As one of the four great kingdoms in the north, the Kingdom of Kaedwen is famous for its vast land and sparse population. Even its king Henselt may not have measured all of Kaedwen's territory, which is why there are so many mysteries in this land.
In the far north of Kaedwen, one of the world's few forgotten corners, part of the vast Blue Mountains, lies Kaer Morhen, home of the Wolf School of the Witcher.
Today, this forgotten corner welcomes visitors again.
The fiery red portal spread in the air, and Lann rode out of it first on Black Wind. Without the onlookers of the Cintra people, this time there was no need for the man and the horse to keep a straight face. At this moment, they all turned pale and dizzy, staggering and almost falling to the ground.
Following Lann came the four-member Snake Faction, whose condition was not much better than Lann's.
The last person to walk out of the portal was Mossak. He looked at the confused demon hunters in front of him with a smile, and stomped the ground with his heavy oak cane, causing the portal behind him to disappear into thin air.
Kaer Morhen was also a place that needed to be kept secret, and no unexplained visitors were accepted. Therefore, Lann only brought a few people with him this time, and even his servants did not come with him, as if he was visiting a friend.
Kolgrim sat down with the help of a stone to relieve the dizziness that rushed straight to his head. With a little effort, he actually broke off a piece of stone. He unconsciously brought the stone to his eyes, and in a trance, he actually saw fossil-like lines on it. Those lines were connected to each other, depicting the shapes of shells and fish.
"I must be too dizzy. The distance of this portal is too long... How can there be fossils of fish and shells on the Blue Mountain..."
Mossak looked at Kolgrim with amusement and said, "No, this is a marine fossil. This mountain range was once a vast ocean, and it became what it is today after the evolution of the earth's crust. 'Kaer Morhen' means 'ancient sea fortress' in ancient language."
The old druid took two steps forward and pointed at the castle in the mountains. "I have been here many times. I could have teleported you directly to the castle hall. But considering that this is your first time here, I think it would be better for you to see the entire fortress."
Following Mossak's finger, the demon hunters (and the demon hunting horses) cast their sights over there, and what they saw was a long mountain river and a winding circular mountain road. Further up, there was a defensive wall that had collapsed to the point where only the footrests were left, the only remaining towers and gates, and the heavy and thick cylindrical main tower.
The castle almost merged with the snowy mountain, and the heavy sense of human history loomed in everyone's heart. The unrepaired walls still retained traces of battles, and just looking at them seemed to remind one of the ever-changing sounds of fighting.
…
The Wolf School is the most peculiar of all the Demon Hunter schools.
Normal schools of demon hunters basically have their own characteristics. They will choose one or several skills to study in depth based on their environment, life, and combat needs.
The Cat Clan is good at swords, especially deft light strikes, and strives to deliver a fatal blow to people; the Griffins studied sigils, and thus began to delve into magic, and the masters in the school even surpassed the warlocks in spell knowledge; the Snake Clan is obsessed with poison and sword oil, they have carried forward these skills, and can often kill people without being seen; the Bear Clan, which has not yet appeared, is said to be good at swords as well, but they like to use great force to create miracles, and have expertise in the defensive [Quen Seal].
As for the Wolf Faction, they know a little bit of everything. A mature Wolf Faction demon hunter can defeat a long-established swordsman head-on with a sword, and can also use sword oil and magic potions to prepare himself fully before demons. After the real hunting begins, he can skillfully use magic signs and bombs to help quickly kill the enemy.
This kind of character who "knows a little bit of everything" is theoretically the most likely to become the protagonist.
The reason why the Wolf Clan learns so much and so diversely is largely due to their history - the Wolf Clan is known as the "orthodox successor of the Demon Hunter Order", and this is indeed the case.
After the founder of the Witcher Cult, Mage Arzu, left the cult, conflicts arose among the Witchers in the cult due to conflicts in ideology, and then a large number of them left the cult and established schools around the world.
The remaining witchers took all the experimental equipment, mutation materials, and experimental notebooks, and joined forces with alchemists and warlocks who were willing to help them to carefully deal with the witcher cult. They then arrived at the Blue Mountains and built the difficult-to-defend castle "Kaer Morhen".
They are the most standard demon hunters, not as extreme as the cat faction, nor as selfless as the griffin. They adhere to neutrality and moderation, do things even if they are unfair, never get involved in politics, and do not train apprentices on a large scale. The most prosperous wolf faction has no more than fifteen demon hunters, and no more than thirty apprentices in training.
