Ⅴ
Count Bernaken knew Carral quite well.
Ever since the young man had appeared in Pult Harbor in the Einhaas Fief, the Old Count had secretly observed him more than once.
And he had been delighted.
Carral possessed the greatest talent he had seen in decades.
Neither that bastard Einhaas nor he himself could compare.
As for arrogance?
In the Old Count's eyes, that was even less of an issue.
On the contrary, for a Witcher, youthful arrogance had a "positive" effect.
Later, however, the Old Count discovered that Carral was secretly building his own power base-not within acceptable bounds, but with the vigor of an ambitious schemer. That gave him pause.
In the end, the Old Count chose to give up.
It was not simply that he no longer had the energy to "correct" an ambitious young man. Since the advent of the Pioneer Age, life had grown increasingly difficult for Witchers-they could no longer withstand any upheaval or disaster.
If anything went wrong, the Old Count could neither bear the consequences nor accept them.
So, regrettable though it was, he would not take Carral as his apprentice.
He abandoned his original decision.
But the Old Count continued watching him.
He even assigned some additional manpower to what other Witchers considered an inconsequential matter.
As a result, almost nothing Carral did escaped the Old Count's notice.
Initially, the Old Count merely wanted to keep Carral from affecting the Witchers in the Einhaas Fief.
Yet, unexpectedly, he discovered Carral's connections with Jimte and Hayes.
Jimte, the son-in-law of the Marquis of West Berlin's second daughter.
Hayes, Count Bette's nephew.
In short, as time passed, the Old Count came to believe that Carral had finished assembling his forces. He even thought civil war would soon break out within the Einhaas Fief-a