As all Redanians know, the capital of Redania is Tretog.

But in fact, Tretogor was not the first choice for the Redanian nobles to inherit their family. After all, with the academic holy land of Oxburgh and the commercial center of Novigrad, Tretogor seemed a little too ordinary as the capital.

Many great nobles were willing to set up their family estates in Oxburgh or Novigrad, including the Ephraim family, the founding heroes of Redania.

As a prominent founding noble family, the Everec family's manor is extremely luxurious and elegant.

The manor is located in the Niubao area and is most famous for its huge family cemetery. Many small manors are not even as large as the Everec family cemetery.

The fate of this manor is as unfortunate as its owner. After a glorious period in the founding of the country, the Everec family quickly fell into decline due to poor management by their descendants, and even had to sell their ancestral home.

The patriarch of this generation finally bought back the manor after going through untold hardships, but then a series of unbelievable events broke out, which eventually led to the male owner of the manor leaving and the manor became abandoned again.

A panting horse stopped in front of the manor gate. It was sweating profusely after running here from Novigrad almost non-stop for a whole day.

Sitting on its back was a skinny man in a hooded cape. From the occasional glimpse of his face when the wind blew it up, it was clear that he had no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, and no beard. His head looked like a peeled egg.

At this moment, the man looked at the endless manor and couldn't help but sigh:

"It's really huge... The residents nearby have heard that scavengers and explorers have never come out after entering. I wonder what's inside... Are there any evil spirits?"

The man lifted his cloak, revealing a set of fine leather armor. Although it was not a high-end custom-made product, it was obviously the highest-grade one among the finished products of the blacksmith shop, and the price was definitely not cheap.

He had a long sword with a lion head on his back, which looked like the cavalry style of Sintra. He also had a dagger on his waist with a snake head carved on it.

A pair of dazzling red eyes cast their gaze into the darkness of the manor, full of curiosity.

This man is Lann’s new follower, the cat-faction demon hunter - Kaiyan.

Due to the time constraints, Lann was unable to equip him with good enough armor, and even his equipment was hastily put together. He was only equipped with a Cintra steel knight sword and a silver-plated dagger temporarily borrowed from a snake-faction demon hunter. This was considered a barely sufficient means for him to fight against monsters.

And Lann asked Kaiyan to come here alone at this moment, naturally with a mission.

Kaiyan recalled Lann's repeated warnings, "Don't enter the manor, don't enter the manor, don't enter the manor." He shook his head and gave up the idea of ​​exploring a little. He pulled the reins lightly and walked towards Everec's family cemetery.

In front of him was an abandoned building covered by various shrubs, weeds and trees. If Lan were here, he might have thought it had a bit of the flavor of The Wizard of Oz.

But the cat-faction witcher obviously didn't have such leisure time. He walked all the way inside, crushing the bits of sunlight that came through on the deep path, and soon came to the door of a basement.

He walked around for about two hundred meters before he saw the real intersection of the Everec family cemetery.

He raised his head and drank a bottle of [Cat] potion. The whites of Kaiyan's eyes began to be stained with red light. His red pupils flickered red light in the darkness. If other demon hunters saw it, they would probably misunderstand it as a monster and draw their swords on the spot.

All the way down, this underground cemetery has many forks, and at the end of each fork is a small tomb. The atmosphere here is depressing and dark, forming a sharp contrast with the sunlight and plants on the ground.

"Huh?" Kaiyan suddenly made a sound of surprise.

He checked the tombs one by one, looking for his target, but suddenly found an unexpected reward.

In front of me is a nomadic-style scimitar that looks quite old, but well-maintained, and is obviously a burial object of the owner of this tomb.

If Lann is here, the [Inventory] may give a hint for [Ophir Scimitar].

Kaiyan naturally didn't know the origin of this knife, but he tried swinging it twice and found that it felt much better than the standard Cintra Knight's sword, so he accepted it with no psychological burden.

"It's a pity that it's not a silver sword. But that's true, who would keep a silver sword in their home..."

Before Kaiyan finished his mumbling, his red cat pupils suddenly shrank, as if he had sensed something, and even the blood light he exhaled became much more condensed.

He looked in a certain direction in the void, as if thinking about something. Then he took out a bottle of sword oil from his bag and began to apply it to the silver-plated dagger and the newly acquired scimitar, his face cold.

“Buzz.”

It was not until this time that the cat-head badge on Kaiyan's neck began to vibrate slightly.

The demon hunter smiled a bloodthirsty smile, revealing two fangs. He then slapped the ground with his left hand, and a small purple magic circle surrounded him.

At the same time, two green will-o'-the-wisp fires ignited in the air, and two demons wearing tattered cloaks appeared in the air, screaming and attacking with iron rods raised high.

