In the brightly lit alchemy room, the black-haired quarter-elf boy was checking the alchemy items on the table.
"Dancing Stars... two," the boy weighed a green glass jar in each of his left and right hands, threw it into the air, and then dropped it, his hands tightened and stretched, and the earthen jar disappeared strangely.
His eyes turned to a small blue jar covered with yellow rubber bands.
"Anti-Magic Metal Bomb... There is not enough anti-magic gold, so there is only one..."
With a finger, the transparent glass jar the size of half a fist disappeared.
"Dragon Dream Two..."
"Two swallows..."
"Five paralyzing poisons, five calendula potions..." The well-proportioned and powerful palms swept across a row of crystal-clear and transparent potions, and a row of pale yellow potions.
"Everything is complete." Roy looked at the big man meditating in front of the alchemy platform, with a relieved smile on his face. For a whole week, he and the witcher alchemy day and night, and finally filled the vacant alchemy items. .
During this period, they retrieved customized crossbow arrows and well-maintained weapons from the blacksmith shop, and a whole set of leather armor from the clothing store, which was a bit simpler than he imagined.
Now it's time to prepare for the grass trials...
"Okay, kid, nothing to do with you." The witcher ended his meditation, a dignified look on his rocky cheeks, "I have to stay in the alchemy room for three days, focusing on the ingredients for the herbal decoction. Stay, don't disturb me."
"As for you... take advantage of this time to wander around Elland, or visit the Sea Scorpion Acrobatic Troupe at the Temple of Meritelli..."
Roy breathed a sigh of relief, and if he continued, maybe he was really going to be driven crazy, but he couldn't stop his curiosity about the herbal decoction, "Actually, the chores can be handed over to me."
"With your level of alchemy, you can't intervene..." The witcher refused uncharacteristically and decisively. "And the herbal decoction is very important, and every step must not go wrong, otherwise it will become an absolutely deadly poison."
Roy became more and more uneasy after hearing this, "Why do you have to go to the temple to swallow it?"
"Little devil, you have made a mistake..." the witcher said heavily. "Once the herbal decoction is boiled, it must be taken and injected immediately. In the next few days, I will only refine the herbal medicine. Not yet. It's time for the official simmering."
"The reason why I put this step in the Temple of the Goddess Meritelli," explained the witcher, "because the high priest Nannike over there has a top-notch greenhouse pharmacy that cultivates several herbs necessary for herbal decoction. In addition, there are all kinds of perfect alchemy instruments there, and the warlocks who assist you in your trials should also ask her."
"What if she doesn't agree?"
"She owes me a favor... I have other leverage," the witcher said firmly. "She'll agree."
"Okay, take your fifth prodrug now and you can go out. Come back in three days."
…
The fourteen-year-old boy, wearing a black leather armor, came out of the simple alchemy room full of sweat and spirit.
In the early morning, the sun is warm, and people come and go on the streets of Errand. Compared with the residents of rural villages and small cities, the residents here are more fashionable, no longer monotonous gray and black, full of other With bright colors, hats, necklaces, rings, belts, hair ties and other small accessories are ingeniously decorated on the body.
This is a city full of life.
Roy took a deep breath, stretched out with a bright smile, and felt alive again. If he used to, he would have gone straight to the pub to experience Quint's addiction, but now he has a more urgent urge. After finally getting rid of the limitations of the witcher, it is natural to try to complete the commission independently.
On the spacious and tidy street, the young man didn't take a few steps, when suddenly a woman with heavy makeup and enchanting figure hooked his hand at him, with an ambiguous smile on her pretty face, and her shawl was swaying on her shoulders.
Roy stared at the woman twice, then turned away quickly, and walked away quickly.
In this world, girls will braid their hair, married women will cover their hair with millinery or turbans, women of noble birth will curl their hair into various styles, and female warriors will cut their hair short. Only Druids And sorceresses and – prostitutes – keep their hair natural to emphasise their independence and freedom.
The woman on the street is obviously the last.
Roy didn't want to develop a bad habit, so he firmly held on to it.
…
In the middle of the city, in front of a bulletin board full of cobwebs and dust.
The originally smug boy stared at the few crumpled orders, his face slumped.
"What's this all about... um... looking for a lost cat?" He shook his head in disgust, "I'm not a firefighter, so I don't have the patience."
"Suspect there is a third party, find out the evidence of her husband's cheating?" The young man complained, "Why don't you fight a tooth for a tooth and raise a little white face to have a 'love affair'?"
