Lynn replied thoughtfully.
"Your Excellency, if you follow the standard answer in the guidelines, then I will answer you: Witchers usually try their best to avoid participating in politics, because this may make the situation of the Witcher more difficult."
Istredd's eyes lit up. "You mean 'if'?"
"Yes, if."
"Okay, then let's assume a situation like this: If I allow... I mean, if a king who has been exiled to another country and has a strong claim promises to a demon hunter that as long as the demon hunter can help him return to his homeland and regain his position as king, he will be canonized as a noble. Will the demon hunter agree?"
This is almost a naked statement.
Now that everyone has shown their cards, Lynn will stop pretending.
"Sir, the professional habit of a witcher is to negotiate a suitable price before accepting a witch hunt commission. Therefore, I think the witcher may first ask the king what price he plans to give himself?"
"I think that king will not be stingy with a Earl title and the matching land. Of course, there may be more."
"In this case, I think that the demon hunter will be happy to help a legitimate king return to his loyal country."
The group of people returned to the hotel and used the horses brought back from the Jad group of mercenaries to pull the carriage.
Although the quality of these horses is not as good as the horses used by the caravan before, they are better than nothing.
With these horses, everyone can continue on their way without abandoning the carriage.
With the previous experience, everyone would rather camp in the wild than stay in a country hotel again.
In this way, we traveled for several days.
The group of talents finally arrived at Talgar City.
Talgar City is located at the foot of the Dragon Mountains. It is surrounded by high walls and most of the buildings in the city are spires.
A man-made moat surrounds the high wall. The moat is so wide and deep that only a bridge that can be raised at any time can enter the city.
There is a gallows erected on the plain outside the city. As rumored, it is Talgar's iconic building.
There was a long queue on the bridge waiting to enter the city.
Finally it was the turn of Lynn and his group. The guards were about to check when Istredd stopped them and showed the ring on his finger.
The guards immediately recognized it as the seal ring of Thyssen family.
"Excuse me, sir, we didn't recognize you."
Istredd said coldly, "Can you let us pass now?"
The guards immediately moved out of the way.
"Of course, please come in."
Entering Talgar City, Istredd handed the caravan to the guard captain and left with only a few people in a hurry.
I guess it was because of the assassination of King Lettenhove on the road that I was anxious to meet the ruler of Talgar - Lady Benigna.
Before leaving, Istredd told Lynn and Geralt that after he finished his work, he would come to see them and settle the payment and everything.
After arriving at Talgar City, Lynn and Geralt have completed their escort work, so there is no need to follow the caravan anymore.
The two of them went directly to a hotel in the city and booked two rooms to stay.
I took a comfortable hot bath to wash away all the fatigue from the journey.
In the evening, Istredd came to visit as promised.
Istredd changed into luxurious clothes.
When he was still in the caravan, he dressed like a wealthy businessman.
And now, he is even more unabashedly wearing aristocratic clothes.
He didn't mean to mince words. After sitting down, he got straight to the point.
"I know that the two master witchers have many questions, and I have promised to tell everything. Now, I think it is time."
He paused for a moment, shook his hands firmly on his knees, and said as if to muster up courage.
"Actually, my full name is Istredd Thiessen."
"Are you a descendant of Baldwin Thiessen who once ruled Kovir?"
Geralt on the side frowned.
He didn't expect that his luck would be so good.
A random long-term mission to escort a caravan.
Its leader turned out to be a descendant of a royal family that had long since lost power.
If there is anything that makes Geralt more upset than encountering unruly people, it is doing things for the princes and nobles.
Geralt can't remember how many times he accepted a demon hunting commission, but in the end he always got involved in palace struggles inexplicably.
But the problem is that as a low-status demon hunter, many times he can't refuse just because he wants to.
More often, the less he wants to get involved, the deeper he sinks.
Fortunately, things like the past will not happen again... at least this time.
Because now their escort mission has ended.
They can then take the opportunity to get away from it.
"Istredd, Your Excellency, this is really rude. If we do anything inappropriate during the trip, please forgive me."
Having dealt with princes and nobles a lot, Geralt has almost figured out a way to deal with them.
To put it simply, it means to hold them high, the higher the better.
No one doesn't like to hear good words, especially princes and nobles.
Say a few nice words, fool around, then take the money and leave, never to be seen again.
This is what Geralt thinks.
But this time, his plan failed at Istredd.
"Master Geralt, what are you talking about? There is no need to talk about this between us."
"But you guessed it right, Baldwin Thiessen is my father."
"When the thrones of Kovir and Poviss were passed from my grandfather to my father, it didn't take long for the Poviss Secession incident to occur."
