The Witcher: Elder Blood

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***

The peaceful setting of the academy's colourful garden, the sound of water pouring from the fountain, a picture I had to be a part of while waiting for Detmold.

His young warlock course was over, which meant it was time for him to leave the walls of the academy and the city of Ban Ard itself.

I was waiting for a reason, we had some plans for future activities, so I had to wait for the end of his training. An interesting idea came to my mind, which had all the plans for realisation.

The main goal was to create a caravan, but with a nuance, instead of uniting traders in one group, which would be guarded by mercenaries, I wanted to create a caravan with the ability to invest in it.

Such a feature would allow people who had some money to invest in our caravan to get a percentage of the total sales in return.

The only problem was the trade itself, as we would have to do it ourselves.

Detmold immediately decided to pay off his tuition debt, having managed to earn enough in the intervening time for him to have enough to pay. He'll have almost nothing left because of the repayments, so I'll have to invest at first. In any case, there were ideas to cut costs, I just needed to get to a major city.

My musings were interrupted by footsteps approaching from the side. Until then I had been sitting on a comfortable bench. When Detmold approached with his rucksack, I got up from my seat and went to meet him.

- Finally, I'm tired of waiting for you to pack.

- You don't have to talk down to me,' the alumnus objected. - The rector wasn't at the academy, so I had to look for the dean. I waited and waited for him,' he continued emotionally as we walked towards the academy exit. - Only after that I was able to pay my debt. Then I went to pack my things in my room...

- What's the problem with packing while the practical training was going on?

- It was almost over, I'd have to look again,' Detmold tried to explain.

I couldn't say that I would have been satisfied with his answer, but I didn't want to continue this dialogue. There were more important topics to discuss, and we spent the time on the road to the city talking about them.

We needed to stock up on provisions, enough to get to Ard Carraig. Besides food, we needed horses, I had to buy them, but as it was an investment in a future caravan, there was no point. In the beginning we will need only a couple of horses, which we will not load too much, and the carts themselves, in our case one big cart for two horses, and later we will increase the size of the caravan.

I had no plans to engage in such activities for a long time, only to save up for something more static in place, like some gambling house. I can't be called a moral person, and no one would call Detmold such, so it's not a problem for us to create such an establishment by combining a gambling house with a brothel, for example. The only thing is that unlike gambling houses, which were not developed in the local towns and remained at the level of tables for gambling in taverns, brothels were much more developed. Consequently, it was much more difficult to get into such a sphere, given the fact that one would have to fight the competition.... Literally. But these are matters of the future, and it is not certain whether we will realise them to the full extent or, on the contrary, go in a completely different direction.

- Are we going to take the cart to Ard Carraig? - Detmold asks me.

We left Ban Ard at once, as soon as we had bought horses and provisions for a couple of days. I was still not used to riding horses, my companion had a similar problem. Being in the vicinity of Ban Arda, it's not really possible to raise such skills to satisfactory levels. And I don't like riding a horse, I'd be better off with a cart.

- Yes. We'll decide whether to order a new one or use someone else's.

- A ready-made one is better,' said Detmold with a clever look.

- And if this ready-made one will look like a wreck and there will be no better one for sale, shall we take it too? No one will invest in us then, - we trotted along the highway, rarely meeting other travellers, among whom were mostly traders and soldiers of all kinds of barons and counts, whose lands we passed on the way.

- So what do they care, they will give us money, and we will do everything.

- If we have good horses, - he patted on the back of his neck. - With a good wagon to go with them, the chance of them giving us money will increase.

- All right, let's say, what about the guards? Do you think our plan will work? - Unlike transporting goods, there's not enough money for guards. The money invested, the amount of which we don't know yet, will be used for the goods themselves.

- I don't know if it'll succeed or not, the main thing is to collect at least some money, and then we'll increase the sales. In any case, two mages are enough to guard us. We are not going to transport five or more wagons, any gangs of bandits will not be interested, - our plan consisted of 'easy' deception of future investors with the help of magic.

- They might be interested... - Detmold suggests uncertainly.

- Then let's see what kind of magicians we are.

The first day's journey was uneventful. We stopped for the night in a small village we met on the way. A handful of marks solved the issue of paying for a room at one of the locals, and also gave us a chance to eat a cooked meal.

For the morning we immediately headed onwards, wanting to get to town as quickly as possible. About ten kilometres from Ard Carraig, we witnessed an unpleasant sight: Ghouls attacking humans.

