"Sam, higher..." I said, observing his clumsy posture with the spear.
"Arion, lower and watch your guard," I said, watching Rodrik knock down that fool.
I sighed, a bit disappointed to see them all exhausted after such a short effort, but I said, "That's all for today, go to the kitchen and ask for whatever you want, you've earned it."
All the soldiers gathered in the courtyard for training applauded joyously, which reminded me of my old days at the orphanage in my previous life...ah yes, I haven't mentioned it yet, I am reincarnated.
I died quite young in my previous life, but since I had neither family nor friends, I guess no one should be sad about my premature disappearance at the age of 19.
In this life, unlike the first, everything is different, not only am I not poor, but I have parents, well I had a family since my father died last year, which forced me to return to Griffin Roost.
For those in the know, you would have already understood, I am a Connington, and not just any, I am Ser Ronnet Connington, Lord of Griffin Roost.
Life at Griffin Roost was peaceful, but at the same time, I was also aware of everything that was going to happen to our house in the future. Initially, as a child, I couldn't do anything, but as soon as I reached the right age, which is 15, I left home with 30 guards to roam Westeros in search of 'adventure'.
The turning point in my life occurred only 2 weeks after we started our journey, we encountered an ambush organized by a group of bandits that we fought, and I took a man's life for the first time in two lives, and that's also how I understood that I had a superpower.
At the moment I killed that bandit, a warm current appeared in my body, at the moment I didn't understand what this warm current could be useful for, but I quickly felt that my strength, my speed, my agility, and even my skills with weapons had improved to a noticeable level...and even more than noticeable.
I fully realized my power when I killed an archer and tried my skills with a bow a week later, the result was astonishing, I who had never managed to hit a target less than 10 meters away could now precisely hit anything I wanted within a radius of 20-30 meters.
Once I understood how unreasonable my superpower was, I decided to start a company of mercenaries made up of just and pious men with the goal of hunting bandits all over Westeros, somewhat like the rainbow knights of Ser Bonnifer Hasty, the love interest of the late Queen Rhaella Targaryen.
The Bloody Griffin...that's the name I chose for the mercenary company that quickly evolved into a chivalric order. Initially, we had no reputation, especially because of me as I was just a 15-year-old boy, and generally, the size of mercenary companies as small as ours is proportional to that of its leader, but over time we finally gained rank and became experts in tracking down outlaws. Our services were, however, especially solicited after the Ironborn rebellion because we made a real massacre on the island of Harlaw, where I even won Nightfall after shooting an arrow through the throat of the Harlaw heir.
The wealth we got from this expedition amounted to a Valyrian steel sword, 6 warships, and 8 transport ships, enough swords and armor to equip 500 knights, and a fortune in gold estimated at 20,000 golden dragons.
It was really a lot for someone like me belonging to a house that had not only lost almost all its lands during the rebellion but also all its wealth.
Unfortunately, to my father's great regret, I did not return directly, I took all my fortune and built an even more powerful mercenary company, making sure to separate it from the Order of the Bloody Griffin, which was composed only of knights, with the promise to all recruits of good pay as well as a possible knighthood or even the possibility of becoming a knight of my personal order, the Order of the Bloody Griffin, which had gained a huge reputation.
After 5 years, I finally decided to dissolve this mercenary company and return to my lands to inherit the position of Lord of House Connington and Lord of Griffin Roost and all the surrounding lands upon my father's death.
Of the 8,000 men I led, only 400 knights and 1,600 men accepted my conversion and, out of loyalty, came to live on my lands to serve me as guards and soldiers.
Over time and with the money I sent every time I completed a mission or after one of my countless victories in tournaments organized in all corners of the kingdom, we finally managed to buy back at a scandalous price all the lands we had lost during the rebellion from the neighboring lords who had the good sense to support Robert Baratheon.
Of course, the surrounding lords who had no use for our lands took the opportunity to practically extort us, eventually, we had to pay up to 350,000 golden dragons over a period of 5 years.
Without the king's and the Reach's tournaments, I would never have been able to repay everything, I was happy to have recovered everything, but I did not forget who put us in this situation: my uncle Jon, the Targaryens, Robert Baratheon, and all the surrounding families who enriched themselves at our expense, almost making us fall from the ranks of the nobles.
Although once made Lord of Griffin Roost, my father Ronald Connington went to war for Robert Baratheon, upon returning, all he received was contempt from his peers as well as exemplary sanctions to demonstrate what happened to those loyal to the Targaryens who led our house to the brink of extinction.
I had a tenacious hatred towards all the actors in the downfall of our house, this hatred was a hatred that could not be forgotten, and I did not want to forget it, but for the moment I had to be careful and stay under the radar of all the major players in the game because I was nothing more than one of the thousands of landed knights existing throughout the kingdom.