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TWL Chapter 51: The friendship between the Lion and the Wolf
🕑 Added 2023-12-04 19:30:38 +0000 UTCDue to drinking the water of Brokilon and overdrafting the battle, Geralt was in very bad condition and might even fall off his horse.
So Lann invited him to live in his house with Ciri and Mousesack.
The witcher was a solitary man and did not seem to like being in high places, so his room was at the end of the hallway on the ground floor.
When Lann walked to the door of the room, he heard the sound of two people arguing.
"Geralt, she is your destiny. Your paths have crossed three times. You don't think this is just a coincidence, do you?
You asked Pavetta and her husband to make an oath, that's The law of Surprise, is the power of fate. They kept their promise. Ciri is the child of surprise. Destiny demands..."
"Ask me to take her away and make her a witcher? She's a girl! Look at me, Mousesack! Can you imagine a beautiful little girl turning into me?"
"To hell with the rules of the witcher! Since Ciri was born, your wishes and plans no longer matter.
Do you understand? Destiny is a double-edged sword, and it is dangerous to play with it. Stop playing with it, Geralt, and establish a relationship with Ciri.
"Otherwise... the bond may appear in other forms, more terrifying forms. I want to protect you! If you take her, I will not object and I will risk explaining everything to Calanthe."
Then Lann heard Geralt's loud denial, followed by an even more intense argument. These two old guys, who are estimated to be more than three hundred years old together, have really loud voices.
After a while, Mousesack opened the door angrily and saw Lann standing at the door.
"Uncle Mousesack... Good evening."
The druid sighed and smiled awkwardly at Lann.
"You may have heard something just now. We will talk about this later."
Lann nodded. In fact, he already knew the content of the argument between the two people in the room. He slowly walked forward and knocked on the door out of politeness. Geralt, who was digesting his emotions, looked up.
Speaking of which, Geralt once said: I am a witcher, and witchers have no emotions.
Now, inside the room, he was breathing hard, and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. It was evident that the argument he had just had with Mousesack had agitated him too much.
"Lord Lannister." Geralt nodded towards Lann: "Please come in, I haven't thanked you for taking me in yet."
"Please, just call me Lann." Lann walked in with a smile. "Anyway, you also saved Ciri, and you also contradicted Ms. Eithné for me. Also, you saved me several times during the battle against the griffin. I think we could consider ourselves friends."
"There is no 'rescue' when fighting, we just face the enemy together."
Lann noticed a slight sense of alienation in Geralt's words, and his attitude towards him seemed to be no different from that towards other nobles.
If you want to establish a 'friendship' with Geralt, this is not a good start.
Lann thought for a while and said: "I wonder if Uncle Mousesack has told you that I have always been curious about the Witcher."
"I can see that you used a silver sword when hunting griffons, right?"
Geralt's tone was cold, and now Lann knew what the problem was. A witcher cannot lose his sword, just as an eagle cannot lose its claws and a lion cannot lose its tusks.
And if the silver sword is in the hands of a non-witcher, it means that this person's hands are stained with the blood of a witcher. Geralt obviously misunderstood.
Lann took out the Cat School Medallion he was carrying and explained: "When I was suppressing bandits some time ago, I encountered a group of bandits led by a witcher. He had attacked many passing caravans and plundered several villages, so I made him pay for it."
Geralt looked at the medallion: "What was his called?"
"Jad Karadin."
Geralt shook his head: "I have never heard of this name, but there are always black sheep."
Because Lann is an outsider, Geralt did not go into details. After all, the Cat School can be said to be the family scandal of the witchers: the Cat School is not only rich in madmen, but it is also the only school that will accept murder commissions. They even accept more murder commissions than monster hunting commissions.
Many people believe that Cat School has deviated from tradition and is hardly considered a 'witcher' anymore.
There are some disputes between the Wolf School and the Cat School. In the backstory of The Witcher Series that Lann knows about. The one he remembers most is when, the Wolf School and the Cat School had a tournament between them, organized by King Radowit II, who secretly plotted with the Cat School to kill the witchers from the Wolf School. In the first round; Geralt and Gweld, who were apprentice witchers at the time, faced off and as they fought, they slowly realized that the entire tournament was a ruse. As they came to that realization, however, a druid put a mind control spell upon Gweld which made him violently attack Geralt, forcing Geralt to kill his friend with a sword through the chest. Right after this, soldiers under Radowit's command surrounded the witchers and started to kill them all, but Geralt was able to escape on horseback, causing Radowit to put a bounty on his head.
This incident directly led to the weakening of the Wolf School, and it no longer even had the ability to recruit and train new people. When Ciri grows up, even if she is half-witcher, the total members of the Wolf School can be counted on one hand.
By the way, the witchers of the Cat School who stabbed the Wolf School were also stabbed in the back by the king who hired them.
As a witness to that massacre, Geralt had little affection for Cat School, even if he didn't have hatred for them.
Not to mention that what Lann killed was a villain who had already condemned himself. In Geralt's moral perspective, Jad Karadin might also be a type of 'monster'.
Of course, in the future, Geralt also helped Cat School witchers, and other Wolf School witchers also had Cat School friends. Wolf School witchers can rationally distinguish between 'good' and 'evil', without blaming an entire group for the actions of a few. This is the incomprehensible but admirable moral outlook they uphold by adhering to 'absolute neutrality'.
Let’s not mention the future events for now. At least for now, when Geralt understands the whole story, the barrier he deliberately created with Lann disappears.
If Lann's system had a favorability mechanism you would now receive the following message: 'Favorability: Cold → Neutral.'
After Geralt lamented what Jad had done, he asked again: "So, Lann. Is there something you're looking for me for at this hour?"
"About your reward, Geralt." Lann said: "You saved Ciri and protected her all the way. I heard that Ciri promised you a lot of wealth? And you got rid of two griffins for my territory. I have an obligation to thank you for the sake of my subjects."
Geralt shook his head: "Don't worry about Ciri. I saved her for no other reason. As for the gryphons, I only participated in the hunting of one of them. Just give me a hundred crowns."
Lann smiled and said: "But I would like to be your friend. I don't want our relationship to be limited to such a simple money transaction, Geralt."
"The magnificent skills you displayed in battle are admirable. I wonder if you are willing to accept other assignments, such as private swordsmanship lessons or sharing your knowledge about monsters..."
