From a hired knight to a master of Game of Thrones

Westeros.

north.

Along the banks of a tributary of the White Blade River, in Severn City.

The air in the suburbs was icy cold; inhaling it felt like swallowing a mouthful of shards of glass.

A young man who has traveled twenty-one years and changed his name to Don Quixote leads a stocky mountain horse carrying the corpse of an old man, walking with uneven steps into the dim and vast wolf forest.

Don Quixote wore an open-faced iron helmet, rusted and worn chainmail, and a long sword at his waist.

He walked silently along a rather long mountain path.

Don Quixote eventually chose a high place as his burial site.

After digging the pit deep enough, he carefully lifted the old man with both hands and placed him at the bottom of the pit.

"I should have left the sword to you, but I sold it to raise money to buy myself a new one."

Don Quixote rambled on and on:

"I think the old gods will give you a new sword."

"Old man, you are a true knight, you only discipline me when I deserve punishment."

"Except for that one time, which was truly an accident. I really did accidentally stumble into Widow Vera's house and accidentally saw you and Mrs. Vera..."

"Ahem, old man, you're really vigorous for your age!"

"..."

Don Quixote concluded:

"May the Old Gods accept you, old man."

He then took out an iron pickaxe from the animal skin bundle on his horse.

Begin filling with soil.

Finally, he looked out over the quiet, stocky mountain horse trail:

"Hey buddy, go say goodbye to your old master."

The stocky mountain horse stepped forward and gave a low snort.

"Old man, I'm leaving."

Don Quixote mounted his horse, took a few steps forward, and then stopped.

He glanced back at the small mound of earth and smiled:

"If I survive, I will bring your favorite barley wine to the memorial service."

"Yes, if possible, please bring Mrs. Vera along as well."

After saying this, Don Quixote sighed deeply, slowly reined in his horse, and continued on his way.

Don Quixote is not a native of the Game of Thrones world.

Twenty-one years ago, he traveled to this world.

His parents were farmers in the Northern Seven family.

Although living conditions were a bit harsh, they were far less comfortable than in my previous life.

But he lived smoothly to the age of nine.

But in that same year, the Bolton family and the Stark family clashed again.

Seven is only half a day's ride from Winterfell, and House Seven is one of the most loyal vassals of House Stark.

The Seven family naturally became involved in the struggle between the two powerful families in the North.

Seven City was also affected, as expected.

Many people died in this conflict.

There were knights, ordinary soldiers, and civilians from the territory.

His parents died in the conflict.

His life became even more difficult from then on.

After struggling for two years, he met Valentine Adler, a hired knight who had traveled to Seven City, who was the old man he had just buried.

Based on his understanding that was different from that of ordinary children in the North and nearly a year of respectful service.

The old man reluctantly accepted him as a knight's squire.

Why is it done reluctantly?

Besides the fact that a knight's squire was not a position that ordinary commoners were qualified to hold, the main reason was that the old man, who was employed as a knight, was also living in poverty.

The predecessors of hired knights were mostly the second sons of impoverished nobles, rebellious knights stripped of their titles, and meritorious squires of commoner origin.

They adhered to their knightly oaths, but had no family crests, fiefdoms, or fixed income; their only assets were their martial skills and knighthood.

Most hired knights lead a nomadic life.

They traveled from one castle to another, serving one lord after another.

The quality of life for these people depends entirely on their own abilities.

In order to survive, a very small number of down-on-their-luck hired knights will even abandon their knightly oath and become bandits or poachers.

Therefore, the old man was initially unwilling to have another knight as a squire; to him, Don Quixote would only be a burden.

But after acknowledging Don Quixote as his squire, the old man changed his attitude and became very dutiful, passing on all his knightly skills to Don Quixote.

Thus ended Don Quixote's nearly ten-year life as a knight-errant in the world of Game of Thrones.

…………

Emerging from the gloomy wolf forest, Don Quixote suddenly felt somewhat lost and bewildered.

All the skills he has learned so far are in preparation for fighting.

They do have some basic life skills; after all, there's some truth to the saying that poor children learn to be independent early.

He had to rely on himself during those years of hardship and displacement.

In the end, he managed to acquire some life skills that he hadn't mastered in his previous life.

But it seems that the only means of making a living are those knightly skills.

But it's really hard to make a living with those skills.

Let's leave aside the most crucial point for now.

He was just a knight's squire, not even a knight himself. Who would hire him to do anything?

Even if some employer were blind enough to choose to hire him as a knight's squire, he wasn't confident he could survive those battles.

Having suffered from chronic hunger for many years, his current physical condition can only be considered average.

Slightly better than most commoners, but significantly worse than most knights.

"Sigh! We've all transmigrated, so why don't we have any cheat codes?"

Don Quixote sighed:

"I'm not going to think about it anymore. I'll just take it one step at a time."

"As for my identity, the old man jokingly conferred upon me the title of knight, so I am a knight."

"When you're out in the world, your identity is something you give yourself!"

"Let's go home first. I've lived in the North for twenty-one years, and I still can't stand this bitter cold."

Keep in mind that this is not yet the harsh winter season in the North. You can only imagine how many people in the North will freeze to death when the real winter arrives!

Not long after, Don Quixote returned to his tenant village outside Seven.

A pointed-roof wooden house built from logs.

As soon as Don Quixote entered the cabin, he started a fire.

Sitting beside a circular pit dug in the indoor floor, Don Quixote started a fire and took stock of his belongings.

Having an empty wallet is just a matter of glancing around.

He quickly tallied them up.

A total of 3 silver deer and 78 bronze points.

"We can hold on for a while longer, but we need to find a way to make a living as soon as possible. There's no sense of security at all if we just sit around and do nothing."

Don Quixote sighed.

Of course, this only includes his cash flow, not his fixed assets, especially his knight equipment.

A stocky mountain horse, an iron longsword, a set of worn and rusty chainmail, a dagger, three whetstones, an oak shield with dented iron trim, and so on.

If you really can't make a living, you can sell these knight equipment to get dozens of silver deer.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, sigh."

Life is tough, I keep sighing.

…………

The next day.

After hastily eating a few loaves of dark bread made from a mixture of barley and rye flour, Don Quixote quickly rode away from the tenant village.

"Perhaps we could try contacting Mrs. Vera; she runs a tavern in Seven City and is well-informed."

"And I've heard that her son is a Ranger in the Seven family, so maybe he has some connections."

While pondering, Don Quixote entered the city of Seven.

Iron Axe Tavern.

Don Quixote pushed open the door.

"It smells so good, but my stomach is starting to hurt."

A mixture of aromas—beer, cured meat, and pine smoke—wafted into Don Quixote's nostrils, causing him to involuntarily swallow after having only eaten a few hard, dark loaves of bread that morning.

……

PS: (Please recommend and read this!)