Chapter 32 Temporarily modified rules

According to common sense, in various events of the tournament, the group competition should be held after the knights' competition. Sometimes, the group competition will not be held, but the knights' mock battle will be held.

However, this martial arts competition is slightly different. The team competition is placed behind the archery competition, and the qualifications of the contestants are relaxed to the limit. That is, as long as they are human and hold weapons in their hands, they can sign up to participate in the group competition. Contest.

Moreover, unlike the previous group competitions where participants held wooden or unbladed weapons provided by the organizer, this time King Robert suddenly announced before the start of the game that contestants could use real weapons with opened blades.

In previous martial arts competitions, group competitions caused the most casualties. Everyone would use warhammers, flails and other extremely lethal blunt weapons. Now allowing the use of real weapons with sharp edges will undoubtedly increase the number of casualties in this group competition. Increased exponentially.

As a result, rumors spread in the wells of King's Landing that King Robert wanted to celebrate the birth of his heir with a blood sacrifice.

Although anyone with a discerning eye would immediately know that the remnants of the Long family were spreading rumors about this statement, they couldn't help but believe it, and there were quite a few people who believed it.

As a result, people who had originally signed up to participate in the team competition found various excuses to withdraw. Before the competition started, the number of people dropped from several thousand to just over a hundred.

However, new participants came in. There were four to five hundred of these people, almost all warriors from the noble families of the Seven Kingdoms. Soon some people analyzed that this was being used by the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms. This group competition is to show King Robert's strength.

The establishment of a new dynasty also represents the establishment of a new order, and the rights of the old and new forces also change at this time. Everyone needs to show their best side in front of the new king in order to occupy a place in the new order. This group competition It is also a continuation of the power struggle in King's Landing this year.

For the ordinary people in King's Landing, for those who traveled thousands of miles to watch this tournament, for those who want to become famous in the tournament, this group competition makes them extremely excited, and they know it very well. Everyone will go all out in this competition, and the level of bloodshed will be unprecedented, which will make them feel extremely excited. They gathered around the competition ground early and even set up a high platform, waiting for the bloody feast to begin.

Outside the tournament, in the temporary camp set up by the Tyrell family, Lind was wearing a guard's leather armor with the help of his attendants, and his weapons were changed from double swords to one-handed swords and daggers.

In the peacemaker's combat memories, two-handed weapons, one long and one short, are the weapons and equipment that can fully demonstrate their strength.

It's just that even though that fighting method is efficient and practical, it is more suitable for one-on-one duels. If there are multiple people fighting, he will be more likely to be attacked from behind if he uses this fighting method.

Fortunately, he has extraordinary senses, which are very effective in defending against sneak attacks. In addition, he is not fighting alone. There are several Tyrell warriors participating in this group competition with him, who can provide him with cover. He solves his opponents more efficiently.

Linde put on his leather armor and weapons. After checking that there were no problems with his body, he temporarily locked Glory in a specially built cast iron cage, and then prepared to leave the tent and join his comrades who were participating in the group competition. , discuss how to cooperate in the competition.

But at this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside the tent, and then Garland and Fortimo were seen walking in with serious faces, followed by several knight attendants holding various metal plate armor parts.

"Quickly, put it on for him and let him get used to the weight of the plate armor as soon as possible." Fortimo directly ordered the attendants without further explanation.

The knight attendants immediately obeyed the instructions and stepped forward to replace the leather armor that Linde had just put on, and then replaced the exquisite and strong plate armor in his hands, adjusting the spacing of each plate armor piece by piece, striving to achieve the best results. When Linde is allowed to perform various actions, there will be no obstacles.

"Lord Garland, Lord Fortimo, what happened? Why did you suddenly change to plate armor? I remember that participants in group competitions are only allowed to wear leather armor?" Linde didn't understand what happened, but he knew two things People shouldn't be harming themselves by doing this, so they asked in confusion.

When Garland and Fertimo heard this, they looked at each other gloomily, as if they didn't know what to say.

Finally, it was Fertimo who explained: "Just now we received news that King Robert made an impromptu decision and ordered that this group competition can wear heavy armor and use edged weapons."

