Facing this witcher who spoke rudely to him in his own territory, Verrieres shouted: "You are not qualified to apply for trial by ordeal, my sentence is final justice!"
"If you do not accept the execution as a last act of dignity, then you can only become the honor under my sword!"
The villagers watched the discussion between the witcher and their lord, and their expressions became even more excited than before. They saw the lord's guards begin to put their hands on their swords, clearly a clash of steel and blood about to erupt.
The more cunning villagers began to look around, preparing to escape and avoid getting involved.
Lann watched the entire spectacle in front of him. He didn't know the witcher in front of him, but he was familiar with the infamous White Orchard case. After all, this is arguably the first memorable in-game mission of The Witcher.
If he could save Kolgrim, Lann would not hesitate to lend a hand. He knew that this witcher came from the Viper School, a school established in Nilfgaard, expert in poisons and with a combat style close to that of assassins.
Like the Cat School, the Viper School is also a school that cannot make a living due to the shortage of monsters and eventually began accepting assassination assignments, which to some extent also ruined the reputation of the witchers.
For the rulers of the kingdoms, the nature of the Viper School is obviously more useful than that of cats, wolves, bears, etc. Besides, they weren't psychopaths like the ones at Cat School. They were the type that could communicate, even have feelings and morals.
In Lann's plan, if the Order of Witchers is to be established in the future, the Viper School is an indispensable piece of the puzzle.
Originally, Lann was thinking of finding an opportunity to contact the Viper School witchers who appeared in The Witcher Series, but he did not expect to meet a member who existed in the backstory at this time.
The favor of saving a life was more valuable than a common bargaining chip, especially for a witcher with strong values and loyalty.
However, his identity and current location were too sensitive, this was not Cintra. Lann couldn't just trigger a rescue scene in the public square, right?
If the situation played out as in The Witcher Series, Lann planned to wait for Kolgrim to go to the crypt alone as part of the trial by ordeal, and then he would intervene...
As Lann pondered this, he did not realize that he had attracted other people's attention.
"There is another witcher here!" A panicked scream sounded.
It turned out that a villager who slowly retreated after seeing the tense atmosphere at the scene saw Lann and was immediately shocked by the pair of dark golden lion eyes.
Compared to Kolgrim, who was tied up on the raised platform, Lann and the well-equipped soldiers around him were even more terrifying.
"They have many people and many swords!"
"They are here to rescue the criminal, run, run!"
The villager screamed, and immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.
The crowd around Lann suddenly dispersed, leaving him, his servants, and soldiers isolated in their place.
Zoltan dragged Yarpen, who was upset, not wanting to get into trouble. A beer pitcher wasn't worth getting the dwarves to side with Lann right now, and he had to be responsible for his dwarven siblings.
Who knew that Yarpen seemed to be drunk at this time, or that he had been angry about this farce-like trial for a long time, and now he stubbornly refused to move.
"Yarpen!" Zoltan shouted anxiously.
"Witcher!" All the villagers were terrified. Their eyes fell on the number of Lann's group, their armor, and their swords. As for Lann's eyes, they only took a look at them at the beginning and no longer paid much attention to them.
For them, steel is far more terrifying than yellow eyes.
"Lord Earl, how about we retreat first." House put his hand on the hilt of the sword and blocked Lann behind him. "The situation here is not right. We can come back to question the lord here later."
Verrieres on the platform looked at the lion emblem on Lann's chest for a moment, then suddenly shouted: "Wait, wait, no one be rude. He's..."
But it was too late.
The beekeeper, already red-faced from Kolgrim's interrogation, stood at the back of the crowd. Faced with Lann's sudden appearance, whether the guards gave him courage or ignorance leads to audacity, he did something that no one expected at that moment.
"Witcher!" The beekeeper screamed, as if there was some deep hatred.
[Puhaa]
He spat at Lann.
The soldiers and servants brought by Lann were silent for a second, looking at the beekeeper.
