Chapter 13

"No, I am not going to use you to test any potions I have made. If I test it on anything that doesn't have enhanced biology it will be a pig or something, and only after several successful tests will I consider human testing. While potions are amazing things the potent ones aren't safe for human use and therefore in my attempts to make them more safe to use I would rather not give someone something I am reasonably certain will leave them brain dead." I explained to Ivar.

"While I commend that sort of moral standards I have to say I have total faith in your abilities and-"

"I know you just want to be able to use potions so you can have an excuse to get closer to monsters."

"The risk of violent death go down a noticeable degree if I can use potions to accelerate my healing!"

"Yes, which is why I will take my time to make sure it is right. On another note you were pretty dead last night. Bank not go well?"

A dark look overcame Ivar.

"While I was successful in withdrawing some funds, as well as your own weekly pay for services rendered… I never wish to talk about that which I had to go through in order to see it done."

"Fair enough, we have a week till boat set sails and are good on money for now so I guess we can mostly relax for the time being… but I also know you will hound me for potential monsters to study after the last job was a bust so let's check out the notice boards. I don't expect anything to have changed much, but maybe I can get some minor work in and we might come across something interesting."

"Splendid! For science!"

---

Despite Ivar's rather enthusiastic response, science did not come to us quickly.

Checking out the notice boards didn't reveal much I could do within a short time or were actually worth my attention as a Witcher. If I wasn't setting sail in a week I could have maybe ridden out to a village to deal with a nekker nest or investigate claims of a curse stalking a farm, but the sad fact was I had my own priorities. Ideally those jobs could get handled by another Witcher, a mage, or at least skilled mercenaries… but the odds of that happening before more people died was unlikely.

Just another example that for all that many thought Witchers were monsters themselves or relics of a bygone age they still were needed, if not by those living in cities then those that lived in more rural areas where monsters still lived close to.

It actually reminded me of Goblin Slayer in that he only hunted down goblins who were a common threat to poor peasants living in the countryside but weren't focused on by other adventurers due to poor pay.

What I could do though was some low paying work that, while not really Witcher work, still paid and could be useful for people. Ergo for the next couple days I found myself going outside city walls to hunt down wolves or other common wild creatures that thanks to my Witcher tracking and hunting skills were relatively easy.

Ivar sat out those jobs and hung around in the inn organizing and compiling his notes until I, and I quote, 'found something interesting.'

While not particularly exciting or challenging, it did keep me active and even small payments added up. It also let me forage for herbs and other possible ingredients I could use while outside city.

Honestly, I was in that weird place of boring regularity while I waited till I could go on to the next step of my Path. Pont Vanis wasn't dealing with unrest so lots of the factors that attracted or involved monsters weren't a thing, which was good. Games wouldn't be interested if it showed Geralt only doing common jobs with the occasional monster to hunt during a time of peace after all, and I wasn't getting involved in political unrest that had me kill small armies' worth of humans.

When not working, I was playing with alchemy, seeing what I could dilute for human use and working on ideas on new potions for different effects. I was also playing with Signs to get better at doing them on fly and trying to find ways munchkin them beyond common use.

Sadly, unless I found a Circle of Elements or Place of Power, I couldn't really test my ideas of making new Signs since while I could do hand motions easily enough there was more to it than that. Frustrating but understandable since while Signs were simple magic they were still magic, and if they were easy to learn and make than everyone on the Continent would know how to use at least one.

I didn't mind that predictiability, it was comforting in a world I know was going to go to hell in a handbasket in a few short years.

And then three days before we were due to set sail…

---

"You do realize checking notice boards each day is unlikely to suddenly reveal a monster request, right?" I told Ivar in an annoyed tone.

"But I've already compiled all my current notes! I need fresh material to work with and we shouldn't get lazy just because we are waiting for our vessel to finish preparing." Ivar lectured me.

"That argument would be stronger if you weren't moaning out of boredom back at the inn."

"I was simply expressing my desire to discover!"

"Right, sure." I dropped it as we stopped in front of a notice board and gave it a look over.