Kaiyan seemed to have anticipated this, and he turned sideways deftly and passed through the gap between the two demons' attacks. When he turned around, he saw the attacking monster being covered by purple light.

"Ambush me?" Kaiyan sneered, "I am the one who ambushed you!"

He wiped the straps of the alchemy backpack with both hands, and two particles of [Moon Dust] exploded on the ground with a "bang", adding a circle of silver light to the purple magic circle.

As a result, the two demon spirits could no longer become virtual, and their damaged bodies were completely exposed to the enemy.

Without giving the enemy time to react, the cat-faction demon hunter rushed between the two spirits like lightning. His blood-red eyes moved so fast that they even left a breathtaking trail in the darkness.

Cat School Sword Dance!

No light could be seen in the dark underground secret room, only the "puff puff" sound of slashing could be heard. The two demon spirits kept shaking in the air with their iron rods held high. The steel swords with sword oil kept cutting smoking scars on the demon spirits' bodies as if they were burned.

The steel sword may not be powerful enough to defeat the enemy, so make up for it with numbers!

Kaiyan's rotation seemed endless. Ten, twenty, thirty, and forty strikes. He had never felt that sword dance was so handy in his hands. He actually used the steel sword to chop the two demons into powder, which was then blown away by the wind.

After the battle, Kaiyan took a deep breath, looked at the demon spirit, and touched the six remaining [Moon Dust] on his body.

"It's very high-end stuff, much better than what I used before. Should I say it's worthy of the Griffin School?"

Then he continued to savor the battle: "My perception of demon spirits has improved, and I can even detect enemies before the school's badge. My sword dance is also smoother, and many of the skills I had forgotten before seem to have been re-engraved into my muscles... Is this all due to the power of the 'Ancient Blood'?"

"If that's the case." The demon hunter took a deep breath, "That would be great..."

Pulling his mind back to the mission, without the interference of other spirits, Kaiyan continued to search in the catacombs.

Following the passage, we came to an open basement with dozens of tombs densely packed on the circular walls.

In these tombs, Kaiyan finally found his target: "Vlodimir Everec, it's you!"

The demon hunter stepped forward and kicked over the coffin lid, revealing the shrunken bones inside. He took a step back to avoid the stench, and then pulled out part of the corpse's torso.

Step back, there happens to be a prayer bowl in this basement for praying for the dead, which is now used as a brazier by Kaiyan.

He used the Igni Sign to ignite the part of Vlodimir's arm that was torn out. After it was burned out, he used the ashes to draw a hexagram on the ground and lit a candle at each of the six corners.

Then he knelt on the ground in a meditative posture and began to chant:

“Life and death, fire and blood.

Reborn from the fire, returning from the ashes.

Those who have left, please return to the world—"

Kaiyan opened his arms, his pupils rolled up to reveal the whites of his eyes, and after repeating the spell five times, six candles suddenly emitted green flames as high as a person. The remaining ashes in the brazier were lifted up by an invisible wind, and a human figure was vaguely outlined in the air.

Then the ashes disappeared, and a transparent figure appeared in front of Kaiyan. Ordinary people might not be able to see this person with their naked eyes, but in Kaiyan's [medium] perception, he was more dazzling than a torch.

Kaiyan muttered to himself, "It worked in one go. I thought I had to burn half of the bodies first."

"That's because I couldn't wait to get out!" Unexpectedly, the transparent figure began to chatter in response to Kaiyan's words, "You'd better explain why you opened my coffin. You still have my great-grandfather's knife on your waist!"

随着低沉的话语在地下室中回**，这个幽灵的身影也渐渐变得凝实起来，这又是一个留着野猪头的青年，穿着斜排扣的游牧长袍，看上去和欧吉尔德有七分相似，但是却十分稚嫩，气质上也远远不如。

“你就是弗洛迪米？”

“你刚刚掀了我的棺，你还问我是谁？”

凯亚恩有点手痒，正好弯刀上面的剑油还有残余，他想试试面前的这个幽灵能抗自己几刀。

但是想起了兰恩的嘱咐和这个幽灵之后将要遭遇的事情，凯亚恩又恶劣地笑了起来。

“我是你哥哥欧吉尔德找过来的，我有求于他。作为交换，他要我召唤出他死去的弟弟——也就是你，让我带你好好享乐一天。”

听到哥哥的名字，弗洛迪米那股杀气腾腾的感觉顿时收敛了：“你是我哥哥派过来的？你怎么证明？”

凯亚恩又开始想起兰恩的嘱咐。

“前几天你的哥哥刚刚因为你的马太脏而教训了一个手下，然后把一座庄园当做篝火点了。”

幽灵听闻大笑：“哈，是他能干出来的事情！”

