Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1402 1374. Exhausted
Lann had made no secret of his return to Aretuza, but he had come to High Hill Hold without revealing his whereabouts.

There are too many places in Velen with harsh terrain and environment. There are not even many people in these places, let alone spies and detectives.

It was unlikely that they would be seen and recognized by anyone on the road in the wilderness. Lan En was also very confident about the Embers Knights in the castle.

They were the troops he personally led when he fought against the Nilfgaardian army in Cintra.

There was no need to talk about controlling the leakage of information. The servants, grooms and other people in the castle who were assigned by Temeria had already been greeted and arranged as soon as Lan En and his party arrived.

The news of their coming to High Hill Castle must not have leaked out.

"But their estimate is correct." Lan pulled his eyes out of the observation hole in the castle wall, turned his head and smiled at Triss. "I really won't show up here."

The sorceress looked at Lan in confusion.

"Wait, let me check first. You should know that since the other party has already done this, they must have a good idea before they dare to do it, right?"

Triss crossed her arms and tapped the stone floor of the castle with the tip of one foot as a gesture.

"There are only sixty knights in this castle. Even if they are Embers, and even if they are fighting an advantageous defense battle, there are only sixty of them."

"And judging by what you said, ten of these sixty people are not participating in the defense."

"Heh, are you sure you don't need a wizard's help?"

At the end, Triss smiled playfully.

She thought Lan was joking with her.

The mage's original position on the battlefield has always been the attacking turret.

It is even more important on the battlefield of defending the castle.

In the old palace of Cintra, it was rumored that the Archdruid Mossak, who served in the palace at the time, used his magic to hold off the Nilfgaardian army for a period of time at the palace gates.

But the demon hunter shook his head lightly, indicating that he was really not joking.

"If they are really the fanatics of the White Rose Knights, then they must have bypassed the Templar Council and done these things in private."

"And if I take action here, the effect will be a bit too good, too eye-catching, and will hinder my subsequent plans."

"As for the warlock?" Lan looked at Triss, "There will be no warlocks on this battlefield."

"The Eternal Fire despises witchcraft and supernatural powers. They will only prepare enough magic-blocking gold, but will not find a sorcerer who can throw down hailstones."

"They think that the magic metal can effectively control my connections in the warlock community. This is indeed good. But it is not good for them."

The red-haired sorceress nodded: "It seems that you do have a solution."

"It's not a solution." Lan En smiled easily, and pointed a tiny distance between his two fingers. "It's just a small accumulation."

"Speaking of accumulation." Suddenly, the sorceress, who was smoothing her hair, grabbed the braided hair on the back of her head and shook it slightly, and her long burgundy hair fell down.

Her eyes also fell on the demon hunter opposite, passionate and undisguised.

"I don't want to sleep on that hard bed alone tonight. Not at all! And the key is not whether the bed is hard or not. No matter how hard the bed is, there is always a way for people to sleep on it. Don't you understand, dear?"

The hand that had just been pulled away from Lan's skin in order to keep the conversation rational, now slid in along the silk lace at the collar of his shirt.

The sorceress' voice was as gentle and enchanting as sticky honey. Her legs rubbed against each other involuntarily, pushing the witcher towards a room in the castle.

"But I still have to deal with the materials, respected royal advisor." Lan En raised a finger, emphasizing that he still had work to do. "That's the raw materials for a potion set for ten people."

"Leave it to your knight, Sir Lan." The sorceress bit her finger. "I've seen that they have learned alchemy very well. At least they are good at handling materials."
-
Although Lann, Geralt and his companions left the city gate of Gos Velen in the morning, the roads in Velen were difficult to travel on, and there might be a swamp underneath a patch of grass.

In addition, the area of ​​Velen is not small, so even though the straight-line distance is not too far, it was indeed late when they arrived at Gaoqiu Castle.

In addition, Lan checked the accounts, listened to Lincoln's report, and selected the ten mutants.

By the time I finished all the scattered things, it was already dark.

The remote little castle doesn't have the lively taverns in the town to kill time, so just rest when you need to.

The living conditions in the castle are not bad. Although the hardware facilities are similar to those of Kaer Morhen, the latitude and terrain of High Hill Castle are much warmer than the northernmost part of Kaedwen.

Even in autumn now, it is not very cold at night.

Lan said yesterday that there was no need for the Embers to go out and explore, but Lincoln was still worried and increased the number of people patrolling the castle walls at night.

They were just secret sentries, not patrolling with torches.

When Lincoln first heard that someone was secretly targeting Gaoqiu Castle without him or others noticing, he was of course shocked.

But then, he really wanted that group of daring people, who he didn't know who they belonged to, to come over quickly.

While the adults are still here, if this group of people really want to attack the castle, the Embers Knights probably won't even have to pay for the repairs of the castle's outer walls. Just like when they climbed Mount Sodden, they were led to rush over and that was it.