But in Lann's eyes, these wolf factions are all people with borderline personality disorder, and perhaps they have a tendency to be self-destructive.
The Wolf School can be said to have the most abundant resources, the most spellcasters, and the most orthodox heritage of all schools, but they have never sought development. Faced with the rumors against the demon hunters in the later period, they never thought about calming them down, but only wanted to prove themselves through time and actions.
In the end, just like the Griffin School, the Wolf School was coveted by warlocks and feared by rulers. The mastermind behind the scenes instigated the mob to attack Kaer Morhen and killed almost all the witchers, warlocks, and alchemists in the castle. Only the last Grand Master Vesemir escaped.
After Vesemir trained a new generation of wolf-faction demon hunters, these demon hunters lacked recognition of their own identity as demon hunters. They hated the demon hunter mutation that took the lives of most of their companions, and kept silent about the pain they had suffered. They were unwilling to train the next generation of demon hunters, and even if there were a few "accidental children" along the way, they were unwilling to bring them back for training.
In the end, even Grand Master Vesemir succumbed, and he destroyed most of the alchemical instruments used by the school for mutation, leaving only a few sealed up as a reminder. In the original history, the Wolf Clan therefore quickly disappeared from the world.
But Lann knew that Vesemir, the old mentor who had experienced the heyday of the Wolf School, still hoped to revive the school in his heart. His attitude was more of disappointment with the times and succumbing to the painful memories of the past.
Lane hoped to reawaken the remaining spark of passion in Vesemir.
Leiso looked at the mottled walls and the ruined castle, feeling deeply moved: "Can all the demon hunters' bases escape the fate of being destroyed?"
Then the current leader of the Snake Sect looked at Lan's back again. The lion-like young man was looking at the towering castle, with a myriad of emotions in his eyes. The sunlight hit his light golden half-long hair, and the reflected light was even more dazzling than the snow on the top of the mountain.
"The future of demon hunters... is this here?"
…
Triss was in Kaer Morhen at the moment. She was an assistant teacher during the day and taught Ciri's magic classes with Yennefer. The red-haired sorceress had already communicated with Mossak about the time of the visit, so the people in the castle knew that there would be visitors today.
Because of this, Ciri was out of shape the whole day, and she almost turned the morning potions class into a lesson on how to mix alchemical bombs.
She was sitting in the classroom, but her heart had already flown into Lan's arms.
The window of the classroom was wide open, and suddenly the sound of horse hooves floated in from outside. Then Yennefer, who was teaching her, saw the girl with mouse-gray hair put on her griffin cloak like a gust of wind and rushed out of the door at a speed that was invisible to the naked eye.
If it were normal, Yennefer would definitely be furious and start yelling, and might even start to mock Geralt. But today, she smiled and began to sip her wine, leaning on the windowsill and looking at the group of people walking into the yard.
The blond knight led a group of warriors with amber snake eyes and walked in from the outside world wrapped in snow. The white-haired old demon hunter walked out of the hall with his arms open, making a gesture of greeting.
The old man in front of him is the mentor of the Wolf School - Vesemir.
Unlike Geralt's creamy white hair, which was caused by his mutation, Vesemir also has white hair. However, it is time and old age that have bleached his hair, and few witchers can live to be as old as him.
The old demon hunter with a story on his face lit up when he saw Mossak. When he saw the golden-haired demon hunter with lion eyes beside Mossak, his eyes lit up even more.
Lan was just about to meet the owner of the castle under Mossak's introduction, but suddenly he felt a mouse-gray wind blowing past his eyes, and then a familiar touch hit his arms, and then a familiar voice sounded in his ears.
"Waaaaaaah! Laneaaaaaaaahhhhh!!"
It can't be said that it's too familiar. At least this body is much heavier than when we first separated. Judging from the touch from my fingertips, there seem to be some curves on the body.
The little girl is starting to grow up. Lan's surprise soon turned into a faint smile, and he quickly reacted and hugged the girl in his arms. And Ciri's body and heart finally merged into one at this moment.
Mossak beside him, Vesemir standing at the door, and Yennefer leaning against the window, they all smiled almost in unison when they saw this scene.
Lan patted Ciri gently in his arms, knowing that there was no way to pull the girl off his body whose limbs were embedded in his body like tree roots.
He maintained this posture with one hand holding Ciri and greeted the owner of the castle in front of him.
"Hello, I presume you are Master Vesemir. I am Lann of Cintra, Lann Lannister Rhaanron, and it is a pleasure to meet you."