As I thought, pretty much nothing new from yesterday… huh, apparently a hunter's dog had given birth not too long ago and he was advertising that the pups were now old enough to be adopted and trained. He swears that their parents and their parents before them were fine companions in work and life, only asking for modest fee compared to dog breeders back home. Must have come to the city to sell pups to other hunters and maybe to some merchant/noble family that wanted a pet.

… Cats hated me now, but maybe a dog? Assuming I train it right could even help me with Witcher work since despite my enhanced senses dogs' still had hundreds of times better smell than basic humans, so they likely had an edge on me.

Something to consider, but other than that nothing really worth pursuing or looks like it really needed me.

"Aha! What about this?!" Ivar said while ripping off a notice that was near the bottom of board I hadn't noticed at first and handed it to me. It was certainly new…

"The spelling and handwriting is so bad I can barely make it out. Maybe someone outside the city that didn't feel the need to learn all that much?" I mused to myself as I slowly worked my way through the writing.

"Found… something… guards dumb… vampire. I can see why this caught your interest." I turned to Ivar as I pieced together what I could from the poor writing.

"There are countless legends and stories on vampires in general, but very little hard facts beyond the basics from a few noted scholars and their writings so I would truly delight in adding to it! There is even an address to meet our poster at in the Merchant District!" Ivar said in excitement.

"I really doubt it is vampires since lesser ones are not exactly subtle, especially in large cities. Higher grade vampires can also easily blend into human society without drawing attention to themselves most of the time. The odds of this being a legitimate vampire to deal with is quite low, apparently even the guards didn't take poster seriously… also the reward is only five bizants." I stated.

Which was really lowballing, even for normal Witcher work.

"Come now Markus! Surely it is your duty to at least make sure a potentially dangerous being isn't lurking about! If it is as you say it should be a simple thing to put the poster's mind at ease in a short time." Ivar pleaded.

"You are just saying that cause you really hope it's a vampire… fine we will go check it out, but don't get all mopey on me again if it turns out like the 'haunted' manor did. If that was faked don't get high hopes for this." I stressed.

"You have my word!... now what was this about High Vampires living among us? Do you have statistics as to how many per human?" Ivar suddenly pulled a notebook and lead pencil from seemingly nowhere while staring intently at me.

… You know what, I don't actually mind since it could be the first small step for people not to demonize all vampires. Some could be real decent people after all, most being quite willingly to leave humans be and only drink blood like people do alcohol.

Huh, I wonder if vampires had their own version of AA for those who want to swear off blood like Regis did.

Only they call it BDA, 'Blood Drinkers Anonymous.'

I know I shouldn't laugh out loud at that idea considering how noble it was, but it still sounded funny and something I could totally see Regis starting it up if the idea was passed on to him.

---

The Merchant District was in the middle of the city, right between the harbor to the south and the main road to the north. It was ideally situated to get the most traffic from both directions, and kept the merchants from having to travel too far in either direction to accomplish their business. Like the rest of the city, most of the buildings were made from stone. Most of the shops had a barker outside the front door to promote their wares and lure unsuspecting shoppers into their grasp. I dodged one particularly pushy barker who was trying to get me to buy the latest and greatest in, er, 'supportive undergarments'. Like, dude, do I really look like someone who'd want to buy those?

… I didn't want the answer to that.

Ivar and I threaded our way through the crowds until we came to the address given on the notice. It was a sommelier's shop - that is, a wine merchant. A gaggle of children were playing outside the front step with a stick and hoop. One child would roll the wicker hoop and run alongside it while guiding it with a stick; the other children would try to throw stones and dirt clods through the hoop as it rolled along. Another group of kids were playing mumbly-peg, throwing pocket knives into circles scratched in the dirt of a small flower bed. The goal was to make them land point-down as close to the center as possible, and small coins and trinkets passed hands based on the results of a throw.

All of them couldn't have been much older than ten at the most. They must be the children of locals who owned and ran shops. I guess when not at home or assisting with business they were given free reigns in the streets, a terrifying notion for a number of reasons.

