Child of Miracle

Hearing the woman's long sigh, the man said nothing.

Perhaps he did not know what to say.

At last.

The woman pushed the man away.

With a snap of her fingers, she straightened her appearance.

The Sorceress raised her head expressionlessly. "What did you come to see me about?"

Her exquisite makeup, unchanged for decades, and her utterly even tone of voice.

Had he not lowered his head and seen that his chest was still wet, the Witcher would have thought everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Snap.

Another snap of her fingers.

A wave of warm, magic-infused air swept over him, and the red Cotton Armor returned to how it had looked before he entered.

"Still the same as ever!"

The Witcher remarked wistfully.

Then, putting aside his wandering thoughts and gathering his words, he said:

"On my way back to Kaer Morhen, I passed through Adal."

"Haxor summoned me and told me two things."

The Sorceress asked with interest, "What did The Glutton say?"

"One concerned the nonhuman races. Haxor asked what I thought of elves."

"And what did you say?"

The Witcher was about to answer when she interrupted him.

"Forget it, no need to tell me. Something about the School of the Wolf maintaining neutrality, no doubt." The Sorceress looked entirely accustomed to it.

The Witcher said helplessly, "That was indeed what I said."

"The Path of Glory must not be profaned. The School of the Wolf has only one target: dangerous monsters."

"The Path of Glory?" The Sorceress conjured a bottle of red wine and a goblet. After filling it, she sighed. "Other than in Toussaint and knightly novels, I have not heard that term anywhere else in a long time."

"And then, my 'knight'?"

Smelling the fragrance of wine spreading through the air, the Witcher asked helplessly:

"Before that, do you not intend to pour me a glass too?"

"I do not." Swirling the red wine in her glass, the Sorceress refused. "I am in a very bad mood right now. I do not want to share anything with anyone."

Quietly swallowing, the Witcher could only continue. "At the spring equinox next year, he arranged a competition."

"A competition?" The Sorceress became interested.

"Yes, a competition between apprentices of the School of the Wolf and the School of the Cat."

"You agreed?" The Sorceress set down her goblet, and her expression shifted.

"I had no choice. The victorious school will receive double funding every year."

The Sorceress said, "And the loser gets nothing?"

"Yes, nothing at all, including their original share."

"I have a feeling these two matters are connected, but..."

After pausing, the Witcher sighed and pleaded sincerely:

"Vira, you know me."

"No matter how powerful a monster was, even a dragon, I was never afraid."

"But politics... they are not my strength, nor are they the strength of the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf. So..."

"Vi, use your wisdom to help me. Just as you did when the Witcher Conclave fell apart, guide me once more."

Vira raised her goblet, took a sip of mellow red wine, and replied coldly:

"Do not call me Vi. We have not had that kind of relationship for a long time."

Raising a hand to stop the Witcher from explaining, the Sorceress continued:

"However, since you still remember the promise you made ten years ago, I will help you gather information."

"A promise? Did you see the Phantasm Pendant?"

"Not only did I see it." Seemingly recalling something amusing, Vira suddenly burst into laughter. "After ten years, that pendant nearly returned to the hands of its creator."

Then, as though she had remembered something else, the Sorceress's gaze quickly dimmed again.

She rose from her seat and slowly walked to the cold windowsill. With lowered eyes, she gazed absentmindedly west of the tower.

Watching the woman who had just been laughing heartily become despondent and sorrowful in an instant, the Witcher thought:

Just like before. She has not changed at all.

Ignoring the noise in the Witcher's mind, the Sorceress softly chanted in a daze:

"Know this: the Time of Sword and Axe is near. It shall be the Era of the Cold Wolf and Blizzard..."

"The world shall Die in Frost, and be Reborn Under the New Sun."

"Ess'tuath esse! This is inevitable! Watch for the signs!"

"To know what the signs are..."

After a pause, the woman's voice became softer and more ethereal.

Her clear, cool voice seemed both present and absent.

As though it came from clouds higher and farther than the peaks of the Blue Mountains.

"First... Filius Miraculi—the Child of Miracle—shall be born in a land of bitter cold..."

"Death and Newborn, one who is not human shall bring blood and fire..."

"Ithlinne's Prophecy." After silently listening to the Sorceress's chant, the Witcher said with a complicated expression, "Vira, the Child of Miracle has crossed the graveyard of death and is about to welcome Newborn..."

The Sorceress continued gazing into the distance, leaving him only her graceful, silent back.

After hesitating for a moment, the Witcher slowly walked over, gently wrapped an arm around the Sorceress's shoulders, and said:

"Do not worry, Vi."

"Just as the prophecy says, our child will welcome Newborn..."

Vira sighed, tightened her hold on the Witcher's arm, and closed her eyes.

"Soyer."

Witcher Soyer answered gently, "I am here."

"Tell me, will he hate me?"

Before Soyer could answer, he heard Vira murmur sorrowfully to herself.

"He will hate me..."

"He definitely will..."

Soyer let out a deep sigh and raised his head to gaze at the snow-covered peaks of the Blue Mountains.

He said nothing.

Naturally, Ailin had no idea that the Chief of the School of the Wolf and the Sorceress Vira were his biological parents.

The thought had never even occurred to him.

After all, according to the game's setting, Witchers and Sorceresses could not have descendants.

Sorceresses were better off; at least there were cases of childbirth.

As for Witchers, not even a single example could be found.

The odds of two professions incapable of reproduction having descendants were not much different from zero.

After leaving the tower, Ailin did not hurry back to the dormitory.

He strolled slowly along the main road toward the apprentice dormitories, his mind fixed on those 9,950 Lesser Experience Orbs.

The solution was simple.

Either learn to reduce the requirement.

Or hunt to increase his supply.

The troublesome part was the time frame.

He had to learn alchemy within one month, before the Trial of the Mountains.

Relying solely on the little progress made in the Sorceress's lessons, it was almost impossible to catch up.

Nor could he gather enough Experience Orbs by relying on Vesemir's practical lessons every few days.

I have to change the situation! Ailin thought.

Vira's alchemy lessons could not stop. They were Ailin's only source of alchemical knowledge.

The Experience Orbs needed to unlock alchemy might decrease drastically as he learned.

As a student, he had no right to demand that Vira speed up her lessons.

So he could only change the current state of monster hunting.

And to hunt more monsters, he could only...

"Leave Kaer Morhen!"

As his thoughts gradually became clearer, Ailin became increasingly certain that only hunting outside could resolve his current predicament.

Beyond the towering castle were countless Drowners.

And not merely Drowners.

Nekkers, Foglets, Ghouls...

All of them were targets Ailin could hunt.

More importantly, once the variety and number of huntable creatures increased, the chances of triggering quests would also rise.

Perhaps after completing a few quests, he might directly receive Alchemy LV2 as a reward.

"But... how do I leave Kaer Morhen?"

Ailin muttered to himself.

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