Sunlight seeped through the cracks in the crypt's domed ceiling. Dust could be seen floating in the air along the beams of light. Beside the most ornate sarcophagus in the burial chamber lay an unclothed princess, while inside the sarcophagus, a melodious tune drifted.
Turning off the alarm clock, the boy pressed his ear against the coffin wall and confirmed that there was no striga roar outside. Then he used the Quen Sign to protect himself, undid the sealing effect of the Yrden Sign, and pushed open the coffin lid to come out.
The Sharingan flowed. At a glance, Victor saw the disharmony on the ground. She truly lived up to the name Adda the White, a contender with no melanin deposits at all. So the witcher took out a cloak and wrapped it around the princess, leaving only her head exposed, then politely poked her awake.
...
After waking up, the princess sat up without screaming or panicking. She merely stared at Victor's mask for a long while, then reached out to remove it. The boy did not stop her.
Taking off the fox mask, looking at those strange pupils, the familiar scar, and the curve of that smile, Adda gave a bitter smile, her face ashen. "Victor... so in the end, it really was you who came to save me! You've already become a witcher!? What time is it now? How many years have passed?"
Victor smiled brightly. "That's right, it's me, Victor Corion. Don't worry about the time. It's still 1270. From the relapse of your curse to its removal now, less than seven days have passed altogether."
Hearing what the witcher said, the princess's face instantly blossomed with radiance. She urgently asked, "Is Vizima all right now? Did anything bad happen?"
The boy shook his head. "The situation is terrible. A nonhuman riot erupted in the slums and the Temple Quarter. Today is the third day. Yesterday they even invaded the Trade Quarter and caused great destruction. King Foltest returned to the city early because of it. It was also the king who commissioned me to come save you."
The witcher's words were like a whip, mercilessly lashing away Adda's spirit. She leaned back against the coffin, her eyes empty, silently gazing at the dust motes in the beams of light.
After a while, the princess asked softly, "Tell me, witcher, could my curse have relapsed naturally?"
As expected of a woman who had nearly caught Batman, her ability to grasp the key point was strong. "If you had always worn the specially made necklace and burned exorcising incense in your room, the curse would not have relapsed naturally. Basically, I believe you were framed."
As he spoke, he took out a sapphire necklace from his pocket and handed it to her. "Look! I found this in the coffin. A very fine sapphire, almost flawless. The necklace material that should have been pure silver is also impure. It only looks shiny, but has no effect in warding off evil. Perhaps some other method of triggering the curse was also carried out, but I don't have time to study it in depth. If there are documents from back then, perhaps they can give you a clearer answer."
By the time Victor finished speaking, Adda's expression had already steadied from its ashen state. She still tilted her head slightly, her cheek looking as white as congealed cream. "Good. Being able to confirm I was framed is good!"
She said "good," but her expression did not look good at all. "If there is any news afterward, you can come directly to me..." Then her voice grew quieter, almost inaudible, but every sound entered the witcher's keen ears. "...How ridiculous. I never thought it would end this way. To stumble in a place like this. If I'd known earlier, I would have..."
The boy looked down, as though contemplating nothing at all, pretending he had heard nothing. However, connecting it with what Thaler had said, perhaps the princess had once supported and used Salamandra too, only she had never expected the other party to rely on the curse and kick her out of the game.
Some time later, Adda, who had turned her face back toward him, had already recovered her calm. She even wore a sweet smile. "Counting it this way, you... only became a witcher not long ago, right? Were you not frightened last night? I heard I look terrifying after transforming!"
Hearing the princess's question, Victor felt relieved. It seemed that after the curse faded, she had not retained her memories from when she was a monster. Last night, he had not taken much care of the striga, beating her in all kinds of creative ways.
And from the brief observation he had made before covering her with the cloak, the serious injury that should have been on her right thigh seemed to have recovered along with the breaking of the curse, leaving no trace.
He smiled and answered, "Not very frightening. Actually, your hair was quite flowing. Once you got used to it, there was even a unique kind of beauty."
"Tch! A bard's mouth." Adda's face was full of disbelief, but she did not seem inclined to pursue the matter. She extended a hand toward the witcher. "Let's go! You came to drive away the curse. Who is guarding outside?"
Victor stepped forward and helped her up. "The people who brought me here were Mayor Velerad, Captain Roderick, and more than twenty royal guards, all with lily emblems."
