The Divine Hunter

The sun was shining, and two witchers from Vizima crossed the Bridge of Lamentation and stepped into the boundaries of White Orchard.

The Isnam River runs across the small village and flows through its dotted orchards, watering a wide variety of high-quality fruit and the highest quality, furniture-grade wood from the Foxwoods.

Walking through the Bridge of Lamentations, there are no cows in droves and hordes of protectors yet, the witcher walks slowly, and the grand scene in front of them is intoxicating.

At first glance, it is an almost idyllic scenery, the clear sky is everywhere, and a variety of fruit trees stand side by side. The fruit trees are full of white flowers and bear heavy fruits. Peach and pomegranate, the tangy fruity fragrance came from both sides of the passage, magpies and larks stood on the branches and sang.

Not far away, a cheerful stream bypassed the small village, and faint cooking smoke was wafting from the humble thatched roofs. The bare-chested farmer is busy in the fields at the entrance of the village, the runny children and the rooster and the dog are chasing and fighting...

"It's so beautiful..." Roy admired that this vibrant and vibrant white orchard still retains its simple beauty even after three northern wars ten years later.

It seems that even the men in black in Nilfgaard can't bear to destroy them.

"Brother... the base of the Viper School has to choose this kind of place."

Leto retorted disdainfully, "Building a witcher base in a place that extends in all directions and is flat is tantamount to courting death. Do you want to be surrounded by enemies in all directions?"

"I'll make an analogy. It's always nice to have a nice view."

"Let's go, cheer up, people here are not easy to get along with."

Indeed, they had to be careful. According to Roy's memory, the target of their trip, Cogrim, was only staying in the small village of White Orchard for one night, and soon lost his life.

It's just that at this time, it's not certain whether things will happen or not.

Because of prejudice, most of the peasants in the countryside have heard dirty rumours about witchers, and they report malicious speculation.

Even, while they asked the witcher to clear the monsters around their homes, they secretly despised the mutant image of each other, typical of crossing the river and demolishing the bridge.

But this is a common situation. The two of them had long been accustomed to it, and they were prepared to be treated by the villagers who were not so friendly, but when they entered the village, they realized that they were wrong.

The village is pitifully small. There are only a few dozen or so households. Several houses are covered with cobwebs, the windows and doors are covered with dust, and even the roof is broken and no one cares.

In addition, there are very few adult men in the village, except for a few men at the entrance of the village and busy in the orchard, the two of them turned around, and they were full of old and weak women and children.

This group of people behaved very strangely. Most of them were sitting in front of the threshold of their small yard and basking in the sun, but they turned a blind eye to the two packaged outsiders and were not curious at all.

When the two went up to ask the way, the villagers also liked to ignore them.

Only the little boy hiding behind the straw pile stuck his head out curiously and acted like a living person.

"There is a problem..." The two witchers exchanged glances. The village gave them the feeling of an old man with half a foot in the ground, lifeless. The villagers seemed to have lost their desire to be tortured by the hardships of life. numb complexion,

Indifferent to nothing.

"Little devil..." Roy hooked his finger at the little boy, who shook his head timidly, then turned around and ran away like a frightened little beast.

The two were helpless and could only find other ways to inquire about the news.

Under normal circumstances, no matter how small the village is, there are two functional buildings. One is a blacksmith shop, which is responsible for building and repairing farm tools for the villagers, or preparing some simple hunting traps and arrows for the hunters.

The other is taverns. There is a lack of entertainment activities in the countryside. After a busy day, some villagers will choose to go to the tavern to drink a glass of turbid and inferior fruit wine and brag. If there is anything worth bragging about, they will also go to the tavern to tell their own. Friends show off. So the tavern is the place with the most frequent news, and the tavern owner is definitely the most well-informed person.

...

The hotel and pub in White Orchard Village is located in the center of the village, the most spacious building.

The two entered the door one after the other, but in front of the wine cabinet facing the door, a middle-aged woman was resting her chin on the wine table with one hand, looking out of the window in a trance.

"The proprietress..." The witcher took off his hood and knocked on the wine cabinet, waking the woman up, "Goddess Meritelli, Goddess Blessed, finally a guest!" The proprietress's expression instantly became very vivid, her hands on the close-fitting apron Wiped, and smiled ingratiatingly at the witcher,

"What are the two distinguished guests? Food and drink?"

"Hmm... Two glasses of White Orchard's signature drink." Roy sat on the high chair in front of the wine cabinet and scanned the environment of the tavern. The size of the tavern was quite good for a thinly populated village. There were about ten There was a table for wine, but business was very quiet in the daytime. Only the table by the window had a guest in a robe with his back to the two drinking quietly.

"Good! Two glasses of mixed fruit wine, please wait a moment." The proprietress turned her back and started to prepare drinks. She is a certain age, but her figure is well maintained, and her buttocks with her back to the two of them look very upturned.

"Cough cough... Madam Boss, it seems that the tavern's business is not doing well."

"Just call me Brina. The business is terrible. There are two or three big cats and kittens every day. If we go on like this, this store won't be open for long, so it should be closed." The proprietress began to shake the wine cup up and down, mixing the wine, Her plump chest also shook.

"Brina," the two witchers turned their eyes away, "this village is surprisingly small, and the villagers ignore it."

"Is it weird? The two of you are from far away, right?"

"Madam, give us an explanation?"

"It's a long story, you two might as well have a drink first."

Brina poured the two of them a full glass of yellow, creamy wine.

Roy took a sip first, and the fruity aroma of mango, apple, citrus and other seasonal fruits filled his mouth. He narrowed his eyes comfortably.

