It must have been Garlan who made arrangements before leaving; Linde was not assigned to the patrol and guard teams, but was given a separate order to pick a few clever individuals from the team to go into various areas of King's Landing to gather all sorts of information.
During the Usurper War, Duke Tywin's sack of King's Landing severely damaged House Tyrell's previously established intelligence network in the city, and in the year since, Hand of the King Jon Arryn, along with Master of Whisperers Varys, cleared out all intelligence strongholds of various factions within King's Landing, which naturally included House Tyrell's intelligence network.
Therefore, although House Tyrell cannot be said to be completely ignorant of the situation in King's Landing, they do not know much, and most of what they do know is already public information.
And Duke Mace Tyrell is extremely unreliable; in this past year, he has not thought about actively collecting intelligence on King's Landing at all. For him, attending various banquets daily and befriending the new nobles of House Baratheon is his top priority.
As a result, House Tyrell is currently completely unaware of the situation in King's Landing and does not know how to proceed. Therefore, Garlan's visit to King's Landing this time, in addition to participating in the martial arts tournament, should also be to follow the Thorn Queen's directive to restore the intelligence network.
If Linde had not appeared, Garlan would have had to rely on Fotimo to collect intelligence. However, Fotimo, as Highgarden's drillmaster and The Reach's swordmaster, also has a considerable reputation in King's Landing, which makes him too conspicuous in the eyes of interested parties, making it unfavorable for intelligence gathering.
However, now there is a more suitable candidate. In Garlan's view, Linde's abilities are no worse than Fotimo's. Moreover, Linde's reputation as Bear Hunter is currently only known in The Reach; in King's Landing, he is just an unknown ordinary House Tyrell soldier, so his intelligence gathering will not attract the attention of interested parties.
Garlan clearly attaches great importance to intelligence gathering. Not only did he give Linde his salary for the month in advance, but he also gave him an additional thirty gold dragons, one hundred silver stags, and eight hundred copper stars as operational funds, and even gave him the right to select personnel, essentially treating him as a temporary Master of Whisperers.
Linde did not stand on ceremony. He picked ten people from the team whom he considered clever, including Raul. After that, he did not plan to take the ten people into the city all at once. Instead, he directly distributed the operational funds Garlan gave him among the ten people, keeping only twenty gold dragons and some silver stags and copper stars for himself. Then, he had them enter the city in groups of two or three from different city gates and scout for information in different districts. As for himself, he partnered with Raul and took the closest Lion Gate.
"I can't believe I'm back in King's Landing. I thought I'd never come here again in my life." As they passed through the Lion Gate, Raul looked up at the wide gate, then at the stone lion sculptures on both sides of the drawbridge, and couldn't help but sigh.
Hearing Raul's sigh, Linde, while stuffing the cut meat into the cloth pouch on his chest to feed Glory, asked curiously, "You've been to King's Landing before?"
"Yes, I came here a few years ago with Baron Bulin's merchant caravan," Raul nodded and said, "At that time, the Mad King was still on the Iron Throne, the Duke of the North had not yet been burned to death, the new king was still just the adopted son of Jon Arryn, Duke of the Vale, and the woman I loved had not yet opened her legs to another man."
Linde heard this, and his eyes looked at Raul with a hint of deeper meaning, feeling that this veteran from House Tyrell was a man with a story.
After the two entered the city, Linde handed over the navigation to Raul, who had been to King's Landing before.
However, he soon discovered that this decision was a mistake, because after Raul led them to a crossroads, he no longer knew which way to go.
"Didn't you say you'd been here a few years ago?" Linde asked with a puzzled expression.
Raul said helplessly, "Yes! I've been here, but at that time I only walked around the Fisherman's Plaza at Dung Gate and never came here."
Linde felt that partnering with Raul was a complete mistake, but now this mistake was irreversible, so he could only bite the bullet and continue.
He glared at Raul, who was giving an awkward smile, took a deep breath, suppressed the irritation in his heart, and then looked around. At this moment, he saw some children playing on the street not far away, so he walked over.
