The following afternoon, under clear skies and a steady sea breeze, they made their way through Gildorf, the wealthy district in northern Novigrad.
Angoulême, curious about eunuchs, walked ahead with Happen, who was leading the way. She kept muttering questions that would have earned anyone else a beating, things like whether getting it cut off hurt, or how he normally went to the toilet.
But creatures with only one brain cell possessed a peculiar charm. Angoulême somehow made it perfectly clear that she was only curious, not mocking him, and certainly wasn't passing any judgment. As a result, the spellcaster actually chatted and laughed with her quite happily.
Lambert, meanwhile, wore a brand-new suit of leather armor and carried freshly maintained weapons as he walked beside Victor at the rear, looking neat and refreshed.
With the armor crafted by Yoana and further enchanted by the alchemist, the witcher's combat strength had risen by at least twenty percent.
"...Jad Karadin, witcher of the School of the Cat, formerly the leader of a band of assassins.
"He has since changed his name to Roland Treugger and become a well-known merchant and philanthropist in Novigrad. He married a widow and is raising the two children she brought into the marriage.
"Last quarter, most of his charitable donations went toward education..."
"Could you please shut up? Are you trying to tell me he's turned over a new leaf, gotten himself a wife and children, and that we shouldn't take revenge on him?"
"No, don't misunderstand. I'm just telling you the intelligence Count Reuven gave me in advance so you know what you're walking into. What you ultimately decide to do is your business.
"I'm not going to stand on the sidelines preaching forgiveness. People who do that deserve to get struck by lightning. Let me make this perfectly clear, Angoulême and I are on your side. Even if you decide to kill his whole family, I won't object."
Lambert whistled.
"So... you really killed more than a hundred people in one night in the Skellige Isles?"
"Don't listen to Angoulême's nonsense. Technically, I didn't kill a single one of them. I just hacked the pirates into cripples and dragged them over for Vigi to finish."
"That somehow sounds even worse. Believe me, Vesemir wouldn't approve."
"I respect Vesemir as a person, but some of his ideas are too old-fashioned. His moral code in particular hasn't kept pace with the times."
Lambert raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"When witchers were first created by mages, their purpose was to deal with the monsters that infested the Continent in the old days. There may be fewer monsters now, but the Conjunction of the Spheres hasn't stopped. Monsters are still constantly finding their way into our world.
"So our numbers can decrease, but we cannot disappear. At least, as a witcher myself, that's what I believe.
"The dangers of the old days demanded almost monastic discipline from our predecessors, but in return, they were granted corresponding status and respect.
"Yet in this age of contempt, people demand the services of witchers while treating them with insults and scorn. That's neither normal nor healthy, and I intend to change it."
"Hah! Maybe you don't realize just how difficult the change you're talking about would be. Are you planning to make an enemy of the entire world?"
"It's simply a question of whether you have enough power. Either way, we're helping people eliminate monsters. Between having them spit on me and having them lick my boots, I much prefer the latter."
"Your ideas are extremely dangerous..."
"They'd only be dangerous if I lacked the strength to back them up, and I'm already beginning to earn the respect of those at the top.
"You know about the kingslayer affair, don't you? We have Kaer Morhen, so we've never realized how precious having a home truly is.
"Those homeless witchers were willing to risk their lives and sacrifice their reputations just to carve out a place where they could stand, trying to force the world to change the way it treated them.
"Unfortunately, the kingslayers' methods were doomed to fail. The game of power leaves no room for mercy.
"Real resolve means that if those in power refuse to give us a place, we'll carve one out for ourselves!
"If the world isn't gentle enough, then we'll use strength to make it gentler. That's how I, Victor Corion, do things."
"I knew you weren't the sort to follow the usual path back when you started selling aphrodisiacs in Ban Ard. But you've gone so much further today that even Geralt seems restrained by comparison. I'm worried you might go too far to ever come back."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you think you're getting too close to villains? Boslaer yesterday, Happen today, don't tell me you can't see that they're both scum. If the need arose, either of them would sell out anyone without a moment's hesitation!"
Victor smiled and shook his head.
"Your judgment is undoubtedly correct, but they have no reason to betray me, and I won't give them the opportunity. Nor do I have any obligation to judge them.
"Not long ago, I shared a bath with Happen's boss, Count Reuven, and I have to say, he's a decent and honest bastard. Think about it, decent and honest. Those are incredibly rare and admirable qualities in this age, and they'll probably still be rare in the future.
"Sometimes I imagine that perhaps, in some distant future, there'll come a day when no woman is truly virtuous, virtue will simply mean the temptation wasn't strong enough, and no man is truly loyal, loyalty will simply mean the price of betrayal was too low."
"What kind of evil future is that!? If such a day ever comes, I think that world would be better off destroyed."
"Uh... it's actually not as terrible as you're imagining. With the rule of law and mutually beneficial cooperation as its foundation, I'm certain the future I imagine would have a far higher level of happiness than the present."
"Eskel would be devastated. He used to think you'd inherited his teachings perfectly. But... why did you never talk about any of this before?"
"I did. I talked about it during the winter when I was still an apprentice. None of you wanted to listen to me back then.
"You chose to think about where you'd travel next and discuss what new monsters you might encounter, ghouls, leshens, fleders, werewolves, basilisks, and so on.
"See? That's how having a voice works. If I hadn't fought you to a draw last night, you might not even be treating me as an equal conversation partner right now. And I've never forgotten how arrogant you were back in Ban Ard when you threatened me with your sword!"
"...Ahem. I think you ought to be a little more forgiving. Perhaps you'd like to tell me more about the kingslayers?"
Victor snorted at Lambert's clumsy attempt to change the subject, then began telling him what had happened to the witchers of the School of the Viper.
...
Some time later.
The guards outside a luxurious estate visibly shrank back when they saw Happen approaching.
Declining any further assistance from the eunuch, Lambert chose to enter with Victor alone and confront Jad Karadin, the mastermind behind Aiden's death.
The Cat School witcher, now living under the name Roland Treugger, sent his wife and the children who had been playing nearby inside, leaving the three witchers alone to speak in the courtyard.
In this private trial, Lambert served as prosecutor, Karadin defended himself, and Victor acted as witness.
Karadin said that he regretted the people he had murdered in the past, but claimed Aiden's case had been different.
At first, they hadn't intended to kill Aiden. Aiden had taken payment for a job he failed to complete, and they hadn't gone after him as assassins, but as debt collectors.
However, Aiden had already spent the money, so they demanded his sword as repayment. Aiden refused and flew into a rage. Vienne, who had been positioned as their sniper, panicked and lost control, shooting an arrow straight into his eye.
Afterward, she invented a different story and shifted the blame onto the others simply to conceal her own guilt.
Once the defense finished presenting his case, Mr. Lambert, prosecutor and presiding judge, rejected his account. He demanded a one-on-one duel with Karadin and ultimately slit his throat during the fight.
Afterward, Lambert spared Karadin's wife and children rather than wiping out the entire family.
...
After leaving the estate, their superhuman senses could clearly hear the cries of the woman and children coming from inside.
Victor and Lambert both knew the other could hear them.
Remembering the hatred in the eyes of those two children as they left the courtyard, the balding witcher rubbed his forehead.
"I'm sure you saw it too. Do you think I was stupid? Too merciful?"
The blond witcher stretched lazily.
"Not at all. I did the same thing on the night we wiped out those pirates. But you'd better stay alert from now on. I don't want to hear one day that someone came back and smashed your skull in with a club."
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