From Witcher to Lord of the Empire.

Chapter 231 The Great War Always Starts by Accident

"Damn the Svalblo sect!" Kratz slammed the table hard, causing the ink bottle on the table to fly up, and scattered black ink everywhere.

The Clayt family has absolute prestige in the territory they own. When Kratz issued an order to check the missing persons, a steady stream of soldiers ran towards the villages in the territory, contacting the usual tax officials and enacting officials to count all the missing persons. the number of people in the village.

Limited by the rush of time and the limitation of the household registration system of this era, only a small number of villages participated in the statistics at this time, and more remote villages, or the hidden population in the villages have not been counted.

Just like this, nearly 100 people have been counted.

You must know that what the Svalblo sect captured were not 100 old and weak women and children, they were all young people who were strong enough to support a family. Considering Skellige's abundant martial arts environment, these young people took A person who can go into battle with weapons and armor on.

In other words, Kratz lost a hundred-man reserve soldier.

The entire Skellige only has a navy of about [-]. Even if Kratz is the top family in the archipelago, this loss still makes him feel heartbroken.

The matter didn't stop there, the tax official also brought a worse news——

Great Skellige is ruled jointly by two families, the Clayts of Kratz in the south and the Drummonds of Lugo Lugo in the north.And Kratz's governance is definitely more rigorous than that of the madman Lugo.

The tax officials at the junction of the two families' rule are all familiar, and they brought a piece of news to Kratz: there are only a few missing young people in Lugo's territory.

Even in normal times, this is not news that can make Kratz laugh—the regret caused by the loss of young people far exceeds the pleasure of being wounded by a rival.

In the current situation, this is a problem that makes the situation even more serious.

"The Svalblo sect has gained more young people, or more 'warriors'." Ran thought.

"But there are not so many giant bears on this island for them to train berserkers to control. And normal people are definitely not something they can use mind control freely-if they can do this, they will have ruled Skelly long ago It's gone."

Lann took a deep breath: "Then there is only one possibility, which is even worse than creating a berserker—"

Kratz took Lane's words: "A living sacrifice!"

A word that makes one shudder just to hear it.

Svalblo believers despise the weak, and they like to use living people to sacrifice their gods; they will kill people who are unable to fight or who are not good at fighting as livestock to please Svalblo.This bad habit intensified and eventually turned into a massacre of the village, which led the Skelligs to exterminate the Swablo sect.

Unexpectedly, now they will face this bad habit again.

"Since it is a 'sacrifice', it must be able to gain strength from it." Lan En took a deep breath, "In the past, the so-called 'weak people' were used, but now they are young people who are at the right age to become soldiers, so they must be more pleasing Because of this, their evil gods can gain even more powerful power."

"Uncle East is right, we may not be able to count on any battle for the throne now." Kratz stood up and put on his bearskin cloak, "This may be a disaster that sweeps across Skellige .”

"Fortunately, we discovered the enemy's conspiracy in advance. I will gather the soldiers now, once there is any news..."

Kratz didn't finish, his words were suddenly interrupted.

……

"Boom boom boom——"

There was a loud knock on the door outside the study, and the force even made people worry about whether it would cause any damage to the door.

Then there was a commotion:

"Wait a minute, you can't go in, please calm down, this is Master Kratz—"

It seemed that the guards at the door were blocking someone, but the visitor was clearly in an emergency situation and couldn't wait for the guards to pass the order according to the procedure.

With a "boom", the door was kicked open, Geralt broke in from the door, behind him was the butler who was trying to stop him.

"Something went wrong." Geralt rushed to speak without waiting for the butler to apologize to Kratz, and before Lann and the others asked why they came.

In the previous arrangement, Lane and Kratz accompanied Kratz back to count the number of soldiers and gather soldiers. The large army was still stationed at the foot of the mountain in case of accidents, and Geralt and Gerd, the two most experienced demon hunters, Accompany Bill up the mountain to find the hiding place of the Vilka people.

Unexpectedly, Geralt came back early now.

"What happened, did we find the Velca? Or did we startle the enemy and make the enemy aware of our presence, and now they're gone?"