"Take care of the paralyzed aunt? Sorry I didn't have the babysitting skills..."
"Well..." His eyes turned to the lower right corner, locking the last brand-new commission, Roy's face finally became a little more solemn, "Missing son?"
He spread out the entire notice on the bulletin board and read it carefully,
"Look here! Hundreds of thousands are in a hurry, I beg you!
Bounty hunter, witcher, whoever you are, old Huck has a 150 kroner job for you—"
"My dearest son, the eighteen-year-old Basher disappeared from the world after going fishing in the river ditch in the suburbs... If anyone is willing to help me find it, you can come to the bakery east of Ellander and talk... Hope You are a senior, don't bother liars!"
Outskirts, fishing, missing.
Roy touched his chin and pondered for a moment. The scope of this commission seems to be a bit large. It is not necessarily a monster at work... But it is the most reliable commission so far.
Then go check it out!
…
In the sweltering bakery, the fifty-two-year-old Huck is putting the final leavened and shaped dough one by one into a huge oval arched oven.
Code neatly.
Old Huck has been running the bakery in Ireland for more than 20 years and is visited by at least a third of the locals. In the past, every time he put dough in the oven was the happiest time. It was like watching his child go from green to mature, with perfect texture and taste, with that thin and shriveled face. Every drop of sweat will laugh.
But these two days, his face was so gloomy that it seemed like he was about to drip. No matter how cute the bread is, how can it compare to a close relative
Thinking of the missing son,
His thin body began to tremble uncontrollably, his nose was sore and his eyes were red, and he couldn't help crying. Old Huck knew very well in his heart that the missing in Ellander usually had only two fates, either a corpse or a mutilated corpse.
Less than one in ten survived.
"Continue searching in the afternoon and evening!"
"Excuse me, are you Huck, the owner of the bakery?" The sudden question behind him awakened him from his painful imagination.
Old Huck's spirit was shocked, and he took off his gray gloves, "Yes, but the kitchen is not the place where you should come. You want to buy bread and go to the front hall to talk."
"Old Huck's Bakery has a fair price, 20 copper coins is enough for a full meal, no foolishness, no mess of sawdust, alum, clay, etc., pure bread," he said subconsciously to deal with the new The customer's set of rhetoric, "You can also bring some flour, rye, barley, oatmeal flour can be used, I will keep some of it, and most of it will be made into bread for you."
"Sorry, I'm not a customer who buys bread." The young man noticed the other's bloodshot eyes and light white trousers, and smiled gently, "Boss Huck, my name is Roy, a witcher. I noticed the commission you posted in the center of the city, and I came here specially to inquire about the specific situation and solve your problems for you."
The man's expression froze when he heard the words, and he looked up and down the boy again: he was wearing that kind of stitched black leather jumpsuit, knee-length boots, and the workmanship was slightly rough.
With well-combed short black hair, a straight nose, and deep black eyes, he is a little handsome but doesn't make people feel too cold and unapproachable. He is tall and well-proportioned, with strong muscles and regular exercise. He is about 5.6 meters tall (1.7 meters). But the smooth skin, the smooth chin and the childishness in his facial features still reveal his true age, no more than fifteen years old no matter how you look at it!
He waved his hand impatiently, "Little brother, don't joke with me! I'm looking for an experienced witcher and bounty hunter. Not a boy with no hair..."
"And now there are no apprentices, and no one is needed to help catch mice."
"boom!"
"boom!"
After two consecutive loud noises, two more weapons appeared on the wooden square table that was originally used for kneading the dough, a delicate hand crossbow and a steel sword with a flickering cold light.
Old Huck was taken aback, he hurriedly took two steps back, and picked up the rolling pin next to him.
"Relax, if I came to rob, you would be lying flat like bread now. Let me tell you a fact." Roy was satisfied with the other party's performance, and said nonsense without changing his face, "Because of the blood of the elf, I look like He is relatively young, his actual age is over fifty years old...and he has handled no less than 100 commissions."
As he said that, he took out the tip of his ear under his hair and showed it for a second. As soon as old Huck turned his eyes, he took it back and said solemnly,
"Your son's disappearance is strange, isn't it? So you need an experienced witcher. And the sooner you find him, the better the chance of survival. Should you pass up this chance? Wait for another witcher, maybe not a month. letter."
