Chapter 6

Once again, having a Witcher's strength and endurance was proving very useful considering I was digging a hole in the ground with an old wooden shovel at a steady pace without tiring or sore muscles. Sure, all this extra performance required the Rock's level of food intake to power everything efficiently, to the point I'm sure most coin Witchers earn is put towards hearty meals, but it seemed like a fair exchange.

Yes, Witchers could even raw meat and drink stagnant water considering the powerful immune system going on… not that I planned to at any point since it would likely taste awful.

As dawn was beginning to break I saw Ivar excitingly jog out of the crypts and towards me with a huge grin on his face. He was over any sourness about me tying him to Griffin when I came back to say that the graveyard and crypts were clear (wights don't let even other monsters live with them) and that he could have at it studying the long time living space of rare monster and anything else he could find.

He gladly took up the opportunity and we had been here so long dawn was approaching.

"Markus, I can't thank you enough for this opportunity! It is quite rare to study the nests of monsters so freshly! Not to mention that since this wight was much more intelligent than your average monster I found signs of habitation that wouldn't be out of place among humans! I found tomes, writings, items of personal interest, what looks to be a bed, and all sorts of things! Granted lots of it was limited in quality since wights do not have the same standards or desires as humans, but still! It is a shame that nothing remains of whatever it was brewing when you blew the cauldron away, I would have loved a sample to show a proper alchemist later to see what effects it might have had and what for."

"Based on smell along and fact wight was making it for itself I think it is fair to say it would have been deadly even to me. Who knows how certain mixtures interact with necrophages." I said idly while still digging.

"Very true, still the loss is a shame for all that it was understandable. Also terrible loss not to have access to any of that ectoplasm you talked about."

"The same stuff that summons beghersts?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"But of course! A material substance that can bring into the world spiritual beings? That alone would make one a professor in a heartbeat given the potential it could bring if harnessed!"

"I think it is best to leave the dead being dead rather than basically pouring some goo on a corpse on the off chance it is in a good enough mood to talk to you. Also, pretty sure that edges line to forbidden magic, necromancy is viewed badly even by sorcerers for good reason you know." I pointed out.

"You're right… but at the same time you have to admit it tickles the curiosity."

"The only thing I want to be tickled by is a beautiful woman who loves me for me, thank you very much." I said with a grunt as I finished shoveling the last scoop of dirt from the six foot grave deep and pulling myself out.

"Hehehe, well I can't argue there either." Ivar wiggled his eyebrows at me.

Oh great, the next thing I know is that he has as much game as Dandelion.

"You done studying the wight's body?" I moved topic along as a went over to the body in question laying off to the side.

"Of course, and once again thank you for allowing me to watch over the harvesting process. Are you sure there isn't anything more to collect?"

"Necrophages tend to have less useable parts compared to other monsters. though the tongue, hair, and ear can be used in forging strong materials. Don't ask me how, not my skill set."

"A good example of how monsters could benefit mankind! Using their parts to make better tools to better society! I will need to look around for skilled smiths willingly to work with monsters parts and watch process, do experiments to compare effectiveness to other finished materials, and the notes…" Ivar started to mumble to himself as his mind went wild.

That tended to happen a lot when he got an idea from nuggets of information that I passed over, nothing Witcher critical as far as I was aware. Just have to avoid talking about things like mutagens and such or else he will get ideas without knowing the consequences.

"You already took a few samples and can play with it later." I said as I carefully picked up the wight's body and then proceeded to gently lay it within the grave. It was the least I could do to bury it within its own home after I had to kill it. I didn't hold any personal animosity after all, and if it were up to me I would have left it well enough alone.

But it wasn't.

I grabbed the shovel and started the process of burying the body. I considered just using Igni to cremate it, but I figured if the wight had a choice it would have preferred burial. Then again, maybe I was choosing the more physically demanding task as a form of penance for my actions rather than the easier one of just using magic to solve the issue. I wasn't a therapist and don't think they were even a thing in the Witcherverse.

"Hmmm, they say monsters are opposed to the gods. Any proof to that?" Ivar asked me suddenly.

"No proof that I am aware of holy symbols or hymns doing anything unless the priest in question was a sorcerer or something, using their powers to make it do something." I answered.

"Then it shouldn't be in poor taste to read the wight it's last rites? Out of respect to the mighty being if nothing else?" Ivar asked and I actually paused at that.

I looked over to scholar and underneath his excitement of the night's activities I could see a little guilt about it. Huh, I guess he really did love monsters and if he had a choice would study them with no one dying. Maybe a little crazy thinking considering how violent and aggressive some were… but still weirdly sweet.

"I don't know any, but if you do go ahead." I said and continue to bury the dead wight.

Ivad nodded and started to speak, "In the gaze of all the gods we return this body to the earth so that it's spirit might pass on into their embrace…" Ivar continued on what must be a common Northern Kingdom's funeral prayer.

I mostly tuned him out and focused on task.

At the head of the grave I had already put up a worn up tombstone and chiseled in some simple words.

'W. Ight. Died defending his home till his last moments, never showing fear.'

I had no idea where necrophage souls went after death, but hopefully this one found peace somewhere.

---

After we were done we rode back to the village of Woodpine, named after fact it was focused around logging, to report to the ealdorman of the finished job with the wight ear I harvested as proof.

I also stopped by the local priest to deliver a sack of what remained of the three young idiots that started all this. At the very least their families deserved to know they will be given proper burials without having to actually look at their dismembered bodies. The priest understood the intention and blessed me for my deed, promising that he would go over their rites and inform the families.

