The next morning, Roy woke up refreshed after a night of Meditation.
After replacing sleep entirely with Meditation, he only needed five hours of rest. Every morning, he woke up full of energy. That kind of life was hard to imagine for someone like him, who had often suffered from insomnia in his previous life, even to the point of a nervous breakdown.
And although his young body was thin and frail, it was in decent shape—better, in fact, than his body had been in his previous life.
Letho had left even earlier than him. He was drinking wine and eating pie downstairs in the tavern, still wearing his usual poker face. There was no sign that he'd spent the previous night on the town.
"Couldn't sleep in a little longer?"
"Relaxation is fine, but a Witcher can't let go of basic discipline."
As they ate and talked, Roy mentioned the dwarf. To his surprise, the man himself arrived as soon as he brought him up.
Compared to the day before, Sevir's dark circles seemed heavier, and he looked utterly exhausted. Still, he put on a brave face and explained his troubles to them.
Witchers weren't about to turn down a contract, so Letho listened patiently.
"For the past three months, nightmares have been hounding me. From the dead of night until dawn, they torment me like devils, without giving me a moment's respite."
"I sleep terribly every night. Sometimes I wake with a start in the middle of the night. After a while, it began to take a serious toll on my health."
"Can you imagine it? I used to go three days and nights without sleep and still have energy to spare. I'm Seville Hogg, a Little Squirrel of Mahakam. Now I doze off if my attention wanders for even a moment. I feel like I'm no longer a strong dwarf, but a Gnome from the Tir Tochair mountains."
"I've searched all of Edessberg. The doctors can't find anything wrong, and they're helpless."
"I've turned my whole house upside down, but I haven't found a single sign of anything strange. Still, I have a feeling something filthy is hiding in my home, cursing me, eating away at me, and keeping me from peace."
"Ordinary people can't solve my problem. So, Master Letho, please—you have to help me."
The dwarf spoke with heartfelt sincerity. He looked at the Witcher without a trace of the disdain humans so often showed.
After hearing him out, Letho lowered his head and pondered, tapping the table lightly with carrot-shaped fingers. Beside him, Roy tried to connect the case to the Monsters he knew about.
"Two hundred Crowns."
Letho named his final price—twice what he'd charged to hunt a Grave Witch in Kaye. The dwarf was obviously well-off. Witchers had to "be flexible with their rates," since some clients were poor and others rich.
Sure enough, Seville Hogg didn't even try to haggle. He agreed without hesitation.
"Take us to your house. We'll inspect the place."
As Edessberg's liquor distributor, Seville Hogg was wealthy. His mansion stood in the rich district in the west of the city, surrounded by four towers.
The rich district covered a vast area and was home to all the prominent people in Edessberg, such as Baron Tavik, weapons and ore merchants, and liquor merchants. It was far better patrolled and landscaped than the commoners' district.
Beyond the high wall to the west of the rich district stretched the endless mountains of Mahakam. Some bards jokingly claimed the mountain had been built long ago by the nobles stationed in Edessberg, to stop their soldiers from fleeing.
Within Seville's mansion, behind its high walls and green-tiled roofs, dwarf guards with braided beards and massive axes or hammers patrolled everywhere. The place was on high alert.
The guards bowed to Seville as soon as they saw him, their eyes filled with genuine respect.
"Looks like he's quite influential among the dwarves."
Roy also noticed that, alongside patterns on the outer walls that resembled totems but had no clear meaning, several spots were carved with lifelike images of Prophet Lebioda.
Once they entered the gate, Seville waved away his other men, leaving them in peace and quiet. Then he yawned.
"Once you've inspected the courtyard, just tell the guards and you can look inside the house. I'm so exhausted I can barely stay awake, so I'm afraid I'll have to catch up on some sleep first." The nightmares had left Seville with such poor sleep that he had to snatch a nap whenever he could.
After Seville left, the two began their investigation at once.
Letho took a general look at the courtyard's layout. A small fountain stood in its center, and neatly trimmed ornamental plants grew along three sides.
Many waist-high green potted plants were also arranged end to end, forming a maze of winding passages.
A strange glint flashed in his eyes, and he began searching slowly in one direction.
Roy knew the large man had quietly activated his Witcher Senses. At that moment, he was like a radar sending out waves. Roy moved closer and asked curiously, "I've always wondered how Witchers search for traces of Monsters."
Letho was remarkably patient when it came to Witcher techniques. He explained carefully, "Mutations change the way Witchers perceive things. More precisely, we can reconstruct everything we gather through sight, smell, and hearing."
"We can shape it into a blurry ribbon of gas before our eyes... rings of invisible sound waves... a set of faint footprints..."
"All of it can point us in the right direction."
Letho paused. "A Witcher's senses are incredibly sharp. We can see farther, hear more clearly, and smell scents that ordinary people can't detect."
"For example, the stench of blood left behind months ago, a Monster's body odor, or pungent perfume..."
"Or the aroma of fine wine sealed away in a cellar," Roy couldn't help adding.
"Exactly. Follow those clues, and you can trace them back to the culprit." Letho's expression suddenly turned serious. He looked at Roy gravely. "But before you start tracking clues after finding suspicious traces, you'd better figure out what kind of enemy you're facing."
"Whether it's something you can handle, or something you can only look up at... If you judge it wrong, you might find yourself facing a terrifying creature and lose your life."
A wistful look passed through Letho's eyes, as if something had come back to him.
"To judge your target accurately, you need a Witcher's experience. For instance, Drowner body odor carries the stench of water plants and fish. Ghoul haunts reek of rotting corpses. The White Widow damages the ground and leaves green slime at tunnel entrances. Griffins only appear in the mountains..."
The Witcher patiently taught him through practical demonstrations and detailed explanations, while Roy listened, absorbed, and committed every word to memory.
"After all that, kid, can you use what I've told you and the clues in the courtyard to make a judgment—a guess?" Letho asked, expressionless, setting him a test.
Roy rubbed his chin and went over his newly acquired knowledge. He hesitated, then said, "My conclusion only applies to the courtyard. We didn't find any strange footprints during the search just now, so we can first rule out... Katakans, the vampiric creatures skilled at turning invisible and hypnotizing people."
"Good memory." Letho rarely offered praise. "With Katakans ruled out, let's look for other possibilities inside the house."
Before you continue