The Witcher: Wolf School's Hunting Notes

Allen chewed the food in his mouth, digesting the shocking news.

The others at the long table ate in silence, seemingly waiting for him to speak.

For a moment, the only sounds at the table were the clink of cups and the scraping of utensils on the table.

"Given the severity of the situation," Allen said thoughtfully, wiping his plate with a piece of bread, "what are you planning to do now? And why did Vesemir and Sir Arthur just have a disagreement?"

"Remember the analogy I made earlier?" Sara asked.

"About the Count and the Barons?" Allen paused for a moment, "The Count facing external enemies, with several Barons tightly connected by marriage…"

Allen frowned. "You mean... it's not three 'Barons', but two 'Barons' and one 'Count'?"

"Exactly!" Sara nodded. "And so far, we've found two 'Barons', but there might be more hiding in the mountains."

"As for what we're going to do and why they argued..." Sara glanced at Vesemir and Arthur. "It's actually the same issue."

"We can't find the 'Count'," Vesemir sighed. "It's very cunning. We've followed several leads, but we're always led to those two 'Barons'."

"Can't we just deal with the two 'Barons' first?" Allen asked.

Vesemir drained his cup and shook his head. "Every time we try to deal with the 'Barons', a large group of ghouls bursts out of the Mahakan Mountains—ghouls, rotfiend, alghoul... even scurver."

"And it's not just the sheer number of monsters..."

"They even have a sort of tiered offensive strategy, like an organized army—very difficult to handle."

"I've never encountered a monster's nest that was more cunning than humans. In the subsequent attempts, I even began to feel that 'it' was evolving..."

Vesemir paused, emphasizing: "That's why finding and eliminating the 'Count' is crucial. Once we take care of the commanding nest, the remaining nests will inevitably turn on each other and destroy themselves."

"That's why we need an army," Arthur interjected. "The Monster Hunting Regiment, and the royal guards to hold off the monsters, while you Witchers search for..."

"You're asking for murder!" Vesemir raised his eyebrows, cutting him off angrily. "The Monster Hunting Regiment, fine, but the royal guards don't know how to hunt ghouls."

"They're not farmers, skinny and wielding pitchforks in battle."

"They're crawling monsters, creatures whose strength, agility, and flesh are all several times more formidable than a human's. They even explode, spew toxic gas, and shoot spikes..."

"You can't just smear oil on a sword and expect to know how to fight them without proper training. How many knights would die just to kill one ghoul?"

"Don't forget," Vesemir stared at Arthur, "On the Night of the May Festival, just by holding them off, how many of the royal guards died?"

"The Mahakan Mountains are full of steep slopes and rocky pits. There's hardly any terrain suitable for cavalry charges. Even if your soldiers are wiped out, it wouldn't buy us much time..."

Arthur fell silent.

This was the challenge of dealing with a monster's nest.

Pitfalls everywhere, poisonous mists, wild beasts, and treacherous cliffs...

Not only was cavalry useless, but the rough mountain paths also caused heavy casualties among the infantry.

The deep forests and mountains had never been human territory.

The ghouls defended, while humans had to sacrifice their lives to buy time. But most of the time, the time wasn't enough, and the fallen warriors only provided more "fodder" for the monster's nest.

Did Arthur, a battle-hardened veteran, not understand this?

Of course, he did. He knew that before the monsters' nests went into hiding years ago, human forces had to adopt a scorched earth policy—retreating to fortified strongholds, waiting for the monsters' nests to come to them.

But this unknown monster's nest, which had taken over old graves from three to four years ago, didn't need to worry about "fodder."

Arthur pressed his lips together in frustration. "I don't want to risk the lives of me and my men just to buy you Witchers more time."

"But we don't have the luxury of waiting for you to find a new method and slowly track down the 'Count'."

"The ghouls spotted on the frontlines are increasing every day, while the numbers of the royal guards and the Witcher army are fixed."

"As time goes on, the window we have to act will only get smaller."

Vesemir shook his head firmly. "You can stick to the usual tactics against a monster's nest. While we search for the 'Count', evacuate the nearby villages to Ellander..."

"That won't work." Arthur sighed, cutting him off. "Master Vesemir, you may not understand..."

He paused, then continued, "It's not just about the vast numbers of ghouls. Even if one ghoul appeared outside Ellander's gates right now, it would be a disaster."

"We can't afford a second 'May Festival'."

Vesemir fell silent.

He understood what Arthur meant.

Wasn't Ban Ard just a prime example?

The first celestial convergence had an impact, but not a big one. Yet ten days ago, after the second catastrophe, aside from those who died in Ban Ard, the villagers within several dozen miles had abandoned their homes and fled.

Though things were still uncertain, it was almost inevitable that Ban Ard would be known as a "Cursed Land" in the future.

Of course...

The monster's nest crisis facing Ellander wasn't as grave as the Wild Hunt.

But while the poor had little choice, the merchants and nobles would vote with their feet. In this world, the poor were, in a sense, the wealth of the merchants and nobles.

Once they abandoned Ellander, the city would inevitably collapse.

"There's still a day, right?" Allen suddenly spoke, interrupting the argument.

He had mostly understood their differences.

It was simple: Vesemir wanted to continue searching for the monster's nest in the usual Witcher way, while Arthur hoped to use the Witcher army and royal guards to draw the monster's nest's attention, solving the issue before it became unmanageable.

"Take me to see the two 'Barons' first," Allen said suddenly. "Perhaps... I can find the 'Count'."

Arthur didn't know why he agreed to it.

There are natural-born talents in swordsmanship and alchemy. Those with extraordinary gifts can learn countless techniques and formulas at a glance—things that would take years for the average person to grasp.

