Harry was at a small Inn just outside Novigrad, and was admittedly, getting a little annoyed with Geralt. It had been a little more than a week since he had left Geralt and the man should have been here by now. If he had been walking, then it would have been understandable, but the Witcher was on horseback and would not likely dally on his way here. He had already vowed that if Geralt wasn't here in the next 24 hours, he would go out and look for the man himself.
"Oi." A voice said from behind him. Harry turned slowly from his seat on one of the benches where he had been having a cool drink to pass the time. There were several rough looking men staring at him with greed in their eyes.
"What?" Harry asked coldly. He honestly hoped these bums would try something, just so he would have something to do to pass the time.
"Fancy clothes you go there. You some kind of lording?" The man questioned.
"Something like that."
"Well it's awfully dangerous to be out here all alone milord. Luckily, me and my gents are willing to keep you safe. All we ask is for a little coin in return. Sounds like a fair deal doesn't it?"
"I'm not interested." Harry said back easily enough. At this, the man smiled at him cruelly.
"Now, no need to dismiss my offer so quickly. There are lots of dangers out there you know, trust me on this…" The man said as he walked closer and drew a dagger that he held carelessly but with a practiced ease.
"Are you too fucking stupid to not understand the word no? Do I look scared of you and the rest of your little bandit posse? Turn around and walk the hell off. It'll be the only chance you get to get out of here alive." Harry told him. He could see various other patrons getting up and leaving while some seemed to be interested on what was about to happen. The innkeeper seemed to be staying away and had fear in his eyes. He likely had run ins with these men before and knew to stay away.
"Cocky little shit aren't you? And right after we had given you such a generous offer. Well maybe we'll break some of your bones, and then take your gold for the trouble you've caused us." The man said. Harry stood with no words after that. He didn't even plan to use magic for this. While it was clear these men had fought before. The way they stood and moved showed they were brawlers at best. While no Witcher, Harry was skilled enough in hand to hand and his enhanced speed and strength made him quite the opponent.
The man rushed him and tried to jab at him with his blade. Harry twisted his body and let the blade move right past him. He grabbed the man's arm before he could retract it and ripped the blade out of his grasp. He then moved him with a lightning speed and slammed his knee right into the man's groin. There was a high-pitched squeal from the man as he fell to his knees and then down to the floor.
His men looked shocked and Harry used that to his advantage. He got close in to the next one and slammed his foot into the man's diaphragm causing the air to get knocked right out of him. He fell forward and Harry caught him. He then turned around and flipped the man over his shoulder, directly into one of his other attackers.
There was only one more and at this point, he wasn't looking so confident. Harry was having none of it, he raised his arms as if he was about to box the man and in one step, he was already within his guard. He jabbed his fist forward and slammed it right into the man's face. He watched as the shockwave hit his face and he fell back and onto the floor unmoving. Harry took a deep breath and straightened himself out before taking out a small sack of coins and tossing it to the innkeeper.
"For the drinks and the trouble." Harry told him as he walked out. The man just nodded slowly as he watched him leave. As he left the inn, he started walking back to Novigrad in deep thought. Perhaps he should continue without Geralt for now. He had already sent his birds out to gather information. He could find mention of Dandelion but no info on where he currently was. There was a dwarf who might know something but he didn't know him, only Geralt. He would most likely speak to him rather than Harry.
Harry sighed in annoyance but decided to sit under a tree near enough to the city and hoped that today would be the day. He started dozing lightly and began to ignore his surroundings as he waited. He wasn't sure how long he was there but he was jerked awake when he felt something hit the side of his leg. He opened his eyes and looked up. Standing next to him was the tall, grey-haired companion he had been waiting for. Harry frowned.
"You're late."
"Had some trouble at the border. Only those with some specific papers could get by." He explained. Harry frowned in annoyance.
"Could've been avoided if you had just manned up and come with me." Harry grumbled. Geralt just looked at him.
"Calm down. We're still making better time than if I had done this investigation by myself. I'd still be in Velen dealing with the baron. Speaking of, did you find his wife and daughter?" Geralt asked as they started to walk towards the gates of Novigrad.
