From Witcher to Lord of the Empire.

Chapter 176 The one who knocked on the window in the middle of the night is not a dryad anymore

"Demon hunters... four." Ogierd didn't know what he thought of, and his eyes became playful.

"As far as I know, there is a group of demon hunters wandering in Nilfgaard. Emperor Emhyr has been trying to recruit them for several years." The Beggar King thought thoughtfully, "It seems that now, Finally succeeded?"

"The news of the northern border gathers in Novigrad, and the news of Novigrad gathers in you." Reins glanced at the Beggar King, "But this seems to be beyond the scope of 'news from the northern border'."

The Beggar King chuckled: "The increase in trade with Nilfgaard is also good for me, and the merchants in the south can also bring all kinds of news. Otherwise, why do you think I would sit at this table with you?" Discuss things?"

And not only that, I also know more news.The Beggar King looked at the four demon hunters and sneered in his heart.

Caleb Manji sighed sincerely: "In this way, our plan is more foolproof!"

"The end of Lannister and Chapelle is coming!"

…………

"My lord, Monsieur Chapelle is here."

Lan was looking at the jade carvings of Prince Toad and Cat Pie the Witcher in his hand.

After hearing House's report outside the door, he thought for a while, and took the Maopai Demon Hunter Jade Carving back to the [item bar].

As for Prince Toad, he will continue to play with it in his hands.

"Lannister, I hear you took care of that hideous giant toad, and it only took one night?"

Chapelle soon came to Lane's living room, and glanced at Lane and Triss with erratic eyes.

He had something on his mind, as if he was making a decision in his mind.

"Yes, I told your soldiers my search route last night. They should be able to find the giant toad's lair along that road, and those poor girls and worshipers of the eternal fire along the way-may they rest in peace."

Chapelle corrected the wrong wording in Lane's words: "They are not 'my soldiers', they are all believers of the eternal fire, they just follow me because of their devotion to the eternal fire."

He seems to have encountered this misunderstanding a lot, but is also very persistent in explaining the problem in detail each time.

"But there is something strange, Lannister. I didn't find the corpse of that giant toad." Chapelle looked into Lan's eyes and said seriously, "I hope you can help me clear up."

Lann threw the statue of Prince Toad to Chapelle and said indifferently: "Because I didn't kill it, but caught it. Haven't you heard the story of 'Prince Toad'?"

At the moment when the toad jade carving was received by Chapelle, the system's notification sounded here.

[Task - Where the flames cannot illuminate - Completed]

And Chapelle took the jade carving and began to look at it. As the representative of Eternal Flame and Novigrad, he naturally has a lot of knowledge, and he is no stranger to various rumors in this city.

"[Transformation and Sealing Technique], right? I should have guessed it a long time ago. The sudden presence of a sorceress beside you must have some purpose."

He suddenly sneered: "But no matter what the identity of this toad is, it killed innocent girls, slaughtered my soldiers, and caused incalculable damage to Temple Island with the toad toxin on its body. It should be judged, Pay its debts with blood and flesh.

But now that you've captured it, we can take a more uplifting and more appeasement approach to the victim—let it wash away its sins in eternal fire. "

Chapelle's voice was ice-cold, but it had already shown a fire-like scene in front of everyone.

Lane read a different taste from it, and Chapelle's reaction was a little bit wrong.Compared with the image of a "calm military attache" that Chapelle showed in the previous few meetings, his mood swings today are too great.

The toad didn't extinguish the brazier in their hall, and Chapelle's reaction was a bit too intense.

The most important thing is that my system reminds me that the task has been completed, but this person is still chattering in front of me, which is unreasonable.

Then there is only one truth: the person in front of him is acting, or he wants to "investigate" something.At this point the subject of their conversation was no longer "Prince Toad" but something else.

Lane had a premonition that this conversation would lead the relationship between the two to a whole new direction.

Lan En took a deep breath, and the expression management was online, and he needed to play a wave.

"If that's what you want to say, then Chapelle, forgive me for not allowing you to take my prisoner."

Chapelle sneered: "Are you sure? In Novigrad, on the edge of the Temple Island, under the land illuminated by the eternal fire?"

"Yes, I have two reasons. Because our relationship has been good, I will spend more time explaining to you." Lan En nodded and said in a cold tone, "First: According to my information, this' Prince Toad is the prince of the kingdom of Ophir, and now Sintra needs every ally he can win, so I want to save Prince Toad and even lift the curse for it."

"Then you will lose the friendship of the eternal fire. Losing a close friend for a country far away, this decision will overturn my perception of 'you are a wise man'."

"So I have a second reason."

