Demon Hunter: School of the Wolf.

Chapter 663 Islinne's Treasure! The Seagull Tower!

late at night.

The wind blows from the ocean to the land. Clumps of clouds drift past the moon and hover above the islands on the edge of the land.

The shadows enveloped the entire island, making the sound of waves crashing against the rocks even clearer.

Vera turned her gaze away from the night outside the window.

The flickering candlelight dripped white wax tears onto the verdigris candlestick, while the faint scent of incense stirred one's thoughts.

She pinched her brow wearily.

"tired?"

Tissaya de Veres's voice came from the back of another candlestick.

“I’m not young anymore, Tisaya,” Vera said without looking up, waving her hand. A roll of parchment floated up from the table and landed automatically in the wooden frame on the edge of the table. “We are no longer the little girls we were a hundred years ago, who could stay up from dusk till sunrise to find some vague legend.”

“That’s pretty good too,” Tissaya de Veris chuckled. “None of the Vigo family’s children can outlast the two of us old folks.”

Upon hearing this, Vera looked up at the person opposite her.

Fringilla Vigo lay on a pile of parchment, fast asleep to the sound of the waves, even snoring softly.

“She’s still a child, and she’s in charge of the most tedious proofreading work. We can’t expect too much.” Vera pointed her index finger, and Fringilla Vigo’s head floated up gently, allowing the parchment to fly out without getting wet from the girl’s saliva.

“This doesn’t sound like something a blood-red fox would say,” Tissaya de Veres said teasingly, her quill pen twitching slightly as she placed a batch of parchment into a wooden frame.

Vera tucked a stray red hair behind her ear and rolled her eyes with a charming expression: "Fringilla Vigo is not my apprentice, much less Aretusa's student. She's just here to help."

"And to be honest, even though Hen Gedimidis is still unconscious and Ottolan is trapped in Dodurak, are you the only one left in the Talent and Memory Association?"

"I remember the Supreme Council had five seats..."

Tissaya de Veris carefully examined the categorized supplies, casually scribbling with a quill pen, and said, "Narcissus de la Roch has returned to Novigrad. He has to deal with other city-builder families; his task is no easier than mine."

"As for Born Drummond, I've gotten used to everything about the Brotherhood of Sorcerers being without him..."

Vera was not surprised by this.

Due to the influence of chaotic magic, sorceresses are often extreme in personality and narrow-minded, and male sorcerers are not much better, with all sorts of strange and eccentric characters.

Among the strange wizards, Born Drummond is probably the strangest of them all.

As male wizards climb the ranks in the Brotherhood of Warlocks, they typically cultivate their own power at each stage to help them gain control of secular power.

But Born Drummond is different.

Born Drummond had been alone since the lower council of the Brotherhood of Warlocks, without cultivating any power or participating in any meetings of the Brotherhood of Warlocks.

Living far from populated areas and secluded in deep mountains and forests, he was practically a druid.

However, Born Drummond despised the Druids' ways and, because of his use of wild beasts to commit some very cruel acts, he had considerable grudges against almost every Druid's Circle.

He secluded himself in the Flying Dragon Mountains not to contemplate nature, but to search for the dragons that had almost disappeared from the northern continent.

Strange, reclusive, cruel, and fanatical about legendary dragons, he is practically the most bizarre wizard in popular folklore.

Because Born Drummond lives in seclusion in the Flying Dragon Mountains, it is normal for him not to receive messages from other warlocks.

Earlier this year, there were reports that Born Drummond had died in the Flying Dragon Mountains and that the Talent and Skill Association had accepted a new member.

The warlocks of the Warlock Brotherhood's High Council, scheming and plotting for that position, almost had their brains fried, only to discover that Born Drummond wasn't dead. He just had some inexplicable lapse in judgment, disguising a corpse as himself and heading deep into the Dragon Mountains in search of dragons.

If it weren't for the fact that Born Drummond was a member of the Association of Talents and Skills, and was quite powerful.

The High Council had been fooled for nearly two months, and the prominent high-ranking warlocks had long been trying to find ways to take down him in secret.

Vera asked, "Can't get in touch with Born Drummond again?"