"Heh, it seems he still hasn't given up!" The princess sneered. Her lips came close to the witcher's ear, and her voice turned soft and charming. "Hey... Victor, you saved me, and I'll reward you properly. But if you want to get that reward, I'm afraid you'll have to do me one small favor first..."
...
Some time later, outside the striga's crypt, they heard banging kicks against the door and Victor shouting for it to be opened.
The latch was unlocked, and several knights worked together to pull open the heavy iron gate. But the one who appeared before Velerad and Roderick was only the witcher Victor. There was no sign of Princess Adda.
Although they had been mentally prepared, actually facing this situation was still quite a shock. Just like that, Temeria's eldest princess was gone!?
"You... what happened? Don't tell me you really..." The mayor stepped forward two steps, somewhat unable to believe it.
"I am very sorry, but the method used to lift the curse in the past did not work." Victor offered no further explanation, merely shaking his head with a sigh.
Roderick immediately wore a mournful expression and covered his face with one hand. "I never thought it would turn out like this. In the end, we still had to reach this point!" After saying that, he turned away in pain and left.
Victor noticed that as Roderick walked outward, several knights around them also followed at the same time.
And this subtle movement made Victor sigh inwardly at Adda's sharpness. If the door had opened and they had seen Her Highness the princess, perhaps they would have swarmed forward and chopped everyone present into mincemeat. Velerad most likely did not know the makeup of these knights beside him either. In reality, they were Roderick's diehards.
From the moment she learned the curse relapse was a framing, Victor had not even said anything yet, but Adda had locked her suspicion on her adjutant without the slightest hesitation. She was inside the game, not standing outside observing it, and Victor very much admired this judgment. She was not worried at all about falsely accusing him.
Staring at the Lily Knight's back, Victor moved close to Velerad and lowered his voice. "Princess Adda is still inside the crypt. She wants me to tell you that Roderick is the traitor who caused the curse to relapse. Arrest him when you have enough men. If it cannot be done in time, kill him without exception."
Hearing the witcher's words, the mayor said nothing. Even his expression did not change. He glanced at the few people following the Lily Knight out and quietly nodded. Without anyone reminding him, Velerad might not have noticed anything wrong. But with the premise that Adda was alive yet unwilling to come out, he also perceived the danger just now.
The royal guard knights were mainly made up of noble sons from Vizima, so they could not all be traitors. But at the very least, the few currently following behind Roderick mostly could not be allowed to remain.
Turning and walking up the steps, Velerad waved over his own subordinates. Although they had been attacked by Lickers and undead dogs last night and several knights had been wounded, with armor protecting them, none of the injuries were serious.
Victor also quietly followed. The thing Adda had first asked of him was not only to announce her death, but to help her capture Roderick. However, after the witcher subtly emphasized his identity, the princess did not force him.
Walking up the crypt steps, the boy, seeing daylight again, saw the mayor return to the group of knights under his command, while the Lily Knight came over carrying a bag of gold coins. It was probably the reward he had mentioned earlier, the payment for letting the princess leave the world without pain.
Looking at his finely groomed beard, Victor sighed and accepted the gold coins with no little emotion, knowing perfectly well that this should be the last time he saw Lily Knight Roderick.
To ensure everything went without fail, Adda had even dared to remain in the crypt. From this point of view, if Roderick had not used the curse to scheme against her, he really was only fit to dance in the princess's palm.
As for why the promising knight had betrayed her, what private entanglement he had with the princess, and whether behind it all lay moral collapse or human corruption, Victor might have the interest to gossip about those questions once the dust settled.
For now, he was heading to the nearby Old Manor.
Earlier, in his final conversation with Adda in the crypt, she seemed to have seen through many things and no longer cared about many things.
"Want to know Salamandra's secret base? Just like that other witcher, Geralt, you're tracking them too, aren't you? I can tell you where their headquarters are, and who the true person pulling the strings behind them is!
"As long as you're willing to help me... Oh, please! Don't make that expression again. Don't refuse me. At least not this time. Perhaps I won't have another chance to ask you for anything!"
...
Victor had agreed to her, deceived Roderick, and then, carrying an answer that left him somewhat surprised, even horrified, walked step by step toward the Old Manor, the former royal administrative hall and the once-center of power.
The sun gradually rose. Passing through an abandoned village, crossing a rotten iron fence, and approaching the manor, his extraordinary hearing could faintly catch cries of pain and moans.
