In the dark underground cave, the blurry vision keeps shaking.

In the darkness, the only thing that provided a faint light was a large pot that was boiling. The firewood burned fiercely, and the heat was transferred to the pot through contact, heating the soup and meat inside and boiling them.

As the bubbles burst, a strange smell emanated and was trapped in the underground cave for a long time.

The three sisters in the forest gathered around the big pot, taking deep breaths. They stared greedily at the food rising and falling on the ground, swallowing their saliva.

For the people of Velen, the Lady of the Woods is a trinity of goddesses like the goddess Meliteli. They have the power to bring good harvests and many children to the people of Velen and help them through difficult times.

Although the Lady of the Woods’ gifts always come with a price, or “sacrifice.”

But worshiping a "god" that requires sacrifice is far more reassuring than worshiping a lord, isn't it?

However, no one in Velen knew that the three witches before them were the true appearance of the Lady of the Woods.

The Lady of the Forest is just an honorific name they gave themselves; their real names are: Weaver Lady, Cook Lady, Whispering Lady.

They existed long before humans arrived on the continent. When they discovered humans, they were delighted that these new creatures could help them, so they quickly began to spread their "beliefs."

These creatures, which are older than humans, naturally do not conform to human aesthetics. The painting in the "church" is just a cover used by the three sisters to deceive the people of Velen to respect them. Their true appearance is just like what is in front of us -

distortion.

…

Whispering Lady is the oldest of the three sisters. She has a short and thick neck, a round head, a stick-like body, and thick and long arms like an orangutan.

She always carries a shoulder bag with an arm on it, which makes her look like she has grown a hand on her abdomen - no one knows who or what creature that hand came from.

At this moment, she carefully picked out an ear from the chopping board, put it close to her head and listened for a while with her eyes closed. After a while, she put it into her mouth and chewed it.

"I didn't hear anything... The young baron is still on guard against us, and there aren't many sacrifices hanging in his crow's nest." The Whispering Woman shook her head. "If you ask me, all humans in Velen should sacrifice an ear to me, then I'll know everything - how can we wait for the young baron to tell us that the Ancient Blood has come to Velen?"

…

Standing in front of the chopping block was the cook. She was tall and fat, like a standing wild boar. Her exposed skin was a strange pink, and the surface was covered with wrinkles, piles, and sores, like mud.

As her name suggests, Zhu Po is very good at cooking ingredients and can even inject magic into them. At this moment, she is chopping vigorously with a huge bone chopping knife.

"Don't eat raw food directly, sister." The cook stressed dissatisfiedly, "It's not healthy!"

Throwing Visserad's head aside, the cook threw the newly processed meat into the pot, and what was boiling inside was actually bright red blood.

What a great way to make the original soup and food!

…

The weaver was the youngest of the three sisters. She stood beside the big pot, watching the boiling meat inside and swallowing her saliva.

She is also the most human-looking of the three sisters. Physically, she looks like a "normal" skinny old woman.

——If you ignore her eyes that are like a beehive with flies constantly flying out.

"The soup that flew out of your face is one that the little one will love." The cook laughed at the weaver, "This will definitely be a delicious soup!"

Ni Nanpo sucked the remaining blood on her hand and nodded repeatedly.

"Lord Velen, Baron's Blood. The soup made with this ingredient can help us better communicate with the forest and the land and deal with the ancient blood."

"I worked so hard to raise him to this size. I was planning to save him for a witches' night party to share with Imlerith." The weaver cursed, "but now he's eaten in advance... What a waste."

The cook said nonchalantly: "Soon we will have better ingredients... Ancient blood! Hey!"

The words of the cooking woman made the originally regretful woman nod her head repeatedly. She stared at the cauldron that was boiling and muttered to herself: "The blood of the ancients cannot be shared with the wild hunts in Ilerith. It is too delicious..."

The sisters had already started to have sweet dreams, but the weaver, who had been swallowing her saliva, had taken her eyes off the pot.

