By the time Ailin returned to the apprentice dormitory, night had fallen.
Torches had been lit along the dormitory corridor.
In the flickering firelight, he saw a familiar figure standing at the entrance to the apprentice dormitory, carrying something.
He took a few more steps closer.
A Black Wide-brimmed Hat, dark golden Cat Eyes, and two... one sword strapped to his back.
It was Vesemir.
"Master Vesemir, why are you here?"
"I brought you something. Take it!"
Ailin reached out to accept it and lowered his head for a look.
It was a stuffed brown satchel, somewhat heavy in his hand.
"A silver sword needs maintenance every day." Vesemir crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "After lunch, I figured you definitely wouldn't have any tools, so I brought over Elsa's tools."
Vesemir continued, "Do you remember how to maintain a silver sword?"
"Of course." Ailin nodded.
"Good." Vesemir nodded at the reply, then said with feeling:
"I knew you were different from the others, kid, so I came a little early on purpose."
"Who would have thought I'd still miss you?"
"You're not going to ask why?" Ailin asked curiously.
He had already made up several excuses. How was it that he apparently would not need a single one?
Vesemir smiled. "Gifted apprentices can all digest the potion's effects ahead of time."
"You even have Witcher's Eye. It's not strange for you to manage something like this."
"Is that so? That's good, then." Ailin inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the School of the Wolf forbade Witcher Apprentices from leaving Kaer Morhen,
as the apprentices passed trial after trial, the areas of the castle open to them would steadily expand.
So during their free time, the apprentices merely had to remain within the castle.
Having delivered the supplies, Vesemir intended to leave.
But when he saw the look on Ailin's face, as if a heavy burden had just been lifted, he could not help asking:
"By the way, where did you just go?"
"The Alchemy Room of the South Tower," Ailin answered.
The Alchemy Room? Had he gone to collect dinner?
Vesemir looked the apprentice over in puzzlement.
Other than the satchel he had just given him, Ailin's hands were empty.
So he asked, "Where's your dinner, then? Didn't you go to the Alchemy Room to collect your potion?"
"No, I went to learn alchemy."
Alchemy?
Why would a witcher apprentice learn alchemy?
No, that was not right.
Where had he found the time to learn alchemy, and who was teaching him?
Wasn't there only one Sorcerer Apprentice in the Alchemy Room?
Ailin's single sentence brought countless questions flooding into Vesemir's mind, leaving him momentarily unsure where to begin.
After a long silence, Vesemir finally sorted through the mess in his head and asked:
"When did you leave the dormitory?"
Considering the special nature of Witcher's Eye, Vesemir had come over around dusk.
It had only just gotten dark.
He had originally assumed Ailin had woken only a little before he arrived.
But that amount of time was only enough for a round trip between the Alchemy Room and the apprentice dormitory. It was not enough to do anything else.
"When I left, the sun was directly overhead," Ailin answered honestly.
At that time, I was still bragging with Leto and the others, Vesemir thought.
Though it seemed unlikely, Vesemir still could not help asking:
"Did you drink 'lunch' at noon?"
"I did." Ailin gave Vesemir a puzzled look.
Every proper meal over these past ten days had been extremely important to the apprentices after the Trial of Grasses.
It was not merely about increasing attributes, or rather, the increased attributes were only a surface-level effect.
The true purpose of these meals was to reconcile the conflict inside the body between the apprentices' mutated tissues and their normal flesh and blood.
If they missed even one meal, they might grow a tumor somewhere on their body at best; at worst, it could endanger their lives.
The apprentices who had made it this far all possessed an intense will to survive.
Who would joke around with their own life?
Anyone truly willing to throw their life away had already died during the Trial of Grasses.
"Oh... good. Good that you drank it."
Vesemir nodded repeatedly in a daze, then casually asked:
"How long did it take you to digest the side effects of 'lunch'?"
The moment he asked that question, Ailin understood why Vesemir had been acting so strangely.
Seeing the Witcher Master's disbelief, Ailin felt a small thrill of satisfaction.
Then,
Ailin composed his expression and, imitating Huus's innocent ignorance, asked in return:
"I don't know why, but the side effects of today's lunch disappeared in the blink of an eye."
"Master Vesemir, do all gifted apprentices digest it ahead of time like this?"
After a brief silence, Vesemir stiffly changed the subject:
"Who taught you alchemy?"
"There is usually only one Sorcerer Apprentice in the Alchemy Room. He can only make simple potions, so don't let him trick you."
Vesemir did not ask why Ailin was learning alchemy.
When they had processed materials at noon, Ailin had already shown curiosity about alchemy.
"Miss Vera taught me."
"Vera?" Vesemir pondered for a moment, then suddenly said in surprise, "Vera of Toussaint? The woman known as the Crimson Fox?"
You're asking me? Ailin grumbled inwardly. Didn't you send Bont and Fred to that Alchemy Room to treat their injuries?
And what was this about a Sorcerer Apprentice?
Weren't they all women in the Alchemy Room?
Though somewhat puzzled, Ailin still answered directly:
"I don't know about that. I only know that her name is Vera."
Just then, a deep voice came from outside.
"What about Vera?"
Ailin and Vesemir looked toward the voice.
Heavy footsteps approached from afar.
The Chief of the School of the Wolf emerged from the darkness, carrying an exquisite waterskin.
"Chief."
"Chief."
After nodding in response, the Chief handed the waterskin to Ailin. "Your dinner. Take it back quickly."
After thanking him, Ailin saw Vesemir gesture for him to leave as well, so he turned and entered the dormitory.
The apprentices in the dormitory had all awakened. They lay on their sides with their eyes open, seemingly digesting the final lingering effects of "lunch."
When they saw someone enter, they all turned their heads toward Ailin.
Noticing their gazes, Ailin nodded and smiled, then raised the waterskin and said:
"The Chief brought dinner..."
Before he could finish,
everyone in the apprentice dormitory instantly shut their eyes.
Weakly and tremblingly, they turned over and pointed their backsides at Ailin.
They looked exactly like children suddenly pretending to sleep because they did not want to take medicine.
Ailin smiled helplessly.
All right.
With the Essence Extract, he had temporarily forgotten what these meals meant to the apprentices.
After putting away the satchel and waterskin, Ailin sat on his bed and listened closely to the conversation between the Chief and Vesemir outside the door.
But because of the distance, he could only catch scattered fragments that did not form complete sentences.
Things like "Vera," "alchemy lesson," "Witcher's Eye," and "experiment records"...
After only a few brief exchanges, the two witchers left together.
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