As they left the doorway,Desmont and Viltz found themselves in a room where there was only a large bed,on the bed,a man and a woman were fornicating like animals,oblivious to the two guests who burst into their room,completely focused on their act.
Desmont, embarrassed,signaled Viltz not to speak and slipped out,opening the door as quietly as possible,leaving the room,Viltz,coming out of his daze,quickly followed him,but not before closing the door carefully.
When they left the room the old man looked at him and explained embarrassed: "Um,it wasn't my intention,it was an accident,the last time I stayed in this inn,I marked the coordinates of that room so I could open portals,I didn't know there would be someone inside."
Viltz nodded and changed the subject: "By the way, where are we, old man?"
"We are in Beauclair,the capital of Toussaint,we will spend the next two months here,until winter comes."
Viltz, curious, asked as he walked down the stairs with the old man: "Will you be waiting for someone for the next two months?
Desmont shook his head and replied: "No, I am waiting for a rare flower that only blooms during the first days of winter by the nearby river, when I get it we will head straight to Ban Ard, in the meantime I will teach you about the basic theory of magic".
When they went downstairs,they took a table and sat down.
Desmont motioned the innkeeper over.
"How may I serve you?"
Bring me a drink of wine and a glass of fruit juice for the boy,I also want to know if there are rooms available,if there are we will be renting two for two months,if the rooms are together the better."
The innkeeper nodded and said,there are two empty rooms on the second floor,they are facing each other."
"Good, we'll take them."
The waitress nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, I'll bring you your drinks now."
For the next two months, Viltz spent all his time learning about the various basic magical theories with Desmont in the morning and going through his grandfather's notebook in the afternoon, as for visiting the city, he didn't do that, he was only seven years old to begin with and going out alone to wander around the capital of a duchy would just be asking for trouble, not to mention the child traffickers, just dealing with a random drunk would be a pain in the ass.
And so the days went by until one day, through the window, he saw how it began to snow.
Just as he began to contemplate the landscape of snow falling on the capital, he heard someone knocking on his door.
He went to the door and asked: "Who is it?
"It's me. "Desmont answered.
Viltz opened the door only to see Desmont covered by a brown coat.
The latter threw him another, smaller coat and said, "Put it on, let's go out.
Viltz put on the coat and followed him. They left the city and headed towards the river.
After half a day's walk, they finally arrived near the river.
Desmont surveyed the surroundings and then passed a scroll to Viltz,saying: "Look,this is the flower,we have until before nightfall,if we don't find it in this area we'll go to another area tomorrow.And one more thing,don't go near the river bank if you don't want to end up as dinner for the drowners."
Viltz shuddered and remembered a humanoid creature with blue skin and scales all over its body.
Desmont laughed and said, "Don't worry,boy,if a drowner shows up I'll just burn it to death."
Viltz nodded stiffly but still decided not to go too close to the river.
And so the hours passed, without finding a single trace of the flower.
Desmont sighed and commented, "Well boy, it's getting late, we should head back."
Viltz was about to nod when he saw five men on horseback running in his direction.
They all wore leather armor, had two swords strapped to their backs and a pendant of a coiled snake hung from their necks.
Leading the way was a middle-aged man,of medium build,with his hair slicked back and his scar on his left cheek,he looked absolutely intimidating.His left eye,a sickly violet color,scanned his surroundings for possible threats.Unlike his companions,the man had only a large sword strapped to his back and two daggers strapped to his belly.
Viltz recognized him immediately.
"This must be Ivar Evil Eye,the viper school master,and those must be viper school witchers as well. "He thought to himself.
Desmont frowned at the sight of them but relaxed as he saw the men ignore them,crossing the bridge to the other side.
Desmont lowered his voice and said, "These are witchers,enos mutants created by a sorcerer and his apprentice long ago."
"I know, Alzur and Cosimo,my grandfather told me about them.They took many children to experiment on them,until they finally created the witchers."
"That's right." Desmont replied, sighing.
