Chapter 89 Beginning and Ending
The next morning, when Geralt came out of the tent where he was originally sent, he happened to see a new person joining the dragon hunting team.
One of them wore a strange mauve hat decorated with silver buckles and a long egret feather that hung down over his eyes. Geralt recognized the hat and the feather, so famous in Buina and Eruga, known in all the mansions, castles, inns, taverns and brothels - especially the brothels.
"Dandelion, why are you here?"
"Geralt!"
A pair of cheerful blue eyes appeared under the hat, "What a surprise! Is it really you? Are you here to slay the dragon too?"
Geralt did not answer. Instead, he frowned at the poet classmate and asked,
"A month and a half ago, when we separated in Vizima City, didn't you say you were going to Ossenford College to attend school?" "
It's hundreds of miles away from the college. Liyuan, why are you here?"
The poet classmate was about to explain when he suddenly saw Yennefer coming out of the tent. As if he understood something immediately, he first bent over and made a gentle gesture to the beautiful sorceress. He saluted, then raised his head and winked at Geralt, saying:
"Oh my God, Geralt, I know why you are here."
"Have you reconciled? Did you sleep together last night? Ms. Yennefer Do you forgive me?"
After hearing these three questions, Yennefer glanced at Dandelion expressionlessly, raised her finger slightly, and the poet classmate covered her throat and coughed violently.
The sorceress glared at Geralt, then left with graceful steps and headed for the king's tent.
It wasn't until the sorceress left that Dandelion's expression began to improve. Then he walked to Geralt with lingering fear, patted his shoulder, looked at him with sympathy, and said:
"Ms. Yennefer still has such a character. Sorceresses are not something ordinary people can bear. Only you demon hunters can bear their love, just like Wayne." "By the way, is our Wayne here too
? Is he also in some sorceress's tent?"
Geralt looked at Dandelion, who was unrepentant and full of lies, with a pained face.
Thinking of being turned into a guard dog by Yennefer and staying in a tent all night last night, he knew that he must not let his fellow poet know about this, otherwise, he would definitely laugh at him for a whole year, or even several years.
So he quickly changed the subject and asked:
"You haven't said yet, why are you not in the academy, but in Holobor."
Mentioning this, Dandelion raised his head proudly and raised his mustache. Said:
"Don't even look at who I am. I am the most talented minstrel and poet in this century. It only took me less than a month to complete all the studies in the first half of the year and get the credits." , and then started my creative journey again."
"A week ago, I heard the news and rushed to Holobor specially. Originally, I would set out with the king to record the entire story of hunting the dragon. Make it into a poem that will be handed down from generation to generation, and let the beautiful girls sing it for me." "
But unexpectedly, the day before departure, a beautiful little widow found me and asked me to help her solve her difficulties. When the next day When I woke up from her bed, the sun had already started to set." "
The widow was so enthusiastic that she missed the time to meet the king. The young king did not wait for me, and I wanted to come on my own. At that time, he was actually stopped outside the ferry bridge by the big-headed soldier, saying that he was not allowed to pass without a pass."
At this point, Dandelion shook his head and said in a tone that the other party did not understand:
" What a stupid head, he almost made the greatest poet of this century miss this dragon-slaying event. Is this kind of character the kind of difficult imp that appears in every story?"
Listening to the poet classmate Balabala talking a lot of nonsense, Geralt looked helpless, but he had no choice. Dandelion was such a person, his mouth was his weapon, and once he started, he couldn't stop at all.
But Geralt didn't hate this feeling. For an unpopular person like him, it felt good to have a friend like Dandelion who was full of enthusiasm.
"So, you know the whole story very well?"
"About the green dragon and why the king was involved in this matter?"
Although it had been a day since he arrived at the dragon hunting camp, Geralt He didn't get much information from anyone. He was sold to Yennefer by Wayne as a guard. He only knew that his target was a green dragon and that he was injured. He knew nothing about other circumstances.
Dandelion raised his eyebrows, laughed, patted his chest, and said,
"It doesn't matter who I am. I am a great poet and minstrel. As long as there is any big event in the Northern Kingdom, I will do it." Arrive as soon as possible."
"And every major event will become my work, accompanied by my singing, spreading my fame to everyone's ears."
Geralt was said by Dandelion's nonsense A little bit unbearable, he patted the poet classmate's shoulder hard and said,
"Let's get down to business, stop talking nonsense."
Seeing that Geralt was getting impatient, Dandelion also gave up the idea of playing the lute. , but said briefly:
"The thing is very simple. About a week ago, a dragon landed outside the city of Holopol. Its body was as big as three horses. It pounced directly on the shepherd's flock from the air, scaring the shepherd's sheep. After taking away the shepherd, he ate four sheep, killed several more, and flew away with the corpses of several sheep."
"Fly away..."
Geralt nodded.
"That's it? What happens next?"
"Of course not."
"The next morning it came back again, this time closer to the city. It swooped down and pounced on the washerwomen on the banks of the Bra River. My friends, they ran away in terror! I have never seen anything so funny in my life. The scene. The dragon circled twice over the city of Holopole, and then flew to a nearby pasture to attack the sheep." "
How much panic and confusion it caused! You know, no one even believed in the shepherd the day before. In human terms...the mayor began to mobilize the militia and guilds in the city, but before he could organize the manpower, the people solved the matter with their own strength." Geralt frowned, he did not believe that
ordinary people could Deal with a dragon flying in the sky. "How to solve it?"
