Chapter 328: Replace

[TL: Asuka]

[PR: Ash]

Yet another bout of rain fell upon the city of Novigrad. Chilly winds blew through the curtains of the witchers’ abode beside the southern canal. Bells rang, and magical lamps swayed in the wind, shining on the faces of the witchers gathered in this house.

“Vipers, we have accomplished our mission. Killed some drowners that were in our way, dived into the cold waters of Novigrad, and found the Flying Stag’s shipwreck.” There was a hint of pride in Felix’s eyes as he whipped out a yellowing diagram from his bag and placed it on the table.

Roy picked it up and had a look. “Feline Crossbow… dark iron ore… ruby dust… monster claw… This is magnificent! Perfect structural integrity!”

Judging from the components alone, the Feline Crossbow was more powerful than Gabriel in its base form, but after a few powerups, Gabriel was a lot more powerful than this new crossbow.

The Vipers passed the diagram around, and everyone praised it. It was a surprise that the Cats were collecting their diagrams faster than they were.

“We have five diagrams now. All we need are the diagrams for our silver and steel weapons, and that’ll be a full set.” A smile of excitement curled Felix’s lips. “You’re not a real Cat if you’re not wearing a full set of legacy armor and weapons.”

Ever since the Cat School’s founder and his team left Stygga a century ago, nobody had managed to collect all the missing diagrams. Until now.

“I think I know where the rest of those diagrams roughly are,” Kiyan said raspily. “One is in the ruins of Est Tayiar around Oxenfurt. Well, all seven diagrams came from those ruins, actually.”

Kiyan stared at the ground in silence, perhaps because he was reminded of an unsavory past. “A few decades ago, I followed a team of archeologists from Oxenfurt into the ruins and brought six diagrams out with me. Four were left when Steingard abducted me. One was left on the Flying Stag, and the last one was entrusted to Prince Adrien, the last heir of the Sky Cats Dynasty. It’s in Drahim Castle on Novigrad’s southern side. But from what I know, the castle is nothing more than ruins now.”

The witchers kept their mouths shut and pressed for no details. Even the usually curious Auckes held back in consideration for Kiyan’s feelings.

“Gorthur Gvaed is still under renovation. If you don’t mind, we can travel to the castle and retrieve that diagram. It’s not that far from Novigrad anyway.”

“Sorry, but we have a more pressing matter to settle,” Roy interrupted solemnly. “I have found the escapee, Matteo Sigula.”

“What?!” A flame was lit within Kiyan, and he shivered with excitement and fury, not unlike a volcano that was about to erupt. “Where is he?”

“Right here in Novigrad.”

***

Ten minutes later, Todd told them all about the curious case of Elsa.

“That bastard escaped, changed his name, and climbed his way to glory?” Disbelief glimmered in Auckes’ eyes. “He’s now one of the big three?”

“The last time I saw him, I knew that whoreson was no good. He’s deeply discriminatory against non-humans, and I wondered why. So this was the reason.”

“Even if he were the king of Novigrad, that’s still not enough to erase his sins.” Letho rubbed his head and stared ahead venomously. “He tortured and tormented a witcher, and he must pay the price in blood.”

“We just signed a peace treaty with them, people.” Serrit shook his head. “If we break that treaty, it’ll spell disaster. The shops will be taken back, and the whole of Novigrad’s going to hunt us down. We need to come up with a plan.”

***

“That’s enough. You guys stay out of this.” Every muscle on Kiyan’s body was trembling with rage, but he managed to keep a calm look. He said, “You’ve done enough for me. This is my vengeance. I’ll do this alone. Not like anyone in Novigrad has seen my face.” He laughed. “All I have to do is take this disguise off, and nobody’s going to think I’m a witcher.”

“Oh no. You don’t get to exclude me.” Felix crossed his arms and frowned in displeasure. “I went through hell to bust you out, and now you want to fight alone? You’re gonna end up dead. If you think of me as a friend, then you’ll forget about fighting alone. Cats move together.”

“I’m not a fool, people. Do you think I’d barge in and get myself killed?” Kiyan patted Felix’s shoulders and took a deep breath to calm down. “I’m taking this slow. Thirty years of torture tempered my patience. This vengeance of mine will be delivered slowly but surely. Once I see that Collector and ascertain that he’s my tormentor, I’ll keep a very close eye on him. Come rain, wind, or shine, I won’t avert my gaze. When he shows an opening, I’ll move in for the kill.”

