Camping near Vizima

The next morning, Vincent stood up fully recovered as his three women were laying naked on the bed with Yennefer holding her hips feeling sore.

"Why do I feel this sore from having sex?" asks Yennefer herself as she could barely walk at the moment.

"That happens the first few times. Here drink this you will be good as new by tomorrow," says Mina handing Yennefer a potion in a yellow vial.

Yennefer looks at it when she opens the vial and smells the sweetness coming from it when Mako says, "It's a potion we give the children that start their training since they would be sore all over their body the next day. Normally we hand them over the same night so the children don't feel the soreness but if we did the same with you, you would have thought that we were joking around that you wouldn't be able to move today."

"I think you three should rest for today and go tomorrow Vengenberg. Can't have Yennefer fall the stairs down," says Vincent as he put his armor on.

He kisses the three before walking to the door. He leaves the room as he walks into the hall seeing Lucia and his other children. He sits down beside them as they were eating a light breakfast with the others.

"You are finally up," says Lucia to her father who hadn't let her sleep much.

"I was busy recovering my strength," says Vincent as he took some of his dried-up meat out to eat.

"You are eating military food and you are not cold-blooded something is wrong," says Naosane feeling suspicious as Vincent ignored his son.

"What is the plan?" asks Vincent to Lucia as Lucia stopped eating.

"The remaining people will dissolve it seems only Vesemir, Triss, Hjalmar, Mousesack, Avallac'h, and Zoltan will be going to Novigrad with us. We will wait there for you and the Black Emperor to set sail to Skellige. I heard from Hjalmar that Skellige has a similar culture as the Nords of Skyrim. It will be nice to find that out," says Lucia as she was still a Nord deep inside her heart.

"Then we will meet there. I will have some things to deal with before arriving at Novigrad. One would be to meet Adda while the other would be to see if the old ship can still fight a naval battle," says Vincent as he chewed on his meat.

"I just hope that the commander of the operation can keep a clear head or I will have to replace him," says Vincent as he looked at Geralt who seemed to stare at him.

"He is just curious about you," says Lucia as Vincent finished his meal.

"He shouldn't if he knows what is good for him. If he walks the same path I walk he will either turn crazy or die," says Vincent as he could see through Geralt's facade and see that he is a kind man that does what he thinks is right.

Vincent, on the other hand, would kill a whole nation just so the morale of his enemy falls to the ground and once there he would step on it burying it underneath it.

"But we shouldn't talk about this. I hope Vesemir and Mousesack can develop a plan before we arrive at Novigrad. I don't want to think too much since we will have new enemies beginning today and I don't think that this World is ready for what is coming for them," says Vincent as a glance of his cold-self revealed itself for a moment before Vincent snapped out of it.

But this small moment made everyone drop what they were holding as they thought they were on a battlefield for a moment while the children of Vincent continued as nothing happened at all.

"What was that?" asks Geralt as he started at Ciri who didn't know it herself.

"That was my father's war-mode or cold-self. He must have been thinking about something related to war that's why he accidentally released his aura. Don't be scared of it except you are his enemy then you have the right to be it since once a war starts he will be like that until the war is over. So let me give you a tip, it isn't cowardly to surrender to him while he still asks for it. And now sit down," says Orug that was sitting across from Ciri, Triss, and Geralt.

"What do you mean?" asks Vernon Roche who was sitting again with Ves beside the Orc.

"I mean that I have seen him burn a whole nation. Not one survived that slaughter as an army of Dragon burned the nation down. Children, Women, Elderly, no one survived that onslaught," says Orug remembering the flames he was seeing from the ship that was sailing towards Rivain.

"Why did he do that?" asks Geralt as he saw no sense in that making Orug look at him seriously.

"You are thinking it makes no sense to do that, but did you know that two nations fell without us losing one man. My father is a man that intimidates his enemies by making something that they think he wouldn't do. When his enemy heard of it they rather surrendered instead of facing Genocide," says Orug as he looked at Vernon and Ves.

