Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 203 Recruiting a Mercenary Group

When Wayne saw Francesca again, before he could even speak, a system notification reached his ears.

Ding! Settlement begins. 135 points have been earned for this operation. Total points: 135.

Hearing this result, Wayne felt a little relieved. The system's calculation rules were quite humane. Although he hadn't personally rescued these elves, his points hadn't decreased.

This gave Wayne an idea: he should form a special team, or rather an organization, dedicated to rescuing elves.

While rescuing hundreds of elves at once, like this, is quite efficient and you can even get an expert-level quest from the sorceress, it's still too slow. I wonder how long it will take to accumulate enough resources to get an epic treasure chest.

You should know that Francesca paid him ten crowns each. Tonight's operation will earn him 1,350 crowns, which is more than 6,000 Oren gold coins. One has to admire the wealth of this elven rich woman.

For some mercenaries, killing an ordinary person only earns them about ten crowns, and participating in a war might only earn them a few dozen gold coins.

Even if Wayne were to act as a middleman and cut the price in half, there would still be plenty of mercenaries willing to take on the mission.

Of course, the mission to rescue non-human races is quite secretive and cannot be undertaken by just anyone. Only mercenaries with professional ethics and personal principles can be hired.

Moreover, this mission may be a long-term one that lasts for ten or even twenty years, so this opportunity can be used to recruit a group of trustworthy mercenaries and train them as useful helpers.

Francesca gathered her long, dark golden hair that fell across her face, revealing her fair, jade-like cheeks, and asked softly:

"Wayne, are you hurt?"

Seeing Wayne shake his head with a relaxed expression, she reached out and used magic to clean the blood and bits of flesh off his body, restoring him to the clean state he had when they first met.

Noticing that the witcher seemed to be handling things with ease, as if he hadn't exerted much effort, the sorceress couldn't help but feel very curious. Had the professional soldiers not made him go all out yet?

Thinking of this, Francesca smiled, tilted her head, and asked:

"How's it going at the military camp? Did you defeat them?"

Upon hearing this, Wayne lowered his head slightly, exchanged a glance with the sorceress, and looking at her almost perfect face, he couldn't help but reach out his right hand and, under Francesca's slightly surprised gaze, poked her collagen-rich cheek before withdrawing his hand and saying calmly:

"I killed them all, leaving only two alive who gave me their names."

"For a long time to come, Dante, a human mercenary, will be the number one enemy of the Kingdom of Cordwin."

"To draw their fire, you need to move quickly and get as many elves away from here as possible."

Upon hearing Wayne's reply, Francesca disregarded the young witcher's rude behavior, gave him a light glare, and then began to consider the consequences of this operation.

Undoubtedly, the massacre of an army of 150 men would attract the attention of the upper echelons of the Kingdom of Cordwin.

They will most likely link the escape of the non-human races in Febot City to this matter. However, having Dante as a target to draw attention will indeed attract more attention from the kingdom's nobles.

Although this resistance was somewhat fierce, compared to the long-standing oppression suffered by the elves, the complete lack of resistance only emboldened the enemy.

Francesca thought about many things in an instant. After discussing the current situation of the Kingdom of Cordwin with Wayne, she directly paid Wayne a large bag of gold coins, which contained a total of 1,500 crowns, more than the 135 points calculated by the system.

Facing Wayne's somewhat surprised gaze, Francesca smiled gently and said:

"This operation saved more than 130 elves, but some dwarves and halflings also left the town."

"Although my mission is simply to rescue our fellow countrymen, Wayne, I am not a stingy employer. I will reward you accordingly for all the risks you take."

Wayne reached out and weighed the large bag of gold coins in his hand. It contained 1,500 crowns, worth at least 7,000 orens. This amount of money was enough for him to hire a mercenary group of over a hundred people to work for him.

Although Wayne knew perfectly well that the elven sorceress was trying to win him over, he could indeed sense the wealth and sincerity of this rich woman.

