Witcher's Atelier

I long, I long to go home, to the warm home of wanderers.

My father, my two boys, my life, and my beautiful wife are all there.

When my strength weakens, my breath becomes shorter and shorter, my bones become stiff, and my blood flows slower,

it's time, it's time to go home, to the warm home of wanderers.

── Udvik Island folk song "Otto's Song"

…

Looking down from a high place, the distance seems not far, but in fact, it is out of reach with your feet. The proverb in Bell Town "Looking at the mountain and running the horse to death" refers to this situation.

Although the Phantom Troupe tried hard to hurry, when they really arrived at the foot of the mountain, the sky had quietly covered the black curtain.

Jackdaws cried at night, and vaguely heard mournful songs in the wind. Because it was a male voice, Victor was sure that it was not the singing of a mermaid. He looked at Virgie and confirmed that it was not an illusion. The two quickened their pace.

Finally, we entered the col, and a sailboat under construction on the snowy plain came into view. Songs floated from the belly of the boat, and the lyrics sounded homesick.

Lights could be seen faintly from the opening of the cabin. The Phantom Troupe climbed up the ladder and got into the boat. What they saw was a small nest made of wooden boxes to block the wind and rags and leather. There were three skulls stuck on wooden sticks around, which might be considered special decorations.

An oil lamp was dim, and an old man with blond hair, brown eyes and a full beard was lying inside.

He glanced at Victor and Virgie, sat up slowly, and tilted his ear to the skull beside the bed, as if listening to it talking.

"Well, you're right, they just can't learn, and here come two more people to die, but at least they heard me sing before they died."

"Excuse me, I have to say that your singing is terrible, and you ruined a good song."

Victor's words aroused the old man's interest. He looked at the boy with his eyes, and nodded repeatedly with his ear close to another skeleton, "Yes, yes, just like you said. Young man, since you said Otto sang badly, why don't you sing for us?"

The boy smiled, and if he looked carefully, he would find that the man who called himself Otto was not very old, but his decadent appearance was too deceptive. He had a big skeleton and big hands.

"Okay, if you are willing to answer a few questions, I will sing for you. I guarantee that it is a brand new version that you... and your friends have never heard of."

Otto glanced at the two of them, "Come in and take shelter from the wind!"

The old man's nest was not really clean, but fortunately the weather was cold, so the smell was not very bad.

Without any intention of mistreating himself, Victor walked around the windshield box and took out three bear skins from the herbal bag. He gave one to the other party, and laid one on the deck for himself and Vicky.

Noticing the space folding bag, Otto's eyes flashed a light, then quickly dimmed, and he said nothing.

Then he took out the wool blanket and distributed it. The boy took the initiative to start the topic, "Let me introduce myself first. I am Victor, he is Vicky, and who are these companions talking to you?"

"My crew, they swore to follow me forever, and they all kept their promises. The tall one is called Wilma, the one on his right is Wilfred, and the one who stutters is Wilhelm." Pointing at the skeletons, Otto called them one by one.

As soon as he finished speaking, the rogue Viji, who had remained silent since entering the ship, heard the three names and suddenly crawled towards Otto from the bear skin, grabbing his clothes tightly: "It's really you! My lord! What's going on? Why did you become like this?"

The old man was stunned, then turned his head away without looking at the rogue, letting him shake desperately without saying a word.

The reactions of Viji and Otto awakened a trace of past life memories. Combining the current situation with the background knowledge of the archipelago, Victor guessed that this Otto might be the lord of Udvik Island, the head of the Todaloch family, Harald Hound.

And from a new perspective, the thick calluses on his knuckles and the aristocratic tattoos on his body were immediately explained.

Reaching out to hold the rogue's shoulder and pulling him back to his bear skin, the young man said calmly: "Are you Harold Hound, Lord of Udvik Island? The information I got is that you are dead."

After tidying up his torn clothes, Otto waved his arms, "Hahaha, do you think my men and I look like dead people?"

"No doubt, you are the only one alive."

He looked at the young man blankly for a while, and finally lowered his head, "You are right, I am Harold Hound. Everyone thought I was dead?... Maybe it's better this way. As a loser, it's better for me to die."

The patriarch of the Todaroqu family is in a fragile and confused mental state. Obviously, the collapse of his rule has dealt him a heavy blow, but he still needs to find out the information he should ask.

