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TWL Chapter 350: The Price of Hatred
🕑 Added 2025-04-05 16:01:13 +0000 UTCSaskia spent a long time talking with everyone, thoroughly answering the witchers' questions about dragons.
Until the moon was at its highest point, everything was silent, and only this room in the entire town of the Ferenc clan was still lit.
Lann sat aside with Mahakam beer, sipping it like wine, and quietly watched his confidants chatting and discussing. His strangeness soon attracted Geralt's attention.
"What are you waiting for?" The White Wolf's intuition was particularly sharp.
Just at this moment, footsteps sounded outside the house, and Lann chuckled: "I've been waiting."
The door was knocked, followed by the voice of the Cintra guard: "Duke, Chief Vavrinek Ferenc is here to visit."
"Please invite him in quickly. This is the Ferenc clan; he is the master," Lann said loudly.
That being said, as the master, Vavrinek came in tiptoeing, without any of the demeanor he had when they first met.
Anyone would be cautious after seeing Lann standing on the shoulders of the ice giant.
"Duke Lannister." Vavrinek saluted Lann slightly.
"Vavrinek, I wonder if you have finished your business?" Although Chief Ferenc was very restrained, Lann was still the same as when they first met. "I'm sorry for what you experienced during the day. It was a tragic accident that no one could accept."
"It's a good thing you showed up to help, Lord Lannister, otherwise I can't imagine what would have happened." Vavrinek said sincerely. "When I knew that humans came to Mahakam for help, I swore that I would never help them unless grass started growing out of my ass—but now it seems I can't save my ass." Vavrinek made a joke, which made him feel a little more at ease, and Lann also showed a polite smile. When he saw Chief Vavrinek looking at the witchers and servants in the room in a cryptic way, he spoke openly:
"Given how busy you are now, you must have important matters to discuss if you’ve come here this late at night." Lann waved his hand. "And no matter what we do later, the people in this room will be involved. I trust them just as I trust the sword in my hand, so you don't have to worry about anything."
"Okay, I believe you, Duke Lannister."
Vavrinek nodded and said in a deep voice, "I believe you have already guessed my request. This may be dangerous, but I still have to say it—"
"I want you to help slay the dragon. I want you to kill Keltullis."
Not surprisingly, during the day, Vavrinek had looked at Lann and the ice giant with too much passion, and he did not hide his hostility toward the dragon.
"Several centuries ago, we dwarves went to war with Keltullis. The place where it now nests was once the territory of our Ferenc clan, so our clan sent the most warriors to that battle."
Vavrinek clenched his hands. "Among all the clans, we paid the highest price. But just when Keltullis was about to die, Brouver Hogg stopped us. He stubbornly signed an agreement with the red dragon, asking it to clear the monsters so that Mahakam could free up more dwarf labor for mining. In exchange, we, who are closest to the red dragon, would still be the ones to support the red dragon."
"We, the Ferenc clan! We lost our territory, our warriors, and finally, we have to worship this red dragon. We, the Ferenc clan, have lost our dignity!" Vavrinek gritted his teeth. "Brouver said that this was the best choice for Mahakam, that we had to sacrifice for the nation... He is the elder in chief, but I am also the patriarch and elder of the Ferenc clan!"
"Now that Keltullis has lost his mind, I don't have the patience to wait for Brouver’s solution." Vavrinek sincerely pleaded with Lann. "I know you are here for help, Duke Lannister, and now we are doing the same. You have an ice giant. If you help us kill Keltullis, the Ferenc clan is willing to send half of its people to support Cintra!"
Familiar words, half of the people again. Lann isn’t sure if the dwarf clans just really like this quantifier, but ‘half’ seems to be their sincerest offering.
However, the Fuchs clan sent half of its people before because they were consolidating resources, and giving up half of their people just helped the clan get through hard times. As for the Ferenc clan, this half of their people were the ones they used to feed the red dragon, and without the red dragon, they could be freed up to support Cintra.
Everyone in the room looked at Saskia intentionally or unintentionally, which made Vavrinek feel strange. However, the little dragon girl's expression did not change. She had already spoken with Lann beforehand.
Lann tapped the table with his index finger knuckles, revealing a thoughtful look. Under Vavrinek's nervous gaze, after a few seconds, he finally gave an answer.
"I sympathize with the experience of the Ferenc clan, and I am also deeply disgusted by the atrocities of the red dragon Keltullis."
"It's just that before taking action, there are some things I still hope to clarify. Intelligence is always the most important thing in battle." Lann stared into Vavrinek's eyes. "For example—why did Keltullis suddenly become so violent and start attacking the Ferenc clan despite a centuries-old agreement?"
"Chief Vavrinek, you didn’t happen to discover that the red dragon was pregnant and laid eggs some time ago, so you poisoned it and secretly smashed its eggs, did you?"
Vavrinek was visibly panicked.
Needless to say, the reason why Lann knew this was because the same thing happened in the original history.
At that time, Nilfgaard invaded the North, and the kingdoms of Lyria and Rivia fell. Queen Meve retreated to Aedirn to seek help but was tossed around like a ball by King Demavend before finally coming to Mahakam to ask the dwarves for aid.
Queen Meve, who was traveling in the mountains, happened to witness the red dragon ravaging the Ferenc clan. After sending a few soldiers to drive the red dragon away, she accepted Vavrinek's request to hunt it down. As a result, she learned that the red dragon's rage was entirely due to the Ferenc clan's own actions.
At that time, the red dragon was pregnant and had eggs laid down. The Ferenc clan feared that the birth of a baby dragon would increase the burden of supporting the beast. Their centuries-old hatred for the red dragon had never faded, and at that moment, it was like igniting gunpowder. They secretly poisoned the food offered to the red dragon and then sent warriors to smash the dragon eggs while the dragon was suffering from stomach pain.
Unfortunately, they underestimated Keltullis, and the poison was not enough. As a result, the red dragon, who had lost her beloved offspring, angrily slaughtered all the dwarves who entered the nest and directed her wrath toward the Ferenc clan.
...
To be fair, Lann had no objection to the Ferenc clan’s actions. If his own territory had been occupied, if his young men had died, and he had been forced to support his enemy for centuries, he would have seized any opportunity to strike back as well.
The only problem with the Ferenc clan was that they did not accurately measure their enemy’s strength and acted rashly out of hatred, ultimately leading to disaster. A large number of innocent people died tragically, and even those who had come to help them were dragged into the conflict.
But now, Lann had more to consider. After all, this kind of behavior—smashing dragon eggs right in front of the mother dragon—was absolutely intolerable to Saskia. The little dragon girl, who had remained calm before, could no longer hide her expression after hearing what Lann said.
With a 'crack', the corner of the table was crushed by Saskia.
Kolgrim was also very surprised by Lann's words: "That red dragon is actually female?"
Lann looked at Saskia, who was gritting her teeth, and Kolgrim, who was in shock, then shook his head and remained silent.
Vavrinek showed a bitter smile and asked incredulously, "How did you guess this...?"
Lann shook his head. "Otherwise, I really can't think of why a female dragon who has been at peace with Mahakam for centuries would suddenly go mad."
Vavrinek suddenly felt cold, and when he looked up, he met Saskia's furious eyes. The feeling of being targeted by a top predator made him shudder involuntarily. He hurriedly explained to Lann: "Duke Lannister, you are right... That was actually our original plan, but there is a small problem now—we just observed that the red dragon might be pregnant, but it hasn't laid any eggs yet."
The oppressive feeling suddenly dissipated, and Vavrinek felt as relieved as if a great weight had been lifted from his chest.
