Chapter #72

Zeno left Eisenlaan while giggling like a child. He felt like no one would believe the big bad witcher would do something so childish and he was right, the town didn't believe Zeno's victims.

They figured they did this to themselves as Zeno's double was enjoying the night with the rest of the folk spending money, double of what he earned from drowners.

The group of young men became the laughing stock of the town until the whole incident blew over.

In the meantime Zeno was making his way towards Aldersberg, Jean trotted happily as they were finally going in the right direction.

Both she and Zeno were curious about Mahakam, Zeno wondered whether he could get himself a dwarven blade and reverse engineer the forging methods, while Jean hoped to find better tasting grasses at the skirts of the mountain.

Ao on the other hand has been silent, his body went slack some time ago before they left Vengerberg, which Zeno recognized as Yamanaka Techniques. He didn't know where his squirrel went but he figured he'd be fine.

Meanwhile back at Vengerberg, one of Yennefer's crows was rummaging through her stockings and underwear trying to tear them to pieces rather than doing something indecent.

'This will show you disrespecting my master! Damn enchantress!' Crow ripped apart another piece of clothing, it had cost a small fortune for Yennefer to buy it.

_____

Zeno immediately noticed the weird atmosphere once he arrived at Aldersberg. Even though the sun was high up in the sky, people were hiding themselves in their homes.

It was only thanks to his enhanced hearing Zeno was able to hear the town folk speaking amongst themselves in their homes.

From what Zeno could figure out, they were scared of wraiths coming to kill them.

The matter had become more clear as he moved further in the town and found people who claimed Wraiths don't hunt in daylight and went out fearlessly.

"Hey, can you tell me what's going on? Why is everyone in their homes, talking about ghosts?" Zeno stopped a young man before asking.

"You must be a traveller. A terrible ghost torments the nearby Moulderwood. People have been going missing, ghosts have tasted the human flesh and it's coming closer to our town each day!" The young man explained in a calm tone, making Zeno a bit surprised.

"You don't look scared though. Why?" Zeno asked.

"I died when I found my fiance hopping on someone else's lap, a ghost can't scare me." Man said soberly before going back to his business.

"..." Zeno was dumbfounded, the young man was completely dead inside.

"A victim of NTR. Such a trash fetish." Ao said as he finally came back to his body.

"..." Zeno felt ashamed thinking about how he slept with Yuriko. Then again, her husband was long dead by then.

Zeno decided to tackle the issue of the ghost after finding a contract on it with a hefty reward attached to it.

Wraiths and such were the least dangerous things for Zeno as he had Karmic Virtue protecting him.

So, he rode towards Moulderwood with a smile on his face as ghosts only meant one thing for Zeno, more Karmic Virtue!

_____

On the way Zeno read through the Wiki thanks to help from System who had been refining it's multiverse internet connection for several lifetimes.

They have determined that the most likely source of this ghost incident was Caedva Gaenvid, an elven cemetery located in the Moulderwood.

As Zeno approached the cemetery deep within the forest he began to smell dried blood and rot and rushed to the source.

Once he reached the source of the smell he couldn't help but scrunch his face in disgust. There were mutilated bodies of elves thrown around recklessly, judging by the scents it wasn't done by anyone from the Aldersberg.

The vengeful wraiths showed themselves once Zeno got close enough, they apparently were smart enough to bait their enemies.

Also the location was giving them extra strength making them harder to deal with compared to any other wraith.

Zeno sighed as he casted Yrden after Yrden to slow them down. Once the wraiths slowed to a crawl he started reciting the soul ferrying technique to send them to the afterlife.

Wraiths however proved stronger than the ghost he had to deal with back at Kaer Morhen and resisted his efforts which only lengthen their suffering.

Once they were put to rest, Zeno consumed their corpses. It has been a long time since he consumed something and the elven genes were a delicacy with their uniqueness.

'They also don't carry traces of Chaos in them. I am able to extract all the benefits of their race and their memories as well.' Zeno thought as the centuries of memories flashed in his head.

'System set up a task and find a way to allow elves to get pregnant even if they're hags' Zeno ordered.

