Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1677 1649. Chivalry
Ratmen are monsters that are often found in underground ruins and sewers in cities. They appear in groups and are often surrounded by a large number of ordinary rats.

In the monster knowledge that demon hunters have long tested and accumulated, the classification of this monster has been discussed.

Monsters like werewolves and bearmen are the result of human mutation or curse, and can be considered one type.

Some werewolves, after uncontrollably transforming and injuring someone, will even surrender themselves out of guilt when they regain consciousness.

But monsters like ratmen and fox demons are beasts that have acquired human-like characteristics, but they are still beasts in essence.

Alzu, who created the group of demon hunters, had a student named Adaran, who created the Adar monsters. He was also a genius who used magic to transform life.

According to records, he was experimenting on rats in the sewers of Vizima when he was five years old, and when he was almost ten years old, he successfully used rats to artificially induce mutations and create wererat.

The city of Long Exeter is quite large, so it is not surprising that there are ratmen there.

What surprised Lan was: Why was Coen hunting ratmen here?

Cohen, the demon hunter of the Griffin School, had met Lan and Gede in Cintra before and became friends with them.

Before Lan, he was probably considered an outlier among the demon hunters.

Because he doesn't have to live in the open like ordinary demon hunters, he has shares in a mine in Povis!
He used his skills as a demon hunter to guarantee the safety of the mine, and since he was also one of the mine's initial partners, he was given shares.

When he did the quest with Gede in Cintra, it was mostly because it was convenient, not because he would run out of food if he didn't do the quest.

When the rat man was mentioned, Cohen's expression became noticeably worse, and even the surprise of meeting Lan, his friend again, was diluted.

"That's a long story."

He shook his head and turned back to arguing with the members of the Kovir Merchants Association.

Finally, the businessman, dressed in gorgeous and expensive clothes, seemed to finally be unable to bear the smell of the rat man's brain. He covered his mouth and nose with a perfumed handkerchief, stuffed something into Cohen's hand, and quickly retreated.

In the magnificent office building of the Merchants Association, two cleaners came out from the porch with brooms and mops, and pushed the rat men's heads into the canal.

After a few "splash" sounds of falling into the water, the stench became much lighter.

It was just that a few small boats happened to pass by on the canal, and the river water mixed with the blood of the rat people splashed up, causing these people to curse loudly.

The two of them left the busy Merchants Association office and walked to a less busy corner.

Cohen walked to the steps of the sidewalk and scooped water from the canal to rinse his Griffin School armor.

"I want to go to the front lines and fight the Nilfgaardians."

While washing his boots, Cohen spoke first and answered Lan's question.

"Fighting?" Lan En was a little more confused. "With your standard of living, you shouldn't have to earn this much money, right?"

As soon as the boots stained with the ratman's blood, brains, and sewer mud were placed in the dark canal, a dark red and smelly outline spread in the water.

"Yes, I don't need to risk my life." Cohen looked up at Lan En behind him seriously, "But if everyone thinks like this, who else will risk their lives for the North?"

"I have seen the war records you brought over during the last Civil War, Lan. The records you, Gerd, and Geralt sent over together. So I also know what kind of people Nilfgaard are."

Lan En looked at the demon hunter who was sitting on the steps and scrubbing his dirty armor.

But in his eyes, this disheveled demon hunter was far more noble than most of the gorgeously dressed pedestrians on the sidewalk of Long Exeter.

Griffin School demon hunters are now very rare, and I don't know if they are about to disappear. But there is no doubt that they are still a group of demon hunters who uphold the "simple chivalry spirit".

"I love my country, Lan. Even in the most utilitarian sense, my life now depends on it. So I will fight the enemy and protect it."

For a person who has made up his mind, impassioned words, even if spoken in the calmest tone, are firm enough.

"I understand." Lan nodded slightly, "But what does this have to do with you killing ratmen here?"

Cohen sighed. "Because I own shares in the mine, my identity registration says I'm a 'mine owner'. Then there are a bunch of nonsense clauses from the Merchants Association. They still don't want me to go to the battlefield."

"If I just go ahead and do it alone, the mine will lose many of its preferential policies. It would be fine if it only involves me, after all, it was my own decision, but how can it affect the business of other partners?"

