Chapter 158: The Former Witch Hunter (Part 1)

"You can just call me Meng-ke; before I retired from the Order, I was a Witch Hunter." The tall Human introduced himself, though Sinuoli had already learned this in advance.

"That's not bad, friend!" Sinuoli took a sip of beer. "I believe you know more about Chaos's erosion of the Mortal World than your predecessor."

Sinuoli knew that Witch Hunters came in all varieties, from state-sanctioned, pious official Hunters of the Sigmar Cult to high-level mercenaries serving local nobles who possessed some ability to deal with supernatural entities.

But their common trait was an extreme loathing for filth and boundless zeal for hunting down evil; otherwise, they could have just operated as ordinary mercenaries.

Of course, their motivations and specific forms of expression differed; the most fanatical among them would rather burn down an entire village than let a single cultist escape justice.

Due to the existence of these extremists, Witch Hunters occupied a very high position among the most feared things in the Empire of Man.

In the Knight Kingdom of Bretonnia, jokes about Witch Hunters had always circulated. The knightly nobles used them to scare off poor serfs who wanted to run to the other side of the Grey Mountains to make a living.

A Witch Hunter went on a business trip to a village believed to have heretics, and on the road, he said to his subordinates:

"We have two things to do: one is that everyone in this village must be burned to death, and the other is that we must paint all the sheep nearby green!"

His subordinate asked timidly, "Why must we paint the sheep green?"

"Excellent, I knew everyone had no objections to the first thing!"

"Yes, at least I believe those big rats truly exist; not only that, I have seen them, in the far north of the Empire!" Sir Meng-ke's voice pulled Sinuoli back to reality.

"The north?" Sinuoli asked. He knew the approximate location of the capital of the rat-men's Under-Empire—Skavenblight; that place was located deep in the Withered Swamp of the southern mercenary kingdom, Tilea.

"Indeed. I and my peers suspect those things are everywhere, but many who dared to report it to the higher-ups met with untimely deaths!" Sir Meng-ke drank another glass of wine.

"Hmm, I understand." Sinuoli nodded. He realized he might have still underestimated the extent of the rat-men's infiltration into the side of Order.

"To be honest, I didn't really want to come. I am old, and I am tired!" Sir Meng-ke continued. "However, I do know the importance of this place to some extent." He reached out and pointed at the floor to indicate.

"Hmm, then I will be honest too: right now, the wound my father cut to write the name of Dieter IV is still fresh." Sinuoli put on a bitter and deep-seated look.

"Being able to support your predecessor during wartime is already for the sake of the Ancient Covenant!" Sinuoli once again blocked the Human's mouth in advance.

"Well, it seems I have to judge a few heretics to satisfy your craving for those shiny little cuties, eh?" Sir Meng-ke gnawed on a piece of roasted pork chop. "Luckily, my Witch Hunter license wasn't handed in when I left!"

Sinuoli knew that professional Witch Hunters with official backgrounds would carry an authorization document detailing where and how they could perform their duties.

This permit, generally speaking, would include the right to search, detain, judge, execute, imprison, and prevent any behavior they deemed suspicious.

"Heh!" Sinuoli smiled faintly, noncommittal.

"But this is also something that must be done! To let so many rats sneak in without noticing, I am certain there must be many Chaos followers here!" Sir Meng-ke continued to speak to himself, as if his own hands were getting itchy.

"That is your own business!" Sinuoli's tone remained indifferent; he actually did not want to spend time on such meaningless verbal tug-of-war.

But from the moment Sir Meng-ke sent the message, he knew what the Human before him hoped to obtain—it was still to have his clansmen help clear out the sewers.

Faced with such a request, Sinuoli knew the necessity of cleaning the sewers, but he also knew he needed to secure more benefits for his clansmen.

In Dwarf society, from the smallest Clan leader to the High King of the entire Mountain Kingdom, almost everyone relied on personal prestige to lead.

If the prestige was high enough, once an order was given, it was possible for clansmen to flock from all directions to follow; but if the prestige was too poor, coercion and inducement might also be useless.

Therefore, he had no way to force his clansmen to do such work, which seemed lowly in the eyes of Humans; he could only shift all the pressure onto Sir Meng-ke himself.

Sir Meng-ke probably understood Sinuoli's meaning as well; in his previous career as a Witch Hunter, he had worked with Dwarves quite a bit. The innate characteristics of Dwarves determined that they were the most trustworthy when Chaos was the hypothetical enemy.

"Friend, the Grey Seer, the powerful Council Guard under its command, and the assassins of Clan Eshin—you are prepared for them, right?" As the meal neared its end, Sinuoli still couldn't help but offer a reminder. He did not want to see a third Lord of Helmgart when he passed through again in a few months.

"Ha! In the name of Sigmar, I have indeed not seen them, especially that kind of rat in the middle; I haven't even heard of them! Precisely because of this, I hesitated for a whole night when I received the commission!" Sir Meng-ke gripped his wine glass tightly.

"Before this, I thought rat-men were only divided into ordinary ones and black-furred ones! But let's take it one step at a time; have I recognized all those Chaos mutations yet?" He smiled. Although he was getting on in years, the heroic spirit in his chest was still there.

"If you are truly worried about me, you might as well bring me a few barrels of good wine on your return trip! I relied on my connections in the Order to hire a few tough lads and an even stronger priest."

Sinuoli smiled and stopped trying to persuade him; could he really leave a few Eternal Hammer Guard to protect this Sir?

In the following days, Sir Meng-ke, wielding the authority of his new position, arrested and judged a local minor noble and two wealthy merchants with lightning speed, and executed them by fire in front of the temple in the center of the fortress.

Relying on the "Chaos resources" confiscated, Sir Meng-ke successfully hired many Dwarves, and several of his younger juniors from the Witch Hunter order also led soldiers from the Provincial Regiment to fight side-by-side with the Dwarves.

Sir Meng-ke was very clear that learning to fight in battle was far more effective than sharing experience verbally. The joint force spent two days clearing the sewers of Helmgart, and all the rats slaughtered were burned with flames.

When Sinuoli mobilized the caravan once again, many Dwarf warriors had bulging pockets. However, the faint smell on their bodies also forced Sinuoli to take the lead to keep a little distance from them.

Thanks to Wanghou Yanhaiya for the tip, Leouwoqi, Romance of the Sui and Tang, Book Friend, and Book Friend for the monthly tickets.