The capital of Redania, Tretogor.
Agostino Austin stepped into the Vizima Palace. Like all other royal palaces, it was built within a grim, icy fortress; amid its solemn, oppressive defenses, only the rarest glimpse of vibrant green could be found.
After entering the maze-like, winding corridors, even the lamps carried by the servants could not illuminate the depths of this noble domain.
Agostino Austin felt this was a symbol perfectly befitting the fate of the Redanian royal family.
They believed themselves to rule the world, yet in truth had locked themselves inside a narrow cage of power.
A caged bird—yes, that was a fitting metaphor.
Agostino Austin thought to himself.
"Knock, knock, knock~"
A servant's slender, pale index finger rapped on the door. Agostino Austin immediately bowed out of habit, letting the shadows hide his face—and his irreverent thoughts.
"Creak~"
The wooden door groaned as it opened.
From the gap between the doors came the impatient roar of an irritable man.
"——You're telling me those corpse-eating monsters escaped from your men again?!!"
"How many times is this already?"
"Is the Sword of the Kingdom that I maintain with vast sums only capable of catching petty thieves?"
"Don't talk to me about witchers! By Kreve on high! Do you have any idea how many crowns I spend on you every year? It's a mountain—a mountain of gold that could crush useless trash like you to death——"
"Those witchers are just a bunch of bastards and orphans from gods know where. How many coppers are they worth? And did I ask you to challenge a royal griffin? To challenge a dragon?!!"
"They're just a pack of ghouls! Ghouls that sneak into graveyards to steal corpses!"
The fireplace burned brightly, its flames leaping in time with their master's fury.
A golden goblet lay on the cold floor, dark red wine splashed around it like congealed blood.
Hearing Radovid IV's furious shouting, Agostino Austin glanced at the knight standing in disgrace beneath the throne—whose appearance could be described as "resplendent in gold"—then at the king above him, eyes wide with rage.
His gaze unintentionally swept across the king's crown—and the conspicuously smooth scalp beneath it, the origin of King Radovid IV's nickname, "the Bald"—before quietly dropping to the knight's feet.
A rivulet of blood was winding its way through the cracks in the stone.
"Clang."
The soft sound of the door closing caught the attention of Bald King Radovid IV.
He cast a glance toward the corner.
Agostino Austin stood with eyes lowered and brows drawn, hidden in shadows untouched by torchlight, his presence extremely faint.
But Radovid IV knew that beneath that seemingly mild, submissive face must lurk a mocking smile.
He was watching a farce.
Radovid IV smacked his lips and waved at the knight sweating profusely beneath the throne. "I'll give you one last chance, my dear Sword of the Kingdom. Either bring me those monsters defiling your lord's lands, or wash this stain away with your own blood!"
"Get out!"
"Yes, Your Majesty." The "resplendent" knight hurriedly departed. As he passed Agostino Austin, his face was cold, not even offering a greeting.
Agostino Austin was long used to this. He remained unmoved, lowering his gaze to the filthy cracks in the stone floor.
Radovid IV glanced to his side.
A sharp servant immediately picked up the pure-gold goblet from the floor, roughly wiping away the fine wine that had seeped into its engravings, while another servant refilled Radovid IV's drink.
Radovid IV did not touch the goblet. He looked at Agostino Austin. "Austin, what I want to hear from you is good news, not apologies."
"I've heard enough bad news today."
Agostino Austin fell silent.
He stepped beneath the throne and bowed deeply. "Whether it is good news or bad does not depend on me, Your Majesty."
"Oh?" Radovid IV drawled. "Could it be that you've already cracked that damned potion——"
"It was necrophage oil, Your Majesty," Agostino Austin corrected. "But regrettably, no. Allen's necrophage oil uses a rather peculiar technique, fusing the potion base with elemental—"
"I don't want to hear these useless excuses—" Radovid IV interrupted impatiently, draining his goblet in one gulp. "If you've accomplished nothing, why have you come to my palace? To laugh at me?"
Cut off, Agostino Austin sighed inwardly and laid out, in full, Belendil Rogrides's proposal: using Allen and the Wolf School as leverage to plot the assassination of Tissaia de Vries, Narses de la Roche, and Borhn Drummond, thereby thoroughly purging the Sorcerers' Brotherhood.
Radovid IV fell silent for a long while, gripping his goblet.
"Did I hear you correctly?" He gently set the goblet on the table and looked at Agostino Austin in disbelief. "A mere Rogrides family wants to kill Tissaia de Vries, Narses de la Roche, and Borhn Drummond—and purge the entire Sorcerers' Brotherhood?"
