Chapter 184: Competition with Skelligers (Thanks to the big boss

After getting Queen Calanthe's response, Geralt greeted Geralt of Rivia and got up to walk toward the table where Princess Pavetta was.

Of course, this was not because the princess was too beautiful, making Master Geralt see color and be happy.

But from the moment the princess entered the entire banquet hall, a strange magic power began to permeate the entire banquet hall. Geralt of Rivia should have vaguely sensed it, but only Geralt, who possessed the Elder Blood, truly knew where this power came from.

He walked slowly to the table where Princess Pavetta was, sat down opposite this beautiful princess without any politeness, and sat opposite the princess.

Such an action immediately attracted the attention of several men at the same table. Except for King Eist's warning eyes, his nephew Crach an Craite almost stood up directly in anger.

This Skellige young man with the title of Sea Boar had almost never left his eyes from this beautiful princess from the moment Princess Pavetta appeared, and the rich love in his eyes had almost turned into substance.

Perhaps in his heart, as the most competitive heir in the Skellige Islands, Princess Pavetta had already become his inner wife.

And the Skellige Great Druid Mousesack sitting at the far left of the table looked at Geralt with curious eyes.

This old druid was a friend of Geralt of Rivia. During the Kaer Morhen massacre, it was he who rescued the young Geralt of Rivia.

While others were still curious about Ravix of Fourhorn, he had long recognized the White Wolf and was still guessing the purpose of this witcher coming here.

Not only that, as a friend of Queen Calanthe and King Eist, this Great Druid had also vaguely felt the unusual atmosphere in the banquet and the magic power that began to permeate around the banquet, and was also thinking about countermeasures in his heart.

After Geralt sat down, Princess Pavetta raised her head and looked at him curiously, and Geralt also returned a smile to this beautiful princess without any timidity. His handsome appearance and gentle smile would naturally make people feel a sense of favor.

Unfortunately, at this time, this fifteen-year-old Cintra princess was full of thoughts, worried about the safety of the hedgehog man Duny at all times. She just nodded to Geralt quite politely, then lowered her eyes and fell into her own thinking.

However, the interaction between the two immediately made King Eist, who had almost regarded Princess Pavetta as his niece-in-law, angry in his heart. He glared at Geralt and said with a threatening tone:

"Young man, no matter what relationship you have with Ravix of Fourhorn, you seem to have sat in the wrong place. The seats at this table are not for anyone to sit."

Facing the threat of the Skellige King, Geralt didn't care in his heart. Not to mention that he basically didn't operate within the territory of the Skellige Islands, so he didn't need to care about the other party's attitude. Moreover, he didn't prepare to really do anything to Princess Pavetta.

This was the mother of the future Child of Destiny Ciri. Ciri was probably already a few months pregnant in her belly now.

But speaking of this, I have to criticize the damn hedgehog man Duny. A man in his thirties ran to hook up with other people's princesses in the middle of the night every day, eating tender grass with an old cow, actually making a young princess pregnant for several months. It was simply a beast.

And this guy didn't have any good intentions in the first place. When he was able to save King Roegner, it might have been a good show directed and acted by the sorcerer Vilgefortz behind him, the purpose was to use the accident rate to crack the curse of the hedgehog man on him, perhaps he was also planning a conspiracy about the Elder Blood.

In fact, Geralt had also thought about whether to kill the hedgehog man directly at this banquet, but later, after checking many intelligence about the South, he gave up.

In fact, starting more than ten years ago, the Kingdom of Nilfgaard had already begun actions to annex other small countries, expand military equipment, and develop military strength. It was just that such news rarely circulated in the Northern Kingdoms, and those Northern Kings who were still fighting for small profits rarely paid attention to the news of the South.

This also led to the Kingdom of Nilfgaard expanding at an extremely rapid speed in these decades, and in the blink of an eye, it became a military empire with extremely powerful military strength.

So, even if there was no hedgehog man dancing on graves in the future, the North-South War would inevitably break out.

It could even be said that it was precisely because of the hedgehog man who loved to show off that he repeatedly failed in expeditions and squandered the national power accumulated by his father and even his grandfather, which caused Nilfgaard, this powerful military empire, to decline rapidly.

The North-South War was the general trend of the future and could not be prevented by killing one or two people. Moreover, even if the North-South War was prevented, it would not be good for the witcher. Instead, because of killing the hedgehog man, he would become Ciri's father-killing enemy, which was simply not worth the loss.