Geralt dismissed Lane's two guesses: "It's worse than that."

"The other candidates for the throne sensed our movements and blamed us as rivals for withholding information from them. They laughed loudly at our gathering at the foot of the mountain to wait for reinforcements, thinking that the dangers we mentioned to them were all scaremongering. lie."

"Because of us, they confirmed that the Vilka people are on the mountain, and now they have gathered a large number of troops to go up the mountain in order to win the throne." Geralt took a deep breath, "There is no time for us to prepare, we need to launch a general attack directly gone."

"Damn guy!" Kratz slammed the desk hard, and all the documents, paper, and pens on it fell to the ground with a crackling sound.

"Assemble the troops, set out now to support those idiots whose brains have been hacked with an axe!" Kratz shouted towards the outside, and then turned to look at Geralt.

"Geralt, remind me, which families are those idiots you're talking about?"

"Our old friend Crazy Lugo, and a guy named Hogg, that guy has a strange complexion."

Kratz scolded: "The bandit of Faroe Island, Hogg Blackhand of the Dimen family, he is a fool who only knows how to plunder like Lugo!"

……

Hogg Blackhand is the patriarch of the Dimen family and the lord of Faroe Island.

When he was young, he encountered an accident in an autumn snowstorm, and the longboat hit a reef by mistake, causing him frostbite, leaving a particularly dark complexion on his hands and arms, which earned him the nickname "Black Hand".

Even in Skellige, who almost regards plundering as a rite of passage, Hogg Blackhand is a very cruel existence. When he plundered, he was almost slaughtering, and he was scattered on the shores of Novigrad and Nilfgaard. notoriety; even when he attacked Skellige's rival families, he spared no effort.

Therefore, the reputation of the Dimen family in Skellige is particularly bad.

The Faroe Island he ruled is located at the southernmost tip of Skellige, and it is also the most primitive and uninhabited island. The people on it can only live by plundering—this may also be an objective reason for the character of Hogg Blackhand .

It is also because of this that Hogg Blackhand is almost eagerly searching for all opportunities to make Faroe Island prosperous.

Becoming king is the biggest opportunity in his eyes.He and the lunatic Lugo were also the only ones who wanted to compete with East for the throne. The patriarchs of other families either chose to support like Dona, or abstained.

At this moment, Hogg Blackhand was standing with the lunatic Lugo, and they faced the ugly-faced East.

……

East originally planned to go back to Little Skellige Island to find King Bran and send more family soldiers to support him, but when he heard that Lugo the Lunatic and Hogg Blackhand forcibly broke into the mountain, he immediately rushed back.

It turned out that it was too late.

When he was leading the people to go up the mountain, the news he got was that Lugo the Crazy and the others had already gone up the mountain; when he led the people to run halfway up the mountain, he happened to meet Lugo the Crazy and their returning team.

According to Crazy Lugo and the others, they have found the gathering place of the Vilka people.

Because soldiers from the Kleite family and the Tursek family had already searched in the mountains before, it was equivalent to helping the madman Lugo and the others eliminate a large number of wrong answers, reducing their search range in disguise; Lott and Gerd took Bill's forward route, and after they had a general direction, they dispersed hundreds of soldiers to search for the hiding place in the mountains regardless of movement, and finally found the hiding place of the Vilka people very quickly.

At this moment, Bill was following Ged, and they were standing in the queue of the Tursek family with remorse all over their faces.

Crazy Lu Ge talked eloquently: "Those believers of evil gods are just some unworthy guys. The warriors who really dared to fight were all killed by our ancestors. The remaining soft worms are the same as the ones we usually plunder. People are no different!"

"Did you meet them? Kill them all?" East was expressionless.

"No, it's better." Crazy Lugo said, "They heard our movement and ran away immediately. We even rescued many kidnapped young men and saved them from becoming living sacrifices of evil gods!"

Crazy Lugo opened his arms and showed East a dozen or so young people in his team. They were all mentally weak, with gray skin, black and swollen eyes, and a trance-but they were all still alive.

"They are all the citizens of my Greater Skellige Island." The lunatic Lugo laughed triumphantly.