The entire courtyard was actually overgrown with wild grass and looked deserted. With what his extraordinary vision could see, it was indeed obvious that no one had passed through here for a long time, or rather, Salamandra had another entrance and exit route.
Victor now understood what was going on with those elusive monsters. It was actually the same trick as the Scoia'tael bank robbery. The monsters created here were delivered through Vizima's famously proud sewers to various strategic locations. It was not a fresh concept, but it was useful and impossible to guard against.
After the encounter at the Sapopan manor, the witcher knew that mages could even make things similar to surveillance devices, while all kinds of mysterious methods emerged endlessly. So he simply fired off an Aard with a "boom," blasting open the rotten front door and entering to search, planning to find the basement entrance in the shortest possible time.
And his decisiveness was not unrewarded.
When he entered the hall, amid thunderous thuds, the long-absent Tyrants, or rather, large mutants, made a grand entrance. They held iron hammers and wore chainmail. Their enthusiastic welcome, surrounding him from front and back, proved he had found the right place.
The way he had defeated a Tyrant last time was by sticking a Grapeshot right in his face and blasting it beyond recognition. Actually, using Dancing Star would work too. Before these monsters switched to "plate armor," bombs should still be able to kill them effectively.
But among his current stock, he had fewer than five Grapeshot and Dancing Star bombs. He wanted to save this kind of instant burst damage for more critical moments.
So Victor drew his steel sword, drank tube after tube of auxiliary potions, and felt the side effect of his face heating slightly.
"Intruder detected. Enemy confirmed. Executing elimination procedure!" the four Tyrants said in unison.
The boy was stunned. They possessed thinking ability and could even obey orders and make simple judgments!?
At the manor, although he had already known Tyrants could distinguish friend from foe, hearing them speak was still shocking. Monstrous strength, agility, controllability, this kind of weapon was fully worth mass production.
He formed a sign with his hand, concentrated all his spirit, and struck the ground with five fingers. The Yrden Sign opened with a roar. Centered on the point of activation, everything within eight yards except Victor himself would suffer the slowing effect of magic power. Although against this kind of large monster, Yrden's efficiency would not be very good, as long as it could slow them slightly, it would create an enormous advantage.
However, when the four Tyrants rushed into the range of the Sign and attacked Victor, it proved that he had thought too much. Yrden's interference efficiency against them was not poor, it was terrible.
Because their strength was too great. The speed at which their iron clubs and heavy hammers smashed down was almost not slowed at all, forcing the witcher to form Quen and roll out of their attack range.
The plan to save bombs instantly fell apart. As he rolled up, he threw out two Grapeshot bombs. If he was going to use them, then there was no point in being stingy.
The Grapeshots exploded with thunderous cracks. Even with Quen protecting him, Victor, who was at some distance, still raised a hand to shield his face to avoid being cut by scattering iron fragments.
Then, in the next second, his pupils contracted, because the effect was far worse than expected. Two of them, caught unguarded, were seriously injured. Their eyes had been blinded, and they could only roar madly while swinging their weapons around, even hitting the two who were uninjured.
But the other two, who had raised their hands in time to shield their faces, had their chainmail pierced in many places and were not lightly wounded, yet their fighting ability had not been stripped away. They still raised their weapons and charged at him.
The chainmail they wore probably had multiple layers of silk underneath, so its protective effect against Grapeshot was extremely good.
After using up two Grapeshots, he had only gone from fighting four of them to fighting two. That efficiency was not very satisfying.
He suddenly thought of Geralt and wondered where the White Wolf was at this moment.
If this were a game, the Old Manor should count as a major dungeon no matter how you looked at it, and Azar Javed counted as a boss-level enemy too. How could the White Wolf not come and fight shoulder to shoulder with him?
If he appeared, the pressure would definitely be reduced significantly.
...
At this very moment, Geralt was somewhere in Vizima Palace.
Earlier, he had hurried to the palace. With Triss's introduction, the White Wolf quickly met King Foltest and awakened the king's favorable impression. After all, Geralt was the one who had saved the princess more than ten years ago.
Thus the king gave him two tasks. First, save Princess Adda if Victor failed. Second, attack Salamandra, who were continuously releasing monsters.
Because she had to protect the king, Triss temporarily could not leave the palace and could only prepare a new set of armor for the White Wolf.
Then, just before setting off, Geralt remembered the potion Angoulême had shoved into his hands. After considering it, he decided to drink it and try it.
So at this moment, Geralt was somewhere in Vizima Palace.
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