Chapter 24: Meeting Up

When Geralt woke up from the living room of Misha's house, the sun had just crossed the Blue Mountains, casting its light onto the ground.

Last night, after he solved Misha's contract, he taught a few unruly folk who wanted to provoke him a lesson and obtained the remuneration he deserved from the bearded village head who wanted to delay payment.

But a full day of high-intensity exercise left his body exhausted, really not allowing him to enter the forest overnight to meet up with Wayne.

However, out of responsibility for the only Witcher apprentice he had had in decades, the White Wolf still took advantage of the fact that the sky had just brightened and drilled into the forest against the cold wind of early spring.

But when he led his mount, Roach, and traveled the mountain road in the forest for two hours, with his clothes and hair covered in the cold morning dew, his body shivering slightly from the cold, and finally arrived near the cavern he found yesterday, the scene that entered his eyes made him freeze on the spot.

He saw that Wayne, the kid he was worried about last night, was sitting on a black steed with the beautiful female elf he saw yesterday, acting intimate, and taking a leisurely stroll in the forest.

What was most infuriating was that the hateful kid had one hand around the elf's slender waist and one hand holding the horse's reins. After seeing him, he didn't have the slightest guilt, but instead revealed a big, carefree smile and rode the horse directly to his side.

"Geralt, you came really early."

"This horse is a gift from Toruviel. She is teaching me how to ride."

"After completing her contract, we can all travel by horse together."

Hearing Wayne's words, Geralt was even more surprised. In this era, a good horse was a fortune of considerable value. Except for nobles, it was basically impossible for anyone to give a good horse to others.

However, looking at the kid's smiling face, Geralt couldn't help but feel angry in his heart, and his tone was slightly mocking:

"It seems you had a very good time last night. Compared to the fragrant elf, it must be much better than me smelling cow dung and eating flatbread at a farmer's house."

In just one night, his junior had built a good relationship with the female elf leader before him and even obtained such a gift. Something unknown must have happened in between.

Thinking this way, even the cold on his body was temporarily forgotten by him.

Toruviel frowned upon hearing this and didn't expose Wayne's lie. This was something they had agreed upon before. Although she didn't know why Wayne would hide the money from Geralt, she wouldn't rashly intervene and affect the relationship between the two.

Wayne wanted to say something more, but when he saw the dew remaining on Geralt's hair and body, as well as his body shivering slightly from the cold, he immediately understood why the White Wolf had come so early and why he was a bit disheveled, and couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.

He flipped off the horse, landed beside Geralt, patted him on the shoulder, and said:

"Toruviel is a sensible leader, much better than those rude and cunning unruly folk."

"Let's go. Let's enter the cavern first. There is a campfire in the camp, and there is breakfast they have prepared."

"We can just discuss the contract matter."

Half an hour later.

After finishing breakfast, the three sat around a campfire, enjoying the warmth brought by the flames while discussing the elven ruins issue in a low voice.

Geralt leaned forward, one hand supporting his chin, one hand holding a piece of firewood to stir the campfire, his voice a bit hoarse:

"Wayne, Toruviel, clearing an underground ruin is not an easy thing."

"I once did a similar contract. That time, I spent half a month and killed hundreds of monsters before I cleared a small underground temple."

"Ghouls, Drowners, Nekkers, Foglets, Grave Hags, Endrega swarms."

"There are countless monsters living in the underground environment. We simply cannot determine what monsters we will encounter in the process of clearing."

Wayne nodded upon hearing this, reached out to take the apple wine flask handed to him by Toruviel, poured a cup for Geralt beside him, and then opened his mouth to say:

"This is not a problem, Geralt."

"We are Witchers and have enough time to clear these ruins. Toruviel is willing to provide all help, does not force us to complete the task in a short time, and can even send their warriors to help us."

He turned his head and met the female elf leader's eyes, telling Geralt the conditions the two had agreed upon before.

"After the contract is completed, Toruviel is willing to pay us 1,500 Ducats, or one-fourth of the spoils in the ruins."

"This is a huge sum of money, enough for us to spend for a long time."

After hearing such a generous remuneration, Geralt pursed his lips, looked up at Wayne, and seeing that his junior seemed to have made up his mind, he no longer spoke to oppose anything.

This job was originally within the scope of what Witchers could accept, and the remuneration was so generous. It was just because it was a bit dangerous, and out of concern for Wayne's safety, he had so many misgivings.

If it were just him alone, he might have agreed to it long ago.

Geralt sighed imperceptibly and said to Wayne:

"Alright then, Wayne. Later, I will go to the forest to collect herbs and kill some monsters by the way to replenish the reserve of potions."

"You don't stay idle either. Prepare the tools needed for alchemy, and go to the camp to ask if they have silver, and find a way to plate your steel sword with a silver coating."

"There are so many monsters in the ruins; only by using a silver sword can you cause the greatest damage to them."

After Geralt finished speaking, Toruviel said:

"Don't worry, White Wolf. Wayne has already discussed this with me before."

"I have already let the blacksmith Wickson in the camp prepare the anvil and furnace. Everyone should have some silver jewelry in their hands. Although the conditions are simple, his technology is very good, and he should be able to help a little."

Hearing this, Geralt couldn't help but nod slightly. To be honest, in his Witcher career, he had rarely encountered an employer who was so willing to support their work and cooperate with them in making pre-battle preparations.

On weekdays, the ones he encountered were either arrogant and ignorant stupid nobles and rich merchants, self-righteous decent people, or those cunning and shameless unruly folk who wanted to default on their debts.

If every employer was willing to cooperate with them like this, then presumably, the work of a Witcher would be countless times simpler.

Geralt pursed his lips, tasted the delicious and sweet apple wine in his hand, and closed his eyes quite enjoyably.

After a dozen seconds, he said:

"Let's leave it at that for now, Wayne, Toruviel. We will take a short rest today and make all pre-battle preparations."

"When dawn comes tomorrow, we will start clearing these ruins."

(Thanks to Comet Saber and Supreme Great Emperor for the tips. New author, new book, thanks for everyone's monthly tickets and recommendation tickets for support.)

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 25 =====