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[PR: Ash]

“Where’s Erin? Where’s my daughter? What kind of sick, perverted bastard would disturb her rest?” A heart-wrenching howl tore through the night. Dowa’s hunched figure leaned against the empty coffin before the headstone. The corpse within was nowhere to be found.

Aiden and his companions exchanged a look. They had a feeling this corpse’s disappearance was connected to the missing Gaetan. They were in a hurry, but they held that back and asked, “You’ve been Kent’s chief for years. You know everyone there. You should know who’s the prime suspect, shouldn’t you?”

“What do you mean, witcher?” Dawo wiped his tears and stopped crying for a moment.

“It’s a complicated world. There are always evil people out there. People who loved your daughter but couldn’t marry her when she was alive. Or outright necrophiliacs. They all have their own reasons to steal Erin’s corpse. Reasons related to their own perverted desire.”

Dawo shivered like he was electrocuted. He shook his head. “No. That is not possible. Erin was the most beautiful girl, or at least in my eyes, she was. She was as pretty as her mother, but the truth is she was tormented by her condition. She was nothing but skin and bones, and she was a timid girl. The villagers didn’t like getting close to her. And I’m sure no one in the village is the kind of sick pervert you mentioned.” Dowa stared at the headstone. There was sadness in his voice. He took a deep breath and said something that broke his heart.

“Perhaps the damned beasts dug out her body.”

“Make one thing clear. Beasts are creatures driven by their instinct. They would never rebury the coffin and clean up the place perfectly after they dug it out. This was human. Someone wanted to hide their crime,” Kiyan refuted, his eyes turning around. He was reminded of the hell he went through under the temple island. With malice, he said coldly, “Which leaves us with one suspect. The barber and healer you claimed to be kind and for the people. Godefroy. He took the patient’s body for medical research purposes. Maybe he experimented on her. Perhaps that was the real payment for his years of healing your daughter.”

“No!” Dowa pushed down on the coffin and shot back up like a billy goat that got pricked by a hedgehog. He glared at Kiyan, a film of sweat covering his face. “He would never defile the dead. He adored Erin when she was alive. Treated her like his own. He would never do something so mad.”

“That was just a guess. Calm down.” Roy cast Axii. A green inverted triangle gleamed in Dowa’s eyes. His agitation calmed down, and he relaxed. Roy continued, “Aside from that, there might be another possibility. Are you sure Erin is dead?”

“You think she faked her death and lied to her own father? No! I remember that day like it was yesterday. She had no breathing or heartbeat. Her skin was so white, I could almost see through her. And she was as cold as ice.” Dowa was in agony. “The villagers saw her for the last time and confirmed her death. There were so many of us. We couldn’t be all wrong.”

Roy mused in silence. His gut told him that if things felt off, sometimes an apparent death did not mean actual death. “Let’s go to the house, then. I believe we’ll get our answers once we find the barber.”

***

The full moon rained its silvery moonlight on this land. On the westernmost point of the plains, far from any human settlement, stood a towering oak tree. Under that oak tree was a rickety house made of logs. Dowa called out to Godefroy loudly, but there was no response. He opened the ajar door and passed through the yellowing curtains.

The witchers followed him, watching as Dowa lit up the kerosene lamp on the wall. The lamp’s dim light illuminated a claustrophobic room. There was barely any place to stand. The air smelled warm, humid, and a lot of other scents. Most of the scent came from the bunches of plants and herbs hanging on the walls. Mistletoe, myrtle, ribleaf, buckthorn… This place had everything.

Compared to the abundant herbs, the house’s interiors were stark. There was a simple bed, an old table, and vials and vessels for crushed herbs and alchemy. The most intriguing part of the room was the contraption in the center. It was a kind of oven made of an hourglass-shaped furnace, glass tubes that looked like cobwebs, and oak barrels connecting everything. This was older than the one in the temple island’s lab. It was obviously used for many years. Seems like the barber loves alchemy as much as Kalkstein does. Pity he isn’t around.

“Sorry, witchers. I’m afraid this is a wild goose chase,” said Dowa, bitter and disappointed. He felt relieved inside, however. The healer probably didn’t come to the plains this summer. Which means someone else took Erin’s body. The man I trust the most didn’t betray me.

The witchers did not share his opinion. Kiyan approached the wooden barrels and took a beaker from the table. He scooped up a beaker’s worth of transparent liquid, and he sniffed it. “Dried mandrake, flour batter, belladonna, fifth element… This is a high-quality mandrake distilled wine.” He swirled the beaker, observing the whirlpool with interest.

There was praise on his face. “Decent alchemy skills. This couldn’t have been older than a week.”

