The culture of any place is diverse.

The islanders worship Freya, the goddess of fertility, love, beauty and harvest, and the patron saint of seers, fortune tellers and psychics.

But Freya is not the only god in Skellige. Various beliefs will arise in any place for various reasons, such as the one that the seven family lords are discussing at this moment - Svalblod.

The islanders have no way of verifying whether there is really such an evil god named "Svalblod". However, a cult was indeed established in the Skellige Islands around this evil god, and it became popular in some areas.

The Cult of Svalblod has only one commandment: Killing. This is in line with the character of some of the Skellige Pirate families, and therefore they are extremely loyal.

Among the countless "miracles" of the Svalblod sect, the one that drives the warriors crazy the most is the "Berserker". It is said that believers who have a loyal faith in the evil god can enjoy the gift and gain the ability to transform into a giant bear.

This is also the reason why the lords can now accurately target the Svalblod sect - the sudden appearance of those bears at the banquet is enough to explain the problem.

However, this sect with such "miracles" and powerful warriors was eventually destroyed.

Because the Svalblods were very fond of sacrificing living people to the gods, they used this as an excuse to massacre almost all the villages in the Skellige Islands. This made the lords realize the seriousness of the matter, so they united to destroy the temple of the Svalblods, tied their believers to longboats, removed the sails, and sent them into the deep sea.

But now it seems that the original faith extermination campaign was not clean enough, otherwise today's accident would not have happened.

That is why King Bran's proposal was accepted by other lords - the merit of completely destroying the Svalblod sect is enough to support a lord to become king.

The reason why he made this suggestion was partly for Easter - the people of the islands should not stop their relatives and friends from pursuing glory, so even if King Bran believed in his heart that Easter's challenge to the Frost Giants was tantamount to suicide, it was still difficult for him to dissuade her directly.

But King Bran is still looking for a way to make Easter give up the fight against the giants.

The idea of ​​"whoever kills Svalblod will be king" was an opportunity that King Bran was looking for: a defeated general who was crippled by the Skellige people and could only survive was easier to deal with than the peerless ferocious beast that had existed for hundreds and thousands of years in the legends of the islanders.

…

After King Bran made the initiative, no one wanted to be the first to speak out in this situation.

Those who were qualified to speak were also shocked by King Bran's decision at this moment and became speechless - such as Easter.

However, although the hall was quiet, the various flashing eyes could clearly express the emotions of each lord: some were so excited at the good news that they could hardly contain themselves, some were worried and didn't know how to deal with it, and some looked dazed and kept out of it.

After a few breaths, the respected old lord Dona an Sinda finally coughed twice and stood up.

He exchanged glances with King Bran, looked meaningfully at the Easter anxious and Lann who was also shocked by King Bran's decision, and spoke to the lords of several other major families.

"Your Majesty's decision is reasonable. The Svalblod Cult was the enemy of our elders, and is also our enemy today. Destroying the Svalblod Cult is equivalent to completing the feat that our ancestors failed to do, and it is also washing away our current shame and avenging us. Such people deserve our support and win our support."

After hearing this, the lords exchanged glances and nodded.

"agree."

"However, I still hope that Your Majesty will give it more consideration. What is happening now is not your fault, and it cannot cover up your previous achievements. I hope you can..."

"I have made up my mind, Donaar," King Bran interrupted. "Those warriors who fell at my feast should have had more splendid adventures, fighting the Isles' enemies. Now their glory has come to an abrupt end, and it is a shame that I cannot wash away.

…

All the lords left after a brief exchange of opinions. Some immediately began to rush around, obviously wanting to seize this rare opportunity that would convince everyone and ascend the throne of the archipelago.

Some looked indifferent, as if they had no interest in this position at all. However, these lords did not have a close relationship with the king, so they did not stay long and returned to their respective fiefdoms early. They still had a lot of things to deal with.

Before leaving, the lords expressed some gratitude to Lann, no longer scrutinizing and fearing him as before. The islanders treated each other with one thing in mind. Even though Lann was definitely an East supporter, the force he had displayed in front of everyone shocked. The islanders admired the brave, so their attitude towards Lann would naturally change.