"Rescuing the citizens of Skellige is indeed a feat." East nodded towards the rescued youths, but they were all in a trance, and they didn't notice East's actions, nor did they give any feedback. respond.

"But Lugo, Hogg, do you still remember our mission? We want to clear the Svalblo sect, complete the mission that our ancestors missed, and remove a scourge for Skellige—and your rash actions Set it all on fire."

"Okay, Esther! Looking at the situation now, do you still think the Svalblos are a scourge? They are just a bunch of clowns who ran away when they heard the news! I think maybe Lannister killed you in your family's castle. The lost berserkers are already all their strength."

Lu Ge sneered: "From this point of view, you have indeed destroyed the Svalblo Sect, but unfortunately that achievement is not counted."

Hogg Blackhand, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, also said: "East, I respect you, but the current situation is that you have no chance of winning. Although none of us have completed the achievement of destroying the Svalblo Sect, we And Lugo have at least destroyed their new enclave by now, freed the hostages who were taken as living sacrifices. Even if we do nothing afterwards, we are already ahead of you."

Because of years of plundering at sea, one of Hogg's black hands was blind and pure white. If someone else was talking to him, he might really be oppressed.

But East's expression didn't change at all, and his momentum was more than that of Lugo and Hogg combined: "You don't understand, according to the information we got, there are more berserkers in the Svalblo Sect .This is no longer a matter of fighting for the throne. Now that you have come, I invite you to stay and continue to search the mountains for the gathering places of the Vilkas. They must have other hiding places."

"We will, East." Hogg Blackhand said coldly, "But not now, and we won't be with you."

Crazy Lugo laughed loudly: "If the Vilkas still have berserkers, wouldn't they go out with their character? Berserkers, where are the berserkers?"

As he spoke, he pointed fiercely at the dozen or so youths he had rescued from the Vilka's hiding place: "Could it be them? Could they be berserkers?"

The youths were all in a trance, and did not respond to the words of the madman Lugo.

East took a deep breath, only to feel that communicating with the lunatic Lugo was extraordinarily strenuous.

……

Behind East, Gerd looked at Bill, who was sluggish, thought for a while, and put his generous palm on his shoulder: "Don't blame yourself, and don't worry, the qualities you have shown so far should be It's not your fault what's happening now that you deserve the title of warrior."

"The matter between you and your lover will definitely have a good result. Lan is a very good person. If I don't already have a lord who follows me, I probably can't help it..."

Bill pressed his head hard, as if he was enduring extreme pain. He interrupted Gerd's consolation and said intermittently: "My head hurts...Mr. Gerd, something is wrong."

Beads of sweat dripped from Bill's forehead, but his words became more and more fluent: "My memory has become clearer...These two lords found the wrong place, it seems that I was not caught before place, that's not where the Vilka really gather... and, something happened, something, something I forgot..."

"No, no, it shouldn't be like this..."

Bill's expression became terrified, as if he had committed some heinous crime; his gray face became like a corpse, and even his eyes lost their luster.

Gerd frowned, subconsciously grasping his right hand towards the hilt of his sword.

While getting ready for battle, Gerd tentatively shook Bill, as if wanting to show some concern to his companion who was out of shape.

But then his movements suddenly stopped.

The ears of the bear demon hunter moved, and his keen senses as a witcher allowed him to detect a little different movement around him.

The lords of the three major families in front of them were arguing and negotiating, and the soldiers behind them all focused their attention on the opposite side.

But under the violent quarrel, Ged heard a low, covered voice that sounded like singing. This voice was in a language that Ged couldn't understand, with a kind of vicissitudes, firmness, and a hint of fanaticism. the taste of.

Like praying.

This kind of prayer-like voice came from all directions of them.

The sound was naturally made by a human, which indicated one thing—they were surrounded by enemies with a position.

Gerd's amber vertical pupils suddenly doubled in size, as if someone had blocked his heart.His senses told him that the danger came not only from the so-called "all directions", but also from around him.

……

"Roar--!!"

