Witcher's Atelier

Late at night in the upper city of Vergen, in Atelier Victor, Angouleme and Geralt were drinking and chatting.

"...Uncle, how do we remove the spirit mist? Can you tell me in detail? Otherwise, I've been running around with you today and I don't know what I'm doing!" Angouleme complained angrily.

Geralt smiled, that's right, although he didn't know why Victor was in a hurry to remove the curse. But since Angouleme has "determined" to become a witcher, there is nothing wrong with getting in touch with this knowledge early.

"To lift this curse, we must first understand the war a few years ago - the Second Upper Aedirn War - the Battle of Vergen.

This afternoon, you introduced me to the mayor Cecil, and Yarpen and Zoltan each told their own stories. Combined with the information I got from the Kaedweni military camp, we can restore the following story.

In November 1268, Korwen sent troops to the city of Vergen in Upper Aedirn to fight against Aedirn, the former ally who had fought against Nilfgaard not long ago, in order to recapture Upper Aedirn, which Henselt called Lomako.

On the afternoon of the day of the fierce battle, Kaedweni's general "Vandergrift" led 4,000 heavily armed men to launch an attack, He sent the "Brown Banner Battalion" to launch the first wave of attacks.

The Brown Banner Battalion became famous in the war against Nilfgaard. This Kaedweni light cavalry regiment, which originally patrolled the Ban Grimm area, proved its courage in the anti-invasion war in Upper Aedirn after being sent to the front line. The heroic performance in the subsequent "Battle of Brenner" made this unit truly famous.

The local Aedirn defenders lost their fighting spirit when they saw the "Brown Banner Battalion Flag", and many people were immediately discouraged and ready to surrender. Fortunately, Aedirn's spies knew the marching movements of Kaedwen in advance, so the troops of Fangerburg, Alderburg and Gureta who came to participate in the defense battle quickly joined the battle.

The Aedirn side had more than 5,000 troops. The commander "Selkirk" personally led the team to resist the invasion of Kaedwen in the hope of turning the tide of the war. Wherever he went, he would force The Kaedweni retreated, and the defenders of Aedirn successfully repelled the Brown Banner Camp and captured their "military flags".

Vandergrift had to meet him in person on the battlefield, and finally, Vandergrift killed Seltchik. But when the war dragged on until the evening, the defenders of Aedirn had a slight advantage, and under the cover of night, the defenders launched a surprise attack. The fire traps prepared in advance, the archers ignited the fire at the right time, and the ambush on Kerwin went smoothly.

In this war, Kerwin's court sorcerer Sabina served as Henselt's royal advisor to supervise the war. Perhaps the protracted battle situation did not satisfy the sorceress. When the fierce battle between the two armies continued until the evening, Sabina decided to solve the problem herself. So in the flames, fireballs rained down on the battlefield, and thousands of soldiers fighting on both sides were instantly Turned into blood, charcoal, and pieces of meat, the flames devoured both the Kaedweni and the Aedirnians.

There were only dozens of survivors, and the reason they survived was that there was a priest of Meliteli, Crest, on the battlefield. The "badge" he carried emitted a soft light, protecting him and the people around him. No fireball could destroy the defense, and the survivors followed the priest's footsteps and were able to evacuate the land of death.

The result of releasing magic this time led to Sabina's death. The furious King Henselt sentenced her guilty, took her to the battlefield, tied her to the wheel and pierced her to death. Before she died, the sorceress angrily released a curse, cursing Henselt to never break through Vergen.

From then on, the rocky canyon outside Vergen was replaced by a plain full of trenches and pits caused by slingshots and magic explosions released by the sorceress. Part of it was occupied by a red grassland covered with rusty armor and the white bones of the dead.

What's more terrifying is that as long as Sabina's curse takes effect, most of the battlefield will be filled with strange fog. The fog was like an extension of the nightmare world, with the ghosts of the dead endlessly reenacting the battles that took their lives, and anyone who broke in would have no choice but to die.

So far, have you read out those keywords? "

Angoulême rested his chin on his hand, "So today you asked me to take you to the grave to find the 'Brown Banner', ask Sir Siegry for 'Selkirk's Armor', and 'Vandergrift's Sword'?"

"Yes, due to past grievances, Vandergrift named his sword 'Hatred', and used it to kill Selkirk in the war to complete his revenge, making Vandergrift's Sword a 'symbol of hatred'.

Secondly, in that war, if Selkirk had not stood up in time, Aedirn would have been defeated when the Brown Banner attacked, so his armor became a 'symbol of courage'. As for the Brown Banner that collapsed and destroyed on the battlefield, their banner became a 'symbol of death'. "

"Then the symbol of faith is the 'Crest's Badge'? But that priest seems to be from Kaedwen..." Angouleme asked in confusion.