Secondly, it was an indisputable fact that Lann had saved everyone in the banquet hall before, and the lords had to thank him for that.

To be honest, if Lann asked these lords to give up running for king now, he might be able to get some of them to agree under the influence of personal relationships.

Lan really wanted to do this, but was stopped by Easter in the end.

Because this goes back to Easter's original intention of conquering the Frost Giants: to become king while having enough prestige to mobilize the armies of the major families.

It is true that through Lann's favor, competitors can be persuaded to give up, but no one can say for sure how much they will carry out East's orders afterwards.

It would be better to leave Lan's kindness behind and wait for a more appropriate time to let it come into play.

At this moment, the brothers Easter and King Bran were still staying in the conference room. In addition to Lann, there were also Kratz and Dona an Sinda of the Searose family.

Three of the seven major families, this is the current strength of East's side.

The most powerful Clete family and the Tursek family had long been determined to be closely united, and the joining of the Sea Rose family made Lann even more surprised.

"I'm old, and I just had to take on the responsibility of the lord because there are no young people in the family who can take charge." Dona explained with a smile, "I don't dare to think about becoming a king, it's too difficult for an old man like me."

King Bran introduced to everyone: "I have been lobbying Dona all along, and his position has always been very close to ours. He is one of the families that promised to send troops to support Cintra before - and he is even the family with the strongest support."

"If Bran resigns from the throne, no other lord will be eligible for my support. After much thought, I think Easter is the most suitable." The old man smiled and nodded, looking at Lann, "It turns out that my choice was not wrong. I haven't even started to fulfill my obligations, but I have already received a favor - thank you for saving my life, lion."

Lane smiled modestly.

"Dona's joining is also the reason why I put forward this initiative." King Bran added, "He is on good terms with the priests of the Temple of Freya, and they will definitely spare no effort to fight against heretics like Svalblod, which will enable us to achieve twice the result with half the effort."

"Don't underestimate them. Although the priests may not be proficient in combat, they still have various divine arts - the Holy Mother Freya also has the priesthood of 'prophecy'!"

Dona nodded with a smile.

Come to think of it, King Bran dared to propose "Whoever kills Svalblod will be king", he must have paved the way for his brother.

"But this time, Easter needs your help, Lan. I need to investigate the loopholes in the castle." King Bran said with a gloomy face.

"Letting the enemy enter the castle and kill my allies. If this matter is not investigated thoroughly, the glory of the Tursek family will be destroyed."

…

[Discovery Mission - Silent Rage:

The Skellige people are known for their savagery and bellicosity, but even they cannot tolerate the cruel Svalblod cult. They thought they had banished this bloody and cruel cult from the islands, but now it has returned to the islanders in a tragic way. In order to complete the unfinished work of their ancestors and to wash away their own shame, the king decided to let the one who destroyed Svalblod inherit the throne - this may also be your chance, lion. 】

This was the first time Lane had been given conflicting assignments.

Previously, he received the mission of hunting down the ice giant and winning the crown through Easter, and this time the mission is to destroy Svalblom and become king. It is obvious that these two cannot be completed at the same time.

If given a choice, Lann would prefer to accept this mission generated by King Bran's request.

Even Easter, after thinking for a while, accepted King Bran's proposal with mixed feelings. He was not a stubborn person, and he could also become king, gain the support of the lords, and thus avenge Calanthe on Nilfgaard. Svalblod, who had been crippled by the islanders once, was easier to deal with than the ice giants.

The next itinerary was thus determined - follow Dona an Sinda to the island of Indarsfair, seek help from the Freya sect, and annihilate the Svalblod sect.

…

Before officially setting off, Lan had one last thing to do.

While East and the others were making preparations, the young man with lion eyes walked into his reception room.

A pair of amber cat eyes looked towards him, obviously having been waiting for a long time.

