It had been more than ten days since returning to Summerhall from Essos, and only then did news of the events in Kohor spread through various channels to Westeros.
People who heard these stories began to polarize: some believed the rumors, mostly followers of the Seven Gods and the storm god, who thought Lynd was performing miracles; others dismissed them as mere tricks Lynd used to gain fame.
Regardless of whether they believed the rumors, most of the common people among them unanimously thought that the so-called cities mentioned in the rumors, like Kohor, Norvos, etc., whose names they had never even heard before, were just unsophisticated small towns. They reasoned that only small towns would be so astonished by the miraculous power Lynd displayed, as Lynd's miraculous power was no longer a secret in Westeros.
Only nobles, merchants, and sailors who had sailed for many years and truly understood the situation in Essos knew that each of those Free Trade City States was older, larger, and more prosperous than King's Landing. The people there were more arrogant than anyone in any town in Westeros, and the rumors claimed that all these cities were awed by Lynd's power—something that hadn't happened since the fall of the Valyrian Freehold.
Some sensitive individuals even couldn't help but speculate, or rather, prophesy, whether Linde Terra's Summerhall would become the next Valyrian Freehold. Most of the people who harbored such thoughts were the Great Lords of the Seven Kingdoms.
For the various Great Lords of the Seven Kingdoms, the truthfulness of these rumors was not the most important thing. What mattered most was that from these rumors, they could clearly see that Summerhall's influence had expanded deep into the Essos mainland, as far as Kohor, and they also sensed that Summerhall subtly had the momentum of an independent kingdom.
Because although Summerhall was nominally a vassal of Highgarden, in reality, Highgarden's influence over Summerhall was almost nonexistent. Instead, Summerhall had a profound and irreversible influence on Highgarden and even the entire The Reach in many aspects.
Besides Highgarden, areas close to Summerhall's territory, such as Dorne, the Crownlands, and the Riverlands, were also affected by this influence, and even the various lords' attempts to impose restrictions could not diminish it.
The situation in the Stormlands was particularly prominent, as the entry of the rainforest into Lynd's trade agreement system brought immense profits to the rainforest's lords. This directly led to those in the Stormlands who had not joined the agreement becoming envious and actively joining Lynd's trade agreement, completely binding the Stormlands' lords, both great and small, under Summerhall's trade network.
This also directly led to a weakening of Duke Renly of the Stormlands' influence and power. Whenever the lords were summoned by Renly to a meeting at Storms End, they would be incredibly cooperative as long as the decrees and topics did not involve Summerhall. However, once a topic concerning Summerhall came up, the entire discussion would be interrupted and shelved in various ways.
Renly was also keenly aware of Summerhall's influence. He wished to weaken it, but he could do nothing, not even file a complaint with King's Landing, because Summerhall had never directly exerted influence on these lords from beginning to end; their support for Summerhall was entirely voluntary.
What frustrated Renly even more was that even within his Storms End, many people favored Summerhall because they could buy many goods from Essos at cheaper prices from Summerhall's caravans, many of which were previously only accessible to great nobles.
It was precisely this sense of frustration that made Renly dislike staying in his own territory, so much so that when King's Landing invited him to serve as the Master of Laws and reside there permanently, he agreed without hesitation.
Throughout Westeros, only the Vale, the Westerlands, and the North were less affected, but even that was only relatively speaking. Taking the North as an example, with the opening of the trade route from Bear Island, various lords in the North also gained considerable profits from this route. For instance, over ninety percent of the income for lords in remote areas like the Umbers of Last Hearth and the Glovers of Deepwood Motte came from this trade route.
In fact, this trade route was not new; the Manderly family of White Harbor had proposed a similar plan long ago. However, in the eyes of the Northmen, although the Manderly family had resided there for nearly a thousand years, they were still considered untrustworthy outsiders, so the proposal came to nothing.
