Many old men with old-fashioned ideas believe that the female night demon is a monster from hell, the cause of the corruption of young people, and the root cause of national unrest.
The "old men" mentioned here include not only farmers and herdsmen who have not received any education, but also druids who are like old scholars.
This ignorant statement is of course not correct. Most people are just ashamed to face the truth of their own depravity. Losers need to find an excuse for their incompetence. It just so happens that the image of the female demon is too inaccurate, so she became the perfect target for criticism.
In fact, most female night demons would not rashly choose the path of killing and destruction unless it was for the purpose of self-defense. After all, that was contrary to their way of survival and was like exhausting the resources.
However, even though the non-human races in the game are pitiful, female night demons are often persecuted. But just like there are real ogres among the silly trolls, there are also female bodhisattvas among the female night demons with a sense of contrast and kindness, but sometimes there are real soul-sucking demons.
It is these real demons that give the conservative older generation an excuse to teach young people to stay away from female demons.
But now Lann can at least be sure that the female night demon in front of him is not from the evil camp, at most she is chaotic neutral.
So he began to seriously weigh the pros and cons of the other party joining Cintra.
Putting aside the emotional and hormonal factors, is there any benefit in allowing the female demon to join Cintra?
It seems so.
The racial characteristics of female night demons do not always bring unrest. Toussaint and Novigrad are good examples: in this era, any prosperous city needs a place like the "Rose Garden", which can drive the city's economy, increase people's happiness index, and at the same time enhance public security and stability to a certain extent - mercenaries who have completed their missions, soldiers who have been paid, and merchants passing by always need a place to squander their money and relax their tense nerves, and taverns are too prone to fights.
Lann had previously specifically instructed Kaiyan from the Cat Faction to look for the female night demon from Novigrad, as well as other non-human races including her.
In addition, the female night demons themselves are also very powerful creatures - after all, they have existed in the world since the intersection of the celestial spheres. Their bodies are comparable to steel, and they also have excellent spellcasting abilities.
It just so happens that the female night demon has power, but also has an upper limit to her ability: although a female night demon who is thousands of years old is knowledgeable, she is still at a level that can be hunted by experienced demon hunters, and is much weaker than the high-level vampires who are also immortal.
Just like just now, this female night demon suffered a defeat at the hands of Alice.
In other words, this is an existence that can boost the city's economy and has considerable power, but it will not be out of control.
Lan was quite happy to subdue this female night demon named "Nanomi".
If it really doesn't work, just treat it as a benefit for Eskar who "likes women with horns". It is also very necessary to win over the Wolf Faction, as it is related to the internal harmony of the Witcher Cult in the future.
However, I still feel uneasy when I suddenly encounter a monster that wants to surrender in the wilderness.
Lann still needs to get to know the other party better.
…
"Come on." The female night demon didn't take Lan's question seriously. "Those old human men always advise young people to stay away from me, but they always sneak over here. There was a village chief in the village near where I lived before. No matter how much I advised him, he wouldn't listen. No matter how much magic I used, he couldn't be driven away. He even threatened that if I refused again, he would unite the nearby villages to attack me."
The female night demon shrugged. "I had no choice. It's not that I was really afraid of him. But since he wanted to play so much, I had to let him see it - but he exhausted himself to death."
"I was very upset for a while because of this, and I built a grave for him. But in the end, many people nearby still used this as an excuse to attack me... It's annoying! I don't want to stay in Skellige anymore!"
"For you, Cintra will not be better than Skellige." Lann still did not put down the rune sword, and pointed the blade directly at the other party. "I can't think of any reason for you to come to Cintra."
Facing Lann's defensive posture, the female demon was fearless. Even though Alice was watching her closely not far away, the female demon forgot the pain even before her scar healed.
She walked towards Lann lightly under the candlelight, tapped the tip of the sword with her fingertips, and said:
"Isn't it obvious? Because Cintra has you~"
"Hmm?" The tip of Lann's sword moved slightly because of the sudden confession.
Emerald flames ignited behind Lann, and Alice's plain black skirt appeared in the darkness. Her face was covered with a black veil, and her expression could not be seen, but it seemed that she was staring at the female demon through Lann with sharp eyes.
She raised the black magic scimitar in her hand, and sheathed it close to Lan's back. The blade rubbed against the steel, making a crisp sound:
“Clang—clang!”
The female night demon's expression changed.
She quickly chuckled: "Because Lei Anlun, you are the blood of the ancients."
"I came here from the time of the intersection of the celestial spheres. It was not an accident, but a planned escape. My world was destroyed by the white frost, and I had no choice but to come to a place I was not familiar with."