And Leto took a sip and put it down, preferring spirits.

"Actually, to tell the truth, I moved to this village three years ago under the encouragement of my cousin Bram and opened this tavern. At that time, there were quite a lot of people and business was decent."

"What happened after that..."

"Later..." Brina hesitated, a hint of timidity flashed on her face, "something happened later... Very terrifying things. Half of the villagers died, and many of the remaining half fled to Weige. Ma went to seek a living. Most of the villagers and elders who were forced to stay lost their close relatives. People were heartbroken and became like empty corpses. Indifferent to other things."

"Why didn't you move out?"

"I am a widow. I spent all my belongings to buy this pub and hotel in White Orchard. Where else can I go?"

"What happened to that accident?"

Regarding what happened, the proprietress kept silent, no matter how the two asked.

"Well, you don't want to discuss the past of the village, and we won't force you. Let's talk about something serious," Roy drank the sweet fruit wine.

"In recent years..."

"A year, two years, maybe further," Leso added.

"Remember, there was a man dressed like us who passed by the village. Well... no accident, it's time to stay at your hotel for the night."

The big man took off his black cloak, revealing the snake sect's iconic black leather jacket with shoulder pads and chains, and amber pupils. Then he pointed to the pendant on his chest and stared at the woman without blinking.

The proprietress trembled, her pupils dilated significantly, and her voice trembled slightly, "Are you witchers?"

"The witcher is looking for a missing brother." The bald man lowered his head, his voice cold and low.

"I don't know anything!" The proprietress stepped back in panic, not knowing that her expression had revealed her secret.

Leto stood up and pressed closer to the proprietress like a wall, while Roy looked around the tavern vigilantly, not knowing when the guest by the window disappeared.

He shook his head and felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell.

"Brina, if you don't want an accident, please answer our questions honestly, where is he? Or where is his body?" Lesso walked around the cabinet, raised his eyebrows, and there was thunder in his sharp voice. anger.

"I don't know... Don't come here!" The proprietress screamed with her hands in front of her chest, "I'm calling someone!" The proprietress opened her mouth and kept a horrified expression, but she didn't have time to scream. The bald man's fingers were as flexible as snakes, and drew a green inverted triangle in front of her eyes.

The inverted triangle seal began to rotate, like a vortex, sucking Brina's whole mind into it, and she lost all consciousness as soon as her eyes darkened.

"Where's Cogrim?"

"In..." Brina's eyes were dull, staring at the witcher's handprint like a puppet, "In the northeast of White Orchard Village, five miles, is the tomb of the Willis family."

"Who is Valerie?"

"Ignatius Veliris, Lord Baron of White Orchard."

"Colgram died in the lord's tomb? Where did he go?"

"Two years ago," Brina stated in an eerily calm tone, "Kogrim the witcher passed through White Orchard Village and checked in at my store. Many villagers saw it."

"The timing is very unfortunate. The youngest son of the beekeeper, Paul, has just disappeared. He thinks that the witcher is very suspicious. Because everyone said that the witcher likes to abduct and sell children."

"That night, old Paul secretly complained to Lord Ignacio, persuading Lord Lord to lead troops overnight and arrest Cogrim."

"The witcher's reputation is not very good, and the lord is too troublesome to investigate, so he announced in front of the villagers that the witcher had kidnapped the son of old Paul and sentenced him to hang."

"He was hanged?" The bald man Amber said with a slit in his pupils, and his voice was as cold as a knife.

"No, Cogrim refused to ask for the kindness of the sergeant, but he asked for a trial trial to prove his innocence by clearing the tomb of the lord's family."

"And then?"

"He went into the tomb and never... never came out."

Leto fell into silence, and a picture from more than 20 years ago flashed in his mind.

The bearded, handsome young and stubborn guy, the best forging member in the school, can even be said to be a master blacksmith.

With Ivar Evil Eye's final order, he waved goodbye to the three men stationed at Guthvid.

At the moment of parting, he had an innocent smile on his face, which was more likeable than Oaks.

The bald-headed man can still recall his rhetoric.

"Lesso, Oaks, Serrit, wait, when I bring back the blueprint and forge a sword, I will defeat you all one by one!"

"The successor of Teacher Ivar can only be me!"

But why is it gone?

"The result? What's the truth? Cogrimm, the witcher of the Snake Sect, kidnapped the beekeeper's child?" Leto lowered his head and asked in a gruff voice.

Brina was stunned for a long time before she said, "Shortly after the witcher entered the tomb, the villagers found the body of Paul's son in the lower reaches of the stream. He was killed by the water ghost and has nothing to do with the witcher."

"Huh..." Lesuo took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and clenched his fists quietly,

"Old man... Die at the hands of the ghosts in the tomb is also a kind of destination. But you should not be wronged, I will seek justice for you, I swear!"

At the door, Roy with ears pricked up was also full of melancholy.

A companion who has not yet met, just died in a wrongful way, and died in an unclear manner.

"Little brat, your prophecy is absolutely correct, Cogrim did die in White Orchard... You have proven your ability to spy on the past, as promised, we will accompany you to Novigrad after finding the blueprint for forging weapons. wait for news."

Lesotho paused,

"But before that, Cogrim must be cleared of his grievances."

"Lesso, I don't need you to remind me." Roy said solemnly, "As a member of the Snake Sect, isn't it right to take revenge for your companions?"

The big man nodded, put on the black cloak beside the wine table again, turned around and stopped suddenly, "Brina, what happened to the major accident in White Orchard Village that you mentioned earlier?"