Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1398 1370. Test
Iorveth's message was scant, but his words were earnest.

It reminded Lan of the last time they had a conversation together, sitting around a bonfire in the rose garden at the elven ruins not far from the floating harbor.

At that time, the commander of the Scoia'tael, who saw the slim hope of his race from despair, abandoned everything and even opened his mind to the sorceress, just to prove his sincerity and determination.

If there had been any other choice, he would have tried it long ago.

For the dream of a free city-state where all races can live equally.

"Even though I already knew that a peasant uprising without ideological guidance, organizational structure, or reorganization would have its limitations, I was still somewhat shocked that they could not suppress the trend of division so quickly."

Lann calmly evaluated the news sent from Aedirn.

It was not only because of the earnest words of Iorveth, the one-eyed elf, but also the various data he reported, and the account books of his and Sakia's troops.

Only by comparing these texts with each other did Lan En completely confirm that the difficulties faced by Iorveth were indeed not exaggerated.

Not being misled by exaggerated battle reports is also a compulsory course for a qualified commander.

Falsifying battle records is one aspect, and it is even easy to understand and check.

On the other hand, subordinates in war will always try their best to exaggerate their own plight in order to gain more support from their superiors.

Some of them were reluctant to see their subordinates suffer heavy losses, while others were too aggressive. But no matter what, they all definitely wanted "more support, more!"
If we fail to see through these, the material dispatch of the entire battlefield will soon become a mess.

Geralt didn't know that after Lann's negotiations with Sakia and Iorveth, they reached an agreement.

After all, during that time, the white wolf was probably escorting Ciri out of Kaer Morhen and helping her adapt to society.

Geralt himself is a person who can control his curiosity well.

As a seasoned master demon hunter, he had lived a long time and done many quests, so he was well aware of the need to control his curiosity.

So when he heard Lan En saying words like "peasant uprising", his eyes remained calm. If Lan En hadn't taken the initiative to explain it to him, he wouldn't have asked any more questions.

And will Lan En explain it to him clearly?

The young witcher shook his head.

Of course he trusted Geralt if necessary.

But now, this veteran demon hunter was on edge because someone close to him was being investigated for unknown reasons. Lan En was not going to add any more pressure to his nerves unless it was necessary.

Just like escaping from Sintra.

Geralt is responsible for protecting Ciri, and he can handle the rest.

"In the final analysis." Lan En patted the two stacks of documents at his hand and locked the news of Aedirn back into the magic safe. "It's all because of the lack of manpower."

"We only have a small chamber of commerce in Novigrad hosted by a halfling friend. Dudu is a business genius, but he is an upright and honest businessman. Without the support of powerful means, the scum-like gangsters can make him uneasy."

"And the same is true in Aedirn."

"The non-human race hates humans, but now they are risking their lives to help. Humans discriminate and distrust the non-human race, but now they have to stand together."

"Friction is certain, and even killing each other and eliminating dissidents during the chaos is certain to happen."

"But the human peasants will definitely side with their own people. Even if Iorveth doesn't side with his own people and only seeks justice, as soon as he starts to investigate this matter, no one will believe that he will really do so."

"After all." Lan En pushed the magic safe forward, and Lincoln took a step forward, holding the box and putting it back in place, "Look at the short-sightedness of the leader of the rebellious farmers."

"Even if it's to maintain their own prestige, they can't push their men who have committed crimes out to the elves. Even if Iorveth only said it was an investigation, not even a trial."

Lincoln lowered his head, not surprised, because his master had already foreseen the current situation that night.

"As you say, my Lord."

He lowered his head calmly and agreed.

Even that night, Lan En had not only foreseen this step, but also had already said how to deal with this situation.

This is what Iorveth mentioned in the letter: they need strong external supervision and intervention as a mediator of internal racial conflicts.

Only when this kind of mediation continues to operate fairly and there is a basic level of trust between the non-human races and humans, can the mediation of conflicts gradually shift to their own internal affairs and be resolved by themselves.

And the location of this task was originally intended to be reserved for the Embers Knights.

As direct knights, they will represent Lan's will to supervise the common goals and ideals of Sakia, Iorveth, and Lan, and move forward and develop on the right track.

But in the final analysis, as the executors of the "supervision" duties, they must first be strong enough!
It has to be strong enough not to be killed 'accidentally' in the chaos.

Want to uphold justice and judge right and wrong? This has always been a deadly job.

To use the words of Lan En's hometown world, people who do this job are out and out, and they have to "act like heroes and act big and smart."

If it were under a stable governance system, the danger would be understandable, but is there any stability in the peasant uprising army in Aedirn?

"So, in the end," Lan En pointed his finger at his sturdy desk, "the key is still strength and manpower."

The young witcher raised his head and looked at the clerk who was younger than him and had his eyes lowered.

'But, I can now give my men strength.'

Lan En thought subconsciously in his heart.