The female night demon's voice became heavy, with a slightly sad hoarseness, which made people want to rub their throat with their fingertips.
“Not long ago, this continent once again showed the prelude to a celestial conjunction, and another crisis is about to come.”
"Maybe not so soon, maybe decades, hundreds of years, or even thousands of years later, but it will never be wrong to choose a way out for the future as early as possible."
As she spoke, the female demon began to move subconsciously. She gently placed her palm on the ridge of the rune sword, stroking the runes on it inch by inch, and approached Lann step by step.
"And Lei Anlun, your 'Ancient Blood' is the key to saving the world - and even if it fails to save the world in the end, it is easy to leave this world with this power, so I will follow you, just to protect myself in the future world-destroying crisis. Is this reason appropriate? Young bloodline heir~"
The Ancient Blood is on a mission to save the world, so it makes sense to follow such a person in order to protect yourself.
However, Lan En was no longer distracted by the female Night Devil's actions. His attention was focused on another piece of news:
"You said... the prelude to the celestial sphere conjunction has begun again?!"
…
The history of the continent cannot escape the term "celestial sphere intersection". This is an astronomical phenomenon of catastrophic level, a collision between worlds of different dimensions. In the celestial sphere intersection, different worlds are directly connected and penetrate each other.
The most recent celestial sphere conjunction was about 1,500 years ago. That conjunction not only brought about several mainstream civilized races today, but also brought a large number of monsters. It can be said that it completely changed the structure of the continent.
Among the study materials that Mossak gave to Lane was a textbook called "The Confluence of the Celestial Spheres", which used vivid metaphors to explain this rare astronomical phenomenon:
Please imagine our world as a ship, sailing on the vast ocean. Standing on the deck, we can see other distant ships - that is, other stars. These ships are each carrying cargo and crew, and are usually very far away when they pass by us, and we can hardly see them even with a telescope.
[However, every few thousand years, a storm would occur on this cosmic ocean, so strong that it would blow ships towards each other, sailing close together. At this time, part of the crew of one ship could be moved to another ship, and cargo might be spilled onto the ship next door. When the weather eased, the ships would separate again, go their separate ways, and never see each other again.]
[The so-called "post-rendezvous creatures", that is, monsters such as ghouls and basilisks, are passengers from other ships. We humans are victims of shipwrecks, thrown into a world originally inhabited by ancient races. After we arrived, we learned mysterious ancient magic that we had never seen before.]
