The voyage went smoothly. Several days later, outside Vergen, the four travelers mounted fine horses and headed south toward Vengerberg.
"Absolutely disgraceful!" Once they were some distance from the city gates, Guillaume could finally hold back his anger no longer and spat onto the ground.
"It's difficult to comprehend. How can a man like that be a king? He's nothing more than a common bandit and robber." Horace frowned as well, his expression filled with displeasure.
Their anger stemmed from the fact that Henselt's army had recently crushed the peasant forces left without Saskia's leadership and successfully occupied Vergen.
With southern Aedirn currently under attack by Nilfgaard, such an assault by another member of the Northern alliance was nothing short of outright betrayal. Even though they stood on different sides politically, the knights of Toussaint still found such behavior impossible to accept.
The heroic soldiers of Kaedwen, waving banners emblazoned with unicorns, had brought their particular brand of warmth to the inhabitants of Upper Aedirn. Rape, murder, pillage, they had provided the full range of services.
Victor had even seen the corpses of Vergen's former alderman, Cecil Burdon, and his nephew Skalen hanging from the gallows.
Without a doubt, the conqueror of Lormark, or Upper Aedirn, was now carrying out his radical national policy, suppressing the remnants of resistance while diligently reducing the local nonhuman population.
Of the friends who had once gathered here, Zoltan Chivay had been the first to leave. Dandelion had departed dejectedly after Saskia's identity was exposed, while Yarpen Zigrin had remained until the very end before retreating into the Mahakam Mountains after their defeat.
As for the Scoia'tael, when Iorveth left, he had handed command over to Lansi aep Easnillen. The dreadlocked young woman had already withdrawn all the elven troops from Vergen, and no one knew where they were currently hiding.
Letting his horse amble along at its own pace, Victor shook his head and sighed.
"Henselt will eventually pay for his betrayal. He thinks he's clever, but he's really nothing more than a stupid swine who can't see the real danger."
"The real danger? What danger could there be?" Angoulême was unconvinced. "Kaedwen's army looks pretty formidable to me, and Vergen is easy to defend. With them stationed here, the Black Ones should have a hard time attacking."
"Not Nilfgaard. Radovid V."
The witcher readily revealed the answer.
"Radovid V? That young, inexperienced king?" Horace asked curiously. "If I remember correctly, he only recently came of age. How could he possibly threaten an old fox like Henselt?"
Guillaume also turned an interested gaze toward him.
A gentle summer breeze swept across them, carrying a faint smell of blood.
"Radovid will launch a surprise attack during winter, completely conquer Kaedwen, establish total control north of the Pontar, and drag Nilfgaard into a quagmire."
"Hahahahaha!"
Guillaume laughed heartily.
"You certainly have an active imagination, but I refuse to believe Henselt would leave himself unguarded. There are only two viable invasion routes, and I'm certain both will be defended to the teeth."
"Quite so. If Redania's young king wanted to launch a surprise attack against Kaedwen, he'd first have to overcome the Kestrel Mountains separating the two kingdoms. And as everyone knows, there are only three routes through them.
"Ghelibol Pass is far too steep and rugged, so it can effectively be disregarded. The only routes truly suitable for moving an army are the Buina Valley to the north, or alternatively the Pontar Valley," Horace added with a smile.
Both men were highly trained elite knights from distinguished families, so they were perfectly capable of making sound military judgments of this sort.
Victor, however, was not making a military judgment.
He was relying on a prophet's foresight, along with his personal assessment of Radovid himself.
"You may not believe me now, but before long, Radovid the Stern will shock the entire world."
Victor had personally spent time talking with the young bald king, and he knew very well that the man was far from the simple madman portrayed in the game. He was a strategist blessed with extraordinary insight.
Everyone who underestimated him would eventually pay the price.
Philippa Eilhart already had.
Soon it would be Henselt of Kaedwen.
And eventually, even Nilfgaard's emperor, Emhyr var Emreis, would not escape unscathed.
The two knights exchanged a glance but chose not to argue with the witcher.
They did not understand why he held such a high opinion of the young king, but from Toussaint's perspective, the true concern was neither a northern monarch nor the emperor of the south.
It was the savage beast currently terrorizing their capital.
...
Over the next several days, they continued south and passed by Vengerberg.
Unfortunately, Aedirn's capital was currently under siege by the armies of the Black Ones. Stennis I, who had only recently ascended the throne, was trapped inside the city, leaving the Phantom Troupe with no opportunity to meet him.
After crossing through the most fiercely contested regions of the war and continuing south, they mostly encountered shattered ruins.
The four of them even dealt with one group of bandits whose clothes were filthy and soaked with blood, yet still clearly recognizable as regular Aedirnian army uniforms.
Aedirn might originally have been able to hold out longer while waiting for some unknown hope to emerge.
But Henselt's stab in the back had completely destroyed what remained of the kingdom's capacity to wage war.
Stennis I, trapped in Vengerberg, might very well meet the same end as Queen Calanthe of Cintra, forced to leap from the city walls rather than watch his kingdom fall.
These were all topics Victor discussed casually with Angoulême during the quieter stretches of their journey, with the two knights occasionally joining their conversations.
Victor was actually rather curious about something.
Toussaint certainly protected itself by presenting an image of complete harmlessness, but surely the Empire must once have considered annexing the duchy directly as a province.
What exactly had convinced Nilfgaard to accept Toussaint as a protectorate instead?
Unfortunately, although both knights came from distinguished families and had received excellent educations, neither possessed sufficient knowledge to answer the question.
Perhaps Victor would have to ask Duchess Anna Henrietta directly, or find a scholar deeply versed in history.
...
After passing through the most chaotic regions and continuing south, they entered vast stretches of uninhabited land.
Only after crossing the Yaruga did orderly Nilfgaardian-style villages begin appearing again.
They could hardly be called flourishing, but they were certainly nowhere near death's door.
Passing through Theodula Pass, the Phantom Troupe reached the intersection of the Nevi Valley and Sansretour Valley, arriving at Belhaven in the Nilfgaardian province of Nazair.
The city caused Angoulême and Victor to simultaneously remember Fulko Artevelde, the notoriously harsh and uncompromising prefect.
They had heard, however, that because of the war, he had already been sent toward the front to administer newly conquered territories.
Continuing south from Belhaven, they officially entered the Duchy of Toussaint once more.
...
Several days later, they stepped into the fairy-tale land overflowing with flowers and fine wine.
The duchy's peculiar magic worked as reliably as ever, and the moods of all four travelers immediately improved.
At Angoulême and Victor's insistence, they stopped for a while at the Cockatrice Inn and enjoyed an incomparably delicious bowl of crayfish chowder.
After reminiscing about happier times and eating their fill, the Phantom Troupe and the knights resumed their journey toward the capital.
But as Beauclair drew closer, Victor's mind began working constantly, searching through his memories for anything else that might prove useful.
I don't think I've ever traveled along this road before...
Then the sight of a courtyard beside the road made him yank hard on the reins.
Through the open gates, his Blue Rinnegan caught sight of children running wild and playing inside the courtyard.
Their laughter rang brightly through the air, full of youthful vitality and hope.
"Horace, what is this place?"
The witcher's voice sounded strangely dazed.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Vic, this is an orphanage sponsored by Lady Orianna. She's a compassionate noblewoman and a member of one of the oldest families in the duchy."
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