"Once the war begins, I hope you decide the right side because I will be on the battlefield and I won't be able to show you mercy if you are on the other side. Even more, I will be forced to hang you on spikes to show you off to the enemy so they get demoralized by seeing you like that," says Orug warning the two as he didn't want to kill people that fought beside him before.

"That goes not only for me but also everyone else sitting on this table. Choose your side wisely when it is time and maybe you will attain something that you are fighting for right now," says Orug as he then looks at his food and finishes it.

"Thanks for the warning, I guess," says Roche as he didn't have an appetite after hearing what Orug said putting his plate to the side followed by Ciri and Ves.

Geralt on the other hand finished his plate while thinking about what Orug said.

After finishing eating Vincent was waiting for Geralt and Ciri outside in the courtyard as he opened a rift to bring Behemoth from Vengenberg so he didn't have to rely on a horse. Vincent really hates horse riding if there was another possibility to reach his destination since he would get a stiff body after riding for too long on a horse.

Behemoth was standing proudly in the courtyard as Vincent was petting him while asking, "Ready for our next adventure?"

Behemoth nods making Vincent smile as Ciri and Geralt join him. Geralt sees a Chocobo for the first time up close while Ciri already knew them well enough.

"When am I going to get my Chocobo?" asks Ciri as she touches the fluffy Behemoth falling in love forgetting the story Orug told them before.

"We are riding to Vizima and from there we will travel to Novigrad," says Geralt as Vincent nods and mounts Behemoth.

Behemoth felt younger again as he was reunited with Vincent again. Geralt mounted Rouch as Ciri wanted to hijack one of the horses from the stables when Vincent stops her.

"You shouldn't steal from your benefactors. Just jump on Behemoth and we are good to go," says Vincent as Ciri had a little intern struggle debating about the invitation before jumping on Behemoth's back.

They rode for two days as Ciri now knew why Vincent prefers a Chocobo over a horse. They were almost at the gates when Geralt looks at Vincent and Vincent knew what Geralt wanted from him but this time Vincent smiled at him.

"No, it is time for the Emperor to see my real face. We aren't only here to reunite him with Ciri but also because of something else," says Vincent surprising Geralt and Ciri as they looked at Vincent confused.

"And that would be?" asks Geralt as he was nervous since he couldn't see through Vincent as Vincent sees through him.

"Declaring War," says Vincent as he smiled as if it was nothing.

"You are going to declare war against Nilfgaard?" asks Ciri as she was surprised when Vincent shakes his head.

"No, not against Nilfgaard but the Northern Kingdom," says Vincent as they stopped on their tracks.

"Didn't you say, you wouldn't conquer the Northern Kingdoms," says Ciri as she thought Vincent lied to her.

"It wasn't my intention, but after seeing that many people are suffering because of the humans I changed my mind," says Vincent as he stopped smiling.

"Do you think it is fair for elves to be hunted down only because they have pointy ears or to burn a witch that hasn't done anything wrong? I don't think so and for change to come it needs a ruler that doesn't care if you are a human or an elf," says Vincent with fury in his voice as his aura was leaking now making Ciri and Geralt see the Twin Dragons.

"They need guidance and the Empire will give it to them. Everyone will be equal and the people that aren't human will be able to show themselves without fearing to be hunted down because they are different," says Vincent as he realized that his aura was leaking and he calmed down.

"I'm sorry, I got a bit emotional there because of my childhood. Ishgard isn't really a safe place for Au-Ras like me. In a small village, it was alright, but in the capital, you couldn't walk two feet without seeing a female Au-Ra starve to death only to feed her child because the price is raised on purpose for us. After all, we resemble their enemy. If I hadn't value in their eyes I would have died a long time before I did," says Vincent revealing one of his secrets that he buried deep inside him.

"That's why I made an Empire in which everyone is equal. There might be some bad apples but they are taken care of right away even if they come from my bloodline," says Vincent as he killed enough of his descendants if they aspired for more power than they are permitted.

"Maybe, we should rest here for tonight and enter tomorrow Vizima as it will be a long day tomorrow," says Vincent as he looked at the two who nodded.

They prepared to camp as Ciri got something to think about as did Geralt.