"Of course, I did. His daughter was at Oxenfurt and his wife was being held by some evil witches in a swamp. Killed the witches and freed their prisoners." Harry told him.
"And by witches?"
"I mean cursed beings using dark magic to harm others to supplement their own power."
"I see. Sounds like it was probably better that you handled it." Geralt said as they walked under the gates into the entrance of the city.
"They had a fiend with them. You could have had fun cutting that up."
"A fiend huh? Yeah, it was definitely better that you dealt with it then."
"You sound lazy."
"Hmph." Geralt grunted as they entered a courtyard and saw what looked like a public execution. One of the people was clearly already dead considering their body was only a charred corpse. There was however a woman about to be burnt at the stake. Harry didn't need to be told what was going on here, a witch burning. His face darkened as he saw the cheering crowd and the face of terror on the woman.
"Why don't you go on ahead for a moment, I'll catch up with you momentarily." Harry told him.
"I don't mind but try and remember that were trying to keep a low profile." Geralt reminded him. Harry nodded before disappearing from the man's view. Geralt blinked before shaking his head and continuing on. Harry glided through the crowd undetected as he had a basic disillusionment charm as well as a notice-me-not charm to make sure no one would bother him.
He reached the platform and climbed up onto it smoothly. No one had noticed him still which meant there were no other magic users here or artifacts to break his illusions.
"THIS WITCH WILL BE CLEANSED IN THE ETERNAL FIRE." A priest yelled as he held a torch next to the pile of wood that the woman was on top of. He turned and lowered the torch towards the pile. Harry waved his hand smoothly in front of his form. Simultaneously, an explosive gust of wind crossed the stage and completely wiped the fire out before it could even touch the pile.
The priest frowned and then turned towards one of the guards and told him to bring another torch and more oil. A guard ran up with another set and gave the equipment to the priest. At this point, the crowd stopped jeering and started murmuring amongst themselves. The priest took the oil lamp and was about to pour a coat of it to soak the tip of the torch. Harry waved his hand again and another gust of wind came through from a different direction. This one blew the priest right off the stage and onto the courtyard floor. He threw the oil lamp up into the air as he fell back and it dropped on top of him spilling all over.
As this was happening, the torch that had blown out early and was smoking relit and rolled slowly off the stage as well. The crowd's eyes widened in shock as they watched the torch slowly roll off and landed directly on top of the priest covered in oil. The priest immediately started screaming in terror as he burst into flames. He jumped in a panic and started running through the crowd causing it to disperse as everyone tried to run from him in terror.
Harry smirked as he walked up towards the woman tied up. He took the disillusionment charm off his form and widened it in a circle around him until it encompassed both him and the woman. The woman looked down at him.
"Who are you?" She asked in fright.
"Hadrian Black. King of the Avalonian Empire. Who are you?"
"I-…Felicia Cora."
"Wonderful to meet you Felicia. I am going to help you get down and then help you get out of the city. Is that alright with you?" He asked as if he hadn't just caused a massive panic in the middle of a populated courtyard, a panic which was still happening around them.
"YES, please! I'll do anything!" she yelled down to him.
Harry held out his hand. The ropes around her dropped and he started levitating her down before she could fall. As soon as he tried to drop her on the ground, she almost collapsed again causing him to reach out and grab her. He looked her over and saw her body was badly beaten. She must have been weak from the torture.
"Sorry about that. I forgot that you probably wouldn't be able to stand unassisted. Hmm. Most of your wounds are scabbed over to some extent. You're probably in a good enough shape to apparate. Hold on tight. This is going to be disconcerting for you." Harry told her as he reached under her and lifted her in a bridal carry. The woman yelped at the unexpected movement but Harry ignored it. He frowned for a moment. If he wanted to get her help and also come back. He couldn't take her all the way back to Avalon, it was too far. He could make it to Ard Calleigh though. Its facilities weren't as good but it was better than most other places so she should be fine.
"Hold on tight and don't move to much otherwise you might leave something behind." Harry told her. She just looked at him confused.
