House Tyrell's exclave on the Dorne Sea, south of the Red Mountains, also came about inexplicably, as if it had been forced into their hands; they were reluctant to give it up but had no means of managing it.
This land is located in the wedge between Weil City in Dorne, Black Harbor in the Stormlands, and Stonehelm, and is called Red Earth Watch. Except for a coastal strip, the rest of the area is mountainous and difficult to cultivate.
This land originally belonged to House Shady of the Stormlands, a minor noble house with a very ancient lineage that was wiped out during Aegon the Conqueror's time. However, this territory was neither reclaimed by the Crownlands nor returned to the Stormlands; instead, Aegon the Conqueror transferred it to House Tyrell, making it their fief.
Over the past few centuries, House Tyrell has attempted to develop this fief multiple times, but all attempts ultimately failed. Besides the fief being somewhat barren and lacking much development value, more importantly, the entire Dorne March, the most chaotic region in Westeros, separated this land.
Setting aside the perennial conflicts between the lords of Dorne and the Stormlands, the Savage Tribes entrenched in the Red Mountains alone were already incredibly troublesome.
The Savage Tribes of the Red Mountains are completely different from the Savage Tribes around Tengshi Town. Because they have been fighting the lords and nobles of the Stormlands, The Reach, and Dorne for years, these Savage Tribes are extremely warlike and can engage the armies of those lords and nobles head-on without being at a disadvantage.
Moreover, the Savage Tribes of the Red Mountains seem to have mimicked the noble system and established their own tribal system; some of these Savage Tribes have even elected a Wildling King.
Although the lords and nobles of the Seven Kingdoms scoff at such rumors of a Wildling King, believing that savages are merely brainless individuals and could never produce a Wildling King, a Maester specializing in the Savage Tribes of the Red Mountains recorded the Wildling King's election process, which closely resembles the legendary Iron Islands Kingsmoot.
This was all the information Linde could find about that exclave in Highgarden, which shows that House Tyrell did not care much about it. The last attempt to develop that exclave was over two hundred years ago, when Dorne had not yet submitted to the Iron Throne.
The situation of that exclave is now very complex. Weil City in Dorne occupies a territory on the other side of the Veil River, Black Harbor occupies a mountainous area, and Stonehelm also occupies a piece of land on the west bank of the Red Guard River, with House Swann of Stonehelm publicly claiming to be the masters of Red Earth Watch.
In short, although House Tyrell is nominally the owner of that exclave, in reality, only a very small territory is truly controlled by House Tyrell, and on that territory, there is only a simple fishing village.
Although this land is poor, for Linde, it is a very suitable piece of land.
Firstly, this land is large enough; according to legal principles, the entire vast triangular area between the Bone Road, Red Guard River, Veil River, and Dorne River all belongs to House Tyrell. Such a large piece of land far exceeds that of a typical count's territory.
Although the vast majority of this land is uncultivable mountainous terrain, there is no lack of land suitable for cultivation. For example, the Crimson Guard River Valley upstream of the Red Guard River is a very fertile land, but it cannot be developed simply because a large number of Savage Tribes are entrenched there.
Secondly, the location of this land is excellent, situated at the border of Dorne and the Stormlands, not far from The Reach. To the northwest, the Bone Road can serve as a trade route, and the side facing the Dorne Sea can be used to build a port, developing trade and fishing industries.
Finally, there are the Savage Tribes. For others, the Savage Tribes entrenched in this land are synonymous with trouble, but for Linde, these Savage Tribes are the best population.
He believes that his strength is sufficient to bring all the Savage Tribes in this area under his control. At that time, he will not need to find immigrants from other places; the sheer size of the Savage Tribes' population will be enough to fill his human resource gap.
The only trouble he will face is the encroachment on that land by Weil City, Black Harbor, and Stonehelm. After so many years of development, they have already built villages on the encroached land and will certainly not be willing to spit out the fat meat they have already bitten into, making war inevitable.
However, war might be a good thing for Linde. It could not only bring him fame but also wealth, provided, of course, that he achieves ultimate victory.
Linde did not linger in Highgarden. After understanding the general situation of the exclave Velas had mentioned from the books in Highgarden's library, he left Highgarden as planned and returned to Tengshi Town.
