Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 17 The Scoundrels of Cordwin

After leaving Kaer Morhen Castle, Wayne followed Geralt and spent three whole days crossing the cold and rugged Blue Mountains to enter the territory of the Kingdom of Cordwin.

This was Wayne's first time camping and eating in the wild like a regular witcher. The cold weather and the terrible, dirty environment made this young master, who had always lived in civilized society, suffer quite a bit.

Fortunately, thanks to the hidden haven Geralt and his companions had built in the mountains over the years, and the fact that the number of monsters in the primeval forest had decreased significantly in winter, they were able to safely traverse the Blue Mountains along the route they had already explored.

But when he and Geralt set off together in search of a witch-hunting mission in the villages of the Kingdom of Cordwin, they were met with a harsh blow from reality.

"Get out of our village, you disgusting mutants!"

"A bunch of sorceress bitches and monster bastards, how dare they defile our land? Get out!"

"Hide the children quickly! The Witcher bastards are coming! These monsters will steal our children!"

After trekking through the wilderness all day, Wayne finally discovered a dilapidated village. Just as he was about to find a villager to ask about the situation,

He was immediately met with insults and driven away by many villagers.

Their words were so vicious, it was as if the two of them had killed their entire family.

Moreover, it wasn't just cursing; just a few minutes after the two entered the village, a middle-aged man with a large beard, wearing a fur coat and carrying an iron sword, surrounded them with five young men carrying pitchforks and hoes.

Seeing their fierce expressions as they held weapons and looked ready to devour anyone, Wayne's hand unconsciously gripped the steel sword on his back and drew it halfway out.

Geralt, on the other hand, remained remarkably calm. He patted Wayne on the shoulder, signaling him not to be nervous, and then walked directly to the bearded man in the fur coat, saying in a deep voice:

"Hey friend, you'd better tell your farmers to stop."

"We are witchers, here to seek commissions, not to fight."

"And if a fight really breaks out, a few pitchforks won't be enough to deal with me."

Although the bearded man looked rough and savage, he had spent a few years wandering the world in his youth and had heard about the strength of these mutant freaks in front of him.

He knew very well that even if a dozen soldiers were sent, let alone these villagers with pitchforks, they might not be a match for a single demon hunter.

Besides, there are two of them on the other side.

Hearing Geralt's warning, he waved to the young men with pitchforks and hoes to calm down and squinted at the two witchers in front of him.

When he saw their amber cat-like eyes, Geralt's long white hair, and Wayne's long elven ears, a look of disgust involuntarily appeared in his eyes.

"Get out of the village, witchers. You're not looking for a commission here."

Geralt didn't press the matter, shrugged, and turned to Wayne, whispering:

"Don't be surprised, Wayne."

"The Kingdom of Cordwin is almost the most hateful of all the northern kingdoms for non-human races."

"The people in this country are mostly rude and barbaric, and do not respect etiquette. Their king, Henset, is even more so. You can imagine him as a wild boar, a robber, a grumpy drunkard, rather than a king."

"This king has no great achievements, but all the north knows that his favorite thing to do is to persecute non-human races and try to kill the dwarves and elves in the cities."

"As witchers, we are equally unwelcome here, so I rarely seek commissions here."

"Let's go, continue westward, follow the Ponta River downstream, and we should be able to leave the Kingdom of Cordwin in about half a month."

Wayne nodded somewhat speechlessly, preparing to leave with Geralt.

Suddenly, an old woman with faltering steps emerged from the village. She quickly walked to the side of the bearded man, grabbed his sleeve, and wept as if pleading for something.

The two argued for a few moments, until the old woman collapsed to the ground, clinging to the bearded man's leg and weeping. Only then did the bearded man sigh, help the old woman up, and call out to Wayne and Geralt:

"Hey, Witcher, wait a minute."

"We have a commission here."

Wayne and Geralt exchanged a glance, and seeing that there was work to be done, they turned around and walked back to the bearded man's side, quietly watching the old woman's expression change from sorrow to joy.

Before Geralt could speak, Wayne interrupted and asked:

"What is your request?"

Seeing Wayne's enthusiasm, Geralt glanced at him with some surprise. He suddenly remembered Wayne's quirk of needing to take on quests every day to stay motivated in Kaer Morhen, and couldn't help but find it amusing, thinking that this was one of the few childish traits Wayne possessed.

The middle-aged man with the thick beard glanced at Geralt, who was clearly older, and seeing that Geralt did not object, he turned to Wayne, who looked like a teenager, and said in a gruff voice:

"Two young men from our village have gone missing, and I'm asking you to help find them."

He helped the old woman beside him, whose face was streaked with tears, his voice tinged with regret.

"This is the brothers' mother, Misha. Three days ago, her two sons went to the forest to the south to chop wood and haven't returned since."

"Wolves have always been present in the forests to the south."

"Even though they may have already become wolf droppings, we need definite information, whether they are dead or alive, instead of leaving the living with empty hopes."

At this point, the bearded man added somewhat awkwardly:

"Of course, farmers like us who cultivate the land are all poor and don't have that much money."

"Misha can only scrape together five Ducati at most. She only has her two sons. If those two children die, Misha probably won't live past next year."

Upon hearing this, Wayne glanced at the sorrowful old woman and felt a pang of sympathy.

Dukat is the currency of the Kingdom of Cordwin. He didn't quite know how much purchasing power five dukat actually had, but he figured that poor farmers toiling in the fields probably couldn't afford much of it.

After the bearded man finished explaining his request, a task prompt appeared in his mind.

Triggered quest: [Find Misha's missing son], Expert level.

Do you want to accept?

Wayne was overjoyed. It was an expert-level mission. According to the system's description, ordinary-level missions were relatively simple, belonging to daily tasks, and did not even require combat.

Expert-level missions are more difficult, falling into a category that is hard for ordinary people to complete, and are likely to involve dangerous combat.

As for Master-level and Epic-level quests, they are extremely rare, and you might not encounter them for several years. These high-difficulty quests can even influence the course of the world.

Although he really wanted to take on the mission, he was now Geralt's partner and couldn't act on his own.

Wayne then turned to Geralt, his eyes seeking the White Wolf's opinion.

Seeing him look over, Geralt's expressionless face remained blank, but he still managed a slight, laborious nod.

Wayne breathed a sigh of relief. After mentally accepting the mission, he smiled at the bearded man and Misha beside him and said:

"We can accept this commission."

"However, we are quite tired from the journey, so you must provide us with a place to rest temporarily and prepare a decent lunch."

"Once we've recovered our strength, we'll carry out this task."

(End of this chapter)