I Haven't Even Made a Move-How Is It Already Over?

It was afternoon, and the air was unbearably hot and dry.

At this hour, the tavern was as bustling as ever.

Strangely enough, most of the tables were empty, but filled with slightly chilled ale.

The patrons were all gathered around the same old, worn-out wooden table.

"Old Jet, the hunter from East Village, is also dead. He died last night," one of the men sitting at the table in the middle whispered.

"Old Jet is dead!!!" one of the onlookers exclaimed in surprise. "Wasn't the only Silver Fork in East Village in Old Jet's hands because of hunting?"

"What's the use of the Silver Fork?" The man at the table took a sip of his wine and sighed. "I went to see what was going on when the old village chief led the guards to collect the body this morning..."

"A family of five... Blood was everywhere—on the floor, the walls, the bed... Shredded flesh and bones were spread out from the bedroom all the way down... Ugh..."

As if recalling the horrific scene he had witnessed that morning, the man gagged.

After a long while, he continued, his face pale:

"According to the old village chief and the guards, at least three water ghosts, smelling the blood of the pheasant that old Jet had hunted yesterday, sneaked into his house in the middle of the night."

"Old Jet is just a hunter, not one of those monster hunters...witch hunters..."

"Besides, it's late at night, when everyone is asleep..."

"When she was found, the Silver Fork was right next to Jane... whose abdomen had been ripped out... There was no trace of those damned monsters' blood on the Silver Fork..."

He finished speaking.

The entire tavern fell silent.

Everyone's face was pale, devoid of any color, like a newly dead corpse.

What happened to Old Jack could happen to any of them.

"Old... Old Jet, you were really careless. How could you bring home the prey's blood without properly cleaning it?"

Someone spoke with a hoarse voice, seemingly trying to prove that the victim was careless and that's why he suffered this misfortune.

"Don't you know him? His family of five relies on selling the game that old Jet hunts for money. Besides, Jenny is pregnant, and pheasant blood is a top-quality ingredient for making black pudding. How could he bear to throw it away?"

"Moreover, old Jet's house, because of years of hunting, is the furthest from the river in the entire East Village, and nothing has happened there for decades. Who would have thought... sigh..."

The sighs seemed contagious, echoing throughout the tavern.

"The guards, the mages, and the council haven't made a move yet?!" Someone angrily slammed their fist on the wooden table.

"Shh~" The others were so frightened that they immediately covered his mouth and looked around cautiously.

Upon discovering two mercenaries, clad in leather armor and with longswords at their waists, engrossed in eating in a dark, secluded spot far away, seemingly unaware of the commotion, they breathed a sigh of relief and rebuked:

"Are you crazy? The last person who slandered those mages was already wielding a broken Silver Fork and was torn to pieces by those damned monsters!"

Do you also want to die a horrible death like him?

The man who pounded the table grunted, somewhat resentful, but still lowered his voice to complain:

"We pay so much tax every year to support those nobles and magistrates, and they really don't care?"

"Hiring a few weirdos...witch hunters would be good too. I saw them when I went to deliver goods to Ban Ade in March. Those witch hunters kill water ghosts faster than we harvest wheat."

Upon hearing this, the expressions on the faces of the others immediately became much more positive.

However, an older man sitting to the side shook his head:

"Don't even think about it, the Witcher won't come."

"Why?" everyone asked in unison.

The old man took a sip of his beer, sighed, and said, "Do you think the village chief didn't think of that?"

"The village chief's family lives in the village just like us, so they can't run away."

"If we could really invite a witcher, the village chief would have already spread the word and offered a bounty by this time of year."

The patrons in the tavern looked at each other in bewilderment.

"It is said..." The old man glanced at the mercenary in the corner and suddenly whispered, "The demon hunters and the mages have a big conflict. A few months ago, during that rain of water monsters, the mages were stingy and didn't pay their bills properly, so those monsters refused to come back."

"Ah! These monks are so rich, yet they all owe money and don't pay it back?"

"The richer people are, the stingier they are. The village chief's family is an example of that."

"That's right. If you borrow a needle from his house to mend your clothes, you should also help sew some for the village chief's family..."