Linde was stunned after hearing this. It was obviously just a group competition that was more of a performance than an actual battle. How could it suddenly turn into a gladiatorial arena with real swords and guns?

Obviously, once real swords and guns are used in a group competition, the casualties will increase exponentially, and the level of bloodshed will be far higher than that of other group competitions. When future generations mention this competition, it will inevitably be labeled as bloody and cruel. It should be mentioned in the book.

However, Linde remembered that there was no such bloody tournament in his previous life, which made him wonder if he had encountered the butterfly effect.

But he quickly rejected this speculation. After all, the variable index that caused the butterfly effect should be very large, but he was still far from reaching that level of variable index.

Just when Lind was in shock, Fortimo and Garland both thought that Lind was frightened by the news. They could understand this. After all, they were also shocked after hearing the news. Presumably the participants The shock was even greater.

"You don't have to worry too much. If you can't survive on the battlefield, just quit. Don't waste your life on a stupid bloody show."

Garland almost explicitly reminded Lind that he could withdraw at any time, and then waved to the attendant beside him, asking him to place the two exquisite steel swords in his hands on the low table next to Lind.

"These two swords were carefully forged by Brother Vilas for me. I plan to use them as swords when I grow up. Now that you need them more, I will leave these two swords to you for the time being."

Linde didn't say anything after hearing this. He picked up one of the steel swords, pulled it out and looked at it.

He had seen the Valyrian steel on the dragon bone dagger and knew that the surface of Valyrian steel would have a very special scale-like pattern, but this sword did not have it. It was obviously just an ordinary steel sword.

But even if this sword is just an ordinary steel sword, it is not comparable to ordinary steel swords. After all, this is a sword carefully crafted by Willas Tyrell for his younger brother. The quality of the steel used is far superior to other materials. Not as good as Valyrian steel, but not by much.

The only flaw is that these two steel swords are normal half-hand swords, which are much lighter than the wide-bladed half-hand swords that Linde is accustomed to. Moreover, because the sword body is not thick enough, it will collapse when resisting attacks. danger of breakage.

The advantage also exists, that is, these two swords are sharp enough to pierce even ordinary thickness of plate armor. With these two swords, Linde can more easily display his weakness attack.

"Does everyone else know that the rules have changed?" Linde asked.

"Already know." Garland nodded and said: "This group competition has completely deviated from the normal scope. It is no longer a simple group competition. It also involves some things that I can't figure out now, so Even if the Tyrell family loses in this group competition, it cannot be too ugly. The people you selected are no longer suitable. They have all been replaced and replaced by my father's Duke's Guards and the people who lead them. It's Sir Salif, Captain of the Guard."

Fertimo also intervened and said: "Although Sir Salif's swordsmanship is not as good as mine, it is not much worse, and the Duke's Guard was trained by him. I believe they can cooperate well in the battle. You don't have to worry about the substitution." Affect combat effectiveness.”

Although it is a good thing for the Tyrell family to switch to the more powerful Duke's Guard, it is bad news for Lind, because after the replacement, the command will undoubtedly fall to If Sir Salif is killed, the Duke's Guards will never cooperate with him in attack and defense. He can only find opportunities to attack by himself. They will not help him defend when he is attacked, so the danger he faces is much greater. .

Although Linde wanted to change this decision, he also knew very well that his position could not change anything. Since he could not change it, he could only make things move in a direction that was beneficial to him.

So, Lind asked: "Can I form a separate team instead of joining the Duke's Guard led by Sir Salif?"

"Why?" Garland was stunned and asked in confusion: "It will be safer if you join the Duke's Guard."

"No, you should form a team alone!" On the contrary, Fortimo agreed with Lind's decision and said: "If you join the Duke Guard's queue, it will definitely affect their performance, and if something unexpected happens, you will be very vulnerable." possible……"

Halfway through the words, Fertimo stopped talking, but both Linde and Garland understood what the latter meant. It was nothing more than to shield Linde, or to blame Linde for the failure after the competition failed. body.

Garland couldn't say anything about this, because this was a common problem among nobles, and he couldn't change anything. However, as a member of the vested interests, having this unspoken rule pointed out so straightforwardly by Fertimo still made him feel... He was a little embarrassed, and his face naturally didn't look too good.