"Why didn't the giant kill you? He let you... and your crew stay here?"

"He didn't kill me, he wanted us to help him build a long ship, I was responsible for sewing the sails."

"Why don't you try to escape?"

"Do you think I want to stay here? Because I can't escape! If we run away, the mermaid will fly out to catch us back, and then the giant will kill those who escape, ah ah ah! Just like he treats others." At the end of his words, he suddenly hugged his head and shrank on the bear skin.

Witnessing the once majestic lord, now in a miserable state, Virgie was silent, his expression was sad and he couldn't help himself.

"Why does the giant want a ship? Where does he want to go?"

"Promise me not to tell anyone, I believe my men will never reveal the secret, but your words are hard to say..."

"I promise you won't tell anyone."

"Okay, let me tell you, when the final battle before the end of the world begins, the Battle of Renarug, he will sail this ship out to sea to defeat the gods. The ship will be almost completed."

Victor shook his head. This answer was meaningless. He took out dry food and drinks and distributed them, "There seems to be no prey nearby. Where do you usually get food?"

"The giant will bring food. My crew and I are quite used to it." Otto happily took the potato pieces and ate them very sweetly.

"Uh...could the food you're talking about be the half-bitten thigh?"

"What? Where is it? Wilma, damn it, didn't I tell you to clean up? You don't even know how to keep it secret!

You can't blame me. The giant gave us a choice whether to eat or starve to death. But I didn't force anyone. This was decided by everyone's vote. "

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "It's okay. When there's nothing to eat, there's nothing anyone can do... How often does the giant come to deliver food? When was the last time he came?"

"Hehe! I knew you could understand, Wilma, why are you bastard still standing there? Why don't you hide the things quickly?" Otto said as he stretched out his hand and lifted the thigh covered with bite marks. Pushing into the darkness, he continued: "The giant comes once every three days. It left just before you came."

"Halma of the Naquet family, have you seen him? They should have passed by here yesterday."

"Oh, of course I recognize him, the reckless boy from the Kuite family. Many of them walked past here, but I hid and no one noticed him."

"Since you want to run away, why are you hiding? Why don't you follow them?" Weiji suddenly interjected and asked.

Looking away again, Otto refused to say anything, obviously intending to follow through and ignore the existence of this member of the Todaloqu family.

In Victor's view, the reason does not need to be explained.

He took out the lute from the herbal bag and plucked the strings leisurely. The dragonborn poet who once taught thousands of people in Floating Harbor to be moved, King Temeria to applaud, Alphons to applaud, and King Bran to marvel, his song echoed in the cabin.

In view of the Lord of Udvik Island. The head of the Todaloqu family. Harold. The Hound is Dead and the song is called "Otto's Song."

…

Some people are alive, but they are already dead.

…

A snowfall is so pure, burying everything in the world of ice──

The next day, the Phantom Troupe left the "ship under construction" very early and rushed to the place where Halma had camped the night before.

The falling snow in the sky has wiped away all traces, leaving a vast expanse of white. The ground is really clean. If you saw traces of westward march from the mountain yesterday, it is not surprising to judge that they were all wiped out.

And since the survivors are heading west, Halma must be fine, because if he falls, the Titan Crusade Group will collapse immediately, and even if it is hit by an avalanche, it can still lead the warriors to advance with the charm and confidence that this island currently has No other semicolons.

Things have become very simple at this point. Let the guide Wei Ji lead the way and continue to pursue "Uskal". Home of pickled herring.

Before setting off this morning, Victor left enough food for Otto for ten days. It is estimated that by the time he finished eating, the giant would have been killed. If he came back to report the good news, it might be able to untie his knot, or at least be able to kill him. He was brought to the Great Skellige Island and given to Cratchit for resettlement.

But the scoundrel Wei Ji, ever since he questioned the clan leader yesterday, has always kept a stiff face and said nothing. Seeing that he had almost reached Uskal after traveling for a long time, he was still like that.

Knowing his dilemma, Victor spoke up to comfort him: "You don't need to worry about Otto. It's often at critical moments in life that people can recognize who they are. Not everyone has the courage to face death."

"No! Captain, there are some things you don't know..." Weggie bit his lower lip as he spoke, "Harold Hound was once the leader of the clan that I admired so much. I left home to pursue the reputation of being 'fearless'. , is his deep expectation for me. For countless days and nights, I looked up at the sky, hoping to become someone like him..."

