Chapter 298: The Approach of War

The disaster in the Kingdom of Kaedwen, the heavy damage to the Sorcerers Brotherhood, and the spread of hellish monsters not only made the entire North more mysterious and dangerous, accelerating the chaos of the entire Northern Kingdoms, but also attracted the Southern Empire of Nilfgaard, which had always been expanding by force and eyeing the resources of the Northern Kingdoms.

While all the Northern kings were focusing on the trivial matters within their own countries, a crisis that was about to sweep across the entire North had quietly arrived.

However, crisis, crisis!

Danger also breeds opportunity. Whether it is for the ambitious people of the North, the soldiers of the South, the mercenaries who sell their lives for money, or the Witcher Order, this is an opportunity for them to rise rapidly.

Time passed in a flash, and it was 1256, six years away from the time when Ciri and Geralt met in the original work.

The disappearance of the fog did not improve the situation in the Kingdom of Kaedwen. Instead, because of the continuous spread of thousands of monsters, the ruling foundation of the entire kingdom was shaken.

Although the fog in the past was dangerous, the area it covered was only about one-fifth of the country. Other parts of the country, although facing some threats, could still allow ordinary people to survive.

And now, when all the monsters in the fog spread to the vicinity of forests, fields, and those villages, those villagers who had neither equipment nor combat ability could not resist the attacks of those monsters, nor could they continue to live in those dilapidated villages without protection.

Either they built high walls one after another, divided most of the young and strong labor force, trained guards and militiamen, and protected the safety of their families.

Or they abandoned their hometowns, took all their belongings, went to the cities with stronger defense forces, and accepted the fate of being exploited.

Now, the wilderness of Kaedwen had become a paradise for monsters. Those Fallen Shaman wizards became small leaders of monster groups, resurrected a large number of corpses, and occupied various places in the Kingdom of Kaedwen.

And those surviving Corrupted humans, under the command of some leaders, became the most barbaric robbers in the wilderness.

They attacked towns, robbed villages, captured those residents who surrendered, turned them into one of their own, and had formed a model similar to robber camps or even small warlords in various parts of the country.

However, at present, these were only troubles within the Kingdom of Kaedwen and had not spread to the nearby countries.

Because Henselt had been in a coma, the two major noble power groups were still in a state of confrontation for the throne, and disputes were endless.

Lacking unified leadership, the strength of the Kingdom of Kaedwen declined rapidly, and it had no ability to rectify these troubles.

Originally, as a spellcaster group in the North, the Sorcerers Brotherhood had the responsibility to help the Kingdom of Kaedwen clear these monsters from another world.

However, during these three years, those Fallen Sorcerers eroded by hellish power also appeared one after another all over the world, causing a lot of trouble and restraining many forces of the Sorcerers Brotherhood.

It seemed that because they lost the control of Demon Lord Baal, and they themselves were spellcasters, these people also gradually regained some autonomous control.

However, the influence of hell's evil power on them was permanent. Their personalities had undergone very great changes: cruel and cunning, fierce and violent, fond of killing and creating chaos.

These Fallen Sorcerers were not like those monsters, which could only slowly spread to the surroundings in the Kingdom of Kaedwen.

As spellcasters, they quickly spread to the entire North, and even secretly formed an evil spellcaster group, recruiting many scumbags in society and wandering sorcerers to confront the entire Sorcerers Brotherhood, and the headquarters of this organization was somewhere in Kaedwen that had lost official control. According to incomplete statistics, about 30% of the civilians in the Kingdom of Kaedwen had become refugees and fled to other surrounding countries.

And those farmers who went to towns to make a living were also on the verge of collapse due to soaring prices and the exploitation of nobles.

In such a medieval country, in order to maintain their luxurious lives, the nobles transferred the pressure to the civilians under their rule, and the opposition between the two major noble groups consumed more and more resources, which invisibly exacerbated this phenomenon.

However, facing various difficult environments, the Kingdom of Kaedwen had not yet waited for major problems to appear in itself, and a sudden war had already descended upon it.

………………

Blue Mountains, Kaer Morhen.

Three years passed, and the Witcher castle that had stood for hundreds of years had long been completely demolished. With the cooperation of skilled Elf architects and energetic Giant craftsmen, this castle had become a castle town similar to a small military fortress.

Although it was still named Kaer Morhen by Geralt, here, city walls, towers, horse farms, gardens, blacksmith workshops, and all kinds of facilities were available.

It combined the elegant and exquisite architectural style of the Elf race and adopted the magnificent and huge workload of the Giant race. Even if this castle were placed in the entire Northern Kingdoms, it would definitely be a great building that made people stunned and looked up in exclamation.

At this time, in the magnificent council hall of this castle, Geralt sat in the main seat at the top, supporting his cheek with one hand, tilting his head, and looking at the subordinates sitting at the council table with a rather lazy look.

The Dryad beauty Aigles, wearing a light yellow dress, was holding a pot of tea, temporarily acting as a personal little secretary, looking at everyone in the room with somewhat ignorant and youthful eyes.

"Boss, according to the latest intelligence we received, Demavend of the Kingdom of Aedirn has led an army of 10,000 people into the territory of the Kingdom of Kaedwen."

"According to their marching route, it is estimated that they will surround the city of Sherra where Count Kaen is located in the south tomorrow."

"The purpose of this Aedirn king is clear. It is estimated that he has reached a deal with many people in secret and has planned for a long time. It seems that he is prepared to take a piece of meat from the territory of the Kingdom of Kaedwen."

The person speaking at this time was the little beauty cat Julia, wearing a shiny armor. As a subordinate under Geralt who controlled the mercenary legion, it is estimated that except for Francesca, who was an ally, she was the most well-informed about the outside world.

Due to the dangerous environment of the Kingdom of Kaedwen in these years, the demand for mercenaries in this country had greatly increased. Now, besides the Cat Claw Mercenary Group she founded herself, this young lady had recruited thousands of mercenaries one after another, acting as guards for caravans, and joined the Geralt Chamber of Commerce, which had become famous in the North.

As the Kingdom of Temeria and the Kingdom of Kaedwen, which had been operating for the longest time, in these two countries, she had already mastered countless intelligence personnel, could know the size of the news in this country, and provided Geralt with a lot of convenience.

"Boss, if Demavend is allowed to successfully defeat Count Kaen, it is estimated that all the nobles in the south of the Kingdom of Kaedwen will defect to the Kingdom of Aedirn."

"By then, half of Kaedwen will be annexed by Aedirn. With the strong personality of King Demavend, he might affect your plan."

"Do we need to do something?"

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 299 =====