The next day, Lynd and Nymeria, as planned, each led a hundred men to the Savages Village closest to Tumbleton.
However, to their surprise, reclaiming the Savages Village was easier than they had anticipated; they barely had to utter a word before the village expressed its willingness to swear allegiance to Nymeria and become her subjects.
This was not an isolated incident; over the next three days, the two of them, with their two hundred men, visited seven Savages Villages located near the abandoned road. The people in these villages had no resistance to becoming Nymeria's subjects again, and all were willing to swear allegiance to Nymeria and become subjects of Tumbleton.
Later, through fragmented words revealed by the people of these villages, Lynd and Nymeria finally understood why these Savages Villages, which had previously been extremely resistant to becoming subjects, had undergone such a significant change in attitude.
Half of the reason for this was due to the bandits Lynd had deliberately let escape. As these bandits fled in all directions, they spread the news of how Lynd had effortlessly annihilated a bandit alliance of seven or eight hundred people, causing no small stir among the bandit groups north of Bitterbridge.
After all, although there were many bandits here, the largest bandit group was only one or two hundred people, and most were only a few dozen. Now, a bandit alliance of several hundred people was easily annihilated, which made them inevitably recall the scene of the Kingsguard eradicating the Kingswood Brotherhood back then.
Afterward, they learned that the person leading the army to encircle and suppress the bandits this time was Lynd, a legendary figure who had almost achieved a hundred kills in the Tournament in King's Landing. They became even more worried, feeling that Lynd alone could easily slaughter a hundred people, so with the addition of an army, their numbers would not even be enough to fill Lynd's teeth.
Consequently, the bandits entrenched in this area either hid in the mountainous forests to observe the situation before deciding their next move, or they headed north to the Blackwater Rush to temporarily avoid Lynd's Edge, and some even directly crossed the Rose Road to seek a living in the Stormlands on the other side.
These bandits had more or less connections with the villages in this area, and their movements were naturally noticed by the people in the villages. The villagers were also affected, feeling that the noble lords were probably determined to solve the bandit problem this time.
Under the influence of this fear and panic, when the villagers saw Lynd and Nymeria arrive with fully armed troops, how could they dare to resist? Naturally, whatever demands Nymeria made, they agreed to.
As for whether those demands could be fulfilled, they couldn't consider it; they just wanted to get through this difficult period first. Perhaps, in their eyes, even if they couldn't fulfill them, they could always escape into the mountains and become mountain folk.
In addition to the deterrent power generated by Lynd's encirclement and suppression of the bandit alliance, the people of these villages were also unable to continue living as they had, which was another important reason why these Savages were willing to be ruled by Nymeria.
Although these villages cultivated various grains, because they were not subjects and had no lord to protect them, anyone could steal their belongings without being punished by the laws of the Seven Kingdoms. Therefore, fearing that their harvested grain would be easily stolen, they had no inclination to manage their fields, and the grain produced was barely enough to survive.
The main source of income for these villages was actually helping bandit groups fence stolen goods.
Fencing stolen goods was not just about selling the stolen items; sometimes, it also required disguising them, and these villages primarily engaged in this industry, obtaining a portion of the profits from the stolen goods.
However, since the The War of the Usurper began, the trade route of the Rose Road had been in a semi-abandoned state. Even if merchant caravans passed through the Rose Road, the accompanying guards were numerous, and they couldn't plunder much.
No plunder meant no stolen goods, and no stolen goods meant these villages had no extra income.
After a year, the money these villages had accumulated in the past was almost depleted. If they continued like this, they would definitely starve. Now, Nymeria's arrival just gave them an opportunity to solve their survival problems.
"If it's all like this, then can't I now reclaim all the villages without losing a single soldier?" Nymeria said excitedly after understanding the situation.