Geralt nodded and smiled, "The magical badge is in Henselt's hands. Now I have collected the first three materials, and I can start to remove the fog when I return to the other side."

"But I remember Victor said that even if the four symbols are used to recreate the battlefield, the curse can only be lifted by winning the battle with the "war spirit", and the war spirit will even call catapults and crossbowmen! ? "

"He is right, we must be fully prepared. I admit that I came to visit with the intention of cooperating with him."

"Well, there's no rush anyway, so why not just wait here for another day? Victor should be back soon after this trip, and I can take you to find Philippa Ehrhart tomorrow. Victor has found Triss's scarf, and it's said that she can use magic to track her trace."

The information he got from Triss changed Geralt's original idea of ​​returning in a hurry, and he decided to stay in Vergen for at least one more day to wait for Victor to come back.

...

Just as the White Wolf and the Golden Eagle were talking about the past history, history was coming to an important crossroads, although even the few people present did not realize it.

Desmo and the guards holding halberds and spears stood around like clay sculptures and stone statues.

The night was as cool as water, and the campfire was crackling. The young man who was following the king's instructions to explain how to remove the curse saw a messenger walk into the tent from outside.

The magical thing is that he is a Redanian, and the pattern on his outer robe is a crowned silver eagle holding a golden evil spirit on a red background, and a small black shield with a golden cross on his chest.

Victor is familiar with this pattern, just like he will never forget Radovid's profile.

King Henselt had no intention of sending him away, so Victor only moved a few steps to the side to make room for the new Redanian envoy to speak.

The envoy took out the cylinder inlaid with gold on both sides, opened it, took out the letter inside, and began to preach in a humble and unyielding manner, "King of Redania, Radovid V, son of Vizimier and Hedwig, King of Novigrad (in name), King of Kovil and Povis (in name), of Maroree--"

"--Speak to the point!" Henselt raised his hand to interrupt, "I know very well who this Majesty Radovid is, and I don't need these useless introductions!"

The interrupted bald bearded envoy paused for a moment and continued: "The point That is──His Majesty Radovid is sure to go to Lomne to participate in the meeting and is looking forward to meeting His Majesty Henselt.

In addition, the regent Natalis of Temeria announced that the rumor that after King Foltest's death, Temeria will be inherited by a "bastard" is wrong. In fact, King Foltest designated a legitimate heir, Prince Balsi, but because of his unfortunate death, his sister Anais will inherit the throne of Temeria. "

Victor's eyelids jumped when he heard this news. Foltest designated a heir! The child was cut in the throat as soon as he saw him. He was absolutely sure that Foltest did not designate an heir, but just like the example of Mr. Lu Xun, when everyone thinks he said it, then he did say it.

King Henselt sneered, "Witcher, you participated in the Battle of La Valette, tell me how old this princess is? And who is her mother?"

Victor carefully considered his words, "Your Majesty, she is an eight-year-old child... her mother is Mrs. La Valette, she is the king's daughter, and King Foltest is willing to admit that she is his daughter."

That morning when he was traveling with the king, although the issue of inheritance was not mentioned, Foltest clearly admitted that he did it with the two children!

Based on respect for the deceased's thoughts, Victor decided to default to the matter of designating an heir, at least not to jump out and expose it.

But Henselt denied it in a rough voice, "No! The Foltest I know would never do such a thing. For example, if you want to count my illegitimate children, Kaedwen has at least hundreds of them."

There is no need to argue about this matter, Victor remained silent.

Suddenly, he heard very faint footsteps rushing over from the side of the king's tent. This pace is definitely not a guard... who could it be...

Because he had just moved sideways a few steps to make room for the messenger to preach, the footsteps came from behind Victor.

The opponent came very quickly, and the witcher turned around suddenly, just in time to see the tent cloth tear open, and a silver light like a streak shone!

Henselt stepped back and yelled: "Guard!? There's an assassin!"

Victor's position was actually willing to sit back and watch the outcome, anyway, he didn't care about Henselt's life or death, the problem was that the assassin didn't give him a chance to choose.

"Clang!" Before he could think about it, the witcher's steel sword was unsheathed!

"Dang!" The king's guardian blocked the assassin's slash at his neck in time, and he threw a dagger with his left hand, flying directly towards Henselt.

However, Victor's attack affected the accuracy, and the dagger only grazed the king's shoulder, cutting through his outer robe and leaving a wound.

The assassin and the witcher looked at each other, and time slowed down for a moment. After confirming the look in their eyes, they were people they knew.