"You must have heard of me from many channels and from various angles." The old demon hunter, Vesemir, showed an intriguing smile on his face, "I have also heard of you from many people."
The old demon hunter waved his hand at Lann in a casual manner: "No need to address me with honorifics. I am not used to hearing things like 'Mr.' or 'Mentor'. Our wolf cubs just call me by my name."
Indeed, unlike the Griffin School, which values etiquette, the Wolf School doesn't care much about this kind of verbal etiquette, and is even a little disrespectful. But the emotional connection between them is the closest.
"Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Vesemir." Lane quickly followed the local customs and shook hands with Vesemir with his free right hand.
Then Lann held Ciri's hand and exerted a little force, lifted the little girl up and walked to the side, revealing Reso behind him.
If Lann came as a family member, or even with a political mission, then the people of the Snake Clan were simply communicating with each other as demon hunters.
"If you have come a long way, you must be tired now. If you have come through the portal, you need to rest even more now." Vesemir laughed, "I will take you to your respective rooms. If you like, you can also visit Kaer Morhen. My boys are out hunting. I will prepare a sumptuous dinner for the snake brothers, druids, and Ciri's family who are here for the first time."
Lan En smiled and said, "I'm already looking forward to it."
"I know you have a lot to say to me. Let's talk about it over dinner." Vesemir obviously had something in mind and said solemnly to Lan.
Then he put on a warm expression, as if the seriousness just now was just an illusion, "Ciri, you will take Lan's room, I will take care of the other guests!"
"Okay!" Ciri's muffled voice came from Lann's arms. It was really hard for her to respond to the orders from the outside world.
…
After the initial clinging, Ciri quickly got off Lan, but her hands were still firmly holding Lan's arms.
She didn't look back, but just walked away. Lann didn't notice anything unusual at first, and wanted to tease the girl, but soon he saw Ciri's expression again.
After the initial ecstasy, Ciri became worried again.
Lann tried to greet Ciri several times, but the little girl didn't respond at all.
What's going on? Are you having a fight?
Until they entered the room prepared for Lan and closed the door, Ciri kept her back to Lan.
"What's wrong, my princess?" Lan looked around the room unnaturally and smiled, "Are you still blaming me for leaving you here and not coming to see you?"
Lann said sincerely: "If that's the case, I apologize to you."
Faced with Lan's reaction, Ciri wrinkled her nose where Lan couldn't see.
“It’s not that. I know you’re very busy, and everything you do is for Cintra. I can stay here because you’re there to shelter me from the wind and rain. Yennefer and Triss have told me many stories about princesses of fallen countries, and I’m lucky to be where I am now.” Ciri said.
"So I worked very hard in Kaer Morhen and never asked to leave, because I wanted to make myself useful as soon as possible, fulfill my responsibilities as a princess, and help you as soon as possible."
Hearing Ciri's words, the expression on Lan's face gradually melted away.
He walked forward gently, rested his elbows on Ciri's shoulders, and with his left hand he hugged her shoulders over her collarbone, while his right hand gently stroked her soft hair: "But you are still angry, right? I know that understanding the truth is one thing, but it is another to actually encounter something in life."
“No, that’s not what I’m angry about.” Ciri frowned even tighter, and her lips moved for a while before she uttered a name.
"Triss!"
Lan's face and hands froze at the same time.
He just remembered now that he had come all the way to Kaer Morhen and had not yet met Triss. Given the red-haired sorceress's personality, she would have appeared long ago under normal circumstances, and would even have taken over Mossak's job to introduce Vesemir to Lann.
But she hasn't shown up until now, I don't know if she is hiding from something.
"I'm a child, yes, but I'm not stupid." Ciri sniffed, as if she had a cold, and said in a muffled voice, "Triss has changed since she came back to help you in Novigrad. She's been much more reserved with me and would avoid me; when she has to teach me, she seems to be deliberately giving in to me and trying to please me."
"I was mentally prepared when I was in Brokilon. At that time, I took care of Triss and asked you to take care of Triss."
"Something... has already happened, right?"
Facing Ciri's question, Lann remained silent. It was more than just what had already happened.
"I also understand some things. My grandmother and Mossak didn't teach me deliberately since I was a child, but I understand them. For example, political marriages, I have heard and learned about them from books and everyone's conversations. I also know that this is a necessary method."
Ciri seemed to be actively looking for excuses for Lann, and her voice became increasingly muffled: "I'm just very unhappy, because I'm also trying to grow up. In just five more years... no, four, three... three years, just three years, I'll grow up!"