Roy’s heart skipped a beat. Whoa. If I knew a disfigured Cat was out for my life no matter what, I’d be living in fear. And everyone knows Cats are famous for their assassination skills.

“Kiyan…” Todd huddled closer to Kiyan and gave the Cat a pleading look, though he couldn’t see the witcher’s disfigured face. “May I be a part of this operation? I need to capture that bastard and get him to heal my daughter. She’s in suspended animation, and only he can deal with this.”

Kiyan looked at Todd and nodded. “You seem like a reliable man. You can come, but you’ll have to listen to me.”

***

“I’m going too!” Auckes took Kiyan’s side and grinned. “I’m not sitting this out. Not when a friend is in trouble. And the Collector discriminates against us. Not to mention he’s a bloody pervert, and we don’t ally ourselves with perverts. Besides, Roy still has a lot of coins.” He added, “If we get on Novigrad’s bad side, we can just settle down in Kovir anyway.”

Serrit had conflicting emotions about this. Auckes is really not helping us here.

***

“Stop with the pessimistic talk. There must be a better way,” Roy interrupted. The problem is how we can capture that whoreson without exposing ourselves and destroying the treaty?

“Why don’t you ask for a mage’s help?” Serrit looked at Roy. “Ask Lytta. She might have an idea on how to deal with a sorcerer.”

Roy hesitated for a moment. He owed the sorceress a lot, and this time, he didn’t want to rope her in.

“Or we go with the stupidest way and create an alibi. We show up around the gang lords’ turf and hire someone to abduct the Collector,” Auckes suggested.

“You fool! Do you know how much that would cost?” Serrit scoffed. “And even if someone were to take that request, they would sell us out and get that bounty money the first change they got.”

“Well, do you have a better idea? We need to capture him alive and make sure Eternal Fire, Cleaver, and the King of Beggars don’t realize something’s amiss? That’s mission impossible!”

“Why don’t we get in touch with Eternal Fire, then?” Felix said. “They never liked mages, and this ‘peace’ is just a façade. If we work with them, they’re going to get rid of Matteo for us and clean up any mess that might happen as a result.”

“And you think they like witchers? After they get rid of Matteo, they’re going to sell us out and work with the remaining gang lords to get rid of us,” Serrit argued.

That’s possible. Highly possible. Everyone fell into silence. The conversation was back to square one.

“We can’t let anyone know the Collector is missing.” Letho rubbed his head again and commented, “Unless we can get someone to take his place after we kidnap him.”

“You mean to hire a performer who can disguise himself as the Collector?” Auckes shook his head. “That’s too much of a hassle, and he might sell us out too.”

***

Wait. Someone who can take the Collector’s place? Roy had a stroke of inspiration, and he flipped through his memories. He just realized that there was a special creature hiding in Novigrad, and not many knew of it. “Why don’t we make that replacement permanent?”

“What do you mean, kid?” Everyone gave Roy a look of confusion and curiosity.

Felix mused, “Talk is easy. Action? Not so much. Do you think nobody can see through that disguise?”

***

“If the disguise is worn by a regular man, sooner or later they’ll slip up. But there’s a certain creature who can mimic anything they want to. Recreating something in someone’s image is as easy as breathing to them.”

The witchers were stunned for a moment, but then they realized what Roy was talking about. The creature was rare, but they had seen it once, and their eyes lit up.

“Oh, that thing. It’s been decades since I last saw one.” Letho sighed. “I thought they went extinct.”

“Not exactly.” Roy shook his head.

Auckes rubbed his chin. “Problem is, their disguise is perfect. How are we supposed to find something like that?”

A mysterious smile curled Roy’s lips. “I just glimpsed into the future again. There’s one right here in Novigrad, and I might have seen it before. Now that I think about it, his behavior was more like an act. Perhaps he’s actually a lot younger than his disguise is.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Auckes got fired up. “Time to move out, people!”

Everyone was ready to do this.

***

“I shall be paying the oneiromancer a visit to get another clue to confirm my guess,” Roy said.