Demon Hunter: School of the Wolf.

Chapter 669 Laurel Wing Silver Eagle! Conspiracy!
A small, long-neglected house on the edge of Shanede Island.

"Squeak~"

The dilapidated wooden door groaned as it was pushed open, and a gust of cold wind blew in from outside, causing the people gathered around the lab bench to shiver. They turned their heads with cold faces, wanting to see who was so ungrateful as to come to their door in the middle of the night without even knocking.

"Rogrides, didn't your father, Duke Rogrides, teach you to knock before entering?" A middle-aged man with a white beard and wearing a black mage's robe coldly reprimanded, "Close the door now!"

The sorcerer known as Berendil Rogrides chuckled and leisurely walked in from outside. He muttered a few words, patted his damp robes to let the moisture evaporate from his soaked clothes under the power of magic, and then closed the door under the angry glares of the people inside.

“I’m just a bastard, how could I possibly have the honor of being personally taught by Duke Rogrides?” Berendil Rogrides grinned mischievously. “Besides, I was just about to knock, but your door didn’t seem to be ‘locked’, it opened with a push…”

"Lord Agostino Austin, how did the witch of Aretusa end up in such a desolate place?"

Berendil Rogrides slowly walked in, looked around the dilapidated house, clicked his tongue in admiration, and said, "Even the Honeysuckle Alchemy Workshop has a spacious house with a fireplace. Your Laurel Silver Eagles are the strongest supernatural organization in Redania..."

“And how much better are you?” the goatee-bearded wizard Agostino Austin, dressed in a black mage's robe, interrupted with a disgruntled snort.

Berendil Rogrides shrugged and readily admitted, "I'm certainly not as good as you. At least you have rooms, while I was cornered in my room by those sluts of Aretusa as soon as the conference ended a few days ago, who tried to kick me out with sarcastic remarks."

"This afternoon, under the pretext that the expedition to Dodurak had already been arranged and that Aretusa needed to clear out her room to restore the academy's normal teaching order, she came in and started cleaning the room, packing my things without saying a word..."

"Then they 'escorted' me away from Xenide Island."

Berendil Rogrides gestured dramatically to his robe, which, though magically dried, still bore water stains and dirt, and sighed, "I went through so much trouble to sneak in here in the dead of night just to see you."

As he spoke, Berendil Rogrides took a few steps closer without making a sound, and in the gap between the wizards, he saw the cauldron on the alchemy table, and the cauldron with blood-red bubbles bubbling inside.

"Berendir Rogrides, what do you want?!"

Agostino Austin's tone suddenly sharpened in exasperation, and he moved to block Berendil Rogrides's view.

Berendil Rogrides sniffed the faint, fishy smell in the air, lost in thought.

"That's ghoul bio-oil."

This was a statement, not a question. Berendil Rogrides raised an eyebrow with absolute certainty, glancing meaningfully at the grim-faced Agostino Austin, and said, "The Crowned Eagle, renowned for its alchemy, is actually copying a Witcher's potion recipe, and..."

“And it failed…” Berendil Rogrides sniffed again, a mocking smirk playing on his lips.

Agostino Austin glared angrily, and the other wizards in the room also summoned their staffs with hostile expressions.

In the world of the supernatural, it is a major taboo to imitate a living alchemist's recipe that has not been made public or authorized for imitation.

Of course, doing it in secret is fine as long as it's not exposed, but if it gets known and spreads, it's enough to ruin the reputation of a renowned alchemist.

For the Crowned Eagles, this was an even more devastating blow.

It's not just about reputation, but also about actual benefits.

On the surface, not only will the Brotherhood of Sorcerers be punished, but all factions will refuse to buy Laurel Eagle's alchemical potions and items. Even if some transactions can still be made in secret, they will be huge losses that will be devastating.

“Hehehe, relax,” Berendil Rogrides spread his hands, indicating that he was harmless. “Since I’ve said it, I definitely won’t tell anyone. I can sign a contract, the cruelest kind…”

Just as Agostino Austin was breathing a slight sigh of relief, he heard Berendil Rogrides say cynically again:
"But let me guess first. Although cannibalistic bio-oil is very famous recently, the Silver Eagle of Laurel has plenty of profitable potions and items, so this must be an order from Radovid IV..."