弗洛迪米兴奋起来。不知道是他本来就脑子缺一根筋还是因为变成了幽灵让他失去了部分智商，他居然就这么轻易地相信了凯亚恩的话。

“你要怎么带我去享受重回阳间的这一天？我已经迫不及待了，美酒、烈马、姑娘，我早就受够了这暗无天日的地方了！”

凯亚恩却摇摇头，在对方的疑惑的眼神中，说道：

“我还以为你会更喜欢刀和剑呢，让手中的刀劈开敌人的身体，而在自己却对敌人的攻击熟视无睹，这种肆无忌惮的感觉不是更加令人陶醉吗？”

“我最近恰好知道一个即将搭建好的盛大舞台，那里即将举办一个很棒、很棒的派对……”

说着说着，凯亚恩眼中的血色跳动得更加浓郁了。

嗜血猫的本能兴奋起来了。

弗洛迪米看了看自己足够无视尸体攻击的透明身体，若有所思。

“你刚刚说的那个派对，具体指的什么？”

凯亚恩压低了嗓音答道：“永恒之火，记得吗？”

“我只是死了，而不是傻了。”弗洛迪米不满地说道，“一群神神叨叨的家伙，当初好几次差点跟我们打起来。”

“既然你知道那解释起来就容易了：我这边接到消息，永恒之火起内讧了，信徒杀信徒，骑士杀骑士，火焰对抗火焰。”

凯亚恩的嗓音低沉，好似恶魔低语：“混进神殿骑士的队伍里面，找一个倒霉蛋恶灵附身，正大光明地杀掉倒霉蛋原来的同伴，然后走人，寻找下一个倒霉蛋，再重复。听起来是不是很有意思？如果你愿意的话，甚至还能够附身到他们首领的身上去指挥自己曾经的敌人作战。这种级别的内斗可少见，以后可再碰不上这样的机会了……”

弗洛迪米虚幻的身影上，眼睛的那一部分猛然变得凝实了起来。

对于他来说，凯亚恩的提议确实很有吸引力，或者说——太有吸引力了！

“你是个天才，红眼睛的家伙，你是个会享受的人！”

弗洛迪米摩拳擦掌起来：“让我们快点出发吧！”

……

一天后，神殿岛，永恒之火总部。

永恒之火是一个很特别的宗教，它特别就特别在它没有一个具体的神明。信徒们崇拜的是“永燃的火焰”，他们相信不灭的火焰是一种生存的象征，能够指引他们穿越黑暗，走向进步，迎来更好的明天。

不知道是不是受到这种宗教观的影响，由于没有一个“神”在头上，永恒之火的高层极其热衷政治，积极组织武装力量，直至成为了今天诺维格瑞的主要掌权者。

此时，信徒们正聚集在礼堂做着今日的晨祷。

一个个火盆中，鱼油、蜂蜡、玫瑰香精和胭脂红一起混合成的燃料一起燃烧出火红色的火焰，不但明亮，而且还有一股奇香。

迦勒·曼吉在礼堂的外面，陶醉地看着这一幕，恍若众人礼拜的是他一般。

“沙佩勒人呢？”

听到首领的询问，一名神殿守卫上前：“他正……”

没等手下继续说，迦勒·曼吉立刻训斥着打断：“小点声！没看到在晨祷吗？”

其实根本没有信徒注意到这边的情况，但是神殿守卫依旧马上压低了声音，轻声道：“他在给巡逻的守卫们做战前动员，这两天黑帮的动作有些频繁，发生了很多冲突。他准备带人出去平叛。”

迦勒·曼吉满意地笑了：“看样子大家都很迫不及待了呀。”

“但是可不能就这么让沙佩勒走了，想要让以后的永恒之火只有一个声音，我得在众目睽睽之下扳倒他……”

迦勒·曼吉喃喃自语：“邪恶的异教徒、危险的施法者、肮脏的非人种族，今天之后，这些污秽都将消失在诺维格瑞了。”

“聚集我们的人手，目标沙佩特。”

“另外点燃我们的信号，让欧吉尔德和那个术士进城，行动开始！”

神殿守卫们一齐高喊：“是！”

这回迦勒·曼吉没有指责他们的声音了。

有一个人高呼的声音格外高亢，亢奋得简直不正常。不过迦勒·曼吉并不在意，士兵们战意高昂，对他来说不是好事吗？

……

诺维格瑞城外，距离城池最近的一座庄园内，野猪军盘踞在此。

里恩斯有提议找一个更近的村庄霸占，但是被欧吉尔德回绝。理由是不想打扰村民正常的生活，而且庄园更加体面。

里恩斯气急败坏，看着此刻正在细心保养弯刀，坐着战前准备的欧吉尔德，高声道：

“你这样还算是武勋立家的吗？我听说你们以前还是游牧民族，现在看你的做派比那些宫廷贵族还宫廷！隔这么远，要是迦勒·曼吉给我们发信号的时候没有及时赶到怎么办？”

