Chapter 121 Baron

"You have done a good job, letting others see the power of our Reach." In the manor arranged by Duke Tywin for the Tyrell family, Duke Mace summoned all the vassals of the Reach together.

The Rowan family, the Kliann family, the Fossoway family of Cider Hall, the Fossoway family of New Barrel City, the Tully family, the Hightower family and the Redwyne family, etc., are the family lords and knights who participated in this rebellion. They were all summoned to the hall of the manor.

Linde was naturally one of the people summoned, but unlike other knights who could only wait in the courtyard outside the hall to be summoned by the Duke of Metz, Linde entered the hall together with the patriarchs and lords of each family. Apart from those attendants, he was the only one who was a knight.

During these days of banquets, Linde had already gotten to know all the lords and dignitaries of the various families present. Except for the Hightowers and the Redwines, who had a slightly better relationship with him, the other families had a better relationship with him. They were all casual acquaintances, but the knights from these families had a good relationship with him. Perhaps the idol worship factor played some role.

It is no exaggeration to say that Lind has now become the spiritual leader of the Knights of the Reach. No matter which family the knights are in, they all respect him, especially when he shows his own strength in teaching the knights fighting skills. , making these Reach knights worship him even more.

Lind was placed in the middle of the hall, next to Randyll Tarly.

Although Randyll Tarly was the commander-in-chief of the southern counter-rebellion coalition, his position as commander-in-chief was relieved after the end of the counter-rebellion. Now Randyll Tarly is only the Earl of Horn Hill. According to the size and strength of his territory, he can only He was considered to be at the middle level of many river lords, so it was not surprising to be placed in the middle of the queue.

After Lind came to Lannisport, he immediately went to see Randyll Tarly, who was also nominally his superior.

Randyll Tully also had a somewhat complicated mood after meeting Lind. At first, Lind's impression on him was not very good, but as Lind led two thousand cavalry to attack thousands of miles, he rescued five cities and broke through. He fought against tens of thousands of enemies and made military exploits one after another. His impression of Linde gradually changed, especially when he learned through other channels that Linde was strict in running the army and was a disciplined man. This also doubled his favorable impression of Linde.

It wasn't until he met Lind in person that although Randyll Tully acted businesslike due to some concerns, he admired Lind very much in his heart, and deep down he couldn't help but lament that if his son It would be nice to have one-tenth of Linde's ability.

Therefore, when Lind was placed next to him, Randyll Tully reminded Lind in a low voice with a hint of kindness, saying: "You must be mentally prepared and don't make a fool of yourself later."

"Huh?" Lind couldn't help but froze when he heard Randyll Tully's reminder, and looked over in confusion, but Randyll Tully didn't speak anymore.

At this time, the Duke of Metz also began to announce some of his rewards to his subordinate lords.

The reward for fighting the rebellion is not directly awarded by King Robert to the subordinate lords of the Seven Kingdoms. He will only reward the guardian dukes directly according to the division of the seven kingdoms. Subsequent rewards will be given by the respective dukes to their subordinate vassals. Promulgate, and then proceed in sequence until the lowest position of noble knight.

As for ordinary soldiers, they are not included in the rewards, but some noble lords are generous and will distribute some rewards to them. The soldiers' main income comes from plundering, and whoever robs them belongs to them.

Linde's practice of not allowing private plunder, collecting the loot uniformly, and then distributing part of the loot to the soldiers was very rare.

The main reason why the Duke of Metz gave rewards to subordinate lords who participated in the war in advance was because he already knew how generous King Robert's rewards were to the Reach this time, so he had no worries and gave his own rewards in advance. , to show generosity.

After the Duke of Metz announced that Randyll Tarly's reward was to be exempted from all taxes on the Horn Tomb for three years and ten thousand gold dragons, everyone's eyes in the hall fell on Lind, who was the last person in the hall. One who has not yet been rewarded.

"Linde Terra, come forward." Duke Metz said to Linde solemnly.

After hearing this, Linde already had the answer in his heart and stepped forward to the front of the queue.

"More than a year ago, when we were in King's Landing, I said that as long as someone could clean up the banditry north of Bitter Bridge, I would reward him with a manor and a village. Now you have done it." The Duke of Mace looked complicated. Looking at Linde, he said: "However, you have done far more than I expected. A manor and a village alone are no longer enough as your reward."