The Silver Laurel Eagles are the extraordinary organization to which Agostino Austin belongs, but even within the Brotherhood of Warlocks, or even outside the Brotherhood of Warlocks, anyone with a basic understanding of geography can see that the Silver Laurel Eagles have a close relationship with Redania.

The emblem of Inridaria is a crowned silver eagle grasping a golden evil spirit on a red background, with a small black shield with a golden cross painted on its chest.

Compared to the emblem of the Laurel Silver Eagle Extraordinary Organization, it only lacks the crown, the golden evil spirit, and the small black shield with the golden cross.

This isn't even a subtle hint; it's a direct and explicit display.

In fact, the origin of the Laurel Silver Eagle does indeed come from the Redanian royal family, a direct descendant with magical talent.

It was only because Redania was experiencing a surge of anti-wizard and anti-magic movements at the time that it had to abolish a series of supernatural positions such as magic advisors. The direct descendants could only secretly establish a supernatural organization that relied on the royal family.

At first, they remained hidden underground. After that wave of thought subsided, they were discovered by the Brotherhood of Warlocks (the Novigrad Covenant does not allow extraordinary organizations to be too closely associated with secular royal power), and gradually became independent, joining the Brotherhood of Warlocks.

Even so, the Silver Eagle Laureate still has a close relationship with the royal family of Redania, and there is inevitably some clandestine exchange of benefits.

It's just a superficial arrangement, enough to give the Warlock Brotherhood an explanation.

Similar practices are not uncommon among the various kingdoms of the Northern Continent; as the saying goes, as long as things appear acceptable on the surface, that's enough.

"So what..."

Agostino Austin, annoyed, took a tattered piece of parchment from his pocket, wrote something in the air with a quill, and handed it to Berendil Rogrides. He watched as Rogrides casually signed his name, and only after the contract burned to ashes in the crimson flames did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“Radovid IV is quite the prideful man…” Berendil Rogrides clicked his tongue, watching the parchment vanish into thin air, his spirit connecting with some void.

“It’s not his fault,” Agostino Austin said, his tone softening. “From Limbu and Naracot in the south, near the Pontal River, to Drakenberg and Montecavo in the east, and Mittel on the northern border, warnings of ghoul hordes have been reported all over Redania.”

"Redania needs carnivore bio-oil."

“But they’re unwilling to pay Vera…” Berendil Rogrides continued, “or more precisely, unwilling to bow down to that witcher and buy from her…”

“That is necessary,” Agostino Austin said solemnly. “The dignity of Redania, the dignity of the royal family, must be respected…”

Therefore, they were unwilling to pay even a single copper coin to the witcher who had privately tortured the kingdom's nobles.

Although Berendil Rogrides was an illegitimate child, he wasn't truly a politically ignorant scholar or sorcerer, and could understand Radovid IV's contradictions. This was something no king could accept.

Otherwise, if the king were to execute a nobleman by lynching and then immediately make a large-scale purchase of potions from the murderer, the dignity of "Bald" Radovid IV would be completely destroyed, and the dissatisfaction of many nobles might even lead to considerable chaos.

In comparison, having someone counterfeit potions, while not honorable and likely to cause trouble for the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, has much milder consequences and is well within an acceptable range.

but……

“Limbu, Narakot, Montecavo, Mittel on the northern border…” Berendil Rogrides frowned and muttered a few words, then asked curiously, “What about Tritog? The royal capital Tritog, surrounded by these towns, didn’t it encounter any ghouls?”

“That’s strange,” Agostino Austin nodded. “Those ghouls seem to have some kind of intelligence, deliberately avoiding Tritog… But let’s not talk about that…”

Agostino Austin was clearly unwilling to delve into Redania's internal affairs with Berendil Rogrides, and changed the subject:

“Tell me your purpose, Berendir. Don’t tell me you risked your life to sneak into Xenide Island in the middle of the night just to make me waste a demon contract on you.”

