Chapter 68: Monster Menace - Drowners in the Valley

Swade asked Lann incredulously: "My Lord, is the Duchess not very...?"

Ace also asked Lann in disbelief: "My Lord, aren't Toussaint's officials very...?"

Lann rolled his eyes at them: "Is this what you should say?"

The two assistants lowered their heads, feeling guilty.

House obediently stepped forward and poured Lann a glass of wine, and then poured a glass for Geralt.

Smelling the refreshing aroma of wine, Geralt sighed. "The Duchess and the officials here... Why are they like this?"

Lann also sighed and said with a headache: "Think on the positive side, it's what allows us to be here in Toussaint at this time, even being invited to this banquet."

Lann knocked on the door and asked the housekeeper for a map of Beauclair. He called everyone to gather and gave them instructions.

"Let's get down to business: You all know that I came here to find the laboratory of a mage named Tomas Moreau. I need his experimental results on the secondary mutation of the witcher, as well as the magical items from his laboratory."

Everyone nodded, this was something they had known for a long time.

"Also, according to my sources, Professor Moreau carried a diary about experiments that he probably took to his grave. I need to find that too."

"To save time, we will divide into two groups..."

Lann thought for a while and started to order people.

"Ace and House, you two, take four swordsmen and go search the Beauclair Cemetery."

Lann warned them: "I only know that he was buried at Beauclair. I can't say exactly where."

"This job is not very respectable, so you guys rest during the day and go out at night. Be smart and don't let too many people see you. I trust you."

The two attendants nodded.

"As for us..." Lann looked at Geralt and Swade. "We will meet up with Uncle Mousesack's druid friends tomorrow, and then set off for the Valley of the Nine. Don't drink too much at today's banquet."

"Yes!" Swade replied loudly.

House and Ace looked at the time and asked. "Lord Earl, what do we do now...?"

Lann ordered: "First select the soldiers, then eat and rest for a while."

They both nodded and left.

Swade smiled and said: "Don't worry, I'll bring you some wine from the banquet!"

The two people who were about to leave turned around to lightly punch Swade. Then when they were about to open the door, suddenly there was the sound of someone knocking.

House looked at Lann for approval and opened the door. The butler was there.

"My lord, there are visitors."

"Visitors?" House frowned. House frowned. "No invitation? What etiquette is this?"

Lann did not stop House's anger, but then with a gesture he pushed him back and asked the butler: "Who are the visitors?"

The butler, more respectful, said: "My Lord, the visitors are Baron Palmerin de Launfal and Baron Milton de Peyrac-Peyran."

"I don't know them." Lann shook his head. "Are they in a hurry?"

The steward explained: "It seems so. And it seems that they are not seeking to visit you, My Lord Earl, but rather to meet this gentleman... Geralt."

Four pairs of eyes looked at Geralt.

"I don't know them either." The witcher said expressionlessly.

Lann became a little interested. "Let them pass. I want to hear why they are looking for Geralt, if you don't mind, Geralt."

The witcher shook his head indifferently.

The two knights entered, greeting Lann and then Geralt.

Then, an awkward silence followed...

According to Beauclair's knightly tradition, the four men remained silent for ten heartbeats.

"Good morning, Lord Earl, and Sir Geralt." A knight said. "We have something to entrust to Mr. Geralt."

He turned to the witcher and said: "This has something to do with your profession."

Geralt nodded: "Go ahead."

The two of them looked at the three attendants, and even Lann, with expressions of embarrassment. There was something they didn't want to say in front of them.

"Earl Lannister is my employer, and I cannot accept your commission without his permission." Geralt said directly. "If you have urgent matters, please be brief."

The two knights looked at each other uncomfortably, took a breath and hesitated: "You see... the succubus... the nocturnal demon that the Duchess and the ladies want me to eliminate. Can you tell us what the reward would be for his death?"

Geralt shook his head: "Sorry, Sirs, I cannot reveal such details."