Ghouls can be described as scavengers that resemble mutated humans. Gathering in packs, they practise grave-robbing, devouring the decaying remains of those who have died in skirmishes here and there, and they are not averse to eating fresh meat: Ghouls, for example, do not mind eating travellers passing through a place where they congregate. They seldom raid the living, only when they are too hungry or have a large pack.

In this case, it couldn't be called a large pack, only three individuals, but that was enough to attack a travelling troupe.

As I understood it, the group of actors and bards were on their way to Ard Carraig, and it just so happened that at the same time, three Ghouls appeared on their way, starved for dead bodies - there hadn't been any major skirmishes in these lands lately.

- R-r-a-a-a-r,' one of the Ghouls sank its sharp fangs into the young actor's neck, holding him in its paws, the ends of which had long claws that tormented the resisting victim.

There were no more than six in the travelling troupe, of whom, as we approached, only two remained.

One of the survivors, a young girl, still a teenager, was panicking as she tried to run away from one of the attacking Ghouls. We caught her eye, which planted hope in her eyes. Justifiable hope, I might say, for I spurred my horse forward to help her. Unfortunately, the other one could not be saved; halfway to them, he was overtaken by the remaining Ghoul, knocking the mature man to the ground. The girl was luckier, she was able to close the distance between us, so I was able to throw the Ghoul away from her with the reinforced Aard Seal.

The Ghoul's carcass flew back a dozen metres and then became the target of Air Blades, one of the spells I'd learned in Ban Arda. It's used for mid-range, and works well against unprotected creatures. The spell is used to create a narrow and dense jet of air, shaped like a crescent moon. In the event that the warlock is able to amplify the Air Blades by an order of magnitude from the one I used, his spell will be able to cut through wood.

After dealing with the first Ghoul, I had time to examine the rescued girl. She was short for her age, her hair braided in braids with flowers attached. A plain white T-shirt tucked into loose red trousers with black lines.

- Detmold, take one for yourself! - The Ghouls were in no hurry to run away from us, instead choosing to attack. I guess their hunger was too strong, and our arrival didn't allow them to be satiated in the slightest.

On their own, Ghouls are not overly dangerous creatures. On a scale of one to five, with the wolf being one, a Ghoul would not exceed a two. Any armed man, preferably in some sort of armour, can easily handle a Ghoul one-on-one if he knows how to use a weapon.

I didn't use a sword this time, the remaining two Ghouls were dealt with using magic, one spell each. These monsters were on the level of the drow, they just liked sudden attacks near the water due to their body structure, and these were fast due to their four limbs.

- Are you okay? - I asked the frightened girl, her eyes moistened by her slain friends. Obviously, I was not asking about her state of mind, but about possible wounds that I might not have noticed.

- I was not wounded,' she whispered sadly.

- What is your name?

- Galantea of Gelibol. I'm Alka's apprentice,' she looked at the body lying on the side, next to which lay a bloody reebok, a three-stringed violin with a round, pear-shaped body.

- We should bury the bodies, we can't leave them like this, - Detmold came to us, who had managed to tie up his horse.

- Yes, you're right, let's move them together. We'll dig the grave with magic, it's not difficult, - I agree with him.

At the same time, Galantea, with tears streaming down her face, picked up her mentor's musical instrument, wiping it clean of blood. Along with it, she found a bow that looked like a curved wooden cane, connected at the ends by a bundle of horsehair.

The two of us made quick work of burying several people. Putting the bodies in a mass grave.

- Well, at least the horses are safe,' Detmold said uncertainly when we reached the wrecked cart. The horses, frightened by the Ghoul attack, started to run away at once, dragging the wagon with them. - Nah, only one is intact. - The second horse broke its neck when it was thrown to the ground by the fallen cart.

- Galantea! - I summon the novice bard. - Gather your valuables, one horse is still alive, we'll help you get your things to town.

- I have nowhere to take them.

- Never mind, you'll need it, gather up your most precious possessions, you can sell them in town.

- Then. - she looked round the wrecked cart. - Take whatever you want, I couldn't have survived without you.

- Oh, then let's divide it up,' Detmold said, earning a reproachful look from me, which made him shy away.

- Let's pack everything up, it'll be evening soon, we still have to get to town.

The girl was holding up well after the death of her comrades, so we could not linger on the road, trying to calm her down. I wasn't much of a psychologist, not even Detmold.