The topic gradually shifted to how stingy and calculating the village chief was...

"Smack!"

The wooden table was slammed shut, and the cloudy liquid of the cheap ale in the glass sloshed.

The man who had been so indignant suddenly stood up:

"No, those mages are incompetent. Those who stay behind are just waiting to die. I'm taking my wife and children to the city..."

"There's always a Blue Shield covering it, so it's definitely safe."

Upon hearing this, the crowd immediately erupted into a commotion and began a heated discussion about moving.

The old man slowly finished the last of his ale in his glass and asked only one question in a soft voice.

Do you have money?

In an instant.

The discussion gradually subsided.

The man who stood up blushed and said, "I'm strong, I'll find work in the city."

The old man didn't argue with him loudly, but calmly said:

"Since that Blue Shield was raised two months ago, the entrance fee to the city has been rising again and again."

"The day before yesterday, my son ran an errand for the village chief. When he came back from the city, he told me that the entrance fee to Ban Ade has now increased to five Oren."

"Five Oren!!!" The person who stood up swayed slightly.

He worked himself to the bone, mining and digging coal for half a year, but only earned twenty Oren.

"And..." the old man sighed, "People like us still have a chance to survive if we stay in the village."

"Ban Ade is the real monster that devours people."

"None of the people I've met who have settled in the city have ever come back."

The old man's words made the atmosphere around him negative.

"Is there really no other way?" someone asked.

The old man held his wine glass in silence for a long time before sighing and saying:

"That's just fate..."

In another corner of the tavern, two men dressed as mercenaries were engrossed in eating a rather unappetizing stew and hard bread.

However, their attention was not on the food.

The scent of enhanced water ghosts... the surge in monster numbers... the skyrocketing entrance fees... and the blue light curtain enveloping Ban Ade Academy...

"Quite a haul..." one of the younger mercenaries thought to himself.

Even from this distance, one can accurately capture information from conversations, whether noisy or whispered, on the other side of the tavern, at least thirty meters away.

Young mercenaries are certainly not ordinary people.

"Ailin, you really have a lot of ingenious ideas!"

Another middle-aged mercenary wearing Black Wide-brimmed Hat looked up at the young mercenary and clicked his tongue in admiration.

Yes.

These two mercenaries are actually Ailin and Vesemir.

The biggest, or rather the only, characteristic that distinguishes a Witcher from an ordinary person is their Cat Eyes, which resemble those of a wild beast.

And now.

Although Vesemir could not see his own pupils, the eyes of the person opposite him Ailin, had a pair of black human pupils, in addition to the sword sheath that could be prepared at the waist in Kaer village.

If it weren't for the School Emblem hidden inside his leather armor, which was still trembling slightly despite his efforts to suppress it, it would have been fine.

In a daze.

Just before entering the tavern, even he almost thought that Ailin had returned to his ordinary human form and become a mercenary rushing to the battlefield for a bounty.

"Just a little trick." Ailin smiled, his mind drifting away from the silent drinkers in the distance.

"This is no small trick..." Vesemir sighed and looked at his apprentice's eyes again. He raised his right hand as if to touch his own eyes, but then put it back on the table as if he had thought of something.

This ingenious illusion was far more practical than the one Ailin had shown him in Kaer Morhen.

"This... this... can we learn it?" Vesemir asked expectantly.

Ailin shook his head, about to answer.

"Knock knock knock~"

The footsteps drew closer.

The two witchers fell silent at the same time.

"Guests, here's your jerky and jam pancakes." The tavern owner came over carrying a bulging burlap sack.

"Thank you, how much?"

"Because of the recent rampage of water ghosts, the price of these rations has gone up quite a bit. It's two Oren and seven copper coins in total. If you need a lot, just give me two Oren." The tavern owner's hands were tightly gripping the burlap sack.

Upon hearing this, Vesemir took out two silver coins and placed them directly into his hand.

After inspecting the food, the tavern owner beamed and handed it over.

"May the war go well, and may those Ard bastards be wiped out!"

"We will." Vesemir patted the longsword at his waist.

The tavern owner left.

"I'm afraid you can't learn this," Ailin continued the previous topic.