When the group of children saw a strange strong man carrying a weapon approaching, they all stopped playing, then gathered together, looking at Linde warily.
Coming before the children, Linde very directly took out a handful of copper stars from his pocket, held them in his hand, and said, "Whoever can tell me where the most crowded tavern nearby is and how to get there, these copper stars are theirs."
To Linde's surprise, this group of children did not scramble to answer his question to get the copper stars in his hand, as he knew ordinary children would. Instead, they looked at each other, then all looked at one child among them who was neither the oldest nor the strongest, seemingly waiting for that child to make a decision.
That child walked out of the crowd and came before Linde, saying, "My Lord, if you want to find a crowded tavern nearby, you can go to Old Cripple's Insole. The blacksmiths, shoemakers, and other craftsmen nearby all like to go there for a couple of drinks when they are resting." He paused, then continued, "However, I think you're looking for a crowded tavern not because you like to listen to those people brag when they're drunk. You probably want to hear other more interesting fresh news, so I recommend you go to the taverns and brothels on Silk Street. The important figures from the Red Keep like to go there when they have nothing to do."
Hearing of the brothels on Silk Street, Raul's breathing behind Linde also quickened a bit. Even in Highgarden, the brothels on Silk Street were extremely famous, and Raul's first wish before coming to King's Landing was to spend a night in a brothel on Silk Street.
However, Raul's hopes were destined to be dashed. After listening to the child's words, Linde shook his head and said, "No need for brothels. Just tell me which tavern meets my requirements."
"Todd's Pumpkin, this is the best tavern in King's Landing. Almost all big merchants and nobles who come to King's Landing will sit there when they have time, and then taste the fine wine from Arbor and the delicacies from across the Narrow Sea. Just sitting there casually costs one gold dragon," the child looked at Linde and Raul, saw their clothes, smiled, and said, "My Lord, you don't look like someone who can afford to sit there."
"That's the one." Linde ignored the child's skepticism, put the copper stars in his hand into the child's hand, and said, "Tell me how to get there?"
The child looked at the copper stars in his hand, then put them into his pocket, turned and gestured to a little girl, saying, "She will take you there. I wish you a pleasant time in King's Landing, My Lord."
After speaking, he led the other children and quickly ran away, leaving only the little girl.
"Please follow me, My Lord." The little girl nodded to Linde, and without any further ado, led Linde and Raul towards the prominent Great Sept of Baelor at the top of Visenya's Hill.
The streets of King's Landing were already crowded, and the closer they got to the Great Sept of Baelor, the more followers of the Seven Gods there were. They prayed while slowly walking along the road beneath the outer walls of the Great Sept. Linde and his companions had to push hard to get through these human walls.
Fortunately, this section of the road was not very long. After squeezing out of the crowd of pilgrims, the little girl led them around the even more crowded Beller Plaza, through the end of the King's Road within the city, and into a small alley with few people. Then, they twisted and turned through winding alleys, and after a considerable distance, they finally emerged from this somewhat gloomy alley onto a street filled with the scent of wine and perfume.
"This is it." The little girl pointed to a three-story building with luxurious decorations and a golden pumpkin sign, saying.
After speaking, she turned to leave, but as she passed by Linde, she seemed to step on something, lost her balance, and bumped into Linde. However, she quickly moved away from Linde and apologized repeatedly.
"No need to apologize, just return the wallet you took from me and that's enough." Linde reached out and placed his hand on the little girl's shoulder, smiling.
Upon hearing this, the little girl's face turned somewhat unpleasant, and her eyes darted around, seemingly considering a way to escape.
Linde, sensing the little girl's intention, did not let his smile fade, but his tone became much more sinister, saying, "Don't even think about asking others for help, because if you make any unusual move, I will kill you immediately and take my money pouch from you. I don't think even the Gold Cloaks would be able to find any fault with me."
The little girl could feel that Linde was not lying, and if she really messed around, she would definitely be killed by him. Under the influence of fear, she completely gave up the idea of escaping and honestly took out the money pouch she had just taken from Linde's waist.
