The Divine Hunter

In the afternoon, the White Orchard was bathed in golden sunlight, the clear streams were flowing in all directions, and the green fields and fruit trees were full of branches, spreading the fragrance of birdsong and flowers.

In the small village located here, it is a different scene. There are no people on the dirty and narrow roads, and the sparse thatched houses are arranged in a disorderly manner, which is not so decent. A large part of the house has been uninhabited for a long time, and it has been abandoned with cobwebs.

Seeing this, Ignacio looked surprised and opened his mouth slightly, "How did the White Orchard of the Veli Reis family look like this? Where have everyone gone?"

"Master, a year ago... did you forget?" Grant reminded in a low voice.

"A year ago? That's right..." Ignacio then remembered that absurd and cruel night. He drank too much alcohol and committed a series of heinous crimes in the village.

The residents of White Orchard were frightened, and most of them left, including those who died tragically.

He couldn't help lowering his head and staring at his hands. He could vaguely see the blood of innocents, and a shrill scream echoed in his ears.

"Sir, don't blame yourself. This group of people did offend you with vulgar words at the time. It was all their fault. Besides, you also waived a lot of taxes for those who stayed behind."

"Sir, is it too late to repent now?" Letho's expression was indifferent and his tone was calm.

If he happened to be in that carnage, he might have considered helping, but it was over and there was no point in attacking Baron Ignacio now.

How many nobles in this era have never been stained with the blood of the commoners. They are not chief judges.

On the other hand, Roy also wanted to understand that the witcher is neither a good person nor a heinous villain - at most, he maintains limited justice.

...

The group walked towards the house on the east side of the village. Along the way, they occasionally saw a middle-aged woman who was sitting in the yard and basking in the sun. The last time the witcher passed by, this group of women kept their dead faces from beginning to end. Ignore the two of them.

But today with the addition of a baron, the situation is very different. Noticing that the baron's village woman could no longer remain calm, she fled back to the house in a panic, with a burst of exaggerated screams comparable to that of a beautiful opera singer, like a mouse looking at a cat. As if the baron is some kind of beast.

"Ah..." Ignacio's expression became solemn.

Not long after they walked, they met the snotty little boy from last time. The little boy was happily teasing a yellow dog by the barn, but he looked up inadvertently, and when he saw the lord of White Orchard, he seemed to be attacked. When the lightning struck, he trembled like a sieve, his chest heaved violently, then his eyes rolled white, and with a "bang", he fell to the ground straight like a wooden stake.

Igna's face sank like water, and there was a little more embarrassment.

"Your Excellency Baron, you have a very bad impression in the hearts of the villagers..."

Roy stopped suddenly, looked back nervously, then twisted his neck like lightning and glanced around.

The young witcher behaved extremely abnormally, like a deranged patient who had been stimulated abnormally. He kept looking back all the way, passing by the White Orchard Tavern, and even sneaking a probe into the window, but unfortunately, except for the big-ass proprietress , and there is no alcoholic drinker.

"Little devil, why are you nervous? Didn't you already understand the cause and effect of the whole thing?" The bald man couldn't understand the state of the people around him.

"I have a bad feeling." Roy's face was tense and serious.

"Is the induction of ancient blood dangerous?"

"I can't tell right now, I hope it's an illusion."

The young witcher felt extremely anxious.

At the end of the investigation, he realized that the mastermind behind the whole incident, the guy who traded the bone book to Jennifer Villiers a hundred years ago, and let her continue her youth and life with forbidden witchcraft, is most likely a legendary existence. , Master of the Mirror - Gaunt Odim.

On the surface, Master Mirror is just a sloppy wandering businessman who sells mirrors and glass gadgets. But its true identity is a demon from another world, possessing an entity and wearing human skin.

It can be transformed into a variety of occupations at will, farmers, painters, butchers, alcoholics...different identities and appearances...wandering in the endless world, just to find high-quality customers that meet your heart, and sign a sales contract.

Its methods are also superb and skillful. Usually when the client needs help urgently, or even dying, he will show up and sign a contract that the other party cannot refuse.

It sells goods beyond the imagination of mortals - endless wealth, immortal life, horses as fast as wind, swords as sharp as mud, wine bags that can't drink, solve a specific problem... It can be said that it has everything.

And it accepts only one currency - the soul.