Aiden approached the quiet furnace on the other side and reached inside to take out a piece of charcoal the size of a nail. It still felt warm to the touch. “This furnace was used within the last 24 hours. You’re wrong. Godefroy came to this place not too long ago, but he left. He’s still a suspect.”

***

Before the nervous Dowa, the witchers scoured the room. A while later, Dowa was presented with a few items. A metal hair clip the shape of a jasmine, a silver, bloodstained medallion of a snarling cat head, and four used glass cups.

Dowa took the hair clip with trembling hands, carefully grasping it. He had a dark look on his face. “Why are Erin’s possessions here?”

“Because my conjecture is right.” Roy’s eyes gleamed. “The barber excavated your daughter’s body a long time ago and took her to this house. The hair clip fell by accident, but now he’s already taken the corpse somewhere else. And not just Erin.” Roy stopped, rubbing the cat head medallion in his hand. “The blood on this smells like a lot of decoctions. Fresh, too. No older than 24 hours. Which also means he took Gaetan away as well. And earlier this day too.”

The witchers were excited. Their efforts finally bore some fruit. They finally found clues about Gaetan’s whereabouts. Roy’s cheeks were also getting rosy. He was now sure that the kind, interesting, and skilled healer who was also a barber who dressed up like the taxman Dowa mentioned was the same guy who didn’t like the allure of fame Roy had in mind. Emiel Regis. One of the most important members in Geralt’s search party for Ciri. And also a higher vampire that’s over 420 years old. Higher vampires can turn into bats and fly away with Gaetan in their wings. That’s why we didn’t find any traces at the woods’ exit. And higher vampires are masters at hiding their scent and magical trails.

Roy fell into a great disadvantage back in Ellander a few years ago because of that.

Only a higher vampire can make it look like Gaetan disappeared into thin air. Roy’s heart was pumping with excitement, and he was getting a lot of ideas. But why did Regis take a dying Cat away? If he only wanted to save Gaetan out of the kindness of his own heart, why didn’t he just set him up here in this workshop? It’s filled with herbs.

“No. It wasn’t just one.” Aiden and Eskel held up the four glass cups. They gleamed a dangerous, mysterious glint under the lamp. The witchers could see four ribbons of distinctly different colors in the air. “These cups were used not too long ago. For the mandrake distilled wine. And there are four different scents on it.”

“Just tell me what that means, witcher.” Dowa was already numb to the shock.

“Don’t you get it? The barber-healer had three companions.”

Dowa had no idea what it meant, but Roy’s heart sank. Are Regis’ companions higher vampires too? If four higher vampires join forces, they can level a whole town if they want to. What were they trying to do? Do Erin and Gaetan share some similarities that are worth the attention of higher vampires?

Roy had a feeling he had gotten himself into something big, but he couldn’t figure out why. He barely had any contact with higher vampires, after all.

“Stay with me, witchers. We’ll wait for Godefroy to come back. I want to ask him why he did something so evil. I won’t ask for your help without any reward, of course.” The old man put his hands in a prayer before his chest, and he gritted his teeth. Earnestly, he said, “I will leave all my life savings for you. Three hundred orens. For this request.”

Dawo has no idea what he’s up against. Roy calmed down. “Let’s set the reward stuff aside. We have a score to settle with the healer as well, but he’ll never come back if we stake this place out.” Higher vampires have powerful senses. He’s probably noticed four fully-armed witchers in his house, waiting for him. There’s no way he and his companions are going to come back. “Does Godefroy have any other abodes nearby?”

Dawo went green, and then white. He eventually shook his head and sighed. “He never told me about his past or his life beyond the plains.”

Knew that. Roy mused, then he gazed at Dawo. “I have a plan to find Erin’s whereabouts, but it’ll be painful for you. You’ll have to go on a long journey. Will you do it?”

Dawo was a little shocked by how bright Roy’s eyes were gleaming. He held his crutch tightly and held his head high, his cheeks glowing red. “If I can find my daughter and have her rest in peace, I’ll do anything. But first I must ask: where are you taking me?”

“Nowhere serious. It won’t kill you.” Roy exchanged a look with his companions. The other witchers nodded. They knew what he was thinking, They watched as Roy took out a xenovox and rubbed it gently. A magical beam of light shot into the air and started making a blue screen. “I’ll contact a sorceress right away. She’ll open a portal to Novigrad. You’ll be looking for an oneiromancer by the name of Corinne Tilly. You will do whatever she says and find the answers you want in your dreams.”

Gaetan only left a medallion behind. It wasn’t enough for any oneiromancy. However, Erin, who was also taken away, left behind a jasmine hair clip and her father. That was enough to find out where Erin and Gaetan were taken to.