After getting the information he wanted, Guilliman's mood relaxed considerably.
He casually took the cherry mead offered by the inn proprietress, took a gulp, and continued to ask:
"Are there any Witcher contracts in this village?"
"I'll be staying here for a few days, and if there are any contracts, I can try them out."
The inn proprietress wasn't surprised by his words; she seemed to have already guessed his Witcher identity. She just continued preparing food, her expression a mix of teasing and mockery as she replied:
"The whole world is at war right now. The King's tax collectors come again and again, and everyone's money is long gone."
"Outsider, if you're willing to work for free, then there are indeed several contracts in the village that need your help."
"But if you're looking to make money, I'm afraid only the lord of White Orchard can afford to hire you."
Guilliman had only asked casually and hadn't held much expectation.
No matter the era, poverty is the most terrifying thing. Unless their lives are truly at risk, ordinary people would rather face more danger than pay for that risk.
This is also why, even with monsters rampant in many places, Witchers often can't find work.
Everyone is too poor; their pockets are emptier than their faces, and they simply can't afford to hire a Witcher.
Guilliman certainly wasn't willing to work for free; he didn't have Geralt's strong sense of justice.
So, he picked up the food he ordered, ready to leave, when he suddenly heard the proprietress say again:
"However, you could go see the herbalist Tomira, or the dwarf blacksmith Willis."
"I've heard some rumors recently that they seem to need help, and you might be able to get a contract from them."
The herbalist and the dwarf blacksmith?
They seemed to be two characters that appeared in the main questline of the game.
Thinking about the pile of beast hides and forest produce he still had in his storage space to sell, Guilliman felt that even if he didn't get a contract, it was still necessary to visit these two.
He smiled and nodded at the proprietress, thanking her for the information, then found a table. He slowly enjoyed his lunch while using his keen Witcher hearing to eavesdrop on the conversations around him.
Unfortunately, these patrons were all ordinary people, and their conversations were not extensive. They were either trivial matters or utterly worthless content.
The only thing that caught his attention was when a merchant and a scholar mentioned that a plague seemed to have broken out in Vizima City. It was widespread, and many people had already fallen ill, desperately needing treatment.
The Order of the Flaming Rose had already ordered restrictions on the movement of people. It would likely be quite difficult to enter Vizima City directly during this time; one would need a pass or a reputable person to vouch for them.
However, that was a matter to consider later.
Next, Guilliman spent half the afternoon exploring White Orchard village, visiting the herbalist Tomira and the dwarf blacksmith Willis.
The former was a beautiful female herbalist in her twenties, while the latter was a strong, bearded dwarf.
He sold all the loot he had acquired from the three hunters to them, keeping only the useful items.
Then he bought some herbs from the herbalist and had his Witcher silver sword re-plated with a layer of silver. His funds reached over two hundred and fifty orens, which was a small fortune.
Yes, that's right.
Guilliman's most valuable silver sword was merely a high-quality Temeria longsword plated with a layer of silver.
After every battle, it needed to be repaired by a blacksmith, otherwise, it would lose its ability to exploit monsters' weaknesses.
True Witcher longswords, however, were not only expensive but also required specialized schematics.
At least at this stage, he couldn't get his hands on such good items.
This is why Guilliman prioritized White Orchard; his goal was the Viper School equipment schematics from Kolgrim… At dusk, the setting sun cast a golden glow over the land.
Guilliman arrived alone near the noble's crypt outside White Orchard village, already prepared for battle.
White Orchard's current lord was named Ignatius Verileth, a Baronet in the Kingdom of Temeria, almost the lowest rank of nobility apart from the knightly class.
Nevertheless, as a long-standing noble family, the Verileth family's crypt was not small. The outer graveyard alone had over a hundred gravestones, and a magnificent marble statue adorned the cemetery.
The core members of their family, however, were buried in a deeper underground crypt, remarkably well-preserved.
Guilliman also had some understanding of this White Orchard lord.
He was, in a way, an unlucky fellow.
As a noble, not only was his own management ability terrible, but his territory was small, and his living conditions were not much better than many wealthy merchants; he could only be considered a country noble.
In the current war situation, a country noble like him had no ability to resist and could only drift with the tide, at the mercy of others. Therefore, he was always quite depressed and under great stress.
What was even more infuriating was that his only son had problematic sexual preferences; he not only liked men but also got involved with his family's hunter, often meeting secretly in the manor and engaging in unspeakable acts.
When the lord discovered this, he was furious. He immediately expelled the hunter and prepared to educate his son properly, but unexpectedly, his son hanged himself.
The death of his only heir meant the end of the Verileth family bloodline, losing its inheritance.
This caused the over-fifty-year-old lord to completely give up on himself, turning into a drunken, reckless, muddled old man.
In the subsequent period, he brought much torment to the people of White Orchard, causing many tragedies.
Several quests in White Orchard in the game were related to this foolish noble lord.
Perhaps this was also why Kolgrim was sent into the crypt as a scapegoat.
Guilliman recalled the information he knew, while also looking towards the crypt, searching for traces of the enemy.
Unfortunately, specters are a very special type of monster.
Not only can they be invisible, undetected by ordinary people, but their intelligence is also higher than that of common monsters, making them one of the more dangerous types among low-level monsters.
If ordinary people are not prepared with items to counter specters, they will only be slaughtered when facing them.
Even an experienced Witcher like Kolgrim would be overwhelmed by a group of specters due to insufficient preparation.
Although Guilliman was confident in himself, he also had to act carefully, otherwise, there might be two Witchers lying in this crypt.
After observing for a few minutes without result, he no longer hesitated. Gripping his silver sword tightly, he smeared the specter oil he had refined at great cost onto the blade, then stepped into the graveyard.
He had barely entered the graveyard a few meters, and before he could even adapt to the terrain, a cold wind enveloped him.
Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!
Accompanied by cold wails, a terrifying, semi-transparent ghost, clad in tattered clothes, appeared before him.