The Witcher: Elder Blood

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***

The fourth day after returning back home began for Yennifer with watering the herbs she had planted in front of the window of her room. There she planted herbs useful in alchemy, used mainly for healing.

Her mentor had failed to get the girl into the service of the local king, who was disgusted by the elven blood flowing through Jennyfer's veins. And the fact that the elves in her family were only on her mother's side, and her parents were human, did not change the king's opinion.

- It's no big deal. You'll gain experience... In a few years, as the opportunity arises, I will help you to go into the service of the court.... - the girl quoted her mentor's words from their last meeting. - As if that made me feel any better,' she finished watering the plants she had planted.

Jennyfer looked up at the window, her room peeking out behind it, the reflection of a young beautiful girl with black styled hair and violet coloured eyes staring back at her. Being in her own home had not deprived her of the careful attention to appearance that Tissaya de Vrieux had instilled in her.

- Daughter, breakfast is ready! - came her mother's voice from the kitchen, bringing the girl back to reality from her thoughts.

Her parents had a contentious relationship with her, her father more precisely, but her mother was always warm to her. Her mother had always been warm to her, but she didn't want to send her to the academy, regardless of the problematic hump that prevented her from marrying her daughter. Her father didn't hesitate to give her to the academy as soon as he had the chance.

- Would I like it back the way it was? - she looked at her perfect reflection. - Never,' As angry as she had been at her father before, her opinion of her father had fundamentally changed after her training in Arethusa. Only a small resentment remained somewhere deep in her chest, but dissolving with each passing year.

At breakfast she was approached by her father, who was trying to improve his relationship with his daughter after his return. He didn't know how long Jennifer had been back or how soon she would be leaving.

- Do you need something in your room? We've got money saved up, can we furnish it? - When he had sent his daughter to the magical academy, it had never occurred to him what path she would take after graduation.

The common man couldn't think of any way to help a young, but still full-fledged sorceress. More to the point, common people went to wizards for help, not the other way round.

- I need a dressing table,' she said at once. She had a private room in Arethusa, and a large mirror was a standard feature of every wizard's room. - И... I don't know, I'll have to think about it.

- Then go to the town today, choose one, I'll go with the cart and buy it later, - they lived not exactly in Wengerberg, but rather in a village adjacent to the town. In the modern world, their place of residence could be called a holiday cottage.

Wengerberg was a large city filled with citizens. The town was famous for its artisans, armourers and weavers. And among the listed people were not fond of the Nilfgradians - the eternal competitors of the local shopkeepers. The town was filled with various workshops, distilleries with malt houses, two or even three-storey buildings, a market square and a handicrafts quarter. All sorts of farms were located close to the city walls.

- I'll walk until tonight, then,' she informed her parents before leaving the house.

In the academy, and even more so when she had a serious appearance defect in the past that prevented her from travelling normally, she rarely had the opportunity to just walk around any city, exploring the many streets and looking at the passersby, each time delighting in her newfound beauty - something she didn't want to admit.

She decided to go straight to the market square, there was no point in going to the craft quarter as that was where they took work orders and it was much more expensive. The point of her going to the craft quarter would be if she couldn't find an acceptable dressing table in the square. She hadn't thought about the other utensils yet, deciding to make up her mind as she went along.

'So many things for sale, it's mind blowing,' the variety of goods in the large city kept drawing her attention, causing her to move from shop to shop, looking at the many wares. She was mostly attracted to the clothing items, especially the darker shades, black being a priority.

After about an hour of wandering around the city, amidst the clamour of the crowds spread out everywhere, Jennyfer's attention was caught by a beckoning wizard. Next to him, sitting on a cart full of goods, was a young girl playing a simple tune on her lute. She looked no more than sixteen years old. The two men were seated near one of the many stalls, within which, if one looked more closely, a third figure could be seen. This was enough to interest the wandering maiden, and she decided to go over and ask what they were doing.

***

I need a day off, a proper holiday, not without the local liquor. As is usually the case, problems start to occur once you start working on a 'well thought out' plan.

- I need a secretary and an accountant, preferably in one person to save money, - quietly, barely audible, complained to myself, sitting in a rented bench.

Agree with customers, write down all the information about them, make a list of goods by city, find sellers and buyers with the best offer, write everything down again.... Why did I sign up for this? And with no outside influence, and I made a plan to get the money myself. It would be better to kill monsters, with my abilities, there should not have been much trouble, well, except for the most dangerous of them, but I know the measure, and did not use them. Let the witches deal with them.

Why, why, I know the answer myself: you can live on killing monsters, but you can't get rich, no matter how many of them you kill. The only way that comes to my mind is to have connections with several mages who were engaged in alchemy and healing, such can sell all sorts of ingredients from the monsters and all sorts of herbs from places where the monsters live. But only, I have no idea what is valuable from which monster, how to cut this valuable from them, and I do not have such mages. Well, there is one more way to get rich on monsters, or more correctly to say on the monster - dragon. Exactly, to kill a dragon, they themselves have an exorbitant value, so in addition to ingredients and bones, like to live on riches, as a gift (not to be eaten) brought to them by the inhabitants for many centuries.

So I have to spin like a squirrel in a wheel, a thick book filling, and gritting my teeth from most of the dialogues with traders, all kinds of craftsmen and not only, and so in every city.

By the way, we managed to visit four cities, including the original Ard Carraig.

The sums we had were ridiculous for big deals, so we had to take the most mundane goods. In Kaedwen we took all sorts of hides and sacks of grain, then sold them to the locals and tanners when we arrived in the lands of Aedirn. They did not sell anything to merchants, the profit would be meagre.

