"I heard about what happened yesterday, and you did well; you didn't disgrace House Tyrell." Garlan slightly raised his head, letting a servant adjust his clothes, and at the same time said to Linde, who was standing nearby, "Bitterbridge is located in the middle section of the Rose Road, guarding the most important bridge. It is a vital area of The Reach, and successive Duke of Highgarden have always highly valued Baron Caswell." Saying this, he turned to look at Linde and said very seriously, "I need you to go see Baron Caswell later and apologize for yesterday's actions with the utmost sincerity, Bear Hunter, do you understand?"
"As you command, Lord Garlan." Linde showed no dissatisfaction, maintaining a calm expression throughout, not taking the apology to heart at all.
"Hmm, you may go now." Garlan nodded, then, as if remembering something, added, "Remember to change your clothes before you go."
Linde nodded and left Garlan's room. However, he did not immediately return to his room to change clothes and go to Bitterbridge Castle to apologize. Instead, as usual, he went to the stables, led out Fotimo's warhorse, brushed it, put on the bridle, and saddled it. Then he went to Fotimo's room to help him organize his armor.
"The arm guard's strap needs to be replaced. Tonight, after we set up camp, take it to the leatherworker to get a new one." When Fotimo tightened the arm guard strap, he saw that it was severely worn and reminded Linde.
"Yes, Lord." Linde nodded, simultaneously tightening the strap on Fotimo's back to ensure the plate armor fit snugly against his body.
"Alright, leave the rest to others! What you need to do now is go to the castle and apologize." Fotimo indicated that it was tight enough, then turned to Linde and said with a serious expression, "You shouldn't have laid hands on Laurent Caswell yesterday. He is destined to be the future Baron of Bitterbridge, and you are just a knight's squire. You are very fortunate to be from House Tyrell, otherwise, given the old man Caswell's character and his Pay attention to for his only heir, he would probably have already sent an army to hunt you down."
Linde did not respond to Fotimo's words. He simply placed the armor cleaning tools on the table, bowed, and withdrew.
After Linde left the room, the servant attending Fotimo spoke, "This boy is, after all, from a hunter's background and doesn't know the gravity of things. Thankfully, Lord Garlan intervened, otherwise…"
The servant's words stopped halfway because Fotimo had turned his head and was looking at him with cold eyes.
"He is my knight's squire, and he may become a knight in the future." Fotimo said with a cold face, "You should address him as Lord, or Lord Linde, not 'this boy'."
"Understood, Lord Fotimo." The servant quickly lowered his head and responded fearfully.
While Fotimo was disciplining the servant, Linde had already returned to his own room, changed into the formal attire House Tyrell had prepared for him, and then walked directly towards Bitterbridge Castle.
Bitterbridge Castle was built by the river, and by connecting its walls to the bridgehead, it became integrated with the stone arch bridge spanning the river.
Last night, when Scholar Holly was teaching the history of Westeros, he specifically talked about the history of Bitterbridge, especially the origin of the name Bitterbridge.
Although the massacre of that year had passed more than two hundred years ago, its impact on this place was still significant. It was said that people living here often heard the screams from the massacre, and some even claimed to see the ghosts of the deceased constantly re-enacting that massacre.
It was precisely because of these ghost legends that the entire Bitterbridge Castle appeared extremely gloomy. The local commoners, fearful at heart, would not choose to build houses near the castle, but rather choose a settlement far from it.
This left a large open space around Bitterbridge Castle, providing an unobstructed view from the city walls.
In Linde's opinion, those ghost legends might have been intentionally spread by successive Barons of Bitterbridge to ensure that there were no obstructions around Bitterbridge Castle, preventing sneak attacks.
For a military stronghold like Bitterbridge Castle, not only did the local House Caswell attach great importance to it, frequently renovating and reinforcing it, but even the Duke of Highgarden and Warden of the South, House Tyrell, also valued it. They would provide various materials to strengthen the castle whenever House Caswell needed them. After so many years of strengthening and reinforcement, Bitterbridge Castle is more of a pure military fortress than a habitable castle. It is extremely difficult to conquer the castle from the outside; one can only do so from within.
These were all thoughts that came to Linde's mind after he entered Bitterbridge Castle and observed his surroundings.
And he himself found it a bit amusing. He currently had no soldiers and no foundation, yet he was thinking about conquering a castle. This was not only because of his inherent tendency to overthink but also due to the influence of the Peace Envoy's memories.
Through continuous training with House Tyrell's guards during this time, the Peace Envoy's energy bar had filled up by nearly three-quarters. Linde felt that the energy bar should be completely full before reaching King's Landing, at which point he might be able to activate another character from Glory.
The progression of the energy bar not only represented the accumulation of experience points but also the fusion of the character's experience and memories he had gained. As this memory fusion occurred, even though Linde had noticed it and taken some countermeasures, he was still inevitably affected. For example, now when he saw a castle, he thought about how to conquer it, and when he saw someone with a weapon, he thought about how to quickly deal with them, and so on.
Fortunately, this influence was still within Linde's acceptable range and could be controlled by him. Otherwise, if the influence continued long-term, Linde could not be certain that his personality would not be completely twisted.
However, this did make Linde a little worried about whether the influence would deepen if another Glory character was activated.
Lost in thought, Linde arrived in the castle hall. At this moment, Almon Caswell was seated on the chair in the middle of the hall, with some commoners of Bitterbridge below him, seemingly dealing with matters of the territory.
Baron Caswell, with his hair already white, looked somewhat frail, but from his sturdy build, it was not difficult to see that he was definitely a powerful warrior in his youth.
As Linde entered the hall, a scholar-dressed person standing beside Almon leaned close to his lord's ear and whispered a few words, seemingly introducing Linde's identity.
"I need to rest for a while. You can come back later to report the remaining matters." Almon raised his hand to interrupt the commoners' report, then motioned for the idle people in the hall to leave, and then waved to Linde, signaling him to come over.
Linde walked over, bowed to Almon, and then, following the etiquette Fotimo had taught him during this period, very solemnly and earnestly apologized for his actions of yesterday and hoped to receive Baron Caswell's forgiveness.
"Bear Hunter Linde, I've heard songs about you, and it's clear you're a lucky fellow to possess such a healthy body, while my child can't even lift a sword," Almon assessed Linde, a long-accumulated lord's prestige settling upon Linde, "You are my guest, and as your host, I provide you with food and safe lodging, yet you harmed my child. My initial thought was to seize you and mince you into paste, but you are, after all, Lord Fotimo's squire. Lord Fotimo and I have a good relationship, and harming you would cause a rift between us. However, I cannot simply let you off so easily, as that would only damage my prestige and cause people to lose their reverence for me."
As he spoke, Almon stood up and walked towards a side door of the hall, motioning for Linde to follow.
The group quickly left the hall, passed through a corridor, and arrived at an open area on one side of the castle.