The Lord of White Orchard on the high seat turned his head blankly and looked at the beekeeper.
"Lowly! People!" House shouted as he pulled out his long sword. "How dare you insult the Earl!"
All the knights of Cintra drew their weapons in unison at this moment, vowing to defend the dignity of their lord, even if they were facing the king of Temeria, they would fight mercilessly.
Lann looked around with his lion eyes, taking in the reactions of both parties.
Actually, he wasn't that angry. Emotionally, he had a greater tolerance for 'indignities' than people imagined. His dignity threshold was not as low as that of the true nobles of this era.
But due to his position and situation, he was often forced to react.
Although because of 'Lannister, debts must be paid', he could do some things to ease his mood, but he wouldn't go to the point of resorting to violence right away.
However, this time, facing the beekeeper, he felt that this affront was timely, as it solved his immediate problem.
Maybe this time he could not only establish a friendship with the witcher of the Viper School, but he could also meet the King Foltest who had always avoided him.
"House, blow the horn and assemble our cavalry."
"The rest…" Lann pointed in the direction of Verrieres, and the villagers who were blocking the path in front of him rolled and crawled to avoid being in the direction his finger was pointing.
"Go there, my soldiers!"
Verrieres who came today to enjoy the farce of this trial, was completely pale at this moment.
"You must be Count Lannister, right? This is just a misunderstanding. I am going to hang this beekeeper immediately. Please, withdraw your people, withdraw your people, quickly, quickly..."
"...Guards!"
The Verrieres family guards who live in peace near the capital Vizima, have never seen knights with such an aura. Their regular battles mostly consisted of intimidating the villagers, but all the armored cavalrymen brought by Lann had experienced the war of destruction of Cintra.
These guards did not seem to want to die for the ridiculous Lord Verrieres. They pretended to draw their swords and rushed forward, but their weapons were knocked off. Then they exaggeratedly rolled and crawled backwards, and actually avoided the subsequent pursuit of the Cintra cavalry. None of them died.
Lann laughed: "Don't make the scene too ugly. There are still things to deal with later."
The Cintra soldiers nodded and did not chase the guards who surrendered.
The sound of horse hooves gradually came from the distance, and more Cintra cavalry surrounded Lann, separating the White Orchard civilians and preventing them from advancing.
Using their organizational skills developed during refugee management in Brokilon, Cintra's soldiers ordered the villagers not to run and avoid chaos, maintaining order even better than during the Witcher's trial by Lord Verrieres.
The Cintra soldiers formed a defensive phalanx around Lann, guarding outward in two open rows, creating a wall of soldiers and also a corridor. Lann walked slowly down the corridor formed by them, heading towards Verrieres on the platform.
The lord of White Orchard looked at Lann, who was pressing forward step by step, with a pale face. He wanted to run away, but being on the platform, jumping meant a broken leg.
"Earl Lannister, please believe me, it was just an accident. I have no disrespect towards you... I will hang you, now I will deal with that outcast immediately..."
Lann made a silence gesture with his right hand over his lips and formed a Sign with his left hand, shining a white light. "Quiet, sit down. I don't want you to fall and break your neck, you're still useful to me."
Verrieres's eyes quickly became confused, and he obeyed, closing his mouth and sitting back down in his chair.
Lann raised an eyebrow, satisfied with the effect of his ability on its first use. Next time, he will try to use less magic power to strengthen the Sign, to find the most economical bonus range.
Kolgrim looked at the scene before him in amazement. The leader of this group seemed to be a witcher brother, possibly from the Gryphon School according to his medallion.
The dwarves next to him were even more surprised. They couldn't believe that the brother they had been drinking and sharing stories with minutes ago had captured a lord of their kingdom.
"Lord Earl." House came over and threw the bruised beekeeper to the ground.
Lann took a look and ignored him. "Throw it aside for now, there are more important matters to discuss."
House dragged the man away again while Lann observed the situation under the control of the Cintra soldiers.
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