Geralt kept a smile on his face, looked up at King Eist, who had dark skin and a hooked nose, and said with a smile:

"King Eist, please rest assured, I am not a suitor of Princess Pavetta, nor am I a competitor of your nephew. The reason I sat here is because of the secret task Queen Calanthe gave me."

Saying this, he looked at Crach an Craite, the Sea Boar, who was looking at him with provocative eyes, slowly took out several decks of Gwent cards from his arms, and said with a smile:

"This cheerful banquet, if it's just drinking and eating meat, it's too boring. Why don't we play some interesting games?"

As Skelligers who had always been engaged in maritime looting and maritime trade, they were no strangers to Gwent cards. This kind of game that could be played for a whole day while squatting on the deck was the favorite of many captains.

The Sea Boar Crach an Craite loved this way, but this red-haired Skellige young man did not immediately respond to the challenge, but looked at Geralt with contemptuous eyes, then extended his right hand, which was muscular and strong, and provocatively shouted loudly:

"We Skelligers never play Gwent cards with cowardly people. If you want to play Gwent cards with me, we have to have a competition between men first."

"You can choose to compete with me in drinking, or compete with me in arm wrestling. You don't need to win over me, as long as you can hold on for thirty seconds in my hands, I will respect you as a warrior."

Geralt heard this, his expression was a bit strange looking at this Sea Boar. Competing with him, a witcher, in arm wrestling and drinking.

It can only be said that, young man, you have narrowed the road. Not to mention that his physical fitness was the top level among witchers, four or five times higher than ordinary people, even if it was drinking, based on his experience of drinking potions mixed with high-concentration alcohol as a drink in the past, one could imagine how large his drinking capacity was now.

Of course, the reason why Crach an Craite would say this was probably because Geralt's current attire did not reveal his witcher characteristics, making him look like a strong and handsome human teenager.

In order to show his masculinity in front of Princess Pavetta, this Sea Boar would set such a bet.

And with Crach an Craite's shouting, the Skellige young people behind him also immediately gathered around, booing together, using provocative language to stimulate Geralt.

Since these people were looking for death, Geralt didn't spoil them either. His smile remained unchanged, he looked at King Eist's face, and seeing that the King was also proud, obviously very confident in his nephew's strength, Geralt said to Crach an Craite and the young people behind him:

"No problem, I have always heard that Skellige warriors are all enthusiastic and bold men."

"Since you have challenged, I will naturally not refuse. However, competing in drinking and arm wrestling alone is too boring, and not manly enough."

"How about this, let's compete in both ways. Everyone who wants to arm wrestle with me, let's drink a large bowl of strong liquor first, and then compete in arm wrestling. The loser will punish himself with another large bowl, until one of the two sides falls."

Speaking of this, Geralt added with a smile:

"And every time we compete in a round, we have to take out one hundred gold coins as a bet, until the last winner remains on the field, and all the prize money will belong to this person."

"How about it, isn't this more interesting?"

Everyone present was not a fool. This competition condition was definitely the most advantageous for those who participated in the competition later, and the most disadvantageous for those who participated in the competition first.

Before Crach an Craite could speak, a captain under him shouted loudly:

"I challenge you first!"

As soon as he finished shouting, Skelligers immediately handed over two large bowls of strong liquor and threw a small money bag containing one hundred gold coins on the table.

Geralt laughed, did not refuse the captain's challenge, took off a large money bag filled with hundreds of gold coins from his belt, put it on the table, and without counting the gold coins, threw it directly into the bet.

Such a generous action immediately caused whispers among the Skelligers, obviously somewhat deterred by Geralt's generous temperament and confident behavior.

However, no matter how others looked at it, Geralt picked up a large bowl of strong liquor casually, drank it in one gulp like drinking cold water, and then extended his right arm, signaling to the man opposite that he could start the competition at any time.

As Skelligers who had been engaged in maritime looting and maritime trade all year round, they all had confidence in their strength. Without enough strength, how could they control the sails and hold the rudder on the sea.

That captain also didn't hesitate at all, and immediately extended his right arm, pressing against Geralt's right arm.