As for Lind, he didn't think that much at first. He just wanted to prevent the Duke's Guard from hindering his own performance. But now after hearing what Fortimo said, he felt that he needed to perform well enough in group competitions to make it difficult for people to find him. If you don't have an excuse, you may actually become the scapegoat for failure.

During the period when several people were silent, the attendants helped Linde put on the plate armor completely, and let Linde move a bit to see if the adjustment was in place.

Because it was a matter of safety, Linde was not polite. After performing several very difficult movements and sword swings, he ordered his attendants to adjust the positions of the chest armor and shoulder armor, and added two more pieces to the arm armor. strap to prevent it from falling off easily.

After making adjustments, he tested it again and nodded with satisfaction.

"This set of plate armor belongs to my nephew, but he died in the Usurper War, so this set of plate armor fell into my hands." Fortimo looked at the plate armor on Linde with inexplicable emotion. Said: "You need it urgently now, so I will take it out for you to use, but after using it, you must remember to wipe it clean and return it."

"Isn't this set of plate armor given to me?" Linde asked.

Fertimo didn't say anything, he just looked at Linde as if he were a fool.

Linde smiled awkwardly, and then asked: "Everyone else has been replaced, why haven't I been replaced?"

"I begged for your place." Fotimo said solemnly, "I hope you won't resent me and put you in danger."

Linde smiled and said: "No, how can I resent you, sir? This is what I hope. I should be grateful to you."

For Linde, this group competition is an opportunity, an opportunity to improve his status as quickly as possible.

Robert Baratheon temporarily changed the rules of the group competition, which means that he has special thoughts about this group competition. It is not difficult to guess that the Lord of the Iron Throne will definitely come to watch the competition in person.

If Lind can perform well by then, it is very likely that he will rise to the top and be knighted by Robert Baratheon himself, just like the great bear Jorah Mormont because of his role in the subsequent Iron Islands Rebellion. For his heroic performance, he was knighted by Robert Baratheon.

You must know that Big Bear's canonization directly bypassed his lord, Duke Ed, for canonization, which is somewhat unethical.

However, it can also be seen that Robert Baratheon will not abide by the rules once he encounters something he likes, and Lind is the one who needs to not accept the rules. Robert is like this, and so is Littlefinger, because this is the only way Only then could he allow himself to climb up in the aristocratic system wrapped up in layers of rules and laws.

Therefore, his gratitude to Fotimo was not to be sarcastic, but to truly appreciate the other person for giving him an excellent opportunity.

After that, Lind put the two swords lent to him by Garland on his waist, and then carefully checked the equipment on his body. After confirming that there was no problem, he left the tent and came to the open space around the edge of the competition field. Standing with the Duke's Guards who were already waiting there.

At this moment, in addition to the Tyrell family, the Lannister family, the Arryn family, the Tully family, the Martell family and other famous families in Westeros have all sent people to wait for the competition. around the field.

The numbers of people sent by these great lords are all the same. Counting the commanders, there are a total of twenty-one people. It seems that it should be a restriction imposed by King Robert.

In addition to these great lords, there are also some martial nobles who plan to participate in this competition. These people are also accompanied by seven or eight people. The total number of people in the entire competition field is six to seven hundred.

Although six or seven hundred people are a lot, because when the open space for the competition field was opened before, it was opened for thousands of people, so even if all six or seven hundred people were placed in the competition field, it would not feel crowded.

Although all the participants of the group competition have arrived, there is no sign of the competition starting yet, as if they are still waiting for something.

At this time, Salif Jueji approached Linde and said, "Boy, I don't know what the relationship is between that guy Fotimo and you, and why he insists on letting you participate in this dangerous competition, but I can tell you clearly, Even if you are in danger, I will not ask anyone to rescue you. It is best for you to withdraw from the beginning, so as not to die in vain in this boring battle and damage the reputation of the Tyrell family. "

Faced with Salif's so-called kind reminder, Lind just smiled and walked away alone. He did not stand with the Duke Guards, but stood alone on the sidelines, which made him stand out among the participants. protrude.

At this moment, there was a sudden commotion in the distance, and then the crowd dispersed on both sides, and then a tall warrior holding a warhammer and wearing a deer helmet led a group of Baratheon warriors over. .