Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 29 Gwent

When Wayne accompanied Geralt, who was walking with a shaky gait, out of the dark corridor, Toruviel, who was guarding the door, immediately came to greet them.

Her expression was grave as she scanned Wayne's body. Seeing that he had no obvious injuries, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they hadn't witnessed it firsthand, the three of them could still hear the sound of the honeycomb bomb exploding, along with the faint, chaotic roars of countless monsters, even though they were separated by a corridor.

The fighting there was clearly more intense than they had imagined.

Upon seeing Toluviel, Wayne made no attempt to be polite and addressed the female elf leader directly:

"Torviel, Geralt is slightly injured. Have the camp's medic treat him."

Then he pointed to the two subordinates beside the female elf and said:

"in addition."

"Arrange for a few men to come with me, carrying torches, to the place where I just fought and to move the bodies."

"The stench of blood there is too strong. If it's not cleaned up in time, the monsters will gather again very soon."

Toruvel nodded upon hearing this, then turned to the rather capable-looking elven archer beside her and whispered a few words in Elvish before turning back to Wayne and saying:

"I've made all the arrangements, Wayne. Let's go check it out there first."

Without further ado, Wayne turned and led her and the heavily armored dwarf warrior through the corridor back to the underground pond.

This time, however, the three did not proceed in the dark. Toruville and the dwarf warrior held torches to light the way ahead, while Wayne, holding a silver sword, stood guard in front to prevent any accidents.

When they passed through the archway and arrived at the terrace by the pond, the scene before them made Toruviel and the dwarf warrior gasp in astonishment.

On the semi-circular terrace at the exit, a large amount of blood and dismembered limbs were on display, and the air was filled with a foul, bloody stench. Dozens of water ghost corpses lay densely packed on the ground.

Judging from the sword marks and burn marks on their bodies, they were clearly killed by Geralt and Wayne.

Toruville was stunned for several seconds, but quickly recovered. She composed herself, her gaze towards Wayne becoming more serious, and asked:

"Wayne, what do we do now?"

Wayne remained vigilant. Although he had killed the little mist sprite that had ambushed Geralt, the pond was quite large, and he couldn't be sure if there were any other little mist sprites lurking in other locations.

Upon hearing Toluviel's question, he considered it for about ten seconds and then said:

"Get these water ghost corpses out of here first, preferably burned. Even if you want to bury them, bury them further away."

"Otherwise, their corpses would likely attract scavenging creatures from underground."

"Also, bring over some more lighting equipment. The other side of this arched bridge connects to another area. You'd better have someone guard the gate to prevent other monsters from rushing out from there."

"I need to check all the entrances and exits here, so that monsters won't suddenly appear from nowhere in the future."

The female elf nodded, keeping Wayne's words in mind, and prepared to arrange for someone to carry them out later.

To be honest, Toruviel was somewhat relieved at this moment, grateful for the good fortune they had.

They never expected that such a large group of monsters lived so close to them. If they hadn't found Wayne and Geralt, the two witchers, they might have suffered huge casualties from the monsters that swarmed out of here at any time.

About ten minutes later, the elven archer from before came in with a dozen or so warriors. They were initially surprised by the large number of monster corpses, but under Toruvel's command, they began to carry the corpses out one by one in an orderly manner.

Burning corpses had become a custom in this era. Everyone in the Northern Kingdom knew that if many corpses were left unattended or were simply buried in the ground, it would not be long before many ghouls, ghouls, carrion demons, and other carrion-eating creatures would emerge from the ground and bring danger to the people.

No one knows exactly how many monsters live in the underground areas that humans cannot explore, and that light and burning flames can drive them away to some extent.

This may be one of the reasons why the Church of Eternal Fire was able to spread widely among ordinary people.

However, considering the thick smoke from burning the corpses might reveal their location, Toruviel ultimately chose to have the bodies transported deeper into the forest, allowing these monsters to return to nature.

The group of people were busy with their respective tasks. Wayne had only spent less than half an hour fighting, but by the time they had dealt with the corpses and bloodstains, searched the entire underground pond, and completely resolved any remaining concerns in the area, three or four hours had passed.

After a day's work.

Wayne bid farewell to Toruvel, who was still busy arranging affairs, and dragged his somewhat tired body back to the camp, preparing to go find Geralt.

But they saw the experienced witcher sitting opposite a dwarf by the campfire, fiddling with something.

Several elves and dwarves were also gathered around them, watching the spectacle.

Driven by curiosity, Wayne approached and discovered that Geralt was wrapped in several bandages and wearing a thick black cotton coat. He was intently looking at some exquisite cards in his hand, seemingly struggling with which card to play.

The dwarf opposite him was also looking at Geralt with a tense expression. The cards between the two were neatly arranged in six columns, with seven or eight Ducat coins stacked together in the center of the cards, which should be their bet.

The surrounding spectators watched the battle with excitement and anticipation, as if the card game had a great appeal.

Seeing this, Wayne had already guessed what they were doing.

They were playing Gwent.

He originally thought that this kind of game had not yet been invented, or that even if it had been invented, it was currently just a form of entertainment among a small number of dwarves.

Unexpectedly, they encountered this interesting game, which became widely popular in later generations, right after they came down the mountain.

Moreover, this seems to be Geralt's first encounter with Gwent, since he had never heard Geralt mention the game in Kaer Morhen during the two years he spent with Geralt.

Seeing Geralt still hesitating about how to play his cards, Wayne curiously came up behind him, wanting to see what kind of deck the White Wolf had.

After only a few seconds of casual observation, the experienced gambler Wayne had already figured out how to win.

However, this was a bet between Geralt and the dwarf on the other side. Although he knew how to win, he wouldn't interrupt at this time and spoil their fun.

Perhaps because he was tainted by the scent of the water ghost, Geralt noticed him as soon as he got a little closer.

However, the White Wolf was in high spirits at the time. He only glanced at Wayne and nodded casually before refocusing his attention on the betting game.

Unfortunately, in Gwent, skill, luck, and a strong deck are required; personal willpower rarely plays a role.

Ultimately, after struggling for several minutes, Geralt lost to the dwarf due to his lack of experience and powerful Gwent cards.

Geralt lost all the Ducats he earned from Misha's commission before he could even enjoy them.

(One more chapter, I'll post it later.)

(End of this chapter)