Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 18 Elf

Although the villagers all loathed the witchers, no one dared to actually provoke them thanks to the big-bearded village chief's protection.

After a short rest, Wayne and Geralt ate a very simple meal at Misha's house. It was really very simple, with only a few eggs and no oil at all.

Clearly, these villagers are also struggling financially. For her son's safety, Misha may have already brought out the best food in her house to treat them.

It was only after chatting with Geralt at the dinner table that Wayne learned what the five Ducatials really meant.

Dukat is a currency of unknown origin, currently only used in Cordwin, Sintra, and the Skellige Islands.

A few years ago, when Geralt was carrying out a commission in Cintra, a Water Ghost cost two Ducats, while in an ordinary tavern, one Ducat might only buy a regular meal.

In other words, Misha hired two witchers to work for her for the price of two and a half water ghosts.

Hearing this, Wayne looked at Geralt speechlessly. Although he knew Geralt's character and that he was righteous and kind, the fact that Geralt would accept such a low price made Wayne sigh. It's hard to be a good person.

This isn't just working for free; if their equipment gets even a little damaged in the battle, it would truly be a losing proposition.

Luckily, he also asked for lunch; otherwise, with that amount of money, he probably wouldn't even have been able to fill his stomach.

After dinner, it was Geralt's turn to perform.

He called Misha and the bearded village chief over and asked them in detail about Misha's two sons, including their physiques, appearances, and habits.

After learning from the two men about the area where the two young men often cut firewood and the general situation of the forest, they prepared to set off.

Throughout the entire questioning process, Wayne did not interfere. He simply took out a whetstone from his bag and, while sharpening the steel sword he had inherited from Vesemir, carefully considered the purpose of Geralt's questions and his thought process.

As a novice Witcher, he needs to learn from his senior, Geralt, as reconnaissance and deduction are essential skills for Witchers to carry out missions.

After the questioning was completed and everything was ready, Geralt and Wayne, carrying all the equipment they needed for the battle, left their mount, Radish, and their luggage with the bearded village chief.

Of course, to prevent these troublemakers from having any wicked ideas, the two didn't forget to take out their weapons and give a serious warning:

"If anything is missing from our luggage, we will take it back from you twofold."

That bearded village chief is a reasonable man; he shouldn't make any mistakes.

Based on the intelligence they received, the two quickly left the village and entered a forest not far from it.

Following the route Misha described, they used their superhuman senses as witchers to search along the trail of footprints until they finally found the area where the two young men usually cut down trees.

It was early spring. The Kingdom of Kovind was located northeast of the northern kingdoms, where the temperature was colder than in the other countries. In these remote forests, human footprints were quite noticeable.

As Geralt followed the trail, he verbally imparted his investigative skills to Wayne without reservation.

Wayne learned and practiced simultaneously, and it took him more than half an hour to finally find two bundles of firewood and an axe hidden in an inconspicuous patch of grass.

"This should be it."

Geralt stroked his stubble-covered chin and deduced:

"The two young men encountered an accident here, and because of the emergency, they lost their wood and axe."

He looked up at Wayne and said:

"Let's search around here and see if there are any footprints, bloodstains, or anything else."

Wayne nodded, activated his Witcher's Senses, and began searching the bushes for any possible clues.

To be honest, this kind of carpet search is not pleasant. It is time-consuming, not fun, and very energy-consuming. It is practically a form of physical labor.

However, there was no other way; in such a remote and sparsely populated area, only this kind of clumsy method could yield results.

After searching carefully for another ten minutes or so, Wayne still found nothing. However, Geralt, who was not far away, stood up, waved to him, and called out:

"Wayne, come over here."

"I've found a clue."

When he walked over, Geralt was standing with his arms crossed, seemingly lost in thought again.

Wayne followed his gaze and soon found four rows of footprints on the ground. Judging from their shape and depth, two of the footprints should belong to Misha's two sons.

Geralt reached a conclusion in just a few seconds.

"The good news is that there is no blood around here. At least the two children did not die here, nor did they die in the mouths of wolves. They must have been kidnapped."

"The bad news is that it has been almost three days since this happened."

"For such a long time, nobody knows where they were taken away, or whether they are still alive."

Wayne shrugged indifferently, pointed to the footprints on the ground, and said:

"No matter where they were taken, all we can do is keep searching along the clues they left behind."

Geralt shared the same thought; he drew his longsword from his back and said to Wayne:

"Let's go, draw your sword. Judging from the direction of these footprints, they must have been led deep into the forest."

"Stay vigilant at all times. Spring has arrived, and the monsters are starting to revive. No one knows what might suddenly jump out of the forest."

………………

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was dusk.

Although the forest environment was exceptionally complex, it was still no challenge for two professional witchers with superhuman senses.

Wayne and Geralt traveled together, one following the trail and the other protecting him.

After traveling through the forest for about two hours, overcoming numerous obstacles, we finally arrived near a secluded cave hidden by large trees.

However, before they could get close to the cave, several wooden arrows suddenly shot down from a giant tree near the cave entrance, accurately hitting their path.

Without needing any prompting, Wayne instantly erected a Quen shield around himself, and his steel sword assumed a defensive stance.

Geralt was even more decisive; the instant the arrow came down, he rolled away and hid behind a large rock.

Wayne carefully maintained the Quen Shield and looked in the direction from which the arrows were coming. He saw that, at some point, six elven archers dressed in animal skins and holding bows and arrows had appeared on the branches of the giant tree.

One of the female elves, with long black hair and sharp black eyes, observed the two for over ten seconds, her gaze seemingly lingering on Wayne's pointed elven ears for a long time, before speaking in the common human language:

"The Witcher, two of them."

"This is elven territory. Why have you come here?"

(Thanks again to Daji and Bigan, Beidangyun, the way to raise a passerby protagonist, Rabbit and Carrot, Xuehua where is it, and other big shots for their donations, as well as everyone's support with monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. The protagonist has finally descended the mountain to explore, and is about to unveil a larger world.)

(End of this chapter)