Chapter 32

After parting ways with the farmer and his sons at Gustfield Farm we continued along the road and from our position near the Pontar we could already see the island which the town Oxenfurt sat on in the middle of the mighty river.

We were approaching from the east towards the main bridge over the river. From our position, we couldn't see the academy, but we had an excellent view of the main town of Oxenfurt. Handsome stone buildings with red slate roofs dominated the city. To our left was the building I recognized from the game as the Oxenfurt Chess Club, or the building where Geralt met Radovid for the first time. Passing over the little island that protected the east of the city, as we approached the bridge I couldn't help but make some observations to Ivar.

"Impressive place. More so since some of the most learned minds in the Northern Kingdoms work and teacher here."

"Eh-hem?" Ivar asked pointedly.

"I said some, not all. I'm sure that the University of Lan Exeter is quite amazing, but you have to admit that Oxenfurt has earned its reputation for a reason."

"Fair enough. It will still be quite enjoyable to display my findings and show you off." Ivar said.

"Show me off?"

"But of course! You are my research assistant as much as my guide and guard after all. It is only just that I show you off to the ignorant and dim-witted who think themselves true scholars." Ivar said matter of factly.

"Of course, what was I thinking?" I ask sarcastically as I guided our cart over the bridge and up to the Novigrad Gate.

"Halt!" one of the gate guards stopped us before we could actually make it into town.

"There a problem officer?" I asked.

"Gods damned right there is a problem. Your cart is leaking." the man says with a grimace as he points to how there indeed was a slow leak of blood coming out the back of the cart and that we have made a trail across the bridge. Oops. "What are you carrying?" he asked in a tone that says he demands a straight answer.

Honestly, I can't say I blame him since I would do the same if the situation was reversed. This looked shady as hell without context.

"We aren't carrying dead bodies into town… well we are, but only one and it's not human… you know what, that doesn't sound much better so let me just show you." I said and moved the tarp off slightly to reveal the dead manticore.

"By the Eternal Fire." the guard said in awe as he poked at the corpse with the butt of his spear. His fellow guards came over to see what it was and reacted similarly. "And what are you planning to do with… this?"

"Cut it up for parts, sell it off, maybe do a lecture around it, not necessarily in that order. I'm sure the scholars at the academy would love to look at a mostly intact manticore corpse. I hear there is a theory floating around about whether or not it has three rows of teeth. Spoiler, it only has one but lost ones regrow pretty fast. Are we all clear to enter?"

"I suppose so, nothing illegal in trading in monster parts and you are right in that the scholars are likely to be interested. I suggest you head straight there so that they can take the corpse before rot sets in." he turns to his fellow. "Let them pass!"

"Thanks, and have a nice day." I said honestly as we were allowed through the gate and into the town proper.

I have to say, without a war for all the North going on shutting down the campus the town was much more active and full of students and faculty alongside the regular inhabitants. The streets were crowded with scholars of all sorts, young and old, male and a few females, and even some non-humans mixed into the bunch to keep things diverse. And lots of them were staring at the now uncovered manticore as we rode one to the academy itself.

It was a relatively short ride through town and to the bridge that led to the academy itself, and it certainly looked the part of an old and accomplished university with a style not unlike the more famous colleges back home, if on an understandably smaller scale. It was still larger than how it was presented in the game.

Truth be told, if I didn't know better, I'd have assumed that it was a fortress. The stone walls, turrets, and imposing citadel on the back certainly gave the appearance of a fortress, maybe even a prison? Gabled roofs could be seen peeking over the tops of the wall, and - were those wooden houses? Odd, I'd have thought they were stone like the rest of the city. The red tile that predominated the rest of the city could be seen on top of the walls and turrets.

As we finally crossed the bridge and entered the main courtyard of the academy, I suddenly realized I didn't know who to talk to about potentially selling the manticore corpse or any other requests of mine.