At this moment, Highgarden, from top to bottom, was immersed in the matter of the marriage alliance between Dorne and The Reach. Except for a few individuals, no one paid much attention to Linde's departure.
When they came to Highgarden, there were only Linde and Jon, but now, returning to Tengshi Town, the group had grown into a large contingent of over fifty knights, hundreds of soldiers, and a herd of horses. Among the group, the two enormous Wild Horse King and Glory were particularly striking.
Anyone encountered on the road, whether they understood how to identify family banners or not, could recognize Linde the moment they saw Glory.
During his time in Dorne, the news of Oldtown being attacked by the Ironborn had spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms, causing no small stir.
The Starry Sept and the Citadel in Oldtown both hold extremely special positions in the Seven Kingdoms. Although the Ironborn did not affect the Citadel this time, they attacked the Starry Sept, which was undoubtedly a provocation to the entire Seven Gods Church.
Consequently, the Seven Gods Church was the first to act, prohibiting all followers of the Seven Gods Church from engaging in commercial transactions with the Iron Islands.
This prohibition undoubtedly had a huge impact on the Iron Islands. Although the Ironborn are pirates, it does not mean they only live by piracy; being pirates is just one of their customs.
The land of the Iron Islands is barren, with little cultivable land. Most Ironborn sustain themselves through fishing and selling fish. Grains like wheat need to be purchased from outside. Now, the Seven Gods Church's prohibition makes it impossible for the Iron Islands to buy enough grain from outside, which will undoubtedly plunge the Iron Islands into a food shortage.
Afterward, the Dukes and Princes of the Seven Kingdoms also condemned the Ironborn and blockaded their coastlines, allowing their subjects to attack Iron Islands ships and Ironborn without any punishment. Even the North implemented this isolation order, which undoubtedly completely isolated the Iron Islands from Westeros.
Under normal circumstances, Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands should have made some defense to the Iron Throne, offered some explanations, then thrown out a few scapegoats to gloss over the matter, allowing everyone to save face and slowly quell the negative impact of the incident.
However, what was puzzling was that the Iron Islands remained extremely quiet, so quiet as if they were completely unaware of the Seven Kingdoms' isolation order and the Seven Gods Church's prohibition. This made the powerful figures of the Seven Kingdoms feel a hint of unease, and they secretly increased their attention on the Iron Islands.
There was also another matter, similar to the Iron Islands situation, that attracted the attention of the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms. Not only the nobles, but even the common people at the bottom of society were concerned about this matter: Linde's miraculous performance when Oldtown was attacked by the Ironborn.
To protect his liege, Velas Tyrell, who was performing a prayer ritual in the Starry Sept, Linde Terra single-handedly withstood the attack of over seven hundred Ironborn, slaying all the invading enemies on the plaza in front of the Starry Sept.
When everyone heard this account of the Ironborn invasion of Oldtown, they found it incredible. In their view, this story was overly fabricated and lacked any authenticity.
Single-handedly resisting the encirclement of ten people was already exaggerated enough, but in the rumored story, Linde single-handedly withstood the encirclement of over seven hundred people and even slew these seven hundred people. Such a thing looked too fake, so fake that even a fool could discern it.
They believed the true situation should have been Linde leading several hundred soldiers and knights of House Tyrell to resist the Ironborn's encirclement, slaying over seven hundred Ironborn on the plaza of the Starry Sept.
Furthermore, they thought that the reason for the previous false rumors was likely House Tyrell wanting to build momentum for a knight under their family, deliberately attributing the achievements of others to Linde alone. As for why House Tyrell would want to build momentum for a knight, opinions varied, with no unified answer. The only certainty was that it also benefited House Tyrell.
However, this questioning of Linde's feat of slaying seven hundred Ironborn quickly changed with the conferment document released by the Starry Sept.
In the conferment document, the Archon of the Starry Sept, on behalf of the Seven Gods, bestowed upon Linde the title "Blessed by the Warrior," and meticulously detailed Linde's feat of slaying over seven hundred Ironborn in front of the Starry Sept. However, the document stated that his miraculous achievement was entirely due to his loyalty to his liege, which earned the Warrior's admiration, leading to a blessing that granted him superhuman strength, ultimately achieving this miraculous feat.