Kingdom of Kovir and Poviss is a kingdom composed of city-states such as Kovir, Poviss, Talgar, Creyden, Malleore, Holopole, Caingorn, and Curved Coast.
In their heyday, Kovir and Poviss had a land area equivalent to that of Redania.
The beginning of the so-called "Poviss Secession" was actually a rebellion launched by a noble from Poviss.
This noble named Lettenhove announced that Poviss would secede from the kingdom and proclaim himself king.
After Poviss became independent, Talgar, Creyden, Malleore, Holopole, Caingorn, Curved Coast and other city-states also followed suit.
This is "Poviss Secession".
"The independence of Poviss also triggered a rebellion within Kovir."
"A great vassal named Marquis Idi took the opportunity to seize the throne from my father."
"Thyssen family lost power and had to escape from Kovir and went into exile to Principality of Talgar, which also became independent due to the Poviss Secession incident."
"On the way to escape, my father suddenly died of a serious illness, Thyssen family reached the most dangerous moment."
"But fortunately, Lady Benigna, who rules Principality of Talgar, accepted us. At the same time, Thyssen family still has many branches in Principality of Talgar, and they also provided me with a lot of help."
Geralt The more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong, and hurriedly made a stop gesture. "Please wait a moment, Your Excellency."
"I probably understand what you want us to do, but please don't continue, otherwise we won't be able to get out of it."
As a member of the royal family, if someone interrupted him while speaking, if it were any other noble, he would probably have become angry.
But Istredd was not angry.
"Master Geralt, if you are worried about remuneration, I can swear to you in the name of Thyssen family that I will never treat you two badly. I wonder if this can dispel your doubts."
Geralt shook his head.
"No, it's not about remuneration."
A confused look appeared on Istredd's face. "What is that problem?"
Geralt said firmly, "The rule of the demon hunters is to remain neutral. Sir Istredd, we will not participate in political struggles."
Istredd has actually heard of the rules of the witcher.
But...
Istredd looked at Lynn on the side.
Under the signal from Lynn's eyes, he did not continue the topic.
He took out two large bags, a disk slightly larger than the palm of his hand, and an exquisitely crafted heraldic ring, and placed them on the table.
"Every bag here contains five hundred crown gold coins... Master Geralt, I know what you are going to say, please listen to me first."
"I am not someone who likes to make things difficult for others. Since you have mentioned the neutrality principle of the demon hunter, I will naturally not continue to make things difficult for the two masters."
"I know the reward we agreed on before was two hundred crowns each, but the two masters saved my life and that of my men more than once on the way."
"Moreover, I have also said that my gratitude will never remain just in words."
"So, please accept it."
"As for this Eye of Nehaleni, it is a magic item that allows people to see through illusions. Master, you face more dangers than me. Don't refuse. I will be very happy if it can be put to use for you."
"The last heraldic ring, the pattern on it is the silver hand coat of arms of my Thyssen family. If you two encounter any trouble, you can go to the "Rustwater Cartel" headquarters building of Novigrad and show this heraldic ring."
"But please be careful to save it and don't lose it. If someone picks it up, I will be very troubled."
"Rustwater Cartel" is the largest multinational trading company in Kovir. It is only a private business organization in name, but in fact Thyssen family often uses commercial activities as a cover to send secret agents and spies to other countries and regions.
After Thyssen family lost power, Rustwater Cartel turned to King Idi who had seized power.
But now it seems that Rustwater Cartel is only superficially loyal to King Idi.
In fact, it is still firmly controlled by Thyssen family.
Lynn On the surface, there are no disturbances, but on the inside, it is already in turmoil.
Istredd is really willing to shed blood in order to win over allies.
Forget it Eye of Nehaleni.
No matter how precious this magic item is, it is still something that a royal family can't afford to part with.
The most valuable thing is the heraldic ring.
You must know that what Istredd is going to do now is decapitation.
This heraldic ring is probably only given to Istredd's most trustworthy person in secret.
It is equivalent to being used to identify friend or foe.
Therefore, once this heraldic ring falls into the hands of irrelevant people, great disaster will happen.
It can be imagined from this that Istredd almost cut his heart out in order to win over Lynn.
Geralt picked up the two bags filled with gold coins without hesitation.
But Eye of Nehaleni and the heraldic ring are too expensive.
He can't have it.
Especially if you take that heraldic ring, it is tantamount to taking sides.
Geralt is like avoiding the plague. He has been careful enough to avoid the political whirlpool for decades. How could he not be safe at this late stage?
However, just as he was thinking this, Lynn actually reached out and picked up Eye of Nehaleni and the heraldic ring.