Now, the person proposing this was Daisy Mormont, one of the North's own, so the treatment was naturally different. Moreover, Daisy's method of persuading the lords was much to their liking: she directly went to each lord's castle and challenged them, fighting her way through and gaining the recognition of the North's lords with an invincible momentum. Daisy thus earned the title of 'Northern Valkyrie'.
However, with the surge in pirates in the Narrow Sea, this trade route in the North was also significantly affected. Although the Manderly family of White Harbor regularly patrolled the nearby waters, they could not escort every merchant ship of the Miracle Merchant Guild.
Therefore, after the Miracle Merchant Guild's ships encountered several pirate attacks, the escort agreement between the Miracle Fleet and the Free Trade City States accelerated its pace at Lynd's prompting.
"Braavos only allows us to build docking piers on islands in the outer sea, but does not permit our warships to enter Braavos's inner lake. Myr, Pentos, and Lys have allocated a portion of their docks for our warships and allow us to establish a fleet liaison office within their cities, but not a base. Volantis has agreed to let us buy islands near the Orange Coast and a portion of the coast to establish a concession, and also agreed to extraterritorial rights within the concession, but does not allow our fleet ships to enter Volantis's outer sea waters," Bert Farwell reported to Lynd, holding the documents just sent from the Stepstones.
Bert had been transferred from Tengshi Town to Summerhall for some time and was now familiar with his work, serving as a co-steward of Summerhall with Moose, one handling internal affairs and the other external. Currently, Bert's primary task was the ongoing negotiation for the patrol agreement between the Miracle Fleet and the Free Trade City States.
"What about Tyrosh?" Lynd asked, looking at the document in his hand.
Bert explained, "According to the previous compensation agreement, Tyrosh's docks already belong to us, and we also obtained an area within the city as a concession. The Tyroshi fleet is also under our control, so there's no need for us to sign another escort agreement with them."
"That's fine then!" Lynd nodded and said, "Let Ser Horth represent the Miracle Fleet in signing the escort agreement; do not use Summerhall's name, use the Stepstones. Also, add an escort agreement for Tyrosh, so they don't feel excluded."
"Yes, My Lord." Bert paused for a moment after hearing this but didn't ask further, quickly noting Lynd's instructions.
After handling official business, Lynd went to the garden, where Nameria was sparring with an practice axe against several Redemption Sisters. Not far away, his son Augustus was taking his first steps on the grass under the watchful eyes of servants, with Silent Monks standing around to protect him. Glory lay quietly resting in a spot Augustus couldn't reach.
Lynd's arrival was first noticed by Glory. It jumped down from the raised platform where it was lying, walked to Lynd's side, and gently rubbed against his shoulder. As Lynd stroked its head, its eyes comfortably narrowed.
As Lynd's strength continuously increased, Glory's ability to help him became smaller and smaller. For example, Glory was not brought along on this trip to Essos.
Because Lynd was not at the castle, Glory mostly stayed in the forest until Lynd returned, at which point it came back to the castle.
However, upon returning to the castle, it had some regrets, because Augustus, who had learned to walk, would chase it to play every day, and it couldn't make too large movements; a slight bump and the little one would fall to the ground. This forced it to climb to high places to avoid the little one's entanglement.
So, upon seeing Lynd, it whined a few times in distress and directly complained to Lynd through their mental link.
Sensing Glory's thoughts, Lynd couldn't help but smile and said, "Can't you go into the forest and catch a few young animals to substitute for you?"
Upon hearing Lynd's words, Glory's ears immediately perked up. Then, without a second thought, it ran out of the garden, climbing directly down from the nearby balcony.
By this time, Nameria's match had concluded. Although the five Redemption Sisters possessed superhuman physiques due to potions, their strength was clearly insufficient to pose a threat to Nameria, whose overall quality had become inhuman.
With a sweep and a charge, the last Redemption Sister's warhammer was knocked away, and she fell to the ground.