"Ivar, who would be the person in charge that I would need to talk to about our friend here and the other things we talked about?" I turned to the one person who would be aware how things worked in a university.

"Well, the highest authority in an educational institution such as this would be the chancellor, though I am unaware who the one of Oxenfurt would be."

"I can find that out pretty fast." I said before looking around and locking my eyes onto a passing student. "Hey! You there!" The student stopped in shock, turned in my direction and pointed at himself. "Yeah, you. Where's the chancellor's office?"

"Ah, well, ah Chancellor Conwood's office would be located in the main building up the road from here. Though unless you have an appointment I don't think he is likely to see you on such short notice." he tried to say helpfully.

"I think he will make an exception considering what we have on hand." I said with a smirk as I gave him a grateful nod and directed horses up the road.

"Do take care. Scholarly types can be rather prickly about proper planning beforehand of meetings and such, especially within university when professors' have much to do between students, research and other things." Ivar warned.

"Relax. I'm sure he will be happy to have us, or at least the potential learning opportunities we represent." I reassured him.

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"While I would have much preferred that you made an appointment beforehand I suppose I can understand the need for haste when wanting to sell off a fresh monster corpse. I am quite sure the Faculty of Natural History and Xenobiology will be quite excited if they aren't already." Chancellor Timothaus Conwood said as he looked over the manticore corpse with interest, even if unlike Ivar wasn't running his hands all over it, as several faculty were doing the same once they heard the Chancellor had been called outside by a Witcher.

He seemed the stereotypical school headmaster with a graying beard, receding hairline, spectacles on his face, and was equal parts unbowed and still full of energy needed to run a university since I assume the position came with its own deals of hardships professionally and politically. Not to mention keeping all the scholars in line and make sure they didn't do anything to blow up the whole island or something.

"Yup, I figured you would want to get this locked up in a cellar or something like that to slow down the rot and that it would interest you given the rumors on Oxenfurt academics having interesting theories about manticores."

"Indeed, and while those rumors are a bit exaggerated they are nevertheless true and it will be nice to put to bed the arguments that have sprung up between students and faculty over it… if only all intellectual arguments could have such a clear and dry ending to them." I heard old Tim mutter to himself, likely not aware I could hear him.

I can only imagine the rhetorical and actual fistfights that have been made between various scholars for one reason or another.

"Considering the rarity of the specimen in question I am sure I can scrape together a proper reward for handing it over in such good condition… all things considered."

"Yeah, sorry about the damage done but monsters aren't ones to go down easy. A reward won't be needed honestly. I'm more interested in a trade to be perfectly honest."

"Oh? I can make no promises, but if it is within my power as Chancellor I will certainly do what I can." The chancellor looked intrigued by my request.

"First of all I would like permission to attend some lectures and access your library for free. I'll only be around for a week or so all things but I want to absorb some information I normally can't get elsewhere. Second, and this is more an offer from me, perhaps I could be a guest/assistant lecturer in things regarding monsters in general since I have it on good authority that public knowledge on those topics is a little out of date. Third, my friend Ivar here is from the university up in Kovir and is working his way to become a professor himself so extending the same privileges to him while we are here would be nice. If anything else comes up I'll ask but those are the things from off the top of my head and I promise to be a good guest here at your university."

"Hmmm, certainly not hard requests and considering the service you have done I see no reason not to grant it. I shall look into your offer as a special consultant while you are here since having a Witcher on hand who is willing to share their knowledge is rare indeed. While you are here you are an honorary student of Oxenfurt and I hope for the short time you are here you will find what you are looking for. If you require anything important do contact me." Tim said as he began to direct some faculty into moving the manticore corpse someplace to be stored for study and later use.

"This is great news! Free reign of campus and who knows what else! Though I of course must turn in my findings and other errands while we are here. Do you mind taking the cart and horses back into town to a stable and arrange rooms for us at a local inn? I hear the Alchemy is a fine establishment that many students and faculty make use of."

I was about to respond when someone interrupted our conversation.