"You have everything you want, but after enjoying the goods, leave your soul behind."

The degree of danger in Roy's heart is second only to the gods.

...

Is the drinker who met in the tavern in White Orchard Village the incarnation of Gaunt Odim?

Has it been eyeing itself, or even doing something to the memory?

Roy couldn't be sure.

However, Gaunt Odim usually conducts all-weather, all-round surveillance of the selected "customers" without dead ends, but he went all the way without noticing it.

"If it is, hopefully it's just passing by by accident."

If this guy is staring at him, with his current ability, he can't resist at all.

...

Farmer Bram's hut, a thatched and timber house. There was no one in the yard during the day, only a few chickens and ducks croaked in the poultry pen.

Baron Ignacio was not a friendly visitor. He couldn't wait to see his only child. He winked at the soldiers beside him, and one of them stepped forward and kicked the door hard.

"Gosh, who are you, don't come here!" the woman screamed in horror, and the baron pushed the heavily armed soldiers into the house, followed by the witcher.

The house is divided into two sides by a wooden door, and outside is neatly arranged cookware, shelves for vegetables and goods, and an iron pot is standing on the fire, emitting white smoke, and white smoke is wafting from the wooden window directly behind. go out.

The thin woman stood on the bunk in the middle, leaning against the corner to block something, her young face was bloodless, her originally delicate facial features were distorted by fear.

"Men... Baron?!"

"It's me, Lord of White Orchard, Ignatius Veliris. Your name is Rena?" Ser grinned in an ugly smile, trying to be as gentle as possible, "Don't be afraid, I have no ill will, I just want to come here. look at you."

"Please, don't come here!" The woman's body began to tremble, and she seemed to recall the painful past, "Lord Baron, I don't need your visit, you are not welcome here..." She glanced back in a panic, " Please leave now!"

Ignacio spread his hands and approached the woman on his own.

"Okay, sir!" Roy stepped forward and stopped between the two. "Are you going to bully a lonely woman in front of us? How did you guarantee it?"

"Okay, sorry, ma'am, I'm too anxious to scare you." The baron spread his hands and looked apologetic, twisting his puffy body and backing away, "You have a daughter, right? Let me take a look, I'd use anything for..."

The baron craned his neck and increased his tone, "To make up for the damage done to you in the past!"

He noticed the woman's awkward posture, like a hen guarding her calf, "There's something behind you? Is it her?"

"Let me take a look, please!"

The baron bowed his hands to the woman in a low voice.

Since kowtowing to Cogrim's corpse, he seems to have completely discarded the face and dignity of the family,

"That poor girl needs a father!"

"I promise in the name of the Baron of White Orchard, I will give her the best care!"

"Wait, you...you said just now that you are willing to compensate me with anything?!" The woman realized something, the panic on her face disappeared, the color of madness flashed away, and there was a trace of confusion,

"As long as you forgive me for the stupid crime I committed in the past, let me take that child away." Seeing the other party's softening attitude, Ignatius was overjoyed, "The compensation guarantee will satisfy you!"

A tinge of red appeared on the delicate cheeks of the woman named Ruina, her hands clenched together desperately by all kinds of housework and farming.

She opened her mouth to startle a few people.

"Lord Ignacio, can you marry me then?"

"Bring me and the kids into the castle!"

Ignacio was stunned when he heard the words.

The witcher was also stunned, wondering if he had heard it wrong--a woman who was spoiled, was going to marry someone who hurt her.

"Will you marry me?" The baron's cloudy eyes looked at the woman from top to bottom, with a delicate face and a plump figure.

Although she wears the cheapest linen clothes and looks rustic, she is still a good beauty in the country.

"After Bram passed away, I raised my child alone. I had to get up early and go to the ground every day, do housework, and breastfeed her... I was so tired that I was full of problems in just one year, but I'm just a woman!" Rena felt sorry for herself Self-pity, eyes filled with tears.

"You want to take her away, no problem, but you must take me too!" The woman raised her head and looked excited, "I've been a farmer all my life, and I've had enough of this tight and hard life, I also want to wear new clothes, Freshly baked bread and meat at every meal!"

The woman stared at the baron's face, raised her chin slightly, and shouted with the greatest strength in her life, "I want to go to the castle to enjoy myself! I want you to marry me in front of all your subjects!"

