Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1398 1370. Test

Iorveth had little information, but his words were sincere.

Lan En was reminded of the conversation they had last time, sitting around a bonfire in the rose garden in the elven ruins not far from the floating port.

At that time, the Scoia'tael commander who saw the little hope of his race out of despair abandoned everything and even opened his mind to the sorceress, just to prove his sincerity and determination.

If there was another option, he would have tried it long ago.

For the dream of a free city where all races can live equally.

"Even though I already knew the limitations of a peasant uprising without ideological guidance, organizational structure, or reorganization, I was still a little shocked that they could not suppress the trend of division so quickly."

Lan En calmly evaluated the news sent from Aden.

Not only because of Iorveth, the one-eyed elf's sincere words, but also the various data he submitted, as well as the account books of his and Saskia's troops.

Comparing these texts with each other convinced Lan that the difficulties faced by Iorveth were indeed not exaggerated.

Not being fooled by exaggerated battle reports is also a required course for a qualified commander.

False reporting of records is one aspect, and it is even easy to understand and check.

But on the other hand, subordinates in war will always try their best to exaggerate their own plight in order to gain more support from their superiors.

Some of them are unwilling to bear the heavy losses of their subordinates, and some are too aggressive, but no matter what, they must be thinking of 'more support, more support'!

And if we can't see through this, then the material dispatch of the entire battlefield will not be far from turning into a mess.

Geralt didn't know that after Lan En negotiated with Saskia and Iorveth, they reached an agreement together.

After all, the white wolf was probably escorting Ciri out of Kaer Morhen during that time to adapt to society.

And Geralt himself is also a person who can control his curiosity well.

As an experienced master witcher, he has lived a long time and done many tasks, so he also understands the need to control curiosity.

So when he heard words like 'peasant uprising' coming from Lan En's mouth, his eyes didn't waver. If Lan En didn't take the initiative to explain it to him, he wouldn't ask any more questions.

And will Lan En make it clear to him?

The young witcher shook his head.

He certainly trusted Geralt if necessary.

But now, this veteran demon hunter is tensing up because someone close to him is being investigated by an unknown source. Lan En is not prepared to put any more pressure on his nerves unless necessary.

Just like escaping from Sintra.

Geralt is responsible for protecting Ciri, and he can stop the rest.

"In the final analysis." Lan En patted the two piles of documents in his hand and re-locked the news about Aden into the magic safe. "It's all a matter of lack of manpower."

"We only have a small chamber of commerce in Novigrad hosted by a halfling friend. Dudu is a business genius, but he is a decent and honest businessman. Without the support of strong means, gangsters like scum can disturb his life. ”

"And so it was in Aedirn."

"The non-human race hates humans, but now they have to risk their lives to help. Human beings discriminate and distrust the non-human race, but now they have to stand together."

"Friction is certain, and even taking advantage of the chaos to kill each other and exclude dissidents must have occurred."

"But the human farmers definitely favor their own people. Even if Iorveth does not favor his own people and only wants justice. But as long as he starts to pursue this matter, no one will believe that he will really do it."

"After all." Lan En pushed the magic safe forward. Lincoln took a step forward, hugged the box and put it back in place. "Look at the short-sightedness of the leader of those rebellious farmers."

"Even if they want to maintain their prestige, they can't push out the men who committed the crime and hand them over to the elves. Even if Iorveth only said it was an investigation, not even a trial."

Lincoln lowered his head, not unexpectedly. Because of the current situation, his lord had completely foreseen it as early as that night.

"As you said, my lord."

He lowered his head calmly and agreed.

Even that night, Lan En had not only foreseen this step, but also had already said how to deal with this situation.

This is what Iorveth mentioned in his letter: they need strong, external supervision and intervention as a mediator in internal racial conflicts.

Only when this kind of mediation continues to operate fairly and there is basic trust between the non-human race and the human race, can the mediation of conflicts gradually be transferred within them and be resolved by themselves.

The position of this mission was originally reserved for the Ember Knights.

As direct knights, they will represent Lan En's will to supervise the goals and ideals shared by Saskia, Iorveth, and Lan En, and move forward and develop on the right track.

But in the final analysis, as the performers of ‘supervision’ duties, they must first be strong enough!

It must be strong enough not to be 'accidentally' killed in the chaos.

Want to seek justice and judge right from wrong? This has always been a deadly job.

In the words of Lan En's hometown world, those who do this work must be "heroic and ignorant".

If it were under a stable governance system, the danger would be okay. But can any of the peasant rebels in Aden be called stable?

"So, all said and done." Lan En pointed his finger at his sturdy desk, "The key is strength and manpower."

The young demon hunter raised his head and looked at the secretary who looked downcast but was younger than him.

'But now I can give my men strength. ’

Lan En thought subconsciously.

"I almost feel lucky now that I got it right at the right time when I needed to hire people."