In the last visited city - Wengerberg - the capital of Aedirn, we entered just last night. We only managed to settle down on the first floor of one of the acceptable looking taverns and rent one shop, as we usually did in every town.

At the moment, while we had some goods left in our cart, we tried to find new customers, after finding them we could sell everything and then buy goods in Aedirn. The kingdom is famous for metallurgical plants and weaving factories, so I decided to target the latter. Quality clothes are easier to sell than metal goods, and even more so expensive gold and silver jewellery, although silver goods can be taken, just a little, if we are lucky enough to attract some nobleman.

- Eren! - Detmold called out to me. - Here, this... - he pointed his finger at the girl standing next to him.

I was too absorbed in my thoughts to even notice their approach.

- Come in, sit down,' he pointed to a vacant seat across from her. While the black-haired beauty sat down on the chair, I had time to examine her in detail: hair twisted in curls; slender figure, hidden under a simple black dress; narrow lips; small breasts.

An attractive woman, nothing more, but her eyes, a strange shade of purple or violet, caught the eye. Around her neck hung a pendant that caught my interest, definitely magical; I could feel the Chaos humming. But it wasn't just the amulet that gave off magical energy, the girl was definitely a sorceress, and she also used Glamaria, also called Feenglianz, a magical ointment that emphasised beauty and made imperfections less noticeable. As I had been told at the academy, this ointment is rubbed under the eyes, enhancing a sorceress' attractiveness in other people's eyes. It contains mandrake root, a common commodity among sorcerers and always in demand.

- My name is Eren, and you are Miss-- - I didn't keep you waiting.

- Jennyfer.

After saying her name, I had a flashback from the snippets of life I had seen when I travelled to this world. A certain Ciri seemed to have met a sorceress named Yennifer, but be damned, so much time had passed, I'd forgotten most of what I'd seen. But it could well be her, warlocks live a long time.

- Miss Yennifer, you are a sorceress, am I to understand? - I'm going to make sure of my assumption.

- How can you tell? - A slight look of surprise flashed across her eyes.

Having received a positive, though hidden, answer, I decide to raise myself in the eyes of a possible client.

- It's insanely easy, I'm certainly a capable spellcaster, I can detect Chaos fluctuations in a heartbeat,' I lied brazenly in her eyes.

Truth be told, spellcasters who have spent years understanding Chaos are easily able to detect its effects without using any prior detection actions. Beginning spellcasters don't have that function, so I'm again an exception, just like using spatial magic, thanks to the Elder Blood gene. Thanks to it, I was able to detect the effects of Chaos up close after only six months at the academy, not as well as I do now, but enough to detect an artefact or a warlock in front of it, unless he hides it with dwimerite, and who would hide in such a way?

Dwimerite is directly harmful to mages. Nausea, cramps, gagging, weakness and painful sensations, which are supplemented by the inability to use magic if you are not a powerful enough sorcerer, such a pleasure if you just want to hide the background of Chaos in your body.

- That's how, if it's no secret, how old are you? You know, it's hard to tell a warlock's age from his appearance.

- I understand what you're asking, and let's switch to you,' he continued to explain after receiving a nod in response. - I was twenty-eight,' he said, confused about the time, given the time I'd travelled to the other world, but I wasn't wrong. - But I'd only applied for training two years ago. I had an unusual situation that resulted in my personal training under Rector Hela Gedymgate. And now, less than a month has passed since I left the walls of Ban Ard Academy.

- What a coincidence, I studied under the Rector of Arethusa, Tissai de Vrie, and just this week I left the academy and returned home,' her tone was more confident, apparently she thought I was an accomplished mage. Hey, there's no one better at spatial magic than me! - And how, ahem, how did such a capable magician learn to easily detect the effects of Chaos?

- I have a talent,' I smiled at the half-truth, while spreading my arms apart - there was nothing I could do about it - something like that I wanted to convey to her. - It was thanks to my talent that I was able to become the rector's personal apprentice,' I said, something that amused her, and her mood lifted slightly.

- You know, we do have a lot in common,' she leaned a little against the bench, rested her hand on it, and then propped her chin up with the same hand. Her eyelids squinted, and from beneath her lashes she looked at me with an interested gaze. - If you were a Quarteron, you'd definitely believe the gods' joke.

- What?' The terminology of the new world hadn't fully accumulated in my head, and words whose meaning was unknown often came out.

- You really don't know? - Having taken my silence for a positive answer, I decided to enlighten myself. - So, half elves are not straight from an elf and a human, but in the ancestry of an elf. Yes, I'm a quarteron on my mother's side,' she answered my unspoken question.

- Hm, and great-grandmother counts?

- How should I know, honestly - I have no idea how it is defined. I learnt it myself at the academy... Wait, so you have elves in your family? - She opened her eyes wide, and when she saw my confident nod, she laughed.

- Ha-ha-ha-ha, you're a funny guy, Eren. I'll tell you this, you don't have to go to the local king for service.

- Why is that, unpleasant man?

- Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but he doesn't like people like us, he can't stand anyone with a little bit of elf in them.

A little? I've got the best elf creation in me, the Elder Blood gene. I didn't mention the gene, though.

- Thanks for the advice, but we're getting sidetracked. Are you interested in investing in our business?

- Oh, the case. - I guess I got so caught up in the conversation, I forgot what I came here for in the first place. - That's right, tell me about it,' she took the pose she'd used before, propping up her chin, and began to listen to the phrases I'd honed over the past few days about the benefits of investing in my business with Detmold.