The sword fight at the New Barrel City encampment left a very deep impression on Scholar Holly, coupled with Bear Hunter's reputation and Linde's identity as a hunter, causing him to subconsciously equate Linde with the noble students he had previously taught.
However, after teaching Linde for a few days, he discovered that Linde was completely different from his previous students. Linde showed extraordinary enthusiasm for all the knowledge he taught. Every day, in addition to the planned lessons, Linde would even ask him about knowledge outside the curriculum. Later, he even engaged in some academic discussions with him about the content of the lessons, and sometimes Scholar Holly could not answer some of the questions Linde raised during these discussions.
However, what truly astonished Scholar Holly was the learning ability Linde displayed. Almost all the knowledge he taught only needed to be explained once, and Linde had already fully grasped it. Books only needed to be read once, and he had already completely memorized them, which gave Scholar Holly the illusion that a Sphinx resided within Linde.
"You should go to the Citadel!" This became Scholar Holly's daily mantra.
This matter quickly reached Garlan's ears, and after confirming that Linde indeed possessed extremely high learning ability, he allowed Linde to borrow the books he carried for travel, though only one at a time.
Linde's astonishing learning ability once again caused a considerable stir in the party, though this time the commotion was much less than the sensation created when the party members learned he was Bear Hunter Linde upon leaving New Barrel City.
On that day, after the sword fight with Fotimo, all the nobles, soldiers, servants, stablemen, and others in the party speculated about Linde's identity. Although among the various guesses, some people guessed "Bear Hunter" because Linde used two swords, this guess was the first to be dismissed due to Linde's age and physique being vastly different from the public's perception of the Bear Hunter.
As a result, the next day, when Garlan very publicly announced that Bear Hunter Linde had joined House Tyrell before the party set off, everyone realized that Linde was the legendary figure praised in the bards' songs.
After the initial shock, the people in the party accepted Linde's inclusion and welcomed him greatly. After all, there were various dangers on the way to King's Landing, and having another powerful warrior like Linde meant an extra layer of safety.
In the more than a month they had spent together since then, Linde had not encountered any instances of being deliberately difficult or having his abilities questioned. After all, his sword fight with Fotimo that day had already shown the party how strong he was, and discerning people could also see that Garlan Tyrell highly valued Linde. Therefore, whether nobles, guards, or servants, all showed Linde sufficient respect, and some even deliberately tried to befriend him.
However, some of these deliberate attempts at friendship were the individuals' own ideas, while others were instructed by someone else. So, during this time, both Fotimo and Garlan secretly observed Linde's performance to see if he would get lost in these sweet words.
However, Linde's performance satisfied them greatly. When faced with deliberate attempts at friendship, he acted as naturally and casually as a true noble, not becoming arrogant or conceited because of these flattering words. Instead, he was more like a humble student, learning various knowledge and skills from everyone around him, such as how to feed horses from stablemen, how to maintain armor and weapons from warriors, and what etiquette to observe when facing nobles of different statuses from servants, and so on.
However, what pleased Garlan and Fotimo the most was Linde's highly disciplined character. Everything he did each day was clearly planned, and his entire life rhythm followed his schedule. This highly disciplined character made them inevitably think of Lord Randyll Tarly.
For ordinary people in the party, Linde's highly disciplined character was not particularly endearing, but it earned him extra respect. Compared to Linde's character, his displayed combat prowess attracted them more.
Because Fotimo's training of Linde was basically hands-off, Linde could only follow his original plan to conduct targeted training on his physique and combat ability. Physical training could be done alone, but practical combat ability required others' cooperation. Thus, Linde's daily combat training became a fixed entertainment time for the party, as Linde's practical combat was not one-on-one, but one-against-many.
From the initial four people, to later five, then six, Linde had completely adapted to this one-against-many combat style. Later, perhaps feeling that increasing the number of people no longer brought training benefits, he had the sparring soldiers wear armor, hold shields and spears, and form combat formations to fight him. Only then did he feel pressure again, and he even almost got defeated by the sparring soldiers several times.
For the rest of the party, being able to watch exciting battles every day added a touch of interest to the otherwise somewhat monotonous march. They would always gather around the training ground, cheering for Linde and the sparring soldiers. Some maidservants would even throw wildflowers picked from the roadside at their crushes when the training ended, and Linde, naturally, received the most flowers.
Through repeated practical combat training, Linde's formidable combat power subtly influenced these warriors. The respect he received also grew day by day. Even though he was only a squire, his influence in House Rose's party was far greater than that of an ordinary knight.
This also caused some knights and nobles to feel a sense of jealousy towards Linde. These people had tried to speak ill of Linde to Garlan, but to no avail. And this time, Linde's absence from the Bitterbridge Castle banquet was more or less related to these people; otherwise, even if a squire's qualifications were somewhat low, he would have been able to take a seat in a corner of the banquet hall.
Linde did not care about not attending the castle banquet, at least not as much as the jealous knights and nobles thought. After having dinner at the party's camp, he went alone to a flat area in the small town outside the castle for his daily throwing practice.
The Peace Envoy's combat experience included the skill of throwing weapons. This skill could achieve surprising results in one-on-one duels, but it was not suitable for group combat.
However, Linde, thinking that practice had no downside, would also take time to train this ability.
However, after a period of training, Linde felt he had underestimated this ability. He discovered that this throwing ability could produce unusual effects in both single combat and battlefield group combat. The only change he needed to make was not to throw his melee weapons, but to throw small weapons and hidden weapons he carried, such as throwing knives, short axes, and short spears.
Unfortunately, among the personnel accompanying the party, there were only leatherworkers, no blacksmiths. Linde could not forge throwing weapons according to his ideas and could only borrow a few daggers and short axes from the warriors in the party for practice.
Although it was night and there was no firelight around, because there were no clouds in the sky and the moonlight shone down, Linde could still see his surroundings clearly, which had no impact on his practice. Moreover, he could also take the opportunity to practice night combat.
After repeatedly hitting the marked positions on the trees in front with daggers and short axes, Linde felt that continuing this practice would not have much effect. He needed to increase the difficulty, such as throwing moving targets.
Just as Linde was contemplating the next training method, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from not far away.
Ever since he met the Faceless Men, Linde had consciously trained the sensory abilities of his various organs, instead of passively enjoying the talents produced by the physical changes after his rebirth. Although the training time was short, it had already shown initial results.
Relying on the training during this period, Linde quickly determined the approximate build of the approaching person by the lightness and frequency of their footsteps. Then, he turned his head to look in the direction of the sound and a satisfied smile appeared on his face when he saw that the height and build of the approaching person matched his estimation.
There were two approaching figures. One was a House Tyrell guard warrior named Raul, who had frequently sparred with Linde recently and was one of the people Linde had a good relationship with.
The other person was dressed in a Bitterbridge guard uniform. He was very tall, half a head taller than Linde, and not much older, probably around Linde's age. However, his body was very robust, with arm and upper body muscles straining his clothes. Additionally, to make himself look more mature, he had grown some beard, but it was very sparse, looking more like a baby's lanugo.