Lao Ha's lips moved, and the witcher spoke to his heart, and now he had to race against time.
"I didn't come here to ask you for advance payment. Tell me more specific information." The young man raised his chest and took a step closer to him with confidence in his eyes, "I can't help you find Basher, I won't take a penny!"
The bakery owner's wrinkled complexion finally stretched out. For this reason, why not tell the other party? Anyway, I didn't lose anything, and I could have one more free helper.
Old Huck took a deep breath and led him to the front hall of the bakery. He took off the white soft hat on his head, revealing a withered and messy yellow hair like weeds, and sat comfortably on the chair.
"Brother Roy, do you want some bread? It's just baked and still warm."
"I've eaten, let's stop talking nonsense!" The young man put his hands around his chest and sullen his face, trying to make himself look more dignified.
"Why are your eyes different from other witchers? You don't all say 'beast's pupil', but you look just like us?"
"Because I have elven blood... I bet the witchers you've seen before were all transformed from humans." The young man stared at him with a piercing expression, his words full of power, "Straight to the point!"
"Okay, then I'll just say it." Old Huck wiped his forehead and cheeks with a sweat towel, temporarily dispelling the doubts in his heart, and said slowly, "The missing person is called Basher, my son, who is just eighteen this year. age… "
"There is no need to say more about what is recorded on the order... When was it exactly, and where did it go missing?"
"The day before yesterday, December 27th, about one o'clock, Basher took a fishing rod and went fishing in the Wigan River outside the South Gate of Ireland... It's an old place, and every two weeks he goes to that rock. Sitting up for a long time is his only hobby!"
"My poor child is still unmarried, still living with me, and has nowhere else to go." Old Huck's tone became low and lamented, "In the past, he would be home before seven o'clock in the evening."
"But he didn't come home at nine o'clock that night," Huck couldn't help but slammed his fist on the arm of the chair, a flash of horror flashing across his dry cheeks, "I knew there must be something wrong! Al Rand has a curfew at nine!"
"It's also possible to spend the night at a friend's house." Roy guessed, "Isn't it normal to be an adult at eighteen years old and occasionally spend the night outside?"
"I asked all his friends, and no one saw him!" Huck said worriedly, "I even spent a lot of money to ask all the guards who were on duty that day, and the kid did leave the city around one o'clock in the afternoon. door, but never returned to the city!"
"Erland is so crowded that the doorman may not have noticed..."
"No, no!" Huck emphasized, "I have solid evidence... I found his fishing rod by the river, with a red strip of cloth tied to it. It was his favorite rod after ten years of use. 'Emti' is right."
"But there are only things, but no figures!"
"Apart from 'Emti'..." Roy asked, "Didn't find any other clues by the river? Bloodstains, cloth strips, carry-on items?"
"Yesterday, I found a few old buddies outside the city for a whole day, but there were no other clues," Huck said anxiously. "That's why I put up the commission and turned to professionals for help."
"Roy..., have you ever encountered such a situation?" The old father was so anxious that he originally called the other master, but his too young face made him unable to say, "Do you think my child is still alive? "
"There is a serious lack of information at the moment, and it is impossible to make an accurate judgment." The young man continued to ask calmly, "What did the White Rose Knights say? The security of Elland is also under their management."
"Humph!" Huck spat disdainfully, "The Knights are ordered by King Foltest, and their main responsibility is to protect Prince Heward and his family. How can they take care of the petty citizens?"
"They told me to wait until the security issues in the city are finished... Then go outside the city to help me find someone." The baker's tone was not without complaint, "I really have to wait until then, 'the bread is moldy'! My poor Basher would end up in the same situation as most of the missing, being found dead by some hapless..."
Old Huck's facial muscles squirmed for a while, and when he thought of that possibility, he felt that life was better than death.
"Well, aren't nobles doing this?" Roy thought of the vexatious Thales and felt the same. He tapped the armrest of the chair with his index and middle fingers, "Has Basher ever had a deep hatred with anyone?"
"Impossible!" Huck said flatly, "This kid spends most of his time in the bakery with me as an apprentice... Cleaning, carrying flour, catching mice, never complaining, this kind of honest temper can be provoked again. Who? If he has an enemy, I will definitely know!"
"Even if there is something I don't know, it won't hurt him so much!"
"Then let's assume he had an accident by the river," Roy stood up, wrapping his crossbow and steel sword behind his back, "Let's go and see where he disappeared!"