The Dying Man

How could it not hurt?

Such a loud impact sound could induce phantom pain in anyone who heard it...

The Witcher thought.

However, he didn't expose the Little Monster. Instead, he sighed softly, reached out his right hand, and patted the Little Monster's head, saying:

"Okay, okay, it doesn't hurt anymore..."

With Mary's help, it took a little time to calm the Little Monster down.

The Witcher stared at the still twitching black cloth, thought for a moment, then stood up and pleaded with Vesemir:

"Lady Vesemir, could you please send Yennefer back to Kaer Morhen? This place is too..."

"I... I don't want to leave..." the Little Monster interrupted softly.

Not wanting to leave doesn't mean not wanting to leave...

The Little Monster still knows its limits.

But before the Witcher could offer any words of advice, Vesemir suddenly spoke:

"If you don't want to leave, then you don't have to."

Um?

Ailin and Mary looked at Vesemir, who had a smirk on her face, almost simultaneously, and were stunned.

"Lady Vesemir ..." the two said in unison.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her with me tonight, and if there's any danger, I'll send her back to Kaer Morhen..." the Sorceress whispered.

This appears to be the first time Vesemir has refused Ailin's request.

However, since it was Sorceress who cast the portal spell, the witcher couldn't force her to.

Moreover, with the Bloody Red Fox protecting him, the Little Monster is perhaps the safest person in all of Arland during tonight's May Festival celebrations...

Therefore, after listening to the Little Monster's tense and rapid breathing, Ailin hesitated for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.

Seeing that the others had made up their minds, Mary turned her head and glanced out the window.

The afterglow of the setting sun.

The lush vegetation outside the window was covered in a layer of gold.

"Well..." Mary turned around, her big eyes darting around, and after gently placing the Little Monster on the ground, she urged with excitement and anticipation, "It's getting late, shall we set off now?"

"Although the May Festival parade takes place after dark, it's said that there are stalls selling all sorts of trinkets in the city in the afternoon..."

"There are also many bards and magicians who take this opportunity to perform on the streets..."

The Witcher shook his head helplessly. "Mary, we're not..."

"I know...I know..." Mary quickly walked over, took his arm, and said in a serious tone, "We received a divine revelation from the goddess and participated in the May Festival celebrations to protect the people of Arland who are in danger..."

Do you really know?

The Witcher looked down at Mary, whose outward appearance was serious, but whose little hand, eagerly and impatiently grabbing his arm, expressed a different kind of emotion, and couldn't help but sigh.

Mary stuck out her tongue, sensing Ailin's complicated gaze.

"Goddess Meritellie didn't say we couldn't enjoy ourselves before saving Arland, did she?"

"We've done everything we can. Tonight, we just need to bring everything we need..."

Upon hearing this, the Witcher looked into Mary's large, watery eyes and, thinking of how she had been working tirelessly to refine the Specter Oil these past few days, felt a pang of tenderness in his heart.

Mary has never cared about money, and she's with Vesemir, a wealthy woman, so even if her family isn't rich, she's certainly not short of money.

Moreover, when he Mary to refine the Specter Oil, the Old Duke hadn't even made a offer yet...

So, the Witcher naturally knew who all those days of tedious crafting were for.

"Go... go..."

At this point, Vesemir spoke up, offering her advice:

"Whether there will be any unexpected events May Festival remains to be seen."

"Besides, Mason and Ianna have already made ample preparations."

"Does the vast Arland, with so many knights and priests, really need a fourteen-year-old witcher like you?"

"And..."

The Sorceress paused, lowered her eyes, and pursed her thin lips:

"And it's been so long, and I haven't seen you relax and have any fun at all..."

"This doesn't seem like the behavior of a fourteen-year-old!"

The Witcher had no rebuttal to these words.

yes.

There are so many people in Arland, including extraordinary individuals like Vesemir and Ianna.

He's being a bit too nosy.

"I understand." The Witcher nodded, looking at Mary. "Then let's set off now!"

"Wow~"

Mary was so happy she almost jumped for joy when she heard this.

"I want to go too..." the Little Monster said weakly.

"No, you don't want to..." Before Ailin and Mary could speak, Vesemir coldly glanced at her and interrupted, "You're coming with me..."

The Little Monster was so frightened that it shrank back, gripping the black cloth tightly with its little hands, and dared not utter a sound.

Ailin glanced at Vesemir, then subconsciously turned her head, her eyes meeting Mary's.

The next second.

The two of them then tacitly looked away.

Mary lowered her head unconsciously, her cheeks slightly flushed.