"Using a very common method. A shoemaker named Kozoyed came up with a trick. They killed a sheep and stuffed the sheep's stomach with hemlock, belladonna, and poison hemlock. , sulfur and cobbler's resin. To be on the safe side, the local pharmacist also added two quarts of boiled potion on his own initiative, and then asked the priest of Cliff Temple to bless the sacrifice." "Then they tied the
sheep Go to the wooden stake and put it into the flock. To be honest, no one believed that the dragon would choose this smelly dead sheep among a thousand sheep, but the result was beyond everyone's expectation. Others All the sheep were alive and well, but this one was swallowed by it together with the stake."
Dandelion spoke in great detail, and perhaps this was what he had witnessed with his own eyes.
"It wasn't long before the skilled men were able to undo the women's corsets that the dragon began to roar, puffing smoke from its mouth and buttocks. Then it rolled over and tried to fly away, but It fell down and stopped moving."
"Two people volunteered to run over and test whether it was still breathing. One of them was a local gravedigger and the other was an idiot in the village." "We later built
a building for them A small but very beautiful tomb."
Geralt knew that the green dragon was still alive, otherwise he would not have established the current dragon hunting team.
"So, is the green dragon pretending to be dead?"
"That's right."
Dandelion replied happily:
"It was still alive, but too weak to swallow the gravediggers and idiots. It just drank their blood, and then flew... Although it flew reluctantly, it still worried everyone. That one Every time the dragon flutters a cubit or two, it roars down, then takes off again. Sometimes it can only crawl forward on its hind legs. The braver ones follow not far away to keep it out of sight. What happens next You must not have imagined it."
"The dragon jumped into the canyon of the Great Kestrel Mountains, not far from the source of the Bra River. It has been hiding in the cave there." "
Dragon lair?"
Geralt understood, Why do so many people gather here? The treasure in the dragon's lair has always been a legend known to everyone. Every adventurer, farmer, noble, and even king has heard such stories.
He nodded and said:
"I understand why the soldiers blocked the bridge. Someone wants to monopolize the treasure, and that person is Niedamir of Kangonen." "
That's right." The bard nodded, "The entire Hogwarts This caused Loper to stir up trouble. They felt that the dragon's treasure should belong to them, but they did not dare to openly oppose Niedamir. The king was a young fool, and his mouth was just starting to grow hair, but he knew how to make people Awe. Niedamir wanted the dragon more than anything else, which is why he acted so quickly."
Geralt frowned when he heard this, looked back at the gorgeous king's tent, and asked with some confusion :
"I don't think a king would go to great lengths to slay a dragon in person just for an illusory treasure!" "
Is there any other reason?"
Dandelion smiled proudly, as a A very famous poet who knows more than ordinary people.
"I believe that he is more interested in dragons than treasures. Because if you think about it, Niedamir has been coveting the Duchy of Malur for a long time. After the prince of the duchy died mysteriously, there was only one princess left who was of marriageable age. . But the powerful people in the Principality of Malur are not optimistic about Niedamir and other suitors."
"Because they knew that the new people in power would definitely reduce their power, and the young princess was soft-eared and could not cope with this situation. For this reason, the ministers in the palace dug out an old prophecy book that was gathering dust, It said that the crown and the princess's jade hands only belong to those who conquer the dragon. They believe that this can maintain the status quo, because no one has seen a dragon in the surrounding area for a long time." "Niedamir doesn't care about prophecies at all
. He tried his best to conquer the Malur Principality by force, but the news that there was a dragon in Holopole reached his ears, making him realize that this was a good opportunity to make the Malur nobles speechless."
"If he can bring the dragon's head back to Maliul with great pride, people will welcome him like a king sent by the gods, and those powerful people will no longer complain." "So
, He will definitely look for the dragon like a cat looking for a mouse. Not to mention that the dragon is struggling to even crawl now. For Niedamir, this is a God-given opportunity, fate is smiling on him. Damn it.
" After Dandelion's explanation, Geralt couldn't help but frown and let out a breath. As expected, this matter involved politics again, and it was still about the fight for the throne.
Every few years, this kind of thing always happens on the northern continent. The nobles start a war for power, and then leave dozens of corpses of peasants, leaving a group of orphans and widows, and then attract a group of monsters.
Geralt was already numb to such things.
He waved to Dandelion. Now that Yennefer was going to meet the king, he did not need his escort. He was going to take his fellow poet to the tent for a drink.
That's the sorceress's wine.
However, Yennefer has never been stingy with these external things, so drinking one or two bottles should be fine.
At this moment, the king's tent was opened from the inside, and a tall, proud man dressed as a warrior, wearing a purple velvet tunic and a short jacket decorated with sable fur was driven out.
He also shouted:
"Dragon is an endangered animal. Killing it will only bring disaster to us. Countless examples have proved this."
"As a king, you should understand this truth instead of destroying the balance of nature for personal gain."
Looking at this man who was dressed in luxurious clothes but was driven out by the guards, Geralt raised his eyebrows and asked Dandeli En asked:
"Who is this guy? The balance of nature, is he a Druid believer?"
The poet classmate shook his head mysteriously, smiled, and said:
"This is the magician, Dorrega Lei. Master, it is because of his help that I can come here without a pass."
(End of Chapter)