Chapter 138: 138. First Arrival at Ban Ard.
After spending a night at the inn in Kaer village, Allen and the others embarked on their journey. It's worth mentioning that before they descended the mountain, the school had already prepared four fine horses for them in the village's large stable.
Two chestnut mares, one black, and one white, all with gentle temperaments, suitable for novice riders. The market price for such high-quality horses would be at least two hundred Orens. According to Vesemir, these horses were personally selected by the Chief.
"Hurry up and choose. Once you've picked your horses, we need to set off," Vesemir said, seeing the witchers excitedly examining the horses, chatting non-stop.
Although the next village with an inn wasn't far, and they now had horses, none of the young witchers, including Allen, had ridden a horse before.
Given the time they'd spend learning to ride, they'd need to hurry if they didn't want to spend the night outdoors. After some back-and-forth, Allen was the first to choose the pure black mare, whimsically naming her "Carrot."
"Carrot?"
"What kind of weird name is that?" Vesemir couldn't help but comment when he heard it.
"It symbolizes that my horse is immortal. With a single whistle, she can cross mountains and rivers to come to my side," Allen joked, getting into the spirit.
Vesemir rolled his eyes and didn't respond.
"Isn't a carrot a type of vegetable? Does it really have that kind of symbolism?" Hughes, standing nearby, seemed tempted to choose the same name.
But after Vesemir gave him a stern look, he struggled for a moment and decided against it, naming his horse "Cabbage" instead. He figured that since both were vegetables, the effect should be similar. Bond and Fred, after hearing the naming styles of the other two, exchanged glances and decided to name their mounts "Red Date" and "Oats."
The pure red mare became "Red Date," while the one with white spots was "Oats."
Vesemir, though a bit exasperated by their naming choices, didn't say much. After giving them a brief lesson on riding techniques, he led the group on their way.
During the journey to Ban Ard, Vesemir, eager to investigate the king's attitude toward the Wolf School, only took on a few simple tasks as they passed through villages, killing some drowners and ghouls along the way.
But even though they were pressed for time, Vesemir still adhered to the habit of training apprentices during travels. Along the way, he taught the four newly minted witchers about tracking, common and uncommon monsters, and some basic curse-breaking techniques.
During this time, Allen used his points to upgrade Hughes', Bond's, and Fred's Quen and Igni signs to level 2. Unfortunately, despite jokingly using his monster-hunting skills to invite Vesemir to join his troop multiple times during the journey, it never worked. So, he had to set that aside for now, hoping to try again later when the opportunity arose.
Throughout the journey, Allen noticed that as they got closer to Ban Ard, the villagers' attitudes toward the witchers became more distant and fearful. Fortunately, there hadn't been any outright hostile rejection like in the games or original stories of his previous life.
Even so, Allen could sense that the emotions of the witchers, including Vesemir, had grown much more somber. And who could blame them?
Though witchers always demanded payment for their work, they still had to risk their lives. What witcher would want to return from a dangerous hunt, covered in blood and sweat, only to be met with looks of disgust and disdain from their clients?
This made Allen sigh again and heightened his vigilance. It was clear that the enemies' malice was already quite evident. The mages of Ban Ard were surely involved, but how much the king was entangled in it remained unknown.
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Ban Ard, located at the foot of the Blue Mountains, is one of the two largest cities within Kaedwen, the other being the kingdom's capital, Ard Carraigh.
The city is primarily known for its mining industry, but it's world-renowned for the Ban Ard Academy. After a ten-day journey, Vesemir finally brought Allen and the others to this city. However, they arrived a bit early, and the city gates were still closed. So the five of them had to lead their horses and patiently wait in line for the gates to open.
To Allen's relief, although some people around them stepped away when they saw them, most of the others merely frowned without any particular reaction.
Until…
"Stay away from me, you mutant freaks..."
A voice of disdain came from a nearby queue, but before Vesemir could respond, the man was quickly silenced by his companion covering his mouth.
Allen's keen witcher senses picked up the companion's whispered advice: "Are you crazy? Those are witchers! Aren't you afraid that those lunatics will kill you with a single sword stroke?"
"What is there to be afraid of?" The man shrugged off his companion's hand, looked provocatively in Allen's direction, and loudly declared, "This is Ban Ard. With so many mages here, can we really tolerate these mutant freaks running amok?"
The man's companion gave Vesemir a quick, apologetic nod and then whispered into the man's ear, "What good are mages? Even the king can't do anything to them!"
"Just ten days ago, I delivered some silk to Ard Carraigh. I personally saw two witchers kill more than a dozen guards in the street."
"The blood stained the entire street red."
Upon hearing this, the man recoiled in fear, taking a few steps back and clutching his companion's sleeve.
"What?"
"Are you serious? Two witchers? They killed more than a dozen guards?"
"And... what about the king? Did the king do anything about it?"
His companion shot another quick glance at Allen and the others, sighed, and whispered, "I was so scared I ran away, but I heard from a friend of a friend of a court noble's trusted servant that the two witchers were released the next day."
"What!"
The man let out another gasp, looked fearfully at Allen and the others, and then hurriedly grabbed his companion, fleeing in panic, knocking into several pedestrians as they rushed away. Probably afraid of witcher retaliation. If Allen could hear it so clearly, Vesemir naturally took in their entire conversation as well.
Although his face remained impassive as if he hadn't heard anything, the tight fists at his sides revealed that his mood was far from calm.
"Allen, what were those two men whispering about just now?" Hughes asked, noticing Vesemir's expression, and handed his reins to Bont before sneaking over to ask.
"Nothing much, they were just talking about some of the black sheep among the witchers!" Vesemir answered for Allen, turning to look at Hughes.
Seeing that the master witcher was in a bad mood, Hughes didn't dare ask further, shrinking his head and running back to Bond. This welcome to Ban Ard was anything but pleasant!
Allen sighed inwardly, already anticipating that their time in Ban Ard would be filled with many unpleasant encounters. Just then, a commotion of cursing and whip cracks erupted behind them.
He turned to see several mages in black robes approaching, followed by a dozen knights wearing yellow cloaks adorned with black unicorns, who seemed to be escorting a prisoner wagon. The clattering of the wagon's wheels on the cobblestones grew louder as it drew closer.
Allen's cat-like blue eyes widened slightly as he realized...
The prisoners inside the wagon were a group of long-haired, pointed-eared elves.
...…
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139. Aen Saevherne.
140. The Abandoned Castle.
141. The Taste of the Cook's Food.
142. The Black Unicorn.
143. Vesemir Beaten up.
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