Chapter 24

"... and you have my personal promise that the men who turned their backs on their duty will be stripped of their ranks and be punished most thoroughly, mi'lord." The guard captain sucked up the best he could to Roland, who had been able to get out of his armor, his wound treated, and had done his level best to grind the man down with words alone regarding the failings of his underlings.

Ivar and I meanwhile were making sure all of our belongings were accounted for and that the guards who had arrested us didn't take anything off the top in the short time we were locked up in the main guard barracks.

"What a total waste of time and what coin this town spends on making sure it's law enforcement actually does its job. At least we only had a little under an hour in the stinking cell together along with a pickpocket and a fisstech junkie." I muttered to myself as I requipped my swords to my back and Ivar stuffed his notes in his travel bag.

"It wasn't all bad, said junkie had some rather deep ideas about monsters I should explore at a later date. Such as if ghouls could be made docile if fed the rotten bodies of farm animals as opposed to people. 'Dead meat is dead meat' as he put it." Ivar, ever positive, pointed out.

"He also kept counting the number of bricks in the cell and lost count every ten seconds, being spaced out on drugs doesn't turn you into a sage." I countered as we rejoined Roland. Dogmeat was by the knight's side and was apparently a hit with the local guards and planned to keep her till we were cleared of the charges against us. Thank whatever power that was listening that self-defense claimed by a knight of a major knightly order carried a lot of weight.

"However… I will have to ask that the Witcher leave town as soon as possible. Even with your word mi'lord most will not take news of a Witcher cutting down over a dozen men well since the last one years ago." The captain sounded actually apologetic, though more to Roland than me.

"Was already planning to leave tomorrow, nearly today really, since I've done my good deed for this town and have learned the lesson slower than I should've that I should have just stayed away in the first place." I grumbled. After this experience I was going to work harder to keep my head down when needed, though I had doubts on whether I could follow through on that.

"Very well, it shames me that I must leave you in such a fashion but I must return to my men since I have been gone longer than expected. Please pass on the message you are delivering to your ship captain and its importance."

"I will. It was an honor to meet a knight such as yourself, Ser Roland." I said honestly.

"And it was an honor fighting alongside you, Master Markus. I hope we can do so again in the future."

We grabbed one another's forearms at that.

"And I hope your research goes well, Master Ivar. The world always needs bright minds with good hearts to guide it."

"That's the plan!" Ivar cheerfully said as he also bid farewell to Roland.

There was just one last person to say bye to.

---

"Witchyman out now? Alls is goods?" Bolt asked from his seated spot outside the barracks as the guards were given orders to let him go as well. Not that they could have held him if I hadn't asked Bolt to cooperate and wait patiently since they couldn't fit him in a cell.

"All good, and we are heading off so you best be going back to your boss and doing the same." I told the troll.

"Bolt do that. Bossyman said would sit on gate home, not big enough to do that though. Bolt go back to farm to carry bulls, more gently now. Bolt keep eyes open for anymore bad humies, will learn to even when sleeps!" Bolt said with determination.

"I'm sure they've learned their lesson, but it never hurts to be safe." I agreed.

"Bolt not sure will see Witchyman again. Bolt wish you safe over big water that taste bad. Bolt hopes sees you again, along with small doggo and talkyman."

"Who is talkyman?" Ivar asked and I had to keep myself from laughing at the weird look Bolt gave him.

"I hope we do as well Bolt." I said earnestly and we parted ways with the troll and headed back to the docks, this time without issue.

---

The Wave Rider left Blaviken less than 24 hours later and continued its journey down the western coast of the Continent.

Other than informing the captain of my newest parcel and exercising Griffin a bit I refused to do anything else and slept most of the day after being mentally exhausted. Felt like I spent weeks in town as opposed to the few days it really was. It was also a lesson in the future not to let my nerdish endanger my life in entering an area I knew was likely going to be trouble for me and dump me into more danger than I could deal with.

And yet… I didn't regret most of my actions even if they were stupid and dangerous since at least the results were things I could agree with. Still, I really needed to rethink things and I obviously could not totally trust my overly biased mind so as I rested I came to a conclusion that I needed another person to go over my decisions to at least offer some other insight. That would be Ivar, and it also meant that I needed to provide context which meant… I had to tell the whole truth.

"Hey Ivar, you got a couple minutes?" I asked the scholar from his own hammock or looked over in confusion.

"Oh? Actively coming to me about something? Should I be worried?" Ivar joked.

"Yes, since what I am about to say will possibly give you an existential crisis but is important since I need a second opinion about how I do things going forward. I won't sugarcoat things, so you up for it?"

"Huh, let me get another journal ready." Ivar turned over to reach into his bag and brought out a new blank journal and quill at the ready. "Where do we start?"

"From when I woke up in a body not my own.

---

*About 30 minutes later.*

"...and that is how we are here." I finished.

I think at some point Ivar fell out of his hammock in shock and was now just staring at me blankly.

"I… have… so many QUESTIONS!!!" was his predictable response.

I sighed. "I figured, and I am not going anywhere so feel free to go nuts. Though I guess to give some background we have this idea back home of the many-worlds interpretation/multiverse theory which you know as fact here due to the Conjunction of the Spheres…" I began.

It went without saying that me and Ivar spent lots of time in the hold till we finally reached Roggeven.