"The Duke of Lannister." Foltestai raised his chin. "What do you want to teach me today?"

His Majesty the King showed his handsome face, which was handsome enough to be printed on coins and collected by people. "Or, is there anything else you want to tell me personally about the upcoming 'Cintra Conference'?"

Temeria, capital city Vizima, royal palace.

Lann came again and sat face to face with King Foltestai.

The king's posture and tone of voice almost made Lan laugh.

Fortunately, he didn't actually laugh and quickly adjusted his posture.

"If my messenger's words offended His Majesty, I apologize to him here in advance. I will give him a severe punishment when I return." Lann stood up from his chair and bowed slightly. "And I will need Your Majesty's help in the Cintra Conference soon."

"Oh? How can I help Lord Lannister?"

Lann chuckled and said, "Although I have achieved some 'insignificant' results in the fight against Nilfgaard, Cintra has just been restored after all, and its foundation is far inferior to that of Temeria, which has a long history."

"Although the northern countries have reluctantly given me some respect and agreed to attend the meeting, when it comes to discussing matters, we still need a king with sufficient prestige to gain everyone's approval - such as you."

King Foltestai snorted coldly, but his expression softened: "You want me to support you? To support your proposal that I haven't shown you yet in front of so many kings of the North?"

Lan En patted his head and said, "It's my negligence that I didn't organize the topic for you in advance. I'll organize it and send it to you formally later."

Foltestai nodded proudly and waved his hand.

The wine waiter standing behind him skillfully filled the wine glass in front of the king.

"Pour some for him, too."

So Lan also got a glass of the best ginkgo wine.

"Now that the topic has been sorted out, there's no need to go through official channels. Since you have warlocks anyway, just ask them to send it to me through the portal." Foltste shook his head.

"As long as you are happy."

"There's no need to punish the messenger. I'm not that intolerant."

"He wants to thank you for your kindness."

"Then tell me." The king waved his hand, signaling the cupbearer to leave and close the door. Suddenly, only the King of Temeria and the Lord of Lannister were left in the room.

As an aside, these two men, one young and the other middle-aged, are considered the two most handsome men in the North.

"What are you doing here in such a hurry? To see Yada?"

Lann paused slightly: "If she is willing to communicate her feelings, then I have no objection."

Foltestai's expression, which had just relaxed, began to stiffen again.

"I came here today for my own personal business and for the business of Temeria." Lann spoke the truth without any tricks.

"I mentioned to Your Majesty before that there are three monsters pretending to be gods in the Weiren area. I wonder what the situation is like now?"

Hearing this, Foltestai's face turned even darker.

…

Lane soon found out what had happened.

To put it simply: Although Lann had provided the information to Foltestai for almost two months, the three witches in the forest were still alive.

Velen is a very uncomfortable place for the king.

From a macro perspective, it has a favorable geographical location, located in the coastal area, in the commercial center where Thanedd Island and Gos Velen are located, and is also an important stop on the Novigrad trade route.

It has all the makings of a thriving city.

But after the field investigation, everyone would shake their heads and sigh at Willen.

Because nearly one-third of the area is swamp, one-third is forest, and the remaining one-third that is barely habitable is filled with countless water ghosts, ghouls, swamp witches, tomb witches, and even small fog demons.

This terrain restricts the movement of large numbers of regular troops and only allows small guerrilla groups to pass through; but when small troops really encounter these endless monsters, the casualty rate will rise at an alarming rate.

No commander would allow his soldiers to die at the hands of monsters. In their eyes, this is the most meaningless sacrifice.

…

Kayla was called over by Foltestai and gave a brief report to Lane.

"After a period of time, we found that sending regular troops to Velen was not worth the effort. So now the Blue Guards have taken over the mission."

Lan En rubbed his head with a headache: "You don't understand the situation... The remnants of that level can burst out with unimaginable power in the territory they have managed for hundreds of years. They can only be surrounded and suppressed by a large army. Although the Blue Iron Guards are a special force that excels in jungle warfare, they are still not good enough."