One boy noticed us, or more specifically me, who then alerted his friends and pointed me out.

Next thing I know all the playing had stopped and they had huddled together, a mix of fearful and nervous. I could easily hear a bunch of mumbled whispering before as a group the children pushed an older brown haired girl in front of them and towards me. The girl took a deep breath and walked up to me before looking me straight in the eye, before quickly averting her gaze towards the ground.

"M-master Witcher?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, I am a Witcher. You need something?"

"Yo-you're here about the the notice we po-posted?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow and turned to Ivar, who at least had the dignity to look sheepish.

"Well I guess that explains the poor writing and the fact it was on shortest part of board… why did you post a notice about a vampire?"

"Cause we saw one! Our mas and pas don't believe we did, not even the guards do and they are supposed to protect us! Vampires steal away children and suck out all their blood till they're like jerky! That is why we got all our allowances together to hire a Witcher! You kill all kinds of monsters, right?"

"Yes, we do. But are you sure you saw a vampire? I can't tell you how many times adults have mistaken something harmless as a monster after all." I tried to reason.

"It's true though! We has proof!" the young girl stomped her foot.

"Oh really? You mind showing me this proof…"

"Molly." Molly helpfully provided.

Molly." I nodded.

"Course, this way!" Molly said while boldly grabbing my hand and dragging me further down the street. I could hear from behind me Ivar and the small herd of children following along, the latter at more of a distance.

"So, how did you and your friends come across this vampire?" I asked while letting the child guide me. I think I was getting odd looks from passersby at the witcher being guided by the hand by a small child.

"Well… we didn't actually see it…" Molly said.

"Yeah…" I said in a slightly annoyed

"But we found where it lives! We like playing in places no one uses anymore cause no one gets mad if they don't see it, and one day Hugo found some doors to a cellar. We thought would be great since cellars are fun to play pretend in, like heroes saving princesses from dungeons and stuff, but when we went down to explore… there were people bones and we could hear breathing…" Molly whispered to me, as if she was afraid someone would over here.

"Okay, that is a legitimate cause for concern. But why did you automatically think it was a vampire?" I asked.

Could just be a human serial killer of something… which isn't much better but still.

"Cause while everyone ran home scared I stayed outside and spied on place from behind a cart. I wanted to tell the guards who was there. I waited all day and nothing happened, I was getting tired and knew ma and pa would worry so I almost left. Then the sun went down and some man came out. He was dressed all noble like, like the people that buy wine from pa. When he looked towards where I was hiding though… his eyes were scary. Kinda like yours, but way scarier!" Molly explained.

Hmm, well her story wasn't totally out there… but still…

Before I could think over it much further Molly pointed out our destination, another wine shop that was near edge of Merchant District to what lead to Noble District. It looked old, worn down, and not been in business in years. Windows and front door boarded up and the sign of grapes and a bottle hanging off one rusty chain as it swung in the wind.

But that wasn't what stood out to me.

No, it was the smell of blood, lots of it. Old and new. It wouldn't be noticeable to humans but my nose didn't lie, and neither did the subtle blood trail I could see in a nearby alley that most likely led to the cellar entrance Molly had talked about.

"Stay here, all of you." I said to Molly, Ivar and the children who had kept their distance of about twenty feet away. No one argued with my tone of voice.

I slowly stepped into the alley, following the old and dried blood drops till the turn a corner and led to a cellar entrance which looked locked, but wasn't.

I bent down to the entrance and held out my medallion close to it. I could notice it shaking slightly which was proof that something magical was involved not to far away since the range on it wasn't more than a dozen feet at most.

That combined with overwhelming smell of blood of location, the witnessed human bones and heavy breathing, and scary eyed man who only came up after the sun was down? It all summed up vampire, even if ones capable of having a normal human form weren't negatively affected by sunlight they still preferred darkness, and Molly and her friends were very brave indeed to investigate as far as they did.

If this vampire meant them harm… well there was nothing much they could do about it. It no doubt knew about them but had written them off as a non-threat.

However, they had instead used their trump card.

They summoned a bigger fish.