Led by Jon, Lord Linde quickly arrived outside the tent where Dagon Darlot was confined. The guard lifted the tent flap, allowing Lord Linde to enter.
Inside the tent, a young man with neatly combed hair, tidy clothes, and reddish-brown skin sat on a hay bale serving as a bed. When he saw Lord Linde enter, he quickly stood up and bowed to Lord Linde according to the Seven Gods Church etiquette, saying, "Greetings, esteemed Chosen One."
Lord Linde smiled and said, "Don't the Iron Islands worship the drowned god?"
"I do worship the drowned god, but that doesn't prevent me from showing respect to the Seven Gods," Dagon Darlot explained. "In my father's library tower, there were several Seven Gods Church monks who looked after his books. I often stayed in the library tower when I was young, received care from those monks, and learned some knowledge of the Seven Gods Church from them."
The behavior of this Ironborn noble leader was vastly different from other Ironborn. Aside from his reddish-brown skin, which was a result of the Ironborn's long-term exposure to sun and rain at sea, his other behaviors made him look more like a scholar who had spent years immersed in books, rather than an Ironborn.
Lord Linde had no intention of discussing theology with him and directly stated, "You told my men that you want to live. Can you tell me why? Who wants to kill you?"
"Many people want me dead: my younger brother, my aunt, those of the Greyjoy who are interested in Harlaw, and so on," Dagon sighed, looking dejected, then suddenly said somewhat erratically, "The drowned god also wishes for me to return to his embrace, but I want to live. There are still many wonderful things in this world that I haven't seen. I want to live until I have seen all the wonders of this world."
Hearing Dagon's words, Lord Linde frowned, confused as to why the drowned god was suddenly involved.
Lord Linde kept his distance from the supernatural entities of this world for the time being. At least until he could protect himself, he had no intention of getting too close to such things.
However, he also didn't know if Dagon's words were just a paranoid delusion or if they truly involved some mysterious power.
So, he asked Dagon to wait and then contacted Glory, who was playing outside, expending energy, and told him to come back.
After a while, Glory rushed back from outside and entered Dagon's tent.
Lord Linde then shared vision with Glory to see if there was any supernatural power on Dagon Darlot.
The result left him both a little disappointed and very relieved. There was no trace of extraordinary power on Dagon Darlot; he was just a normal person. His previous words about the drowned god were merely products of his imagination, or perhaps just casual nonsense.
Lord Linde didn't mind this, as religious figures and other practitioners of mysticism in this world often acted erratically. For example, the bishop monk of Tengshi Town's sept always liked to come to him and say strange things, so he was already used to it.
"Why do you think following me will allow you to escape the fate of death?" Lord Linde questioned.
Dagon's face showed fear upon seeing Glory, but upon hearing Lord Linde's question, he still answered earnestly, "Because you are the Chosen One of the Seven Gods. Being by your side can reverse many things, including the fate of death."
Hearing Dagon's reply, Lord Linde paused, then used Glory's special vision to carefully examine Dagon again, but the result was still the same.
It was no wonder Lord Linde checked again, because Dagon's words perfectly corresponded to the various things happening around him.
For example, under normal circumstances, Nameria might have died over a year ago due to Duke Tywin's covetousness of the territories near Tengshi Town. Another example is Bert Farwell, who would have died in a battle he was not skilled in. Putting aside the factor of coincidence, he indeed had the ability to influence the fates of those around him, allowing people who should have died to live.
Lord Linde pondered for a moment and asked, "If I accept your allegiance and allow you to join my command, what would I gain?"
"You would gain the friendship of House Harlaw. You would also gain a captain with rich naval combat experience and excellent navigation skills, as well as a large number of sailors who can be immediately used without special training," Dagon Darlot answered very seriously. "House Harlaw sent two thousand men to assist Rodrik Greyjoy in attacking Sea Frontier City. These two thousand men did not suffer significant losses when you attacked the camp and can be immediately assembled for your use. Although most of these two thousand men are just ordinary fishermen and not true Ironborn warriors skilled in naval combat, they are sufficient for handling ships. If you can directly cross the sea by ship from Eagle's Head to Harlaw, I believe with your Lordship's combat power, you should easily be able to retake Harlaw. At that time…"
Seeing Dagon Darlot so eager to be a guide and lead Lord Linde to attack his homeland, Harlaw, Lord Linde couldn't help but smile, interrupting him from continuing. Then he said very seriously, "I can accept your allegiance, but I detest traitors. For traitors, I will pursue and kill them by any means necessary."