While shaking his head, Lan stood up and said to Lincoln: "Call Stewart and pick nine more people." The young clerk also raised his head, his eyes almost shining when he looked at Lan.

"It's time."

The leader of the Ember Knights clapped his hands and declared.

—

When they saw Stuart again, both Lan and Geralt frowned.

Because the two of them had been to Gaoqiu Castle together before, in order to withdraw a sum of gold coins to supplement the cash flow of Lan En's assets.

At that time, these two demon hunters, who had spent time with the former young officer of Cintra, had already noticed that something was wrong with his mentality.

Depression and self-hatred.

It's just that these emotions seem to be well controlled by him and will never affect his work.

But just as Lincoln and the others worried, psychological problems are difficult to manage, because what can affect the patient is his own mentality.

Even though the sixty knights of the Ember Knights have been cultivating for a long time and have a tacit understanding like battle brothers, the psychological knots that are not settled are still not settled.

Stewart still wore that ferocious and dazzling iron chin on his face.

His expression was normal, but his gloomy temperament almost made Lan En think that this was a hunter hunting in the darkness of Yharnam.

When Lan En's order came down, Stewart and the nine previous [Sword Teachers] were already waiting there in a living room in the castle.

Whether it was out of the friendship and concern within the Knights, or the respect and guilt for the surname ‘Lynn’, Stewart would definitely have a spot among these ten people.

Of course, Lincoln also wanted to compete for the remaining nine spots, but after Lan En came over, his first sentence, "Keep someone who can do the job," automatically screened him out.

So the remaining candidates looked at the secretary teasingly and showily.

One knight even whistled at him, causing Lincoln to bulge the masseter muscles on his face behind Lan En.

"It's still you guys. How come I'm not surprised at all?" the young demon hunter said speechlessly as he walked, "You beat up other people just because you learned swordsmanship for a few more days?"

"You jumped so high, I think you will be beaten back sooner or later."

The ten people in the [Honorary Swordsmen] were originally the quotas allocated by the knights last time, and they received the swordsmanship taught by Lan En on the way.

For the sake of "knight culture", Lincoln gave these ten people the status of "Swordgiver" in a miscellaneous manner.

They are already strong, and they have learned for a long time longer than other members of the Knights. It's not because they were chosen.

"Then I will be very pleased, sir." The Ember Knight who just whistled laughed, "It means that I taught them well and lived up to your expectations."

"Okay then." Lan En raised his eyebrows and looked at him, "Valem, you can be the first to start when the time comes. How about accumulating experimental data for others?"

[Trial of Green Grass] is a magic potion that can make people want to die, and it has a high fatality rate. Everyone knows this.

Generally speaking, if someone says something like this, the person listening will get angry immediately.

But the Ember Knights are different. Even if they joke about life and death, no one will care. They have crossed the boundary of life and death many times side by side.

This was especially true between Lan En and them. Nothing was taboo during the conversation.

So Valem, who was named by Lan En to be the 'experimental data', just laughed at this moment, and then saluted solemnly: "My lord, I am asking for exactly what you want!"

However, a hand pressed on his shoulder.

"No." Stewart's face was so disabled that he needed an iron jaw to make up for the gap. He faced Valem seriously, and then turned to Lan En. "grown ups."

"I know that I can be one of the first to receive the mutation because of my disability. Therefore, since I am the one being taken care of, I should be the first one. Even if I fail, become more disabled or simply die during the mutation, it will still be It will not affect the power of the Knights."

Valem, who was saluting Lan En, frowned and turned his head, looking at Stewart solemnly.

"Make no mistake, Stewart. Do you think that if one of us dies or fails, the others will give up the opportunity we have fought for so long?"

"At least you can improve after failure, and your hope will be even greater!"

"That's nonsense." Valem smiled and said bluntly under the eyes of everyone, "You just think that you are disabled. We are all taking care of you. You don't want others to take care of you. When you encounter difficulties, you should be the first one." Go ahead, right?"

It feels absolutely uncomfortable to have your inner workings dissected in public.

But Stewart, who had been tortured by his disabled body for a long time, only frowned slightly and did not deny it.

"But we do not consider you disabled, my brother."

Valem, who was smiling just now, now became extremely serious.

"Your body is a symbol that you have withstood the test. Even if it is deformed and weak, it is nobler than anything else in our eyes. Because you have shown your unshakable loyalty and strength."

"[The Trial of Green Grass] is not about taking care of you, Stuart."

Valem slapped the hand on his shoulder unceremoniously.

"You have earned this after passing the test! My Lord can testify, and your father, the respected Mr. Haxo Linn can testify!"

"And we! We are the ones who will use the [Green Grass Trial] to prove ourselves!"

"No! Deprivation! Our test! You have already passed it!"

Finally, Valem looked at Stewart word by word and said.

The rest of the Ember Knights were just like him.