The Witcher: Make the Witcher Great Again

Chapter 393 393: Bald Mountain

Crow's Perch was built on an inland island, and the entire fortress was divided into an inner castle and an outer bailey. The inner castle served as the lord's residence, while the outer bailey was for the common folk.

When Baron Vissarad left Crow's Perch, he took many of his people from the outer bailey with him. Now, there were plenty of vacant houses and plots of land, enough to settle the newly displaced people with room to spare.

Keeping them under his nose was also a matter of convenient surveillance. If they were moved to distant villages, too far from Crow's Perch, they could be corrupted again without anyone knowing.

Of course, Lynn knew this approach was only treating the symptoms. Velen would never lack followers of the Ladies of the Wood. The moment disaster or misfortune struck again, the people of Velen would rush to pledge their loyalty and faith, no instigation required.

But Lynn knew exactly what the so-called Ladies of the Wood were. So he waited.

The Ladies of the Wood held a yearly feast on Bald Mountain. The faithful would journey there to present the offerings they had prepared all year. Afterward, they would receive magical acorns from the Sacred Oak at the summit, which, when pressed for oil and sprinkled over the fields, guaranteed a bountiful harvest the following year.

That was the moment Lynn was waiting for.

Lynn arranged for vast quantities of grain to be purchased in Novigrad. Triss opened a portal, delivering the supplies directly to Crow's Perch, which were then distributed to the other villages. If rationed carefully, this grain could sustain the people of Velen for at least a year.

However, Lynn knew humans were inherently lazy. To prevent the people of Velen from adopting the habit of thinking, "The lord will help us anyway, so it doesn't matter if we farm or not," he explicitly stated during the distribution that the grain was a loan from the Lady, and they would have to repay it in the future.

At the same time, Lynn introduced the Eternal Fire faith to Velen. Aside from intending to fight faith with faith, the newly established Hospitaler Knights would also assume the duty of patrolling the roads between villages. Lynn didn't expect them to eliminate every threat in Velen, but they could at least ensure the main roads were safe.

For the next two months, Lynn remained in Velen, helping Triss become a capable lord.

Then, two months passed in the blink of an eye.

That day, at dusk, Lynn sailed alone to the base of Bald Mountain. Today was the day the Ladies of the Wood gathered on the mountain to collect offerings and bestow blessings upon their followers.

There was only one path up Bald Mountain. At the base, Lynn consumed several Higher-grade potions before beginning his ascent.

By this time, the sun had fully dipped below the horizon, and night had fallen. The surroundings quieted, becoming eerily silent.

After Lynn had been walking the path for a while, a crossbow bolt suddenly flew down from above. To his augmented vision, the bolt's speed was laughably slow. He didn't even draw his sword, simply batting the incoming projectile aside with a casual flick of his hand.

He looked up and saw a man on the path ahead, crossbow in hand, staring with a dumbfounded expression. Clearly, Lynn's ability to deflect the bolt had stunned him.

Lynn vanished from his spot and reappeared instantly before the man. Before the man could react, Lynn's hand shot out and clamped tightly around his throat, lifting him from the ground. The man struggled futilely, but the hand gripping his neck was like iron, refusing to yield.

Crack—

A crisp sound rang out, and the man ceased struggling.

As Lynn dropped the corpse, more guards rushed out from the blind corners on both sides of the path. They were armed with pitchforks and wore wreaths on their heads. From their clothing and appearance, Lynn effortlessly recognized them as farmers, not soldiers. Aside from the man whose neck he'd just broken, the rest carried agricultural tools, not weapons.

If Geralt were here, he might have hesitated. But Lynn was not Geralt, and he wouldn't show mercy. These were the pawns of an evil entity.

On the narrow, rugged mountain path, the enormous Aerondight swung like a tempest, its passage flashing with streaks of blinding, icy light. Though the guards were numerous, they quickly realized a desperate truth: they had not surrounded Lynn; Lynn, alone, had surrounded them.

Pitchforks, hoes, scythes... not a single farm tool managed to strike the witcher. Conversely, the oversized Aerondight in the witcher's hands raised bloody mist with every swing. Because his speed was so immense, the guards barely saw a flash of white sword light before their bodies, incapable of reacting in time, were cleaved in half.

When the number of guards dropped sharply from dozens to just over ten, the survivors finally snapped out of their religious fervor. Smelling the thick scent of blood in the air and seeing the mass of fallen comrades on the path, the biological instinct for fear finally overwhelmed the conviction of even the most fervent worshippers.

Someone screamed first, then immediately dropped their weapon and fled. The other guards followed suit, joining the frantic retreat.

If this were a battlefield, these enemies, having lost the will to fight, might have been spared—their nation could pay a ransom, or they could earn their freedom through labor.

But this was not a battlefield. These guards were not enemy soldiers with merely a different allegiance; they were the clawed hands of an evil entity. They could not be allowed to live.

After killing every single guard, Lynn continued his ascent. Another half hour later, he reached a clearing high on the mountain.

Several raging bonfires had been built in the clearing. Many men and women, wearing wreaths, sat around the fires, chatting. A few, whose angles allowed them to see the witcher, noticed Lynn. His appearance was hardly that of a supplicant seeking blessings, so those who saw him immediately focused their attention on him.

Slowly, the others were affected, and their gazes turned toward him. Eventually, all conversation ceased.

Lynn plunged the greatsword he carried into the ground. He activated his Detect Evil ability, finding that the level of corruption on these people was not yet severe—at least not as deep as it was on the guards he had just killed.

.......

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