Perhaps, the tens of thousands of gold coins I spent in Azeroth last year will soon be earned back from this wealthy woman.

After parting ways with Francesca, the sorceress used a portal to teleport Wayne back to Vizima City. It must be said, this was a very useful spell.

Unfortunately, Wayne's time studying magic was too short. Although it took him less than a year, his knowledge barely reached the standard of a sorcerer apprentice in the academy.

However, his knowledge base is still too limited, and it will take him a considerable amount of time before he can use advanced spells like teleportation.

Even genius sorceresses like Yennefer and Triss spent two or three decades to reach their current level. The difficulty of learning magic is far greater than that of the modern college entrance examination.

Upon returning to Vizima, Wayne acted immediately, inquiring among acquaintances about hiring mercenaries.

Unfortunately, among the people he knew, the sorceresses had no contact with these low-level figures. To them, these rough men who lived on the edge and relied on violence were not worth their attention at all.

O. Henry, the dwarven blacksmith master, did introduce him to several dwarven mercenary squads, all of whom were good helpers in fighting. However, for Wayne, his primary choice was human mercenary groups, because only humans could move freely in the Kingdom of Cordwin without arousing suspicion.

Moreover, compared to the simple-minded dwarves, human mercenaries are more shrewd and adaptable. Their goal is to rescue more elves, and they don't necessarily have to use robbery or other violent means. As long as they can achieve this goal, they are willing to be bought as slaves or commodities, and the process doesn't matter.

Unfortunately, such talent is quite rare. Neither the wealthy businessman Revaden nor the local strongman of Vijma, Old York, could offer a good recommendation.

Things only found a new way out when Wayne remembered someone he had some past connection with.

This person is none other than the dwarf mercenary Yalpan, whom he spared when he was fighting the green dragon in Holober City.

This guy, a mercenary who has been operating in the northern kingdoms for decades, has far more information than his acquaintances in Vizima City.

After exchanging letters, the dwarf immediately gave him several suitable targets, most of which were human mercenary groups with excellent reputations in the mercenary circle.

He investigated these mercenary groups, reviewed their past achievements, and listened to the evaluations of some employers before finally selecting a target.

Moreover, the leader of this mercenary group is a rather famous person who appeared in the original work.

Little Beautiful Cat, Julia Ebatmark.

Speaking of this, we have to mention Wayne's inherent flaws. Compared to ambitious men who are prone to various rebellions, he is more willing to trust women who are driven by emotions and have relatively less interest in power and desire.

Moreover, because women have a lower status in this era and find it more difficult to succeed, they cherish the opportunity to succeed even more. Wayne is also more willing to give capable women a chance to prove themselves.

About a week after Wayne sent a sincere letter, Julia the cat and his two companions arrived in Vizima from the Kingdom of Redalia, which borders Temuria.

While Wayne was busy searching for a suitable mercenary group, his cooperative operation with Francesca did not stop. During this period, they went out twice more, rescuing more than 200 members of non-human races, earning 200 points, and completing two expert-level missions.

Wayne even took the initiative to suggest killing Count Corvind, who was notorious among non-human races. He stormed into the Count's banquet hall from the front door, killed dozens of guards, and took his head in front of everyone.

The impact of this operation far surpassed that of the previous rescue missions. Dante, a human mercenary, became an overnight super-wanted criminal in the Kingdom of Cordwin, with a bounty of two thousand ducats.

Because everyone witnessed the powerful magic Dante used, King Henset of Cordwin directly pressured the Brotherhood of Sorcerers to send sorcerers to deal with this equally evil and wanted criminal who could also cast spells.

However, at the same time, faced with the threat of death, those nobles who valued their lives slowed down their oppression of inhuman races, giving Francesca and others more time.

That afternoon, a special visitor arrived at Wayne's mansion.

Francesca, dressed in a gorgeous white dress with gold trim, sat at Wayne's dining table, her eyes slightly narrowed, holding a half-eaten strawberry cake in her hands, displaying an adorable expression of enjoyment, and said with a smile:

"Your pastries are truly delicious, Wayne. Even the cakes made by royal chefs with thousands of years of culinary experience thousands of years ago cannot compare to this one in my hand."