Tissaya de Veres shook her head.

"Then why isn't he interested in Dodulak?" Vera asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Dodurak doesn’t have any dragons, so Bon Drummond certainly won’t be interested,” Tissaya de Veris listed a few precious but not very useful magical materials from the supplies requested by the Pale Hand and the Venomous Eye. “There are only Alzur’s drooling demons, ghouls, and all sorts of strange monsters that were created by the magical experiment caused by the conjunction of the celestial spheres.”

"But speaking of Dodulak..."

Tissaya de Verest paused, stopped what she was doing, got up and rummaged through the unexamined pile of parchment for a while, took out a few sheets and handed them to Vera.

Vera paused, then took it without explanation and looked at it.

The first parchment reads, "The spatial data of Doraduk shows strange fluctuations and data overflow, water element is abundant, monsters are unusually active, and many strange plants have grown..."

Then there are simplified drawings of monsters and magical materials.

Aside from the uncommon magical materials, there are also some common monsters from the Northern Continent, such as water ghosts, ghouls, and Andrade worker worms...

The entire parchment was almost entirely filled with these strange and wonderful patterns.

"What do you mean?" Vera frowned.

Tisaya de Veres said, "This is the intelligence gathered by the reconnaissance team sent by Aretusa over the past few days."

"Why me?" Vera frowned and looked up at Tisaya de Veres.

“I know that the Wolf School of Witchers have a habit of investigating the mission beforehand,” Tissaya de Veris said softly. “Berendir Rogrides’ appearance was not expected. It must be the Warlock Brotherhood’s discrimination against Witchers and non-humans. Those kinds of guys are the trouble they’ve caused.”

"João Courtney is said to owe the Redanian royal family a great favor. The vigilante justice against the Redanian nobles at the Temple of Meritelli has finally angered that impulsive bald man, Radovid IV."

"Before I asked Erin to take on the task of rescuing Henry Gedimidis, it was agreed that I would handle the troubles of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers."

"Although the expedition to Dodurak was an accident, in the end I still failed to keep my promise."

"This is a little compensation in advance."

"I will be there during the expedition to Dodurak, and I will do my best to protect them..."

“Ayrin will not participate in this expedition.” Vera suddenly interrupted Tissaya de Veris, clutching the parchment. Tissaya de Veris remained silent for a few seconds.

The evening tide crashed against the rocks of Shand Island, sending the salty sea breeze into the tower.

The candlelight flickered, and the shadows trembled on the cold rock wall.

Fringilla Vigo, who was lying on the table, seemed to feel the dampness and cold brought by the sea breeze. She frowned her delicate eyebrows and smacked her lips.

In silence, Tissaya de Veres glanced at Fringilla Vigo, put the quill pen into the inkwell, got up and walked to the windowsill, closing the blinds.

"Crack~"

A soft sound.

The deep night and the damp sea breeze were all shut out of the window.

Fringilla Vigo smacked her lips comfortably, turned her head to change her sleeping position, and her bare face was marked with crisscrossing pink watermarks.

Tissaya de Vera glanced at Vera, then got up and walked out of the room.

Vera stood up in tacit agreement and followed closely behind.

"Squeak~"

The wooden door groaned as it closed behind us.

Tissaya de Vera and Vera walked silently up the spiraling stone steps.

The towers on Shanid are no different from those on Kaer Morhen; they are both equally empty and cold.

The only possible difference is the water droplets seeping from the gray walls, and the slippery stone steps due to the humidity of the sea, requiring careful steps with every step.

Of course, Tissaya de Vera and Vera didn't need to be so careful, even though they had both fallen many times inside the tower.

"Tap tap tap~"

The crisp sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor. Neither of the two sorceresses started a conversation, and they walked upstairs in silence.

Tissaya de Vera did not explain the destination, nor did Vera ask; there was a strange yet familiar tacit understanding.

"Vera, how long has it been since you came back?"

Turning a corner on the stone steps, Tissaya de Veres pulled a copper key etched with delicate textures and patterns from her waist.

