
The Hightower, as one of the oldest structures in Westeros, was undoubtedly the most prominent landmark in Oldtown.
From a great distance from Oldtown, one could see the perpetual flame at the top of the Hightower burning in the clouds. This sight, even for Linde, who was accustomed to skyscrapers, couldn't help but be awe-inspiring.
Although Linde was unsure of the Hightower's exact height, a rough estimate put it at least two to three hundred meters. A building of such height might not be rare in a technologically advanced modern era, but in the Ice and Fire World, it was truly special, like a miracle.
the Wall might be of similar height to the Hightower, but the Wall's thickness and width were far greater than the Hightower's. Coupled with the extreme cold of the North, the entire Wall was frozen, making it even more robust, which kept the Wall from collapsing.
But the Hightower was different; it was built stone by stone, with no internal steel or concrete structures for support. Its foundation was built directly on Battle Isle, a rocky island near the coast. Such a foundation seemed insufficient to support the entire Hightower's weight; by all logic, the Hightower should have already sunk into the sea due to its own weight.
Furthermore, the Hightower is located by the warm, humid sea, where the corrosive nature of the sea wind is inherently extremely destructive to any building. Yet, this structure has stood here for thousands of years, with no signs of corrosion on its surface, as if time itself had been frozen for the entire building.
The only explanation for the Hightower's continued existence could only be magic. It is likely that the Hightower Family is well aware of this, which is why most members of the Hightower Family throughout history have been extremely obsessed with magical research.
What is ironic is that the Citadel, next to the Hightower, is the most anti-magic organization in all of Westeros. This organization regards magic and other mystical arts as forbidden knowledge, accessible to only a few. Yet, the Hightower Family, the patrons behind the Citadel, are enthusiasts of magic, and there are even rumors that the Hightower's collection of mystical books is ten times that of the Citadel.
The moment Linde arrived at the Hightower with Velas, he knew that all the rumors about the Hightower were true. In his eyes, the Hightower was not just a massive building; he also saw numerous patterns formed by mysterious forces on its surface. These patterns, like Dragon Runes, endowed the building with some magical power.
Moreover, Linde also saw some resentful energy containing dragon souls on this building. However, unlike the resentful energy Linde had seen elsewhere, the resentful energy here was bound by the patterns on the Hightower's surface, compressed into the tower's body, becoming a part of the Hightower.
Legend has it that Battle Isle, where the Hightower is located, was once a dragon's lair, with several dragons dwelling there. Later, the ancestors of the Hightower Family came here, slaughtered these dragons, occupied Battle Isle, and eventually built the Hightower.
Regarding this legend, the people of the Seven Kingdoms believe it is the Hightower Family glorifying their ancestors, but Linde can confirm that this Hightower Family legend is true; otherwise, there would be no explanation for where the several dragon souls bound to the Hightower came from.
Linde could see the unusual aspects of the Hightower, and Glory naturally could too. Although it drooled over the resentful energy attached to the Hightower, it was unable to absorb or devour it, because the Hightower's own binding force was far stronger than its naturally occurring devouring force, which made its emotions somewhat agitated.
Upon entering the banquet hall of the Black Stone Fortress, Linde left Glory outside the hall, as bringing such a giant beast to a banquet was an extremely rude act, even though the Oldtown nobles attending the banquet were curious about Glory.
However, Linde did not stay at the banquet for too long, because he sensed that Glory outside the hall was extremely agitated by the Hightower's power, and some nobles, oblivious to the danger, were approaching Glory and teasing it. If this continued, Glory, upon releasing all its ferocious emotions, would likely tear everyone around it to shreds.
"I'll buy it for a thousand gold dragons," a noble from Oldtown suddenly said when Linde timely emerged from the hall to soothe Glory.
Linde turned to look at the noble, then took out a silver stag from his pocket, held it in his hand, and said, "I'll buy you for one silver stag."
The noble was stunned at first, then quickly understood that Linde was mocking him as only being worth a silver stag. His face turned extremely ugly, and the other Oldtown nobles watching the spectacle burst into laughter.
Facing the surrounding laughter, the noble's face showed resentment. He was about to utter some threatening words to Linde, but Linde spoke first: "You'd best not speak again. If I hear any threatening words, I will feel very afraid. And if I'm afraid, I can't help but want to eliminate the threat completely. How do you think I'll eliminate the threat?"
As he spoke these words, Linde not only looked at that noble but also swept his gaze over the other Oldtown nobles around him. The killing aura from the Peace Envoy and the Lost Country Knight emanated from him.
The surrounding laughter instantly ceased, and it became so quiet that even breathing sounds disappeared. Everyone looked at Linde in horror. In their eyes, a layer of cold black mist seemed to appear around Linde's fallen knight armor, and a pair of blood-red eyes full of eerie aura peered through the helmet's slits, as if a terrifying monster was hidden beneath the helmet, ready to devour them at any moment.
After teaching these nobles a lesson, Linde reined in his killing aura, then, before these nobles could recover from their fright, he took Glory and left the open space in front of the hall, going to a small garden nearby.
Not long after Linde left, these nobles recovered from their fright. Many had weak legs and had to lean on nearby objects to stand. At the same time, everyone smelled a strong odor of urine; clearly, more than one person had wet themselves from fear.
At this moment, they had no time to resent Linde. They all left, hurrying back to change their clothes, lest others smell the odor and be further disgraced.
This scene was witnessed by many who had not directly felt the intense killing aura accumulated from two lifetimes on Linde. Therefore, they did not know what exactly was wrong with those nobles. The only thing they knew was that those nobles had a small conflict with Velas's guard captain.
So, someone informed both Velas, who was at the banquet, and Earl Leyton Hightower of the Hightower about this matter.
However, interestingly, both individuals had the same reaction after hearing about the incident: they completely disregarded it, as if it had never happened.
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