Rosso immediately understood Oserion's meaning and answered confidently:
"Your Highness! House Crabb has already trained a twenty-man scouting party for you. They know every swamp and every stretch of deep forest on the Peninsula, and they can serve as your keenest eyes and ears."
The hall erupted at once. Everyone understood the weight of this generous gift. To some extent, whoever controlled intelligence held the initiative in many matters.
Seeing that they had already made their preparations, Oserion readily extended an olive branch to Rosso.
"Then, Rosso, you shall be the third member of my Personal Guard! You will command the entire scouting force."
"Thank you, my Prince. From this day onward, Rosso shall be the sword in your hand and the shield before you. I shall remain loyal to you until death!"
Overcome with excitement, Rosso knelt on one knee before Oserion, formally becoming his Sworn Warrior.
In Westeros, being born a bastard was deeply disreputable, leaving almost no chance of becoming the Sworn Warrior of a prince as noble as Oserion.
For this reason, his doting father, Earl Crabb, had spared no expense in carefully training a scouting force to send over.
When Alan Boggs stepped forward, the atmosphere throughout the hall changed.
The young knight wore armor polished to a brilliant shine, with the sigil of House Boggs engraved on his breastplate-a longsword standing upright. His steps were firm and powerful, and every movement bore the bearing of a traditional knight.
"Your Highness."
Alan knelt on one knee, his voice ringing like a bell.
"I, Alan Boggs, humbly pledge allegiance to you on behalf of House Boggs."
Although House Boggs was only a knightly house and did not even own a castle, all its children received the most rigorous, traditional knightly training. That was how they had