Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1395 1367. Staring at Understanding
"what's the situation?"

Geralt asked, riding his newly bought 'Carrot', catching up with Berengar a little bit.

The two armored witchers and their horses looked like they came out of Lilliput next to the combination of Lan En and Qilin.

The ball of fluff jumped from one shoulder of Lan to the other, its furry helmeted head looking around.

It has been working with Lan En for a long time. Although they did not travel together last time, they have not lost their tacit understanding.

This situation mostly happens when Lan En discovers something.

Unfortunately, the kitten tilted its head back and moved its pink nose, but still found nothing.

The young witcher, at this moment, looked at the meadow not far away with a gloomy expression and sneered.

"It seems that Ciri is not the only one being tracked down."

"Even here, I hum."

When Lann finished the first half of the sentence, Berengar and Geralt frowned.

The pupils in their cat-like eyes began to shrink and they followed Lan's gaze.

This place is close to the hill where High Hill Castle is located, so there are no swamps and silted pools that are common in Velen. It is just a meadow with a few wild flowers.

The ground, which is often trampled by wild beasts and monsters, still has bare yellow soil.

But with the witcher's senses activated, he suddenly saw numerous and messy footprints on the green meadow.

At least ten people and ten horses once stopped at this place to observe.

The traces of the horses pacing and grinding their hooves after they stopped in place remained in the witcher's sight, as if they were vividly remembered.

From the hill where High Hill Castle is located, you can see an ancient oak tree standing on a larger mountain in the distance. During the local festivals in Velen, the mountain will be very lively.

But even so, the hill where Gaoqiu Fort is located is still sparsely populated.

There will be no traveling merchants or horse teams here, because coming here is just a loss of money.

Lan En could even take off his hooded cloak without any psychological burden halfway here.

But it is in this place that we can now be sure that four or five days ago, ten people and ten horses stopped here.

"The people Foltest sent to you to deliver the provisions?"

Berengar stared motionlessly at the messy meadow that appeared to the witcher, and whispered words that he himself did not believe.

The Knights of Embers received supplies and even grants from Temeria.

However, due to its remote location and sparsely populated area, the delivery time of supplies is fixed, and it takes a long time to deliver them at one time.

Now is not the time to send supplies.

"It hasn't rained in Velen recently." Geralt said in a cold voice, "But we can only see footprints here, but we can't smell any residual smell. There is no stench of livestock or human sweat. There is not even a pile of horse manure."

His recent experience caused him to completely lack Berengar's luck and optimism, and he directly thought about the problem from the worst perspective.

——This group of people not only stayed here, but also cleared away some of their traces.

At this point, the targeted malice is almost blatant.

"More than that." Lan looked at the meadow and added in a low voice, "They also understand demon hunters. They understand how our senses work."

The demon hunter's senses are indeed extraordinary observation abilities, but the ability to capture traces is not suitable to be turned on all day.

Because that would make the demon hunter feel dizzy.

Demon hunters have keen vision, and often after arriving at the scene of an incident, they will first roughly define an area, and then observe and search within the range.

However, their extraordinary sense of smell and hearing can basically remain open all the time.

This is halfway up the mountain. Why would the demon hunter activate his super senses when he is just passing by? Is he not dizzy enough when riding a horse?
If Qilin had not run so fast, and had stopped at the foot of the mountain to wait for the people behind it, Lan En would have activated his extraordinary senses to look around, and then most likely no one would have noticed this set of footprints.

Therefore, you don’t need to worry about footprints and horse hoof prints, which are more complicated to clean up, but the odor of livestock and human body must be eliminated specifically.

You can use some kind of alchemical odor-removing powder, or you can use a stronger grassy or earthy smell to cover it up.

Anyway, the way this group of people handled their traces undoubtedly showed their understanding of the demon hunter's senses.

They know how to specifically circumvent the demon hunters' extraordinary senses in daily life.

"Do you think they know?"

Geralt asked, casting his gaze towards the looming castle tower on the top of the mountain.

Lan was silent at first, then shook his head.

"I believe their abilities are top-notch among the knights, but the other side has already conducted targeted investigations and precautions, which gives them the upper hand. And... they are just ordinary humans after all." Ordinary humans cannot see footprints left on the grass a few days ago.

