Chapter 38:

Knowledge hath in it somewhat of the serpent, and therefore where it entereth into a man it makes him swell. - Francis Bacon

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A Few Hours Later:

Current Year: 1261

A crimson red glow made itself known on my palms as I continued to use my magic to try and heal myself. It was… slow going. Any normal man would have already died from wounds like these, but investing in magic and mutations has proved itself to be most fruitful.

"FUCK." I seethed out through gritted teeth. Although I said magic was incredibly useful, it was not entirely without cost. Regenerating damaged internal organs is Incredibly painful. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

"Are you alright?" Ciri asked groggily from the bed next to me. She was currently attempting to get some rest. She had hardly gotten any sleep over the past couple of days because she was too busy looking after me.

"Yes." I said while holding my eyes tightly shut to try and block out the pain. "I'm sorry for waking you. Please, go back to bed. I'm almost done."

"Alright…" Ciri said cautiously while pulling some covers over her eyes and attempting to drift off back to bed. After a few minutes, I could hear her breathing relax and soften. She had managed to doze off. While Ciri was attempting to rest, I was still hard at work trying to heal myself.

After a few more excruciating seconds, I let the spell fade away and my hands returned to normal. That little healing session of mine had probably only regenerated around 3% of missing flesh. It would probably take several dozen more sessions to completely regain full functionality. Considering my wounds, that is a reasonably fair amount of time. I knew that in the future, Vilgefortz probably would need more than a year to fix his eye… and he was the probably the most powerful mage the witcher world had seen in generations.

After completing the session, I breathed out a large sigh. I then grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the accumulating sweat off of my body. After that, I managed to limp my way over to a chair that was seated near a small ugly looking desk. Clearly Sven had only bothered to use it when he absolutely had to. I would be surprised if he even knew how to read in the first place.

As soon as I sat down, I grabbed my 'little trinket' that was attached to my hip. This little creation of mine is proving to be the most valuable item I could ever hope to own. I quickly summoned two pieces of parchment and feather with some ink. I then placed my utensils down on the quaint little table and got to work.

I was writing a letter for Ciri and a letter for Mousesack. Both of them were apologetic notes. I was apologizing to Ciri because I would no longer be able to be with her any longer and I was apologizing to Mousesack for being a bad student. Each letter detailed how both of them shouldn't look for me after I leave.

Tomorrow when Ciri wakes up, I'm going to portal her home. I simply can't have her around me any longer. It would be much too dangerous for both her sake and mine… It was for the best. If I stay, not only would it completely shift Ciri's destiny, it would also end up with me in chains. Obviously, I don't want that. I value my freedom way too much to be Calanthe's little prisoner.

After I send Ciri home, I'll have to immediately leave this village. Mousesack will no doubt be able to track where my portal came from, Calanthe has probably already ordered him to hunt me down. He is an incredibly powerful druid, something simple like tracking a portal is certainly below his paygrade.

I like Mousesack, he is one of two people in this world who I actually consider to be a friend. I know that he will just be following orders, so I won't kill him. Not that I could, even if I wanted to. He would probably destroy me in a fight, he is a druid who has been studying magic for decades. The only chance I would have against him would be to assassinate him in his sleep. As long as I play my cards right, neither one of us should have to die. However… the same cannot be said for any of the men that Calanthe orders to be brought with him. They will not be shown any leniency from me.

As I was thinking these thoughts, I had managed to finish both of my letters. I blew on them lightly a few times so the ink would dry and then I stored them away back inside my 'little trinket'. I then slowly got up out of my chair with a grunt and started limping over towards the bed. Ciri was still sound asleep so I tried my best not to wake her. I slowly leaned down and plopped myself soundlessly onto the straw mattress.

I pulled up some of the covers and crawled my way inside. I made myself comfortable and tried my best to sleep. I was still in some serious pain, but my witcher training came in handy for just this type of situation and I began to slowly drift off. Just as I was about to enter 'dream land', Cir's arm quickly wrapped itself around my torso.

"Ow…" I muttered softly as Ciri's limb lightly brushed against my bandages. I decided not to make a big deal out of it and just try to fall back asleep. After a few awkward couple of minutes, I managed to fall into unconsciousness once more.

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A Few Hours Later:

Current Year: 1261

"Harkon… are you sure you should be moving out and about so soon?" Ciri asked me while allowing me to rest on her slightly for support. We were currently walking into the outskirts of the village and into the woods.

"No...but we have to do it." I muttered out with gritted teeth. "We're almost there. When we arrive, hang back. I'll take care of it."