Slightly steadying her breath, Nameria reached out and pulled up the Redemption Sister in front of her, handed her waraxe to a nearby servant, took a towel to wipe the sweat from her forehead, turned to look at Lynd, and then looked at Augustus, who was running across the grass.
Because Lynd often stayed outside, and he himself didn't particularly like children, Augustus and Lynd weren't very close. Even upon seeing Lynd arrive in the garden, Augustus instinctively ran far away, seeking comfort from Nameria.
Nameria smiled, picked up Augustus, kissed his cheek, and then walked towards Lynd, saying, "You should also play with Augustus more. He looks at you now like you're a stranger; he won't be close to you when he grows up."
Lynd smiled, grabbed Augustus by the back of his collar, tossed him into the air, and then created a whirlwind to support his body, making him float in the air above the garden's grass.
At first, Augustus seemed a little scared, but he quickly returned to normal, flailing his arms and legs in the air and laughing happily.
When Lynd controlled the whirlwind to let him down onto the grass, Augustus immediately got up again, ran on his little legs to Lynd, hugged Lynd's lower leg, and babbled.
"See! A child's affection is that simple," Lynd said, raising an eyebrow at Nameria.
Nameria rolled her eyes at Lynd and said nothing more.
After playing with his wife and son in the garden for a while, Lynd saw Ser Rossos and Gorman, the executive president of the Miracle Merchant Guild, approaching from the plaza, led by Moose.
Lynd handed the little one to a nearby servant, gestured to the group, and then walked towards the study. Nameria followed suit upon seeing this.
More than ten days ago, after Lynd returned to Miracle Port, he immediately summoned Rossos and Obara, telling them about Ge Dohe and expressing his desire for the Greenblood River Orphans to return to the Lorne River and rebuild Ge Dohe, with Rossos as the governor of Ge Dohe.
At the time, upon hearing this proposal, Rossos was still hesitant, but Obara saw it as an opportunity and believed Rossos should not give up.
Rossos hesitated because he knew very well that although most of his clansmen believed in Mother Rhoyne and considered themselves true Loisne, they had grown accustomed to their current lives. Asking them to leave their homes and rebuild in an ancient ruin in a safe location, he feared not many would be willing.
As for Obara's proactive stance, it was due to her own considerations.
Although she was currently the Lady of Weil City, and Weil City had rapidly prospered due to Miracle Port and the Bone Road trade route, bringing in vast wealth, it was also due to its proximity to Summerhall that her power as a lord was minimal. Currently, almost the entire Weil City looked to Summerhall, making her position as lord titular; she merely received a large sum in taxes each month.
This situation was similar to Black Harbor and Green Valley City. If Obara were someone without much ambition, like Beric Dondarrion, she might have been very happy, but she harbored great ambition. Otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to marry Rossos, a low-born Greenblood River Orphan, to secure her inheritance as a lord.
So, when she heard Lynd's plan to rebuild Ge Dohe, she immediately recognized the immense benefits it held. Furthermore, because Ge Dohe was located deep within Essos and somewhat distant from Summerhall, she felt that the governor would essentially wield the greatest power over the entire territory, without needing to consider Summerhall's opinions on every matter, unlike the current situation in Weil City.
The only drawback was its distance from Summerhall; if anything happened, Summerhall would find it difficult to provide aid.
However, upon careful consideration, given the Free Trade City States' current reverence for Lynd, even if they were displeased with Lynd rebuilding Ge Dohe and occupying that ruin, they would likely not dare to do anything out of line. Security should be guaranteed; the only thing to be wary of was the Dothraki.
Thus, having understood the gains and losses, she eagerly encouraged her husband to accept Lynd's proposal, and Rossos, who had initially been hesitant, agreed to Lynd's command under his wife's persuasion.
However, gathering the Greenblood River Orphans would take time, and the number might not satisfy Lynd.
Lynd had anticipated this and simply told Rossos to gather as many as he could; after all, he only needed a pretext.
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