"Finally, after explaining to them for a long time, I found a middleman who provided a solution: first help them clean up the city sewers to prove that I am indeed a combat-capable demon hunter, not a 'mine owner'."

"Melitelli, aren't my eyes bright enough? Do you still want me to prove that I'm a demon hunter? In my opinion, you just want me to do some work!"

At the end, Cohen was speechless. Lan En figured it out: "So, what you just took from the other party is the certificate of hunting the monster?"

"Yes, I'm almost done. I was just angry that he kept stalling me." Cohen waved his hand in a relaxed manner. "Long Exeter is the winter capital after all. The sewers here are cleaned regularly, so there can't be many monsters left in there."

Can’t save it?

Lan En's eyes narrowed slightly. When he smelled the rat heads just now, in addition to the stench of blood and brain marrow, the smell was very mixed and very fresh.

Ordinary demon hunters don't have such sharp senses as mine, so they might overlook or confuse things. But Cohen is an experienced demon hunter after all, so he shouldn't be too careless in his judgment, right?
"By the way," Cohen turned around and raised his eyebrows at Lan, "You haven't told me why you are here? And who is this kitten?"

"It's not a kitten!" The fluffy ball jumped from behind Lan and explained to Coen in a very serious but still cute way, "It's a follower hunting cat meow!"

"Huh? You can talk?!"

The old demon hunter was a little surprised at this time.

He had seen cat-people in this world, but the Elu cat was undoubtedly too much like a cat, at least more like a cat than the cat-people in this world.

Therefore, he thought that this was some strange monster that Lan En brought with him after communicating with it using the variation of the [Yaxi Seal] he learned from him.

I didn't expect that they could speak and communicate.

However, as a demon hunter, one will see a lot of strange things, so Cohen's surprise did not last long.

"Why am I here?" Lan En shook his head. "It's hard to say."

“Is it complicated?”

"It has to be kept secret."

"I understand. I won't ask anymore." Cohen shrugged, signaling Lan to pretend that he had never asked. "It seems that what you have to do is quite important. What a pity. I was thinking of having a drink with you and talking about how Ged and Regis are doing now."

"Ged is doing well now. He found a long-term job in Gos Velen. As for Regis..." Lan En thought for a moment, "I haven't contacted him recently, but I don't think we need to worry about him."

"And there's no need to feel sorry. What I need to do is at a stage where I'm not needed right now. To be honest, I'm still a little interested in your task of cleaning the sewers. When is the next time you go into the sewers?"

"You want to join us? There's no reward for this mission." Cohen looked surprised, but soon relaxed. "Oh, I forgot that you probably don't care about the reward. Come on, there's only boredom in the sewer now."

Lan asked Coen about the time and place of his next visit to the sewer. After saying hello, the two left and planned to go together to complete the task next time, just to kill time.

That night, Lan was invited to stay at the Redanian ambassador's residence in Long Exeter.

Dijkstra will also stay here during the negotiations with Istrade.

Moreover, this fat and strong spy had already mobilized all the clerks and literate people in the embassy to study the legal system and trading rules of Kovir together.

He hoped that he could find a way to convince the king as soon as possible and allow him to allocate aid to Redania without hesitation.

He requisitioned almost all the rooms on the second floor and above of the embassy. After climbing the stairs, every time he took a step up, he would leave footprints on the densely packed papers on the ground.

The Redanian ambassador's face now looked so ugly that he looked like a water ghost.

He had always looked down on Dijkstra, the upstart and executioner, and now he had messed up his embassy. But he had no choice but to treat him well.

"Duke Lann." The ambassador's face was livid, and his words were stumbling due to suppressed anger. "My Lord, I'm waiting for you upstairs. It seems that I have something to discuss with you."

After saying this, he turned around without stopping and looked very busy.

Lan En didn't care. After all, he could feel that the ambassador not only disliked Dijkstra, but probably also disliked him.

The witcher walked up the wooden stairs to find Dijkstra.

The spy's son was still buried in the thick legal documents after he came in. He looked quite impatient when he heard the footsteps, as if he was disturbed.

It was not until he noticed that the footsteps were unusually heavy that he seemed to remember something and looked up.

"Hmm." Seeing that it was Lan En coming over, his annoyance of looking for a needle in a haystack of paperwork turned into a cautious look. "I think I have to inform you of something, Lan En."

".About that girl."

(End of this chapter)