With Lan En's insight into the battlefield situation, no matter what your plans are, he doesn't care.

But if Lan was to be dragged away by the Warlock Summit, even though the Embers were the most elite knights, they would really lose members if they were tricked.

However, although Lincoln himself was on high alert, since the adults had said not to worry, he did not intend to make a big fuss.

His trust is absolute.

The next morning, in the cold breeze of the autumn morning, Gaoqiu Fort began the busy day as usual.

The Temerian cook assigned to the Knights of Embers was carrying out a pickled pork leg outside the cafeteria, which was the material for breakfast.

He brought out a basin of water and prepared to scrub off the layer of black ash deposited on the outer layer of the pickled pork leg. Later, he would have to use a knife to scrape off the oxidized fat layer until the particularly bright red muscle was exposed before it could be eaten.

The servants were helping out, some of them in their teens who seemed to have been recruited from Velen to do the work. Now, with runny noses, they watched with envy and admiration the morning training of the Embers Knights on the castle grounds.

When the Embers followed Lann, that was when they made the fastest progress, but when they were in High Hill Keep, that was when they quickly became organized and various systems and regulations took shape quickly.

Of course, Lan En estimated that Lincoln, a young clerk with a hidden "middle school soul", must have stuffed a lot of private work into it.

Standing on the gate platform of the main tower of the castle, Lan En watched his knights practicing swordsmanship.

Berengar hasn't gotten up yet. Lan En guessed that he was worried about the [Trial of Green Grass] last night and couldn't sleep.

Geralt had a good biological alarm clock. He was one step ahead of Lan, standing on the platform in breeches, long boots and a linen shirt.

He half-sat on the wooden railing of the platform with one leg drooping, turning his head sideways to look back at the knights' training.

"Did you sleep well, White Wolf?" Lan greeted him, resting his hands on the railing and looking down. "It's a bit strange to say, but this is indeed the first time I sleep in this castle that belongs to me."

The young demon hunter twisted his neck to stretch his muscles, but even with this simple movement, his bulging muscles revealed powerful contours beneath his skin.

It gives people a sense of oppression as if a large machine is warming up its engine.

"I'm not picky about where I sleep. I'm used to it." Geralt said calmly in his recognizable hoarse voice.

The cold wind in the autumn morning in the remote suburbs of Velen had no effect on the demon hunter with super endurance.

Lan's shirt and Geralt's shirt were even open at the collar.

However, the dense leaves outside the castle were blown down by the wind, and a lot of them fell down, mixing with the spots of sunlight shining through the shade of the trees.

“But on the other hand.” Geralt crossed his arms, still half-sitting on the railing. “Are you a little misunderstanding about the soundproofing performance of your castle, Ser Lan?”

He smiled teasingly and patted the railing with his hand: "Stone castles built for war don't have the sound insulation of those residential castles."

Seeing that the young witcher pouted and kept silent, Geralt did not argue with him.

He was no better than Lan. When he first met Yennefer, he was in danger and was trapped under the ruins of a hotel on the street.

The two of them were excited about solving the crisis and had developed feelings for each other, so they just did it in broad daylight under the ruins.
All I can say is that sorceresses and demon hunters are people who don't care about other people's opinions or rumors.

So only in terms of the scale of "playing", Geralt can still point at Lan and laugh at him for being "young".

"But I remember Dandelion once described it to me: the personality of a sorceress is like a red-hot iron, bursting and hot, and when two red-hot irons clamp someone in the middle, the scene is..."

"Anyway, I just can't understand how anyone can actually enjoy being sandwiched between sorceresses."

"You weren't?" Lann shook his head strangely and looked at Geralt. "I remember that you also had entanglements with many sorcerers. Of course, you know what I mean, not counting Yennefer."

"The situation is different." Geralt turned his head away uncomfortably. "We are just making love, not in love. Yennefer doesn't care. But look at the way Triss looks at you. Did you and Triss come here without telling Margarita?"

As he spoke, his expression became strange: "Man, that woman's magic is no joke!"

But the person concerned waved his hand and said: "Dandelion's analysis of the sorceress makes sense. He is worthy of being a professor of literature at Oxenfurt University, but he is a little too used to looking at the contact with the sorceress from the perspective of an ordinary person."

"A piece of meat placed between red-hot irons is, of course, a horrible sight. But I..." The young witcher pointed at himself and smiled: "I am a piece of steel."

Geralt looked at Lan who was smiling, and after a moment of silence, he smiled bitterly: "When I see you, I always feel that I am indeed old."

"You're just exhausted by caring about Ciri's emotions and the current mess." Lan En comforted him, "Old Berengar is still full of energy!"

Geralt just smiled, not knowing how useful Lann's persuasion would be.

But then, a unique collision sound coming from under the platform attracted the attention of the two demon hunters.

"Dang!!!"

(End of this chapter)