Chapter 6: School of the Wolf

Wayne smiled modestly and took a sip of the fruit juice Geralt brought back. It was sour and sweet, with a hint of bitterness from the raw materials, and the taste was not bad.

Although the White Wolf looked a bit expressionless, he was indeed a kind-hearted good person full of a sense of justice.

When buying supplies for the castle, he still remembered the children in the castle and specially spent money to buy some fruit juice for them. Unfortunately, now, there was no need for so much.

At the dining table, Vesemir and Geralt were quite talkative, and the two talked about the current situation in the North.

However, in this time period, Nilfgaard had not yet started its first invasion, and the situation in the North still belonged to that chaotic quagmire where there were no major wars, but small wars were constant.

The dozen or so kings of the entire North, for the sake of a little petty profit, or even the ownership of one or two villages, would have a small-scale battle from time to time.

Leaving behind a few corpses, looting one or two villages, and then signing various agreements.

And because of the chaotic kinship of medieval nobles, various alliances and betrayals, conspiracies and schemes made the entire North almost a mess.

Vesemir and Geralt were both uninterested in the power struggles of the kings. They talked about this mainly to determine which places had wars.

Because, after wars, monsters usually run rampant, and places where monsters run rampant usually need Witchers.

In this era, the life of a Witcher is not good. Not only is most of the work dirty and tiring, licking blood from the edge of a knife, and often having life-threatening dangers, but when there is no work, they are hungry one meal and full the next, and they also have to suffer the deception, discrimination, and insults of those ignorant people.

It is that most Witchers follow tradition and are good people with principles; otherwise, their swords would not know how many more lives of bad people they would have to take.

Soon, the two talked about Geralt's experiences this year. Facing his mentor, the White Wolf didn't hide much and simply recounted the missions he had received this year.

Wayne listened silently from the side, listening with great interest, and his longing for the outside world grew stronger. However, as a Witcher apprentice, before he finished learning all the knowledge and completed the Witcher exam, Vesemir would not allow him to graduate.

Geralt poured himself another large mouthful of strong liquor, staring at the dishes on the table with drunken eyes. Only when he returned to the castle of Kaer Morhen would he be so relaxed.

He burped and, as if confiding, said to Vesemir:

"This year, when I was fishing by the river with a bard friend, I found a magic lamp."

"It could actually grant three wishes."

"I suspect it was a Djinn sealed in an oil lamp."

"I originally wanted to stop my friend from making a wish, but unfortunately, I was a step too late, and he got hurt."

Hearing about this, Vesemir was also very interested.

"What happened later?"

A Djinn is a very rare and very powerful elemental spirit. There are not many records about them, but each one is very magical.

And most Witchers will never encounter such a thing in their entire lives.

Geralt drank another mouthful of wine, his eyes somewhat dazed, as if he were missing someone.

And Wayne, who had read the original work, knew that it was that encounter that made Geralt meet his destined lover, Yennefer. The legendary White Wolf fell in love with the sorceress and fell in love with this eccentric woman at first sight.

The two had an on-and-off relationship that lasted for decades, earth-shattering, twists and turns, and until the end of The Witcher 3 game, the ending of this love would be chosen by the players.

Geralt sighed and was about to tell Vesemir about his love troubles when suddenly, the three people at the dining table heard two more footsteps coming from outside the castle hall, as well as the sound of two men arguing.

A somewhat high-pitched voice, also carrying some complaints, said:

"I said long ago that we should have set off earlier."

"It's all your fault for dawdling, making us rush in the dark, and we even ran into a group of nekkers halfway. Now it's good, we're covered in shit smell, and there's definitely no hot water for a bath in the castle."

As soon as this voice fell, another low voice retorted:

"Stop nagging, Lambert. Are you a young master from the city?"

"You can't stand just this little smell. I've been listening to you nag all the way."

The man called Lambert, how could he close his mouth so easily? He said without any scruples:

"We are Witchers, not drowners, and not rotfiends. We can't soak in shit every day."

"You like this smell, but I don't."

Hearing this voice full of dirty words and sarcasm, Wayne, Geralt, and Vesemir already knew who had come.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the door of the castle hall was pushed open, and two Witchers wearing heavy armor of the School of the Wolf walked in.

One was a man with short hair and a scar on his eye, Lambert, and the other was a square-faced man whose face was almost disfigured by scars on one side, Eskel.

Just after entering the hall, Lambert saw the three people dining. This short-haired Witcher, who looked carefree, glanced at Wayne, then scanned the entire hall, seemed to understand something, turned his head and spat on the ground, and complained to Eskel:

"Humph, I knew those children wouldn't last."

"We are all people who have been through it, and we know how painful the Trial of the Grasses is for a child."

"We should let those children go down the mountain, instead of insisting that they become Witchers."

Eskel, who was beside him, also sighed, patted Lambert on the shoulder, and said:

"This matter cannot be blamed on old man Vesemir."

"They were originally orphans of war, children abandoned by their parents. From the moment they came to Kaer Morhen, becoming a Witcher was their destiny."

Lambert cursed in a low voice.

"Bullshit destiny."

However, he was not blaming Vesemir, just feeling emotional about his own fate. As a child who was given to a Witcher by a drunken father because of the Law of Surprise, he knew very well how painful it was to become a Witcher.

Eskel patted him on the shoulder, not minding the stench of nekkers on his body, and walked with him toward the dining table.

Geralt saw the two walking over, pulled a smile on his face, and teased:

"You two look like you just crawled out of a cesspit."

"I could smell that stench from dozens of meters away."

Vesemir's smile became even brighter. He looked at his few remaining apprentices and said with a smile:

"Lambert, Eskel."

"Go take a bath first, wash off the dirty things on your body."

"After washing, come and enjoy the dinner cooked by Wayne together, let's drink more wine and have a good chat."

"Welcome home, children." ===== CHAPTER 7 =====