"Do you have that much grain?" Lynd poured a basin of cold water on Nymeria, saying, "Before the autumn harvest, you need to provide grain to feed them. After the autumn harvest, they won't have much grain either, and you'll still need to provide grain to fill the gap. Next spring, you'll also need to provide seeds and pray for good weather, otherwise, you'll still need to continue providing grain to take care of them."
Nymeria listened to Lynd's words, stunned for a long time, unable to speak.
Lynd continued to add, "Of course, you can also completely ignore them and let them fend for themselves. In that case, your bad reputation will spread, and it will be much less likely for you to reclaim these villages so smoothly then."
Nymeria's expression also became somewhat grim. She realized the seriousness of the problem and was also glad that Lynd had stopped her, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Now, let alone taking care of all the villages, even the few villages that had already sworn allegiance to her were a struggle to manage.
Lynd looked at Nymeria's gloomy expression and comforted her, "You don't need to worry too much. We can implement work-relief programs to solve their living problems and, incidentally, solve the problem of road repair."
"Work-relief programs?" Nymeria looked at Lynd in confusion, clearly unaware of such practices in this world.
Lynd explained, "We can pay to hire people from these villages to repair the roads. Once the roads are repaired, the docks are restored, and ships are ready, the trade route will begin to operate. When merchant caravans use this road, these villages can serve as inns for them to rest. At that time, they will find ways to earn extra income to support themselves, without needing your care."
Nymeria nodded after hearing this, then asked Lynd, "Are we still going to those mountain folk villages?"
Lynd shook his head and said in a deep voice, "There's no need to go. If those mountain folk villages also surrender directly like these villages, we'll be in real trouble. They say the smallest mountain folk village nearby has over two thousand people."
"Mountain folk won't submit so easily," Nymeria laughed. "The ferocity of the mountain folk here is incomparable to the Savages in these villages. They are much wilder. Either you beat them so badly they can't lift their heads, or you chop off their heads directly, otherwise, they won't submit."
Lynd looked at Nymeria and said, "It seems you've dealt with mountain folk before."
Nymeria raised the axe in her hand and said, "Half a year ago, an arrogant mountain folk leader came to be my suitor, and I chopped off his head."
Just as Lynd was about to ask if the mountain folk's village had sought revenge later, he suddenly felt someone observing him, so he turned his head and looked towards the top of the hill where the observation originated.
Nymeria also noticed Lynd's movement and glanced at the top of that hill. Although she saw nothing, she still guessed the reason for Lynd's actions and immediately raised her great axe, shouting loudly, "Alert!"
Following Nymeria's command, the hundred sword-and-shield soldiers from Tumbleton immediately surged forward, protecting Lynd and Nymeria in the center, while the guard, upon seeing Lynd's gesture, quickly charged up the hill, simultaneously drawing their short bows, ready to attack at any moment.
After a while, the guard quickly escorted two people down from the hill. Although the distance was somewhat far, it was still clear that the two people's attire was not like that of Savages or mountain folk, nor were they wildlings.
When the two reached Lynd and Nymeria, before Lynd could speak, they both knelt before them, saying in unison, "Ambassador, Ambassador! We are ambassadors, we are ambassadors!"
Hearing their self-identification, Lynd and Nymeria looked at each other, then Nymeria asked in a deep voice, "Whose ambassadors are you?"
"Our boss's ambassadors," one of them quickly replied.
"Who is your boss?" Nymeria asked again.
"Our boss is our boss." Clearly, the person answering was a bit simple-minded.
Just as Nymeria was about to ask again with some impatience, Lynd stopped her and asked, "What does your boss want you to do?"
"Negotiate, our boss wants to negotiate with Bear Hunter Lynd," one of them replied, his gaze flickering between Lynd and Nymeria, then settling on the noticeably taller and stronger Nymeria, he said, "Our boss wants to negotiate with you, Bear Hunter Lynd."
Seeing the other party's mistaken judgment, Nymeria immediately felt an impulse to cleave him in half with an axe. Then she saw Lynd's smiling face, raised an eyebrow, and asked through gritted teeth, "Is this funny, Bear Hunter Lynd?"
