The Witcher: Darkness Falls

"No, I think three thousand florins is enough." Lyon shook his head repeatedly.

Leon felt uncomfortable just by listening to the Count's description, and he even wanted to kiss her?

"I'm just a witcher, a damned bastard. Kissing the earl's daughter is an insult to her."

"No, no, no, you are not a bastard. Listen, witcher, you are a hero, do you understand?" The count said quickly, "I allow it. Look at your handsome appearance, it's simply a masterpiece!"

Leon still shook his head and asked, "Doesn't Sislia have a fiancé or something? I remember that nobles love to do this the most, right?"

"No." The Count shook his head and denied it, "I never do that.

Listen, witcher, although I really don't want to say it, but Sislia, my poor daughter, I feel sick just by looking at her now, let alone other people!

And you are a demon hunter, you have no emotions, no fear, no aesthetics, what are you afraid of?"

Leon turned to look at Stregobor and asked, "Is that how you told him about the witcher?"

Stregobor waved his hand quickly and said, "I didn't say you have no aesthetic taste. Geralt has always had a good taste."

The Count interrupted their conversation with his hand. "Hey, listen, Stregobor said that you dare to face such disgusting monsters as the Carrion Fiends, so why are you unwilling to face my lovely daughter?"

Stregobor nodded and admitted, "That is indeed what I said. Isn't that true?"

Leon's pupils shrank. Is this what he meant?

I faced the Corruption Demon with a sword. Do you allow me to chop the Earl's daughter with a sword?

But he couldn't say this, or the Count would explode.

He looked at the Count's excitement and his tired look.

It was obvious that he had been tormented by this matter for too long and his emotions had become very unstable.

Stregobor then persuaded, "Leon, go ahead. Only you can do it. I will discuss with the earl and give you a little more money. What do you think?"

"Right?" he turned and asked the count.

The count hesitated, but finally nodded reluctantly and said, "Well, considering the difficulty, I am willing to increase the reward. How about one thousand florins?"

Lyon remained unmoved.

The Earl gritted his teeth and directly raised three thousand.

"Three thousand, no more. At worst, I can post a bounty and find a dwarf!" The count finally said, "I believe the dwarf will definitely be willing!"

He sat back and laid back in his chair, and the meaning was obvious enough that it was impossible to add to it.

"Okay." Leon finally spoke.

Three thousand florins, an ordinary person might not be able to save up in a lifetime, but he only needed to close his eyes and kiss the mutated count's daughter.

As long as the price is right, he thinks it is acceptable. After all, he will make a profit.

Hearing that Leon agreed, the Earl and Stregobor looked at each other, but quickly looked away.

Leon didn't see the whole process. He just lowered his head and asked, "Then can you pay the 5,000 florins first? The remaining 3,000 will be paid after the task is completed."

"Of course, this is your reward!" The count took out a purse from behind the chair like a magic trick.

The purse was bulging and making a muffled sound, and one could tell from the sound that there was a lot of money in it.

Leon took the purse and opened it to count. There were exactly fifty round dark yellow coins, each with a face value of one hundred.

The highest denomination of the florin is one hundred, and the rest are only denominations of one and ten.

After confirming that everything was correct, Leon opened his shoulder bag and took out a wooden box.

As the wooden box was taken out, the bulging shoulder bag suddenly deflated.

The Earl looked at Leon in disbelief and couldn’t help asking, “You actually carry it with you?”

As Leon opened the box, he said, “This is worth five thousand florins, so of course I carry it with me.

Come on, check the goods. A high-level wizard is beside me, so I can’t fool you.”

"How cunning!" said the count.

Stregobor took the opened wooden box, sniffed it and said, "It smells very strong of herbs. Did you embalm it?"

Leon nodded and said, “That’s natural. It’s summer now, not winter. This heart was beating a month ago. If I don’t take care of it, it will definitely rot.

I didn't over-process it, so there shouldn't be any problem, right? This formula was published by your Wizard Association."

The Wizarding Association, nobles or other organizations will issue some material collection tasks.

Since it is a collection of materials, as long as they are not metals, they will naturally rot and deteriorate due to long transportation time, thus making them useless.

Then anti-corrosion is very necessary.

In order to ensure that these materials would not lose their effectiveness due to embalming, wizards published some formulas of preservatives and how long they could be preserved.

These recipes are free and the herbs they contain are available almost everywhere.

These preservatives are more convenient and effective than pickling, and ordinary people use these recipes to deal with excess ingredients.

Demon hunters or some bounty hunters use them to process bounties to ensure that they do not rot.

This is one of the most useful magic formulas published by wizards.

Stregobor stretched out his fingers and pressed the heart. The heart was very elastic.

Then he put the slimy finger into his mouth and sipped it.

"Hmm...it's very fresh and can be used.

Don't worry, the heart of the poisonous horned lizard is not poisonous, or to be more precise, except for its saliva and the poison glands in its lower jaw, it is not poisonous, but it is not delicious." said Stregobor.

