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[PR: Ash]

Golden waves crashed against the planks of Hindarsfjall’s northern port. They were rotten from their longtime contact with the seawater. A pair of boats were moored at the bay, swaying with the waves. The seagulls perched atop the mast swayed along as well, the yellowish-brown emblem on the sides of the boat gleaming under the sun.

A burly man with oversized brigandine armor and a steel axe patrolled the port. A horned helm covered his head, his mustache fluttering with the wind. He was exhausted, his eyelids drooping. If he could, he would fall asleep right away.

“Oy, small-eyes Eji, dozin’ off at work?”

“Arr, sod off, ye. Ye shout like that again and I’ll make sure ye don’t get outta bed for half a year!” The burly man rubbed his fist, glaring at his coworker fiercely.

“Ye do that an’ I ain’t gonna buy ye any more booze.” The young tour guide puffed his chest out and shot Eji a challenging look.

“I’m the bigger man. I can let this slide, ye oaf, but ye owe me a bottle o’ mead now,” the man snapped, but he hugged the young tour guide, then he looked at the cloaked witcher.

“This is Mr. Linus Pitt, Oxenfurt Academy’s professor of… romantic relations and anatomy.” Eji gave the witcher a look of respect. “He has something he needs to ask you.”

“Professor of social relations and environmental biology,” corrected the witcher, then he shook Eji’s hand.

Eji felt the witcher sliding him a coin, and a grin broke across his lips. He thumped his chest and guaranteed, “The people of Hindarsfjall are very welcoming and kind. ‘Tis my duty to help you. Ask away.”

The trio walked past the dimly lit inn and turned into a shadowy alleyway on the right.

“When I went to Lofoten earlier, I heard news of my old friend Ortolan, but his whereabouts are unknown right now. Do you have any clues that can lead me to him?”

“I’ve never talked to that man.” Eji shook his head. “I do remember that he ditched his wife an’ went missin’ for a year. Even the head priest, that’s our chief, doesn’t know where he is right now, let alone me.”

The guard’s chubby face jiggled, the look in his eyes filled with disdain.

“You don’t seem to like him very much.” Roy noticed the disdain, of course.

“Skulked around all the time. Ain’t very Skelliger, and certainly a failure of a husband too. I ain’t the only one who finds his attitude annoyin’.” Eji didn’t even hide his contempt now. “Only good thing is that he knew he ain’t a good match for Eva, so he pissed off to where the sun don’t shine.”

The guard looked at the vast blue sea and continued with relief and jealousy. “Eva escaped her nightmare and found her own happiness. An’ that bastard Fahd must’ve been blessed by Freya herself to even get his hands on a woman like Eva. Oh, ye lookin’ fer ‘im? Me thinks the bastard ran back to Lan Exeter after he got tired of Eva. Left her alone while he sleeps around with any woman he likes.”

Roy nodded. If I can’t find his lab here on the island, I’ll have to look around Lan Exeter. “I heard you witnessed Ortolan’s infidelity with your own eyes.”

Eji nodded, and he started reliving that memory. “‘Twas that guy’s great luck he got to marry a beautiful and gentle Skelliger. Didn’t treasure it, though. I can still remember how he betrayed his wife, fresh like it happened yesterday.”

Yeah, because you’re jealous of him, Roy added quietly, then he motioned at Eji to continue.

“Two months before his disappearance, I was guarding this ‘ere port, an’ I saw him taking a woman with heavy makeup off the ship. They were close, aye. Bastard had his arm around that wench’s waist, and they whispered all the way through. Gotta be blind to think they were innocent.”

“Do you know that woman, then?”

“Ain’t never seen ‘er before, but I’ve seen a lot of things in my life. Was sure that wench was a prostitute,” said Eji. He sounded like he’d seen this more than once. “An’ I was furious. Furious, I tell ya.” His eyes flared with crimson fury. “How could he do somethin’ like that? The bastard. Just married Eva for four months, then gave her the cold shoulder. Then he started sleepin’ around?”

Roy nodded. That’s about the same as Eva’s story. Four months after the marriage, he started staying out for extended periods of time, giving his wife the cold shoulder and started cheating on her.

Krott leaned on the wall, his legs crossed, and he nodded. “If I was the one who married Eva, I’d probably stay loyal for at least three years or so.”

“If I was the one who married her, I ain’t gonna stop until she’s given me at least ten kids. She ain’t leavin’ the bed for years. Can’t believe a loyal guy like me is still single until now.” Eji thumped his chest in sorrow. “That oafish Fahd who ain’t know a lick o’ romance married her instead. Unbelievable.”

The witcher looked at the men and shook his head, then he interrupted their fantasizing. “So where’d he bring that woman to?”

“Least the bastard had a sliver of morals left,” Krott added. “Didn’t take her home to Lofoten. Least he didn’t humiliate Eva that much.”

“Morals! The bastard was just scared, I tell ya,” Eji retorted. “Anyone who betrays their marriage on this ‘ere island will be punished by Lord Dona an Cinda himself. Cheating ruins families. Ain’t what Freya teaches us either.”

Whoa. These pirates actually have a better philosophy on family compared to the northern kingdoms.

“Betcha he brought the whore to some other village or even the wilds. If ya catch my drift,” said Eji. “Never seen ’em before in any inns.”

Hmm… Ortolan might have taken her back to his secret base.

“As someone from the same village, I couldn’t have the bastard keeping his extramarital relations a secret from Eva, so I told her about the news. And she was devastated. Spent four months in loneliness, waiting for her husband to come home only to find out he betrayed her. Cried the whole night too.” Krott said, “A few ladies tried to soothe her, but it was no use.”

