System of the Beast Slayer [litrpg Adventure]
Copyright© 1999 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 284: The Price of a Noble Promise
Northwest of Oxenfurt, near the river mouth, stood a building.
Behind its black iron door lay a spacious hall.
Empty wine bottles and food scraps covered the floor. The air stank of sour rot, overnight meat and spilled wine left to ferment. Plainly, a grand revel had been held in this house not long ago.
After the revel, most of the guests had left. Only one drunk remained in the hall, lying amid a heap of bottles, smacking his lips and snoring thunderously.
He looked to be in his twenties and wore an unusual mohawk. Except for a tuft of black hair like a ponytail on the crown of his head, the rest had been shaved clean and glossy.
His strong body was wrapped in an open-chested, sleeveless leather jacket, decorated with fine patterns, exposing well-developed pectorals and arm muscles. His face was fierce and hard, plainly no decent sort at first glance.
“Urp...” The man belched, breathing out a mouthful of foul wine stink, and muttered like a dreamer, “I, Vlodimir von Everec ... will restore ... urp ... restore the von Everec family!”
“Snore...”
“Snore...”
The front door was suddenly pushed open. A stout man over two yards tall strode in, panting as he came to the drunkard’s side and shook his arm.
“Boss Vlodimir von Everec, wake up, something’s gone wrong!”
“Snore...”
“If you keep sleeping, our plan’s done for!” The man rubbed his hands anxiously, then simply picked up a wine bottle and poured the remaining liquor over the drunkard’s face.
“Snore ... mm ... mm...” The drunkard shuddered all over, gave a strange cry, and abruptly sat up from the floor, eyes glaring wide.
“Who dares make sport of me? Tired of living?”
“Boss Vlodimir von Everec, it’s me, Barrel Punk.” A trace of fear flashed through the fat man’s eyes. “I have important news to report. I did not mean to disturb your sleep.”
“What important news?” Vlodimir von Everec rubbed his swollen, hungover cheeks and muttered as he snatched the bottle from the burly man’s hand. He shook it, poured the pitiful few drops left at the bottom onto his tongue. “You woke me from a fine dream. If your answer doesn’t satisfy me ... don’t expect a single copper from this business.”
“Something happened at Oxenfurt Academy ... This morning, brothers sent word back. That thing Linus Pitt gathered all the students from the natural history department and questioned them one by one. They must have found Whistleshaw’s corpse.”
Hearing this, Vlodimir von Everec patted Barrel’s swollen belly with the back of his hand.
“My dear cousin, such a small thing has your head smoking? You grew that big and still have no steadiness in you?” Vlodimir von Everec put one hand on his hip, leaned slantwise against the wall, and said lightly, “It’s been a week. Counting the time, even if the school is slow, they should have found some traces by now. But trust me, they won’t get anything useful out of those questions, and they won’t affect the gang’s work...” Vlodimir von Everec said. “Besides, the medicine the gang bought in Novigrad arrived last night. Now all we lack is the right chance.”
Vlodimir von Everec spoke with longing. “Once we deliver the ‘goods’ to that great personage, the brothers won’t need to worry about money for years. The great von Everec family will also get through this crisis safely...” Vlodimir von Everec smiled. “And my dearest brother will no longer be tearing his hair out over coin.”
“Boss Vlodimir von Everec...” Barrel said hesitantly. “But I heard Witchers have gotten mixed up in this. Those freaks are spoken of like something out of legend. I fear they may find some clue, and then the plan will be ruined...”
“Shut that crow’s beak of yours.” Vlodimir von Everec’s face hardened, and a vicious light showed in his eyes. Like a lion waking from sleep, his formerly lazy manner became utterly grave. “Since when did Oxenfurt have Witchers, and no one told me? Have the brothers grown this slack?”
The burly Barrel muttered inwardly. Who was it that held a victory feast early last night?
“Yesterday ... they only entered town yesterday.”
“Not earlier, not later, but just at this time, they come to make trouble.” Vlodimir von Everec drew a deep breath and paced a few steps where he stood. “Barrel, go to the gang at once and find a few clever brothers. Have them watch outside the Philosopher’s Gate and report to me at any time. As long as the Witchers haven’t discovered our true target, leave them alone. Otherwise, we strike first and let these mutants taste the strength of the Wild Boar Army.”
Barrel Punk felt uneasy. He had heard many unbelievable rumors about Witchers, one man against a hundred, a bloody cleansing of Lello, the slaughter of Blaviken. Could the gang’s forty or fifty brothers truly deal with them?
“Boss Vlodimir von Everec, should we tell the big boss first and hear his opinion?”
“Our dearest elder brother still has to contact the great buyer. He cannot free himself. When he returns, I will inform him myself. For now, everything goes by my orders. Understand?”
...
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