Crazy Lugo and Hogg Blackhand suddenly heard the roar of the giant bear in unison, which was deafening.

The voice came from behind them.

And East, with a look of horror in their eyes, rushed towards them.
-
half an hour ago.

On the mountainside, soldiers from the Tursek, Drummond, and Dimen families were still arguing.

And in the jungles of the mountains, there are a large group of hunters lying low.

Their eyes are hidden in the darkness, and they don't emit a little light; their progress relies on the bushes in the forest, but they don't make a sound.

The direction they were heading was the soldiers of the three families on the mountainside.

Different from these heavily armed soldiers, the equipment of these hunters is very simple, and now they don't even wear basic leather armor; they are naked from the upper part of their bodies, exposing their muscular chests and arms, which are densely covered with dense enough to dismember a normal person. Hemp scars.

They wear simple battle skirts on their lower bodies, but they wear thick cloaks on their backs, mostly made of whole pieces of fur such as wolves, wild boars, and bears.

Seeing these cloaks, it seems that they can also understand where the scars on their bodies come from.

They are Vilkas, disciples of Svalblo.

Just holding hatchets and round shields, the number of them is less than one-tenth of the coalition forces of these families in front of them, but they have full confidence to surround these Skellige troops.

They are not afraid of death - it is even said that they have come to seek death.

A muscular figure with a bald head and a big beard stepped out from behind them.Unlike the Velka warriors who were prowling with their bodies bent down, he straightened his back and walked through the jungle like a stroll in a courtyard.

The surrounding trees seemed to be conscious, they took the initiative to clear the way for him, and even helped him hide his whereabouts without making a sound.

All of this shows the fact that he is a Druid.

And after seeing the Druid come out, all the Wilkas bowed to him, calling softly: High Priest Artis.

Attis was still far away from Skellige's side, but his eyes pierced through the heavy trees like a falcon, and he had a panoramic view of everything on the mountainside.

"Obviously they have so many powerful warriors, but they chose to be content with the status quo, shrunk in this small archipelago, and gave up the vast continent to those weak people..."

Artis looked at the team in front of him coldly: "They are still playing the king's game like a house... Ha, there are women in their team! They are still wearing armor and holding shields. What do they think of the glory of warriors?" gone?"

Behind Hogg Blackhand, there stood a shield-wielding female guard, with a heroic figure, a vigorous figure, and dense calluses on her hands, worthy of the praise of "Iron Lady".

But in the eyes of the fallen druids, all of this is deviant.

"Sure enough, they need the guidance of my god Svalblo, and they need to shine the glory of my god."

The bowed warriors murmured very timely: "My god Svalblo."

Atis looked at the believers beside him who were always ready to fight, and nodded with satisfaction.

"The plan on Little Skellige went very well. The dead warriors are also part of the blood sacrifice. The dedication of believers will please my god even more."

"Then, now, sacrifice these pagans in front of me to my God. We have been dormant for decades for today."

"Go, warriors, go to fight, to kill, to sacrifice, to please - my god Svalblo!"

The eyes of the bowed soldiers gradually burned, as if a drum of war began to rumble in their chests.

"For my god - Svalblo!"

The fallen druid's figure retreated slowly, leaves and bushes covered his footprints, covering his tracks—he had other tasks.

And along the path he left, the roar of wild beasts began to come from the depths of the jungle.It was not just the roar of wolves and bears, but also the hiss of some large monsters, and even more dull roars.

Never test how powerful a druid master who is proficient in the way of nature can break out in the forest, especially this druid who has given up his faith and has been operating in this forest for decades .

Responding to these beast roars, all the Vilka warriors bowed down to the ground, no longer worried about hiding their tracks, and began to chant prayers loudly.

"My god Svalblo, I am your son, I am your flock, I am your blade;

Please accept my blood, please accept my flesh, please accept my sacrifice;

May my pain turn into the blessing of the gods, and may my pain turn into the joy of the gods.

Please God give me blade, please God give me strength, please God give me spirit;

In the name of God, destroy the enemy of God; in the name of God, attack the land of the enemy.

May you be with us - my god, Svalblo! "

(End of this chapter)