I needed to burn those bodies before someone found them. After a while, I know that someone would come looking for Sven and his group. The villagers still think that their 'woodland spirit' is alive and well, so they won't venture this deep into the forest just yet. It will be reborn, but not for a long time. It takes Leshens around six months to a year to completely rejuvenate themselves.

After several minutes of walking through the forest, we arrived at our destination. I told Ciri to stay by a couple of large trees. I didn't want her to see any of the dead bodies. The girl already has enough trauma to deal with.

I slowly limped by the corpses that littered the ground. I passed by the archer Ciri had killed and quickly flashed an intense Igni sign. The body sprung into flames as the corpse began to slowly burn away. I quickly burned the other two bodies in succession before making my way over to Sven.

Sitting on the forest floor was a ginger haired man with his hair cut short. His eyes were flossy and hollow and his throat was almost completely torn away. I sure did quite a number on him.

"Hey Sven," I said to the rotting corpse below me with a smile. "How's it going buddy?"

Obviously I was met with no response as the flies that surrounded the corpse kept on buzzing.

"You know man… You did a real number on me. It was quite rude of you, I might add, all I was trying to do was save your village… But, nooo, you just had to go and play some sort of hero defending his damsel in distress." I stated to the body while letting out a fierce sigh. "Welp, now you're the one sitting here with his throat ripped open while I'm the one standing… Albeit, with a great amount of strain. I would say that I hope the Naglfar takes your nails as payment… but I know the truth about the Wild Hunt already so that's a no go. Oh, and by the way, your flesh really was disgusting man. You should definitely take a bath more often."

After my little rant, I viciously formed another Igni sign and lit Sven's corpse alite. Bright orange flames began to appear on his body and I felt a lot better after getting that out of my system. I then walked over to the place where I killed the Leshen. There were roots that were still sprouting out of the ground, but they had drooped somewhat since the last time I was here. I began looking around for the Leshen's skull. After these creatures die, their skull always remains. I would need it in order to extract it's DNA and mutagens. I wasn't going to just leave the bones here after the extreme amount of effort I went through in order to kill that thing.

After slowly searching the ground for a few minutes, I found the skull in question. I smiled a great big smile and then picked it up. I brushed some of the dirt that had accumulated on top of it and then began to stare at the magnificent object in question. The mutagens I could try and extract from this thing were going to be incredible. Hopefully in the future I would be able to conduct a plethora of mutation experiments. I'll need to 'acquire' some test subjects whenever I get the chance. I put those thoughts out of my mind and safely stored the skull away inside my trinket. My job in coming here had been completed and now it was time to get back. I slowly limped my way back to where I left Ciri.

"You all finished?" Ciri asked me while sitting down and leaning against one of the trees. She knew what I came here to do and decided not to ask about it.

"Yep, I'm done. However… you won't be returning to the village." I said with a bit of a sad smile. It was time to break the harsh truth to her.

"What do you mean by that?" Cir asked once more while tilting her head. "We can't leave right now. You are too injured for us to go anywhere."

"That's just it Ciri. Both of 'us' won't be going anywhere." I stated while frowning even further. "It's time for you to go home…"

"Don't give me that rubbish." Ciri intoned frustratingly while getting up from her sitting position. "You mean 'we' need to go home, right?"

"No, I do not." I said while shaking my head. "Ciri… I'm not going to be returning to Cintra. I'm sorry."

"Bullshit!" Ciri yelled out with anger. She clearly wasn't happy about what I was implying.

"Watch your language, princess. Swearing like that is crude for someone of your station." I said with a little laugh to try and release some tension.

"Oh there you go again!" Ciri shouted while slamming her foot in the ground. "You alway need to find some way to bring up the fact that I'm a noble!"

"Well… It's true, isn't it?" I asked while tilting my head.

"Stop trying to deflect! You know that makes me angry!" Ciri screamed while pointing a finger at me. "If I'm going to go back, you're going to come with me."

"Unfortunately, princess… I really can't go back with you. I'm afraid that I most likely have a warrant out for my arrest in your country." I stated truthfully.

"You… what?" Ciri asked with skepticism. "Why would you have something like that? You haven't done anything wrong!"

"Oh, but I have." I said while nodding my head in confirmation. "I'm guilty of kidnapping the 'Lion Cub' of Cintra. She's been missing for a few days now and there's only one suspect."

A sudden look of horror and realization made itself known on Ciri's face. It seems she finally understands the situation I'm in. It's not like I blame her, she's actually done me a huge favor. If she hadn't come with me on this little trip, I would have died and never figured out the goals I truly wanted to achieve. In the coming years, she'll learn that this little trip we took would be the stepping stone for a new legend in this world. It was just going to take a great amount of effort before that legend became a reality.