"I almost feel lucky now that I was able to produce results at a time when I needed people."

Shaking his head, Lan stood up and said to Lincoln, "Call Stuart and pick nine more people." The young clerk also raised his head, and his eyes were almost shining as he looked at Lan.

"it's time."

The leader of the Order of Embers clapped his hands and declared so.
-
When they saw Stuart again, Lan and Geralt frowned.

Because the two of them had come to Gaoqiu Castle together before, in order to withdraw some gold coins to supplement the cash flow of Lan's assets.

At that time, the two demon hunters who had been with the former young officer of Cintra day and night had already noticed that something was wrong with his mentality.

Gloomy and self-hating.
However, these emotions seemed to be well controlled by him and would never affect his work.

But just as Lincoln and others worried, psychological problems are difficult to treat because the patient's own mentality can also affect him.

Even though the sixty knights of the Order of Embers have been trained for a long time and have a tacit understanding like fighting brothers, the psychological knots they have are still there.

Stuart still had that ferocious and eye-catching iron chin on his face.

His expression was normal, but his gloomy temperament almost made Lan En feel that he was a hunter hunting in the night of Yharnam.

By the time Lan En's order came down, Stuart and the previous nine [Sword Granters] had almost been waiting there for a long time. They were already waiting in a reception room in the castle.

Whether it was out of friendship and concern within the Knights, or out of respect and guilt for the name 'Lynn', Stuart would definitely have one of the ten places.

Of course Lincoln also wanted to compete for the remaining nine places, but when Lan came over and said the first sentence "Leave someone who can do the job", he automatically screened him out.

So the remaining candidates looked at the clerk in a teasing and ostentatious manner.

One of the knights even whistled at him, causing Lincoln to flex his masseter muscles behind Lan.

"It's you guys again. Why am I not surprised at all?" The young demon hunter said speechlessly as he walked, "You took advantage of your extra days of swordsmanship training to beat up the others again?"

"You're jumping so high. I think you'll get beaten back sooner or later."

The ten people of [Honorary Swordsmen] were originally the vacancies won by the Knights last time, and they received swordsmanship instruction from Lan En on the way.

For the sake of the "Knightly Order culture", Lincoln gave these ten people the title of "Sword Granters".

They are strong to begin with, and have studied for much longer than the other members of the Knights Templar. It would be strange if they were not chosen.

"Then I will be very pleased, sir." The Embers Knight who whistled just now laughed, "It means that I have taught them well and lived up to your expectations."

"That's good." Lan En raised his eyebrows and looked at him. "Valem, you can start first when the time comes, and accumulate experimental data for others, how about that?"

[Trial of Green Grass] is a magic potion that can make people wish they could die, and it has a high mortality rate, everyone knows that.

Generally speaking, if someone says this kind of thing, the listener will immediately get angry.

But the Embers Knights are different. No one would care even if they joked about life and death with each other. They have already crossed the boundary between life and death many times side by side.

This was even more so between Lan En and them; there was no taboo in their conversations.

So Valem, who was named by Lan En to be the "experimental data", just laughed at this time, and then bowed solemnly: "My Lord, I couldn't ask for more!"

However, a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"No." Stuart's face, which was so crippled that it needed an iron chin to fill the gap, looked seriously at Valem, then turned to Lan. "My lord."

"I know that I can be the first to receive mutations because of my disability. So, since I am the one being taken care of, I should be the first one to come. Even if I fail, become more disabled or die in the mutation, it will not affect the power of the Knights."

Valem, who was saluting Lan En, turned his head with a frown and looked at Stuart seriously.

"Make no mistake, Stuart. Do you think that if one of us dies or fails, the rest of us will give up the opportunity we have fought for so long?"

"At least you can improve after failure, and your hope will be greater!"

"Bullshit." Valem smiled and said bluntly under the gaze of everyone, "You just feel that you are disabled. We are all taking care of you, but you don't want others to take care of you. Instead, you want to be the first to rush forward when you encounter difficulties, right?"

It is definitely not a pleasant feeling to have your inner thoughts dissected in public.

But Stuart, who had been tortured by his disabled body for a long time, just frowned slightly and did not deny it.

"But we do not consider you disabled, my brother."

Valem, who had been smiling just now, now became extremely serious.

"Your body is a symbol of your trials. Even if it is deformed and weak, it is more noble than anything else in our eyes. Because you have demonstrated your unshakable loyalty and strength."

"【Trial of the Grass】is not a way to take care of you, Stuart."

Valem rudely slapped the hand off his shoulder.

"You have won this after passing the test! My Lord can testify to this, and your father, the respected Lord Hackso Lynn, can testify to this!"

"And we! We are the ones who will use the [Trial of Green Grass] to prove ourselves!"

"No! Deprive us of our test! You have already passed it!"

Finally, Valem looked at Stuart and spoke word by word.

The rest of the Embers Knights were the same as him.

(End of this chapter)