Chapter 212: It's Him
Finally, the weary group could see the city walls of Novigrad in the distance.
Auckes whistled, "This city is truly massive."
Before the Viper School's stronghold was annihilated by the Nilfgaardian army, the Letho trio used to operate in the South.
And apart from the Golden Towers of Nilfgaard's capital, which they hadn't visited, they had been to the capitals of all the Southern kingdoms.
Before coming to Novigrad, Beauclair was the largest city they had ever seen.
And now, Novigrad, appearing before their eyes, was even larger than Beauclair.
Serrit then also spoke, "Northerners call this city the Pearl of the North. It seems there's some truth to it; at least it's big enough."
Letho concluded.
"This city may be big, but it probably has no shortage of dirty deeds. If you're an assassin or a mercenary, you'd be right at home here, but you're not going to make us do that, are you, Lynn?"
Saying this, he turned to look at Lynn beside him.
The latter smiled.
"Of course. No matter how good an assassin is, they're still just a blade in someone else's hand. The cause we're pursuing is far beyond that."
"But for now, what I need you to do is actually very simple. First, the first step is: complete all the monster-hunting contracts in the city."
"There must be contracts on the city's notice boards that require witchers. Go and complete all of them."
Letho thought for a moment and said.
"There are probably quite a few contracts, but with the three of us, plus George from the Griffin School, four witchers, it probably won't take two months to complete all the contracts. What then?"
Letho wasn't actually suggesting that a life without monsters was bad.
He was just worried that if there were no more monster-hunting contracts, the four of them (if Geralt wasn't counted) would become freeloaders.
At that point, could Lynn still afford to feed so many mouths?
Letho didn't distrust Lynn, but he was, after all, decades older than Lynn, and had seen, heard, and personally experienced far more than Lynn.
And the pressures from all aspects of reality could crush or even change a person.
What Letho didn't know was that in the original storyline, he unfortunately became the very kind of person he feared.
The young witcher, hearing this, turned to look at the bald strongman.
As if seeing through his thoughts.
He smiled.
"There will be other things for you to do then, don't worry too much."
"More importantly, we now face a more pressing matter," Lynn's gaze swept over Geralt, the Letho trio, and George, one by one. "To avoid drawing attention, I think we'd best enter the city separately."
This had nothing to do with being a witcher.
Any group of armed individuals entering a large city like Novigrad would attract attention.
After all, the gate guards had their duties.
They couldn't just be wooden blocks standing there.
Letho, despite looking like a brute, was meticulous: "Then Serrit, Auckes, and I will enter the city through different gates at different times."
"I'll go with you too," George said.
George of the Griffin School had grown quite close to the Letho trio on this journey.
Initially, George had thought the Viper School had fallen so low as to take assassination contracts, like the Cat School.
But when Letho and the others told George that their school's stronghold was razed by the Nilfgaardian army precisely because they refused to fully become assassins...
George both sympathized with them and felt ashamed of his suspicions.
Later, the Griffins and Vipers got along very well.
"Then we'll meet at my villa in the Upper Quarter. If you arrive first, tell the people in the house that I sent you."
"Oh, and Auckes, a special word of caution for you: don't scare the people in the house, or you'll be sorry."
Snakes are cold-blooded creatures. Theoretically, witchers named after and originating from the Viper School should also be emotionally detached.
However, Auckes was an exception.
This guy was a damn optimist, and like Lambert, he had his own brand of humor, which he thought was funny.
"Why just me?" Auckes cried out.
Regis slowly said.
"Northerners are truly hospitable. In that case, Lynn, you and Geralt go together. Syanna can be looked after by me, and I'll bring her to you later tonight... Syanna, what do you think?"
Syanna, wearing a cloak and hood, nodded.
With that decided, the group dispersed, entering through different city gates.
Lynn and Geralt chose the Glory Gate.
As the Pearl of the North, Novigrad had a highly mobile population. Many couldn't afford houses in the city, so they lived outside, returning to their residences at night and entering the city during the day to work.
Therefore, long queues formed outside every city gate.
However, despite the long queues, the efficiency of entering the city was not slow.
Commoners who entered the city daily for work and didn't carry weapons could enter directly without paying an entry fee.
The city councilors weren't fools.
They knew their towering city wasn't built from nothing, but relied on the labor force working in the city.
So they couldn't demand entry fees from these lower-class commoners.
But those carrying weapons had to pay an entry fee.
Because these armed individuals wouldn't contribute to Novigrad's bright future.
And for merchants carrying goods, the entry fee varied depending on the quantity of goods.
When it was Lynn and Geralt's turn, the guards initially didn't pay much attention.
In this era, although the Eternal Fire had already established a presence in Novigrad, it wasn't as extreme as it would be twenty years later.
So, even after noticing their golden eyes, they merely scrutinized them a bit more without saying much.
Until one of the guards, upon noticing Geralt's appearance, suddenly seemed to discover something.
He stared intently at Geralt's face.
"It's him! It's him! He's here!"
At this, the other guards at the city gate immediately surrounded them.
Another guard pulled down a wanted poster from the wall, his gaze darting between Geralt and the poster.
Finally, he shouted with great certainty, "That's right! It's him! Geralt of Rivia!"
"Hey, wait, calm down, gentlemen," Lynn stepped forward, blocking Geralt from the guards. "Are you mistaken, gentlemen? We've just returned from out of town?
.....
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