Several years had passed since Nameria established the Kingdom of Lorn in Na Sa Star, and during these years, both the continent of Westeros and the continent of Essos had been very stable, with no major wars, only some minor conflicts, such as the conflict between the Kingdom of Lorn and the Dothraki.
After Kohor and Chayon joined and Ge Dohe completed its reconstruction, the Kingdom of Lorn, founded by Nameria, had its territorial boundaries completely fixed.
Its northern border reached the Velvet Hills and the Norvos Hills, its southern border reached Chayon, its western border reached the plains of Pentos, and its eastern border reached the Kohor Great Forest, essentially occupying all the land covered by the tributaries of the middle section of the Lorne River.
Because the kingdom implemented a centralized monarchy, rather than the city-states confederation system of the ancient Loisne, the national power of the Kingdom of Lorn was extremely strong, surpassing the ancient Loisne Kingdom in just a few years.
After several years of recovery, the Dothraki also recovered from the Great Plague and merged with each other, forming several large Khals.
Among the many Khals, a Khal named Khal Quiego was very powerful, his reputation second only to Drogo; he felt strong enough, so he decided to go to the Free Trade City States to collect tribute and plunder some towns along the way.
As a result, he happened to run into the rapidly rising Kingdom of Lorn and the Loisne army led by Nameria, and a great battle unfolded in the northern section of the Golden Plains, near Kohor.
In this great battle, Nameria did not use any of Summerhall's armed forces; the army she led was the Lorn Legion, formed after the founding of the kingdom.
The battle ended with Nameria losing more than three thousand men and the Dothraki warriors losing two thousand; Khal Quiego was split in half by Nameria's axe during the battle, and his Khal was swallowed by Drogo, who followed closely behind, after withdrawing from the battlefield.
Afterward, Drogo led his army closer to the Kingdom of Lorn, seemingly wanting to take advantage of Nameria's weakness after the major battle, but when Lynd appeared on the side of Nameria's army with the Chosen Legion, Drogo retreated.
Later, Drogo's Khal and the Kingdom of Lorn signed an agreement; the specific content of this agreement was unknown to anyone, everyone only knew that Drogo's Khal could pass through the Kingdom of Lorn smoothly, and they would not plunder any villages and towns within the Kingdom of Lorn, and would even do business with villages along the way, completely unlike a Dothraki Khal.
As for Drogo, although signing the agreement caused some loss to his prestige, the ultimate actual gain was huge; the tribute from the Three City States of Norvos, Pentos, and Volantis in the Free Trade City States was enjoyed by him alone, and all other Khals were blocked to the east by the Kingdom of Lorn, only able to gain things from Slavers Bay, or they aimed all their plundering towards areas further to the east.
In the Disputed Lands, with the establishment of Calamity City, Tyrosh, Lys, and Myr were closely linked, forming a diocese of the god of calamity, and the Three City States also entered an unprecedented state of development, with an unprecedented peace covering this area.
For the residents of the Three City States and the Disputed Lands, they naturally liked this peaceful environment, as they no longer had to worry about war reaching them.
However, for mercenary groups that relied on war for survival, such an environment did indeed make them uncomfortable for a period; long-term tasks like city-states hiring guards no longer existed, and furthermore, the laws here became extremely strict, even general brawls would result in arrest and fines; all of this forced various mercenary groups to leave the Disputed Lands and go to other Free Trade City States to find work.
But as various mineral deposits hidden in the Disputed Lands were developed, the Disputed Lands became extremely active in both internal and external trade; large numbers of merchant caravans came from all over to the Disputed Lands for trade, and merchant caravans had to be protected by mercenaries, which caused the mercenary groups that had originally left the Disputed Lands to gradually gather near the Disputed Lands again; large commissions for guarding merchant caravans were enough to make up for past losses, and guarding merchant caravans was much safer than participating in wars.
Tristan Rivers came from the Riverlands and was the bastard son of a great noble in the Riverlands; the reason for saying 'a certain' is because he himself did not know who his father was, but he could be sure it was a great noble, because before he came of age, his mother could receive a large sum of money every month to live a luxurious life.
Tristan was not a person content with the status quo; after he became sensible and knew that he was the bastard son of a great noble, he hoped to become a true noble; for this, he had his mother pay to hire a wandering knight to learn knightly etiquette and swordsmanship, and after coming of age, he even participated in martial arts tournaments without status restrictions.
However, as his mysterious father stopped providing monthly living expenses, and his mother married the wandering knight who taught him knightly skills, he also had to start fending for himself.
At first, he could still maintain that knightly spirit, helping the strong and supporting the weak, just like Ser Duncan the Tall described in books; he greatly admired Ser Duncan the Tall and hoped to gain the appreciation of a wise lord and achieve fame and success like Ser Duncan the Tall, but with the pressure of life, he quickly abandoned his past ideals, becoming a bandit plundering merchant caravans, and eventually becoming a wanted criminal, forced to wander in foreign lands.
Just like other bastards and wanted criminals from Westeros, he also joined the Golden Company, becoming a mercenary, and has been doing so until now, becoming a sergeant major in the Golden Company.
Since the Disputed Lands came under Lynd's control, the Golden Company's commander, Mis Toyn, had the foresight to move the Golden Company's headquarters to Volantis, utilizing Volantis's geographical advantage to specifically provide escorts for merchant caravans traveling to and from various places, and signed long-term contracts with some large merchant guilds.
Afterward, they even participated in the war between the Kingdom of Lorn and the Dothraki, and achieved military merits in the war, thereby receiving a large sum of mercenary fees, allowing the Golden Company to quickly recover; the current Golden Company is not much worse than the Golden Company before the Great Plague.
Tristan was also promoted to sergeant major after the war with the Dothraki, but the reason for his promotion was not because he had achieved enough military merits, but because he had enough seniority.
In the Golden Company, those older than him in seniority either died in the Great Plague or died in battles with the Dothraki, while those more capable than him lacked the seniority to command respect, so Tristan ended up getting a good deal.
Mis Toyn was also very clear about Tristan's abilities and knew that he could not handle overly complex tasks, so he only assigned Tristan the task of escorting merchant caravans between Volantis and Calamity City.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"