Hayward is a sworn knight without a fief and one of Ed Stark's elite guards.
Just as Jory, Desmond, Harris, and the others were all surprised by Will's unforeseen claim, Hai Hua fiercely drew his longsword, pointing it at Will Cao: "Will, you're talking nonsense, you can fool others, but you can't fool me."
"Oh?" Will said.
"With your cunning character, you would not have trusted anyone, so it is not surprising that before the match you asked for Harris's riding gun just in case. You couldn't have known beforehand that Harris's riding gun was the real thing, because I was the only one who knew about it."
"Oh! So it was by chance that I insisted on Harris's riding-gun."
"Yes, you just got a little lucky with even a blindfold. You naturally learnt that your mounted rifle was a real one, not a training one, the moment it touched and broke Harris's."
"Good point."
"Harris's Wrong Horse Shot was supposed to be one of the best in the North, everyone knew what he was capable of, and it would have made sense for you to know it too, not that some good friend told you about Harris's Wrong Horse Shot stunt beforehand. You're deliberately suggesting that we think in terms of oracles, you're trying to make us think that you're really the Chosen One now."
"Hey, hey, you saw through me." Will laughed.
"When you urged your horse to charge, you had already thought of how to deal with Harris's wrong horse shot, so you deliberately controlled the horse's speed, in order to store up the strength in the wrong horse at the time of the riding lance as a stick to make use of, you swept backward that shot coincidentally really knocked away Harris's wrong horse shot, your desperate little trick succeeded, otherwise, now you are already lying on the ground. "
"Huh! Good eye."
"So all your talk about having a good friend who taught you how to break Harris's wrong-horse gun beforehand, but it's all just a lie you're making up, you're trying to give us the illusion of being unforeseen so that you can put us in awe of you and fool us into believing that you're a Chosen One, a Shifter, and that you're capable of being unforeseen."
"Haha, but you recognised it anyway." Will laughed.
"Hmph, this little trick of yours of observing words and seeing the wind and making a steer is nothing to hide in front of me, Will, it is said that you are a first-rate swordsman, and that you overpowered our Sir Roderick with a single blow; very well, my swordplay was taught by Sir Roderick, and I will fight with you with a sword."
Than the sword!
What makes it sound so unappealing.
Will looked at how late it was getting and said, "Knight Hayward, it's not too late for us to have a sword match tomorrow. I've been travelling all day and I'm tired. And I have just competed with Knight Harris in mounted spearmanship, and even won him by a fluke, don't you think it's not bright enough for you to compete with me in a sword match now?"
The Hai Hua Knight choked and said coldly, "Fine, let you rest for the night first, and then we will compete in the sword tournament tomorrow."
"Thanks a lot!"
"Hehe, Brother Will, I have to remind you, this sword competition is not a training of wooden swords oh."
"As you wish." Will nodded slightly from his horse.
"Hmph!" The Haihua Knight snorted coldly, strangling his horse and heading for the hillside.
Behind the hill, outside the woods, they set up their tents.
Harris said, "Brother Will, would it be possible for you to come to my tent, I would like to have a drink with you."
"No, thank you Knight Harris, I would like to get an early night's rest, tomorrow morning, Knight Hayward is going to duel me in swordplay."
"Well, as you wish." Harris nodded slightly, looking polite and elegant, then gave his horse a clench in the belly, and the horse galloped off up the slope.
There was no talk all night.
Early the next morning, Jory and the others got up, boiled hot water for hot food, and warmed up cold wine in cups for drinking. Jory looked around and could not see Will Cao, and when he looked in the tent, he could not see anyone. "
"Foucault, you were on duty last night, where's Will?"
"He ate last night and went off alone to the woods on the hillside."
"He's alone?"
"Yeah, he said it's not sheltered from the wind and he's going to find a sheltered place to sleep."
"Don't go look yet." Jory said.
If Will had run away last night, they would have had to skip breakfast to capture him and return. But Jory wasn't worried about Will running off in the middle of the night, because he couldn't get very far if he tried, and as soon as the news was sent out, no matter how good he was, he wouldn't make it to Carlin Bay before he was captured and beheaded.
If Will is really a smart guy, he won't run away.
Foucault rolled onto his horse and hit the ground running towards the hillside.
Behind the hill, there were several tents where Desmond and the others were staying.
The canine workers were all up, and dozens of forest roundups recognised Foucault, wagging their tails at him incessantly. Foucault looked around and saw no sign of Will Cao, nor could he see his tent.
"Will!" Foucault shouted.
The canine workers released their hunting dogs, forest dogs, and search dogs and looked around, but there was no sign of Will.
So much so that Desmond and Hayward got up from their tents and helped to look round, and no one was to be seen.
Down the hill Jory got the message too, and with the sound of hooves, several horses broke up the hill and into the woods to track them down.
Will's horse was there, and if he fled, it would be into the woods to conceal himself.
Harris was the only one still sleeping soundly in his tent.
The men with their hounds went all over the place looking for Will, and Desmond, getting anxious, came running and shouted to Harris to get up and help in the pursuit of Will Tso, and Harris, sleepy-eyed, opened his eyes for a moment to look at Desmond, and said, "That fellow's too smart a man to run away."
"How do you know? He was a habitual thief before he put on the black suit, a pariah with little honour."
"He was able to build up the strength to break my wrong horse shot, he's just a smart guy, and smart guys don't let others have the chance to decapitate themselves." Harris muttered and fell back to sleep.
"Hey, hey, hey, but we can't find him anywhere right now!"
Harris had to sit up and laugh helplessly, "Oh, you don't go looking for crows, can you find a crow in the forest. If you don't look for him, he'll come out on his own. He won't come out if you guys are fooling around, he'll be in a good mood and treat you guys as nothing more than a joke."
"Hmph, you're making a Night's Watchman sound too good."
"I'm not making this up, the Night's Watch Rangers outside the Jedi Wall are hardened men, they can lie still for days in the ice and snow, it's not uncommon for a squad to go out on patrol and not return to camp until three months, what do they eat in the ice and snow? How do they find food? And to find the camp of the savages. Their ability to survive in the wild is not comparable to us guys who live in castles, especially this guy, what's he best at, haven't you heard? You go and tell everyone to come back, it's time to eat and drink, that guy will be out on his own soon enough."
"Hehe, he can't be afraid that I'll be intimidated by dueling with him in swordplay and run away from the battle." Hai Hua's voice rang out abruptly with laughter.
At that, Harris shrugged, shook his head, and fell backwards, into the thick carpet.