Cheap Easily Attainable.

—

[1250 - Middle Night - Hovel Village, Temeria - 1 Month and 3 Weeks.]

Ten minutes after crying her heart out outside the cave where Zefron had brought her, Triss pleaded with the man who was currently hugging her, "Please don't make them suffer. Just kill them, okay?"

Looking at her with a strange expression, as Zefron wouldn't engage in torturing anymore, he asked in genuine confusion, "What are you talking about? The four lads that I killed earlier? I didn't do anything to them besides ending it quickly."

Shaking her head in his embrace, Triss spoke once more, saying, "Yes, but their corpses were not immediately buried."

Finally realizing what she meant, Zefron scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Ah… Yeah, my bloodlust suddenly flared up at that time. Sorry."

After two minutes of constant silence, Triss asked again, just to make sure the information was correct, even though she had already read Zefron's memories using Telempathy to know what they had done using Past Fate.

"The four children aren't innocent, right?"

Stroking Triss' hair in his embrace, Zefron reassured her once more.

"Yep. The women enjoy bloodletting the poor servants in their family's mansion until their blood dries and runs out."

"The youngest, a 16-year-old, follows in the footsteps of the oldest, Alonso Wiley, a 19-year-old, who is enjoying mutilating women that he already bedded."

"While the middle twins one enjoys poison so much that from time to time, they poison The Bits' drinking well just to see the folks coughing out blood and breathing asthma in agony, like me."

"If we hadn't intervened, that place would have become the worst slum because of the two of them."

After another two minutes of constant silence, Triss, still in a worried tone, asked with concern about the two remaining Wiley family members. While she hoped for one to die in Tretogor, the other one was concerning her for an entirely different matter.

"What about Alonso Wiley and his infant son?"

Enjoying the night breeze, Zefron replied while still stroking Triss' mesmerizing hair, "I don't think Alonso will have the capital to rebuild his noble name again for the next ten to fifteen years."

Pausing, Zefron then continued, "A capital that he needed to enjoy his hobbies whenever he wanted. A capital that he needed to stay safe from the folks whom he made suffer. A capital that no wealthy person in Redania wants him to have, due to his behavior and poor management."

"He needs to work hard, I mean really, really hard, to change his reputation, which in turn will make his actions that of a righteous man, because I made sure everyone knows what the Wiley family did to the entirety of Novigrad. And I think that hard work will become his own version of hell."

"As for Cyprian…"

Standing up to instruct Triss to go home early so that he can train Nappy to control his hunger for human blood, Zefron asked, "Do you still worry about the baby boy?"

Also standing up, Triss asks Zefron with anxiety evident in her voice, "But will Alonso find out later?"

Shaking his head at his own suspicious behavior that had affected her, Zefron reasoned, "The chance will be slim to none. With your anti-divination talisman that you enchanted using a Black Pearl, Meteorite Ingot, and Diamond Dust on that boy's neck, from your own pocket."

"No one will know his identity except for the two of us, and even if Alonso somehow hired a magician to find out where he is, the magician must have the same standing or even higher than you, Triss."

"And leaving him in the care of the priestesses at the Temple of Melitele in Gors Velen, I am sure he will grow up to be a pious man who will help everyone in need. I am certain of that."

Sighing in relief because she needed to hear reassurance for what she had just done, Triss decided to support the infant boy until the end. She would check on him from time to time to ensure he wouldn't be bullied in the temple or stray toward his father's footsteps.

Patting Triss' shoulder, Zefron said to her, "Go. Sleep first; it's already getting dark. I want to train Nappy and bury the body, just like you said."

With concern evident in her voice regarding his sudden bloodlust that might flare up, Triss decided to stay with him, saying, "I will stay with you."

Shaking his head and looking at Triss with a trace of genuine gentleness, Zefron urged Triss, "Just go. You can't take any more stress. I will be back in Hovel village riding Nappy within 2 hour. If not, then you can come back here and knock me upside the head."

—

Walking back to the cave after spending five minutes reassuring Triss, who remained unconvinced by his promise to control his bloodlust – which was true – Zefron looked at Nappy, who was growling loudly and fixated on the unmoving corpse, unable to make even the slightest movement due to Zefron's manipulation through Fate Puppetry.

Unlike Fate Puppetry, which can control anyone it touches, Fate Binding used as a way to train Nappy could only be achieved by altering parameters, such as the rope Nappy had been unable to claw earlier.

Because every time he attempted to shred the rope, many misfortunes came and went: a sudden wind would emerge from the mouth of the cave, subtly shifting the rope's position; the sound of rattling chains belonging to humans would distract Nappy, diverting his focus from snapping the restraining rope; additionally, dust would occasionally blow into his eyes, causing Nappy irritation that made him focus on his eyes, among all sorts of things.

Taking the rustic Temerian Poniard from its scabbard, Zefron addressed the big kitty, which probably didn't understand his language, saying, "Sorry, boy. Your mama needed convincing."

Walking to the bottom side lump of enchanting red hue, Zefron faced the big kitty and started lecturing him, "Boy, the first lesson in controlling the blood lust is letting your desire take you for just a single bit."

Slashing the toe of the lump of enchanting red hue, Zefron took it and presented it to the big kitty that was growling uncontrollably, saying, "Here, boy. Smell it."

After letting him smell the blood of manlings for a couple of minutes in front of his nose, Zefron smiled and controlled Nappy to open his mouth, saying, "Good boy. You deserve a treat."

With that, he repeated the same procedure in a loop with each toe and finger, sometimes taking longer, sometimes only just a moment, to let the big kitty know that the hunger of a bloodlust comes and goes like a breeze of air, unknown to you.

After all the small treats were over, he then went for the most tender treat of all, which was the top side of the lump of enchanting red hue.

Taking his rustic dark steel dagger, Zefron scooped a pair of meat balls from each of the five of them and said to the big kitty, "Now comes the hardest part, boy."

Finishing with all of them and harvesting ten tender treats, Zefron instructed the second lesson that the big kitty needed to learn, saying, "And the next lesson after letting your desire take you just for a single bit is to make your mind only able to watch and touch, but not taste it."

Taking all ten meat balls at the same time and wrapping them with his two remaining Fate Strings, Zefron controlled Nappy to only lick and see them, but never eating it.

After spending thirty minutes doing that, Zefron produced a sparkle fire in his right hand, and blew wind with his left hand to proceed to burn the meat balls to ashes, which instantly made Nappy growl loudly.

Zefron then let go of control over the big kitty's head, allowing Nappy to express his sadness and rage over being cheated out of his meals. However, Zefron continued to let Nappy roar in anguish, betting that the big kitty would be able to at least somewhat control the bloodlust like him while burning the meat balls to ashes.

But thirty seconds later, realizing that his fireball could only burn a small part of the eye, Zefron twitched his eyebrows and snapped at Nappy, who was suddenly drooling for some reason, "Don't ridicule me, boy. This is the result of my hard work, staying up all night with 7 iterations."

Sighing over the almost two months that were worth one year of learning magic, he found himself still at the bottom of the bottom in terms of raw output, which probably wouldn't increase.

After lamenting his talent, which he had acquired through Talent Sharing Fate from Triss and Keira, and which granted him three primary magical talents – air from Keira, fire from Triss, and water from himself – Zefron took the ten eyeballs and went outside.

"Wait for me for just a minute. I want to bury them."

After burying them using his hands for three minutes, Zefron returned and resumed the lecture to his big kitty, hoping that by the time he finished training Nappy – which would likely take a long time – the big kitty could handle seeing humans as just a side dish that he could get anytime he wanted but would find too boring to actually pursue due to it's so cheap and easily attainable.

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