"My Lord, rest assured, I will absolutely never betray you," Dagon Darlot said, a look of joy appearing on his face as he felt Lord Linde had agreed to his allegiance.
However, Lord Linde then added, "Your allegiance must wait until after this great war, after King Robert has dealt with you captives. At that time, if King Robert wishes to kill you, I will intercede for you and use my military merits to have King Robert exchange you to me."
After speaking, Lord Linde paid no further attention to Dagon Darlot's stunned expression. He turned and left the tent, and from outside the tent, where Dagon could hear him, he directly instructed Jon, "Full of lies, not a single truth. Starve him for two days to make him behave."
Although Lord Linde told Jon to teach Dagon a lesson, it didn't mean Lord Linde was giving up on him. In fact, he had already earmarked this man to be the captain of his fleet, and he hadn't lied earlier; the final recruitment of Dagon would indeed wait until after the war and King Robert's handling of the prisoners.
Recruiting prisoners of war on the battlefield was only for lower-level warriors to replenish forces. For someone like Dagon Darlot, the heir to a great Iron Islands lord, recruiting him without authorization could easily lead to accusations of treason.
Lord Linde now needed to proceed steadily, securing territory and titles. His current military merits were already sufficient for ennoblement. The upcoming recovery of Warwick, Shear Rock City, and Fairy City would help him advance further in his titles, so there was no need to create complications with any unconventional actions.
House Frey of The Twins had dispatched forces led by Black Walder, who marched day and night for two days, finally reaching Sea Frontier City within Lord Linde's requested time to receive the Iron Islands prisoners of war.
Two days prior, upon receiving Lord Linde's letter sent via Sea Frontier City's raven, the Frey found the matter quite unbelievable. They were well aware of how many Ironborn were besieging Sea Frontier City, and Lord Linde had annihilated all the Ironborn outside Sea Frontier City in just one day, which they found utterly incredible.
It wasn't until Black Walder saw the prisoners in the POW camp and the mountain of burning corpses piled in the distance that his suspicions completely vanished, leaving only fear.
Lord Linde had Black Walder take several thousand prisoners of war, and he very sternly reminded Black Walder that the number of these prisoners was recorded. After the war, they would be judged and disposed of by King Robert. During their confinement in The Twins, there should not be a large reduction in their numbers, or people from The Twins would have to pay the price.
Hearing Lord Linde's demand, Black Walder's face remained bitter until he left. He had originally thought he would gain a batch of free laborers, but instead, he ended up with several thousand 'grandpas' who needed looking after.
But he dared not refuse, for he had learned of Lord Linde's power from his grandfather, Stivren. If he did anything that displeased Lord Linde, then The Twins would be in deep trouble.
After Black Walder left, Lord Linde handed over more than two thousand Ironborn prisoners of war to Sea Frontier City, and his demands for Sea Frontier City were not as harsh as those for The Twins; he only required that these prisoners not die off entirely.
The remaining two thousand Ironborn prisoners of war were incorporated into Lord Linde's forces. These two thousand prisoners were not all from the Iron Islands, but rather slave laborers plundered by the Ironborn from other places. Such slave laborers accounted for at least half of the Iron Islands invasion force.
These individuals themselves had little loyalty to the Greyjoy, and when Lord Linde recruited them, they readily accepted his offer, even before Lord Linde stated his prepared conditions.
With the addition of these Ironborn, Lord Linde no longer needed to travel by land along the coastline of Ironborn Bay to Warwick. Instead, he directly used these Ironborn as sailors, boarding the longships that the Ironborn had used to invade Sea Frontier City, and traveling directly by water.
Because the Iron Islands' attention was entirely focused on the Westerlands further south, and they wouldn't have imagined that the more than ten thousand Ironborn led by Rodrik Greyjoy had been completely annihilated outside Sea Frontier City, Lord Linde only needed to be careful not to arouse suspicion from the Iron Islands.
