Chapter 63

After reaching a consensus with Councilor Peter, Wayne soon officially purchased and moved into the new house in the new city of Wyzima.

Moving in with him were his two good friends, Geralt and Dandelion.

The new residence was spacious enough that everyone was allocated an independent, roomy room.

Of course, before moving in, he briefly told the two about the situation of the little brownie Lala and her family. Whether it was the witcher Geralt or the naturally romantic bard Dandelion, both held goodwill toward this kind-hearted demi-human race and indicated they would not harm the little brownie.

As for the druid elder Kaen, after nearly a week of recuperation, his body had returned to a healthy level.

The old man formally bid farewell to Wayne, preparing to carry out a mission that had been delayed for three years: establishing a new Druid Circle in the forest by the side of Wyzima Lake.

After discussing it with Wayne, the old man decided to leave Wyzima City together when Wayne headed to Leuvaarden's logging camp.

On the eve of leaving Wyzima City, Wayne, according to his promise, spent five hundred Orens to carefully select a pair of gemstone earrings at a jewelry store in the city as a birthday gift for Keira, and had them delivered to her mansion.

In fact, he had considered giving the sorceress the gold pocket watch he had drawn, but because the craftsmanship of the gold pocket watch was too advanced—an art piece impossible for medieval craftsmen to complete—it was easy to expose certain things, so he gave up on it.

However, the sorceress didn't seem to care whether the gift he gave was precious. When he arrived at Keira's mansion in the evening, he was immediately clung to by the sorceress, who had carefully dressed up in advance.

The two played adult games all night, from the living room to the kitchen, from the kitchen to the bathroom, and then from the bathroom to the balcony. The poor personal maid Maisie, when delivering a midnight snack to the two, also had to join the game, and after persisting for two hours, she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, before parting, Keira changed into an elegant long dress. Not only did she forgive Wayne for missing her birthday banquet, but she also gave Wayne a bottle of rare, fine wine, and with a satisfied smile, she went to the royal palace to complete her work as a royal advisor.

Holding a bottle of fine wine worth hundreds of Orens, Wayne left Keira's mansion with mixed feelings and returned to his own home.

After putting the fine wine into his still-empty wine cabinet and saying goodbye to Geralt, who also had a complex expression, Wayne picked up his luggage, put on his equipment, mounted his steed Lucifer, and left Wyzima City with the old druid Kaen.

………………

Wyzima Lake is the largest inland lake in the Kingdom of Temeria. It connects to the tributaries of the Pontar River, is located in the Izmina Valley, and provides a large amount of freshwater resources and fish to Wyzima City and its surrounding villages and towns.

The fact that Wyzima can support so many residents is largely due to this resource-rich freshwater lake.

And also because of the irrigation from the large amount of lake water and the nourishment of the rain, not only did a large, dangerous swamp area form around this huge lake, but it also nurtured an extremely vast primeval forest.

A large number of wild animals and monsters inhabit the area around Wyzima Lake, marking their respective territories and forming a relatively stable ecological structure.

However, starting a year ago, the situation changed slightly.

Because of the establishment of the new city of Wyzima, there was a huge demand for timber. Driven by profit, logging camps of all sizes sprang up like mushrooms around the primeval forest, and large groups of loggers began to cut down trees.

The appearance of these logging camps seriously disrupted the ecological structure in the primeval forest. Many wild animals living in the forest were forced to leave their habitats, invading the territories of other creatures, and engaging in chaotic battles for their own survival.

It is precisely this chaotic environment that has caused many monsters that were originally hidden in the central area of the forest to start attacking the loggers who disturb them.

Following the route provided by Leuvaarden, riding on horseback all the way, after entering the scope of the primeval forest, the druid elder Kaen formally parted ways with Wayne.

The old man told the witcher the approximate location of the Druid Circle he was going to establish, and after sincerely thanking Wayne for saving his life again, he disappeared into the forest.

