The Witcher: My Own Path

The conversation with Albert proved to be very fruitful, I presented to him my plans that are currently in progress and those that I would like to start implementing in the near future. Taking his advice to heart, I decided to give up furniture making and trading, not forever of course, as it would be a huge loss not to pursue the idea further.

I ordered Gaworn to inform Nightingale of the situation and to stop concentrating most of our intelligence network on the marshes, however, I instructed her to still survey the area, but this time without haste. The dwarf was to inform my spy master to focus on Danko and the inn ' Bear Shag' which I wanted to take over from him. My construction chief was to continue to look around for lumberjacks and craftsmen, but not to make contact with them, only to keep an eye on them in case they were needed.

The new plan was to focus more on growing food, and when I showed him the plans for the heavy ploughs and crop rotation he showed a great deal of excitement despite his extensive life experience and trained control of his emotions, but he realised immediately the danger this knowledge could bring upon us.

In the future, I intend to share this knowledge with Foltest in order to make Temerie independent of Redani, but I must first benefit as much as possible and ensure my high status and the safety of my people.

I gave Albert six hundred of my last nine hundred oren I had to lease the land and employ a few people and then start cultivation and with the rest of the money myself I was going to create ploughs to facilitate the work. His beggar's life allowed him to meet some unlucky people who, if they had the chance to return to a normal life, would do a lot, even with keeping a few things a secret.

After so many years of working and saving, I was again completely flush with cash and in order for everything I had built up to that point to run smoothly, I needed at least a couple of dozen, if not a couple of tens of thousands more.

The brothel and spy network with Nightingale and nine of her girls still needs funds for improvements and to recruit more spies. I also need men who can work for me in this Sphere, not as prostitutes of course, but as spies. It is difficult for women to access many places these days. It is fortunate that the brothel is already earning its keep.

Gaworn and his ten-strong construction team do have funds for the first five months of work, but I will need a few thousand more, probably six or seven more to make my inn what I want it to be.

For the time being, I haven't given Mirim any money for the development of the assassin group, I don't even know where their base of operations will be, and yet they will need a place to live, rest and train. To organise all this I will need at least five to ten thousand oren to start with.

Haren Brog is a candidate to be the commander of my defence forces, if his rather obvious defect can be cured, besides which he still has to undergo training, but this does not change the fact that I also need quite substantial funds for this ' Sphere ', not to mention their own base.

Each squad needs its own unique uniforms, armour and weapons, bases and hideouts, supplies and training equipment, recruits and trainers. Everyone needs to have at least basic training, and therefore training materials, and all this costs money. If someone tells me that forming, any organisation in medieval times where people don't have a clue about the world, is easy...then fuck them all, it's better to become a witcher and give a shit about everything.

Not to mention what I started planning with Albert today.

Ahhhh

All in all, I need somewhere around thirty, forty thousand oren to raise! Hell, if I had that much money, I could move out to Nilfgaard and live in peace.

I need tens of thousands to complete what I have started, but if I collect it then the things I complete with that money can earn the ' Realms ' I wish to build in the future. The beginnings are always the worst, but slowly things will start to take shape.

I currently have about two thousand in melted gold and silver and ideas for books that I will start writing within days. However, I fear that the funds gained in this way will accumulate too slowly. I think I'll be forced to do what I've tried not to do, which is to steal and my dimensional pocket, which absorbs without a trace, almost everything I touch, and my power skill ' Cloak of Power ' are pushing me even more in this direction, to earn quick cash.

Hmmm... but I guess there is hope, or rather another possible partial solution to this problem, I just spotted five people dressed in guard uniforms, however they were more elegant, expensive and the only people who wear one are the Palace Guard.

It wasn't long before they reached us.

- Are you Tyr son of Dewin the blacksmith?

- Yes my lord, I am.

- By the order of his majesty, my gracious King Foltest, you are to come with us immediately to the royal castle, where his majesty King Foltest will grant you an audience.

I saw that everyone who happened to be nearby was watching and attentive to the whole situation. I saw my father staring at me with a broad smile and a puffed-up chest, proud to be given the honour of being in the same chamber as the King himself. I also saw Albert and Gaworn, who only moments ago were engaged in animated conversation and now watching the situation like hawks. They knew that my meeting with the king could be a milestone in our journey, they just didn't know whether on the road to my exaltation or perhaps to my downfall. I looked at my own outfit, it was the same outfit I had on yesterday, clean however. After a momentary inspection I nodded in satisfaction at my own good looks, I looked at the messenger who also had no objections to my outfit. Without waiting any longer, together we set off towards Wyzima and the royal castle.

I wasn't quite sure what awaited me there, my meeting with the king falling out earlier than I had planned, about a couple of years too soon. I'm still a child by law, so if the king wants to reward me in any way, I can only expect a few orens, and what he really needs is a title at least as low as possible, i.e. a knighthood without land, which he cannot give me due to my too young age. Damn, however, the situation isn't so bad, if I make an effort maybe I can get something good out of it. All in all, the money won't be bad either, but I have a growing feeling that this isn't about the reward, or at least not for Foltest, because if it was, some mere official would be enough to give it to me. A meeting with the king himself seems a bit much.

From what I remember of the entire Witcher oeuvre, Foltest was a buffoon, but not just any buffoon, he was cunning and if the circumstances demanded it brutal. He kept Temerie at bay from the moment he ascended to the throne. No wonder it fell apart literally a week after his assassination. He also had one quality, he could take care of his own, like Vernon Rocha or Talar. I can do a lot with my powers and knowledge from the old world, but if I don't have the King's favour everything could fall apart like a house of cards.

I can't be greedy, I don't need it, I'm still young but I've already achieved a bit, so I don't need to speed things up by force, for the moment apart from cash, which I can get anyway, I don't need anything on a sudden so. I could play the card of a Temerie-loving patriot and gain the King's approval, or if I fail, at least make him remember me.

I pondered various scenarios all the way and before I knew it, we were there. I made no secret of it, I was nervous. Hopefully, my luck was still with me.