When Lord Linde departed from Sea Frontier City, battle reports concerning Sea Frontier City had already been sent to the anti-rebellion army camp in Deepdown.
Upon seeing this battle report, everyone was somewhat incredulous. While their tens of thousands of troops were still on the march, Lord Linde had already led over two thousand men to retake Kalin Bay, annihilating more than ten thousand Ironborn besieging Sea Frontier City, and slaying Rodrik Greyjoy, Balon Greyjoy's eldest son and heir, achieving an unprecedented military feat. This left the lords, nobles, knights, and officers in the anti-rebellion army at a loss for words.
"Good lad, well done! I knew this kid could do it," Unlike the complex emotions of the surrounding lords and nobles upon seeing this battle report, Robert was simply happy with Lord Linde's performance, as if he himself had achieved this series of victories.
"More than ten thousand men were so easily annihilated by a few thousand. Could this battle report be…" Under the subtle hint of some great lords, a court noble cautiously questioned the authenticity of the battle report, saying.
"Shut up! Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others can't!" Robert glared furiously at the noble, then looked at the others around him, and said coldly, "If you want military honors, go to the battlefield and fight for them, seize them, instead of slandering those who have already achieved them with your mouths here."
Hearing Robert's reprimand, the tent immediately fell silent, and no one dared to say anything more.
Stannis proposed, "The letter says Lord Linde will send the more than eight thousand captured individuals to be imprisoned in Sea Frontier City and The Twins respectively. We can take them over; they might be useful in a naval battle soon."
Robert nodded and immediately arranged for several lords to lead troops to take those Ironborn prisoners of war to Lannisport, where the various anti-rebellion armies would converge.
Afterward, he instructed his accompanying maester to record Lord Linde's military achievements of relieving Sea Frontier City and annihilating over ten thousand Ironborn in the military merit ledger, placing it below the achievement of retaking Kalin Bay.
With these two military achievements, Lord Linde's ennoblement was no longer an issue, but Robert still anticipated Lord Linde's future performance. If he achieved even more military merits, he wouldn't mind making Lord Linde an unprecedented exception in the history of ennoblement in the Seven Kingdoms.
However, Lord Linde did not disappoint Robert. Not long after Robert's anti-rebellion army arrived at Lannisport, battle reports concerning Lord Linde began to arrive in his hands one after another.
First, Lord Linde used the recruited Ironborn prisoners of war to trick open the gates of Warwick, capturing all one thousand Ironborn defenders inside and retaking Warwick. Afterward, he used the same method to retake Shear Rock City.
However, after Lord Linde retook these two castles, he notified House Banfort and House Westerling, who had taken refuge in Branded City, to reclaim their respective castles and continue defending them. But he received no response from the two noble houses, forcing Lord Linde to leave soldiers from House Frey and House Umber to guard Warwick and Shear Rock City respectively.
Afterward, Lord Linde used Ironborn longships to cross the Fairy Island Strait, landing on Fair Isle. Before the Ironborn could react, he dealt with the three thousand Ironborn in Fairy City, liberating Fairy City.
After Lord Linde completed his predetermined task of retaking the cities, he did not continue to conquer other places, not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. The Iron Islands had already learned of his actions, so they dispatched Victarion and Euron to command the Iron Fleet and blockade Fair Isle.
In other words, he was now trapped on Fair Isle and unable to move, but at the same time, he had also tied down the Iron Fleet in the Fairy Island Strait, preventing the Iron Fleet from sailing south.
Upon receiving the relevant news, Robert immediately ordered the fleets from Arbor and Oldtown, which had already arrived at Lannisport, to combine with the few remaining Lannister warships and recruited armed merchant ships to form two Royal Fleets. Stannis Baratheon and Paxter Redwyne were appointed fleet commanders respectively, and were immediately ordered to lead their fleets to the Fairy Island Strait to annihilate the Iron Fleet.
At the same time, Robert would also lead the anti-rebellion coalition forces from the Westerlands, North, Riverlands, Vale, and Stormlands to Warwick, awaiting the outcome of the battle in the Fairy Island Strait.
Once Stannis dealt with the Iron Fleet, he could proceed directly to Warwick, and from there, they could attack Pyke, the Greyjoy's stronghold.
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