Seeing this, Vesemir slightly curled the corners of her lips and said softly:

"If there's nothing to prepare, let's set off now."

"Wait a minute," Ailin suddenly remembered something, "I made an appointment with Master Vesemir ..."

"I'll inform him," Vesemir interrupted. "Is there anything else?"

"No more..." Ailin shook her head helplessly.

Then, after glancing at Mary, they walked out the door one after the other.

Smack!

A snap of the fingers.

As Ailin stepped out of the Alchemy Room, he heard something hit him from behind.

He quickly turned around and grabbed it.

"Ding ding~"

Amidst the clanging of metal, the Witcher looked over.

It is a money pouch with gold thread trim.

"There's some change inside, so you don't have to exchange it," Vesemir said with a smile.

"So well prepared...?" Ailin was stunned for a few seconds.

Was this prepared in advance?

However, he didn't have many loose coins here.

After separating from Huus, Bont, and Frey, and with Mary joining the group, Vesemir has been responsible for the three's daily expenses.

So the witcher didn't refuse, thanked him, and put it in his pocket.

Then.

The two left the Alchemy Room amidst Vesemir's blessing that they had "fun" and the Little Monster's somewhat "resentful" gaze.

On the other side.

When Captain Arthur of the Royal Guard returned to the military camp inside the castle in his cloaked wagon, hundreds of soldiers in black iron armor were already lined up in the open training ground.

Before the truck had even stopped, three soldiers wearing red-feathered black iron helmets, who looked like officers, jogged over.

As they approached, the truck stopped.

The man standing in the middle of the three removed his helmet, revealing a rugged face with a thick beard.

He looked at Arthur as he stepped off the truck and asked:

"Is the Sword Oil that Lord Mason mentioned has arrived?"

Arthur nodded.

Without saying much, he directed his men to move the large box, which was half a person's height, down and open it.

The neatly arranged glass bottles gleamed in the sunlight.

Smack!

Arthur flicked his hand away, slapping away the bearded officer's hand that was casually reaching for the box.

"Sir Sala, five hundred soldiers of the Monster Hunter Army, here are five hundred bottles of Specter Oil. Please inspect them."

"Lord Mason had you train in the art of applying oil a few days ago, so I won't go into details about how to use it."

The bearded officer Sala, rubbed her hands and complained:

"We're all old friends and comrades-in-arms, can't you be a little gentler?"

Seeing that Arthur remained silent, he didn't care.

The Monster Hunter Army themselves originated from Duke Mason's Royal Guard and were only established five years ago.

It was established after the last rebel force of the Falga's Rebellion was eliminated, Arland suffered heavy casualties due to war and plague, leading to the rampant spread of demons.

The Old Duke did hire professional witchers to deal with these monsters.

However, Arland itself is quite far from Kaer Morhen of the School of the Wolf, Kaer Seren of the School of the Griffin, and Heinkavig of the School of the Bear, and Witchers generally have the habit of returning to their respective schools to spend the harsh winter.

Therefore, after the witchers leave, small groups of monsters often harass and attack the villages around Arland.

Fortunately, the war has temporarily subsided.

Therefore, Duke Mason selected a group of his most experienced soldiers to form a special army specifically targeting scattered and weak monsters— the Monster Hunter Army.

Therefore.

These officers, and even most of the soldiers in the Monster Hunter Army, originally came from the Royal Guard.

He and Arthur had a life-or-death bond on the battlefield. Although they hadn't seen each other often in recent years due to their respective military duties, they were certainly much more relaxed with each other in their daily lives.

The bearded officer Sala looked at her old comrade-in-arms, who remained expressionless and silent, and added another sentence in her mind.

At least that's what he thought.

After a few seconds, Arthur still stared at him without saying a word.

"Alright, alright," Sala scratched her head helplessly, not actually counting the bottles. "Sir Arthur, our Monster Hunter Army has received these Specter Oil."

"Can I touch it now?"

Arthur extended his right hand, indicating that he was free to proceed.

"Ding ding~"

Sala took a bottle of Specter Oil from the box and waved it in front of her eyes:

"Is this Specter Oil really as powerful as Lord Mason said a few days ago?"

"What? You can kill a ghost with just three swords?"

Sala opened the bottle with a hint of suspicion and sniffed it, startling one of the young knights Arthur had brought along, who immediately tried to stop her.

"Sir Sala, this is for smearing on swords, not for drinking!"

"I know!" Sala waved her hand, put the cork back in, and continued:

"Although I don't know much, I do know that potions don't seem to be a witcher's specialty, do they?"

