Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 126 Recruiting Bellengar

With the help of the intermediate-level healing potion, Belengal's injuries quickly stabilized, but his body was still very weak. When he woke up, it was already the next day.

Because everyone wasn't particularly close to him, Eskel took the initiative to take care of him, staying by the fireplace in the hall all night.

When it was time for breakfast, Eskel helped the now-awakened Belial to the table to eat with everyone.

Although his words were somewhat awkward and his voice was hoarse and dry, the man still sincerely expressed his gratitude to everyone, including Wayne for giving him the healing potion.

However, he still seemed very uncomfortable being with others. Even while eating the delicious food cooked by Wayne, his expression was as if he were chewing wax. He kept his head down and ate silently without showing much joy.

Because of his presence, people were not as relaxed as before when they talked, and the atmosphere at the dinner table was somewhat dull.

However, this scene did not last long. After finishing breakfast, Belengal took his leave and, as before, stayed in his room all day, no longer appearing in front of others casually.

During this winter, nothing else happened in Kaer Morhen. The Wolf School brothers would play Gwent, practice their swordsmanship, or study and reinforce their knowledge of Witcher monsters in Kaer Morhen's library, and exchange experiences from the past year at the dinner table.

When the others learned that Geralt had spent most of the year with a sorceress named Yennefer, they were all very curious, constantly asking the white wolf about various details of his life. At the same time, they vaguely sensed Yennefer's strong personality and extreme desire for control.

However, seeing Geralt's obvious enjoyment, no one said anything more and could only silently offer their blessings.

In their daily lives, Wayne, being the youngest of the Witchers, took the initiative to do all the cooking work, Geralt was responsible for going out hunting to obtain game and vegetables, and Vesemir was also in high spirits, renovating the vegetable garden that Wayne had left behind and replanting some vegetables that could grow in winter.

As for miscellaneous tasks such as chopping wood, tending horses, fishing, shoveling snow, and repairing the castle, Lambert and Eskel took care of them.

They lived like a real family, sharing all the housework and leading a peaceful and harmonious life.

However, besides practicing swordsmanship, learning knowledge, cooking food, and using animal taming techniques to tame the little direwolf White Fang, Wayne has an extra job.

That means sending Belengal a portion of his food at mealtimes each day, and also changing the herbs and bandages on his body.

According to what Vesemir had told him in private, Belengal was actually a man with a tragic fate, well, most witchers are indeed men with tragic fates.

This child was a boy he rescued from a bandit's den. His parents had been killed by the bandits, and because he had no relatives, he was taken back to Kaermehen by Vesemir.

Of the eight children who trained with him and grew up together, only Belial successfully completed all the trials and survived, but it was the lowest level of genetic mutation experiment.

That experiment not only caused him to lose his ability to have children and all his friends of the same age, but also made his personality extremely extreme due to various physical and mental stimulations.

Moreover, because the effects of genetic mutation are not ideal, Berengar is the weakest among all the current Wolf School Witchers.

Even outside the castle, he encountered far more difficulties than ordinary witchers when carrying out various witcher commissions.

At this point, Vesemir sighed and told Wayne:

"Looking back now, I'm not sure if bringing him back to Kaer Morhen and making him a witcher was the right or wrong thing to do. It might have caused him more pain than letting him become a wandering orphan."

Others might not know this, but Wayne, who had played the first game, knew that Belial truly loathed the identity of a Witcher and longed to be an ordinary person, get married, have children, and have his own family—this had always been his dream.

Decades later, Belengal revealed information about Kaer Morhen because he had been tortured by the Salamanders for a long time and had no choice but to make this decision when his life was threatened.

After meeting Geralt, he also sacrificed his life to fight against the sorcerers of the Salamanders.

After all, life is too hard for many witchers. They not only have to face the danger of monsters and physical pain, but also the strange looks from others.

Moreover, they are all long-lived species, and if nothing unexpected happens, this torment may continue for hundreds of years.

That evening at dinner time, Wayne, carrying a bowl of fluffy white teeth and a dinner, pushed open Belial's door.

But they found that the man, who had been silent all along, was packing his luggage. Although he only had a few old clothes, he was already prepared to leave.

Upon seeing Wayne enter, he pursed his lips, nodded silently to Wayne, and said nothing.