Lynd did not answer the somewhat annoyed Nymeria. He looked at the two bandits in front of him and asked, "How does your boss want to negotiate with us?"
The two looked at each other and said, "Four nights from now, in the valley outside Tumbleton."
"The valley?" Lynd and Nymeria looked at each other, vaguely guessing where this valley was.
The two bandits, thinking they didn't know which valley they were referring to, then pointed out the valley's location in detail. Just as Lynd and Nymeria had thought, this valley was the same one where the remaining members of House Targaryen had previously hidden.
"Release them," Lynd ordered.
The riders released the two bandits. The two bandits looked at Lynd and Nymeria, then hunched their bodies, squeezed through the crowd, and ran like they were escaping towards the nearest patch of woods, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Do you believe they are really ambassadors?" Nymeria asked doubtfully.
Lynd said nonchalantly, "Anyway, there's no loss. They're just two bandits."
"I'll go too that day," Nymeria requested.
Lynd looked at her, nodded, and did not refuse.
Although eight villages were successfully reclaimed, the matter did not end there. Afterward, Nymeria still needed to send people to transport some grain to these villages, and also to assign tasks regarding their employment for road repair and so on.
However, Lynd did not intend to personally manage these matters. Two days later, when he was at his camp, he fully entrusted these responsibilities to Bryn and Jon, and Nymeria's affairs were also handed over to Maester Yves.
Since there were no bandit suppression operations for the time being, Lynd also handed over the army's daily training to Bryn, Raul, and Scarface, while he went to the castle ruins at the top of old Tumbleton to look after Honor, who was currently evolving.
Ten days ago, after Honor consumed food almost equivalent to its size, it fell into a deep sleep. Lynd could sense, through his mental connection with Honor, that Honor's body was undergoing some unpredictable changes.
To avoid unnecessary attention, he sent Honor to the castle ruins at the very top of the hill, had people guard the perimeter of the ruins, and waited for Honor to complete its physical transformation and awaken on its own.
However, ten days had passed, and Honor showed no signs of waking up. If Lynd hadn't been able to sense Honor's condition through their mental connection, he might have already thought something had happened to Honor.
Just as he returned to the camp, he sensed that Honor's physical changes had stopped, and Honor was gradually awakening. This evolution caused by the wraith energy seemed to have ended.
So he put down what he was doing and specifically came to the castle ruins to wait for Honor to wake up.
After this evolution, Honor's size grew again as Lynd had expected. Just lying on the ground, it was already much taller than Lynd's waist. If it stood on all fours, it might be as tall as Lynd's current height. Such a massive creature could already be considered a giant beast.
Such a huge size reminded Lynd of Arya Stark's direwolf Nymeria more than a decade later. It seemed that direwolf later became the wolf king and was active in the Riverlands, and its form was also extraordinarily large.
A large form has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is naturally that it can give people an unimaginably shocking feeling. If this shocking feeling were applied on the battlefield, it might have the effect of turning the tide of battle. The disadvantage is that a larger body is also more easily hit by weapons like arrows, and one might accidentally become a living target.
However, Honor seemed not to need to worry about this, because Lynd stroked Honor's fur and found that Honor's own black and white fur acted as soft armor, capable of defending against certain weapon attacks, and the hide beneath the fur was even more extremely tough; ordinary swords would probably find it difficult to wound it.
Although Honor's physical mutation had stopped, its awakening was very slow. Lynd watched over it for another day and night before it fully awoke.
However, upon waking, it seemed not yet accustomed to its enlarged body. When it saw the much smaller Lynd, its eyes were filled with confusion. It took a long time for it to confirm that Lynd was its master, and it affectionately rubbed its head against Lynd.
However, it clearly underestimated its own strength. When it rubbed against Lynd, it didn't hold back, and it knocked Lynd away. Afterward, it looked at Lynd with a wronged expression, as if complaining that Lynd wasn't being affectionate with it.
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