Chapter 29: Gwent

When Wayne accompanied Geralt, who was walking a bit shakily, out of the dark corridor, Toruviel, who was guarding the gate, immediately greeted them.

Her expression was solemn, her eyes scanned Wayne's body, and seeing that he had no obvious injuries, she breathed a sigh of relief quietly.

Although she hadn't seen it with her own eyes just now, the three of them could still hear the sound of the honeycomb bomb explosion and the chaotic roars of countless monsters faintly mixed in, even across a corridor.

The battle that took place there was clearly more intense than they had imagined.

After seeing Toruviel, Wayne didn't stand on ceremony and said directly to the female elf leader:

"Toruviel, Geralt is a bit injured. Let the doctor in the camp help him with treatment."

Saying this, he pointed to the two subordinates beside the female elf and said:

"Also."

"You arrange a few people to bring torches and go with me to transport the corpses from the place where I just fought."

"The smell of blood there is too heavy. If it's not cleaned up in time, monsters will soon gather again."

Toruviel nodded upon hearing this, turned to the elven sharpshooter beside her who looked quite capable, whispered a few words in Elvish, and then turned back to Wayne and said:

"I have already arranged it, Wayne. Let's go there and take a look first."

Wayne didn't talk nonsense either, turned around, took her and the dwarf warrior wearing heavy armor, passed through the corridor, and returned to the underground pond.

But this time, the three didn't walk in the dark. Toruviel and the dwarf warrior held torches, illuminating the road ahead, while Wayne held a silver sword, guarding the front to prevent accidents.

When they passed through the archway and arrived at the viewing platform, the scene before them made Toruviel and the dwarf warrior couldn't help but gasp.

At the semicircular terrace by the exit, the ground was covered in a large amount of blood and severed limbs, with a foul, bloody stench hanging in the air; dozens of Drowner corpses lay scattered densely across the floor.

Judging from the sword marks and flame burn marks on them, they were clearly killed by Geralt and Wayne.

Toruviel was shocked for a few seconds, but soon came back to her senses. She restrained the expression on her face, looked at Wayne with more importance, and asked:

"Wayne, what should we do now?"

Wayne still didn't relax his vigilance in his heart. Although the Xiao Wu Yao that ambushed Geralt was killed by him, the area of this pond was not small, and he couldn't be sure if there were other Foglets lurking in other positions.

Hearing Toruviel's question, he considered for more than ten seconds and said:

"Let's move these Drowner corpses out first. It's best to burn them. Even if you want to bury them, you have to bury them further away."

"Otherwise, their corpses are very likely to attract underground scavenging creatures."

"In addition, get more lighting tools. The other side of this arched bridge connects to another area. You'd better arrange for people to guard near the gate to prevent other monsters from rushing out from that side."

"I want to check all the entrances and exits here to avoid monsters popping out from who knows where in the future."

The female elf nodded, remembering all of Wayne's words, and prepared to arrange for people to complete them later.

Speaking of which, Toruviel was still a bit lucky at this time, lucky for the good luck of her and others.

She didn't expect that such a large group of monsters lived so close to them. If it weren't for the coincidence of finding two Witchers, Wayne and Geralt, she didn't know when they would have been caused huge casualties by the monsters rushing out from here.

After a group of people were busy with their own duties, the time Wayne spent fighting was less than half an hour, but after they cleaned up the corpses and bloodstains, searched the entire underground pond, and thoroughly solved the worries of this area, three or four hours had passed.

After a day's work ended.

Wayne bid farewell to Toruviel, who was still busy arranging affairs, dragged his somewhat tired body, and returned to the camp, preparing to look for Geralt.

But he saw this experienced Witcher sitting opposite a dwarf, playing with something together by the campfire.

They were also surrounded by several curious elves and dwarves.

With a curious mindset, Wayne walked over and took a look, only to find that Geralt was currently wrapped in several layers of bandages, wearing a black thick cotton-padded jacket, and was focused on looking at some exquisite cards in his hand, seemingly struggling with which card to play.

And the dwarf opposite him was also looking at Geralt nervously. The cards between the two were neatly arranged in six rows, and seven or eight Ducat gold coins were stacked together, placed in the center of the cards. They should be the stakes of the two.

The surrounding audience was watching the duel between the two with excitement and anticipation, seemingly this kind of card game had a great attraction.

Seeing this scene, Wayne had already guessed what they were doing?

Actually playing Gwent!

He originally thought that this kind of game hadn't been born yet, or that even if it was born, it was just self-entertainment among a few dwarves at present.

He didn't expect that he would encounter this interesting game that would spread widely in later generations just after coming down the mountain.

And this seemed to be Geralt's first contact with Gwent. After all, in the two years of getting along with the White Wolf, he had never heard him talk about this kind of game at Kaer Morhen.

Seeing Geralt still hesitating about how to play his cards, Wayne also curiously came behind him, wanting to see what kind of deck the White Wolf had.

And just by looking casually for a few seconds, Wayne, the experienced Gwent gambling king, had already thought of how to win.

However, this was a gambling game between Geralt and the dwarf opposite. Although he knew how to win, he wouldn't intervene randomly at such a time and disturb their interest.

And perhaps because he was stained with the breath of Drowners, he was discovered by Geralt just after getting close.

However, the White Wolf was in high spirits at this time, just turned his head and took a look, found it was Wayne, and nodded very casually, then focused his attention on the gambling game again.

Unfortunately, in the duel of Gwent, what was needed was skill and luck, as well as a powerful deck. Individual will rarely played a role.

In the end, after struggling for a few minutes, Geralt still lost to the dwarf opposite due to lack of experience and powerful Gwent cards.

And those few Ducat gold coins earned from Misha's contract, before Geralt could warm them up, were all lost like this.

(There is one more chapter, will be posted in a while.)

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 30 =====

Unfortunately, in a game of Gwent, what is required is skill, luck, and a powerful deck; personal willpower rarely plays a role.

In the end, after struggling for a few minutes, Geralt lost to the Dwarf opposite him due to a lack of experience and powerful Gwent cards.

And those few Ducats he had earned from Misha's commission were all lost just like that, before Geralt could even warm them in his hands.

(There is one more chapter, I will post it in a moment.)

(End of chapter)