The Witcher: Darkness Falls

"Brothers, raise your glasses!

Cheers and applause for our journey!

Don't be sad, don't be confused;

Go boldly, our hometown cannot hold our ideals;

The moon tonight is exceptionally bright;

The swaying shadows of the trees are not meant to keep you, but to send you off;

Don't look back, the road is ahead;

Go forward, the future is bright..."

Along with the sound of the falling rain, the dwarves' singing echoed in the woods.

Camilla also howled, shaking its big head, twisting its butt, and the metal on its back made a ping-pong sound.

It had been three days since he left Lok Grim, and this was the first time Leon heard the dwarves sing.

He curiously asked Gan Mier beside him: "What are they singing?"

"Courtship." said Gammiel.

Leon frowned. Although he had never done anything like courtship, he could still roughly understand the content of the lyrics.

What does this have to do with courtship?

Gammill said, "Listen, it's coming."

"What?" Leon didn't understand.

“Oh! dear girl, you are as pretty as a daisy;

The fragrance of your body is the incense that lulls me into dreams;

I am willing to abandon my ideals, bring back the glittering gold, and return to this damned land;

I want to be with you forever, living in Mahakam, on the charcoal mountain;

Dear girl..."

Leon was silent. It was the first time he heard a courtship song with such a long prelude.

Ganmier explained: "Even if the dwarves are out on the road, they still have to return to Mahakam to get married because they long for the blessing of the goddess of harvest and fertility.

Another point is that male dwarves are more adventurous than female dwarves, so female dwarves rarely leave Mahakam, so if they want to get married, they will most likely go back.

But dwarves are not so keen on sex, they are keen on gold, gems and so on.

So you see, dwarven banks are spread all over the continent and almost monopolize the financial market.

But there are almost no dwarves who open brothels or engage in prostitution.

When they court a mate and express their love, they are saying, "I have given up everything just to be with you and live a peaceful life."

But even after getting married, many male dwarves still choose to leave Mahakam and go out to explore the world.

The dwarves believe that if a man marries a chicken, he follows the chicken; if a man marries a dog, he follows the dog. If the husband insists on leaving Mahakam, the wife will follow him.

So, just treat what they sing as fart. "

Leon thought about it and it seemed that he had never seen many female dwarves, and even if there were any, they were always with their husbands.

"Gentlemen, where is the front?" Denzel asked, rubbing his eyes and sticking his head out of the carriage.

Gammill turned around and said, "We saw a boundary marker earlier. We have entered the Grampian territory, but it should be more than 50 miles away. I'm afraid we will have to spend the night in the wild."

Denzel looked tired, but his physical condition was good. After all, he had been traveling all over the country for nearly ten years. If his physical condition was too poor, he would have died on the roadside long ago.

But the continuous rain, muddy roads and shaking carriage made it difficult for him to fall asleep, and he became more and more listless.

He cursed, "Damn it, if it weren't for the rain, we would have already reached Nilfgaard.

By the way, Leon, don't you Nilfgaardians believe in the sun god? What's going on with the rain?"

Leon shook his head and said, “I don’t know, I don’t believe in God, but even God needs to rest, right?

Maybe he is taking a nap now, you should sleep for a while longer."

"My bones will fall apart if I sleep any longer! The wooden floor of this carriage is so hard that it hurts my whole body." Denzel squeezed out and squeezed in with the half-orc Kajira.

"Where's the quilt? Can't it be used as a cushion?" Leon asked.

But after asking, I realized that I shouldn't have asked such a stupid question.

In weather like this, the quilt would probably be full of water and cannot be used as a cushion at all.

"I'll go with you guys. At least the outside door is more ventilated." Denzel said, scratching his head.

"It's getting late. Let's find a place to rest after Otik comes back and continue our journey tomorrow." Ganmier said.

The Otik he was referring to was one of the dwarves in their team.

I don’t know if it was really such a coincidence, but as soon as he finished speaking, a short figure in the distance quickly ran towards this side.

"Look, he's back!" laughed Gammill.

