The next morning, the sky was blue, and the sun lazily looked at the noisy city below. The warm sea breeze rippled along the green Honey Wine River and entered Riverside Street from Whispering Bay.
The stone road was crowded with people. Danny and Whitebeard rode on horses and slowly moved along with the crowd.
Danny's black hair was tied into a valiant ponytail. She was wearing a capable scarlet leather armor, leather pants, and high boots. Her limbs were slender and her body was straight. A long sword hung on her waist, and a pure white cloak hung down, covering the horse's buttocks.
Her willowy eyebrows had been deliberately trimmed into sharp, thick, black, sword-like eyebrows. Together with the confident and proud expression on her face and the slightly upturned lips, she had lost the last trace of childishness of a sixteen-year-old girl. She had completely become a valiant and confident female swordsman.
When the mercenaries and knights passed by, they would often peek at her, look at her openly, or whistle and throw flirtatious glances at her. She was very eye-catching.
Barristan had also changed his appearance. His long white hair was shaved off, and he was bald. His lips and beard were dyed dirty gold. When he was young, he had black beard and hair. The ends of his eyebrows drooped down, making him look more decadent.
In fact, 80% of his acquaintances could not recognize him with the messy beard on his face. For example, when he was in Quars, Jorah Mormont did not recognize him. The old knight's cheeks were smooth and tidy, and he was meticulously groomed. He was an old handsome man.
Even if there was no terrifying difference between Jack and the water gun man, it was at least the difference between "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "The Hunter of the Wild."
The old knight was always wearing a helmet. Even if he did not pull down the visor, it was difficult to recognize his appearance.
Anyway, after walking around the street, the white knight saw at least 20 acquaintances, but none of them looked at him.
At most, they gave him an indifferent glance because of the heroic female knight next to him.
"Were there so many people in the old town in the past?" Danny asked.
Although the Honey Wine River Tournament would not officially begin until two days later, from Rose Avenue to the streets and alleys of the old town, one could see knights and free riders, bards playing harps or beating leather drums, carriages loaded with hops, ham, large rings of butter, and buckets of honey. There were also merchants, craftsmen, and prostitutes …
Barristan explained, "Although this isn't as sensational as the Martial Arts Tournament to celebrate the inauguration of the Prime Minister (Eide Stark) a few years ago, Tiemin is truly hated by many. Other than the local knights of River Bend, many nobles from Dorne, the Land of Storm, and the Port of Lannister have also come."
"Look over there —" As he spoke, the old knight raised his hand and pointed at a group of cavalrymen on the other side of the river. Seventeen or eighteen cavalrymen were chatting and laughing on horseback, and from time to time, some of them were convulsing with laughter.
Three of the riders who were guarding the perimeter each held a flag in their hands.
The images on the three flags were: three golden ears of wheat, two fawns, and a yellow haystack.
He stared at a square-faced young man with black curly hair and said with a complicated expression, "The Harvest Hall, the Calvert Family of the Young Deer Village, and the Helor Family of the Hay Hall are all lords of the Land of Storm."
"Your relatives?" Danny asked.
The old knight was from the Harvest Hall. He was originally the heir of the count and had a fiancée, but in order to pursue the glory of the Kingsguard, he gave it all up.
Yes, a ruthless man who didn't even want his wife.
"The current Count of the Harvest Hall, Astan Selmy, my grandnephew." The old knight's voice was so low that Danny almost didn't hear him clearly.
She remembered that the old knight had used the fake name 'Astan' to hide his identity in Queers.
"Do you want to meet him?"
The old man misunderstood her and said hesitantly, "Although the Harvest Hall is the largest granary in the Land of Storm, it doesn't have many soldiers, and now is not the right time."
"Sigh, do I lack those people?" Danny waved her hand. "It's just a chat."
"There's no need. That child is more honest and can't keep a secret."
After a few words, the group on the other side of the river had disappeared into the crowd. Danny and Selina also turned into an alley. Under the old knight's lead, they took a few turns and finally came to a street full of riders and swordsmen at the edge of the western city.
"Blacksmith Street. You can buy any kind of armor here." The old knight said with a smile.
Along the way, Danny saw seven or eight blacksmiths. Bare-chested weaponsmiths were hammering in front of the forge. There were also free riders who had the same purpose as her, holding armor and loudly bargaining with the shop owners.
There were also a few old men with wrinkles on their faces driving carriages and peddling along the street. The carriages were littered with rusty old swords and blades full of gaps.
Finally, the old knight took Danny to the front of a huge stone building on the street. The walls on both sides of the wooden door were equipped with glass booths. On the glass booths hung red, blue, and white porcelain full-body armor, as well as griffins, unicorns, bison, and even Megalosaurus helmets.
As soon as the two dismounted, a servant came to greet them and took the initiative to lead the horses to the side. Then, a round-faced maid came out from the door and bowed. "What do you need? Swords, shields, armor, mail, and leather armor. We have them all in our shop. "
"I want a full-body armor." Danny said.
"Custom or stock?"
"How long will it take for you to pick it up?" Danny asked.
"According to your requirements, at least half a month, but not more than two months."