He was Serrit, the snake witcher.

He was Victor, the wolf witcher.

"Alder!"

"Quinn!"

Seret tried to blow Victor away, but unfortunately the Alder seal was blocked by the Quen seal.

Feeling the flow of magic power from Desmo's spell behind him, Victor did not hesitate to bear the Quen shield and savagely hit Serret out of the tent, avoiding the spell lock, and at the same time made an exaggerated mouth shape to him, "Go!"

The Kingslayer may have a detailed plan, but tonight the defense is tight and there are mages in charge, and fighting further is just a meaningless sacrifice.

"Hah! Clang! Uh ah ah ah..." The sound of fighting coming from the tent was Oaks. Victor immediately realized that the Kingslayers planned to make a feint to the east and attack in the west. Serret first attracted the guards, and Oaks followed up to assassinate.

The problem was that Serret failed to lead Desmo away, but was knocked out of the tent by himself. Oaks faced the mage who was ready to cast a spell, and the scream was probably a fatal one.

At this moment, a flash of lightning suddenly struck Serrit's feet. Victor turned his head and found that it was Sier Tanshavier, a sorceress who was theoretically an accomplice of the kingslayer, who began to cast a spell to bombard the assassin.

After dodging several lightning bolts in succession, seeing that there was nothing he could do, Serrit had no choice but to retreat and quickly disappear into the darkness.

Victor put on a vigilant look and refused to pursue.

After the dust settled, the king's triumphant voice came from the tent, "This dirty assassin wants to kill me, it's that easy! Hahahaha! Demon hunter, you did a good job! Come in quickly!"

Back in the tent, next to King Henselt stood Desmore and more than a dozen heavily armored guards armed with anti-magic weapons.

Under the firelight, Victor could not believe the scene in front of him.

Oaks's body lay on the ground... A big hole was opened in his chest by magic. The guy who was always cheerful died here suddenly...

It is unacceptable that people who were competing in water rafting on the banks of the Yaruga River not long ago... When I think of drinking together and cheering together, my vision suddenly blurs, and my throat is choked and I can't speak.

Victor clenched his fists.

Desmo….

Xi'er, who glanced at the witcher passing by and bowed to the king, said solemnly, "It's a pity that we couldn't capture any of them alive."

"Tanshavier, don't worry about clues. I have a way to make the dead speak." The middle-aged mage sneered.

Xi'er raised her voice, "Do you know what you are talking about? Of course I know those methods, but necromancy is forbidden."

"The Mage Council collapsed after the incident on Sunide Island. It is difficult to tell us what is prohibited, and I believe that everyone present is undoubtedly more concerned about the safety of His Majesty Henselt." Desmo responded in a strange way.

Looking leeringly from left to right, King Kaedwen said: "Listen, I want to know about all the assassins, no matter what method is used, even if I dig the graves of the dead, I don't care."

Xi'er said with an unhappy face: "But Your Majesty, please allow me to explain to you that necromancy is a branch of magic..."

"I don't care so much!" Henselt interrupted with a strong wave of his hand, "Just do as I say! Xi'er, if you want to gain my trust, you must learn to respect my will, like Desmo. well-done."

The middle-aged mage bowed and smiled charmingly.

The sorceress's face turned cold, "Forgive me for quitting!" After saying that, she turned around and left without looking back.

Desmo looked at the king proudly, "Ah! Another arrogant witch in the style of Sabina Grievich."

Henselt said nothing, but Victor knew he heard him.

The sorceress chose to leave proudly, but the witcher couldn't. Although he could leave, he had to witness what Desmo wanted to do to his friends with "necromancy"!

…

After a while, the bloody Oakes was laid on the mortuary table, surrounded by white five-pointed stars painted on the ground, with burning candles at each vertex.

"'Hamawi's Blue Dream', this spell allows the living to peek into the memory of the deceased. You will see, feel, and personally experience what the killer experienced during his lifetime." Desmo explained.

"Thank you for choosing to participate, Victor. Although ordinary people can also withstand this spell, mutants can see more pictures from Hamavi's blue dream if they drink a potion that enhances heart function and blood vessel strength. You have a hallucination potion that can also enhance the clarity of your images. Let me know when you're ready.

Standing in front of the corpse table, the witcher took out the tawny owl, swallow, and Patri's elixir from his backpack and drank it in one gulp.

In his eyes, Oakes was a decent person who always faced the world with a smile. Even now in death, the corners of his mouth are still raised.

Victor deadpanned. Different from the usual blazing heat of drinking potions, today he felt something cold, which was constantly spurting out of his heart and flowing along his blood vessels to every corner of his body.

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