"Is the Rogrides family mad, or is Belendil Rogrides mad?"
"Has Chaos magic burned his brain to ash?"
Agostino Austin shrugged. "Belendil Rogrides says that because of the sorcerer kingdoms, because of the chaos caused by Sunny, and even because of the constraints imposed by the Sorcerers' Brotherhood over countless ages, you are far from the only king dissatisfied with them, Your Majesty."
"They have very powerful allies——"
"Allies?" Radovid IV snorted. "Kaedwen has fallen, Aedirn can barely take care of itself, the Hengfors League is practically the Sorcerers' Brotherhood's private preserve, and my brothers in Kovir and Poviss control three-quarters of the North's dimeritium—but that's precisely why those sorcerers favor them so much——"
"Lyria, Rivia, Cidaris, Cintra, Kerack, Brugge, and Verden are nothing but insignificant scraps."
"Could it be that the allies Belendil Rogrides speaks of are those worthless scraps?"
"That would certainly fit the Rogrides family's crafty and greedy nature. They shouldn't bear a black acorn with a golden diagonal stripe as their sigil—they should emblazon a cunning devil instead. That would suit them far better."
Hearing this, Agostino Austin noticed that Radovid IV had omitted one great power on par with Redania. "Could it not be Temeria, Your Majesty?"
"Though the Hengfors League, Kovir, and Poviss are indeed unlikely to get involved, Redania plus Temeria would already be enough to sway the balance of the Northern Kingdoms—let alone Cintra and those smaller states—"
"Temeria?" Radovid IV interrupted with a mocking, unpleasant snort.
He did not explain further. Instead, he crooked a finger, signaling a servant to hand Agostino Austin a letter that had already been opened—an invitation, rather.
Agostino Austin accepted it in confusion.
The white envelope bore a golden wax seal split cleanly in two.
Formal letters followed strict conventions, and the wax seal was among the most important—what color corresponded to which rank, what pattern signified royal blood, what seal a sender of a given lineage could use.
Whether a letter was urgent, celebratory, or mournful—all had their own rules.
There were many such conventions.
And gold—
That was a wax seal reserved solely for orthodox divine religions.
Agostino Austin looked closely. Though the seal had partially melted from heat and cracking, the design was clearly three women.
"A letter from the Temple of Melitele?"
He looked up at Radovid IV in confusion. What could a letter from the Temple of Melitele have to do with Temeria or with purging the Sorcerers' Brotherhood?
Was there some festival or celebration recently?
Radovid IV merely gestured with his eyes for him to open it.
"Rustle~"
Agostino Austin had no choice but to withdraw a sheet of gilded vellum from the envelope and read it carefully.
"Temple of Melitele——Ianna————Allen————Holy Son————What?!!"
"Holy Son?!!"
Agostino Austin cried out in shock, jerking his head up to stare at Radovid IV. "Arch Priestess Ianna intends to appoint a male witcher as the Holy Son of the Melitele faith?!!"
No wonder—no wonder Baldy Radovid IV did not think Temeria would participate in the purge of the Sorcerers' Brotherhood.
It was not because Temeria was satisfied with the current Brotherhood, nor because it remained indifferent to the repeated provocations of the radical faction led by Sunny and Ortolan in founding a sorcerer kingdom.
It was because the faith of Melitele wielded profound influence in Temeria. The king of Temeria would have to be insane to involve himself in a conspiracy centered on Melitele's Holy Son.
Especially when that Holy Son had been granted a title for his heroic deed in saving Ellander.
"The world is becoming harder and harder to understand," Radovid IV said, rising from his throne and pacing to the window.
Outside lay a city built upon the ruins of an elven palace.
In Radovid IV's eyes flickered an unmistakable trace of bewilderment.
"Conjunctions of the Spheres unseen for thousands of years, appearing again and again; legendary monsters riding skeletal horses across the skies; entire cities inexplicably transported into the abyss of Dol Dhu Lokke; even bloodthirsty witchers becoming Holy Sons of Melitele, goddess of harvest and fertility——"
"I once thought that the experiences of Vridank"—the seventh king of Redania, famed for his beauty and nicknamed 'the Elf,' who eventually died at the hands of his legitimate daughter Falka—"were strange enough. Never did I imagine that I myself would live to see such a—turbulent age—"
Radovid IV's tone was complex.