Lan looked into Chapelle's eyes and seemed to be talking to another person.

"The prince was cursed and lost his mind and committed the crimes you are accusing. He is also a victim. If we want to find someone to punish, we should go to the person who cursed him, not him. .”

"'The knife hurts me, I don't blame the knife, catch the man with the knife', right? Your words have been spread by the poets," said Chapelle. "But it's not enough, Lannister. There is no evidence to prove that this toad is innocent, and now it is just a murderous monster in my eyes."

"Chapelle, why do you want to prove his 'innocence'? Shouldn't the evidence be used to prove his 'crime'?" Lan said one word at a time, "Does the 'monster' deserve to die?"

Chapelle froze suddenly, he didn't seem to expect Lan to say such a thing.

"You know that I know Geralt. He told me many stories, including the kind nymphs, shapeshifters, blood-sucking demon birds, female night devils, etc. that he met. These monsters are often feared by ordinary people. Vulnerable groups. Even in their eyes, humans are 'monsters'."

Lane and Geralt did chat a lot, but Geralt hadn't mentioned these things, but Lane had learned about them from his previous life.

"When people see monsters, they preconceive that they are sinful. This is wrong. They reject, discriminate, and even kill everything they don't understand. Now it's just these intelligent non-humanoid creatures, but I think there will eventually be One day this attitude will extend to other inhuman races, and even to humans with inhuman powers, such as warlocks and witchers."

Lan continued: "I am opposed to this concept of life, and Sintra is the same. We have eliminated discrimination and prejudice with the dryads, and established friendship with the dwarves. My attendants have accepted the female night goblins in Toussaint. help. These all prove that Geralt and I are doing the right thing."

The topic has gradually deviated from the topic of "how to deal with Prince Toad", but the purpose of Lan's conversation with Chapelle tonight is not for this. He just wants to adjust the topic and instill himself in Chapelle in front of him thought of.

At the beginning, Geralt almost drew his sword in front of Chapelle to protect a shapeshifter, so he gained Chapelle's friendship. Lan felt that he could try to reproduce it.

But the empathy between "Prince Toad" and Chapelle is obviously less than that of the doppelganger, so Lan needs to add a little bit of indoctrination to make the other party agree with his point of view.

"So, I won't let you kill Prince Toad just like that. I won't let him die because of other people's sins, and I won't let him die for such a ridiculous reason as 'cursed into a toad'!"

Triss was surprised by Lan En, but not because of Lan En's "kind" speech, but in her impression that Lan En should not be so inflexible on this occasion.

Even if the toad were indeed a prince, it would be extremely unwise to clash with the Eternal Flame in Novigrad over him.

Triss was about to start chanting a spell to prevent Chapelle from calling the temple guards in to cause conflict.

But she suddenly recalled the little secret Lane had told her about "Chapelle".

A flash of clarity flashed in the sorceress' eyes, and she became quiet after thinking about it.

Sure enough, Chapelle was not angry when he heard such an impassioned speech from Lane, and even completely lost his previous cold temperament.

His tone suddenly softened.

"Yes, yes. You are Geralt's friend, right? Sure enough, all Geralt's friends are like this. No matter what race, no matter what occupation, it doesn't matter whether it's a halfling, a bard, or a nobleman. That's fine too."

He looked at the jade statue of Prince Toad in his hand, and handed it back to Lan.

[Task - Where the flames can't illuminate - Completed]

"Since Geralt told you those stories, I don't know if he mentioned me to you. But I guess not, after all he is a person who is good at helping friends keep secrets..."

Chapelle was about to say something, but a sudden noise that was not expected by everyone present interrupted him.

"dong dong dong"

In the middle of the night, there was a sudden "knock on the door" from Lane's window.

This situation gave Lan En a sense of familiarity in a trance. Usually, when this happens, he can see a green-skinned young lady outside the window as soon as he opens the window.

But this is not Brokilon, and there is absolutely no way that there is a dryad outside the window.

Who can bypass his own Cintra sentries or even the guards of the eternal flame in the middle of the night, and come out of his room?
Or is it that his subordinates have been let go again?
[Quen's Seal] On the upper body, just as Lan was touching his Lake Lady's sword, he suddenly heard a slightly familiar voice outside the window.

"Lane, Lane! You're in there, aren't you, open the window!"

Accompanied by this suppressed cry, there were several knocks on the window.

The faces of the three people in the room suddenly became strange.

Lan En stepped forward to open the window with a smile on his face, and met a pair of amber snake eyes head-on.

Colgrim, the witcher he saved in White Orchard, unexpectedly returned.

(End of this chapter)