[Will different worlds collide again? It is possible. Do we have a way to avoid this disaster or speed it up? Some scholars believe that certain creatures have mastered this skill. They have rare genes in their bodies that can control the direction of our ship and lead us to safe waters or to doomsday. ]
Although the end of the original game also hinted that a new round of celestial conjunction was about to begin, that was still many years later. It shouldn't be now, right?
After being surprised, Lan quickly calmed down.
Some fragments of memories of past experiences began to piece together in his mind.
If the information that "the celestial spheres are about to meet" is true, then some of the things that happened in the past have become traceable: the sudden increase in the number of monsters on the way to the Northern Conference, the sudden awakening of the monsters that were originally hidden in the forest, and even the ice giants in Skellige suddenly began to become restless...
Is all this a prelude to a catastrophe?
But why would the celestial conjunction occur so many years in advance?
兰恩不是迟钝的人，在有了线索之后，一切抽丝剥茧起来就显得很容易了。
每一种异象出现的时间都很巧合地一致，再联想到天球交汇这种不同世界碰撞的奇特天灾现象的话……
……
兰恩捂住了自己的额头，到头来这一切似乎是自己上古之血全觉醒的锅？
联想到自己初次发动【穿梭】之时，各个异世界对自己如饥似渴地伸手过来、甚至要镜子大师出手才能够将它们拉扯走的场景，兰恩心中的判断愈发笃定了。
至于吗，我一个小小的上古之血而已，如今连一人成军都还做不到呢。拯救世界都还没开始，怎么就间接引发天灾前奏了呢……
还是说，这一切都在你的算计之中？哪怕离开了此方世界，你依旧为头等观席上的自己点了最后一幕大戏——镜子大师？
……
兰恩的念头在这里九转千回。
而看到了兰恩的反应之后，女夜魔笑了。
“你还不知道天球交汇吗？那太好了。”
说到这里的时候，女夜魔颇为忌惮地看了爱丽丝一眼，哪怕是千岁老人的她，也是第一次见到画中魂灵这样神奇的存在。
“我把这么关键的信息带给了你，用你们人类的话来说算是……‘投名状’？”
“我可以加入辛特拉了吗？”
“而且我也不是单纯地寻求庇护，我还认识很多同族的伙伴，甚至还认识几个高阶吸血鬼。上古之血肯定是会组建自己的势力的吧？以后如果你有需要的话，我可以帮你联系他们！”
眼见爱丽丝的眼光淋漓，而兰恩还在权衡利弊，女夜魔继续源源不断地往外抛着筹码。
兰恩看了看自己的【随从】面板，以及自己的三点多余的技能点，又看了看面前笑得宛若一朵淤泥小白花的女夜魔，叹了一口气。
……
【随从：娜诺米·薇菈·爱·蒂米廷
性别：雌
种族：女夜魔
等级：1
天赋：谜魅
经验值：0／1000
生命值：1756／2000
法力值：1824／2000
物品栏：棉麻碎花围裙
技能栏：钢筋铁骨、植物学高级、神秘学高级、通识高级、夜魔体系法术中级
任务：无】
【共享随从天赋：谜魅】
【谜魅：给予天赋者除了长相之外的额外魅力，同时增强催眠类术法威力50％】
为了契约女夜魔，兰恩好不容易靠侍从和猎魔人们做任务积攒起来的经验跳水一样降下去一半，显然女夜魔嘴上说着愿意跟随自己，但事实心里还是有着自己的小心思的。简单说就全是生意，没有感情。
不过好在对方不知道系统的威能，在契约的时候也没有什么剧烈的反抗，不然的话兰恩估计自己的经验值要直接耗干。
感到身遭对着自己眼神同时变换女夜魔娜诺米和爱丽丝，兰恩沉默了一会。
“我在史凯利格还有诸多的事务，现在不方便立刻把你带在身边。等之后回辛特拉的时候我再过来找你。”
对于兰恩的解释，女夜魔神色莫名地点头。随后她才惊醒一般反应过来，自己居然完全地信任了眼前的上古之血继承人，毫不担心对方把自己抛在这里不回返。
这是为什么？
兰恩自然不会解答娜诺米心中的疑惑，他随后转过身来朝着爱丽丝继续说道：“德鲁伊学徒找到了，我也准备回橡木之环了，你要现在附身回去吗？”
说着，他拍了拍背后的黑魔法弯刀。
爱丽丝上下打量着兰恩。收下了女夜魔，她觉得自己应该生气的。但是面纱后面的眼神却不知道为什么，开始愈发炽热了起来。
明明自己几乎一天到晚都跟在这名金发骑士的身边，但是怎么刚刚突然觉得对方变得更加……英俊了起来？
“兰恩……我们骑马走吧，让黑风多玩一会。等到了有人烟的地方我再附身回去。”
兰恩对于这种小要求自然不会反对。
……
回返的一路风平浪静，没什么需要多赘述的东西。
一人一马一魂灵很快回到橡木之环，将昏迷的德鲁伊学徒带回了他应该在的地方。
得到消息的费托夫第一时间赶了过来。
“兰恩，太感谢你了，我真的没想到你能够这么快就能找到他！”天纵者用力抱着兰恩，大声地表达着内心的激动，“我甚至没怎么期望他还能活着了！”
明明外表已经是六十多岁的老者，实际年龄可能还要翻上几倍，但是费托夫抱着兰恩的手却格外有力：“要不你在我们这里多留一会吧？我把我的知识和能力都传授给你吧！你想当天纵者吗？控制天候的能力，哪怕是莫斯萨克都比不过我！”
兰恩干笑两声，指了指昏迷中的德鲁伊学徒：“要不我们还是先把他唤醒吧？”
费托夫这才反应过来，如梦初醒。他皱着眉头看向自己的学徒：“他在森林里面遇到了什么危险吗？我看不出有什么外伤，但是他昏迷不醒……是魔法？”
费托夫立刻警惕起来：“他遭到了其他施法者的攻击？是我们正在追踪的那个叛徒吗？”
兰恩摇了摇头，不知道那森林中的迷幻奇遇该是由自己告诉对方，还是等学徒清醒了自己说比较好。
最后他还是委婉地建议道：“他并没有遭到攻击。只是等您唤醒他之后或许得和他好好谈谈，不然我担心他还是会时常回返那片森林之中的。”
费托夫一愣，一时间没有理解兰恩话里的意思。
但是他很快就理解了。
兰恩后退两步，轻轻关上木屋的房门。里面很快就传来了德鲁伊施法的解咒声、学徒苏醒的呢喃声，随后是惊慌失措寻人却又戛然而止的呼唤声、老师威严的询问声、年轻人吞吐的解释声。