"Can't you wait a little longer..."
Lan lowered his head. After not seeing her for a long time, Ciri's height was now just up to his chest.
But Ciri... if it was only three years, it was still illegal in my previous life. If I wrote it in a novel, even if it was a historical subject, it might be banned...
Lann tried to organize his words, but Ciri didn't wait for him to respond. After saying this, the little girl seemed to vent some of her emotions and finally turned around.
She first hit Lann hard with her head, but then her forehead was hit by the sturdy breastplate and she couldn't help but cry out in pain; when Lann went forward to check with concern, she dodged nimbly and used the newly learned demon hunter fighting skills to hit Lann hard several times.
Then she rubbed her aching little hands, put her hands on her waist and said, "You only have three years, Lord Lannister! Do you understand? In these three years, I allow you to use all means to strengthen Cintra and win all possible allies for us! But, after three years, when I grow up, you can no longer do whatever you want, understand?"
The little princess raised her head and said, "Because then, you will be the prince of Cintra! Or you can be the king if you want... In short, you are the lion of Cintra, this is your responsibility! Moreover, you are also my knight, this is also my order to you, do you understand?"
Ciri tried hard to keep her face tight, but Lan could see that her hands were shaking slightly, whether because of pain or other emotions.
Lann sighed and stepped forward to hold Ciri's little hands. These hands were no longer as delicate as the princess's, and were even rougher than those of farm children of the same age, with calluses and burns caused by various magic experiments.
Perhaps the sorceress will find a way to restore the tenderness of these hands with magic in the future, but at this moment, they faithfully show the hardships their owner has gone through during this period of time.
"Of course, my princess," Lan said, "as you command."
The cold wind outside the window seemed to have become a little quieter at this moment.
Unfortunately, the ceremony between the princess and the knight did not last long. Soon there was a knock on the door, breaking the atmosphere in the room.
“Boom boom boom—”
Ciri wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction: "Geralt and the others are out. Are these the Snake brothers you brought here?"
Lann shook his head: "If it was Kolgrim and the others, they wouldn't even knock on the door."
"That's Vesemir. Maybe he's here for your witcher cult." Ciri patted Lann's hand. "Go, knight, complete your mission for Cintra!"
Lan shook his head and chuckled.
After opening the door, to their surprise, the person outside the door was not any member of the Wolf Faction or the Snake Faction as they expected.
Outside the door was a demon hunter wearing a cotton robe. His clothes and face were neatly dressed, and his hair was neatly tied into a round bun at the back of his head. Although he was indoors, he still wore iron wrist guards. I don't know what his personal hobby is.
The moment the door opened, Lann's eyes met the other person's, and then they moved their eyes down tacitly, focusing on each other's chest.
The two griffin emblems swayed slightly, as if echoing each other from afar.
"Cohen?" Lann recognized him the first time he saw him. There was no other griffin hunter who appeared in the Wolf Clan's base camp except himself.
In other words, the only Griffin Hunter outside of Kael Sirens, besides himself and the founder of the sect, Elan, who might be wandering somewhere unknown, was the one in front of him.
Cohen has a beard and looks very rough, but his temperament is also a bit elegant, which he learned from Kelda, so he looks very calm and trustworthy.
"You must be Lann." Cohen smiled. He reached into his arms and grabbed a corner of a notebook. "Teacher Kelda often mentioned you to me. I knew you were coming to Kaer Morhen today, so I ended the hunt early and came back."
[Griffin School Contact Notes], Geron could dig out two copies from the snowdrifts, so there was no reason why Kelda, who had been protecting the Kel Siren, didn't have any. It was only natural that he should give them to his own disciples.
As he spoke, the Griffin Demon Hunter poked his head into Lann's room and asked, "I think I came at a bad time?"
"No, you're here at the right time." Ciri ran out of the room like a gust of wind. Cohen had been one of Ciri's swordsmanship teachers during this period, and his teasing look made Ciri a little unbearable.
"I have to go back to my potions class. Yennefer can't wait any longer. Please help me introduce Kaer Morhen to Lann~"
The little princess ran very fast, leaving only a string of tail sounds echoing in the corridor. Lan and Cohen couldn't help laughing when they saw this.
"We all like her very much." Keen looked at the direction where Shiri left. "She is very sensible and hardworking."
Although it was Ciri who was being praised, Lann's mood also improved.
The young demon hunter with lion eyes took a step back and made an inviting gesture to the senior outside the door: "Please come in, I think we have a lot to talk about."
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