"I need it urgently."
"We have a lot of stock here."
After that, the round-faced maid asked about the price and got a reply from Danny, "The price is not important, but the quality must be the best." Then she led the two through a hall full of different kinds of armor, and along a cobblestone path through a courtyard facing charcoal, iron ingots, and other sundries. Finally, they came to a row of low red brick houses in the backyard.
There was no door or wall on the side of the terrace house that faced the courtyard. The whole house was wide open, like a warehouse, but there were no piles of goods inside. It was full of smithing rooms that were filled with rolling heat waves, smoke, and clanging hammers.
From time to time, blacksmiths would yell at their apprentices or ask them to do something. At that time, two young men in undershirts covered in a layer of black ash hurried through the courtyard carrying a basket of charcoal.
Well, they deliberately avoided the cobblestone path.
The old knight nodded and said, "Only in the hands of a blacksmith master can you buy the real good goods. Mercenaries who are shy of money will buy the goods that are displayed in the front hall."
The round-faced maid smiled at him approvingly and led them straight to the largest forging room on the left.
Outside each forging room, there were two rows of wooden shelves, hanging a mess of plate armor, iron helmet, throat guard, and other armor parts. A few guests were looking back and forth under the apprentice's introduction.
"Do you want to choose by yourself, or do you want me to find an apprentice for you?" The maid asked.
"I'll choose." The old knight directly went forward and knocked on a silver-gray plate armor.
The maid said to the apprentice next to her and said goodbye to Danny, "After choosing the armor, you can pay the blacksmith master directly."
The armor hanging on the wooden shelves looked messy. It was a complete set that was disassembled and placed together. This way, it was convenient for the guests to check the quality of the armor, and also according to the actual situation of the guests, some parts could be adjusted.
Just as they were choosing the armor, they heard a conversation coming from the blacksmith shop.
A man said with full energy, "Garland, you must help me. There are too many people coming to the old town recently. I don't dare to say the whole country, but all the River Bend knights who can come are here.
But every time a knight comes, there will be two free riders, three craftsmen, six soldiers, a dozen businessmen, two dozen prostitutes, and as for thieves, there are so many that I don't even dare to guess.
With so many people, things are starting to get troublesome. This morning, a drunkard was found drowned in the Honey Wine River. Can't be sure if it was an accident or a homicide. Last night, there was a riot in a tavern at the north gate, and a few riders from the borderlands fought with the Dornishmen …
Sigh, there are countless fights like this, and there are even cases of people being raped from time to time. You should send a group of people to help me maintain order! "
Another young man asked doubtfully, "The old town's military is so weak? I remember Second Uncle, you started training new recruits a month ago. "
"Garland Tyrell, Garland Hightower." The old knight glanced and said in a low voice.
Danny also saw the two valiant knights wearing leather armor with longswords at their waists. One of them was a middle-aged man in his early thirties with the White Tower emblem on his chest, and the other was a young man in his early twenties with two large golden roses on his chest.
Yes, Garland was Jorah Mormont's Second Uncle.
The old man of the old town, Leighton Hightower, had many children. He had six daughters and four sons. Lynnis was the youngest daughter, and Henry Foley, whom Rhys met, was the youngest son.
It was not difficult to understand why Jorah could eat "swan meat". There were too many children in the family, and Earl Leighton was already very satisfied to find a powerful Earl as his son-in-law.
Although his second daughter was married to Duke Hightower, that son-in-law had the good reputation of being "the most mediocre general in the world of power." He was known as "the inflatable fish" in the pugilistic world, and the old man could not be proud of it.
Garland said helplessly, "Didn't you notice when you came? The wheat in the field is ripe, and the soldiers I recruited have to put down their spears and pick up their sickles to harvest the crops! "
"Tiemin is invading the river, and you're letting those farmers go home?" Garland said in disbelief.
"Uh, you didn't receive any messenger crows from the city of learning?" Garland was stunned and said, "Half a month ago, the city of learning sent white messenger crows to all the lords in the country to pass on the news of the arrival of winter. In other words, we'll officially enter winter next year. "
Garland shook her head disapprovingly and said, "So what if it's winter? Our River Bend is not the North, and we can at least harvest two more batches of wheat. The next year will be snow, and the fourth year may be the 'wrong spring,' and we can plant and harvest crops again.
For thousands of years, we southerners have spent the winter like this, and we don't need to hoard food to delay the war. "
"Seven layers of hell!" Danny shouted very "fashionably" and could not help but take a few steps forward and exclaim, "You mean that River Bend, the granary of the Seven Kingdoms, has no food?"
Garland's eyes flashed with surprise at first, but soon he frowned and asked, "Who are you, eavesdropping on our conversation?"
"Such a loud voice, you can ask the guests nearby." Danny pointed at a swordsman in chainmail who was picking out iron armor. "Who didn't hear your conversation?"
Chainmail waved his hand and shouted, "You woman, don't slander me, I didn't hear Earl Garland and Sir Garland talking."
Danny's mouth twitched a few times. "I was standing next to Sir Garland, and my voice was not loud. Aren't you burying your head in the sand?"
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