"But their work wasn't entirely well done,their formulas have many flaws and most of the children end up dead,those who survive will only become sterile if they are lucky,otherwise they will experience various side effects,from losing their hair to losing their sanity."
Viltz suddenly asked, "What would happen if a Source became a witcher?"
The old man looked sideways at him and replied, "They will lose most of their magical talent."
Viltz stood in thought, watching the group of men cross the bridge on horseback.
Just as Desmont was about to open a portal to return to the city, he saw a black portal appear on the other side of the river, from which some sort of spooky wraiths mounted on equally spooky spectral horses began to emerge one after another, until a total of twenty of them had emerged.
Desmont quickly grabbed Viltz by the shoulder and conjured a barrier that covered them both, making them invisible to the other party.
The group of witchers, seeing the group of wraiths, charged straight at them.
Ivar Evil Eye stepped forward and shouted, "Brothers, let's kill them, let's kill the Wild Hunt!"
The other witchers raised their swords and roared in response.
The group of twenty spectral knights also charged forward, facing the witchers directly.
Despite being outnumbered, the witchers showed no fear, moving nimbly through the group of wraiths with their impeccable footwork, clashing swords continuously.
With a whizzing sound, a witcher cut off the head of a spectral knight, causing him to dissipate in motes of light.
Another witcher slashed with his sword, cutting off the arm of another spectral knight, followed by another witcher who cut off his head, taking advantage of the opening created by his companion.
Ivar Evil Eye spun the two daggers in his hand,stabbing a spectral knight in both eyes,then pulled out the daggers and stabbed behind him,where another specter had appeared and wanted to take the opportunity to cut off his head.
The spectral knight, with a dagger stuck in his forehead, fell to the ground, dissipating into motes of light.
When the battle seemed to be dominated by the witchers,a spectral knight suddenly appeared behind a witcher,when the warlock noticed him and wanted to dodge,he suddenly felt his feet stuck to the ground,the spectral knight,taking the opportunity,cut off his head.
Another witcher, seeing this, roared and charged at the spectral knight, but halfway through he felt his feet sticking to the ground.
Before he could comprehend the situation, two spectral knights suddenly appeared behind him, stabbing his back.
Ivar Evil Eye, noticing the situation, quickly shouted: "Retreat quickly! They have a sorcerer in their midst!"
The other two witchers quickly tried to move away but the knights surrounded them.
Viltz was surprised by the change in the course of the battle,but far from being frightened by the spectral knights who looked like something out of a nightmare,or by the pair of dead witchers with their blood strewn all over the place,he was surprisingly calm,which surprised Desmont.
"You don't look frightened by all that blood."
"It's not the first time I've seen a person die." Viltz replied and then fell silent.
Desmont,seeing him suddenly fall silent, didn't pursue the subject further, turning his attention to the battlefield.
"Witcher of the Viper school,you have no escape,after causing us so much trouble over the past few years,we will finally get rid of you "Spoke a spectral knight who seemed to be the leader of this group.
When he finished speaking, he raised his hand, launching a torrent of burning flames against the warlocks.
"Heh, you think you'll kill us with that? In your dreams!"
Ivar Evil Eye scoffed and made a hand sign,conjuring a barrier to repel the flames.
"Brothers,even if we all end up dead we have to take these bastards with us!"Ivar roared and charged straight at the leader of the spectral knights,trying to cut off his head with his sword,but the latter dodged the attack,but before he could counterattack,a dagger pierced his head,making him disappear in motes of light.
The other witchers also roared and charged at the other spectral knights.
Each one killed two spectral knights before being stabbed by the other scalps.
Ivar Evil Eye stood before the last eleven spectral knights, facing them head on, the latter, enraged by the death of their leader, charged directly at Ivar, who managed to kill another five before one of the knights stabbed him in the back with a sword that pierced his heart.
Ivar,seeing the sword sticking out of his chest,coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground.
The six remaining spectral knights,seeing Ivar fall,put away their weapons and hurried to leave the area,riding towards the horizon.