Chapter 172: I'm Going to Use Your Skull as a Bowl
Unbeknownst to them,
Lynn and Geralt had already been in Toussaint for a month.
Duchess Anna Henrietta still hadn't fully regained consciousness, but her complexion was improving day by day, and Toussaint's most renowned physicians had declared that the Duchess was no longer in mortal danger; all they had to do now was wait.
However, neither Lynn nor Geralt were the type to sit still.
After a few days of enjoying a life where food was brought to them, clothes laid out, hot baths always available, and servants at their beck and call, both felt uncomfortable and a strange sense of guilt.
Thus, they proactively sought out Count Raymond and accepted a contract to deal with bandits.
As mentioned before, Toussaint had no standing army; its armed forces primarily consisted of knight-errants and the Duchy Guard.
While the Duchy Guard's training and equipment were not inferior to a true army, their numbers were simply too small.
Their main forces were concentrated in the capital, Beauclair, and the few mountain passes connecting Toussaint to the outside world. Rural security largely depended on knight-errants and their squires.
The problem, however, was that most of Toussaint's knight-errants had basically been dispatched to the North. Without them, bandit groups, discovering this 'blue ocean' opportunity, proliferated like mushrooms after rain.
Count Raymond was also at his wit's end dealing with these brigands who plundered, burned, and looted everywhere.
Although he had managed to contact the knight-errants after the Duchess was out of danger, ordering them to return immediately, it would obviously take some time for them to reach Toussaint.
And now, with the two witchers proactively approaching him, Count Raymond naturally couldn't be more pleased.
With a wave of his hand, he detached some men from the Duchy Guard for the two witchers to command.
To his surprise, however, Lynn refused this offer. He didn't need additional manpower, just an increased bounty. This wasn't arrogance on Lynn's part.
Dealing with bandits was different from dealing with an army. Bandits weren't true soldiers; though a small minority might have served in the military, most were ordinary people.
While bandit groups currently causing trouble in Toussaint were countless, each gang had few members, and they were a motley, undisciplined bunch.
To deal with such a disorganized rabble, they didn't even need to kill everyone; just cut down the bravest few, and the rest would scatter at the first sign of trouble.
Even if they encountered large bandit groups of fifty or a hundred or more, it didn't matter. He and Geralt didn't have to engage them head-on. They could always trick them, or launch a surprise attack. In short, there were plenty of methods.
Though hard to believe, given Lynn's previous performance, Count Raymond chose to trust him. He even promised that for every bandit leader's head Lynn brought back, he could directly collect one florin from the Duchy treasury's financial officer.
Don't underestimate one florin; it could be exchanged for eleven orens. This was far more cost-effective than a drowned dead's head.
So, that afternoon, Lynn went on a shopping spree in Beauclair, extensively replenishing the potions and alchemical bombs he had previously consumed. The very next day, he and Geralt left Beauclair.
North of Beauclair, there was an inn called the Cockatrice Inn. This inn was situated on one of the few bridges spanning the Sansretour River, making it a popular spot for merchants, smugglers, and boatmen. Its signature lobster bisque was also widely praised.
Adam Gay, the owner of the Cockatrice Inn, used to love telling everyone the origin of the inn's name. The story went like this: In his youth, Gay served as a knight-errant's squire, and together they defeated a bloodthirsty cockatrice.
The beast's head hung above the inn's entrance for many years, until a traveler from Oxenfurt told everyone it was merely a clumsy imitation made from parts of a pheasant, a weasel, and a pig.
After that, Gay's pride was severely wounded, and he took down the "beast's" head. However, the inn's name remained unchanged.
But now, the inn had been taken over by a newly arrived group of bandits.
"Damn it, how many days has it been, and we haven't seen a single soul? They said there'd be tons of loot after taking this place. What a load of crap!"
A bandit sat on a long bench, hiding under the inn's eaves from the scorching sun, glaring in the direction of the bridge. He had been staring like a devoted wife waiting for her husband for days, all for nothing. This was the source of his intense frustration.
"Didn't they say this is the only bridge around, and everyone going north or south has to stop at this inn? If I hadn't been guarding here for days and seen nothing, I would've almost believed it."
"Stop whining. The more you whine, the hotter it gets," grumbled another bandit wearing a leather vest but with his chest and stomach exposed, picking his nose.
The first bandit poked his ear and looked at the tightly shut inn door. "Should we go talk to the boss? Just waiting like this isn't getting us anywhere. I heard that old woman Anna Henrietta was saved by two witchers from the North."
"Those knight-errants who went North are already on their way back. Good days like these, where we can roam free and break laws, are almost over."
Another bandit lay on the ground, hands clasped behind his head, not even looking their way, saying to himself,
"You go if you want, I'm not. You know the boss's temper. Once he's decided something, unless he changes his own mind, if you make him lose face in front of him, he might just skin you alive."
The first bandit's face stiffened. He scratched the back of his head. "Then why don't we just sneak away tonight? What did we become bandits for? Wasn't it to eat meat heartily, drink wine in big bowls, and do whatever we wanted? Look at the lives we're living now?"
"If a bandit's life is this boring, honestly, I wouldn't risk getting hanged to be a bandit. Let whoever wants to do it."
The other bandit lazily said, "You can shout louder. That way, you won't have to worry about being hanged. The boss will use your skull as a bowl first."
"Shut up, we have guests."
The third bandit's panicked voice instantly alerted the other two. They simultaneously looked at the two figures approaching from the other side of the bridge.
"Go get the others, quick!"
.....
For 100 advanced chapters:
p_treon.com/Chaos_God
Thank you so much for your support and for reading