The Divine Hunter

ysterious look.
“He won’t have to pay anything to me if he finishes his job, but it seems like he’s busy with your request now.” He paused for a moment, and he said, “If you’ll take his place and complete his request, then the debt will be canceled.”

“I knew it! You snooped around before you came and set us up just for this, didn’t you?” Roy gave the weird man a look.
He might seem crazy, but he was more meticulous than he looked.

“I won’t force anyone to do anything.” The alchemist puffed his chest, looking all calm.

The witchers exchanged a glance.
They had a choice: pay two thousand crowns or complete a request.
They chose the latter in the end. Maybe this won’t be a hard request.
And Berengar will owe us one if we help him out. “Fine.” Roy heaved a sigh.
“What do you need us to do, alchemist?”

“You gentlemen will have to sign a contract of confidentiality before we can talk about the details.”

“Will you do this, Letho? Or should I go?”

Letho looked at the baboon of a man in front of him, searing his face in his mind.
“Kid, don’t sign anything but the contract of confidentiality.”

“I know.” Roy was curious about the alchemist’s request, so he left with Kalstein and went to a room in a nearby inn.
The alchemist handed him a contract that was chock full of paragraphs and clauses.
It was then Roy realized that the contract was not just legally binding; it was magically binding as well.

Magical contracts had spells cast on them, and they would bind the signees through magic.
If any clause was broken, they would have to pay a steeper price compared to what they would if they signed regular contracts.
It was the same thing with this contract.
If the signee were to tell anyone about the content of the request, they would be transformed into a frog and stay that way for a year.

Berengar must have signed this contract before.
That’s why he didn’t tell us anything about the request.
Turned into a frog? That’s a nightmare.
It’s worse than hell.

Roy read through the contract and hesitated for a long time before he slowly signed the contract.
Even so, he was not sure if he would take the request.
If it was too dangerous, Roy would never do it.
He would not put himself at risk.

The contract had two copies.
Roy would keep one, and Kalkstein would keep the other.

“Good.” Kalkstein broke into an ugly smile.
He was warming up to the witcher before him.
“Now, let’s talk business.
My request is simple.
I need you to get some information for me.”

Roy extended his hand and told Kalkstein to keep talking.

“I need you to infiltrate a laboratory near Foltest Fortress and get an experiment journal for me.”

“Whose laboratory is it?”

“A sorcerer from a foreign land.”

Roy had a weird look on his face, and he refused, “I’m a witcher, not some common thief.
Your request is out of the range of my specialty.
I’m sorry.”

“No.
I mean, yes, you are stealing something.” He coughed and leaned back into the sofa.
Kalkstein explained patiently, “But skills don’t matter here.
Courage and an iron will do.
This laboratory is filled with traps!” Kalkstein sounded displeased.
“They’re the work of Azar Javed.”

“Azar Javed?” Roy looked at him.
That was the sorcerer the mayor hired after they beat Dagon for Adda.
He opened a portal to Cintra for him and Letho.
Azar wanted a vial of witcher blood in return, but Roy gave him a vial of mixed blood instead. I wonder if he found anything from the blood I gave him. “He’s Vizima’s royal consultant, isn’t he?” Triss shouldn’t be Foltest’s consultant at this point in time just yet. 

“You know him?” Kalkstein asked.

“Met him once.
I can’t say I know him, or that he’s my friend.”

“Good.
You can’t show mercy in this job.” Kalkstein went into the details.
He and Azar were mad scientists living in Vizima.
They had the same interests, so they maintained an amicable relationship and exchanged their experiment results once every few days.
However, recently, Azar would either show up late or skip the meeting altogether.

Kalkstein shrewdly realized that he was conducting an important experiment, or he might have found a great test subject.
Kalkstein wanted in on that, but Azar was adamant on not telling him anything.
He shot down a mad scientist who would give everything for his experiments, and Kalkstein could not forgive that.

“Azar Javed’s latest experiment goes against the ethics of scientific research and discussion.
He took the wrong path, and as his erstwhile friend, I have the responsibility of correcting his mistakes,” Kalkstein said, looking serious.
“But I can’t enter his laboratory myself.
I would set his traps off, but witchers are a lot more resilient than most people, making them the perfect candidates for this job.”

“Hey, what kind of logic is that? You want me to steal the fruits of someone’s labor, and you call it an act of justice? The audacity.” Roy wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Still, he disliked Azar, since he helped someone invade Kaer Morhen in the future.
Getting in his way and ruining his experiment sounded fine for him.

“The operation will start tomorrow.
I’ll find an excuse to make him leave his laboratory.
You’ll use a scroll to turn yourself into an oriole and get into his laboratory to find his journal.”

“Wait.
What’d you say? Are you for real?” Roy had a surprised look on his face. This guy is crazy.
He wants to turn me into a bird? 

“Don’t worry.
It’s perfectly safe.” He gave the witcher an ugly smile.
“Orioles are small enough to get past all the traps in the laboratory easily.”

“Hold it.
Hold it right there.
I am not going to turn myself into some kind of animal.
That’s absurd, and I can’t guarantee my own safety,” Roy interrupted.
He then said, “You’ll have to change the terms of the contract.
You need to pay me more.
The reward is not enough as it is right now.”