27 Chapter 26:Into the great big world

In a hurry, August returned to the keep with the injured wolf in his hands. He rushed in the laboratory's direction to gather all the essential components and potions for the successful rescue of his friend.

Wasting no time, August proceeds with treatment cautiously. Applying various herbs and feeding potions that could help him heal. It took August an hour to apply all the medicine he could, but at the same time, it was mentally taxing.

August took a seat on the nearby chair and released a tired sigh. Looking towards his friend, whose breath pattern normalized, he said out loud, "See? Both of us made it out alive!"

It took a few minutes before August left his friend to recover and made his way towards the canteen, where he expected to find Vesemir. Taking his time, August slowly walked towards his destination, admiring the silence that enveloped the castle.

August made his way through silent corridors and arrived at the canteen, where he unsurprisingly found Vesemir behind the table. Under Vesemir's sight, August took a seat behind the same table Vesemir was sitting on, asking "Is this is the end?"

Vesemir replied with a minor nod and asked August, "You made it out first. Follow me and I will take you to the place where medallions are kept".

August followed Vesemir. They went into the dungeon, where a large iron door appeared before them. It was the place where the most important things were kept. Things like Witcher medallions and their garden, where most of the mutated plants grew.

Making their way inside, August found himself in a tiny room. A lot of different medallions were hanging on the walls, and on the floor stood a lot of garden beds in which plants grew. They had abnormal looks compared to their counterparts in the wild. Some of them had their leaves changing their appearance, some were abnormally small and weak.

But that was their original purpose. Those plants were the ones that mages cultivated for long, long years in order to create something like Witchers and experiment with the mixtures.

Vesemir gestured in the wall's direction, where medallions were placed, explaining, "This is our school's medallions. They are not only our identification cards but a useful tool which will help you in your endeavors."

August took a look at various medallions that had unique looks and picked one that had red crystals in place of eyes".

Looking toward Vesemir, August said in a confident voice, "I pick this one"

Making their way back, Vesemir replied, "You are the first one to arrive. For the rest of the time, until the end of the trial, you are free to do whatever you want. But I suggest you take a break and recover from the injuries you received."

August nodded his head and went towards his room to get healthy sleep, but before that, he went to his friend to see how he was doing. Entering a laboratory, August spotted a sleeping wolf that was covered in bandages and herbs.

Seeing his peaceful muzzle brought a slim smile to August's face. Making a quick decision, August brought the wolf into his room. Putting down the wolf next to his bed, August lay down and with words of sweet dreams to his buddy fell asleep.

The rest of the days until the other contestants arrived were relaxing. August would occasionally check on his friend from time to time, but the rest of the day was spent reading some books or waiting for the rest to arrive.

It took Geralt a total of 2 days to return to the keep. While the rest of the contestants made it on the last day, making it back with a lot of injuries and very exhausted.

Lambert and Eskel looked very frenzied about something that happened during the trial. This made August curious. What kind of thing could make them frenzied during the trial?

August approached them, inquiring, "Good to see you both alive! What made you both so enraged?"

Eskel clicked, showing annoyance. "F*cking Trolls"

Lambert supported his buddy. "Yes, fuck those trolls"

August tilted his head to the side, asking, "What about the trolls?"

Eskel explained, "Someone promised them food twice, like a shit ton of food and when they encountered us, guess what?" Eskel, having an excess of emotions, used a lot of gesticulating moves to explain the situation.

Before anyone could respond, Eskel continued, "They told us that now we owe them 2 piles of food, because 'Trolls believe once, trolls believe twice, but trolls don't believe the third time'"

Lambert continued with Eskel's story. "And we were forced to collect a shit ton of food around the forest until I come with the idea of collecting bark and telling them that this was food. Funny enough, they didn't argue back and let us walk through."

August remained silent. He partially was responsible for those events taking place, but according to their story, someone else used the same strategy as he did. Geralt's face was the first one to pop up in August's mind.

August looked in the direction of Geralt, who looked at August back. Both of them showed slim smiles to each other, which went unnoticed by others. These events will forever be hidden and will never find their way to the ears of those that faced the consequences of hungry trolls.

When the trial ended, only 6 of them remained. August, Geralt, Eskel, Lambert and 2 other Witchers.

Vesemir gathered everyone in their usual place and announced the end of the trial. "This is the end of the Trial of Forest's eyes. All of you were strong and clever enough to make it out alive from a hard challenge, but remember, this was nothing compared to things you can face in the future. This was just a brief introduction of what you can encounter".

August inquired, "What's next?"

Vesemir showed a smile on his face, saying, "My last job is to tell you how to handle your medallions and show you a place where you will learn signs. But this day is the end of your training period. From now on you can choose yourself, to learn signs or not, although I recommend doing so."

….

It took them a few weeks to learn how to use their medallions, and they were ready to set towards the temple, but before that August had to say his last goodbye to his animal friend.

During that time, the wolf mostly recovered. There were still signs of him being injured. The wolf was limping from time to time, but it was nothing too serious.

August made his way to the training grounds of the keep, where, for the time being, the wolf lived. August had one goal, to give him freedom since he soon will leave.

August kneel in front of the wolf and stroked his white as snow fur. "Hello buddy, I think it is our time to say goodbye"

*Auuuuuu* whined the wolf

August calmed him down. "I can't take you with me. I will be going into the temple, where I won't be able to take care of a big boy like you. But worry not, I will be back next winter, and will make sure to spend some time with you".

August accompanied his friend before reluctantly stopping and looking at how a lone wolf walked further and further away.

Wolf, seeing no one by his side, quickly run back and bit August's cloth, trying to drag him along. August stood unmoved. "Buddy, you want to show me something?"

*Auf* *Auf* Replied wolf

With a sigh, August followed the wolf. It took them some time, but they arrived at the small cave. They made their way inside. There August saw a familiar picture.

There lay wolf feeding pups. The wolf looked weak because it had to take care of a lot of pups at the same time. And during her weakness, she was not able to hunt and had to live off a small quantity of food that she had.

August looked toward his buddy, saying, "Is this your family?"

*Auf* replied the wolf with his tongue out.

The wolf walked toward one of his pups and carefully lifted the puppy by the withers and placed it at the feet of August.

August inquired, "You want me to take care of him"

The wolf started to wiggle with his tail and repeatedly nod his head.

August picked up the pup and walked in the direction of the exhausted wolf. Searching for something in his leather pouch, August takes out some herbs and fed them to the mate of his buddy.

These herbs help to energize and replenish some power. This is also one of the base materials for potions such as the full moon. The name of the herb is vermilion.

With a puppy in his hands, August walked towards the keep. Walking away for a decent distance, he looks back and shouted, "Buddy, see you next year!"

The response came immediately as the howl

*hooooooooooo*

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The End

The first Volume