His figure hovered above the ground. Just as he was about to accelerate into the night sky, his gaze casually swept towards the temple entrance, and he couldn't help but pause.
There, in the cold moonlight and the light of torches burning at the temple door,
two familiar figures entered the courtyard on the edge of the temple, one after the other—Geralt and Yennefer.
Karl slightly raised his brows, controlling his body to slowly descend back to the ground.
He didn't need to think about it; at this moment, these two coming together to his temple could only have one goal: to find him.
It couldn't be that they suddenly took an interest and wanted to pray to the statue carved in his likeness in the temple, right? That was simply impossible.
He remembered well Nenneke saying that Geralt was essentially an atheist, believing only in the sword in his hand and the facts he saw with his own eyes.
And Yennefer, during this period, embodied the typical mindset of the younger generation of sorcerers.
They generally mock so-called gods and beliefs, believing in Chaos magic, knowledge, and their own power.
Only in the future, after experiencing more life and death, and witnessing new miracles, would Yennefer begin to contemplate these metaphysical beings.
Karl stood still, waiting for them to approach, the moonlight stretching his tall figure into a slender shape.
His hearing had already picked up the whispers between the two in the distance.
Although they deliberately lowered their voices, the words "dragon hunt" and "green dragon" stirred a wave in his heart.
His eyes flickered slightly, and together with some memories and understanding of these two people's personalities, he immediately guessed the general outline of the matter.
In this affair, Yennefer was probably trying to raise money to solve her infertility problem and obtain materials from the dragon's body.
With Geralt's creed—a Witcher who takes money for a job and generally doesn't fear the consequences—
if it weren't for this matter involving someone very dear to him, he would never have provoked a dragon, especially a highly intelligent green one.
After a while, the footsteps stopped behind him, and Karl felt two gazes fall on his back.
However, he didn't turn around immediately, simply waiting quietly.
Geralt looked at Karl in the torchlight, especially at his straight, even mysterious back.
He opened his mouth, but swallowed the words as they came to him, his amber cat-like pupils full of hesitation and struggle.
A dragon hunt was a serious matter; this creature could destroy an army, and the danger was far above the usual level.
Involving Karl, if something happened...
He truly couldn't bring himself to speak; it seemed like he was pushing a friend into a fire pit.
Until Yennefer, standing beside him, noticed he had been silent for a long time and glanced at him impatiently.
She nudged his waist with her elbow, a slight hint of urging.
Geralt sighed helplessly, as if making a decision, and called out: "Karl."
Karl heard this sound and slowly turned around, no look of surprise on his face.
Instead, there was a kind of indifference of knowing all along, and a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
His gaze darted between Geralt and Yennefer, finally settling on the sorceress.
"A dragon hunt operation? It seems Yennefer has been discussing this with you?" Karl immediately hit the nail on the head, as if talking about tomorrow's weather.
He deliberately strengthened his tone on the word "discussing," and his gaze swept over Yennefer with a slight playfulness.
It seemed to ask: did you really "discuss" this, or did you make a unilateral proposal, and Geralt was simply forced to agree?
Yennefer's face instantly flashed with undisguised surprise—she was sure her conversation with Geralt was quiet enough and far enough away; how did Karl know?
But this surprise was quickly suppressed by her, and she immediately came up with a plausible explanation: the other party was a sorcerer, far stronger than her.
It was only normal to use some clever mind-reading technique that she didn't notice.
This deepened her fear of Karl, and she stepped forward, bowed slightly, and showed even more solemn politeness than before.
She deliberately lowered her posture and softened her voice, trying to convince him with reason and compliments: "Your Excellency, as you said, a dragon—"
"the harm of dragons is great. They possess wisdom, terrifying strength, can easily destroy cities, burn villages, and bring endless disasters to civilians."
"Listen to Geralt, you are a brave and powerful warrior. For the safety of the common people..."
However, Yennefer's carefully prepared rhetoric about heroism and moral kidnapping was cut short.
Karl raised his hand and made a clear gesture to interrupt her.
"Heh, Yennefer, put away that set of heroic rhetoric about justice and peace."
Karl chuckled lightly and shook his head, the playful smile on his face replaced by sarcasm.
"I have never considered myself a hero admired by the world, nor someone with good moral principles, let alone a 'good person' in the pure sense."
"I also have a selfish side, and I also weigh the pros and cons, and often choose to coldly stand by regarding things that don't concern me."
"What drives me to act is more often my own will, an obligation, or... pure self-interest."
Yennefer was stunned by these brutally honest words and involuntarily cast a cold, sidelong glance at Geralt.
With questioning and imperceptible grievances in her eyes, she seemed to say, "Why is he not at all the person you described? Didn't you say that although he is mysterious, he is very straightforward?"
Geralt didn't look at Yennefer; his eyes were always on Karl.
Hearing Karl's words, the corners of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly on his paralyzed face, and a clear gleam flickered in his cat-like pupils.
When he had interacted with Karl before, he had vaguely felt an indescribable quality in Karl.
Karl was familiar with noble etiquette and comfortable at court, but some details revealed his impatience with hypocritical socializing.
Now it seemed that this calmness and acknowledgment of his own shortcomings were his true nature.
He actually looked down upon the bureaucracy and political games of the aristocracy.
Karl shrugged nonchalantly, as if stating a simple fact.
"A dragon... I haven't seen one with my own eyes. Whether to hunt or not, I have my own criteria for judgment."
"It won't be blindly shot down just because it's a dragon, just because someone needs it."
"However, by the way, it's been days since I've had a proper fight. My bones are almost getting rusty."