"There is an abandoned castle ahead. Although most of it has collapsed, there are still a few good houses. We can sleep well tonight!" the dwarf cheered.

He ran to the front of the convoy, reached out to pat the water off his cowhide hat, and a happy smile spread across his face.

"It's about three kilometers away from here!" Otik shouted.

Another dwarf rode forward, and Otik grabbed the other's hand and climbed onto the horse's back, riding on the same horse with the other.

"In that case, speed up! I've had enough!" Denzel shouted.

Soon, under the guidance of Otik, the convoy arrived at the abandoned castle.

As he said, most of the castle had collapsed, but there was still a small part that was intact. They just needed to go in and clear the weeds inside, and then they could take shelter here at night.

Everyone quickly dismounted, crossed the garden, and cleared out two empty rooms in the back.

The door connecting the two rooms was already rotten, and Gan Mil kicked it to pieces and threw it out to be used as firewood.

Then they tied the horses at the gate. The garden was deserted and overgrown with weeds, so they didn't even have to cut grass for the horses.

As the flames lit up, everyone gathered around the fire and their bodies finally warmed up. Denzel's complexion looked much better.

"You'll be able to have a good sleep tomorrow night! A real good sleep! Come on, cheers!" Denzel even took out two bottles of brandy to drive away the cold for everyone.

After a few glasses of brandy, everyone felt warm in their stomachs and there was a lot more laughter and joy.

However, no matter how good the wine was, it could not relieve fatigue. After traveling in the rain for a whole day, everyone was already exhausted.

After arranging the vigil order, everyone fell into a deep sleep, except for Leon and Gammill, who leaned against the door, looking at the deserted yard.

Apart from the sound of rain, the only sound was the crackling of firewood burning in the fire.

"Why don't you take a rest first? I'm enough on my own." Ganmier said.

Leon shook his head and said, "I'm fine. I'm used to this kind of situation. But you, a half-elf, shouldn't have the same strong adaptability as an elf, right? Can you handle it?"

As if provoked, Gan Mier raised his eyebrows and said with a laugh: "Don't worry, such an environment is nothing to me."

Leon nodded, and suddenly he asked: "By the way, I have always been curious about one thing, why are you called half-elves instead of half-humans?"

Gan Mier's pupils shrank, and he felt as if he had been punched on the head, with a buzzing in his ears.

Immediately afterwards, a surge of anger rushed into his chest, but he forced it back.

"This is probably a test from the goddess Dana Mida for a bastard like me. This test really hits my soul!" Ganmier's body trembled.

He knew that the witcher had no intention of humiliating him. After spending these days together, he had a general idea of ​​what kind of person Leon was.

He has a quality similar to that of dwarves that makes him both like and hate them. He speaks his mind directly without beating around the bush.

Gammill took a deep breath to make his tone sound less angry and said, “Listen, demon hunter, I can tell you why now, so that you won’t be hunted by other half-elves in the future.

Why are we called half-elves instead of half-humans? That's because calling ourselves half-elves means we have half elf blood in us.

And if we call ourselves half-humans, it means we are born with disabilities, do you understand what I mean?"

"Sorry." Leon nodded, realizing that he might have hurt the other person.

This damn noble elven bloodline, the most important thing is that humans also think that elven bloodline is noble!

Just like when some nobles introduce themselves, they will definitely say if they have elven blood in them, and they will also specifically emphasize it in their biographies, such as writing one-quarter, one-eighth, or even one-sixteenth.

But no one would ever say that they have some dwarf blood in them.

If you have elven blood, others will only think that your ancestor is good enough to attract an elf to marry you.

But if you have dwarven blood, others will only look down on your ancestors for being so hungry that they would eat anything they want.

"It's okay." said Gammill.

After this sentence, neither of them spoke anymore.

Wind, rain, and silence fill the whole world.

I don’t know how long it was before Ganmire was woken up by Leon.

"I didn't sleep, I just..."

Leon covered Gammill’s mouth with his hand and said seriously: “Shh! Something is approaching.”