"We understand, we understand." One of the knights said. "We are obviously dealing with a decent man. To be honest, I am worried that such a person will find our proposal an insult, but I have to say..."

"Please give up this contract and don't hurt that poor succubus. On my honor, we have far more men than women in Toussaint. You'll be surprised by our generosity. "

The witcher said coldly: "Your proposal is indeed not far from an insult."

"Sir Geralt." Another knight added. "It is said that you only kill monsters that are threatening, real threats. And that succubus has never threatened anyone or hurt anyone. Oh, she can from time to time...visit the sleeping men...to play some little pranks..."

"But only for adults." The other knight added.

Geralt refused again expressionlessly: "I won't tell the Duchess or any other lady about this, but please get out."

The two knights seemed to want to get angry and argue, but they also seemed to remember something and looked at Lann with fear.

Lann twitched the corner of his mouth and motioned to House with a forced expression: "Call the royal butler and ask the two barons to go out."

The two barons reluctantly left.

Watching the two of them go away, House and Ace suddenly asked curiously: "Sir Geralt, are you really planning to kill that succubus?"

Geralt looked at them strangely and explained: "Usually succubus do not drink blood or kill, they have no bad intentions, but occasionally there are 'unusual' situations. That's why I will investigate first and then decide."

Lann was also a little surprised. These two attendants never cared about monster hunting.

"Actually, we wanted to ask you for advice, since we will be out at night. If we encounter the succubus, how should we act? I mean, how do we know if it is good or bad and how to protect ourselves?"

The two attendants had solemn expressions, but the corners of their mouths were slightly twitching and raised, their breathing was rapid, and their fingers and bodies were twisting uneasily.

Lann emotionlessly said: "Also you two... get out now."

…

As mentioned before, what Lann wants to explore this time is Tomas Moreau's laboratory.

Around 1087, Tomas Moreau was saved from monsters thanks to a witcher. However, the witcher enacted the Law of Surprise, resulting in Tomas' payment being that of his son, Jerome. Feeling he'd been unfairly relinquished of any say into his son's fate, Tomas vowed to learn how to reverse the mutation process, all in the hopes his son could one day know what it'd be like to be a father. He felt resentful about being unable to be an important person in his son's life and hoped that one day his son would understand his good intentions as a father.

So in 1102 he began researching the mutation of witchers using a secret laboratory in Toussaint's Valley of the Nine. There, he invested exhaustive effort and study in research, conducting countless experiments with various creatures, including living humans as test subjects.

It was in 1121, when Thomas felt confident in his discoveries, so he decided to apply his theory of mutation reversal to his own son. So he decided to go ahead and set a trap to lure his son to the area. When Jerome learned though that his father was behind the contract he took, he became enraged, clearly not having fond of memories of his father, and refused to undergo the experiments. Tomas, not one to take no for an answer, simply paralyzed his son instead and stuck in a room only accessible by a portal in hopes he'd come around.

However, Tomas' research and experiments proved all for naught. Instead of reversing the warlock's mutations, he accidentally enhanced them, granting his son greater strength and agility. This went on for some time before he finally gave up, realizing he'd failed to do what he'd intended and finally resigned to the fact that his son was to be a witcher. He then returned to his wife Lydia and, sometime later, died and was buried in the Orlémurs cemetery.

Jerome Moreau is the son of Tomas Moreau and a witcher from the School of the Griffin. And like many other members of the School of the Griffin he was very skilled in the use of magic, he was highly specialized in the use of Signs.

Most of the mages' use of chaotic energy causes their bodies to be affected by magical energy, causing defects in their reproductive organs and ultimately leading to infertility. But there are always exceptions, such as Professor Moreau, which is why he has such crazy love for his only son.

There are actually many special cases of this kind of mages. Geralt's mother, Visenna, was a sorceress, as well as a Druid and high-level Healer. She passed on the gift of sorcery to Geralt, although he eventually gave up being a sorcerer to become a witcher.