"What are you…"
With a soft crack, they disappeared from the courtyard and split second later they were in a building where people were moving about in healer clothes attending to people who were in various states of some distress. Several healers looked towards him and he could see a few of their eyes widening.
"King Hadrian!"
"No time for chatting. This woman needs medical attention right now. I am leaving her in your care. I shall be paying for any medical expenses she accrues while here. I would be most upset if anything happened while she is under your care. Am I understood?" He asked with a slight glare. After a moment of a lot of bowing and reassurances, he handed her to them.
"Thank you, King Hadrian." Felicia told him sincerely as she was taken away.
"Of course." Harry said with a nod and smile to her. A moment later and he was back at Novigrad without anyone the wiser. Harry immediately threw up a tracking charm to locate Geralt and started walking through the city. It took him maybe an hour before he found his companion. It seemed he had found a familiar face as well.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Harry asked rhetorically as he approached. The redhead next to him tensed and turned towards him but Geralt was still at ease as he did so, clearly recognizing his voice.
"Harry. That didn't take too long."
"Of course, it didn't. Who do you think you're talking too?"
"And all that noise I heard earlier? You didn't cause any issues for us did you? We're not about to be run out of the city are we?"
"Geralt, please. You're insulting me. I accomplished my goal with none being the wiser. And, as a bonus, I also got to set an annoying priest on fire. That's a double win in my book."
"Hmph. Anyway, this is…" Geralt said gesturing to his companion.
"Triss Merigold, yes I know. We've met." Harry said. Both Geralt and Triss frowned at that.
"You have?"
"We have?"
Harry nodded, "Oh yes. It was several years ago, I believe you were climbing Kaer Morhen to meet Cirilla for the first time." Harry said to her. Geralt looked even more confused while Triss looked shocked.
"That was you?"
"Indeed. Lovely to see you again Triss. You look like you haven't aged a day." Harry joked, considering sorcerers could change their appearance and look pretty much anyway they wanted.
"I… yes. It is good to see you again as well. What have you been up to?" She asked clearly unsure of what to say.
"I've been good. I formed a kingdom and am currently the ruler of the biggest Northern Kingdom left. What about you? I hear you have been helping magic users across the border. Though I wasn't aware you were in Novigrad." Harry said back.
"Why did you meet Triss on her way to Kaer Morhen?" Geralt asked.
"Hmm? Oh, she was in the middle of a snow storm and it was getting bad so I gave her a bit of a rest point." Harry said easily. Geralt frowned for a moment but said nothing else.
"Where are you two going?" Harry asked.
"We just finished up some business at a granary. Triss is about to go home. I still have some business to do for our quest." Geralt said. Harry nodded.
"Well then, we best be off then. We're already behind." Harry said. Geralt and Triss said goodbye. Harry bid her goodbye as well before they separated.
"Well, that was awkward." Harry stated as they walked away.
"What?"
"I mean c'mon. Let's not pretend you didn't have an intimate relationship with her and that she's still not hung up on you. Plus, you definitely still feel something for her. I can tell." Harry told him.
"Hmph… You're right. I do still care for Triss, but…"
"But you love Yennefer." Harry said in understanding. Geralt nodded.
"Yes. Triss will always mean something but Yennefer will always be my love." Geralt said. Harry nodded.
They continued walking until they came up to a house with several thugs outside of it clearly trying to break in.
"This the place?" Harry asked.
"Yep."
"You wanna take this one?"
"Fine."
Geralt moved forward and approached the vagrants. Harry stopped paying attention to what was being said and it soon didn't matter as Geralt started beating the vagrant's unconscious with his fist. In a few moments they were down.
"That didn't take long." Harry said as he approached and subtly waved his hand over the downed bodies.
"What are you doing?"
"Erasing their memories and telling them to skip town when they wake up." Harry said as he finished and stepped over the bodies. Geralt moved to the door and Harry unlocked it with a simple spell as they stepped in.
"Whose house is this?" Harry asked.
"Dandelion's."
"Ahh."