“The Rodriguez family can pay for the demon contract.” Berendir Rogrides didn’t care about the ghoul stuff, and after making a joke with a grin, he got to the point.

"Your Excellency Agostino, what are your thoughts on the expedition to Dodurac?"

Berendil Rogrides became serious and asked a question first.

Upon hearing this, Agostino Austin stopped what he was doing, narrowed his eyes, and stared at the noble wizard before him: "What I think is irrelevant. Does the Rodriguez family really care about a witcher who is rumored to be a god?"

“Of course not,” Berendil Rogrides shook his head. “One witcher is certainly not important. Of course, under normal circumstances, such a witcher with extraordinary potential would definitely be eliminated as soon as possible, but not now.”

"Right now, that Wolf School witcher named Erin is just a fulcrum."

“A fulcrum?” Agostino Austin asked thoughtfully.

“That’s right, the pivot,” Berendil Rogrides nodded slightly, then glanced discreetly at the other male wizards of the Laurel Silver Eagle around him.

Agostino Austin raised an eyebrow, turned and ordered, "You all continue your research. You are the top alchemists in Redania. How can you not even be able to decipher a formula created by a witcher?"

"Yes, Master." The wizards could only reply dejectedly, taking out several bottles of blood-red potions and using their magic to observe and analyze them.

"...I still think the reason for the failure was the materials. Perhaps the ghoul bio-oil didn't use the heart, tongue, and brain that we commonly see in ghouls, but some other, less common parts..."

"But the spies, following the alchemy workshop's procurement of magical materials, only found dog oil, dandelion, ghoul hearts, and brains..."

"...Ghoul ingredients possess magical properties, and according to the fundamental principles of potion-making, they cannot be omitted. So perhaps it's dandelion..."

"Damn it, how did that witcher come up with that..."

……

The male wizards of the Laurel Silver Eagle quickly began to discuss it.

After glancing at him twice, Agostino Austin turned back to Berendil Rogrides and nodded, saying, "Come with me, let's talk somewhere else."

Then, ignoring Berendil Rogrides' reaction, he went straight into the inner room.

Berendil Rogrides nodded, turning his attention away from the heated discussion at the alchemy lab and following in Agostino Austin's footsteps.

They entered through a wooden door as dilapidated as the main entrance of the cabin, and then walked through a long corridor.

Agostino Austin waved his staff.

The gray carpet, its original color indistinguishable from the ground, billowed with choking dust and rose into the air, revealing a tunnel sealed off by wooden planks.

"Tap tap tap~"

Agostino Austin pinched his nose in disgust and walked into the deep tunnel.

“There’s something you’re wrong about,” Agostino Austin suddenly spoke up, casting a spell of light that illuminated the tunnel. “This room used to be the residence of a sorceress from the Silver Eagles of Laurel. It wasn’t arranged by the sorceresses of Aretusa, but rather we requested it ourselves when we first arrived at Xenide Island.”

"I only expressed some dissatisfaction at the conference; Tissaya isn't that undignified..."

So kicking me out would be more dignified… No matter how much Berendil Rogrides joked, his face stiffened at this moment, and he said sarcastically:
"You specifically chose this place, could it be to research the formula for cannibalistic bio-oil?"

"A potion recipe created by a mere witcher can actually stump the alchemist of the Silver Eagle who claims to be top-notch."

Agostino Austin stopped in his tracks upon hearing this.

"Researching for cannibalistic bio-oil is certainly a major reason for choosing this location, but..."

"You probably haven't really studied carnivore bio-oil, have you?"

"An alchemist who has truly studied cannibalistic bio-oils would never say something like 'a potion recipe created by a mere witcher'..."

Berendil Rogrides expected Agostino Austin to unleash a torrent of angry words upon him, but to his surprise, after Agostino Austin stopped, he merely glanced at him with a hint of disdain, as if a sorcerer were looking at a meddlesome mortal nobleman.

Berendil Rogrides paused, about to say something.

Agostino Austin simply shook his head and said, "We've arrived, Berendil."

"Tell me about the fulcrum you mentioned..."

(End of this chapter)