The reward itself was quite good at 500 bizants, granted I could have likely gotten more haggling but I have never been much of one to do so and can get by with lots of smaller jobs adding to the pot. Would likely spend the next day or two doing that on notice board since actual monster hunting jobs were rare in peaceful times. Monsters tended to avoid people after all since they were more trouble than they were worth most of the time.

It said something that Geralt only got tons of jobs involving monsters during times of plague, war, and other times of major upheaval after all.

Woodpine wasn't that far off from Pont Vanis so likely would reach the summer capital of the country within the week. I was lucky I was relatively close to it already when I got here because if I was transplanted deeper into country could have taken over a month to get there.

No doubt by the time I get to Novigrad it would take most of the rest of summer and a good part of the fall to get to Kaer Morhen in the northeast. Taking the sea route thankfully cuts that time down a bit.

After the meeting, Ivar and I went down to the local inn to eat and rest up.

I was surprised to learn that Ivar was a good poker player and was fascinating to see him totally pull the rug out from underneath the locals, though thankfully none got too mad since it was played mostly for fun, only did small bets, and was likely to give back money by losing on purpose on the last round. I have found in the weeks of traveling with Ivar that, despite his annoying and suicidal interests, he was a generally nice guy.

And as I feared I have become emotionally attached to him, not hard since I knew no one personally in this world, and now considered him a friend.

Which means when we one day went our separate ways I would be obligated to save his life when we ran into each other extremely often, ugh.

Word spread rather quickly that I had taken down the wight and people toasted me and gave me thanks for killing it. Thankfully more than a handful of people were happy to ignore me or give me the stink eye at a distance, I was beginning to think people were reasonable. Even when you slay a monster that has everyone scared, not everyone will like the mutant human.

Thankfully I had experience with not caring about the opinions of others, especially when they were being jerks.

I felt worse when a father for one of the dead teens came to me to give a tearful thank you about returning his boy to him. I wanted to say his boy would have still been alive if he bothered listening to sound advice about not poking a place with a known monster in it, but that would be unnecessarily confrontational.

I was still salty about killing a being that for all rights there was no reason to kill.

"I notice your slight sneer hasn't gone away, still hung up about the wight?" Ivar asked.

"Yes, but not just about the wight. It's rather about all monsters and even nonhumans that are usually unfairly judged. Don't get me wrong, there are nasty beings out in the world that sometimes deserve the fate they get just like men how do terrible deeds. But the way I was brought up, I try not to judge based on origins but rather actions. As a Witcher myself I am not human enough for most folk but still a freak even among other nonhumans, not to mention the stories those of my guild are subjected to by the paranoid and hateful." I took a long drink of my cider.

"... I see, might I ask you a question?" Ivar's tone shifted.

"Shoot." I said, curious to see where this was going.

"Hypothetically, say there was this young man that was raised up in a merchant family. The family were reasonably well off but the youngest son did not have the best head for business, too earnest and not cutthroat enough. That was fine for family and even supported the young man when he said he wanted to become a scholar. However, after years of being loved and accepted by his family the young man got a little open and said some things… he should have kept hidden." Ivar looked downcast.

"He told them how at his time at university he fell in love with someone, someone who he shared so much with and wanted to share with the family as well. He wasn't worried for he loved his family and they him, surely they would love his love as well. So he brought his love to meet them… only it wasn't what they expected. For the son brought home… a man." Ivar admitted.

...Oh.

"At first the family of the man thought it a joke, but then it became much less funny when the man kept it up. To make a long story short, the man was cast out from a family he thought loved him and would always be there to support him. Being known as a deviant and worst where once they sang nothing but praise to all who would listen. What was once a moment of pride became a secret shame. As for the men and his love, his love would take his own life down the line as the same happened to him and could not cope with being demonized. The man was alone now, even at university where free and open thought was encouraged he was given looks of disgust and barely tolerated. Rather than give into despair the man instead threw himself into his work in a field of little study and where he was not deemed the worst beast, perhaps thinking if he could open the eyes about monsters to the people they could accept even those such as him. For years he worked and hid himself deeper and deeper from others… till the day he met a Witcher that showed so much kindness to a creature most would not even consider anything but something that needed to be slain. A Witcher whom most believed to emotionless killers themselves for all the valuable service they provided. After only a month the man felt comfortable to tell his story… So the question is, how do you think the Witcher would react?" Ivar finished while nursing his beer.

There was a minute's pause between us, with each second Ivar looking as if he was about to get up and leave the table.

"Well, I would think the Witcher wouldn't give a damn about who the man chose to love. After all, they are emotionless and care only about the slaying of monsters for coin. What they would care about is that the man has been a valued traveling companion in a time where the Witcher had no one to look to, and that in truth knew next to nothing about themselves before they met… but they strongly preferred women still so nothing beyond friends was likely.

Oh shit, I think I just caused Ivar to spit beer out his nose.

As Ivar struggled to breath again I could hear him laughing underneath the stinging pain of the alcohol.

"The Witcher would have nothing to worry about, since the man had standards and they were certainly not their type!" was the response.

"Then the man was missing out, cause the Witcher was easily a solid eight cause of their enhanced body alone and women would enjoy a night with him." was my cutting reply, I had my pride after all.

After all we drank and ate into the night, Ivar growing drunker and drunker while I was only slightly buzzed at most from drinking cider and pacing myself. Ivar loved telling stories of his time as a student and the bittersweet memories of his past love. It was easy to forget in this world of easy targets among nonhuman population that mankind was still perfectly capable of cruel and horrible acts against themselves for the dumbest of reasons.