Geralt started doing his investigation and Harry let him as he moved over to the owl that was sitting on a perch in the house. Harry stood in front of it and looked at it blankly for a moment.
"Alright you fucking tossers. You get ready for a…. Geralt?"
Harry turned and saw a dwarf enter the house that caused Harry to raise an eyebrow.
"Zoltan." Geralt said in greeting as he turned around.
"Geralt you old rascal. Hahaha. What are you doing here?" Zoltan asked as they greeted each other. They soon were talking and discussing with each other like old friends. Harry let them catch up for a moment and talk until Geralt pointed to him.
"This is Harry."
"Nice to meet you." Harry said politely.
"So, you're helping Geralt look for his little Sparrow, are you?"
"Indeed I am. May I ask you a question?" Harry asked.
"Okay."
"Why do you have a pet sorcerer?" Harry asked.
"Excuse me?"
"The owl. It's a transformed sorcerer. Why do you have it here?"
"I have no idea what you're talking…." He was cut off as Harry unlocked the chain that was wrapped around the owl's leg. Almost immediately the owl started growing extremely quickly and glowing. A moment later and a ruffled woman appeared.
She was attractive to be sure, wearing what was probably a once beautiful, if not provocative, dress. Now it was a little torn and had dirt on it in various places. There was also the rather conspicuous blindfold covering her eyes.
"Phillipa Eilhart… Great. What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, King Hadrian." She said calling him out. Harry rose an eyebrow. He wasn't exactly hiding his identity but he was surprised she recognized him, especially since she was blind.
"Phillipa, I am three seconds away from putting you back into that owl body of yours permanently, especially since you know information that I would definitely prefer you didn't know." Harry said, referencing the fact that she clearly heard the entire conversation about what he and Geralt were doing.
"Hmph. I am simply keeping out of the eyes of Radovid, until I am ready to deal with him." She said darkly. Harry stared at her hard for a moment.
"Geralt, why don't you and Zoltan go figure out our next steps. Me and Phillipa need to have a talk." Harry told him.
"Alright." Geralt said as he and his dwarf friend exited the house. As soon as they did so. Harry cast several wards on the room to prevent entry… as well as escape. Phillipa frowned. Harry summoned two chairs for them both to sit down on.
"Sit."
"Fine."
They both sat across from each other in silence as Harry glared at the woman. Phillipa, as far as he was concerned, was one of the most dangerous sorceresses currently alive. While not the most powerful in the Lodge, she was definitely the most ruthless of her sister sorceresses. Not only that but her political background made her even more dangerous.
"Why are you pretending to be an owl for a dwarf?" Harry started.
"You're a smart man, your grace. I am sure you know why."
"You're hiding from Radovid. You picked Novigrad because they're holding off the Redanian forces so Radovid can't get in and know you're here. So more specifically, why Zoltan?"
"It's… complicated."
"Uncomplicate it so I have a reason to not use you as target practice please."
"My, your even more aggressive then I have heard."
"Sheala has a bigger mouth than I thought." Harry said back. Phillipa tilted her head but didn't deny it. She didn't need to. One, Harry wouldn't have been fooled and two, Harry was clearly looking for a reason to get rid of her and lying would have been a perfect one.
"Anyway, I'll confess that my reasons for being in such a situation are not my own."
"I figured that with the magic suppression chain around your ankle. So, you came to Novigrad but something happened that caused you to get captured. Not by the witch hunters though since they would have loved to hand you over to Radovid. It also wouldn't explain why you were trapped as an owl. So… you were tricked? Am I getting closer?"
"I have a feeling there's no answer I can give that would make you believe otherwise to what you have already concluded on your own so I will admit you to being correct in your guess." Phillipa admitted begrudgingly.
"Explain further please." Harry commanded slipping into his monarch voice. Phillipa was a fellow magic user but also one that was an advisor and de facto ruler of rival kingdom. He would be more than within his right to deal with her as he sees fit.
"As you may know, Radovid took my eyes. I had a… former colleague in Novigrad who I thought could help me regain my eyesight by re-growing the tissues on precious stone."