Agostino Austin sensed excitement and exhilaration beneath it. Radovid IV had never been a man content with peace; he was a quintessential king of Redania.
Rebellious, arrogant, and wildly ambitious—just like his cousin who married a lowborn half-elf (Vridank), and just like his niece (Falka), who plunged half the Northern Continent into ruin.
Mad blood flowed through his veins.
Yet at the same time, Agostino Austin could also hear the deep fear hidden beneath that surging excitement.
His king concealed his emotions well, but Radovid IV was ultimately still a mortal. How could an ordinary man hide from the perception of one who had stepped beyond the mundane?
"So—" Agostino Austin pondered for a moment and said, "do we refuse Belendil Rogrides?"
"No!" Radovid IV spun around abruptly, staring at him with an expressionless face. "Agree to him. Not only do we agree—we raise the stakes!"
"He wants the Crowned Silver Eagles? Then conscript every single alchemist of the Crowned Silver Eagles, without exception!"
"And more than that—aren't the Sorcerers' Brotherhood short-handed for the expedition to Dol Dhu Lokke?"
"You will also go, in Redania's name, and conscript all supernatural organizations within the kingdom—"
"And then tell Tissaia de Vries that the Sword of the Kingdom of Redania will offer its strength to the allies of the Novigradian Union."
He paused, then said indifferently, "Those wastes of space can't even catch a few ghouls anyway."
"If she doesn't believe it, then use the excuse that after the expedition to Dol Dhu Lokke, the Sorcerers' Brotherhood will help Redania deal with the rampaging ghoul plague in exchange—"
Agostino Austin was left utterly stunned, unable to understand what kind of madness had seized Radovid IV.
"But the Temple of Melitele—" he could not help but remind him.
"Agostino Austin, this is no longer an age that belongs to the orthodox gods," Radovid IV said meaningfully. "Under royal authority, even once-sacred deities are worth little—"
"The Rogrides's want to purge the Sorcerers' Brotherhood? Then let us give them a hand!"
"The radical faction within the Sorcerers' Brotherhood is not wrong. In this age, it is no longer possible to sever the secular from the supernatural with nothing more than a flimsy alliance."
"And Redania must, in this age, seize control of more—more—"
[Ding! Ard Gaeth Gate Guidance Stone absorbing—]
[Ding! Ard Gaeth Gate Guidance Stone is integrating into the Witcher's Journal—]
[Ding! Ard Gaeth Gate Guidance Stone absorbing—]
[Ding! Ard Gaeth Gate Guidance Stone is integrating into the Shadow of the Ard Gaeth Gate—]
[Ding! Ard Gaeth Gate Guidance Stone absorption complete!]
[Ding! Required guidance coordinates have been reduced]
"Ding!"
"Detected Ard Gaeth Gate Fragment. Absorb?"
[Ding! Ard Gaeth Gate Fragment absorbing—]
Cold system notifications rang out one after another in his mind. The Ard Gaeth Gate Guidance Stone absorbed very quickly, but the Ard Gaeth Gate Fragment was not so fast.
Allen remembered that the last time, it had taken a full half day to absorb.
So he stopped waiting for the Ard Gaeth Gate Fragment to finish absorbing. With a thought, he opened the Witcher's Journal.
Necrophages:
[Hunting Quest: Drowner II (Drowners slain 178/250)]
[Hunting Quest: Ghoul III (Ghouls slain 0/250)]
[Hunting Quest: Rotfiend III (Rotfiends slain 0/100)]
[Hunting Quest: Alghoul II (Alghouls slain 0/20)]
[Hunting Quest: Foglet I (Foglets slain 2/25)]
[Hunting Quest: Swamp Hag I (Swamp Hags slain 0/5)]
[Hunting Quest: Scurver I (Scurvers slain 7/5)]
Specters:
[Hunting Quest: Wraith II (Wraiths slain 110/75)]
Hybrid:
[Hunting Quest: Royal Griffin I (Royal Griffins slain 0/2)]
Ogroids:
[Summoning Quest: Rock Troll II (Collect Rock Troll Blood 0/13)]
[Ding! Hunting Quest: Scurver I (Scurvers slain 7/5), ready to complete!]
[Ding! Hunting Quest: Wraith II (Wraiths slain 110/75), ready to complete!]
The requirements for hunting quests had been halved again, and two hunts were instantly completed.
"Hoo—"
After letting out a long breath, Allen put away the interface.
Inside the sanctuary, Melitele's three holy statues still shone brilliantly beneath the bright sunlight.
"It's time to head back—"
...............
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