"This is the Swift Tower, or Aretuza?" Vera looked down at the cracks in the stone steps and answered herself, "If it's Aretuza, it's been a few months. If I remember correctly, I came here once in the first half of the year because of Born Drummond's faked death."

"But if we're talking about this Swift Tower..."

Vera lowered her head and pondered for a while: "One hundred and fifty-three years, or one hundred and fifty-four years? Ever since the mentor died, you have been in Gastán Palace. I only go there when I come. If it weren't for this high council meeting, which filled both Loscha Palace and Gastán Palace, perhaps this time would have been extended even further."

“One hundred and fifty years…” Tissaya de Veres paused, looking up at the gray-white stone wall where shadows of people were gathered in the candlelight, her tone tinged with emotion, “Time really flies. I still remember after our mentor brought you back, we often sneaked to this tower…”

"Thor Laura...The Seagull Tower..."

"After my mentor died, I rarely come here anymore..."

Vera remained silent, following Tissaya de Veres step by step, as if she had been transported back 150 years.

After Soi Henrietta was "tricked" away by the Witcher Order, she soon awakened her magical powers and was noticed by her mentor, who happened to be visiting a friend in Toussaint, and became her apprentice.

Back then, the world of the supernatural was not as "orderly" as it is today. Male wizards went to Ban Ard to study, and the holy status of sorceresses was held on the island of Xenide, which was created by the elves using magic in the bay northwest of Gos Velen.

wrong!

It should be said that Ban Ade, being established relatively early, is indeed a holy site for male witches.

However, Aretusa was not well-known in the northern continent due to the disadvantage of sorceresses in terms of gender and numbers, as well as the Black Sun Curse (in the near future, an eclipse will announce the resurrection of the witch Lilit, bringing about the end of the world. Her resurrection will be achieved by "sixty girls wearing golden crowns filling the valley with their blood," causing all girls and sorceresses born during the eclipse to suffer discrimination and persecution).

The lineage among sorceresses tends to follow the most traditional mentor-apprentice system.

Therefore, she was not a sorceress from Aretusa, but her mentor had a close relationship with Aretusa. A few years after taking her as his apprentice, he took over the position of the previous and first head of Aretusa.

Tissaya de Veres shared the same mentor as her, but had already left the tutelage before becoming a member of Aretusa.

However, they had a very good relationship because of the same mentor, especially after the mentor took over as dean, it was almost always Tissaya de Veres who taught her.

Of course, that was only in the past...

"Click~"

A strange noise interrupted Vera's wandering thoughts.

Sometime later, Tissaya de Veres had stopped in front of a large brass gate and was using a brass key to open it.

The bronze door is etched with exquisite elven-style patterns, and a seagull soars over the sea.

This is Thor Laura, the origin of the Seagull Tower, and one of the few remaining relics left by the elves on the island of Shanides.

But there has always been a rumor surrounding the Seagull Tower.

It is said that this tower not only comes from the ancient elves, but also from an era when the mountain people ruled the entire world.

The legendary elven prophet Islinne Egri Ap Evinion has also hidden a riddle here; solving it will activate an ancient portal called Benavent atop the Seagull Tower.

The portal holds the treasure of a legendary elven prophet, and legend also says that behind it lies hope—the hope to prevent the apocalypse and the arrival of White Frost.

However, every ancient elven ruin in the northern continent is associated with a legend of an ancient elven treasure map. Even Beauclair in Toussaint, the capital of the last elven king, has the treasures of the deceased elven king's restoration hidden in some corner of Beauclair.

But how is that possible?
The last Elf King, Difsoff, died a gruesome death. He was ordered by Ludovic, the first human king of Toussaint, to use forbidden necromancy to extract his soul. It is impossible that he still had the wealth to restore his kingdom hidden away.

However, Vera and Tissaya de Veres, who were just children at the time, firmly believed in the legend and searched for it for many years.

Of course, nothing was found in the end, until her mentor suddenly passed away, and Tissaya de Veres took over as the dean of Aretusa. She also unexpectedly received news of Soi Henrietta and left Aretusa.

"Why did you bring me here?" Vera joked after regaining her senses. "Did you find Islini's treasure?"

(End of this chapter)