"Hmm, something that would be hard to do without eyes because of the efficiency required. Though I must say, it may have restored your eyesight but unless you had some surprising breakthroughs in bio-magical engineering, I can't imagine it would be… comfortable." Harry pointed out.
"I can live with pain. I cannot live without my eyes." Phillipa said in annoyance.
"I see."
Harry thought on that for a moment. He could help her. Regrowing tissues was a rather rare thing magic-wise and was a semi recent discovery in this world. In his world, there was a potion that could regrow tissue perfectly suited to the host in a painless process. As long as the wound was not inflicted through a magic spell or something similar than it should not be a problem. Of course, did he even want to help Phillipa? It may put her in his debt, but he wasn't sure if he believed she would honor that. She was a woman who did whatever she thought was in her best interest.
"So, where do we go from here."
"I am unsure. I don't know what to do with you. You know too much about what is happening already for my comfort. What's worse, with your former… position, I have no reason to place any trust in you. In all honesty, the best thing to do would be to kill you right now, regardless how I feel about your current condition." Harry finished.
"An understandable conclusion. Very well. Based on your impressive reputation and known magical repertoire, I doubt I could take you on at my best, let alone in my current condition. So, what can I do to show that I will not be a threat?"
"You tell me."
"Hmm. A magical vow perhaps?"
"Continue."
"Let's negotiate."
"Negotiate huh? You're quite the wordsmith from what I know. You're also known to be able to use loopholes to get around contracts." Harry pointed out.
"So, what do you suggest… besides killing me?"
"Hmm. I suppose I can carve some runes into you that will make sure you're not a threat." Harry said with a shrug.
"…. And what kind of runes would you be putting on me?"
"Mmm. I suppose I could just put a basic kill rune on you. It'll allow me to kill you from anywhere at anytime should you betray me in anyway." Harry replied nonchalantly.
"You want me to agree to allowing you to put a rune that'll kill me at any moment on my body?"
"Want is a strong word. I really want to not have to worry about you knowing things you shouldn't. You WANTED to have a way to assure me I wouldn't need to worry about that while also keeping you alive. This is what I call a compromise."
"It's a hostile negotiation."
"Maybe, but the way that the lodge has been interacting with me and my Empire is troublesome. Honestly, the whole playing both sides thing you guys do causes me to not have a lot of trust in most of you."
"You seem to know a lot about the lodge…"
"I bet I do." Harry said without saying anything further.
"So, if I want to walk out of this room, I need to agree to this?"
"Seems like it."
"And. If I do this… How long before you take the rune off?" Phillipa asked.
"Hmm. I suppose as soon as what you know becomes obsolete."
"I don't know anything."
"You know Geralt is here, you know he is looking for Dandelion and since you have been here for a certain amount of time, even in your owl form, I bet you could even figure out why. You're intelligent after all."
"The girl."
"See? You are smart."
"I take it you are interested in her then?"
"Not in the same way as others but yes. However, I would not like that to be public knowledge among the commons or your other contacts." Harry said.
"So, I have to wait until you find her?"
"Indeed."
"Very well." Phillipa said finally.
"Great. You can go." Harry said as he dropped the makeshift wards around the building.
"Wait, I don't understand. Don't you need to put the rune on?"
"Oh, I already did."
"What?"
"I am really good with runes as well as natural manipulation of magic in my immediate vicinity. I can imprint runes with pure magic onto any surface within a 7-foot radius of me." Harry said.
"Then where did you put the rune?"
"Your lower back. It's the least accessible part of your body. Also, it won't show up unless I wish it to… or its activating. Overall, you should just hope not to see it at all." Harry told her.
"Fine, may I go, your grace?"
"You may."
Harry watched her leave silently. He was sure that she had some sort of safe house and was planning to stay in town. It was either that or make a run for the border. She could always set up a portal as well. Just to be safe, he silently instructed his little birds to keep an eye on her after this meeting.
