Chapter 40

The negotiation with the rich merchant Leuvaarden went quite smoothly. He is a merchant from the south, naturally interested in everything in the North, and does not have the deep-rooted disgust and hostility of Northerners towards witchers.

Hearing that the two witchers were willing to travel with him, he agreed very readily.

And he was quite generous, directly giving one hundred Orens as a reward to hire the two as guards to escort his caravan.

The journey from Flotsam to Wyzima takes about five days, and it is impossible to encounter irresistible dangers along the way. This remuneration is already quite fair.

Of course, Leuvaarden is not a generous rich merchant on the surface. In Wayne's memory, this guy will become a representative of the Southern Nilfgaardian Merchants Guild more than ten years later, staying in Wyzima, Temeria, presiding over the trade of the Merchants Guild in the North, and is very likely to be a part-time spy.

However, unlike those Nilfgaardian officers who advocate slavery and destruction, this guy is not willing to make destructive looting of the North.

Instead, he hopes to keep the North stable, maintain industrial backwardness, become a resource procurement place for southern merchants, and a dumping ground for commodities, and obtain wealth peacefully and lastingly.

The journey along the way was quite smooth. Leuvaarden's caravan was not small. Counting ordinary guards and workers, there were forty or fifty people in total, and there were even more carriages and donkey carts. No blind thief dared to provoke such a large team.

And most monsters, unless they are the kind with intellectual defects, will not take the initiative to appear in front of so many living people.

So safe and sound, they traveled in the wilderness for five days, and on the way, under the guidance of the guide, they took a short rest in a village and bought some agricultural products and subsidies.

Wayne even took the time to help the village solve a crazy brown bear, and then invited Leuvaarden, Dandelion, and Geralt to enjoy a delicious steamed bear paw, which won everyone's praise.

Especially Dandelion and Leuvaarden, these two had never enjoyed Wayne's cooking. After eating the delicious steamed bear paw, they were simply amazed, sighing that this was a delicacy they had never enjoyed in their lives, and would remember it forever.

On the morning of the sixth day, the group passed through a forest and finally arrived at the outskirts of Wyzima smoothly.

Wyzima is the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Temeria, ruled by King Foltest.

This city is located at the intersection of important trade routes, built on the side of Wyzima Lake in the Ismena River Valley, a tributary of the Pontar. It was once an elven city. After being occupied by humans, the gorgeous elven buildings were all destroyed, leaving only the magnificent and huge sewer system, which is still being used by humans.

The city is divided into several crowded areas, accommodating thousands of residents and travelers from all corners of the world.

This city has been built quite perfectly. In the city, you can find castles, shopping malls, temples, iron shops, merchant stalls, banks, workshops, hotels, and brothels. All kinds of functional facilities are available. In the Northern Kingdoms, it can be considered prosperous.

Unlike others, looking at Wyzima from afar, memories of living here in the past involuntarily emerged in Wayne's mind.

Of course, this is not his memory, but the memory of the original owner of the body, the half-elf boy.

He lived in the slums of Wyzima during his childhood. His mother was an elven prostitute. Because she was seriously ill and could not take care of her young child, and could not bear to see him grow up in the slums and become a victim of those gangsters or evil elements, she entrusted Wayne to Vesemir, who was looking for contracts in Wyzima.

Speaking of which, when Vesemir took him away, that elven mother Martha was already running out of time, but I don't know where that poor person was buried ten years later.

Dandelion rode his horse at the forefront of the team, humming songs while being intoxicated by the beautiful scenery around him.

Suddenly, he turned back to Wayne and Geralt's side, pointed at Wyzima, and shouted:

"Hey! Geralt, Wayne, look, Wyzima seems to be building a new city, so many people are working."

Wayne and Geralt looked in the direction Dandelion pointed, and sure enough, looking up, on another piece of land next to the old Wyzima, a large number of workers were working in full swing.

Many buildings have laid foundations, dense simple shacks are lying around the construction site, and countless construction materials are transported to the construction site from several directions, piled into many small hills.

Looking at the scale of that huge construction site, the area is almost several times that of the old city, and if it is completed, it must be a quite magnificent city.

Hearing Dandelion's words, the rich merchant Leuvaarden, who was sitting in a nearby carriage, also stretched out his head and interjected:

"Well, that is New Wyzima."

"Since last year, King Foltest of Temeria has begun to prepare for the construction of New Wyzima, and Mayor Velerad is responsible for the construction of the new city."

"I got this news, so I brought the caravan here."

"For merchants, the establishment of a new city contains countless business opportunities, which is the opportunity for wealth we are pursuing."

Hearing this, Geralt touched his stubbly chin and said thoughtfully:

"I remember that under this piece of land is the sewer system built by elves. The internal space is very large, and many ancient ruins are buried underground, which should hide many monsters."

"If they want to build a new city on it, the monsters in the sewer must be cleaned up by someone. They need a monster expert. This should be a good contract."

Dandelion seemed to have some inspiration, immediately took out his lute and played a melody, and then said:

"Great, another epic grand occasion, I must observe carefully and write a new poem for the establishment of New Wyzima, which will definitely be loved by the residents of the Kingdom of Temeria."

Leuvaarden seemed to appreciate Dandelion's talent very much. He immediately expressed that if Dandelion's new poem could satisfy him, he would pay to organize a performance for him, invite a large number of celebrities to watch his performance, and let him become famous in the upper circles.

This promise made Dandelion very happy. He immediately sang and danced, and praised Leuvaarden in a roundabout way. The numb flattery made Geralt get goosebumps all over his body.

Listening to their enthusiastic chat, Wayne's thoughts also drifted away.

Others may not know, but Wayne, who has played the game and read the original work, knows very well that the main reason why King Foltest is so anxious to build a new city is because his daughter Adda has been cursed, and at this time, she should have awakened from the grave and turned into a powerful striga.

This monster, as the king's daughter, is protected by Foltest, and no one is allowed to kill her, but there is no way to lift her curse, so he can only let it go.

However, due to the nature of the monster, the striga often leaves the tomb in the middle of the night and runs to the royal city or surrounding residential areas to kill and eat meat, which has a very bad influence.

Dozens or hundreds of victims die under her claws every year, forming a terrifying legend in the old city of Wyzima, and at the same time, King Foltest has been hostile and cursed by other nobles, even affecting his rule.

In the original work, this situation lasted for a long time, and many powerful sorcerers and witchers tried to lift the curse, but all ended in failure.

King Foltest even offered a high price of three thousand Orens, and no one could complete this task.

Finally, until a few years later, the White Wolf Geralt passed by here and finally found a way to lift Adda's curse, turning her back into a human princess, and thus met the sorceress Triss and gained the friendship of King Foltest.

Now, because of his intervention, Geralt and he came to this country in advance, and many things in the future will definitely change because of this.

(End of chapter)