Chapter 7: Noble Crypt
After getting the information he wanted, Kiliman's mood relaxed considerably.
He casually took the cherry mead offered by the innkeeper, took a sip, and continued to ask:
"Are there any witcher contracts in this village?"
"I'll be staying here for a few days. If there are any contracts, I can give them a try."
The innkeeper was not surprised by his words, seemingly having already guessed his identity as a witcher. She merely continued preparing the food, a hint of teasing, almost mocking, on her face as she replied:
"The whole world is at war right now, and the King's tax collectors come again and again. Everyone's money has long since dwindled to almost nothing."
"Outsider, if you're willing to work for free, then there are quite a few tasks in the village that need your help."
"But if you're looking to earn money, I'm afraid only the lord of White Orchard can afford to hire you."
Kiliman had only asked casually, not expecting much.
No matter the era, poverty was the most terrifying thing. Unless their lives were truly at risk, ordinary people would rather face more danger than pay for such risks.
This was why, even though monsters ran rampant in many places, witchers often couldn't find work.
Everyone was too poor, their pockets emptier than their faces, simply unable to afford a witcher.
Of course, Kiliman wasn't willing to work for free; he didn't have Geralt's strong sense of justice.
So he picked up the food he ordered, ready to leave, when he suddenly heard the innkeeper say again:
"However, you could go see the herbalist Tomira, or the dwarf blacksmith Willis."
"I've heard some rumors recently that they seem to need help, and you might be able to get a contract from them."
A herbalist and a dwarf blacksmith?
They seemed to be two characters who had appeared in the game's main storyline.
Considering he still had a pile of beast hides and forest produce in his inventory that he could sell, Kiliman felt that even without a contract, it was worth visiting these two.
He smiled and nodded at the innkeeper, thanking her for the information, then found a table. While leisurely enjoying his lunch, he used his keen witcher hearing to eavesdrop on the conversations around him.
Unfortunately, these patrons were all ordinary people, and their conversations were not extensive. They were either trivial matters or utterly worthless content.
The only thing that caught his attention was a merchant and a scholar discussing a plague that seemed to have broken out in Vizima, on a large scale. Many people had already fallen ill and were in urgent need of treatment.
The Order of the Flaming Rose had already issued orders to restrict the movement of people, so it would likely be quite difficult to enter Vizima directly during this period. One would need a pass or a reputable person to vouch for them.
However, that was a matter to consider later.
Next, Kiliman spent half the afternoon exploring White Orchard village, visiting the herbalist Tomira and the dwarf blacksmith Willis.
The former was a beautiful female herbalist in her twenties, while the latter was a strong, bearded dwarf.
He sold all the spoils he had obtained from the three hunters to them, keeping only what he needed.
Then he bought some herbs from the herbalist and had his witcher silver sword re-plated with a layer of silver. His funds reached over two hundred and fifty orens, making him somewhat wealthy.
Yes, that's right.
Kiliman's most valuable silver sword was merely a high-quality Temerian longsword plated with a layer of silver.
After every battle, it needed to be taken to the blacksmith for repairs, otherwise, it would lose its ability to deal weak point damage to monsters.
True witcher longswords, however, were not only expensive to make but also required specialized blueprints.
At least at this stage, he couldn't get his hands on such good items.
That's why Kiliman made White Orchard his top priority. His goal was the Viper School gear blueprints on Kolgrim's body... At dusk, the setting sun cast a golden glow over the land.
Kiliman arrived alone near the noble cemetery outside White Orchard village, already prepared for battle.
White Orchard's current lord was named Ignacius Verileth, a baronet of the Kingdom of Temeria, almost the lowest-ranking noble apart from the knight class.
However, even so, as a long-standing noble family, the Verileth family crypt was quite large. The outer cemetery alone had over a hundred gravestones standing, and a beautiful marble statue adorned the graveyard.
The core members of their family, however, were buried in the deeper underground crypts, preserved quite well.
Kiliman also had some understanding of this White Orchard lord.
He was, in a way, an unlucky fellow.
As a noble, his own management abilities were a mess, his territory was small, and his living conditions were not much better than many wealthy merchants; he could only be considered a country noble.
Facing the current war situation, a country noble like him had no power to resist and could only drift with the tide, at the mercy of others. So, he was constantly depressed and under great stress.
Even more infuriating was that his only son had a problematic sexual orientation; he not only liked men but also got involved with their family hunter, often meeting secretly in the manor and engaging in unspeakable acts.
When the lord discovered this, he was greatly enraged. He immediately banished the hunter and prepared to properly educate his son. However, to his surprise, his son hanged himself.
The death of his only heir signified the end of the Verileth family bloodline, losing its inheritance.
This made the over fifty-year-old lord completely give up on himself, turning into an alcoholic, reckless, and muddled old man.
In the subsequent period, he brought much suffering to the people of White Orchard, causing many tragedies.
Several quests in the game's White Orchard area were related to this foolish noble lord.
Perhaps this was also why Kolgrim was sent into the crypt as a scapegoat.
Kiliman recalled the information he knew, while also looking towards the crypt, searching for traces of the enemy.
Unfortunately, wraiths were a very special type of monster.
They could not only turn invisible, unnoticed by ordinary people, but also possessed higher intelligence than common monsters, belonging to a more dangerous class among low-level monsters.
If ordinary people were not prepared with items to counter wraiths, they would simply be slaughtered when facing them.
Even an experienced witcher like Kolgrim could be overwhelmed by a group of wraiths due to insufficient preparation.
Although Kiliman was confident, he also had to act carefully, otherwise, there might be two witchers lying in this crypt.
After observing for several minutes without results, he no longer hesitated. Gripping his silver sword tightly, he applied the wraith oil, which he had refined at great expense, to the blade, then stepped into the cemetery.
Barely a few meters into the cemetery, before he could even adapt to the terrain, a chilling wind enveloped him.
Uh! Uh! Uh!
Accompanied by cold whimpering sounds, a terrifying, translucent ghost, clad in tattered clothes, appeared before him.