Harry sat and looked around the apartment. He was curious if Geralt found Dandelion yet. He hadn't seen the man with his spies the entire time he had scouted the city. He had decided to wait until Geralt had come to track the man down. Mainly because Dandelion didn't know him so he even if he did find the man and questioned him about Ciri he wouldn't say anything. Geralt was necessary to find anything. If he came back today without anything then he would throw out some tracking charms. As long as he wasn't hidden behind heavy wards that is. Harry waited several hours until it was night time in which both Zoltan and Geralt arrived.
"Well look whose back. You find anything?"
"Yes. Ciri was here. She came to Dandelion searching for something from one of the local gang bosses. They tried to steal it and both have gone missing."
"Did you find out where Dandelion was?" Harry asked.
"I have some leads but I am still looking."
"Then why don't we sleep here for the night and tomorrow I'll throw out some tracking charms."
"Why didn't you do that today?"
"Wasn't sure if it would be needed at first. Then there was the whole Phillipa incident."
"And what did you do with Eilhart. Did you kill her?"
"No, I put a failsafe on her to make sure she keeps quiet on our little investigation." Harry told her.
"Must have been some failsafe. Even I know how slippery she is which means you must view her as an extremely deadly risk."
"I put an extremely deadly failsafe on her. Now let's sleep for a couple of hours to recharge our batteries and then go find your friend and hopefully Ciri." Harry said.
"Hmph, fine."
Zoltan was kind enough to make up a couple of spare cots for them. He softened his up a little with magic which Geralt scoffed at him for. He told the old man to shut up and laid down on the bed. He closed his eyes and waited for the sleep to take him. He could handle less sleep than the average person but he was no Witcher. Therefore, when he opened his eyes again, Geralt was standing over him and waking him looking perfectly rested. Harry blinked the remaining sleep out of his and stood.
"Well, I am so glad we are all up and totally well rested after waking from… 4 hours of sleep." Harry said as he cast a charm to see the time. It was just past midnight.
"Best time for investigation is the middle of the night when most are asleep." Geralt pointed out.
"You are right, of course. Let's get to it." Harry said as he cast a cleaning charm on both of them before walking down the stairs and out the door.
Harry raised his hands and cast the tracking charm. A golden arrow appeared over it and started spinning for a moment before settling in a direction.
"Hmm. He's southwest of our position. Let's head out." Harry said. Geralt nodded and they headed through the city. Harry watched the different faces pass by. It seemed like there were a lot of… criminal-like people on the streets. Also, a lot of prostitutes.
Some eyeballed them but after taking another look at Geralt who was clearly armored up and carrying a couple of swords. At least they left them alone. Eventually, the spell took them to the walls of the city. Harry frowned.
"He's not in the city. We need to make our way over to the nearest gate." Harry said. Geralt nodded and they moved down another path towards the nearest gate. When they got to the gates, the guards didn't even look twice at them. They looked both drunk and tired.
They crossed a bridge and Harry watched the small floating arrow in hand start shifting which meant they were closing in. He looked up and saw a guarded building that they were approaching. He tilted his hand and watched the arrow shift to continue pointing at the building. He cancelled the spell and nudged Geralt before gesturing towards the building. The man looked over and nodded.
"How do you want to do this?"
"I doubt they'll willingly let us in considering its guarded. They seem much more alert than the rest of the guards we have seen tonight. Hmm, we either kill our way through or you let me sneak in by myself.
"Hmm. Fine, I'll let you in by yourself. How long do you think it would take?"
"Ten minutes or less."
"If you're not back in 30 minutes then I'll make my way in."
"Perfect. See you soon." Harry said as he made his was to the side of the building away from the main entrance to avoid being seen. He cast silencing spells on himself as well as a disillusionment charm. He used a sticking charm to help him scale the walls. Once on top of the wall, he looked down at the courtyard and saw it was rather guarded on the inside as well. The guards seemed to be doing some basic patrolling.
Harry waited a moment before hopping down and making his way across the courtyard. He waited for a moment before all the guards were out of sight before opening the door into the main building. The insides were rather small but still had a few people that looked to be playing gwent in a corner together. He waited for a moment before making his way past. He found some stairs and made his way down into the basement.