But tracking and investigation are different. This is purely a matter of accumulated experience.

He had once been a scout cavalryman, so he knew that enemy tracks often hide in the smallest of details.

How to tell whether a set of hoofprints on an ordinary muddy patch belongs to a warhorse or a draft horse? Whether they're from Temeria, or Aedirn?

...Is the dung soft or hard? Does it have the faint smell of hay or the sour stench of beans?

These tiny details might be easier for a gifted scout to learn, but the best ones are, without a doubt, the "eagle-eyed riders" with the most experience.

The seasoned Vesemir was clearly an experienced "eagle-eyed rider." Even though he had no clue about the "count's" whereabouts, Arthur had to admit this.

In fact, their discovery of the two monster nests and their deduction of the third "count's" nest, just from tracking a group of ordinary ghouls who had been stealing corpses four days ago, was thanks to him.

Otherwise, the ghouls would have already overrun Aedirn, and they might never have noticed the old nest deep in the Mahakam Mountains.

Of course, it was also possible they would never have noticed anything and would have died in their own hometown. So Arthur wasn't angry about Vesemir's stubbornness. On the contrary, he was grateful.

What Vesemir needed was time, but unfortunately, what they lacked most was time.

This time could only be bought either with their lives or with Aedirn's future.

In fact, every second spent arguing earlier that morning only wasted time and increased their casualties.

But this couldn't be blamed on Vesemir. He wasn't as cold and ruthless as the rumors suggested... not as efficient...

And what about Allen?

Arthur leaned against an old oak tree and sighed.

He was only fourteen, having just come down from the mountain earlier this year...

"It's alright, just one day…" he thought. "Aedirn's hero deserves one day."

Even if the cost was more lives...

Preferably, his own life.

Thud, thud, thud...

The ground vibrated faintly, and everyone instinctively halted at the same moment.

Arthur saw Vesemir glance at Allen, then slow his pace and move forward slowly.

This was also something Arthur couldn't understand.

Vesemir, who should know Allen best, had suddenly seemed to come to a realization when Allen had said, "I have a way." He had stopped resisting as if recalling something.

Was it because there really was a way, or was Vesemir simply trying to buy more time to figure out the position of the "count"?

Arthur had originally thought it was the latter, but now...

Arthur glanced curiously at the towering Vesemir, who bent down and whispered something to Allen, pointing in the direction of the tremors, almost like a true guide.

In that moment, he wasn't sure who was the mentor and who was the apprentice.

"Could it be that Aedirn's hero will bring another miracle this time?" Arthur felt a glimmer of hope rise in his chest.

Though he wasn't afraid of death, who wouldn't want to live well?

--------------------------------

The sunlight broke through the clouds and spread over the endless mountain ranges. The distant peaks were a reddish-brown, like bloodstained scars across the landscape, stretching between the mountains.

Maggots squirmed in those wounds.

"Damn!" Vesemir cursed under his breath, "Another alghoul!"

Allen then noticed that the maggots were actually pale-colored alghouls, and a quick scan revealed at least three of them. Around the jagged rocks, there were two or three hundred ghouls walking.

Among them were some motionless ghouls, around thirty or forty, mixed with several rotfiends.

"Where's the monster nest?" Allen asked quietly.

Vesemir pointed with his right hand toward a narrow gap in the cliffs below. "It's in there. It's blocked from view here, but you probably know the location. If we get any closer, we might alert the ghouls."

Allen squinted, his deep blue cat-like pupils narrowing into slits. He could only make out a faint dark red in the cliffs below.

In the few seconds of observation, a ghoul emerged from the dark red.

"Seven hundred meters... and we're still downwind..." Allen murmured. "Is the monster nest's alert range really this far?"

Vesemir nodded gravely. "The ghouls are increasing, so the nest's alert range is expanding. If we wait a few more days, we won't even be able to stay here."

"Yesterday, there were almost two hundred ghouls. Today, we're nearing three hundred. It seems the nest is producing them faster after we discovered it the day before yesterday..."

"Look..." Vesemir pointed at two spots below, speaking quietly. "The ones with darker red skin are from before we came. The lighter ones are from the past few days."

"So Arthur was right," Vesemir continued, his tone tense, "the longer we wait, the greater the danger this nest poses…"

Since he had mentioned the people present, Vesemir instinctively lowered his voice and glanced behind him, not expecting to meet Arthur's strange gaze. Arthur's eyes unsettled him, causing him to hesitate.

"What's wrong?" Allen asked, looking up cautiously.

"Nothing," Vesemir quickly brushed off his discomfort. He leaned in toward Allen's ear and said, "Let's go. I'll take you to another nest. It should be clearer there."

They walked for over an hour before they reached another monster nest.

It was much clearer now.

Like in the games, the monster nest was a cave, but in reality, it was much larger and blood-red in color, to accommodate creatures like the alghouls.

This nest had even more ghouls than the previous one.

As far as the eye could see, the mountains were littered with pale, corpse-like creatures.

The two nests were actually not that far apart, maybe a kilometer, but the terrain was so rugged that they had to take a detour, spending a lot of time. And that was with only nine witchers and Arthur, an elite knight with decent stamina.

Sara wasn't with them; he was back at the camp below, mobilizing the troops.

If Allen and Vesemir hadn't come down the mountain without any plan, they might have written their wills tonight and charged straight for the two monster nests in the morning.

But looking at the ghoul-infested mountains, both Allen and Vesemir had little faith in Arthur's decision.

Because the terrain around these two nests was really treacherous, with rocks that were just the right size to block their advance, but provided no cover.

"Can we find the 'count'?" Vesemir asked, his tone anxious.

Allen glanced at Arthur, who wore an unreadable expression, took a deep breath, and replied, "I'll try..."

.....

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