This gaze did not come from any of Geralt, Kolgrim, or Cohen, but from the boxer who fought a giant bear alone at the banquet and won.

The boxer was tall and strong. He was more than half a head taller than the most burly Skellige guard next to him; his shoulders were extremely broad and his arms were thick and curly. For a moment, Lan had the urge to use the portal to summon Letho to compare his body shape with him.

He had a mohawk on his head, and his attire had been changed into a set of armor with a cotton base, chain mail, and steel plates. His arms were bare, and he wore leather gauntlets and elbow pads, exposing half of his upper arms and entire shoulders, with muscles bulging like rocks.

The steel plates on this man's armor looked very heavy, but on him it only gave people the visual effect of "light armor". Lan had always felt that when this man fought the giant bear, it was like a bear knocking down another bear.

And the truth was close to what Lann thought - the man also had the iconic double swords on his back, and a badge with a bear head carved on his chest was roaring wildly.

…

Judging from the contours of his skin and facial features, this person was obviously not from Skellige, but his hairstyle, clothing, and even personality all showed a tendency to be assimilated into the islanders.

The moment he saw Lan, the sturdy man's eyes lit up. He walked towards Lan with a heroic laugh, loudly expressing his joy and admiration for seeing Lan.

"Lane of Cintra, right? Lion! I've heard your name, but I never thought it would be so surprising to actually meet you!"

"I never thought you would be a griffin! And you team up with wolves and snakes. Is this a new trend? Or has the situation on the continent changed something I'm not aware of?"

"I always thought you were an earl, but I just heard from the people you brought here that you have become a duke. Congratulations!"

"I have to say your seals are so beautiful! That [Yarden Seal] can actually distinguish between friend and foe, and it can also cover the entire hall. How did you do it? Can you share it with me? If you don't mind, I can use my exclusive [Quen Seal] technique to trade with you!"

The burly man walked toward Lan, his muffled laughter sounding like the roar of rocks.

That heroic look made Lan En feel that he would be caught in a bear hug in the next moment. Even someone like Lan En, who had been in social occasions for a long time, was stunned for a moment when he saw such a scene.

But fortunately, the other party also knew that it was their first meeting, so after taking a few steps closer, he stopped three body lengths away from Lan.

He stretched out his hand, which was also a hand with a very wide palm.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Gede, a demon hunter from the Bear School."

…

After gathering griffins, wolves, snakes, and cats, Lann finally encountered a new school of demon hunters - the bear.

Theoretically, the Bear School is also one of the sources of the demon hunters' bad reputation today. They perfectly fit the stereotype of demon hunters that the demon hunters' mutations will eliminate their emotions.

The founder of the Bear School is called Anahad, one of the first generation of demon hunters transformed by the genius warlock Arzu.

The technology of the first generation was extremely immature, and the instability of the mutation was shocking even in Alzu's era. But Anahad survived such a chaotic experiment, and was very different from all the demon hunters except him.

Anahad has extremely developed physical strength, able to wield heavier weapons and wear thicker armor than others; at the same time, he also has extremely indifferent emotions, almost never has any emotional ups and downs, no anger, no sadness, no happiness, and no warmth between him and his companions.

At the same time, Anahad was also the direct promoter of the disintegration of the Demon Hunter Cult. Anahad had always sneered at the cult's noble pursuit of "protecting the people and fighting monsters". After the cult leader left, he regarded demon hunting as a simple job of "getting paid for work".

During a commission, Anahad met other fellow demon hunters. Demon hunters of that period should have been happy to have companions to help them in such a situation, but Anahad thought that the other party was stealing his "business", so they had a dispute and finally turned their swords against each other.

It is said that Anahad used only one sword to cut his compatriot from shoulder to waist, almost killing him on the spot.

However, the demon hunters of that period were all extremely strong. The demon hunter who was injured by Anahad actually held on for a breath, and used the goat-horned demon that he was originally going to attack to delay Anahad's steps, and then fled into the wilderness with his seriously injured body, and informed other demon hunter companions of Anahad's atrocities.

