Eskel and Lambert parted ways with Lynn and Geralt at the foot of the Blue Mountains.
No one could afford to hire several witchers at once.
If they took just one payment and split it among themselves, each share would be too small.
That was why witchers usually worked alone.
Eskel and Lambert went their separate ways from the other two at the foot of the mountains.
They headed west together, planning to cross Kaedwen first, then go to Redania.
As mentioned before, Redania's king, Vizimir, was known as the Just, so the witchers' lot in Redania was neither good nor bad.
And in terms of overall national strength, Redania currently held a firm lead in the North.
The country was rich and powerful, and its people brimmed with national confidence.
It had both the rise of a great power and dignity for the common people.
So when witchers worked in Redania, they could usually collect their pay.
There would be no troublesome locals (specifically those in Kaedwen) thinking, "I'm already this miserable. Can't you help me for free? Are you even human? You damned mutant freak! May the plague take you! Hock-ptui!"
Barring any surprises, Lambert would probably stay in Redania until returning to Kaer Morhen at the end of the year.
Eskel, meanwhile, planned to try his luck in Temeria, Redania's southern neighbor.
Temeria's king, Foltest, held the same noncommittal attitude toward witchers as Vizimir did.
However, Temeria had a province called Velen, and Eskel would give it a wide berth.
Lynn and Geralt headed straight south through Kaedwen, their destination its neighboring country, Aedirn.
Border clashes frequently broke out between Kaedwen and Aedirn.
That was because Kaedwen's king, Henselt, desperately wanted ownership of a stretch of Aedirnian territory bordering Kaedwen.
The two sides had fought over it countless times.
Sometimes Kaedwen won, and sometimes Aedirn did.
And after every war, corpse-eating creatures would come.
Geralt therefore thought they might find some work along the border between the two countries.
Since they already knew the people of Kaedwen were extremely unfriendly toward witchers, they had no intention of lingering within its borders.
Geralt even led Lynn well clear of towns and villages.
They replenished their food supplies as much as possible by hunting animals in the forests and catching fish in rivers.
"Hey, you two! Yes, you! Get over here!"
As Lynn and Geralt were about to cross Kaedwen's southern border, they suddenly came upon a squad of soldiers standing beside the road.
Just as the two parties passed each other, the man at the head, who looked like the captain, suddenly turned and shouted at them.
"My esteemed captain, I didn't know that simply walking along the road and minding one's own business was a crime in Kaedwen," Geralt said with his characteristic sarcasm.
The captain ignored his mockery and said,
"There's a job for you filthy mutants. A few days ago, an Aedirnian force disguised as a merchant caravan sneaked across the border. Our army spotted them and beat them so badly they abandoned their arms and armor, left behind a pile of corpses, and scurried back to their own country."
"But before we could deal with the bodies on the battlefield, the corpse-eaters arrived."
Geralt shrugged.
"So you need two witchers to check whether the corpse-eaters have had their fill, and if they haven't, we're supposed to give them another meal?"
The captain laughed.
"Hahaha, you're funny. Who said witchers were emotionless freaks?"
"But yes, that's about it. And there's a hefty payment in it for you. I know you mutant freaks won't work for nothing."
Geralt did not accept the contract right away. Instead, he asked for the details.
"There's payment? That makes things easy. But we need to settle the price first. Exactly how much is this hefty payment? I need a precise figure."
The captain held up six fingers. "A full sixty ducats."
Ducats were a currency accepted in countries such as Aedirn, Cintra, Skellige, and Kaedwen.
They were not worth all that much, but their value was passable.
Geralt shook his head. "Only sixty ducats? That's too little."
The currency with the most reliably backed value was the gold crown minted in Novigrad.
That was not only because Novigrad had a thriving economy and was renowned as the Pearl of the North, but also because it was a neutral free city.
No matter how the world changed, the view in Novigrad always remained unrivaled.
After a round of haggling,
the captain raised the payment to one hundred ducats, and only then did both sides reach an agreement.
Lynn and Geralt then set off toward the battlefield the captain had described.
The two followed the road for nearly half an hour before leaving it to search for tracks in the wilderness.
Witchers were all expert trackers, not only because of their extensive experience, but also because their mutations granted them enhanced senses beyond those of ordinary people.
When they activated their Witcher Senses, pheromones invisible to ordinary people were laid bare before their eyes.
After more than an hour of tracking and searching, the two finally found the battlefield the captain had mentioned out in the wilderness.
But to their surprise, there was someone alive in a place that should have held only corpses and corpse-eaters.
A merchant dressed like a southerner stood in terror atop an overturned wagon, surrounded by Ghouls watching him hungrily.
Fortunately, Ghouls moved on all fours. Like the undead of a certain world, they could not jump very high and could only circle the wagon.
That was why the southerner remained unharmed.
For the moment, at least.
Once they realized they could actually use their sharp claws to climb onto the wagon, the southerner's luck would run out.
"Help me, quick!"
The two exchanged a glance and quietly drew the silver swords from their backs.
After each cast a Quen Shield on himself, they crouched and slowly approached.
By the time the Ghouls surrounding the wagon finally sensed something amiss and turned around...
Neither man concealed himself any longer. They stamped hard against the ground and charged straight into the pack of Ghouls.
Lynn formed the Aard Sign with his left hand and unleashed it with force.
The blast of air from his master-level Aard Sign surged forward with overwhelming force, striking the Ghouls charging toward him.
Like a solid wall, it knocked the lunging Ghouls into a scattered heap.
Lynn seized the opportunity to advance and drive his silver sword through the heart of a Ghoul that had been knocked over.
By the time he stabbed through the second Ghoul, the remaining ones that their fellows had knocked down had scrambled back to their feet and lunged again.
His Magic Absorption talent let Lynn sense that some of the magic he had just spent had already recovered.
He calmly slapped the ground.
A ring of purple light lit up on the ground.
The moment the remaining Ghouls entered the Yrden Trap's range, their movements slowed, as though they had sunk into a mire.
Lynn, standing within it, was not affected in the slightest.
The next instant.
Sword light danced, blood and flesh flew, and howls filled the wilds.