"Rina, I, the lord of White Orchard, Ignacio Veliris agrees to your request!" The baron's sagging cheeks trembled, almost without hesitation, "When you return to the castle with the child, it will not be long before Have a wedding!"

The play in front of him really caught Roy by surprise. He rubbed his temples with disbelief on his face. A baron and a peasant woman just scribbled the status of husband and wife?

"Little devil, you are still too young. I have seen more twists and turns and bizarre things, not to mention the lord and the village woman who has been bullied by him, even if he kills his father and kills his mother's enemies, they can still combine." the voice said,

"But, they are not the victims... the perpetrators?"

"People's hearts are complicated. You can guarantee that after Rena enters the castle, she will be an honest noble lady? Not necessarily."

The bald man noticed the madness that flashed in the woman's eyes,

"what do you mean?"

"Let's go, search and see if you can find the evil spirit dust. Whether it will be a blessing or a curse in the future, it will be Ignat's fault, and it has nothing to do with us."

...

The baron, murmured with the utmost tenderness, passed the trembling woman to the cradle. "This is our child? What's her name?"

"Hanny..."

"Hanny baby, daddy is here to see you."

In the middle of the cradle, lay a petite baby girl wrapped in a white swaddle. She looked less than two years old, with fair skin and a chubby face. At the moment, she was holding her thumb, and her big bright eyes were unblinking. He looked at the stranger in front of him. The series of movements just now didn't even frighten her.

"Look at these eyes, they are more beautiful than black gems, there is no doubt that they are the symbol of the Viriles family! She belongs to my child..." The baron extended his fingers to the baby girl with joy, and squeezed gently. Pinching her delicate face, the baby girl was not afraid of life at all, and very close to her, she stretched out two chubby hands that looked like white lotus roots from the swaddling clothes towards each other.

The baron laughed from ear to ear, and took the baby girl out of the cradle. The baby girl seemed to be very close to him, and he let out a series of crisp laughter under his teasing.

"Lord, look at me, I promise, she is your own daughter." The woman lowered her eyebrows and her voice was soft as water, as if she had assumed the role of a wife.

"Ser Ignacio..." Soon after, the witcher came out and showed a small pile of evil spirit dust in his hand, which he had just found under the straw mat. "Look at the back of the child's head..."

"The birthmark of the Veli Leis bloodline is a fake!" The baron reached out and touched it, heaving a sigh of relief, then gently patted the swaddling clothes and pleaded, "Two masters, it's better to leave the entrustment here. Let's rush back to the castle now. Get paid?"

"Are you going to violate the previous agreement? Let the bad luck of the Williere family continue?" Roy approached the cradle, the baby's laughter stopped abruptly, and the big black eyes swept the witcher - she actually "Wow!" cried out on the spot.

As if feeling the malice of the witcher.

"Am I that scary?"

Roy smiled embarrassingly, moved slightly away from the swaddling clothes, and stared at the little guy.

Not to mention, this baby girl has fine skin and tender flesh, a chubby face, and looks quite cute.

hanny

Age: one year old

Gender: Female

identity:

The Reincarnator (the soul of Jennifer Veliris, the founder of the White Orchard Veliris family, who used forbidden necromancy to occupy Hanny's body)

"The soul of a hundred years old, the body of a baby." Roy's face was bitter, and he couldn't help but hesitate, "How should this be?"

To completely break the curse, Jennifer's body and the demon spirits she transformed into after her death must be destroyed! Only by disposing of this baby can the doom of the Velieris family be ended!

But when he saw the one-year-old baby girl with his own eyes, he realized that he had overestimated his cruelty. "Why didn't the mutation take my feelings?"

The bald-headed man's eyebrows were like raised mountains and rivers, and he was also caught in a dilemma.

Let him deal with monsters without blinking his eyes, but deal with children... the young life in the swaddle is not as big as his sandbag-like fist.

"You do it!"

Amber's eyes and Anjin's eyes collided, and the witcher master and apprentice pushed back at the same time, and then they were relatively speechless.

Seeing this, the baron gritted his teeth and pushed the swaddling clothes in front of them, "Two masters, look at her smiling face, pure and lovely. If you are ruthless, don't hesitate to do anything, I will never stop you!"

"Sir, what are you doing?" The woman stood in front of the baby nervously, disturbed by the strange stares of the two witchers.