As he spoke, he looked at everyone in the hall, and finally his eyes returned to Linde. Then he took out a parchment scroll from his side and handed it to Linde. At the same time, he said: "I am now the Guardian of the South and the Guardian of the Border." In the name of the Lord, Duke of Highgarden, and Supreme Commander of the Reach, you canonize Ser Lynd Terra as a baronet, and grant the land around Red Hope in the Crimson Mountains as your territory. His descendants will inherit this honor for generations. I hope you can continue Do your best for the honor of the Reach."

"Thank you, Sir." Linde, who had been mentally prepared, acted very calmly, but his hand trembled slightly when he took the commission scroll, showing his inner uneasiness.

In fact, not to mention that he was not calm, even the many lords present were not very calm. Whether they were those who knew in advance that Linde would be canonized as a lord, or those who did not know about it, they all agreed. uttered an exclamation of exclamation.

You must know that with this canonization, Linde can be said to have crossed two entire classes. From a knight, to a propertied knight, to a titled noble, and to a lord with a territory, you must know that what ordinary knight families want It may take a hundred or even hundreds of years to cross these two levels.

However, Linde went from an ordinary hunter to a lord in less than two years, which shocked everyone.

As the news that Lind became the lord spread from the hall to the courtyard outside, the knights of the Riverbend who heard the news all showed complex expressions on their faces, including envy, admiration, shock and jealousy.

Although they had already guessed that Lind would receive a big reward when he was brought into the hall by his attendants, they never imagined that the reward would be so generous and that he would directly become the lord, even if they did not know that Lind Where is the territory and what is the situation, but the fact of becoming a baron lord is enough for them to find it incredible.

But then some of them who were careful discovered that the achievement of canonizing Linde as baron lord was not the counter-insurgency attack, but the mission of clearing out the bandits north of Kuqiao. It was just that the reward of that mission changed from a manor and village to It became a territory, and the title was changed from a landed knight to a baron.

This is even more incomprehensible to everyone. They don't think that such merit can lead to a territory.

At this time, people who knew geography quickly discovered that the territory given to Lind was not in the Reach, but in the Dorne Frontier, and it was on the other side of Dorne and the Stormlands, and the Reach. Separated by the Crimson Mountains, it is a complete enclave.

Now that land is all occupied by the lords of Stormland and Dorne. It is basically impossible for anyone to establish a foothold there, build a castle, and control the territory.

After learning the true situation of the territory that Linde obtained, everyone's doubts were eliminated, and the jealousy and envy were also reduced a lot. In the eyes of many people, it was better to obtain the territory that was beyond their control. , it would be better to get a manor and village that you can control.

Similar to the mood of the knights in the courtyard, the lords who had not been greeted by the Duke of Metz in advance also no longer questioned Linde's reward after learning about the situation in Linde's territory, and even sympathized with Linde.

In their opinion, Linde did possess miraculous combat power, but managing the territory was not something that could only be achieved by having strong enough combat power. Most of them did not think that Linde could gain a foothold in that chaotic land.

At this time, the Duke of Metz said to Lind again: "This is just a reward for your mission of suppressing bandits. As for the military merit reward for countering the rebellion this time, I will not award it to you. King Robert will award it to you personally. The specifics are I don’t know the contents of the reward, I’ll have to wait until the celebration banquet in the evening.”

Hearing the words of the Duke of Metz, all the lords were stunned, because King Robert had exceeded his authority by doing this. Even if he was the king, he should not directly reward the vassals of the Duke of Metz for military merit.

The Duke of Metz should refuse such a rude request. However, seeing that there was no angry expression on the face of the Duke of Metz, they vaguely guessed that King Robert should have given the Tyrell family a lot of money for this matter. Advantage, otherwise, no matter how weak and confused the Duke of Metz is, he will not agree to such a thing.

Linde was also surprised by the Duke of Metz's words. He originally thought that by canonizing him as a baron and giving him territory, that would be the end of it. His counter-rebellion achievements would also be included in it, but now it seems that he is still There will be other benefits.

"Your Majesty, the old Duchess wants to see Lord Linde." A maid of Olenna Redwin entered the hall from the side door, saluted everyone, and said to the Duke of Metz.

