Chapter 279: Keira's New Commission

After purchasing the books, Ranni's doll was indeed much quieter.

Wayne could perceive that she was following right behind him, floating in mid-air, two hands cradling a massive book while the other two hands flipped through the pages one by one; there wasn't a trace of expression on her delicate little face, only her jewel-like eyes moving slowly, giving her a rather quiet and demure appearance.

Seeing this, he did not disturb Ranni further, but went to handle his own business instead.

Returning to the city of Vizima this time, Wayne also had some matters to attend to, such as the non-human race rescue work on the side of the cat-girl Julia, Sienna's shop, and the handling of Letho and the others from the Viper School.

Nearly three months had passed since he last left, and presumably, they had each seen different developments.

Wayne went first to the Cat Paw Mercenary Group's stronghold in Vizima, which was a house near a commoner inn in the Temple District.

After a few months of absence, the popularity of this stronghold had grown visibly; people were entering and exiting the inn from time to time, and in the stables outside the stronghold, there were even a dozen or so travel horses tied up neatly, with several mercenaries holding swords and blades keeping watch outside, looking quite well-established.

When Wayne walked near the inn, a man immediately came over with two subordinates and bowed to him quite politely.

Wayne observed the man's appearance and recognized him as a squad leader under Julia, a Koviri man with a large beard.

The bearded man clearly recognized Wayne, the big boss, and spoke in a polite tone that was quite inconsistent with his rough appearance: "Mr. Wayne, welcome."

"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? However, our commander is not in Vizima today; she should be able to return by tomorrow afternoon."

Wayne felt slightly disappointed upon hearing this, but he also understood in his heart that as the operation expanded, Julia, as the commander, could not always stay in the city of Vizima, so encountering such a situation was quite normal.

Thus, he nodded and said to the bearded man: "In that case, forget the tea. Tomorrow, when Julia returns, have her come to my house to find me; I have matters to discuss with her."

The bearded man nodded politely; facing a big financier like Wayne, basically none of his requests would be refused.

After leaving the Cat Paw Mercenary Group's stronghold, Wayne went directly to Keira's mansion.

It was not that his lust had risen again and he wanted to have an in-depth exchange with this sorceress, but rather that Triss had already instructed him when he left Kaer Morhen that Keira had matters to discuss with him.

Regarding the invitation from this old flame, he naturally did not refuse, and after arriving at Keira's mansion with familiar ease, the little maid Maisie quickly opened the door for him.

After a few months of absence, Maisie had grown even more mature and beautiful, her height already half a head taller than the petite Keira, reaching about 1.75 meters.

As an ordinary human girl, Wayne had known her for nearly three years, and having personally watched her grow from a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl into the twenty-year-old young woman she was today, he couldn't help but sigh at the speed of time passing.

Seeing the witcher, Maisie was also very happy; she enthusiastically invited Wayne into the hall and soon served a cup of warm black tea and a plate of exquisite little snacks.

A happy smile bloomed on her flushed cheeks.

After serving the tea and snacks, she did not leave, but stood half a meter away from Wayne, her gaze fixed on him the entire time.

Wayne took a sip of the black tea; the temperature was just right, and the taste was quite good. He beckoned to Maisie, pulled the half-reluctant girl in front of him, and after letting her sit beside him, he asked in a gentle tone: "Maisie, about when will Keira be home?"

Maisie had a hint of a blush on her face; not daring to look into Wayne's eyes, she stared at the pastries on the table and said in a low voice: "She should be back very soon, Mr. Wayne."

"I have already sent someone to notify Miss Keira."

"Miss has always been looking forward to your visit; she will definitely be back soon."

Wayne nodded upon hearing this. He looked Maisie up and down for a few seconds, then reached into his spatial bracelet, took out a huge money bag containing five hundred Oren gold coins, pushed it in front of Maisie, and said gently: "We haven't seen each other for nearly half a year. These gold coins are a gift I am giving you; you can deposit them in the bank as a form of security for your future life."

Maisie was very surprised upon hearing this, even quite bewildered, unable to figure out why Wayne would suddenly want to give her a large bag of gold coins.

