Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 36 Floating Harbor (Seeking monthly tickets, rewards, and favorites)

Floating Harbor is a port town in the Kingdom of Temuria, located in the Pontal Valley, built along the upper reaches of the Pontal River, and surrounded by impassable bushes and forests.

This is an important trading post in Temuria, with troops stationed here year-round. Any ship traveling here must pay a trade tax. A large number of merchant ships stop here to buy supplies, which has brought a strange prosperity to this remote town near the border of Temuria and Cordwin.

Wayne and Geralt disembarked at the port of this small town. After bidding a friendly farewell to the magnanimous Captain Skellige with his big beard, Wesker, they entered the trading town.

The town has a small population, only a few hundred people in total. There are quite a few elves and dwarves among them. Judging from their words and actions, the non-human races here do not seem to have suffered too much unfair treatment. At least you can see smiles on their faces.

Among the pedestrians coming and going on the street were many well-dressed merchants and travelers, as well as rough-skinned and rude sailors.

Many shops are built along the street, including blacksmith shops, bookstores, clothing stores, etc. They are small but complete.

It was clearly the extensive trade along the Ponta River that brought vitality to this remote town.

However, as soon as Geralt entered the town, he was immediately drawn to what appeared to be the largest tavern in town. It was a three-story tavern that looked somewhat dilapidated on the outside, but the overall decoration was quite luxurious, and it was clear that its owner had put a lot of thought into it.

Several scantily clad young women, revealing large areas of fair skin, stood outside the tavern, leaning against the door frame and windows, enticing passersby with seductive glances.

Every man knows what kind of place that is.

Geralt was itching to get aroused by the girls' gazes. He nudged Wayne with his elbow, flashed a slightly sly smile, and said with a knowing look:

"Wayne, let's rest at that hotel and continue our journey to Vizima in a couple of days."

"After spending so much time on Wesker's ship, my body is numb from lying down, and it's been bland food every day. It's time for a good meal."

Wayne gave Geralt a disdainful look.

You don't want to eat anything fancy, you clearly want to eat seafood and abalone.

He knew perfectly well what this guy was up to, but since they were partners, they had to be considerate of each other and couldn't interfere too much with each other's actions. So he nodded and said:

"Alright, let's rest here for a couple of days and see if there are any jobs we can take care of."

As this was the first trading town he encountered, Wayne wanted to check out the tavern to see if he could find some skilled Gwent players and gain some experience to improve his Gwent level.

Seeing that Wayne agreed with his idea, Geralt chuckled and strode toward the tavern.

Instead of rushing into the tavern, he walked over to the women leaning against the outside. In just a few words, he effortlessly hooked up with two young girls, his arm around their waists, his expression one of undisguised pleasure.

With money in hand, they stood tall and proud. They booked two of the best rooms. After giving Wayne a meaningful smile, Geralt eagerly took the two women and headed upstairs.

Wayne stared disdainfully at the white wolf's retreating figure and snorted dismissively.

As witchers, their bodies have undergone mutations, and their metabolic rate is dozens of times that of ordinary people. In addition to giving them far superior resistance to poison and recovery speed, this change also results in hormones in their bodies being several times higher than those of ordinary people.

This has led to Witchers being in a state of emotional repression for many years, needing to frequently release their desires. Many Witchers have eccentric personalities, and some are even crazy, which is also due to this reason.

Their strong physique and abundant energy also mean that witchers are always inseparable from women, and many sorceresses take advantage of this to seek out a witcher as a bed partner.

After parting ways with Geralt, Wayne didn't go to his room to rest. He wasn't interested in the vulgar women in the tavern. Instead, he bought a bottle of fine cherry mead from the bartender, chose a clean seat, and carefully observed his surroundings.

The tavern's main hall is quite large, and as the only large tavern in the floating harbor, it was quite crowded with diners at this time.

Merchants, sailors, captains, passengers, and local residents—a total of forty or fifty people—sat together in twos and threes, joking and boasting, drinking and playing around, creating a very lively atmosphere.

After observing for about three minutes, Wayne found his target: a fat merchant wearing a silk robe and a small round fur hat.

His chubby face had features squeezed together, making him look unremarkable, but the smile on his lips gave him a very approachable look.

However, none of this mattered to Wayne. The reason he noticed him was because he could clearly see that a beautiful leather bag containing Gwent cards was hanging from his belt, swaying slightly.

This businessman was clearly also a Gwent enthusiast.

Wayne, carrying the bottle of liquor, walked up to the fat merchant, exchanged a glance with him, then casually took out his Gwent cards, placed them on the table in front of the merchant, and, with a friendly smile, asked:

"Sir, isn't it a bit boring drinking alone? How about we play a game of Gwent?"

The fat businessman stopped him when he heard this, because two bodyguards who had come over from the side seats had approached Wayne.

He sized Wayne up and down with his shrewd eyes, finally settling on Wayne's amber cat-like eyes for a few seconds before flashing his signature business smile.

He said in a somewhat high-pitched voice:

"A legendary Witcher, and a Witcher who also plays Gwent."

"Why would I refuse an interesting bet?"

"My name is Delank Revarden, a merchant from the south. It's a pleasure to meet you, Witcher."

Without wasting words, Wayne sat down opposite the fat merchant, took out ten Ducati coins from his pocket as a wager, placed them in the center of the table, and said:

"You can call me Wayne, Mr. Rewardon."

"I'm just a novice at Gwent, and I only have a fairly common hand. Please go easy on me, sir, and don't make me lose too badly."

Upon hearing this, the fat merchant nodded kindly, but his smile unconsciously widened.

He laughed heartily and said in a warm but polite voice:

"No problem, Mr. Wayne. I'm also new to this kind of game. We can chat while we play. I'm very interested in the life of a Witcher."

(End of this chapter)