与术士的急躁相反，欧吉尔德相当气定神闲：“放心吧，我们不会错过兰尼斯特的，就好像兰尼斯特不会错过我们一样。”

这句话让里恩斯一愣，似乎没能完全理解：“你什么意思？”

欧吉尔德轻笑一声，与魔法学院的辍学生以及神殿守卫的武官头子相比，欧吉尔德可是从小就接受过良好的教育的，哪怕家道中落也没有懈怠。因此他在一些事情上面的嗅觉相对比较敏感。

欧吉尔德原以为与兰恩的对决会是这段时间最大的乐子，却没想到还没开打，自己已经看了几场好戏。

“你原本的计划是什么？”

里恩斯不满道：“难道你到现在还没记清吗？让黑帮掀起暴乱把城市搅浑，迫使兰尼斯特的骑兵陷入巷战；然后迦勒·曼吉趁着沙佩特把人手派出去的时候夺权永恒之火，最终我们所有人一起汇合拿下兰尼斯特，有问题吗？”

欧吉尔德不屑一笑：“何止是有问题，而且问题很大。首先：你带过来的那四个猎魔人呢？”

里恩斯皱了皱眉头：“你知道的，他们的任务是监视兰尼斯特，然后等我们进城汇合。他们是皇帝陛下派过来的援手，跟我不是从属关系，所以没有跟我汇报的义务。”

欧吉尔德摇摇头：“大战之前却不集结自己的力量，甚至连自己手里握着的刀究竟有几柄、刀刃朝着谁都不知道，我一开始就没指望你的计划能够顺利进行下去。”

这是**裸的嘲讽了，而且欧吉尔德话里面蕴藏的信息让里恩斯闻到一丝不对，他正要开口，却被欧吉尔德加下来的话堵住了：

“你我都是兰尼斯特的目标，而且我相信你在兰尼斯特的必杀名单上很靠前。黑帮怎么办事我不知道，迦勒·曼吉怎么办事我也不知道，他们成不成功都与我无关。我只希望能够和兰尼斯特好好玩上一场。”

欧吉尔德终于给自己弯刀上好了油，他好像抚摸爱人一般用一块丝绸擦拭上面多余的油脂，继续说道：

“你不是一直好奇我为什么要跟你一起行动吗？这就是原因：我知道有你在的地方，兰尼斯特一定会过来。”

看着里恩斯猛然大变的脸色，他好笑道：“不然呢，你该不会以为我是尊重术士吧？不会吧？”

里恩斯这次不再在意欧吉尔德话里淡淡的嘲讽了，他急道：“你的意思是迦勒·曼吉和黑帮头子他们那里会出意外？而且兰尼斯特会主动过来找我们？他们为什么会出意外，兰尼斯特又怎么找到我们？”

术士的语速很快，语气也很急切，他似乎想不出自己好不容易聚集起来的完备队伍、好不容易制定的精心计划到底哪里会出问题。

“我猜的。”欧吉尔德漫不经心，甚至开始喝酒了。

里恩斯却松了一口：“也就是说你没有接到实质的坏消息对吧，你刚刚说的错误情况都只是你的推测是吧？”

"That's your second problem, Warlock." Olgierd shook his head. "You rely on luck and prayer for the success of your plan instead of doing something substantial to fill the gaps. I really can't imagine why the Emperor of Nilfgaard would send you here to preside over such a big event."

Riens wanted to say something, but he heard a sound of anxious running in the corridor. A soldier of the Wild Boar Army suddenly broke open the door and said anxiously:

"Chief, there is a fire in the direction of Novigrad, the signal is coming!"

Outside the manor, all the Wild Boar Army members were ready to go, fully armed. They looked towards the city, waiting for their leader to appear.

A triumphant smile appeared on the Warlock's face: "It looks like the plan is going well."

Olgierd closed his eyes, knelt down and gently stroked the ground. The sand trembled slightly, and the dull sound of horse hooves could be heard from beneath the ground.

"Your demon hunter is here."

Ogierd smiled, his eyes no longer looking at the fire in the direction of the city, but at the end of the road outside the manor.

There, a team of well-trained cavalry was rumbling towards them, led by a blond knight wearing silver-grey armor and a griffin cloak, looking very aggressive.

There was also a burly bald man next to him.

"Lannister? He actually came here on his own! And why is Letho with them?!"

The warlock's voice was almost a scream. It was not easy for him to make such a shrill sound given his throat that had been injured repeatedly several times.

Olgierd began to laugh wildly: "I guessed it right! Wild Boar Army - Charge!"