The Duke of Metz obviously knew about this. He nodded slightly and said to Linde: "Sir Linde, please go over now! Don't keep my mother waiting."

"Yes, sir." Linde bowed and saluted, then followed the maid and walked towards the courtyard of the women's family in the backyard of the manor.

When entering the courtyard, Garland, who had been waiting at the entrance for a long time, greeted Linde. He had not seen him for more than a year. Garland had grown a lot in height, and the baby fat on his face had also disappeared, becoming It has sharp edges and corners, and has some masculine temperament.

"Long time no see, Lord Garland!" Lind was also very grateful to the second son of the Duke who dragged him into the Tyrell family. It can be said that if Garland did not drag him into the Tyrell family that day, but instead If he joins the Klein family in Fortimo as he originally planned, then he may not have achieved what he has now, and the power in his hands will not grow so fast.

Seeing that Linde did not change his attitude towards him because of his change of identity, Garland could not suppress a satisfied smile on his face, and knocked Linde's breastplate very intimately, and then looked at Linde. With the sword of the Homeless Knight on his waist, De said: "It's really you. I haven't seen you for more than a year, and you actually made such a set of armor and sword. If you hadn't taken off your helmet, I wouldn't have recognized it at all." You came."

Linde said easily: "If you want to build such a set of armor, I can give you the design drawings."

"Forget it, this armor is already very heavy just by looking at it, let alone wearing it. Even if it's made, it's just a decoration. I'm not that luxurious yet." Garland curled his lips. He followed the waiting maid and said, "You can leave now. I will take Mr. Linde to see grandma."

"Yes, Master Garland." After hearing this, the maid turned and left.

Garland led Lind towards the courtyard. At this time, many ladies from various lords and nobles who had come to the banquet with the Tyrell family were chatting with their companions and looking at Lind curiously.

Garland reminded Lind in a low voice on the way, saying, "My grandma sometimes doesn't sound very nice when she speaks. You can just be patient and get over it later."

"I know." Linde responded with a smile. In fact, Garland didn't need to remind him. He also knew the Queen of Thorns' razor-sharp mouth.

"Look who's here! Our Chosen One!" When the two of them arrived at a large terrace overlooking the bay of Lannisport, they heard an old voice speaking from the crowd.

Immediately afterwards, a group of noble ladies from different families in the Reach stepped aside, revealing the Queen of Thorns who had been surrounded by everyone before.

When he sent Willas to Dorne before, Lind passed Highgarden twice. He had never seen the Queen of Thorns in those two times, but this was normal. After all, how could a knight easily see the family member of a noble? arrive.

If it hadn't been for the Queen of Thorns' request this time, I'm afraid it would be impossible for Linde to see her this time.

The Queen of Thorns was thinner than Lind expected. It felt like a gust of wind from the bay could blow her away, but her eyes looked very sharp. They were eyes that were sophisticated and could see through people's hearts. Even Linde couldn't look into his eyes for long.

"Good afternoon, Lady Olenna." Lind stepped forward and saluted the Queen of Thorns.

The Queen of Thorns looked at Linde up and down, her eyes paused on the dragon headdress on Linde's helmet, and said: "Good afternoon, Sir Linde Terra, oh, that's wrong, I should call you Linde Terra now." Lord Baron."

Linde responded with a smile: "In front of you, this is just a title. I think for you, a knight, a baron, or even a duke are all the same."

The Queen of Thorns couldn't help being stunned after hearing this, and then laughed. Garland also looked at Linde in surprise. The eyes of other female family members around him also fell on Linde. It was obvious that someone could speak so relaxedly in front of the Queen of Thorns. Not that often.

"Come here! My child, let me take a look at you. As people get older, their eyes get worse. If you stay far away, you can't see clearly." The Queen of Thorns muttered like an ordinary old lady: "They are one by one. They all like to stand far away so that I can't see them clearly, but they don't know that people who can't see clearly have better ears. Just from the sound of their voices, I know who they are. Don't try to hide it from anyone. Pass me."

Lind listened to the Queen of Thorns' muttering and walked up to her.

"He looks very ordinary, much worse than my grandson." The Queen of Thorns looked at Linde, reached out and patted Linde's leg, and said, "But the body is very strong, which is good. It can make women pregnant and give birth. A lot, Baron Terra, you haven’t been engaged to anyone yet, right?”