I have to say that the rogue's confession was very emotional, but - he was a man.

So after thinking about it, the young man replied: "Look at it more openly. Disillusionment is the beginning of growth."

…

After traveling west for a while, we headed south. After passing through the forest, we suddenly had a wide view. It was a beautiful scenery between a frozen lake and an unfrozen lake. There are geothermal springs at the bottom of the natural lake on the left, which prevents it from freezing, and the lake water flows westward to wash out the water. The cobblestone path then drops about twenty feet high, forming a semi-frozen waterfall landscape lake on the right.

It is indeed a well-known attraction on Udvik Island, which makes people feel relaxed after seeing it, and the village next to it is "Uskal". Together with its reputation as the hometown of pickled herring, you can imagine the grand occasion when tourists flocked to it.

However, this once peaceful village was now full of broken weapons, broken shields, toppled houses, and twisted corpses.

Dark red dye was spread freely on the exterior walls of the house, the trunks of the beech trees, and the pure white snow that had no time to cover it.

Opening the door of a room casually and going in, Victor reached into the ashes and felt the remaining heat of the fire. He took out a jar of potion from the herbal bag and threw it away, "Weiji, the battle has not been over for a long time. Search the village to see if there is anything else." If anyone is alive, the potion can kill someone, and let me know if the bodies of Brother Markey or Aigner are found.”

After catching the potion, the rogue looked solemn and stepped back outside.

After checking the room, the boy also came outside and started observing along the way. Even without the extraordinary five senses, he could still try to explain what happened here through observation.

Among the corpses scattered all over the ground, several were killed by ordinary swords, as can be judged from the wounds. The Siren cannot use knives. Ice trolls use simple wooden sticks or iron bars and other heavy weapons, and also do not use knives, not to mention that the ice giants hold steel swords in their hands like toothpicks.

From this, it can be judged that the giant expedition group that escaped from the avalanche rebelled here.

This is not surprising. If Wolfganger had not been killed by himself the night before, there should be more people in the rebellion. Maybe the reason why the traitors launched the rebellion here is because they knew that Wolfganger behind was in trouble. Otherwise, when they meet from behind, the force will be more powerful and will not end in a fight.

Then Victor saw that there was a dead body on the roof, with the spine broken by the beam and hanging on it, and many people fell directly and their brains burst. It can only be the Siren who did it, so the "Horn of the Horned Wall Beast" also had problems?

Then there were several bodies that were directly slammed into the stone wall. Such a huge force could not be produced by humans. It could only be ice trolls or ice giants. It was obvious at a glance.

Finally, there was an overturned caravan with supplies scattered all over the ground. Here, there was another longboat that was destroyed. It was smashed into several pieces by the lake, and the mast of the boat was broken, which was used as a weapon to nail people to the ground.

So far, of the five longboats that set out from Keldro with great vigor, only the last one was missing.

And its most likely destination was... The mist covered the lake, covered with a layer of gauze, and Victor's sight seemed to penetrate time - witnessing how the last group of people boarded the last boat in a thrilling manner, got rid of the monsters and crossed the ice lake, heading for "Dov" on the other side, the most prosperous town on Udvik Island in the past.

Still a courageous style, so Hjalmar is still there, and the boy's eyes are as sharp as an eagle.

"Captain, I've taken a rough look. No one survived, but I found the remains of the Maki brothers!" A rogue voice came from behind.

"Take me to see."

...

The Maki brothers all died at the hands of monsters. Thanks to Vicky, a local, who could help identify them, otherwise Victor himself would not be able to find who was who.

He carefully searched the pockets of the brothers but found nothing. He then untied the armor and checked the chest and abdomen. Finally, he found a piece of letter paper on the body of Maki's brother. Some of the handwriting was stained with blood, but the signature on it was clearly visible.

After reading the content, he flicked the letter paper and folded it into the herbal bag.

"Viji, is there any way to get to the other side? We have to get there in the shortest possible time."

"If it were normal, there would be a boat going directly here, but in this situation, we can only go through the mine, pass the Todaro Qu Foundry, and then walk down the mountain on the plank road."

Victor took out the energy soup and the tawny owl and gave them to the rogue, "Anyway, the cave is dark, let's light torches today and travel overnight to rest in the foundry.

Tomorrow I will catch up with Halma!"

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