She opened her little mouth, eyes wide, looked at the heavy, huge money bag on the table, shook her head in a daze, and waved her hands continuously, saying in a panic:

"I can't, Mr. Wayne."

"Why are you suddenly giving me money? And such a large amount of gold coins, it really is too much."

"I cannot accept these gold coins."

Wayne smiled and took hold of Maisie's palms, half-hugging her as a maid; although she was only twenty, the girl's fingers were already somewhat rough.

"Don't be nervous, Maisie."

"I recently made a large fortune and originally wanted to buy you a piece of jewelry as a gift."

"However, I think that with your personality, a precious piece of jewelry would too easily invite unnecessary disputes, so I simply decided to give you a bag of gold coins as a gift instead."

"This is a token of my heart; you cannot refuse."

"After all, when we were together, you also brought me a lot of happiness, didn't you?"

Facing Wayne's half-assertive, half-teasing tone, after locking eyes with the handsome witcher for a dozen seconds, Maisie's eyes turned slightly red, she nodded with a touched expression, and then asked in a low voice: "Mr. Wayne, why are you suddenly being so good to me?"

Wayne smiled upon hearing this, did not explain too much, only patted the girl's palms and said: "There is no 'why', it's just that the North might not be so peaceful in the future. You are my friend, and it is only right that I help you within the scope of my ability."

In fact, before seeing Maisie, he hadn't had this intention, but after seeing this little maid and thinking of the carnal pleasures they had shared, as well as the joy during the tango with Keira and her, he had suddenly taken out this money; it could be considered a whim.

After all, with his current financial strength, this amount of money could not even be considered a drop in the bucket.

According to Vivienne's introduction, at the Wealth Goddess's Wealth Bank, if it were a loan, the general interest rate was around ten to twenty percent, with the specific ratio depending on the amount and the membership level.

And for deposits in the Wealth Bank, there would also be about three percent interest annually as a reward for members.

That is to say, the interest generated annually by the 1.8 billion Orens Wayne had deposited with the Wealth Goddess was as much as 54 million Orens; converted to a daily basis, he had an income of over 100,000 Orens every day.

Of course, this time was calculated according to the main time stipulated by the Wealth Goddess, where the flow of time was about one-half that of the Wizard World.

Converted down, Wayne could also earn about 70,000 to 80,000 Orens every day. This was wealth that many noble families could not accumulate in hundreds of years, but for the current witcher, it was just the income of one day while lying at home.

It wasn't that Wayne was reluctant to give Maisie, this little maid, a bit more gold, but as an ordinary person, and an ordinary girl with no power to truss a chicken and no extraordinary strength, too much wealth might instead invite misfortune.

As a maid, she could not stay by Keira's side forever; she would always have to face life alone and would always have to seek another way out.

Even Keira, a sorceress with magical power, might die at the hands of some witch hunter in the future without Wayne's help, let alone her, a mortal.

In the world of magic, the lives of most people are like duckweed drifting with the waves; no one knows where their future will drift.

And just as Maisie was leaning against Wayne's side, seemingly somewhat lost in the man's romance, a crisp sound of footsteps slowly came from the courtyard.

Hearing these footsteps, Wayne did not rush to push Maisie away, but calmly picked up the cup of black tea and took a light sip.

When the owner of the footsteps, Keira, wearing a red and blue dress, walked into the living room, Maisie immediately stood up in a panic, her eyes unconsciously looking at the large bag of gold coins on the table.

Such an action made Keira, who had just walked in, unconsciously raise her eyebrows.

As a royal advisor, although Keira looked petite and cute, her personality actually had a strong side, especially when the object was the maid she had watched grow up, this strength was even more obvious.

Keira arched her eyebrows, swept her gaze back and forth between Wayne and Maisie with a look that was half-smile, half-not, and finally locked onto Wayne, saying in a tone slightly tinged with sarcasm: "It seems I've returned at a rather inconvenient time, Wayne."

"What are you and my maid doing in secret? Are you having an affair?"