Because it's not as crowded and chaotic as it was in Kaer Morhen.

He glanced around, took out the Mirage Pearl, showed it to Vesemir, and then put it back. "This is a magical item given to me by Lady Vesemir."

"Well, that's a real shame." Vesemir looked at the slight bulge in Ailin's chest with a face full of regret and envy.

Having obtained the information and purchased the provisions, the two witchers had achieved all their objectives at the tavern. They finished their black bread with the slightly salty stew and then got up to leave.

"Squeak~"

The wooden door groaned.

Stepping out of the tavern, Ailin immediately saw the majestic city in the distance, and the blue light curtain that still shone brightly under the blazing sun.

That is the most mysterious city in all of Kedwen —Ban Ade.

To travel from Kaer Morhen to Vladivostok, one does not actually need to pass through this city.

on the contrary.

Although the mirage pearl's disguise is exquisite, the place most likely to expose it is this city in the Northern Continent with the most sorcerers.

However, in order to clarify one issue, Ailin persuaded Vesemir to make this place their first stop after leaving Kaer Morhen.

Why is it that more than a month... no... it's been almost three months since the Spring Apprentice Combat Tournament ended... those Ain El people went to Gors Velen Arland like they had no sense of direction, but they just didn't visit this place where the Conjunction of the Spheres and the Planetary Alignment?

Could it be that the Wild Hunt's target isn't the Aard Gate?

That's impossible.

The Conjunction of the Spheres three months ago was absolutely spectacular, and the Wild Hunt, which hadn't seen anything like it for centuries, only appeared after that.

If it's too much of a coincidence, then it's not a coincidence.

Or perhaps the Ion Els are simply unable to lock onto their targets and are just stumbling upon them by sheer luck?

Ailin didn't quite believe it either.

Would a monster race that has conquered countless other worlds not have the means to locate such a massive spatial fluctuation?

And now...

Looking at the magnificent blue light curtain that almost covered the entire city, and considering the time when the blue light curtain rose "two months ago" that he had just heard, Ailin felt that he had found the answer.

The blue light screen that rose after the Apprentice Combat Tournament was probably the reason why the Wild Hunt was misled.

"Found the answer?"

Vesemir led his horse out of the stable, interrupting his thoughts with a voice.

"That's about it." Ailin nodded and mounted his horse with a flick of the stirrup.

More detailed information might require spending five Oren, entering Ban Ade, or even sneaking into Ban Ade Academy to find out.

Thinking of the imposing figures that appeared after the Apprentice Combat Tournament, Ailin felt that he didn't need to know so much.

As for infiltrating Ban Aard Academy, destroying that light barrier, and giving the warlocks some work to do—making them fight the Wild Hunt dogs...

Although she was still helpless against the apocalypse of White Frost, Ailin still wanted to live a good life.

"Then hurry back, those little brats are waiting for dinner!"

Once mounted, the Witcher Master spurred his horse and galloped off towards the country road opposite the blue light barrier.

"It's a pity for those cities that suffered undeserved calamities like Gors Velen and Arland."

After taking one last look at the giant blue screen of Ben Ade, Ailin sighed and turned to follow Vesemir.

But just at that moment, an accident occurred.

In the instant he turned his head, Ailin felt a flicker in the corner of his vision, and instinctively turned his head sharply again.

The enormous blue light screen that covered almost half of the city of Ban-Ade flickered twice and then disappeared completely.

"What!"

He instinctively gasped and rubbed his eyes.

That conspicuous blue light screen had actually disappeared.

Even from various places, the sparsely populated village echoed with gasps of surprise and astonishment.

"It really wasn't an illusion!" Ailin exclaimed in astonishment.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Vesemir tightened the reins and stopped the horse. "What's wrong, Ai..."

The Witcher Master's voice abruptly stopped.

Clearly, he also noticed the changes in Ban Ade.

Upon hearing this, Ailin turned around and met Vesemir's gaze, his eyes filled with an indescribable emotion.

"I...we should be fine, but..." The Witcher paused for a moment, then turned back to look at the mysterious City of a Thousand Towers.

"However, it's not so certain for Ban Ade's male wizards!"