"Even if you drink the soup made by the young baron, it will still be difficult to deal with the ancient blood, right?"

The whispering woman nodded thoughtfully: "...That's right."

The cook was dissatisfied when she heard the sisters doubt the power of her cooking, but after a while of fussing, she could only helplessly affirm it.

She pointed at the Whispering Po with her hand, which only had three thick fingers. "From what I've heard, this ancient blood is surprisingly powerful. The power brought by a pot of 'Little Baron Soup' is indeed not enough."

The weaver scratched the honeycomb on her face and said firmly: "Then cook a few more pots of soup and catch all the little guys of Velen! This is the blood of the ancients! People outside say that it only took him a few years to become so powerful that he could fight an army alone!"

"If we let him grow any longer, who knows how strong he will be in the future?" The weaver patted her belly. "We have raised Wei Lun for so long, now it is time to harvest."

Although the Weaver Lady is the youngest, the Cook Lady and the Whispering Lady recognize their sister's wisdom.

"It's rare for an Ancient Blood to come here alone. This is a rare opportunity!"

“Hahaha – what’s in your stomach is the best!”

The three sisters cooked delicious food in the cave, imagining even more delicious dishes and laughing eerily and happily together.

However, just when they were feeling proud, a small black shadow suddenly flashed through the darkness of the cave and ran towards the deep cave.

"No!" Just before the black shadow completely disappeared, the sharp-eyed and sharp-eared Whispering Woman suddenly realized something was wrong.

She pointed to the depths of the cave and shouted angrily, "The dwarf is here to cause trouble again!"

"How did he even find his way here?"

The black shadow who was about to leave suddenly stopped, and his originally cautious movements became no longer concealed, and his speed increased by more than one second.

The weaver woman reacted immediately, and disintegrated on the spot with a wave of her arms. Countless crows emerged from the underground cave, and the shadow wind blew underground with a noise that filled every inch of space.

"Johnny, I can't let you talk any more this time!"

…

"Lord Lannister, please allow me to ask you a question." The head steward rubbed his palms together carefully, "Have you seen our Lord Baron?"

Keira took a step ahead of Lan and sneered back, "We should be the ones asking you this kind of question!"

The headmaster was suddenly speechless. With a blushing face, he looked at the sorceress in front of him and the man who had never glanced at him, and walked away dejectedly.

What is Lan doing?

He was looking at the troops gathering in front of him.

In the open space outside the Crow's Nest, the Velen local guards who had assembled here at the order of the Baron finally arrived.

Their quality was naturally no match for the Blue Guards behind Lann, but as locals of Velen, they were able to take advantage of the forests and swamps that outsiders did not have.

These advantages are exactly what Lane needs.

However, having said that, even though Lann and others were mentally prepared, the army before them was too "mixed".

Lann frowned and looked at him for a while, then his eyes suddenly lit up: "You - yes, it's you. Soldiers, step out!"

A bearded soldier shuddered all over, then straightened his chest and stepped out in response.

"Philip Strenger, Lieutenant of the Velen Guard, hail the Lord Lannister!"

The voice is loud and energetic.

…

Lann looked at the person in front of him for a moment, and he felt that he looked more and more familiar, and he was sure that he had found the right person.

In the original history, Baron Vetherad fled after the invasion of Nilfgaard, and the ownerless Velen therefore had another ruler - the Philip Strenger in front of him.

He had considerable prestige among the local soldiers in Velen, so he seized the opportunity to quickly occupy Crow's Nest, and then further became the local tyrant of the entire Velen.

Because of his violent behavior and brutal character, Philip was later known as the "Bloody Baron".

But the man with this wild title is actually a capable person. After occupying Velen, the Bloody Baron quickly took over the responsibility of Velen. After several attempts with Nilfgaard, he quickly started negotiations and eliminated the war that threatened the lives of civilians.

When a brief peace came, the frightened locals soon realized that the Velen people, who had experienced war, were actually living an even more comfortable life than during the time of Baron Vetherard!

