She had gotten the wrong idea again.
First, Chen Xu had used [Detection]. The Botchling was only a Lv.1 trash mob; it was just hard to kill because it hid in its nest during the day.
Given a little time to prepare, either Geralt or Chen Xu could have handled it with a single alchemical bomb.
It was her arrogance and recklessness that had angered the laws of this world.
So the one who had truly brought disaster upon them was the sorceress, who had no reverence for life whatsoever. Botchling Treasure did not have to take the blame for this at all.
Besides, failing to finish off the Botchling with her first magical attack was forgivable, but accomplishing nothing with her second attack, even after preparing, made her utterly useless.
She had even dragged her teammate down with her. The White Wolf had been knocked flat entirely by her magic.
One plus one had turned out to be less than two. If either Chen Xu or the witcher had faced it alone, things would have gone much better. Ignorant, incompetent people really were the most frightening.
Second, ninety percent of the information about the Crones in Velen consisted of legends glorified by their believers.
In reality, they were merely witches from another world who served the Wild Hunt.
What could anyone expect from a bunch who only dared to bully ordinary people?
In a one-on-one fight, Geralt was perfectly capable of killing one himself.
The wife-searching party had run back to the tower before even making it out of Crow's Perch.
Fringilla was puzzled by Randall's disappearance into thin air. Geralt had lived for over ninety years, yet he had never heard of anything like it either.
Perhaps only after facing Gaunter O'Dimm would he learn to take such oddities in stride.
Chen Xu divided up the monster drops. The sorceress was not interested, nor did she have the face to ask for any, and slunk straight back to her guest room.
The White Wolf took two piles of emerald dust and two red mutagens, then braced himself to report the Botchling incident to the baron.
"My poor child..."
The teacup on the baron's desk had been replaced by a liquor bottle again. That morning, Geralt had still urged him to quit drinking. Now, he could no longer bring himself to say it.
Beside the stables in the inner castle, two Chosen mingled among the baron's guards.
They pretended to be calm, but were actually ready to steal horses and flee at any moment.
The Sergeant was bawling them out:
"What the fuck is wrong with you!
You think you can rob just anyone?
You sons of bitches, are you going to rob me next, then hold up the baron!"
The Botchling incident had had little effect on the inner castle. With its high walls and impregnable tower, the guards had merely been startled by the passing monsters.
But when the Sergeant learned that his own trusted men had robbed the baron's wife-searching party, his face turned green.
The witcher and Chen Xu were manageable, but the sorceress representing Nilfgaard could not be fobbed off so easily.
Fortunately, according to these two Chosen, one of their band of idiots had been killed by a monster, and another had been cut down on the spot by Chen Xu. That left him at least a little room to maneuver.
Chen Xu stood to one side with a faint, ambiguous smile, watching the Sergeant put on his show.
He was clearly trying to protect his own. Otherwise, why bother scolding them?
The Sergeant was anxious too. With the other man saying nothing, he had cursed until his mouth was dry.
He was also baffled. Of the five most helpful, capable men under his command, more than half had died just one day after Chen Xu arrived.
Two of them had even been personally cut down by Chen Xu with legitimate justification.
One of the veteran soldiers under him knew what to do and barked at the two Chosen:
"What the fuck are you standing there for? Apologize to the master!"
By now, the two were scared out of their wits and obediently apologized.
Having sought protection from the natives, they had long since lost every trace of their pride as Chosen.
"Master, the ringleader has already been put to death. These two fools were coerced. Please show them mercy."
The Sergeant adopted a very humble attitude, but Chen Xu understood that it was only for show.
The person he was pleading with was not Chen Xu, but the sorceress.
"I don't really mind, but my friend is very angry. The monster tide shouldn't have been that hard to handle... blame the idiots who interfered."
Chen Xu was not making things up. Every word was true.
But he meant Fringilla, whereas the Sergeant heard it as a reference to these Chosen.
After all, only experienced witchers understood the Botchling affair. Couldn't ordinary people be led to believe whatever he liked?
"Well... please put in a good word for these two fools." The Sergeant had the quartermaster fetch a bag of crowns and handed it to Chen Xu. "This is being docked from their pay, as a small token of apology."
It had not even triggered a quest. How insincere.
When Chen Xu accepted the money pouch, the Sergeant finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I owe you a favor."
"No trouble at all." Chen Xu was not planning to let these two walking piles of points off. He simply had a better idea:
"You two, come with me. I have a few things to tell you."
He turned and walked toward a secluded spot. The two Chosen exchanged a glance and hesitantly followed.
"Have you set aside points to withdraw?"
Chen Xu's very first question made their expressions change drastically. They thought he was about to attack.
"Of course! You won't get anything by attacking us! And you'll offend the local faction, you know?" The Chosen whose palm had been pierced immediately declared, in cowardly fashion, that he was a tough bone to chew.
Not only would he hurt their teeth, he offered little nourishment.
"No, no, no. I'll get enjoyment out of it." [Deception] activated, and Chen Xu spread his lips in a grin, acting like a psychopath with antisocial personality disorder:
"And enjoyment is what matters most."
Both men paled. Why did this kind of lunatic seem so familiar... like that legendary dark elf from Navia, immensely powerful and purely evil.
On a pirate-themed battlefield, a veteran had once said to the dark elf, who was still weak at the time:
"Got enough points? How about becoming my subordinate?"
The elf had readily agreed and approached him under false pretenses. Using his talent and the veteran's support, he had rapidly grown stronger and become the man's trusted confidant.
Then, through their close relationship, he had figured out the man's three-dimensional coordinates.
The poor fellow could never have imagined that what awaited him was not a friendly offline meetup, but the fangs of a jackal.
The dark elf had kidnapped his parents and relatives, forcing him to surrender on the battlefield and hand over everything of value, including all his points, items, equipment, and class qualification certificates.
"What now? There still aren't enough points." With those words, the dark elf had cut off the man's head.
As for whether he had ultimately spared the man's parents, no one cared.
"Cut the crap. What do you want?" The Chosen who could produce sword light had more backbone.
Without a firm will, how could he do justice to the thick calluses on his hands?
"Relax, swordsman." Chen Xu rubbed his chin, pretending to think. "The fact is, you've been the ones provoking me all along. I don't understand what you're so unhappy about."
Seeing the two rendered speechless with rage, their faces flushed red, he chuckled:
"My terms are simple. Pay for your lives.
Didn't Zhaotian Zhi ruin the Velen fistfighting tournament? Oh, right, may he rest in peace.
Anyway, I want you to win the right to challenge the champions in the other divisions, then give me the right to challenge Velen's overall champion, the Sergeant.
That works out to 270 points. Pay me another 65 points each, and we'll call it even."
A Chosen with the [Soldier] identity was worth 200 points, and killing them was not even guaranteed.
What was most precious in the twenty-first century?
Talent!
"It's a dea-" The Chosen with the mangled hand agreed without thinking, only to be silenced by a glare from the swordsman:
"Why should we? We can just withdraw early. We're paying points either way!"
"Then you'll miss out on a great opportunity!" Chen Xu gave them a mysterious smile. "I'm no wicked, heartless capitalist."