Chapter 59: The Way of a Man Forward, How Can There Be Only Laughter; The Way One is Determined to Walk, How Can There Be No Storms to Quell
Lynn did not worry that Istrad would make witchers pawns.
Because Istrad was one of the few truly wise kings among the Northern Monarchs.
And besides, he did not object to becoming Istrad's vassal.
Why, you ask? Because a man born between heaven and earth, how is he going to have a long life in the vassal rank.
Okay, I was kidding.
In truth, becoming the vassal of Istrad was just the first step.
After all, no matter how you get things done, the first pot of gold is always the most challenging to accumulate.
When he had this first pot of gold, according to his foresight, he would definitely be able to dominate a huge territory and establish a country where witchers, humans, gnomes, dwarves, and elves were family members, an equality republic, co-development, and co-prosperity.
Of course, Lynn also knew that the other Northern Kings and sorcerers would definitely not like to see witchers grow powerful.
If they understood that ordinary witchers dared to dream of the iron throne of power, they would by necessity form an unprecedented encirclement in order to destroy the witchers en masse.
But it did not matter.
In no time, they would not even have the time to care about witchers.
Just as Lynn had previously said.
This was a fantastic disturbance not experienced in a hundred years, the best times and worst times.
But it was still too early to say everything said above.
Lynn calculated that Istrad would have to wait a few years at least before he could initiate his war to retake the throne.
War, after all, was not a dinner party.
War did not begin when the armies of two sides went onto the field; it had begun long, long before.
The enlisting of soldiers, the raising of funds and supplies.
How many swords, battleaxes, maces, war hammers, spears, halberds, bows, crossbows, and arrows would the army need.
How much of their spy network had been established in enemy-occupied territory, and were they already in a position to know the enemy's troop deployments, movement routes, and weapons availability.
How many allies did they have, and how many possible sympathisers could they win from the enemy.
Lynn calculated that when Istrad was ready, he would be ready too—i.e., by upgrading his attribute panel—physically strong enough to fight a war.
There was a sudden break in his train of thought by a weathered voice.
"Are you focusing on something, Witcher Master?"
A middle-aged barge captain with a thick dwarf-like beard and muscular physique leaned against the railing of the barge's deck.
With his train of thought interrupted, Lynn was shaken back into reality.
The splash of oars in water and the cacophonous racket of passengers on deck all hurtled into his ears at the same time.
Lynn scratched his ears like he couldn't stand it.
"Yeah, what's wrong? Did something happen? Did anybody notice anything?"
"No, nothing," the captain answered, running his hands against his leather jerkin. "The sea is calm, but it's misty around us. Pirates can pop out of the fog at any moment."
Lynn told him with a grin.
"What you're telling me is a ghost ship, Captain. Pirates are indeed cunning, but not to that extent."
"The fog doesn't discourage them any more than it discourages us. Don't worry, I'm keeping watch, not distracted."
The captain stepped back from the railing and proceeded towards the back of the boat. "For that comment, I'll buy you a drink when we get safely to Novigrad."
He walked around the piles of suitcases and bundles scattered around by the passengers.
The packed horses in the middle of the barge snorted, their hooves clattering loudly on the deck.
The ship was surrounded by thick fog, and the bow of the barge sliced through the water, generating waves.
It had been a week since Istrad had paid them at this time.
Geralt had found employment as a mine guard near Tretogor City.
That mine was haunted on a regular basis, and the mine owner needed a witcher to look into what was going on.
Lynn did not go with him.
Instead, he left Tretogor City on the black horse that Istrad had given him, christening it Nidhogg, and took the same path he had returned on to the Duchy of Tretogor's seacoast docks, where he found a barge headed for Novigrad.
As the jewel of the North, Novigrad would most certainly have plenty of contracts waiting for him to settle.
Geralt did not dissuade Lynn's scheme.
More than six months of common ventures had instilled in Geralt confidence that he did not have any cause anymore to worry about Lynn's safety.
In reality, Lynn already received too much special treatment versus the other Witchers of Wolf School.
It needs to be pointed out that back then, whether he, Vesemir, or Eskel, Lambert, and Berengar, they had all come down the mountain alone once they had completed all the trials of a witcher.
Witchers were not Jedi Knights, there was no tradition of a master taking out an apprentice to gain experience, not necessarily, at least.
Lynn knew this full well, so of course he was grateful for Geralt's extra attention.
Half an hour had gone by, and the captain of the barge came back once more.
Lynn sighed. "What now, Captain?"
The captain leaned alongside Lynn.
"Thank goodness, nothing unusual happened. It looks like another quiet journey. We're almost there in Novigrad. Pirates won't come near the mainland waters."
Lynn questioned suspiciously, "Isn't that a good thing?"
The captain answered back with a wry smile, "It is well, but honestly, I am rather envious of you, Witcher Master."
Lynn raised an eyebrow and asked.
"How so?"
The captain's words were tinged with an undercurrent of envy and jealousy.
"In case there are mishaps during the journey or otherwise, you may have your share of the wages, not a single penny less, right?"
So he thought Lynn's wealth was too readily available to him.
Lynn threw up his hands in exasperation.
"Is there a possibility, I mean a possibility, that nothing accidents happening is preferable to accidents happening?"
"You hired me to accompany you just in case, and the passengers are happy to sail on your ship because there happens to be a witcher on board."
"Don't pay attention to some individuals who despise witchers on the surface, their bodies are actually honest."
The captain burst out laughing.
"A fact, Witcher Master. So you're after a long-term job, then? Sure, the salary will not be quite as high as your monster-bounty hunting fees, but at least there's less risk. What do you think?"
Lynn shook his hand. "There's a next time, I'll still take your boat, but a long-term job is out of my question. It's not for me."
Upon rejecting the captain's invitation, the captain never bothered Lynn again during the course of the trip.
And thus, the barge arrived safely in Novigrad without anything amiss happening during the journey.
Looking at the bustling crowd on the wharf and the ships anchored in the harbor, Lynn could not help but let out a wry smile.
So he was not that kind of hero in knight tales where things went wrong wherever he went.
And as for the actual duration of Istrad's restoration, the original novels do not specifically mention it, but here his duration of restoration has been postponed a little to facilitate the building of the plot.
Apart from that, here, Istrad is a wise king, so there will be no future plot in which "Istrad is concerned about the high merits of the protagonist overwhelming the lord" and so on.
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