Chapter 18: Elves

Although the people in the village despised Witchers, under the maintenance of the bearded village head, no one really dared to come and provoke them.

After a short rest, Wayne and Geralt ate a rather meager meal at Misha's house—it was truly very meager; apart from a few eggs, there wasn't a drop of oil or fat.

Clearly, the lives of these villagers were not easy. For the sake of her sons' safety, Misha had perhaps brought out the best food in the house to entertain them.

And after chatting with Geralt at the dinner table, Wayne learned what the reward of five Ducats actually meant.

The Ducat was a currency of unknown origin, currently only applicable in Kaedwen, Cintra, and the Skellige Isles.

A few years ago, when Geralt was executing a contract in Cintra, the price for a Drowner was two Ducats, and in an ordinary tavern, one Ducat might only get you a common meal.

In other words, Misha had hired two Witchers to work for her for the price of two and a half Drowners.

Hearing this, Wayne looked at Geralt speechlessly. Although he knew the White Wolf's character was one of justice and kindness, the fact that he would accept such a low price made Wayne sigh—it is hard to be a good person.

This wasn't even working for free; if their equipment suffered even the slightest damage during the fight, it would truly be a losing business.

Fortunately, he had also requested a lunch; otherwise, this bit of money probably wouldn't even be enough to fill their stomachs.

After the meal, it was time for the great detective Geralt's performance.

He called Misha and the bearded village head over and inquired in detail about information regarding Misha's two sons—their height, appearance, habits, and so on.

He also learned from the two about the area where the young men often chopped wood, as well as the general situation in this forest, and then prepared to set off.

Throughout the entire questioning process, Wayne did not intervene. He simply took a whetstone out of his pack and, while sharpening the steel sword he had inherited from Vesemir, thought earnestly about the purpose of each of Geralt's questions and his line of reasoning.

As a novice Witcher, he needed to learn well from the senior, the White Wolf. Investigation and deduction were essential skills for a Witcher to execute tasks.

After the questioning was finished and everything was ready, Geralt and Wayne took all the equipment needed for combat and left their mounts, Roach, as well as their luggage, in the care of the bearded village head.

Of course, to prevent this group of unruly folk from harboring any crooked thoughts, the two did not forget to draw their weapons and warn them earnestly:

"If anything is missing from our luggage, we will take it back from you twofold."

The bearded village head was still a sensible person; there shouldn't be any mishaps.

According to the information obtained, the two soon left the village and entered the forest not far away.

They followed the route described by Misha, using the Witcher's super senses to track the footprints along the path, and finally found the area where the two young men usually chopped wood.

It was early spring, and the Kingdom of Kaedwen was located in the northeast of the Northern Kingdoms, with temperatures colder than the other countries. In such a forest where human footprints were rare, human tracks were quite obvious.

Geralt tracked the footprints while orally imparting his investigative techniques to Wayne without reservation.

Wayne learned while practicing, and it took him over half an hour to finally discover two bundles of firewood and axes covered by weeds in an inconspicuous patch of grass.

"It should be here."

Geralt rubbed his stubbly chin and deduced:

"The two young men encountered an accident here. Because the situation was urgent, they abandoned the wood and axes."

He looked up at Wayne and said:

"Let's search around here to see if there are any footprints, bloodstains, or anything else."

Wayne nodded, opened his Witcher senses, and began searching the vicinity of the grass for any possible clues.

To be honest, this kind of carpet search was not pleasant; it was time-consuming, had no fun, and was very energy-draining—it was practically a form of physical labor.

But there was no help for it. In the wilderness where evidence was scarce, only this clumsy method could yield results.

After searching carefully for another ten minutes, Wayne still hadn't found anything, but Geralt, not far away, stood up, waved at him, and shouted:

"Wayne, come over here."

"I've found a clue."

When he walked over, Geralt was standing with his arms crossed, seemingly lost in thought again.

Wayne looked in the direction of his gaze and soon discovered four rows of footprints on the ground. Judging by their shape and depth, two of the sets of footprints should belong to Misha's two sons.

Within just a few seconds, Geralt reached a conclusion.

"The good news is that there are no bloodstains nearby. At least the two children didn't die here, nor did they die in the mouths of wild wolves. They should have been abducted."

"And the bad news is that it has been almost three days since the incident occurred."

"In such a long time, no one knows where they were abducted to, or if they are still alive."

Wayne shrugged indifferently, pointed at the footprints on the ground, and said:

"No matter where they were taken, all we can do is follow the clues they left behind and keep searching."

Geralt had the same thought. He drew the long sword from his back and said to Wayne:

"Let's go. Draw your sword. Judging by the direction of these footprints, they were definitely taken deep into the forest."

"Stay vigilant at all times. Spring has arrived, and the monsters are starting to wake up. No one knows what might suddenly pop out of the forest."

………………

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was dusk.

Although the environment in the forest was exceptionally complex, it still couldn't stump two professional Witchers with super senses.

Wayne and Geralt moved one after the other, one responsible for tracking footprints, the other for protection, cooperating as they moved forward.

After traveling in the forest for about two hours, passing through numerous obstacles, they finally arrived near a cavern hidden in a very secluded location, covered by large trees.

However, before they could even get close to the cavern, several wooden arrows were shot down rapidly from the giant trees near the entrance, accurately pinning themselves onto the path they were traveling.

No reminder was needed; Wayne instantly cast a Quen Shield for himself, and the steel sword in his hand also assumed a defensive posture.

Geralt was even more decisive; the moment the arrows were shot down, he did a somersault and rolled behind a large rock to hide.

Wayne carefully maintained the Quen Shield and looked in the direction from which the arrows were shot. He saw that, at some point, six elven archers wearing fur clothing and holding bows and arrows were already standing on the branches above the giant trees.

One of them, a female elf with long black hair and sharp black eyes, observed the two for a dozen seconds, her gaze seemingly lingering on Wayne's pointed elven ears for a long time, before she spoke in the human common tongue:

"Witchers, and two of them at that."

"This is elven territory. Why have you come here?"

(Thanks again to the big bosses Daji and Bigan, Beidangyun, The Method of Raising a Passerby Protagonist, Rabbit and Carrot, Where is the Snow Painting, and others for the tips, as well as everyone's support with monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. The protagonist has finally come down the mountain to wander, and the prelude to a larger world is about to be unveiled.)

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====