"I never expected that you, at less than twenty years old, would possess such abilities. It truly impresses me."

Wayne took a sip of the elven mead, a gift from the sorceress, and, listening to her pleasant flattery and praise, nodded slightly and said without any modesty:

"I wouldn't deny that."

"Anyone who has tasted my cooking will say something similar to what you have said, madam."

Francesca chuckled, then took out a dozen books from her small pouch, placed them on the table, and pushed them in front of Wayne, saying:

"Wayne, I learned from Deshaya of the Aretusa Academy that you are collecting this lost knowledge about the Witcher."

"These books are some of the books I collected in the past about Witcher research. I brought them all. You can take a look and see if there are any you haven't read yet."

Wayne raised an eyebrow, surprised that the elven sorceress had such extensive information channels that she could even find out what he had done last year. Clearly, after witnessing his strength, this most beautiful sorceress must have spent a lot of time investigating him.

Wayne, of course, did not refuse these gifts. He casually flipped through them and found that they contained quite valuable knowledge, most of which he had not yet collected. He simply did not bother to be polite and put them all into his spatial bracelet without even picking them out.

Faced with his actions, the elven sorceress was not angry at all, and said softly:

"Actually, I've also spent some time researching the genetic mutations of demon hunters. I have to say, the human warlock Azul is truly a genius with outstanding talent. He actually came up with the idea of ​​imitating the genetic structure of monsters to create a group of powerful warriors."

"If you want help in these areas, I'll keep an eye out for information on that."

"But to be honest, Wayne, I'm curious. Based on my calculations, according to Azur's original design, even if the most successful Witcher were created, his strength should still be inferior to yours now."

"How did you grow to where you are today in just a few years?"

Faced with Francesca's probing gaze, Wayne simply stared back at the sorceress calmly for about ten seconds before saying:

"Ms. Francesca, you should know very well that geniuses exist in this world. Some people are born with extremely powerful talents, and I am one of them."

As he spoke, Wayne activated the already considerable chaotic magic power within his body, and a wave of magic power emanated from his body. After years of accumulation, and with the enhancement of various talents and skills, his magic power had surpassed that of most ordinary sorcerers in the wizarding world, and was almost at the level of an elite sorcerer.

Although she couldn't compare to the thousand-year-old elven sorceress before her, this was enough to surprise Francesca, who was only a half-elf under twenty years old.

The elven beauty's eyes sparkled as if she had spotted some precious treasure. She scrutinized Wayne intently, then shook her head and sighed, saying:

"What a pity, Wayne. If I could have met you sooner, with your talent, given a hundred years, you might have become the second most powerful sorcerer in the elven race after the elven sage."

"Of course, it's not too late yet. If you're willing, I can teach you all my magical knowledge. As for the Witcher modifications on your body, I'll have the Elven sages help. With their knowledge, given enough time, they'll definitely be able to reverse them."

However, Wayne was not tempted by Francesca's proposal at all. He simply looked at Francesca quietly, then took out a magic-blocking golden shackle from his spatial bracelet and placed it in front of the sorceress.

Seeing the sorceress recoil as if bitten by a venomous snake, withdrawing her hand as if electrocuted, he said with a hint of mockery:

"The flaws of being a warlock are too great, madam. I think I'd better stick to being a demon hunter."

Just then, there was a knock on Wayne's door, and a rather loud female voice called out from the doorway:

"I am Julia Abbotmark, the leader of the Cat Paw Mercenary Group."

"Is this Mr. Wayne's home? We've come to visit as invited."

Upon hearing this voice, Wayne brought his mouth close to Francesca's ear and whispered:

"Madam, a group of unfamiliar guests have arrived at my home. If you don't mind, you can help me greet them."

"Of course, this might expose your whereabouts, so you can also choose to hide upstairs or cast a spell to conceal your presence."

(End of this chapter)