There were several doors so he cast his tracking charm once more and walked by the doors until the tracking charm pointed at a door. He cancelled it and cast a simple unlocking charm on the door before opening it. He saw a man in a purple outfit sleeping on a cot on the side of the room. He closed the door and re locked it behind him. He walked over and woke the man he could now identify was indeed Dandelion. He shook the man slightly and watched as his eyes started opening slowly.
"Wake please."
"Ugh my head. I think I have a headache."
"Oh, my bad. Should we postpone this escape until you feel better?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"Escape… what?" Dandelion said as he cleared his eyes and looked at him in confusion, "Who are you?"
"Harry. I'm a sorcerer currently partnered with your friend Geralt to help you escape." Harry told him. Dandelion's eyes lit up.
"Geralt? You came with Geralt? I knew he would come help me. I knew sooner or later he would come here about… Well anyway, can we go?"
"Of course, I am going to teleport us. It will be disconcerting. Please hold on carefully to me at all times." Harry said. Dandelion eagerly grabbed on to him and in a moment, they were no longer in the holding cell but outside the wall and next to Geralt.
"That was fast." Geralt commented as he looked over his friend.
"Geralt!" Dandelion exclaimed as Harry dropped his charms. Harry frowned and slapped the back of the man's head.
"Are you stupid? We're still right next to the prison and it's the middle of the night. Stay quiet." Harry hissed.
"Oh, right. Sorry." Dandelion said quietly in embarrassment.
"It's good to see you Dandelion. Are you hurt?" Geralt asked.
"I'm okay. It's not like I'm related to magic users or anything so they didn't treat me too bad. Though Menge did question me a bit."
"Who is Menge?" Harry asked.
"The leader of the Witch Hunters in Novigrad. I ran into him when we first split off from each other for the first time."
"He a problem?" Harry asked.
"He might be. We did just break out one of his prisoners. I doubt it will be too long before he finds that out and issues a search party." Geralt pointed out.
"Okay, then lets just skip town." Harry suggested.
"Oh uh, I live here. I would prefer to not do that." Dandelion said. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Urgh, fine. I'll kill Menge and his Witch Hunters. You go with Geralt and start talking. I'll meet you at his place. Sound good?"
"Well you can't just walk in and kill him." Dandelion said skeptically.
"Yeah, I can. I'll be back soon."
"Fine."
"See you soon."
And with that, Harry apparated away and back into Novigrad. In the next moment, he was on one of the tallest buildings in the city and looking down. There was really only one military-esque compound besides the barracks for the city guards. He looked down and saw that it too did not look very busy which wasn't surprising. He memorized the size of the compound for a moment before thinking on what he should do.
Nothing to high profile, he didn't want to burn down the whole city on accident. He supposed he could just mow down all the people inside. That sounded smart. It also would be pretty cathartic for him. He hated these guys.
"Alright, let's do this…"
With that, he dropped down silently from the roof and landed in the courtyard of the outpost.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?"
Harry looked and saw two men approaching him fully armed. He waved once with a smile.
"Hello gentleman. I am a powerful sorcerer and I am here to kill everyone in this outpost." Harry said with a creepy amount of cheer. Their eyes widened then frowned before pulling out their swords.
"Don't move, you're coming with us."
"Mmm. Nope."
Harry twitched and they suddenly turned to each other before suddenly slamming into each other violently. They then suddenly had their swords banished into their own bodies killing them.
"That was easy."
He then walked over to the main building and cast and an explosive charm at the wall. He then watched the wall explode into a million pieces and everything on the other side get thrown backwards violently. There were panicked yells and screams of pain as Harry walked through the gigantic hole casually as he looked at the random people panicking inside.
"Evening gents. I thought I would just let myself in. Hope you don't mind." Harry said. It took only a moment before several men charged at him. A severe cutting charm later and four heads rolled off their respective bodies and fell too the floor.
"That wasn't hard. Don't you have some magic chains you're supposed to be trying to wrap around me.
"You're a fool if you think you can just walk in here and leave alive witch." Harry looked up lazily at a bald man wearing similar armor to the rest of the men but more formal and upper class looking.
