Chapter #60

Once Zeno left the former village he quickly rode towards the Lixela river. This river passes through Ard Carraigh and ends up joining the Pontar river down south.

Zeno planned on following the river until Pontar while stopping at some places to see if there was any witcher work.

It's not that he needs the money but he still needs live specimens to understand monsters better and consume them more efficiently.

As most of them being creatures of Chaos, Zeno must learn how they tick before he could actually benefit from consuming them. As it is now he is just expanding his gene pool but without getting the magical enhancements the monsters are having.

Zeno can't really explain the reasoning but in short he is just wasting the food with how he is consuming the monsters.

For example consuming that succubus minus her head, which was a revolting experience since he had to make sure it was cleaned completely off his bodily liquids, only resulted in him refining his looks.(AN: Says he can't really explain, then proceeds to explain it anyway… My genius, it even frightens me.)

He didn't get anything like a magical charm or seduction spells nor any bodily enhancements like being able to turn his lower half into that of a goat.

'At least I can consume them unlike Sorcerers.' Zeno shuddered remembering the taste.

______

The road Zeno took was safe as he didn't want to dally too long lest the head of the succubus starts rotting.

He didn't have any need to eat not Jean as she too was capable of living without food or water, they made good distance and arrived at Ard Carraigh in record time.

The first thing Zeno did once coming to the capital city was to see how the guard would react to him. After all, the only thing pointing at his identity was his slit pupils.

Zeno's precautions proved unnecessary as the guards didn't even bother to look at his face after seeing he wasn't carrying anything other than some bags on his saddle.

Zeno was sure they saw the bloody bag containing the head of the succubus but he figured guards mistook it as fresh game.

The city was exactly as Zeno remembered from the last time he was here, though the last time it was evening when he came.

The city looked much better in the morning but Zeno being a basic plain person didn't care about the medieval beauty of it and went to the cheapest inn.

He could certainly ask around to see if there was a contract on the succubus but he figured it would be better if he gathered some intel first.

Reaction of the king that Zeno didn't bother to remember his name was important to revealing his profession as Vesemir had warned them repeatedly about entering Ard Carraigh during the next decade.

'Man, he's going to be so pissed that his face is going to go red.' Zeno thought while ordering a beer for himself.

{Are you going to use forged and basically illegal coins to pay for that?} Ouryuu was curious more than anything.

'Please don't speak like the coin I make is counterfeit and worth less than the real thing. You can even melt it and make jewelry out of it.' Zeno rebuked him.

[Meh, technically we're increasing their gold reserves. They should be thanking us.] System commented as Zeno's order arrived.

The beer tasted like shit but Zeno drank it like it's water. In the meantime he eavesdrops on the people.

System filtered out the useless shit like whom screwed whose wife when and where or whose dog just gave birth.

Indeed there was some talk about people planning on sending scouts to the village to see if something had happened but the pay grade of the inn didn't provide much intel for Zeno.

There were some people talking about ghosts and the like but considering the smell of heavy drugs on them Zeno doubted their validity.

Seeing that he can't get more intel from here Zeno moved on, this time going to a better inn with wealthier customers.

_______

Zeno has been in Ard Carraigh for a day so far, he had learned that King was convinced by his court mages that witchers at the keep were of no concern since Tetra had testified that the senior Witchers who got involved in mutating monsters have all been killed.

It surprised Zeno but not for long as he guessed that Tetra was trying to garner his goodwill in hopes of getting her connection to Chaos back.

Too bad Zeno had no idea how he cut her connection off in the first place let alone fixing the damage.

Anyhow, Zeno was able to reveal his wolf medallion without fearing he'll be entangled in some political bullshit.

His next step naturally was to find the the captain of the guardsman, which was hard to do if one stupidly asked a random guard.

Zeno observed them and the chain of command before making an educated guess on who is the captain before approaching him.

[And he calls himself lazy...] System deadpanned.

"Hello sir, may I have a talk with you? It is about the village on the hills right after leaving the north gate." Zeno approached the guard, his medallion on display.

He even had two swords on his back to further prove his identity lest the captain was too slow.

"A Witcher?! I guess you don't come with good news..." The captain was surprised but his surprise turned somber as he looked at the bloody bag Zeno was carrying.

"Unfortunately, the village was slaughtered by a particularly nasty succubus, she apparently seduced the man to kill the women and children before sucking them dry herself." Zeno relayed the information he got from the aftermath.

"By the gods! Please tell me that monster was killed." Guard exclaimed.

"Yeah, I ran into her on my way there. She is slain properly trust me, I tended to the dead at the village as well. No need to worry about any of them turning into wraiths." Zeno explained.

"Good, good. We didn't have a contract for the succubus but I am sure that the king wouldn't let you go without a reward." Guard patted Zeno on the shoulder with an encouraging smile.

Zeno sighed knowing the guard was being friendly due to him being short and his youthful looks but he let it slide.

"I think I will make due without the King hearing about a witcher in his city." Zeno replied dryly.

"Ah! It's been months since that incident. It slipped my mind but don't worry unless you're the wicked one who used the bodies of the dead to send a message you'll be okay." Guard smiled warmly at him once more.

'Ah what a courageous little Witcher, I bet he is one from the last batch. Look how innocent he looks, he didn't even wear his armor fearing people might be scared.' Captain felt like adopting the blonde youth that looked no older than his own son.

Zeno felt like crying...

______

Zeno, trusting his immortality and innocent looks, allowed Captain to go and inform the King and decided to stick around.

Captain assured him that he will be getting paid once the scouts confirm Zeno's testimony but it might take around a week.

Luckily Zeno mentioned burning the succubus to ashes so they shouldn't be looking for a body, he just hoped that he didn't leave any magical traces of their 'fight' otherwise he'll have to explain a lot.

In the meanwhile Zeno decided to go to a high class tavern, usually frequented by wealthy merchants and traveling sorcerers and enchantresses.

He felt like he was going in a minefield but figured it was worth having a better bed, just because he can live without comfort didn't mean he prefered to live like a caveman.

Though he looked out of place since he was still carrying his prop Witcher swords and his clothing didn't exactly look expensive.

So he paid in advance for a week's stay and made his way to the bar hoping to find something that didn't taste like shit to his sense of taste.

Soon he was drinking some vodka mixed with apple juice and heavy amounts of honey, the barkeeper barely held back his vomit after hearing the order.

[Maybe he'll find something tasty if he stops ordering weird shit...] System sighed.

{...} Ouryuu.

"Oh a witcher, just when I required one. Ah it must be destiny!" Just then Zeno heard a melodious voice right next to him.

Slowly turning towards the source of the voice he was met with the young visage of none other than Sabrina Glevissig in all her redhead glory.

'It truly must be destiny if I actually missed her on my way to the bar…' Zeno retorted in his head.

<No! It cannot be! Why is she the game version!? I demand a blonde Waifu!> The dragon let out a mournful roar.