The plaza in front of the Starry Sept also became a holy site because of this miracle, and its name was changed to Warrior's Plaza, with a statue of the Warrior, one of the Seven Gods, standing alone in the center of the plaza.
At the same time the Starry Sept released the conferment document, Beller's Sept in King's Landing also acknowledged the conferment document and recorded this miracle in the Book of Miracles.
If it were only the Seven Gods Church acknowledging Linde's feat of slaying over seven hundred Ironborn, that would be one thing. Immediately following the Seven Gods Church's conferment document, the Maesters of the Citadel also incorporated the attack on Oldtown into the Chronicles of the Seven Kingdoms, explicitly noting the authenticity of Linde's achievement.
The Citadel's Chronicles of the Seven Kingdoms can be said to be the most rigorous historical record in all of Westeros. Even the cruel Maegor, who threatened to destroy the Citadel and demanded they alter the Chronicles, was directly refused by the Citadel.
Later, when recording Maegor's cause of death, the Citadel did not record it haphazardly. Instead, after a detailed investigation, and finding no conclusive cause of death, they recorded all external rumors about his death and gave a conclusion that the cause of death remained a mystery, rather than arbitrarily assigning a cause of death.
Similar incidents have been countless in the past, so there is a widely circulated saying in the Seven Kingdoms: everything in the Seven Kingdoms is false; only the Citadel's Chronicles are true.
Now, the Citadel's Chronicles have recorded that Linde indeed single-handedly slew over seven hundred Ironborn, which means this feat, which everyone considered incredibly false, is actually true.
Subsequently, various other pieces of evidence emerged, such as the one-against-one-hundred martial duel in Oldtown. Gals Hightower, who participated in the duel, admitted the authenticity of that duel on multiple public occasions, and everyone who witnessed that duel also served as proof of Linde's miraculous combat power.
People no longer doubted Linde's achievements and instead held him in immense admiration, especially the hired knights and mercenary warriors, who revered him as a spiritual idol. Seven Gods followers even called him the Chosen One, believing him to be the chosen incarnation of the Warrior's God. Consequently, Linde's original title of Bear Hunter was gradually replaced by Chosen One.
While in Dorne, Linde was mixed in with a large group, so the feeling was not very obvious. Now, Linde is returning to Tengshi Town, leading his own group, and people on the road easily recognize him. The attitudes they then display towards him give him the illusion of a big celebrity meeting fans at an airport in his previous life.
Ordinary people fervently shouted his new title, even praying to him, treating him as an incarnation of the Seven Gods on earth. Hired knights and mercenary warriors, upon seeing him, even proactively stepped forward to request to follow him, refusing to leave even if rejected.
Thus, they followed Linde's group, and their numbers grew. By the time they reached Bitterbridge, the hired knights and mercenary warriors following Linde had reached over six hundred, and combined with Linde's original forces, they looked like a structured army, almost making the Baron of Bitterbridge mistakenly believe Linde was preparing to attack him, leading him to tightly close the castle gates.
Linde was entirely pleased with these self-organized followers. Although he refused them when they voluntarily offered their allegiance, he did not abandon them for that reason; otherwise, he would not have provided them with food when camping.
He plans to have Nameria recruit these people into the Tengshi Town garrison in the name of Tengshi Town when they arrive at Tengshi Town.
This is not him deliberately taking a roundabout way, but rather not wanting to be caught with any leverage against him.
Although Velas has already told him that he will soon be granted the position of Commander of the Southern Bandit Suppression and given higher authority and more recruitment quotas, these have not yet materialized. If he were to expand his manpower now, recruiting hired knights and mercenary warriors, he would inevitably be accused of overstepping his authority, and this would be used to attack him.
For Linde, there is no need to rush to expand his manpower. A path has already been laid before him; he only needs to proceed steadily and avoid making mistakes, especially now, when he is being watched by everyone in the Seven Kingdoms. Every action needs to be more cautious, leaving no room for criticism.
Therefore, until he returned to Tengshi Town, Linde did not accept the fealty of any knight who voluntarily offered it.
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