再后来屋子里面又有魔法能量波动了一阵，兰恩很熟悉这个咒语，莫斯萨克经常使用——那是让橡木手杖生长成近身长棍武器的咒语。
随后屋内又持续了整整一刻钟的喧闹，才勉强安静下去。期间木屋门前时不时路过因为里面的惨叫寻声而来查看情况的德鲁伊，他们都被兰恩回以“一切都好”的眼神。
又安静了半晌，费托夫推门从屋中走了出来。
与兰恩不久前见到的那个因为学徒走失而忧郁自责的老德鲁伊相比，现在的费托夫可以用“神清气爽”来形容了。
“不管怎么说，还是要感谢你，兰恩。”费托夫沉吟道，“那头蛊惑他的女夜魔，你妥善处置了吗？”
兰恩沉默半晌，哪怕是在风气开放的史凯利格，是崇尚维护自然的德鲁伊，对于女夜魔的刻板印象依然很强。
“我能够保证，她不会再是史凯利格的问题了。”
费托夫长出一口气。
学徒找到，他心中的大石彻底落下。正好跟兰恩交流一下他现在持有的信息。
这些日子以来，费托夫去乌德维克岛找到了曾经失踪的德鲁伊亚提斯的导师，了解了不少情况。
“虽然我很不想这么说——但越是了解亚提斯，我就越确定他或许就是那名加入了维尔卡人的叛徒。”费托夫摇头道。
“他说过一些很不合时宜的话，也做过一些很不合时宜的事情，如果不是因为他的天赋出众，又加上他的导师力保，或许我们早就已经将他赶出了橡木之环。”
兰恩抓住了费托夫话里的关键词：“他的天赋非常出众？”
费托夫点头：“是的，因此哪怕亚提斯不是叛徒，堕落德鲁伊另有其人——那个制服了亚提斯的叛徒也一定实力出奇地强大，兰恩你对付他的时候一定要小心。”
兰恩想了想，希望知道地更详细一点：“那个亚提斯的天赋怎么个出众法？”
费托夫深吸一口气：“首先——他是一名魔源。”
……
苍茫的大海上，一条小运船破开浪花，正在朝着小史凯利格岛的方向前进。
船上不过十五人左右，当先的一名做着骑士的打扮。他身上披的纹章分为左右的红蓝两色，中间则是一头上半身为鹰、下半身为鱼的混合怪兽。
此刻，这名骑士正在大声地鼓舞自己的手下：“我们已经获得了准确的情报：邪恶的猎魔人格德，此刻正在小史凯利格群岛。他投靠了一名叫做托尔吉尔的海盗领主，现在正是我们前去惩戒他的大好时机！”
这名骑士的情绪激动万分，但是手下响应者却寥寥。他们个个精神萎靡，士气低落。
“查斯特克，我们的领袖是查里米尔骑士，他已经死了……而且我早就想说了，以如今北境的形势，便是瑞达尼亚都要和史凯利格交好，我们现在为了女公爵大人的私怨前来袭击，是不是……”
名为查斯特克的骑士大叫一声，一脚把这名唱反调的士兵踢下了船，引得剩下人的一阵惊疑不定。
"Fuck the North and Redania, we in the Principality of Akosi don't care! That demon hunter named Gede, that disgusting mutant, actually dared to refuse the Baroness's recruitment and serve the despicable usurper. Even if he runs to the Golden Tower City in Nilfgaard, I will hunt him down to the end!"
"Charmier died for the Lady and gained his honor." The knight shouted righteously, "And I, Chastek of Blaviken, will defend my honor with my life!"
Chastek made an impassioned declaration, and because of his action of kicking someone off the boat just now, the others dared not ignore him and could only respond reluctantly.
They rowed vigorously towards Little Skellig, while the knight continued his long speech tirelessly, continuing to "boost morale".
Suddenly, a sailor screamed, "Chastek, there is a storm at sea! And... there is a small boat in the storm!"
Chastek's speech came to an abrupt end.
After taking a look at the bow, he turned back confidently:
"Never mind it! Nothing can stop us from reaching Little Skellig!"
"You don't understand! You are a fool who has been pampered in the palace. A storm of this magnitude is enough to overturn a warship! Only the dragon ships of Skellige can remain safe!"
Chastek yelled and kicked the man into the sea again, then drew his sword and pointed it at the small figure swaying in the storm.
"Don't try to deceive me, you cowardly fool! Even a small sailboat can be safe in the sea, how can such a storm overturn our transport ship?"
The sailor who was kicked off the boat by him did not float up again, leaving only a string of bubbles floating on the surface.
However, before a few breaths had passed, another sailor screamed:
"Chastek!"
The knight turned around with a grim look and looked at the sailor who spoke.
The other party swallowed, adjusted his tone, and said: "The storm and the boat seem to be heading towards us..."
As the sailors spoke, the deck beneath their feet began to shake violently.