"Keira, as a magic consultant, you should understand this situation very well, right?"

Keira Metz turned her back to Foltestai and pouted at Lane.

And Foltestai's expression became even stiffer, and he turned his head and snorted coldly.

Nothing was said, but it seemed like everything was said.

"These messy inhuman monsters should be dealt with by your demon hunters. My soldiers are not trained to deal with them."

Foltestai snorted again: "Geralt is under your command now, right? You can issue them a commission to clear out the monsters in Temeria, and I will give them a suitable price."

Lann shook his head helplessly: "They are all busy now... It's okay, I will go there myself. And I will trouble you to give me a token so that I can take over the command of the Blue Guards."

Foltestai frowned upon hearing this: "I mean to let your demon hunter go. With your status, there is no need for you to do this kind of thing yourself."

"It doesn't matter. I'm happy to do it." Lann smiled, but his eyes turned slightly cold for a moment. "And strictly speaking... there is still some personal grudge between me and those three old witches..."

King Foltestai stared at Lan for a while, then shook his head.

Since Lan insisted, he naturally had no reason to continue persuading him.

He then ordered Keira to act as a guide and take Lann to Velen for the handover, and to assist Lann in his subsequent actions.

Lan En has no objection.

Vizima and Velen are separated by half a kingdom, and even with Keira's ability, she still needs the help of the top teleportation array to complete the crossing.

Lann followed her through the palace of Vizima, pondering the intelligence about the Velen region, wondering what troubles the Blue Guards might encounter there, and what solutions he could come up with.

Suddenly, Kayla in front of him stopped suddenly. Lann almost bumped into her without paying attention, and his nose was instantly filled with the smell of cinnamon and cardamom.

"What's going on?" Lan frowned.

Kayla didn't answer him, but just shrugged and pointed forward.

At the end of the marble-carved corridor, a woman with fiery red hair stood there.

Her belly was bulging and she looked inconvenient to move. But even so, her fiery temperament seemed to be burning.

"Ha! Lann Lannister Rhaenyon!" Princess Adda waved her hand and slapped away the maid who was trying to come over to support her cautiously.

"I caught you!"

…

A fiery red portal opened in mid-air, and Keira Metz walked out with her neck craned.

The movement of the portal immediately alarmed the nearby guards, and Roche, the commander of the Blue Guards, hurried over quickly.

"Metz?" His tone was not friendly. "What are you doing here? Does His Majesty have any new instructions?"

The relationship between the sorceress and the special forces commander didn't seem to be very good, and Keira was too lazy to make any expressions to him.

The next second, bright emerald light flashed around Kayla.

Roche first squinted his eyelids slightly due to the stimulation of the light, and then widened his eyes:

"Lord Lannister? Why are you here?"

His expression became visibly eager.

Lann did not answer immediately. His mind was blocked for two seconds, as if he was thinking about something.

Then he adjusted his expression, and showed Roche the token of Foltestai with a smile: "This operation in the Weiren area was proposed by King Foltestai and I. Now I heard that there are some difficulties, so I came to take a look."

"How can I trouble you with such a thing..."

"Now that I'm here, let's not talk about this anymore." Lann waved his hand, "Don't worry that your king will be disgusted by your efficiency. I just can't wait any longer."

"Report to me on the status of the mission first."

…

After the army was blocked in Velen, Roche was ordered to come here as soon as possible.

After the setback of the advance team, Roche realized that if they wanted to complete the king's instructions, they must have a local guide to deal with Velen's unique geography.

Then, they immediately experienced the tough customs of the people here.

Velen is the poorest province in all of Temeria. Except for Gos Velen and Thaned Island, there is not even a decent town anywhere else here, and there are only dilapidated villages everywhere.

Since taxes could hardly be collected, the Weiren area had been lacking management for a long time, which led to the villagers in some remote areas of Weiren having little trust in the official troops.

