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“Did you hear that? That strange noise… It’s nearby!”

“Mate, it’s not winter yet. Of course there are strange noises. Animals have to mate, you know. I bet it’s just a dog or a cat making that sound.:

“Darn beasts! They can still mate in this weather? I can feel my dick freeze over!”

“Wanna warm up at the House of the Queen of the Night?”

***

When the patrols were gone, the witcher finally moved. He leapt into the open window of a certain villa. A drop of sweat trickled down his calf, pelting the wooden floorboard.

The bald witcher sleeping in the hammock was woken up by the noise, and he looked at the young witcher. “You spent the whole morning with the Lady of the Lake? Do you really like her that much?”

“I was just taking my reward. That’s all.” Roy looked down at Letho and shook his head. “A pity someone didn’t do the work, so no reward for him.”

Letho swayed the hammock. “At least it’s better than being blinded by greed and turned into a puppet.” There was a veiled warning in that reply.

“You seem to think poorly of her. Don’t worry about it.” Roy took a deep breath. “I know what I’m doing. The Lady of the Lake, the Church of Virtue, and Princess Adda are just working together for a common goal. Everyone gains something from this. I won’t let them control me.”

“Remember that well. Try to stay away from religions.” Letho heaved a sigh. “They’re filled with madmen. You might stay sane for a while, but they will eventually pull you down to their pit of insanity.”

“I know.”

“Get bathed. You smell even worse than a zeugl.” Letho tossed a towel to him and looked at the young witcher’s shoulder. “What’s the deal with that toad?”

***

Roy leaned back against the big bucket and heaved a sigh. The steam was turning his skin red, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but he was more relaxed than ever. At least he did not have to worry about a lobster attack in the bucket.

Petals floated on the surface of the water. They were Coral’s collection and the stuff she used every time she bathed. Roy could use them as well.

Letho was sitting by the bucket. He looked at his disciple’s arm. Roy’s skin did not look like a regular witcher’s. It was soft and supple, as if he had never worked a day in his life. Every inch of skin on his body looked that way. Witchers have no need to look so good. Letho was starting to worry for his disciple. Is the Lady of the Lake trying to turn him into her envoy? He shook his head and held the ‘toad’ by its hind legs. The witcher held it up and observed it closely.

Gryphon was a lot more timid now that it had turned into a little creature. It did not resist Letho. Instead, it was also curiously staring at the witcher, puffing out bubbles at the same time.

“What the hell is this? A vodyanoy baby? Where did you get this?”

“Remember that mad alchemist? Kalkstein? It’s a… gift he gave me.” Roy dried his hair with the towel. He decided against telling Letho he had a griffin. Roy would save it until Gryphon and Letho had known each other better. In any case, the griffin would eventually be part of the team. “You can call it Gryphon. It’s a vodyanoy today, but it might take a different form tomorrow.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll know. Eventually.”

Letho poked the creature with his finger, and it clung on to him tightly. The witcher squinted. “It’s cute, but not much of an asset to us? It’s going to be deadweight. Why don’t we sell it? I bet the rich ladies in Vizima are interested in something like this. We need to recoup some of the money we spent on the weapons.”

“It’s not deadweight!” Roy turned around and rested his chin on the edge of the bucket. “Gryphon’s going to come in handy someday. I’m not selling it!”

Gryphon could feel Roy defending it, and it was touched.

“Unless I get ten thousand crowns for it!”

Gryphon gurgled in protest.

Roy asked Letho about what Adda and the knight order did while he was talking to Vivienne. Roy might have broken the spell before it was fully cast, but the fishermen, bricklayers, and most of the people in Vizima’s town area must have noticed the weird phenomenon in the sky. Some said it was a demonic invasion, while some swore it was the herald of the end days.

Princess Adda used Dagon as an excuse for this phenomenon. She put on an act with the surviving knights and asked the mayor to tell the citizens a little lie to calm them down. The mayor said that Dagon was once again attacking Lake Vizima, and the Lady of the Lake was working with the knights and Vizima’s royal consultant to vanquish this evil. The phenomenon that happened on Black Tern Island was just the tremors of the battle.

