For some reason, when he thought of a knight, the sturdy figure of Linde, the knight's squire, couldn't help but appear in Garlan's mind.
Thinking of this, Garlan closed the book in his hand, picked up the bell on the small table beside him, and shook it. After the servant outside the tent came in, he ordered, "Please invite Lord Fotimo. I have something to ask him."
The servant responded and exited the tent. After a while, Fotimo Crane, soaked through, walked in from outside.
Fotimo took the towel offered by the servant, wiped the rain from his body, and then asked Garlan, "My Lord, did you call me for something?"
Garlan said casually, "Nothing important, just wanted to ask how our Bear Hunter is doing? Is he accustomed to being in the scout team?"
Upon hearing this, Fotimo recalled the relevant information he had received from the scout team leader, and a satisfied smile involuntarily appeared on his face. He then reported all the information he knew about Linde in the scout team to Garlan.
After listening, Garlan's face showed a hint of disappointment. Although Linde's previous actions had almost caused him great trouble, he still liked Linde's flamboyant and confident personality. But now that Linde had gone to the scout team, it was as if a pearl had turned into dust and returned to ordinariness. All the flamboyance and confidence had disappeared, replaced only by adherence to rules, with the only constant being his almost strict self-discipline.
"Did I make a mistake by putting him in the scout team?" Garlan asked hesitantly.
Fotimo replied, "No, your decision was very correct."
Garlan frowned and said, "But I feel like he's become unremarkable since he went to the scout team."
"Unremarkable?" Fotimo's face was completely bewildered. He truly didn't understand why Garlan would think Linde's performance in the scout team was unremarkable, because in his opinion, even if he himself had been demoted to the scout team, his performance would definitely not be better than Linde's.
Fotimo had originally thought Linde would be depressed for a few days because of his demotion from knight's squire to scout team, but Linde showed no signs of depression at all. Moreover, on the second day, he had already completely sidelined the scout team leader's authority with the prestige he had established earlier. After that, he even improved the scout team's method of investigating enemies, greatly increasing the efficiency of the scout team in scouting ahead.
Afterward, many guard warriors even voluntarily joined Linde's scout team. With Fotimo's intentional relaxation, Linde also successfully selected suitable candidates from the guard warriors and formed a scout team completely centered around him.
This kind of performance in no way seemed unremarkable. At least in Fotimo's past experience, he had never seen any teenager who could compare with Linde in terms of adaptability and work ability.
Garlan was, after all, only ten years old. Even if the education he received was excellent, some of his thoughts still seemed naive. He couldn't fully see how outstanding Linde's performance in the scout team was, so he began to regret the punishment decision he had made in New Barrel City. Thus, he tentatively asked Fotimo, "Should I transfer Linde back to your side? I feel that continuing to keep him in the scout team might ruin a potential knight."
Fotimo was stunned. Just as he was about to explain to Garlan how outstanding Linde's performance in the scout team was and that there was no need to worry about ruining a potential knight, a sudden commotion came from outside.
Garlan and Fotimo's expressions immediately became serious. At Garlan's signal, Fotimo turned and lifted the tent flap, and both looked outside.
They saw that the knights and nobles in the hall were no longer gathered around the burning bonfire. Instead, they were all at the entrance of the hall, looking out, as if there was something miraculous outside.
Immediately after, some scout team soldiers were seen carrying various game into the hall, then placing the game in the middle of the hall. Soon, these game animals piled up into a small mountain.
"It must be Linde's scout team returning from hunting. It looks like they had a good haul," Fotimo said, looking at the pile of game in front.
"Go! Call the Bear Hunter. I want to know how he managed to hunt so much game in this weather?" Seeing so much game, Garlan also became excited. He instructed his servant, then added, "There's too much game. Leave only one wild boar and one deer. After the other game is roasted, send it to the camp outside for the family's guard warriors to eat."
"Yes, Young Master," Garlan's personal attendant replied, then immediately instructed the other attendants to process the game and found the scout team, who were preparing to leave the hall, to inform them of Garlan's order.
"Why is it you? Where is the Bear Hunter?" Garlan waited in the tent for a while, and when he saw that the person who came in was the scout team leader, with a scout following behind him, he frowned and said, "Is he still complaining that I demoted him to the scout team and doesn't want to see me?"
"No, it's not," Before the scout team leader could speak, the scout behind him quickly interjected, "Lord Linde didn't come back with us."
"Is he Linde's subordinate?" Garlan looked at the speaking scout and asked.
The scout captain quickly said, "Yes, his name is Raoul. He was selected by Lord Linde from the guard warriors when the scout team was expanded some time ago. He's skilled and is now Lord Linde's capable assistant."
"Why didn't Linde come back with you? Did he discover any danger in the forest?" Garlan asked again.
Raoul immediately replied, "No, Lord Linde went after a Shadow Lynx."
"After a Shadow Lynx?" Garlan and Fotimo were both stunned.
Raoul then quickly recounted their encounter with the Shadow Lynx on the road, and also mentioned their speculation on the road that Linde intended to complete ten hunting trials to become a legendary hunter.
After listening to Raoul's words, a look of excitement also appeared on Garlan's face. After all, pursuing ancient trials and becoming a legend in the world was something he had only read about in books, and now it was actually happening before him. How could he not feel excited?
However, amidst his excitement, he also felt a hint of embarrassment, because just a moment ago, he had thought Linde was unremarkable in the scout team, but in a flash, Linde caused such a stir. This undoubtedly made his previous judgment seem so foolish and short-sighted.