Wayne placed the food on the table, looked at Berengar, whose injuries had not yet fully healed, thought for a moment, and although he felt it was somewhat presumptuous, he still spoke:

"Berengar, are you planning to leave alone tomorrow?"

Belial paused for a second, but quickly resumed his movements. He nodded, his voice hoarse and weak, and said:

"Yes, I'm planning to leave tomorrow."

Seeing that this was indeed the case, Wayne sighed inwardly. There was nothing he could do but express his thoughts before the person left.

"It's too dangerous for you to leave Kaer Morhen now. Not only have your injuries not fully healed, but you've also lost most of your equipment, horses, and supplies. Moreover, the snow has only just melted, and the weather outside is still very bad. Given your current physical condition, you might faint halfway there."

Upon hearing this, Belial looked up at Wayne, paused for a few seconds, and then said:

"I know, but I still want to leave as soon as possible."

Seeing that the other party seemed rather unmoved, Wayne remained silent for a moment before getting straight to the point:

"Berengar, do you no longer want to be a witcher and want to escape this life?"

Upon hearing Wayne's words, Belial seemed to freeze. He slowly raised his head, his previously cold and hard expression softening as he looked at Wayne and asked:

"Why would you think that, um, Wayne?"

Wayne stroked the direwolf cub he was holding, found a chair in Berengar's room, sat down, and then said:

"Vesemir told me about your experiences; your life has always been full of suffering, and misfortune has been with you since childhood."

"It's not surprising to have this idea, and many witchers have struggled with this issue for a long time."

"You're just making it a little more obvious."

Belial lowered his head slightly, sighed, and said:

"Wayne, you're still young."

"When you've been a demon hunter like me for decades, and you still can't get enough to eat or sleep, you have no family or friends, and you help those unruly people clear monsters, not only do you not get paid, but you also get surrounded and attacked by them, and almost die."

"You'll understand why I hate being a witcher so much."

Wayne nodded upon hearing this. He roughly understood the pain of such an experience, but he was born with a system, so even if his employers in the real world didn't pay him well, he would never lack money and would never experience such a miserable life.

After a few seconds of silence, Wayne carefully considered his tone and spoke directly:

"In that case, Berengar, would you be willing to work for me? A long-term job, perhaps for decades, perhaps for centuries, until you want to retire."

"You no longer need to worry about the trivialities of life, nor do you have to face various battles with monsters every day. I can even help you hide your identity as a Witcher and let you live a life similar to that of an ordinary person."

"As long as you are loyal to me and don't betray me, perhaps the life you dream of can come true."

Belial was taken aback by what he heard, not expecting Wayne to say such a thing.

In his imagination, he thought the next scene would be two witchers pouring out their hearts to each other and comforting one another. How did it suddenly turn out like this?

He stood there stunned for a good ten seconds before asking in a slightly hoarse voice:

"You're hiring me? I remember you only became a Witcher this year."

"Why are you hiring me? Are we going to go and carry out the contract together?"

Wayne tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said:

"For now, it's a bodyguard or security guard job, which is safe and stable. Maybe sometimes you'll work as my assistant and help me with some missions."

"I will take care of the equipment and horses for you. You don't need to communicate with the employer or deal with those troublemakers. I will handle everything, and you don't need to worry about the salary."

As he spoke, Wayne gave a confident yet gentle smile and said:

"To be honest, I may not have as much experience as you in carrying out missions, but when it comes to making money, that's what I'm best at."

"If you agree to my request, your work location should be near Vijma City in the near future. You won't need to travel around anymore, and you can live a stable life in that city for a few years."

Upon hearing this, Belial stared at Wayne for several seconds, seemingly going through a struggle and contemplation, before finally asking with some difficulty:

"Why me? We're not even that close, you have no connection with me."

"Perhaps until last month, you didn't even know my name."

How could you believe me so easily?

Upon hearing this, Wayne sighed, his expression turning serious as he said:

"I didn't completely trust you, Berengar. I just gave you a chance."

"We are both witchers, and both of us are witchers from the Wolf School. We are born to help each other. If you do not betray my trust in the end, I will have gained a good brother to whom I can entrust my life."

"And if I misjudged the situation, I would only lose a little money."

"So the most important thing is whether you are willing to give yourself a chance and try to believe in me."

(End of this chapter)