He stepped into a horse stance, held the table with one hand, and his muscles were tense all over, obviously attaching great importance to this arm wrestling competition. And Geralt opposite him sat on the chair in a casual posture, with a gentle smile on his face all the time, as if he didn't take the strong captain in his eyes.

And such a posture, besides making some people feel dissatisfied, also made some people feel bad in their hearts.

Following a Skellige man shouting loudly that the competition started, the strong captain opposite Geralt immediately roared, the blue veins on his forehead protruded, and he used all his strength to press Geralt's wrist down without reservation.

His companions also shouted for him loudly, pushing the atmosphere to a climax in an instant, causing all the guests around to look toward them.

However, they shouted for twenty or thirty seconds, until the captain's eyes were wide open, his face was flushed, and his strong arms were trembling slightly, but Geralt's arm, which was close to him, remained motionless, without even a trace of trembling.

And after another dozens of seconds, Geralt picked up a glass of red wine with his other hand, drank it, and then looked at the Skellige strong men whose expressions had become solemn with a confident and indifferent gaze.

Then his right arm slowly pressed down, pressing the right arm of the strong captain whose muscles were flushed red to the table, winning the first competition with a crushing posture.

Seeing this scene, not only King Eist and the Sea Boar Crach an Craite, but even the Skellige delegation watching the battle realized the unusualness of the opponent.

However, Skelligers had a tough personality and were brave enough to challenge any difficulties. Being able to conquer the sea by relying on courage and experience in this Middle Ages when navigation technology was not developed was enough to show the personality of this nation.

Following the failure of the first captain, other members of the Skellige delegation did not retreat at all and all challenged Geralt one by one.

Regarding this, Geralt also agreed to all of them without any politeness. He drank strong liquor bowl by bowl, defeated the Skellige strong men one by one using the most primitive power, until the money bags on the wine table piled up into a small pile, reaching nearly two thousand gold coins, and almost all the Skellige delegation opposite had been defeated by him, leaving only King Eist and Crach an Craite who had not competed with him.

Drinking more than ten bowls of strong liquor in a row, even with Geralt's super strong physique, he felt a slight wine intoxication, and the act of defeating more than ten Skellige strong men in a row also gathered the eyes of everyone in the entire banquet hall on him, even Princess Pavetta, who had not spoken much, was secretly looking at Geralt, this handsome young man, with curious eyes.

In fact, to this point, there was no need to compete at all. Everyone knew that even if King Eist and Crach an Craite went down, they could not be Geralt's opponents. And those many princes from Cintra's vassal states and local princes were already smiling, waiting for Geralt to make these two Skellige great nobles lose face.

Unfortunately, Master Geralt certainly couldn't do this. Defeating more than ten Skelligers in a row had already made the delegation somewhat unable to hold their faces. If he let King Eist and Crach an Craite lose face again, it would very likely affect Queen Calanthe's plan.

At this time, he even felt the sword-like gaze on his back, wandering on his neck, and the owner of the gaze was Queen Calanthe sitting in the main seat.

Facing the solemn eyes of King Eist and Crach an Craite, Geralt suddenly laughed, reached out and gathered the money bags on the table in front of him, then retracted his arm, took out the few decks of Gwent cards he had just started, and said to the two Skellige great nobles:

"Skellige warriors are worthy of being brave and enthusiastic good men. Everyone has an amazing drinking capacity. After drinking so much, I already have some drunkenness."

"King Eist, Mr. Crach an Craite, why don't we stop competing in arm wrestling, and play a few games of Gwent cards together?"

Saying this, Geralt winked at Princess Pavetta who was secretly looking at him, and said with a smile:

"I think the beautiful Princess Pavetta must have never played this kind of game. It just so happens that you can let the Princess learn. After learning this kind of game, it will definitely add a lot of fun to the boring life in the future."

Hearing Geralt, who occupied the advantage, say this, the agile King Eist immediately borrowed the slope to go down the donkey, and said to the Skellige young people behind him:

"Well, Mr. Geralt is right. The rude competitions like drinking and comparing strength should stop here."

"Today is the day of Princess Pavetta's betrothal, it is the celebration of the Kingdom of Cintra, we should play some civilized games."

Saying this, King Eist looked at Geralt, his expression was a bit complex, but he smiled and said:

"Come on, Geralt, I am a quite famous Gwent card master in Skellige."

"Let's play a game first and see whose technology is more superb."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 185 =====