Looking at the direction Kaen left, Wayne suddenly thought, could it be that in the plot of The Witcher 1 more than a decade later, that druid camp in the Wyzima forest was established by this old man?

Perhaps it is indeed so. After all, the number of druid elders is quite small; they wouldn't appear for no reason, nor would they disappear for no reason. There should only be one Kaen sent as the druid elder to Wyzima.

It seems that even without Wayne's intervention, the old man would have escaped the control of the Wild Dogs gang, just as the Wild Dogs gang would have been replaced by other gangs even without Wayne's intervention.

With such thoughts, after riding for about another half hour, Wayne found the location of Leuvaarden's logging camp.

This was a logging camp of considerable scale. There were over a hundred loggers working for Leuvaarden, with humans and dwarves each accounting for half, and Wayne even saw a few elf loggers.

They had clearly been working here for some time. A large area of forest, cut down until only tree stumps remained, stretched out, as if bitten by a giant beast, leaving an ugly scar in this green primeval forest.

Seeing Wayne arrive on horseback, a middle-aged man wearing a robe and glasses, with a somewhat anxious expression, quickly walked to Wayne's side.

He pushed up the wooden-framed glasses on his nose, looked Wayne up and down for several seconds, and then said in a voice with a southern accent:

"Excuse me, are you the witcher Mr. Wayne?"

Wayne dismounted, a kind smile on his face, and nodded, saying:

"Yes, I accepted Mr. Leuvaarden's commission and came here."

The middle-aged man seemed to heave a sigh of relief. He bowed slightly to Wayne and introduced himself:

"Welcome, Mr. Wayne."

"I am Ozik, the steward appointed by the respected Mr. Leuvaarden, responsible for managing the daily affairs of this logging camp."

"Mr. Leuvaarden has already written to tell me that you are a powerful warrior who can help us solve the predicament we are currently facing, and that we should cooperate with your work."

His expression hesitated for a second, then he bowed again and asked with a sincere tone:

"Although it is a bit presumptuous, Mr. Wayne, can you start working now?"

"This morning, three of our loggers suddenly went missing. Two hours have already passed."

"They are all official workers from Wyzima City, with wives and children; they are the pillars of their families."

"If you can save them, it will be equivalent to saving three families."

"I hope you can agree to my request."

Ding! Task triggered: 【Find the Missing Loggers】, Expert-level.

Do you accept?

Wayne frowned; he didn't expect to receive an Expert-level task just after arriving at the work site.

However, as a task expert, there was no reason to refuse a task.

He accepted the task in his mind, his expression changing from the initial kindness to seriousness. He looked at Ozik and said:

"Of course, no problem. This is my job, Mr. Ozik."

"Please take me to the crime scene and tell me the information you have."

"Time is of the essence; for every second delayed, the survival probability of those three workers decreases."

Seeing Wayne's professional and serious attitude, Ozik's attitude became even more respectful.

However, the person in front of him was his boss's friend, and he looked like a mere teenager, completely different from the mercenaries who lived through life and death that he had in mind. If something went wrong, he certainly wouldn't be able to answer to his boss, Leuvaarden.

Ozik considered for a second, and out of concern for safety, he still asked with some hesitation:

"Mr. Wayne, do you need me to gather a group of loggers to act with you?"

"Although they are not warriors, they are all strong and sturdy workers who should be able to help a little."

Wayne picked up the Master-level silver sword that had not yet seen blood from Lucifer, hung it together with the steel sword gifted by Vesemir, and did not immediately refuse Steward Ozik's kindness, but said seriously:

"Not for now, Mr. Ozik. I must investigate the situation at the scene before making a decision."

"This primeval forest is full of various dangers. Sending a large number of people might lead to more casualties."

Seeing that the middle-aged steward still had a hesitant look on his face, Wayne revealed a faint smile and said in a calm tone:

"Don't worry about my safety. Although I don't look very old, there are far more monsters that have died under my sword than you can imagine."

(End of chapter)