“An’ I thought Ortolan would lay low after he got exposed, but nay.” Eji’s eyes flared with fury, as if he wanted to confront Ortolan and demand to know why he betrayed his wife. “He knew I was working at the port, but he still brought back woman after woman. Wouldn’t even bribe me either. Won’t pay for me to keep a secret.”

“He brought back more than one prostitute?”

“Two months before his disappearance, I ran into him cheating three times.” Eji suddenly widened his eyes as much as he could, glaring at the witcher, but his heavy dark circles only made him look like a sleepy turtle. “An’ this was how I glared at him. The cruel, lootin’, pillagin’, nefarious Marokvarg used to send his crew to Hindarsfjall for some scoutin’, an’ one look from me, the bastard went back running.”

Roy’s lips twitched.

“Oh, you gotta believe me, professor. My eyes are blessed by Freya herself. One look, an’ I can scare off evildoers,” said Ejis seriously. “But what Ortolan did wasn’t evil. I could do nothin’ to ‘im, so he did whatever he wanted. Brought three women to frolic around the isle right under my nose.”

“How long did they mess around?”

Eji gave it some thought and shook his head. “No idea. The whores probably went back to ship at midnight.”

“All of them came from Lan Exeter?”

“Ain’t sure.” Eji shook his head. “Never had the chance to talk to them. I hate their taste in men, even if it was just business.”

Roy massaged his temples. “What do they look like? And what’s their figure? Any birthmarks or moles around the lips or brows? Think closely.”

“Well, they certainly looked human,” said Eji cryptically.

The witcher understood what that meant. He produced a crown out of thin air and gave it to the guard.

Eji narrowed his eyes and chuckled. “Ain’t been in school or taught to read, so I can’t describe them well. But they were pretty. And they shared one thing in common.” Eji paused for a moment and frowned. “They all looked like Eva.”

“You sure you got it right?” The witcher cocked his eyebrow, and a chill ran down his spine.

“I’ve liked Eva all this time, an’ anythin’ that has somethin’ to do with her, you bet I’ll keep an eye on it,” said Eji adamantly. “The whores ain’t as beautiful as Eva. Skin’s worse too. Ain’t as innocent, and their eyes didn’t have the light of love. Them smiles are as fake as they come. Whores care for nothing but money and profit. But if ye just look at their profiles, they look like Eva. Specially when they held Ortolan’s hand and left with him.”

“Professor Pitt, is somethin’ wrong with yer friend?” Eji blurted. “He left his beautiful wife at home just to pay to sleep with some whores who look like her? What kind of sickness is that?”

Krott shrugged. Even he had no idea about that detail Eji just mentioned.

The witcher started musing. What’s the purpose of him doing that? He cheated on his wife with women who look like her, leaving her to stew in despair at home. Is the master of genetic modification some sort of pervert?

“Me thinks he should be treated with contempt, so I told everyone about his betrayal, aye. But I never thought that would crush Eva,” Eji roared, then he hung his head low, guilt filling his eyes. “Broke down one night and tried to take her own life.”

Roy was reminded of the scar on Eva’s wrist. The one that gleamed crimson under the firelight. “And Ortolan saved her?”

“Aye, and to everyone’s surprise,” Krott said. “Can’t believe he made it back in time to save her life even when he was messing with another woman. And he did something and healed Eva in three days. Not even Uva’s good enough to do that, and she’s a healer. For three days, Ortolan stayed with her until she calmed down. Eva only told the mother of five about the attempt when they had a chat. It was after that we were told of it.”

Yeah, Ortolan probably used magic to heal her, Roy thought. Probably left some sort of surveillance item back at home to keep an eye on her. It’s obvious that Eva’s life is something important to Ortolan.

***

“Three days later, he disappeared. The man saved her from the brink of death only to abandon her to the grasp of loneliness,” said Krott, perhaps a bit more poetically than he could usually muster. “He brought her back to life only to push her back into agony. Oh, the torment.”

Wait. So he swung Eva’s emotions between two extremes, tormenting her. Roy had an idea, and it was a terrifying one. From what Triss found out, Ortolan is a cruel and almost robotically logical researcher. There is no way he’d fall in love with some sort of bumbling lady. Could it be? He married her and flirted with so many women because he has some sort of goal he wants to fulfill?

“And this time, Ortolan didn’t come back,” said Eji. “Left completely. And he took away the pain he gave Eva. Slowly, she got over it. An’ two months later, she married Fahd. Been livin’ happily ever since.”

***

Roy shook his head, laughing at himself for the idea he just got. He’s a sorcerer. If he’d wanted to use Eva, she would have ended up a lot worse. He would use her like a test subject. Yet now she has a husband, a child, and a home of her own. Perhaps I read too much into it.

Roy used the leads he had as of current to comb out the whole case. Two years ago, Ortolan saved Eva, who fainted from the waves crashing into her. They got married and moved to this island, living a loving life for four months. And for the next four months, Ortolan started leaving home for days. His wife had to endure long periods of loneliness. And for the following two months, Ortolan’s infidelity worsened, though his affair partners looked like his wife.

Unable to take the hit, Eva tried to commit the unthinkable, but Ortolan rushed back in time to save her. And then he disappeared, their old home falling into disrepair. Two months later, Eva remarried, and one year had gone by since then.

That was the story so far.

***

Roy took a deep breath and massaged his head.

“That’s all I know, Mr. Pitt.” Eji looked at the port outside the alleyway, noticing a man in armor coming. “An’ that’s the cap’n. I gotta go back to my post. If ye have anythin’ more to ask, come find me at Lobster Inn tonight.”

Eji punched Krott’s shoulder, and the tour guide winced. “Do you still wish to find Ortolan, or should we go to other villages now, Mr. Pitt?”

“We’re going back to Ortolan to question a few more people.”