"How dare you to bring trouble upon you and the Knights of Embers." Berengar sighed, then turned to look at the young witcher, "Could it be Foltest?"

"Not sure." After learning that his Knights Order was being watched, Lan En was very calm and shook his head.

"Foltest is not so irrational, but it is hard to say whether he has been stimulated by something recently. On the other hand, even if we really find traces belonging to Temeria, it is possible that someone else is using his name."

"Really." Lan En sighed dully as he spoke, "What a mess."

After a cold snort, Lan En and the others did not stay any longer. They went up the mountain along the road that had been repaired by the Knights but was still a bit rugged due to the rocks.

As usual, outside of High Hill Castle, even though Lann's face was exposed, the Embers still used crossbows with magic-blocking gold arrowheads to confirm that it was not a spell before they let down their guard and opened the gate.

"You've made me lose face in front of my friends, like an outsider." As he rolled off Qilin, Lan En complained to Lincoln who was greeting him with a serious face. "Look, I brought a new friend with me!"

"For your dignity, we are not afraid of life or death." Lincoln looked at his superior with a smile, his eyes full of respect and solemnity, "But at the same time, I must first confirm that it is you."

"Of course, if you can always lead us and stay by our side, I think these doubts will disappear automatically. Like dewdrops at noon."

The young clerk of the Knights Templar smiled and spoke with a meaningful tone.

Lan scratched his head speechlessly, glared at Lincoln as if he was angry, and then a smile suddenly broke out on his originally serious face.

"Ha, long time no see!"

As they spoke, the two of them opened their arms tacitly and hugged each other tightly.

The Embers Knights came out from various places in the castle, and Lan greeted them.

There was no strangeness between them that comes after a long absence between superiors and subordinates, or any forced harmony; everything was very natural.

In other words, the soldiers who were once led by him would feel unnatural if they entered another military system.

After experiencing the feeling of being in control of all the information on the battlefield and breaking through with unstoppable force, they are no longer ordinary soldiers.

And it seems that Lincoln and the other ten people who went out with Lan last time seem to have spontaneously acquired a special status in the team.

The Sword Grantor also did a good job.

No one in the Order of Embers carries a half sword on his waist anymore, instead they all use elven long swords.

Between walking and breathing, Lan En could see obvious signs of practicing the sword techniques he had taught.

"Master Berengar, Master Geralt."

After greeting Lan, Lincoln also nodded to the other two demon hunters, and everyone became acquaintances.

However, when he saw the two ladies from Yharnam coming with them, the secretary of the Knights Templar raised his eyebrows in surprise.

After all, Yanan's dressing style and temperament are indeed a bit far behind.

"Since you are my lord's friend, please treat Gaoqiu Castle as your home."

Young Lincoln entertained as if he were very experienced.

"Although considering your temperaments, this castle may seem a little small, but we will do our best."

"No, there's no need to say that." Maria dismounted and held the reins. "We are the ones seeking help, and the environment here is also very good."

The knights came to help settle the horses, and as usual, Qilin was treated with respect, which made it look proud.

"Hey hey! Let me help, meow!"

The fluffy ball jumped off Lan's shoulder and joined the knights very actively.

It was already excited about starting its adventure again, and it was purring on Lan's back all the way, and now it couldn't wait to stretch its muscles.

The members of the Knights also became familiar with the fluff ball and no longer felt alienated from him.

Besides, although the Felynx is small, it is still a human-cat who teaches these knights swordsmanship!

"You're quite good at this." Seeing Maria and Adeline relax, Lan put his arm around Lincoln's shoulder and whispered to him, "I didn't know you could do the job of a housekeeper?"

Not far away, the Yharnam female hunter had a hint of doubt on her cool and beautiful face as she asked the Knights who had taken over the horse.

"Hmm, are the horses here always like this? They seem particularly noisy. Or is he sick?"

The Knights who were leading the horse looked at it in confusion. He was sure that the horse was very healthy, and it snorted and neighed from time to time. Was this considered noisy? Aren't all horses like that?

Next to Lan En, the young clerk kept smiling and answered his master in the same low voice.

"I learned it from Stuart. He is very familiar with the palace butler's tricks. Originally, he should have been the one to receive the guests, but he said that his ruined appearance would make the guests feel uncomfortable. So after teaching me for a while, he handed the task over to me."

(End of this chapter)