"Menge I presume?"
"Indeed. Get a good look at me. It'll be the last face you will ever see." Menge repeated.
"Hmm. I doubt it." Harry said back.
Harry didn't waste any time as he levitated several bodies off the ground and threw them at Menge. He watched the man panic and try to dodge the flying bodies. He dodged the first one but the next three slammed into him and threw him into the wall. It was all the distraction he needed to cast another exploding charm at the downed man. He watched as Menge's eyes widened as he saw the red bolt approaching him quickly. He had no time to get up or move and the bolt collided directly into his chest causing the upper part of his body to explode everywhere leaving nothing left but a pair of legs.
"Well… that was easy. How do you people even catch any magic users that have moderate power or above?" Harry asked himself as he walked through the base and occasionally threw some spells to drop random hunters that approached him.
It only took a few more exploding charms before the outpost started to collapse around him. He then quickly exited the building. He watched as the building slowly collapsed in on itself and then settled.
"Well that didn't take too long." Harry said. Harry looked up for the first time and realized for the first time that sky had actual light in it now showing it was morning.
"Geez, I must have really taken my time with all this destruction. I suppose I should head back to Geralt. Well… maybe I should leave something here in case they come back…" Harry said. With that, Harry started casting several curses all over the place to make sure that no one would come back and rebuild it. With that, Harry apparated away back to Dandelions house.
He blinked and saw Dandelion and Geralt sitting at a table and sipping some sort of drink together looking a lot calmer and actually happy.
"You look happy." Harry commented.
"We've been waiting here for a while and have been catching up. What about you?" Geralt said.
"Menge is dead. A lot of his Witch Hunters are dead. Oh, and I cursed the land to make sure they couldn't rebuild their outpost on it." Harry said.
"Sounds productive." Geralt said.
"You really killed Menge? Wow. Geralt was right, you are good. He tells me you are helping him find Little Ciri."
"That I am. Speaking of. Did you happen to have some useful information on where she might be?" Harry asked.
"Unfortunately, Dandelion could only confirm that she was not captured and no longer in Novigrad." Geralt said. Harry groaned deeply in annoyance.
"Come on!" Harry said.
"It's fine, that just leaves Skellige left." Geralt said.
"Only if she's there Geralt. If she's not then we have just wasted a whole bunch of time and lost all our leads. Please for the love of God let Yennefer have found something." Harry said talking to himself at the end.
"It's fine. I'm confident that we will find something tangible in Skellige." Geralt said calmly. Harry eyed him for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding.
"Fine, to Skellige."
"Actually, I was hoping you could do something here while I head there first." Geralt said.
"Oh? And what would that be?" Harry asked.
"Ciri made some enemies while she was here. We were hoping you could deal with that for us." Geralt said.
"Killing Ciri's enemies? I could do that. How long will it take you to reach Skellige?" Harry asked.
"About a week. Assuming the weather conditions are fair." Geralt said.
"Done. Make a list and I'll have everyone on it scratched off." Harry said.
"Not all of them need to die. I will make a note of which ones do and which ones don't." Geralt said.
"Hmph. I'm not putting too much effort into the ones I don't have to kill. They get in line or they die." Harry said.
"Fair. Also, one more thing…" Geralt drifted. Harry rose an eyebrow.
"It's Triss. She asked for our help while we were here with some projects. I told her if we had some time, we would… For old times." Geralt said as he looked at him. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Fine, but only because I doubt me killing these people will take more than a day. Also, as a chosen family member of Ciri and someone who once took care of her, I definitely would be more than happy to help her. Especially since I hated waiting for you to get here and I'll probably hate waiting for you in Skellige. Also, I have no idea what I would talk about with Yennefer. The only thing we have in common is Ciri and she's pretty much her mother. No idea what you talk about with your friends' mother. I only ever interacted with the mother of one of my friends and she tried to adopt me. Looking back on it, it was quite strange." Harry said to him.
"I see… Well, thank you, regardless of the reasons." Geralt said.
"Your welcome… So, what are we drinking."