They discovered that although the Bloody Baron began to enjoy life soon after taking power, he had one very important trait: he didn't act like a demon.

Enjoy life and don't do anything else unnecessary - the Bloody Baron's style has already made him surpass 99% of the nobles on the continent.

Of course, compared to the real bloody baron in Lan's impression, the officer in front of him was much younger, at least his beard was not yet white.

Even if something happened to Baron Visserad, Velen, who is still under the rule of Temeria, would not allow a low-ranking officer from a peasant background to become a local tyrant.

This Philip can never become a "bloody baron", at most he can become a "bloody lieutenant".

Unless he has other encounters - like now.

…

After calling out Philip, Lane frowned and glanced at the Crow's Nest guards.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find any soldier with a slightly better spirit.

"Well, Lieutenant Philip, it's only you who can take on the responsibility from now on."

Philip straightened his chest immediately after hearing this.

As the Temeria closest to Cintra, he had heard many legends about the lion, and had long been envious of the collectible Gwent cards that Baron Visserard was rumored to have collected.

"At your command, Lord Lannister!"

Lan nodded: "You should know why Commander Roche came here - to eradicate the monsters that are doing evil in the depths of Velen and disguised as wild gods."

"Originally, I was thinking of asking you to collect intelligence about the other party, but now it is not necessary."

"We will start a war with the enemy soon. Your mission is to evacuate the nearby residents as much as possible, and keep them away from all swamps and forests to prevent them from being affected."

Philip was stunned when he heard this, and his face was embarrassed: "But Lord Lannister, Velen is full of swamps and forests."

"That's why I came to you to find a solution."

Lan pointed at the blue iron guards behind him, implying that he didn't need to use these local idiots at all.

"You—no, can you accept this order, Lieutenant Philips?"

Philip took a deep breath and said, "Yes! Lord Lannister!"

After hesitating for a moment, Philip asked again hesitantly:

"Lord Lannister, may I know how many troops you will mobilize to destroy that...Lady of the Woods?"

"The problem is not with us, but with them." Lann shook his head. "As a native of Weiren, don't you know that the Lady of the Forest can draw strength from the swamps and forests?"

Philip blushed: "I don't pay much attention to these weird things... Even if I heard them, I don't think they are credible."

"Now you have a chance to re-understand it." Lann shook his head. "As for our military strength, I can only say-"

Lan pointed to the sky and said, "She is one of the parties involved in the war."

Philip looked up in the direction of Lan's finger in confusion.

In their sight, a mobile biological bunker in the air broke through the clouds and fell towards them like a meteor.

“Ouch—hoo!”

Perhaps because she was used to being domineering in Mahakam, Kertulis was very concerned about her dignity in front of others. Every time she appeared, she would slowly roar, and would not stop until she saw the little people on the ground showed her a frightened expression.

Saskia once tried to persuade her, but the red dragon instead taught her earnestly: "Humans should be afraid of dragons, otherwise there would be more dragon slayers."

Velen's local guards scattered and looked for hiding places. Only Philip, although his hands and feet were shaking, still stood beside Lan.

However, the Blue Guards lived up to the reputation of being a special forces unit. Although they were all holding their weapons nervously, they all maintained their formation.

“Hula——”

The broad wings pushed away the strong wind and cleared away the mud and rocks on the ground.

"Kertulis, any results?"

The dragon was quite dissatisfied with Lann for treating him as an aerial scout, but he still obediently threw out a small black shadow.

"I didn't find the three witches you wanted...but I found him!"

The small black shadow fell to the ground, rolled a few times, and stood up covered in dust.

He grimaced in pain and jumped up and down, but said nothing.

"A child?" Roche asked doubtfully behind Lann, "Lord Lannister, your dragon brought back a child? A mute... child?"

Roche's voice became smaller and smaller, and he suddenly felt that the child in front of him looked a little too strange.

Keira chuckled, mocking the blue commander's narrow knowledge: "This is not a child, Mr. Roche."

"He might be older than your grandfather—he's a little earth spirit!"