The reason why witchers are sterile is more complicated. Because the mutation of witchers involves changes at the genetic level, it is an uncontrollable species evolution. Fundamentally, witchers are no longer the same species as humans, and there is reproductive isolation.

Theoretically, if there were a male witcher and a female witcher with identical mutations, they could actually raise offspring. Unfortunately, due to the immaturity and uncontrollability of mutation, the direction and degree of mutation of each witcher are different. To exaggerate, one could say that each witcher is an independent human subspecies. This led to the impossibility of reproduction. Ultimately, it was Alzur's fault that he abandoned the idea midway through the experiment.

...

Lann looked at the green valley in front of him. A river flowed in the middle of the valley. The surface of the river was crystal clear, and jagged dilapidated buildings could be faintly seen.

From time to time, groups of four or five children-like figures come ashore to play and play by the river. If you look closely, you can see that their bodies are covered in fine scales and membranes of different colors. They are mostly blue and green, with one or two tall black figures occasionally interspersed among them.

From a distance, they seem very happy, singing and dancing around the food in groups. It's just the type of food they eat that makes humans shudder when they see them.

"Most of them are Drowners, and the black ones are Drowned dead." Geralt explained. "They are all corpse-eating creatures and are very good at turning people into corpses."

Lann led the exploration team to the top of the valley and looked ahead. He held the crystal bird skull in his left hand and looked down through the slits of the skull's eyes. No magic fluctuations were found.

Beside him, a young druid said: "This is where our exploration ends, Lord Lannister. We can do nothing until we resolve these aquatic monsters."

The young druid nodded towards Lann. After explaining the matter, he stood aside and remained silent, keeping his distance from him without being close or distant.

Geralt handed Lann a bottle of grease-like substance in an alchemical glass bottle and said: "This is the Necrophage Oil prepared by witchers specifically for Necrophage-type monsters. Applying it to your sword will greatly increase the damage you can deal to those Drowners and Drowned dead."

Geralt said without turning his head: "I guess you will be the first to rush forward, so I won't stop you."

Swade was suddenly startled. He glanced nervously at the dense crowd of monsters below, then glanced at Lann again, sweating profusely.

Lann took the bottle of Necrophage Oil and threw it away and said angrily: "I'm not that reckless."

Geralt didn't reply. He didn't use Lann's crystal bird skull and looked with his naked eyes. His cat-like amber pupils shrank slightly, taking in a panoramic view of the scene below.

After a while, he turned back and said: "At least twenty Drowners out, and more in the water, probably nesting underneath."

"If you want to reach the underwater portal, you must deal with these outside and find a way to attract the ones below as well."

Lann asked Geralt: "What would you normally do in this kind of situation?"

The witcher replied: "With such a large number, I usually turn around and run away. These Drowners are enough to destroy a large village."

Very professional and practical answer.

Swade looked confused. A witcher like Geralt, who looked brave in his eyes, shouldn't have said something like that. Then he asked: "Are they strong?"

Geralt explained: "No, the Drowners' courage and strength are consistent with their size, much smaller than that of normal human adults."

"But their jumping speed is fast; many inexperienced soldiers are surprised and killed without warning. Furthermore, once they taste blood, they become ferocious and stronger soldiers can also fall easily."

"Lann, I don't recommend that you use soldiers to exterminate these Drowners, as there will be huge casualties."

Lann thought for a while and asked: "I remember that Drowners are afraid of fire, right?"

Geralt nodded: "Just like your squire is afraid of Calanthe."

"How high is their intelligence?"

Geralt shook his head: "As stupid as shoes, so stupid that the Axii Sign has no effect on them."

"Then it's simple. We can use decoys." Lann said. "Do you think we could lure these silly creatures out of the water with food? Maybe with livestock like sheep or other animals?"

"I usually don't do this, because even if I kill all these guys, the bounty I get may not be enough for a cow."

"But I guess you're not someone who worries about those kinds of details."

"I think it could work, based on what the druid says. These creatures emerge from the portal, they have probably never seen human society, we could try to attract them."

Lann said: "Then it's decided!"

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