The knights who perished and the sorcerer were hailed as fallen heroes, and an imminent crisis was averted.

“Foltest isn’t objecting. Did Adda ruin his plans?” Roy was curious. “How did she convince her father to stop attacking Vivienne?”

“You’ll have to ask her, but things aren’t looking well.” Letho shook his head. “What happened on Black Tern Island is going to make Foltest even more cautious. The Lady of the Lake’s church is going to have a hard time expanding in Vizima.”

“We’ll know what happens. Eventually.” Roy spent hours meditating after he bathed. When dawn broke and the rays of sunshine shone on Vizima, Roy and Letho went their separate ways.

Auckes and Serrit should have completed their mission in Toussaint at this point, so Letho would try to establish contact and tell them the point of rendezvous in Vizima. At the same time, he would stand guard over Berengar as he made the remaining swords.

Roy went to make a whole new leather armor. It was black in color and looked just like his old armor. He would still have to change into new armor even without Vivienne taking his clothes off. He was growing fast. Roy was about five feet nine now, but he was still as lean as ever. Unlike Letho, Roy’s muscles did not look like boulders, though they were still a lot stronger than most people’s. He had grown out of his old clothes.

Roy went to the temple area for some reconnaissance work, while Gryphon hid in his hood, staring around curiously. The creature had made a home out of Roy’s hood.

“Everything looks normal.” Roy looked at the plaza from afar. It was as packed with Vivienne’s ardent believers as ever. In fact, it was even more crowded than usual, thanks to the mayor’s announcement the day before. The plaza seemed to have turned into a sea of humans. “No. Wait. The princess isn’t here.”

Adda was not in charge of the sermon this morning. It was an important job, and she would never let anyone else do it. Roy realized that the negotiations with Foltest had broken down, and he was worried.

Gryphon gurgled.

“I’m alright, Gryphon. Don’t worry.” He felt Gryphon’s curiosity about this place, so he pointed at the statue. “This is a congregation. They’re praying to the Lady of the Lake—Vivienne.”

Roy was reminded of how Vivienne turned her believers’ souls into nymphs. I wonder if that’s truly a good fate. Wonder if these people can accept that.

Gryphon gurgled again.

“Shut it. We’re leaving now.” Roy went to Kalkstein’s place after scouting the plaza out.

The alchemist seemed to have gone through something terrible lately. His hair was unkempt, and his goatee and brows were gone. His face was filled with charred scars, and they were covered in ointments. “I’m feeling under the weather today. I don’t have time for visitors. Come round when I’m feeling better.”

His body was hunched, and he shuffled. The alchemist welcomed Roy into his place, but he looked sickly and weak. The young witcher smirked at the alchemist. Hm. The alchemist knows about Azar’s plans too, and he’s crazy enough to reenact it…

“Alchemist, you look like you’ve been struck by lightning.”

“Ahem. I don’t know what you mean. What lightning? It’s just an accident. Something went wrong with my experiment, and things exploded.”

“Fine. If that’s what you say…”

“But that’s the truth, young man!” Kalkstein looked at him solemnly. “I don’t want you telling lies. That’s going to be trouble for me.”

“Nobody’s gonna know your secret. I promise,” Roy guaranteed. He whispered, “I’m actually here for something else. It’s about Azar Javed…”

The alchemist smacked his head, and his eyes shone. “Oh dear. I almost forgot about him. Azar sacrificed himself to save the kingdom. This is a great opportunity! His villa is literally an unguarded treasure trove right now! Say, wanna partner up again? This’llbe just like last time, but you have a lot of creative freedom this time around. You can destroy all the traps if you want to. How about that? We gotta move fast, or the soldiers are gonna cordon the place off.”

“Aren’t you even sad about this?” Roy was surprised. “I thought you guys were friends.”

“Hey, I am sad.” Kalkstein wiped his gunk away with a black finger. “I’ve mourned for him this morning. Never done that for anyone before. That’s the most I can do for him. My research awaits!”

Wow. Some friendship that was. Roy felt sorry for Azar. “So, how are we splitting the loot?”

“I’ll be having all the research data. Well, you can take some of the copies if you want. Everything else belongs to you.”

“Deal!”

***

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