This news eventually made its way back to the Witcher Order.

This was the first internal conflict among witchers in history. Other witchers in the cult were extremely angry, and their companions, who had already been dissatisfied with Anahad's daily behavior, vowed to punish Anahad.

Anahad seemed to have anticipated this situation, and he immediately led the second internal conflict among the demon hunters in history - and this time it was a large-scale armed conflict.

The final result was that Anahad led a group of witchers who disagreed with the cult's purpose and officially broke with the cult, thus marking the beginning of the disintegration of the witcher cult.

This first group of demon hunters who left the cult used the "bear" as their symbol. Under the guidance of the dwarves, they set up the school's base camp in the Amel Mountains at the junction of the north and the south, using the severe cold weather and harsh geographical environment there to train their apprentices.

As a special individual among the first generation of demon hunters, Anahad had his mutations studied in detail. He brought out the results of his research, which led to the subsequent apprentices of the Bear School to have cold emotions and strong bodies like him, as well as an extremely pragmatic outlook on life: work and get paid, not talk about ideals.

If necessary, they don't mind pointing their swords at humans or even fellow demon hunters who stand in their way. The only difference between them and the cat faction is that they will not take the initiative to accept murder commissions.

Of course, like other schools, the Bear School no longer has a stronghold. But their story is much more dramatic:

The cause of the incident seemed to be the dissatisfaction of the surrounding mobs caused by a failed crusade against vampires. They had long been resentful - they would rather live next to monsters than with emotionless mutants.

When these mutants "lost" the ability to fight monsters, the mobs decided to eliminate them.

This may be the only riot without a warlock as the driving force behind the scenes, and with a group of emotionless, heavily armored magic swordsmen facing off against a mob armed only with pitchforks and sickles, the final outcome may be really hard to predict.

However, the Bear School had no desire to fight collectively. After learning the news that the mob had gone up the mountain, the members of the Bear School still seemed indifferent. They neither wanted to engage in unnecessary killings nor had the sincerity to protect the academy, so they parted ways, leaving behind an empty city.

The Bear School was thus disbanded.

…

After seeing Gede, Lann quickly went over the history of the Bear School in his mind.

Just as there can be rational people in a school that is full of crazy cats, Gede in front of him is obviously an outlier among the emotionally indifferent bear school.

This is a person who only appears in the background story, but also leaves a deep impression on people.

Gede originally had a complete set of bear-style equipment blueprints on him, and Lann learned his story when he was a player collecting blueprints in his previous life.

Simply put, this was a man for whom islanders wrote poems and histories after his death, and as a bear he was more popular than most griffins.

A few passages from his poems will reveal his character:

[Justice, bravery, and fearlessness of death.]

This is the witcher Gede! 】

[Those who have friends are the luckiest.]

Being able to leave home with peace of mind.

All is well on the way home.

It's all thanks to the Witcher! 】

In the backstory attributed to Gede, he traveled around the archipelago almost singing, drinking, and playing cards, hunting vampire birds, sirens, and even a dragon at the request of others.

But now it seems that Gede has not yet completed his legendary career, but is still practicing. This time he was attracted by the banquet held for him, which brought together the seven major families.

…

Although Lan's brain was still thinking, his expression, actions and thoughts were completely disconnected.

After hearing Gerd's praise and self-introduction, he was still recalling the history between Xiong Pai and the other party, but he responded with a greeting almost reflexively.

"Hello, I am Lann of Cintra, Lann Lannister Rhaanron."

"You're flattering me. I'm from the Griffin School, so it's normal for me to be good at sigils."

"Your strength is what makes me admire you. This is the first time I've seen someone use Quinn to withstand the attack of a giant beast and stab the opponent to death with a dagger."

Gede suddenly choked. He was not happy about Lan's praise.

"Hey, man. You're still too modest. I saw your flashing everywhere and killing five giant bears in one go - is that also a seal?"

"And after you left, I also used my witcher senses to check the scene. I found a giant bear that was beaten to death with fists. Your princess is spreading the news everywhere..."