"Rina, don't worry, the master wants to check the child's body..."

Ignacio sighed in relief after observing the expressions of the two, and said, "Master, I promise to abolish that absurd tradition... Raise her well, and send her to Orsenfurt to study when she is older... ...stay away from all witchcraft! Finally marry out of town!"

"She can't remember anything without that book!"

"You think too easily, as long as she's still alive..." Roy hypnotized Reina with five fingers, and then stared into Sir's eyes, "The bad luck of the Valeries family will continue. And to some extent, she killed her. your real daughter."

Ignacio's real daughter, the weak soul, who had no time to grow up, was replaced by Jennifer Villiers.

Hearing the words, Jazz looked down at the baby girl in his arms, his tone was gentle and decisive.

"She is the last child of the Viriles family, and for her, I am willing to suffer the consequences."

The two witchers fell silent for a moment.

"Why are humans so obsessed with continuing future generations?"

Roy really couldn't understand this question, and he found another reason for his weakness. "Jennifer has made deals with beings like Master Mirror. And the devil's asking price has always been innocent, that's the soul!"

"To deal with her now, won't it fail the other party's wishes? After it takes away Jennifer's soul, it may turn its head and stare at me!"

To be on the safe side, Roy decided to let the unknown existence continue to spend time with Jennifer.

He glanced at Leto, who seemed to understand his thoughts and nodded heavily.

"Ser Ignatius, I have to say, you're lucky. As witchers, we don't usually take a shot at humans, especially a target that's completely impossible to fight back... So we decided to let her go... But Remuneration."

"The master must be satisfied!" The baron blushed, gritted his teeth, "double... four hundred crowns!"

The three initially reached an agreement.

In the end, the source of the curse, the baby girl named Hannie Valerie, was brought back to the castle by the Baron of White Orchard and raised.

And the witcher followed Baron Ignacio back to the castle and finished the handover, and left without hesitation.

...

When the twilight was four, a bonfire was lit in the wilderness of White Orchard, and Roy threw the Book of Bones into the flames and watched it turn to ashes.

"August 1261..."

He wrote detailed records on the kraft paper handbook that he kept close to him: White Orchard, Amavit Castle, Viriles Family, Curse of Blood... Jennifer Virires made a deal with Master Mirror in order to prolong her youth and life? Sacrifice blood descendants.

He put down the pen and took a deep breath.

"Just let the Sir be like that?"

"Some people are more painful to live than to die," Letho took a sip of dwarf spirit, and his words were full of meaning, "especially when there are two women with ulterior motives around him, his fate will definitely be worse than Cogrim's. .Maybe the next time we go back to White Orchard, Amavit Castle will be gone."

"Such a punishment is enough."

The teenager sitting by the bonfire closed the manual, "I still don't understand some things, such as the dead child of Marie Verrières, who is the father? And with whom did Ignacio give birth to Florian? There is no trace of his wife's presence in the castle."

"You should have the answer in your heart, but you just don't want to believe it." Lesuo twisted his neck and looked at the dark night sky, "What does the book say at the end, the purer the bloodline, the more memories the reincarnator retains."

"I even suspect that the son-in-law of Veli Reis who has been in the family for generations is just a 'decoration'."

"This is the end of the White Orchard, let's talk about being happy." Leto interrupted his answer, and turned to curiosity, "Little devil, how much money do you have now?"

"Ignacio gave a total of 600 crowns in remuneration, plus what he saved before," Roy recovered slightly from the shock, and when it came to money, he became interested, "A total of 2,800 crowns, enough Buy a small house in the capital of any country in the north, and fit the four of us."

"Five, including 'Cogrim'."

"Yes! But rebuilding the school requires at least a manor-sized land, and the money is far from enough."

After listening to it, Lesso was glad for a while. Although he always thought that this kid was too mean, he had to admit that if the money was put on him, it would be almost the same.

"The next step is to collect materials, and then open the furnace for casting." Roy said excitedly,

"We'll have to wait." Leto shook his head, "Regardless of the difficulty of collecting materials, with the exception of Cogrim, Serrit and Ox are not as good as master blacksmiths in weapon casting, and we can't create perfect Snake Pie equipment. So we still need to find a master blacksmith."

"Maybe I have a way."

Roy's heart moved, and there was a target in his memory - in Vizima.

End of volume.