Linde released the little girl's shoulder, took the money pouch, weighed it to confirm nothing was missing, and then looked at the little girl in front of him.
Although he had caught the little girl who stole from him, he had no idea how she had stolen his wallet. It was only because his keen senses detected that the weight at his waist was off that he realized he had been robbed.
Linde did not make things difficult for the little girl. Instead, he took out a few copper stars from the money pouch and handed them to the little girl, saying, "Take your guiding fee, apologize to me, and you can leave."
The little girl was stunned after hearing this. She had originally expected to be severely beaten, but she didn't expect the other party to let her go so easily and even give her a guiding fee.
The little girl quickly took the guiding fee, then sincerely apologized to Linde, and then hurried away.
"Are the children in King's Landing all this formidable now? Can they steal a money pouch so easily?" Raul, who was standing by, couldn't help but say, "Lord Linde, are you just letting her go?"
"If I don't let her go, do you really want to beat her up or kill her? I just said I'd kill her to scare her." Linde rolled his eyes at Raul, then looked at the little girl who had disappeared around a corner of an alley, and said, "Besides, she and her companions are not ordinary children."
In fact, when those children first showed unusual behavior, he had already guessed that these children were probably Varys, the Master of Whisperers' little birds in King's Landing. However, he currently had no potential conflict with the high and mighty Varys, and he had no intention of residing in King's Landing for a long time, so he wasn't very concerned about the little birds.
Hearing Linde's words, Raul looked bewildered. He didn't understand what was special about those children, and Linde had no intention of explaining, because he simply couldn't explain such things. He couldn't possibly tell Raul that all his knowledge about the little birds came from books, forums, and TV shows from another world.
Linde gestured to Raul and then walked into Todd's Pumpkin tavern.
The interior decoration of the tavern was as magnificent as the outside. Decorations from all over the world were perfectly inlaid on the walls and pillars, giving the entire tavern a variety of exotic styles.
However, the most eye-catching part of the entire tavern was an old-looking canvas bag hanging in the center of the hall. Although its shape was no different from a traveler's common canvas bag, the material was not canvas, but an unfamiliar fine material, which looked very valuable at first glance, but it was unclear what its purpose was hanging there.
Although it was afternoon, not the busiest time for the tavern, there were already quite a few customers inside. Most of these people were idle court nobles from King's Landing, and there were also some merchants from out of town.
As Linde and Raul surveyed the situation inside the tavern, a tavern attendant walked over, bowed to the two, and said, "Good afternoon, My Lords, how may I help you?"
The attendant had clearly received special training and did not show any contempt or neglect towards Linde and Raul despite their inappropriate attire.
"I heard this is the best tavern in all of King's Landing, where one can taste the finest wines and delicacies," Linde said, appearing relaxed and natural, in contrast to Raul, who was somewhat timid.
The attendant said with great confidence, "Of course, as long as you have enough gold dragons, we can absolutely provide you with wines and delicacies you can imagine and even some you cannot."
Linde showed the attendant the money pouch containing twenty gold dragons and asked, "Is this enough?"
The attendant smiled and said, "It's not enough for the finest wines and delicacies, but it's more than enough for regular wine and food."
"I don't aspire to the finest wines and delicacies; ordinary ones are already enough for people like us," Linde smiled and said, "In that case, please arrange a good spot for me, but one that won't attract attention!"
"As you command, My Lord." The attendant bowed, then led Linde and Raul to a relatively quiet, window-side seat on the second floor. This spot offered a view of the tavern's central courtyard and allowed them to clearly hear and see the performances by the singers and dancers hired by the tavern in the courtyard. It was a good spot.
After Linde sat down, he motioned for Raul not to be so restrained, then threw the money pouch containing twenty gold dragons to the attendant, saying, "Serve me regular wine and food according to the twenty gold dragons, and also prepare some raw meat for me."
"Raw meat?" The attendant, holding the money pouch, was stunned ed for a moment, thinking this was Linde's special preference.
But he quickly realized his mistake, because Linde took Glory out of the cloth pouch in his arms and placed him on the table, and Glory, having just woken up, stretched and let out a howl.