Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 132 Apprenticeship Program

Upon hearing Wayne's voice, Alex looked up at him.

His clothes were tattered, his hair was dirty and messy, and his face was swollen from injuries with several obvious handprints. His thin body trembled slightly, making him look very pitiful.

However, Wayne noticed that the boy in front of him, who was not even ten years old, still had clear eyes despite being treated like this. Even though he was beaten and bruised all over, his eyes, unlike the numb ones in the slums, still shone with light.

He tilted his head, looked at Wayne, and after a few seconds shook his head and said:

"I'm sorry, sir, thank you for saving me, but I don't remember you."

Perhaps for him, warning someone whose belongings have been stolen is just a casual, trivial matter.

Wayne reached out and pulled him up from the ground, patted his head, and asked:

"You're injured. I'll take you to the Temple of Meritelli to find Sister Carol there."

"They will heal you."

Sister Carol is the caretaker of the Temple of Vigema Meriteli, a priestess in her fifties. Wayne had met her a few times last year when he visited his mother's cemetery; she was a kind and compassionate old woman.

The goddess Meriteli was widely worshipped throughout the northern kingdoms, and almost all women, from noble ladies to beggars and prostitutes, were devotees of the goddess Meriteli.

She is a triune goddess, often appearing as a carefree young girl, a mature pregnant woman, and a hunched old woman, symbolizing fertility, conception, pastoral life, abundance, and many other beliefs.

The priestesses of the Meriteli sect preached love and peace. They established many hospitals, shelters, and orphanages, and virtually all the herbalists and midwives in the north came from here.

No lord dared to harm the priestesses of the goddess Meritelli in the north, for doing so would anger all the women of the north, including their own mothers and wives.

However, upon hearing that Wayne wanted to send him to Aunt Carol, he immediately shook his head and refused:

"I don't want to go there. My injuries are much better now, and they don't hurt anymore. If I go to Aunt Carol like this, she will worry about me."

"I see."

Wayne hesitated for a second. Alex's injuries were indeed only superficial, so it wasn't necessarily necessary to send him to the Temple of Meritelli.

"Where do you live? Do you need me to take you home?"

Alex nodded, then shook his head, and said:

"I live in an orphanage next to the temple, but that's not my home. My home has been sold to someone else."

"The nuns at the temple are taking care of me, but I don't want to cause them any more trouble. There are many orphans there, and I want to learn how to earn money as soon as possible so I can move out."

Seeing Alex's strong character, Wayne was actually a little tempted. He planned to adopt some orphans, or use the accidental discovery method to find some talented children, just like the Witcher of the past.

Of course, he wouldn't let these children risk their lives to perform the Grass Trials, but would train them as ordinary swordsmanship apprentices.

While witchers are indeed much stronger than ordinary people, ordinary people are not without the opportunity to defeat them. For example, there is a famous witcher killer in the South who has killed three or four witchers.

If the opportunity arises in the future, Wayne will definitely improve the Witcher's Trial of the Grass and find a sorcerer specifically for the Witcher. If he cannot ensure the survival rate of new Witchers, he is not prepared to create any more new Witchers.

After thinking for a few seconds, Wayne patted Alex's head and said:

"How about this, I'll take you to my home and treat your wound."

"Didn't you want to work and earn money? I happen to have some chores around the house that I need someone to do. From now on, you can come to my house every day to do chores, and I'll give you twenty tung coins a week as a reward, plus three meals a day. How about that?"

The reward of twenty tung seeds a week is quite meager; the average adult worker's salary is about five or six times that price.

It wasn't that Wayne was stingy with the money; it was just that for a child like Alex, who was not even ten years old, having too much money would be a disaster.

He didn't directly propose to take Alex as an apprentice, partly because he wanted to further observe the boy's character and wouldn't just take in someone whose background and personality he didn't know.

Another reason is that the child still lives in the orphanage of the Temple of Meritelli, and he knows Sister Carol. Whatever decision he makes, he should at least inform Sister Carol.

Wayne's idea was good, but he clearly underestimated the wariness of the children in the slums.

When Alex heard the man in front of him want to take him home, a look of wariness immediately appeared on his little face. He looked around as if searching for an escape route, and muttered:

"No, I won't go home with you. Aunt Carol told us not to go with strangers because they are all human traffickers."

Wayne's lips twitched. Although he felt a little embarrassed, he acknowledged the need for caution and said:

"Well then, you should know the owner of the Fox Tavern, right? He's a friend of mine. I'll take you there first. With his guarantee, you should be able to trust me, right?"

Upon hearing the name Old York of the Fox Tavern, Alex's wariness lessened slightly. Old York was a well-known local strongman in the slums, and the kind of person who was willing to lend a helping hand to other poor people. He had considerable prestige in the Vizima slum area.

Moreover, the Fox Tavern wasn't far from here. After Alex cautiously followed Wayne to the Fox Tavern and saw that he was indeed Old York's friend, his wariness dissipated by eight or nine tenths, and he began to be tempted by what Wayne had proposed.

Twenty copper coins a week may not seem like much, but three full meals a week are an absolute temptation for these helpless orphans.

Throughout the northern kingdoms, the Temple of Meriteli has far too many orphans, poor people, and sick people in need of help. The priestesses' only income comes from donations from believers, so don't expect them to be treated well. Ensuring that the orphans don't starve is already the best they can do.

As for work, there are too many people in this world who need to work. No one will be interested in some weak orphans who are unable to do heavy work. The only ones who will be interested are human traffickers or bad people with other malicious intentions.

Outside the Fox Tavern, old York was still smoking his old pipe, while Aunt Melissa was helping Alex treat his wounds with some herbs she had found somewhere.

After hearing Wayne's story, old York frowned, looked at the bruises on Alex's face, and said resentfully:

"It must have been those bastards from the Rat Tail Gang. They're just a bunch of country bumpkins. Do they really think they're something special? Daring to bully a kid on my turf, these trash, I'll have someone teach them a lesson later."

Upon hearing this, Wayne immediately asked with interest:

"The Rat Tail Gang, another new gang? Do I need to take action? I don't need much reward from you, just give me that bottle of good wine you've been hiding."

He actually quite liked these gangs; they were all lowlifes, and taking them down wouldn't cause any trouble. When he first came to Vizima City, the Wild Dogs gang brought him almost a thousand Orens in benefits, practically like an ATM.

Upon hearing Wayne's question, old York waved his hand dismissively and scoffed:

"Bullshit, they don't even deserve to be called a gang. They're just a bunch of thieves, hooligans, and thugs who commit crimes together. They're just peasants from some backwater, bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong. Any tough guy could take them down."

As he spoke, the old man glanced at Wayne and said:

"When you slaughtered the Wild Dogs gang last year, you killed more than a dozen people in one afternoon, which terrified the scum in the neighborhood. Many of the scum left Vijma and went to other places to make a living."

"It's estimated that no gangs will emerge in the next two or three years."

Wayne shrugged with a hint of regret and said:

"What do you think of what I just said?"

"I'm going to test Alex, and if he's suitable, I'll take him on as an apprentice."

"And could you also help me find some kids who are resilient, hardworking, and ungrateful, and recommend them to me?"

"I don't care about their background or their talent. In the future world, learning how to use a sword will also save their lives in dangerous situations."

Old York frowned, considered for a long time, and then said:

"I do know some poor, good kids."

"But you have to promise me that you will absolutely not let them become some kind of bullshit witchers. I've heard that out of ten kids who want to become witchers, maybe one or two will survive."

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(End of this chapter)