"In their hearts, the so-called Lady of the Forest has even surpassed His Majesty the King." Roche frowned fiercely. "In some remote villages, altars and symbols of the evil god can be seen almost everywhere. Even if they don't have enough to eat, they will not be short of offerings to the evil god."

"And in some villages where there is neither enough food nor enough tribute - Lord Lannister, can you believe it - some people even cut off their ears and sacrificed them to the evil gods!"

These words made Keira frown.

Lann nodded: "I can believe it."

"Yes, you must have heard about it a long time ago, so you told His Majesty the news." Roche took a deep breath, "Thank you for letting us know that there is such a cult here."

"When I first saw it, I was shocked. Even the goddess Meritelli and the Cliff sect don't have such fanatical believers."

As he spoke, Roche led Ran and Kaila to his tent.

A huge map was spread out on a conference table, and he circled several important locations on it: "These are the villages we found where the evil god is worshipped most severely."

Keira showed a ridiculous expression: "Since you have already determined the location, why haven't you interrogated the witch in the forest?"

Special forces and demon hunters operate in different ways. When demon hunters are hunting demons, they have to spend time communicating with others to find clues, trying every possible way to get information from the client and related parties, and even use the [Axis Seal] to hypnotize when necessary.

But the soldiers like Roche who came from the capital were different. They used law enforcement power. If a villager knew about the incident but did not report it, they could even arrest the villager directly.

No evidence is even needed.

Don't underestimate the ferocity of the Blue Guards. Their former enemies were the Squirrel Party, who had a blood feud with humans. They are facing a conflict on a racial level.

However, after hearing what Kayla said, Roche's face showed an expression of suppressed anger.

"Things weren't supposed to go this far."

"But the lord here, Baron Vetherad, stopped us!"

"He said that the villagers here are all his subjects and his private property, so he sternly told us not to mistreat them!"

…

Lan had an impression of Baron Vetherad.

Because he fits most people's stereotype of the parasite aristocracy.

In peacetime, Baron Vetherad owned most of the Velen region, governed it in a mess, and never thought of changing the status quo.

Originally in history, after the invasion of Nilfgaard, Visserad immediately left the territory he was supposed to protect with jewelry, gold and silver, and rowed a small boat with his family to a high tower on a small island. He was completely indifferent to the suffering of the people of Velen and continued to indulge in fun.

He even sponsored a warlock who studied plague and disease, used the local people of Velen for plague experiments, and ordered the warlock to poison the farmers who came to beg for food, resulting in the deaths of a large number of civilians.

When the truth was finally revealed, he was killed by his own angry subjects, and the noble body of the baron became food for rats.

Now Roche encountered difficulties from Baron Veserad in the Velen area. Although it was unexpected, it was also reasonable.

For such a hereditary baron, even Foltestai himself has no right to punish him directly unless it is a serious crime such as treason or insult to the royal family.

Even if he had committed a crime, he would need solid evidence to silence the many other hereditary nobles in the kingdom. Otherwise, the commotion he would cause would be too much for even Foltestai himself to bear.

So let alone an officer like Roche who didn't even have a title. He was a close minister, but far from being a noble, and he had no way to deal with Visserad's baronial title.

…

"Ha, he usually doesn't care about his subjects, can't collect taxes, and lets them worship the evil god." Keira smiled sarcastically, "But now you are following His Majesty's orders to help Willen deal with the evil god, and he comes to stop you?"

Roche's expression became even more aggrieved after hearing what Kayla said.

Lann hugged his arms and tapped his upper arms with his fingers.

He roughly understood the situation.

This is indeed a difficult thing to do - for Roche.

What if it was the Lord Lannister?

Before they could continue the discussion, a greasy, noisy voice came from outside:

"Vernon Roche, take your people and get out of my territory!"

"I heard you brought a sorceress with you? Those freaks who play with magic should be hanged together with the filthy monsters!"

Immediately afterwards, there were sounds of conflict outside, seemingly between the Blue Guards and the local guards.