Isle of Balfiera.

—

[Thirty minutes later.]

Seeing the furious mother on the deck of the ship looking at the dead body of the Dark Brotherhood members, with electricity crackling around her and the clouds in the sky becoming darker from the aftereffect of her turbulent emotion, William is lucky that Ciri decided to defend and hide that stupidity that he did just because he wanted to lift her mood from the furious mother.

With a wave of her hand, all of the dead bodies turn into ashes from the Aerotheurge magic, yes, William is indeed very lucky to have dodged the bullet. A bullet that would make his life miserable since he will made an enemy out of the third strongest sorceress that ever lived, and in extension, the whole Nilfgaardian as a whole, a very, very bad start to develop a relationship.

"You, how long have you been with these crew members?! Answer honestly and I just might not burn you alive!"

Gulping saliva, the captain of the ship answers honestly, "Y-yes, ma'am. T-they are n-new recruits t-that entered the army t-three years ago. T-they come from S-Skyrim, trying to e-escape the civil war. T-they think it is p-pointless to point the b-blade at one a-another."

"Hahahaha, I see, now I see. Astrid, oh Astrid… You think you can play two boards at the same time? Hahahaha, ridiculous."

Opening up a portal, Yennefer turned toward Ciri, who is already drinking alcoholic content since waking up, saying, "Come, Ciri. We will leave this place."

Nodding her head, Ciri says goodbye to everyone and steps up into the portal, "Adios, my dear choombattas."

—

After that little episode concerning the furious mother and Dark Brotherhood that seemingly are on the precipice of returning to their glory days, William makes his way toward the room where Vivienne is still lying unconscious, ignoring the strewn-out bodies that still have not yet been cleaned up. But, arriving at the location and seeing the pale lady already waking up and trotting her way out of the room, he quickly catches up to her and offers her a hand.

"Let me help you."

"Thanks."

"..."

"Let's go to your room first."

With one hand over her shoulder, helping her to walk straight, William then starts to make his way into Vivienne's room in quiet silence, unable to think of words to apologize to her for his blunder that almost took out his best friend's life. But decided to come clean since he doesn't want their relationship to be broken; his words are cut short, since apparently, the lady already knows everything before he tried to cover up the incident.

"Ciri is like that because—"

"I know."

"..."

"And, I am mad."

"..."

"Oh darling… Why do you need to reinforce someone else's bad habit?"

Sighing, because he himself doesn't know what he was doing at that time, following the simple reason for the pitfall "I can fix her" type of thinking, William answers, "I don't know. I thought maybe because if I give her what she wants, she will open up to me more, and give everything to me, something along those lines."

Letting out a distressed breath, Vivienne shakes her head, saying, "You and your manipulative type of thinking."

Frowning because he himself is unaware, William just thinks in silence for the duration of the way, until they arrive in her cabin rooms. Shaking his head to come out of contemplation, he then brews a hot tea for Vivienne that already lies down in bed, still having a paleness in her face.

"So? Who are the attackers?"

"It's the Dark Brotherhood."

"Is that the group of assassins that is rumored to have assassinated Emperor Titus Mede II? Hmm, hmm. It seems the organization has been aided by the Dominion to once again spread menace in Tamriel."

"Yes, they are. And currently, if my deduction is right, hearing exclamations from the Emperor Mage Advisor, I think we will most likely cross paths with one another in Skyrim. Since, their base operation starts from there."

Remembering that she can only deal with eleven of them at the same time, even then that is the toughest and hairiest confrontation she has ever experienced, Vivienne lets out a small utterance, "I don't know if I can keep up with more of them. Especially when I want to sleep in peace."

—

[20 days later, Iliac Bay.]

Looking at the countless black-flagged ships with a white sun logo in the center all around them, moving back and forth, wanting to patrol on the Eltheric Ocean, since that place is the hot spot for the next war that will happen two years from now, William sets his sight into the distance at the clean white-silver building towering high into the lofty sky.

Adamantine Tower is her name, a place that was once known as Direnni Tower, from the distant legend of the dynasty that once stood, that has already become history in the antiquity of the insular and isolationist Direnni clan.

Now occupied and claimed as their base of operation by the self-proclaimed High Queen of High Rock and Sovereign of the Eternal Empire, to govern over their subjects that stretch from one continent to another, from the mystical one and the conventional one.

The closer their fleets get to the Island of Balfiera, the more William can see the grandeur that this place has to offer.

A newly built harbor houses a myriad of ship types, from small frigates to the largest galleons that can easily accommodate about a dozen thousand or more oceanic vessels. Rows upon rows of houses create a small coastal city that seems to have just been opened for anyone to live in, with some of them constructed in the style of Yokudans.

Maple trees with three different colors—green, yellow, and orange—dot the landscape beyond the initial palm trees on the beach, creating a harmonious scene for whoever steps onto the island. A semi-white castle stands on a far distant landmass, with the wall itself narrating the rich history and giving the impression of entering one of the grand ruins of old.

Hippogriffs fly through the sky, playing and dancing, with some of them carrying Direnni Altmer and Bretons on their mounted backs, ranging from young teenagers to veterans hundreds of years old. Two newly built towers to the east and west of their counterparts in the middle, with two other structures currently under construction, feature a similar design, evident in the wooden framework that is still present.

Elemental summons walk around the isle, ranging from the classic Atronachs in the franchise to the newly-developed ones made out of pure oceanic water, with some of them even the long-lost obscure types such as Shadow and Flesh, which are banned in most regions of Tamriel.

Winter area that differentiates from the summer season present in all of the entirety of Balfiera, manifesting anomalies of kaleidoscopic natural phenomena, from blizzards that can demolish every kind of building to the beautiful aurora that graces the area with its otherworldly presence, contained by the massive ward barrier produced by the Eye, which has already been teleported out since the bait plan has already been foiled.

And many, many more activities, ranging from conventional to mystical affairs, that William himself has lost count of and couldn't keep track of just from the sheer number of them. With some of the conventional activities even involving mounting a firearm mortar in some parts of the castle, making him realize that Ciri has already spilled the beans on some of the basic knowledge from her modern world travels.

But remembering months ago during the battle of the sea with the Wild Hunt army, where they were already using this mystical upgraded version of conventional activities, he knew Nilfgaardians also had access to this modern world knowledge through the proxy of Ciri.

Then, realizing the fact that this fourth era in the Tamrielic calendar is about to go hectic since it will be a battle of which side has the most advanced knowledge of them all, William's sight couldn't help but turn toward the many migrated College students who will occupy the newly built tower in the distance.

"Damn, they are cunning."

Since he cannot do what these two factions did due to the lack of productivity ready at his disposal, and not being motivated to progress the conventional knowledge of the people in this world, as he realizes he is too selfish to share it with others and can easily arouse suspicions that drag the magically gifted beautiful lady to examine him on the operating table, William only lets out a whistle of amazement for this two factions progress in knowledge and prays to the Eternal Fire that it will not come to a magical version of the Fallout event.

But he knows sooner or later it will come to that, which is why, after meeting the Emperor, he will immediately go to the Labyrinthian and hold the detonator for himself, since it has not yet been claimed by anyone. Once again, selfish, yes, but that is the only choice for his mind to be put at ease, simple reason as that.

—