[You're evil.] System said as he looked into Zeno's plan.

{Is it really okay for him to hate someone that isn't even born yet?} Ouryuu wondered.

<It is only natural that we hate Emhyr.> Dragon backed up.

Once Zeno was done with his meal he prayed for the souls in the cemetery as they were getting agitated from seeing him devour their kin.

Zeno put them to rest as well and gained a considerable boost in his Karmic Virtue, just enough to manifest it.

His Karmic Virtue shot outside of his body and started congealing and compressing until it was the size of a football.

Soon it took the shape of a golden carp, swimming in the air in joy. The carp playfully hit it's tail against Zeno and swam in circles around him as if to show off.

Zeno looked at the lively carp, his mind going back to Cultivation Chat Group where Senior White was able to eat the fruits of his Karmic Virtue Tree.

{Zeno... Please don't.} Ouryuu pleaded.

______

Some hours later Zeno reached Aldersberg once again to collect the contract money and let destiny handle the redistribution of it.

In his hand there was a golden carp perfectly cooked, he took a bite out of it from time to time. His expression showed how delicious it was.

Jean moved sluggishly as she imagined several scenarios of Zeno getting stranded alongside her and him cooking her leg to survive, completely forgetting that Zeno didn't have to eat for survival and the fact that she could regenerate.

[You're evil.] System said.

{+1} Ouryuu agreed.

<+1> Even the dragon agreed.

'The damn thing is a part of me and doesn't even have a mind of it's own yet.' Zeno justified himself.

Meanwhile a smaller carp was following Jean at a safe distance, shivering from time to time as it looked at its previous body in the hands of its master.

_____

Zeno quickly got paid after shoving the evidence of his work and posted the money on the notice board.

He was about to leave but he ran into the NTR Guy on his way back. He was running to somewhere with a cleaver in his hand.

'I really shouldn't be getting into this.' Zeno thought but he still followed after him.

He found the NTR guy hiding in the bushes, he was clenching his teeth so hard that it might have broken.

Zeno had already started hearing the sounds of sexual activity even before catching up to the young man and could guess what is going on.

Up ahead a young girl was having a threesome with two other dudes, from the looks of it she wasn't being forced.

"..." Zeno didn't know what to do at this point.

<Do it. Join them> Dragon whispered to him.

'Fuck off!' Zeno shoved the horny thing aside and patted the NTR guy's shoulder, surprising him.

"You really should give up on her, my guy. She doesn't seem to be forced to do this." Zeno said as the man started to cry.

"She was the only girl that looked at me with kindness... If I let her go, whom am I going to marry?" Young man sobbed.

'So it wasn't love but desperation...' Zeno sighed in relief, this young man still can be saved.

It was only then Zeno noticed that the dude was ugly as hell. He normally didn't bother with male faces as they didn't matter to him.

"Well, why don't I use my witchery Witcher methods and make you look better, since I doubt you want to be a mutant I can only do natural treatment." Zeno offered.

He didn't know why he was helping this guy but he strangely didn't find it bothersome.

"Can I at least cut her face off before that?" Young man asked with some hope.

"Hell fucking nah! I am going to fuck her brains out once I am done with you." Zeno admonished the young man.

"Oh, okay." Young man dropped the cleaver and started going back to his home.

"..." Zeno.

_____

The next day one could see a handsome man saying goodbye to Witcher who was leaving the town. He was fervently waving and bowing from time to time, one could see that he was also crying.

It would be an ugly sight but thanks to him being handsome, it only pulled on the heartstrings of the maidens nearby.

Some who managed to recognize the man whispered amongst themselves about how he received an elixir from the Witcher, some girls blushed looking at him.

Even Zeno was surprised by how much better the young man's looks had improved after his experiment but he was satisfied that he didn't die during the process.

Back at the cheating girl's house, she laid on her bed looking at the ceiling with an empty look. She will soon swear abstinence from sexual pleasure and become a nun.

In the meantime Zeno was on his way to Rivia as he wanted to see Geralt's fake nation with his own eyes.

'They say Rivia has lakes that are always foggy. There must be some contracts on Foglets there.' Zeno thought as Jean galloped across the road.