The sorceress's questioning instantly made Maisie feel like she was sitting on pins and needles; due to the long-standing master-servant relationship, she was naturally in a position of considerable weakness toward Keira.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to explain, she was stopped by Wayne waving his hand.

The anticipated conflict did not occur; Wayne stood up and walked to Keira's side, then casually pulled a magnificent gemstone necklace made of seven huge gems and a large amount of gold from his space bracelet and fastened it around Keira's neck.

This gesture immediately made the previously somewhat angry Keira beam with joy.

She casually conjured a mirror with magic, looked at her reflection, and admired the beautiful jewelry and her own radiant self after putting on the necklace, seemingly putting the matter between the two of them just now out of her mind.

Afterward, the three sat at the table; Wayne took out the elven delicacies he had brought back from Middle-earth, casually explained the gift he had just given to Meixi, and invited the two ladies to taste these exotic delicacies from another world.

After drinking a few cups of fine elven wine, the little maid very consciously left the dining table, leaving the living room to the witcher and the sorceress, while she went to heat water in the bathroom according to Keira's habits.

Once Meixi had left, the two of them got down to business; Wayne looked into Keira's sky-blue eyes and asked in a relaxed tone, "Keira, Triss told me that you seem to have a commission you want to entrust to me."

"Speak up, what exactly is the commission? If I can help, I won't refuse."

Keira downed the wine in her hand, reached up to tuck the silver-white hair hanging by her face, gave a charming laugh, reached out to touch Wayne's stubbled chin, and said ambiguously, "Why are you in such a rush to talk business? It's almost night already; are you planning on going home tonight, generous Master Wayne?"

Wayne reached out and took Keira's soft palm off his face, holding it in his hand and gently kneading it; he did not refuse the sorceress's intimacy, but just smiled and said:

"I'm just curious; with your abilities, there should be very few things you need help with."

Hearing the man's praise, Keira covered her mouth and laughed, then pressed her body against Wayne's, tilted her head to kiss his lips for over ten seconds, and then said with some regret:

"You can casually give me jewelry worth thousands of gold coins; Wayne, you really have grown a lot!"

"You have already become a powerful and charming man!"

"I am already regretting letting you go to Triss."

Saying this, Keira tilted her head back and shared another deep kiss with Wayne, and only after she felt a bit dazed and infatuated did she part her lips and say:

"This is a rather dangerous mission, and I haven't decided whether to take it yet; I wanted to hear your opinion first before making a decision."

Wayne raised an eyebrow; he didn't take Keira's dilemma to heart, and bluntly speaking, with his current strength, there were basically very few missions within the Witcher world that could make him feel challenged.

"It's fine, tell me what the commission is first, and I'll help you weigh it."

When it came to business, Keira's expression became more serious; she was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Actually, the matter is quite simple."

"You should have already heard about what happened in the Kingdom of Kaedwen."

"Some time ago, the Sorcerers' Brotherhood issued a bounty."

"Among those otherworldly monsters, there seems to be a very powerful undead monster that can resurrect dead corpses to fight for it; it has already resurrected about a thousand corpses in the cemetery of Ban Ard, the capital of Kaedwen."

"It even led these corpses to break through a small town near the Mist, killing most of the residents inside, allowing its corpse army to expand to nearly two thousand."

"So the Sorcerers' Brotherhood has placed a bounty on this monster; whoever can defeat this powerful undead and defeat its army will receive a generous reward from the Sorcerers' Brotherhood and even be promoted to a reserve member of the Supreme Council."

"For most young sorcerers, this is a once-in-a-few-decades opportunity."

"I want to give it a try."

Speaking to this point, Keira's eyes seemed to flicker with the light of ambition; she paused for a few seconds, looked at Wayne, and then continued:

"However, I am very clear about my own strength; without the protection of someone I can trust, it is impossible to complete this mission."

"And the only person I can trust who is powerful and skilled at dealing with monsters is you."

"If you are willing to protect me, it would definitely be more reliable than a hundred-man mercenary squad and would make me feel much more at ease."

(End of chapter)