A fantastical journey across the heavens, beginning with the Witcher.

The next two days passed uneventfully.

Li De didn't find it boring at all. He ate when he was hungry and drank when he was thirsty. Every night he would be intimate with Elena, which caused Elena to not get up until noon every day, greatly delaying the teaching progress. It was as if the emperor would no longer hold court in the morning.

When Sal had nothing to do, he often came to visit.

At first, he wanted to ask why Li De would leave his own guest room and insist on staying at Elena's place. But when he saw his usually energetic old friend clinging to the Witcher like a little girl, he instantly understood the reason.

He clicked his tongue, his tone full of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing regret, regret, and a sense of admiration): "The most vibrant, thorny rose of Bullburg, coveted by countless students and nobles, yet you've managed to pluck it. Take my advice, stay away from the academy lately, lest you be subjected to the principal's agonizing torture."

Li De took the opportunity to put his arm around Elena's slender waist, his fingertips gently caressing her waistline, and teased, "So you're that popular. I've gotten a great deal."

The red-haired beauty rolled her eyes slightly, but there was a smile in the corner of her eyes, as if to say, "You're only finding out now? You got off easy."

Their eyes met, and sparks flew in the air, raising the temperature.

Sal grinned, "It smells sour and rotten. I can't stand being in this room."

As he was about to leave, Li De quickly reached out to stop him: "Don't rush off, there's something I'd like to trouble you with."

"Forehead……"

Salton paused, not responding immediately. After a couple of seconds of contemplation, he slowly spoke, his tone tinged with apprehension: "If you want me to be your witness, then forget it. I'm afraid Principal Philip will stab me to death."

Enraged, Elena grabbed a berry from the fruit bowl and threw it at him, but Li De caught it steadily and handed it back to her.

"No, that's not it." Li De shook his head and chuckled. "I wanted to ask if there were any suitable bounty commissions nearby."

"Is the Blood Demon's bounty not enough?"

"That's right, 600 crowns for a custom-made sword."

Elena muttered under her breath as she slapped away the large hand on her waist. To this day, she still couldn't understand how the money she had earned with her life could be so easily squandered.

"Hiss... 600 crowns?"

The upright city guard captain first gasped, then turned to look at the demon hunter's armor and dual swords in the corner of the living room, and suddenly realized that he had underestimated the demon hunter's resources.

"That's how witchers are; they earn money quickly but spend it even faster. Armor, weapons, alchemy materials—everything costs a fortune."

Sal pondered the recent bounties and suddenly slapped his thigh: "There really is one, but you might not be willing to do it."

"Tell me about it first."

"Recently, the people from the Tuomaling tribe came to ask for help, saying that a group of bandits were causing great trouble and resulting in huge losses."

"The packhorse territory... I think I've been there before. I remember there was a lord there."

Li De had a good memory; the last time he went to Tuomaling was two years ago, and he remembered that the lord was a miser who wanted to squeeze every last drop of profit from the land.

"That's right, he sent people here, saying that the bandits are powerful and their soldiers have suffered heavy losses, which has affected spring planting."

"It seems our 'Mayor' isn't planning on sending troops to rescue us?"

"No, that's not it."

Sal explained, "Although there is no nominal superior-subordinate relationship between the Pikeman Territory and the Ox Fortress, the responsibility of tax collection falls on the Ox Fortress. The disruption to spring planting will inevitably affect the autumn tax. For this reason alone, that guy will send troops, but..."

After organizing his thoughts, he reluctantly explained the reason: "He said that the monster incident had just passed and that I needed to stay behind with the troops to ensure the safety of the citizens. So the task of leading the troops to provide support fell to his nephew."

"That playboy is nominally a member of the city guard, but in reality he's a gang leader who has gathered a bunch of thugs. He neither patrols nor stands guard every day; he just does dirty work like bullying men and women and extorting money."

"If we send them to suppress the bandits, even if the villagers of Tuomaling are so poor that they're practically skin and bones, they'll still squeeze every last drop of oil out of them! It's better to let the bandits keep causing trouble."

Li De understood.

"So you're planning to send me to deal with the bandits first, so they have no reason to send troops?"

"That's right, but we can't get an official reward for this. The lord of the packhorse territory is a miser and won't pay, and forget about the mayor. If you're willing to take the job, I'll pay you 100 crowns privately afterwards, how about that?"

One hundred crowns to wipe out a band of bandits is a very worthwhile deal. To him, bandits are no different from monsters, and he has no psychological burden when killing them, but Li De still shook his head.

"That one hundred and fifty..."

Sal immediately demanded more money upon seeing this.

Li De quickly raised his hand to stop him: "It's not that I think the money is too little, but you can't pay for it. The 'Mayor' wants credit, but also wants to use this as an excuse for his nephew to make a fortune; the lord of the packhorse territories doesn't want to lose his private army, but also wants to quell the banditry. So in the end, I put in the effort and you put in the money, and they end up reaping the benefits?"

"So what do you want?"

Li De didn't continue on that line of conversation. Instead, he changed the subject and asked, "The mayor's nephew, and his gang of henchmen, are they all deserving of death, criminal thugs?"

"It's all because of that. Last time, those bastards insulted a widow. I finally managed to put them in jail and was preparing for a trial, but before the trial, that fat pig sent someone to threaten the widow and gave her some money. She recanted her confession in court, saying that she voluntarily...engaged in group sex with them. That bastard even stood in the courtroom and smiled at me!"

Sal, who was already an upright person, became so angry just talking about it that his face turned red and his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

"Didn't you ever think about getting rid of this scourge completely?"

"How do I resolve this? Every time I try to expel them from the city guard, someone reports me for eliminating dissidents and treating the city guard as a private army. In the end, nothing ever comes of it."

After Sal finished pouring out his grievances, he suddenly realized that Li De's words had a hidden meaning. He looked up and saw Li De smiling in the sunlight, but that smile was full of coldness.

"You mean...?"

"That's right. He wants to suppress the bandits, so let him go. I'll go ahead and intercept them on the way..."

Li De gestured with his hand across his neck as if he were slitting his throat.

"Afterwards, just say it was a bandit attack and the entire army was wiped out. When the mayor sends you to suppress the bandits, just say that the bandits were a well-equipped group of deserters, and there were many of them. Sending too few troops is useless, and sending too many troops will leave Niubao's defenses weak. If they take the opportunity to enter the city and loot, the consequences will be unimaginable. Force 'Mayor' to issue a reward, and then I will go and deal with the real bandits."

"In this way, I got the bounty, the city guards were rid of the parasites, Niubao was freed from trouble, and Tuomaling was no longer bothered by bandits. Everyone was happy."

Sal stared wide-eyed, clearly taken aback by this elaborate scheme. After a long pause, he stammered, "Well... it's not entirely impossible."

The two finalized their action plan for tomorrow in a few words. Sal didn't dare to delay and immediately got up to go back and find a way to buy himself another day.

Elena gently grabbed Li De's ear, turned his head towards her, and examined him closely.

"You shouldn't be a witcher. You should be a politician in Tritorg. You're too cunning."

Li De leaned forward and gave her a light peck on the lips, then smiled.

"It's just that Sal is too honest. If it were someone else, with the people's love, the city guard's loyalty, and the connections left by the former mayor's father, they would have seized power and become mayor long ago, let alone dealt with a spoiled brat who bullies others. How could they tolerate such a fat and arrogant guy acting like a tyrant?"

"Then why are you only leaving tomorrow?"

"My sword won't be finished until tomorrow," Li De raised an eyebrow, a hint of anticipation flashing in his eyes. "How will I know how sharp my newly forged sword is if I don't test it out?"