"First of all, it's not about ghosts," Arthur said expressionlessly. "The Specter Oil targets all ghostly creatures, such as spirits, banshees, and plague witches..."

"Furthermore, the fact that three swords killed a demon spirit is based on Master Ailin's strength..."

"Lone spirits are hard to find, so we haven't tried it."

"Therefore, you should at least double this number."

I haven't tried it...

Sala paused for a moment and stopped shaking the bottle.

Two seconds later, he looked at Arthur with a serious expression:

"You dare to give things to the Monster Hunter Army that you haven't even tried before?"

"Our brothers risked their lives to kill those demons. Do you know how many more we've recruited in the last six months?"

Sala's tone grew increasingly stern, her eyes widening in anger.

However, before Arthur could speak...

The young knight beside him quickly added:

"Sir Sala, although we haven't tried Specter Oil, we have tried Master Ailin's other product, Ghoul Oil, and the effect is excellent!"

The middle-aged knight, who was helping the young knight move the boxes, nodded and calmly raised a finger to the bearded knight:

"One sword!"

"What sword?" Sala was taken aback.

"Bang!"

The middle-aged knight patted the scabbard of his longsword at his waist.

"A steel sword, one strike and the Ghoul's head is severed," he paused, then proudly raised his head, "I did it!"

"Huh?" Sala's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked at the middle-aged knight and the longsword at his waist.

Ghoul are the most common monsters that their Monster Hunter Army has ever dealt with.

Those dogs who like to roam in packs will pop up in groups every now and then at the battlefield ruins.

They are fast, numerous, and cunning, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

Their Monster Hunter Army, equipped with silver weapons forged by the Mahakam dwarves, frequently suffered heavy losses.

The Guards' steel swords couldn't even pierce their skin...

etc...

Have the Imperial Guard suffered any casualties recently?

"Dead." Arthur ignored the middle-aged knight's resentful gaze and interrupted Sala's thoughts with a blank expression.

"Captain..." the middle-aged knight complained.

"You'll mislead them by saying that," Arthur shook his head and continued, "It was the day the High Priest of the Goddess Meritellie was asked to leave the city to set up Exorcism Ritual."

On the day of the exorcism ceremony... Sala frowned upon hearing this, glancing at the Monster Hunter Army officer beside her who suddenly lowered his head, avoiding her gaze.

"Those Ghoul were all killed by Master Ailin..."

After a pause, Arthur added:

"Thirty-three Ghoul, plus a large monster, the Giant Ghoul, but Master Ailin himself was completely unharmed."

"However, Necrophage Oil does enhance the power of weapons. Even against a living Ghoul, a steel sword can only strike once if it hits."

"Hiss--"

The three Monster Hunter Army officers, including Sala, gasped simultaneously.

They looked at each other in bewilderment.

At this moment.

Even Sala, who had been angrily questioning just moments before, was now speechless.

It's impossible for Witcher Master can kill so many monsters single-handedly without taking any damage to just sell a few hundred bottles of fake medicine and cheat them.

Besides, there's already a prototype of that Necrophage Oil.

These sound like they're from the same series of potions.

That's true.

How could someone as great as the Duke Mason be deceived...?

"And..." Arthur said, "The reason we were given Specter Oil was just to be on the safe side."

"We're there to patrol and protect the crowds celebrating, not to hunt demons."

"That's true..." Sala scratched her head sheepishly.

Moreover, they were already equipped with silver blade weapons, which gave them an extra layer of security compared to their brothers in the Imperial Guard.

"There's really no need to worry," the middle-aged knight of the Royal Guard chuckled twice. "Do you know who Master Ailin's alchemy mentor is?"

Who is it?

"The Bloody Red Fox — Vesemir!"

Upon hearing this, the three officers of the Monster Hunter Army were taken aback for a moment, then carefully considered the matter for a long time.

Their eyes widened in disbelief, and they no longer doubted the efficacy of the Specter Oil.

The sky was getting dark.

It's almost time for the Monster Hunter Army' patrol.

So the group stopped talking.

The Royal Guard was already on patrol. After saying goodbye, Arthur and his two companions left behind the potion and the wagon and headed out.

Sala then began to arrange for the soldiers to receive the potions.

Neither the officers of the Monster Hunter Army nor the Royal Guard mentioned it...

An unexpected event that warranted such a high price from Duke Mason and High Priest Ianna...

Can ordinary people like them really be dealt with by a bottle of Sword Oil?

Their soldiers, including themselves...

How many will survive after tonight?