He closed the box and put it into his wide sleeves.

The earl showed a look of disdain in his eyes. He sat back and said, "Then I'll leave it to you."

He breathed a sigh of relief, and his whole body relaxed.

The count complained: "Another considerable expense..."

Leon asked in confusion: "Shouldn't the earl have a lot of money? I see those in Nilfgaard spend money like water and are extremely wealthy!"

Hearing this, the earl's eyes showed contempt. He raised his voice and said, "Listen, witcher, don't compare me with those trash. There is no comparison at all. Do you understand?"

Leon was stunned for a moment, and then he heard the earl snort and say, “Do you think I don’t need to spend a penny to own such a vast territory?

Look, I'm not just an earl, I'm the lord of Darn Rowan, do you know what a lord is?

My ancestors followed Emperor Emhyr to build the empire, and I personally participated in suppressing rebels within the empire many times, so I was sealed here.

Dan Rowan has more than 30,000 hectares of land that I need to manage.

One third of Dan Rowan's taxes must be paid to the Nilfgaard Empire.

Half of the remaining two-thirds is needed to support the army. It is a money-eating beast with its mouth wide open and unsatisfied.

You also maintain your sword, you should know that it costs more money, right? I spend a million times more on maintaining an army than you do on yourself!

Most of the remaining half is needed to ensure the normal operation of the city of Dan Rowan.

For example, during the rainy season, I have to make sure the sewers are unobstructed so that the dirty excrement of the untouchables is not flushed out, do you understand?

Only a tiny portion of it is my personal income, and that's all I need to pay for the upkeep of the castle.

Did you know that eighty years ago, Nilfgaard abolished slavery for the sake of stability, and those slaves who were usually driven around and used more than animals became citizens of Nilfgaard?

I therefore had the added expense of paying the servants, who would have gone on strike if they had been paid a penny less!

Damn it! No dedication at all!

And I have to pay for all the expenses of my whole family!

Do you understand?

No, you don't understand. You are alone and have only one horse. Even visiting a prostitute is the highest entertainment for you. Of course you don't understand my difficulties.

I naively thought that I was very rich and that I had spent all my money on freedom.

Those dukes and earls in Nilfgaard have no territory, so naturally they have no obligation to guard the territory, so they have plenty of spare money to spend like water!

That's all our contribution, do you understand?"

Listening to the Earl's impassioned complaint, Leon was silent for a moment and asked, "Why don't you give up the territory? Nilfgaard is much more comfortable than here."

The Count was stunned for a moment, and looked at Leon as if he were an idiot.

He suddenly laughed, very loudly.

"Being a bird in a cage or a turtle in a jar? No, of course not! It would be a shame for me!" said the count.

"I only need to go to Nilfgaard to report once a year, which only takes a month. Why should I go there?

Isn't it good to stay in your own territory?

This is the price of freedom!"

Stregobu nodded and said, "Another point is that most of the nobles in the imperial palace are relatives of the emperor. These lords who have no blood relationship with the emperor will definitely not be able to stand it."

Lyon expressed his incomprehension.

The count said generously: "Demon Hunter, you don't need to understand this, you just need to do your next job well.

Listen carefully, this is what is going to happen next.”

Lyon nodded.

The count took a deep breath, adjusted his mood and said, "Thirty miles outside the east gate of Dane Rowan, there is a mine rich in rhodonite. The mineral output there accounts for one eighth of Dane Rowan's income.

But after a year and a half or even longer, monsters suddenly appeared and interfered with the mining of the ore.

I sent people there several times, but didn't find any monsters or anything. However, every time the miners started working, people would die soon, and not just one or two.

People are in a panic at the mine now. It has been shut down for nearly a year and Dan Rowan's income has been seriously affected.

Your task is very simple, which is to find out the reason. If there really is a monster, catch it alive if you can and let me see what is causing the trouble.

At the very least, we must kill the monsters and restore mining operations to normal.

So, your essential job is pretty simple, right? "

Lyon nodded after hearing this. It did sound easy.

The Count asked wearily, "Any questions?"

Leon thought for a moment and asked, "When will the removal of the curse begin?"

The Count looked towards Stregobor.

Stregobor said, "Don't worry. We need to wait for the right time to lift the curse. The best time is the full moon night in five days. This will give me time to prepare the potion."

Leon nodded and said, “That’s all.”

"Have you any place to live?" inquired the Count.

Leon shook his head and said, “No, I just got here…”

The Count interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and cried out: "Charlie! Charlie!"

The door was pushed open, and the servant who was guarding the door walked in respectfully and saluted, "My Lord Earl, you..."

"Don't talk. Listen. Find a guest room for this demon hunter. He will stay here for the next few days. He can go anywhere else except those rooms. Don't worry about him. Do you understand?"

"Yes... yes..." the servant said hurriedly.

"Very good, take him away, I need to rest." The count stood up tiredly and walked towards another door of the reception room.