The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

"These days, Kaedwen soldiers have come to provoke us from time to time." Kolgrim said sullenly. "To be honest, if I hadn't considered that we are now also representing a political force and worried about causing conflicts, I would have taught those stinky guys a lesson long ago."

Lann laughed. "And I have you to thank for that?"

Kolgrim nodded dismissively. "You're welcome."

Auckes punched Kolgrim's shoulder unhappily. "When have we not avoided official armies? Even without Lann, you wouldn't have been able to do anything!"

"Who said that?!" Kolgrim became defensive. He rolled his eyes and suddenly pointed at the bald man who had been silent beside him and said: "Let Letho lend me his Viper venomous silver sword, and I will dare to let those Kaedwen soldiers have a taste of power!"

Letho, who was drinking silently, was stunned and shook his head helplessly.

As the contemporary leader of the Viper School, he is the calmest and composed, but like all witchers, he has never put on airs. Many times, Kolgrim and his companions regard Letho as their elder brother, the kind of elder brother who is like a father.

During the drinking and discussion just now, he had been playing the role of a listener, but he did not expect Kolgrim to suddenly pull him out as a shield.

The Viper venomous silver sword that he had recently obtained shone brightly. Letho, who considered her a treasure, was not going to lend her so easily.

Lann smiled and changed the subject, turning to Letho. "How does this sword feel?"

An expression of satisfaction and delight appeared on Letho's face. "Very good, I really don't know where you got it back from. But I want to thank you again, Lann."

Letho had participated in several battles with this sword, especially in the fight against the forktail at the entrance of the castle. The Viper venomous silver sword cut through the scales and spine of the forktail as easily as if it were cutting through a drowner. This made Letho feel even more gratitude towards Lann.

"This sword is the best quality sword I have ever seen, even the griffin silver sword my mentor gave me is not as good as it."

Of course, this is except for the swords 'Aerondight' and 'Iris' that Lann carries on his back.

Lann said in a joking tone: "I even wonder if this sword isn't the personal sword of Ivar Evil-Eye, the founder of your school."

Lann originally just said this casually, but the reaction of the Viper School witchers was beyond his expectation.

Whether it was Letho, Kolgrim, Auckes or Serrit, they all shook their heads seriously.

"No, I have seen Master Ivar's sword, and it is completely different from this one. Perhaps this is the sword of some ancient witcher of our school who sacrificed his life in combat." Letho said.

"Wait a minute, have you met Ivar Evil-Eye, the founder of your school?"

Letho nodded as a matter of course. "Yes."

Then he saw Lann's surprised expression, and after thinking about it, he figured out the key.

"You've only met the four of us from the Viper School, which may have given you the wrong idea. But Master Ivar is still alive. It's thanks to him that we survived the destruction of the school by Nilfgaard. The Viper School must still have five members, at least."

"Are you sure? That's a grandmaster who was already active during the Order of Witchers era! If he's still alive, how old would he be now?" Lann said in disbelief. "He's still in Nilfgaard? Why hasn't he come with you to the North?"

Faced with Lann's question, Letho shook his head. "Although Master Ivar is still alive, he set out on a journey alone not long ago. His 'Evil Eye' seems to have shown him something that forced him to follow another path. Thus, he transferred the title of school master to me and tasked me with leading the quest to revitalize the school."

Kolgrim also chimed in: "That was after I arrived in the North. When you and I met, I even planned to write a letter back to Master Ivar. It was not until I met Letho and the others that I knew that Master Ivar had left, and I regretted it for a long time."

The witchers' words caused Lann to fall into deep thought.

He admitted that he was greedy.

Ivar Evil-Eye. A super mutant who has undergone more witcher mutations than ordinary witchers due to his outstanding drug resistance, a grandmaster who has existed since the Order of Witchers period, how strong can such a person be?

Also, from Letho's admiring tone and description, Ivar Evil-Eye must have been in his prime.

Unfortunately, he was too late to recruit him. Ivar had left his weakened school behind and was off, following whatever he saw with his Evil Eye.

Fortunately, Letho was very capable, and the Viper School possessed a rare cohesion, which prevented it from disbanding.

And from Letho's tone, they even understood Ivar's approach and didn't feel abandoned by the other party.

"Did Grandmaster Ivar tell you where he was going and what he was going to do?"

"No." Letho shook his head. "But we believe he had reasons to do so."

"Then do you want to find him?"

Letho was silent this time, and after a long time he sighed. "Yes."

Clearly, he was not without resentment over Ivar's departure, though those feelings were suppressed by his trust in his leader.

Lann could only say: "When we return to Cintra, I will do more promotion of the Order of Witchers, especially the message that the Viper School has also joined the order. If Master Ivar sees this, he will surely come looking for you."

Letho nodded.

They both toasted and drank in one gulp.

Kolgrim, however, suddenly remembered something. "Lann, and the founder of your griffon school? I heard Ivar say his name was Erland of Larvik.”

Lann thought for a while and said: "I have been a witcher for less than two years, and I have never seen Grandmaster Erland. Kaer Seren was once destroyed by an avalanche created by the sorcerers. Grandmaster Erland mistakenly thought that the school was annihilated, so he left in despair and has never been heard from since."

"My master, Jerome, was imprisoned by his own sorcerer father while he was away on a mission, so he was spared. I rescued him by accident, and then, by a twist of fate, became a witcher."

Lann briefly introduced the current situation of the Griffin School.

To the members of the Viper School, who were unaware of the details, it seemed that the Griffin School was in an even more unfortunate situation than their own.

"It's a shame. Master Ivar always praised Master Erland and mentioned him with admiration." Letho sighed. "I always wanted to see the griffin knight that Master Ivar spoke of."

The witchers looked at each other in silence, toasted and drank.

After a round, Kolgrim suddenly thought of something.

"Lann, do you think Grandmaster Erland might still be alive too?"

Lann was silent and shook his head. "No one knows, perhaps. Perhaps, when I spread the news of the Griffin School's revival in Cintra, he will return as well."

The topic became too serious, and the witchers fell silent again, toasting once more.

However, this atmosphere did not last long.

Soon, a shout of joy broke the silence, dispersing the melancholy of the wine.

"I'm done, my painting is ready!"

Iris stood up from the chair happily, but soon seemed to realize how rude her behavior was. She immediately covered her mouth with one hand and looked at the witchers at the table apologetically.

Seeing such an expression on the face of that woman, always so melancholic and with a desolate gothic air, turned out to be a charming contradiction.

In fact, Iris was happy. She had spent so many years lost in the darkness, experiencing no emotions other than sadness and pain, that she no longer remembered what it was like to feel anything else.

Lann walked towards her with a smile and looked at the painting on the easel.

There are two leaders facing each other on it.

One was an imposing knight with golden hair and eyes like a lion's. He was sheathing a shining rune sword as he said something to the person in front of him.

In front of him was a lady in golden armor and a crown on her head. Her face maintained a serene expression, but with a subtle hint of fatigue.

Behind them, other knights, a forest, and the corpses of two enormous forktails could be seen. All around, the bodies of other monstrous creatures were scattered.

"When you said you wanted a painting as a gift for the queen, I immediately thought of this scene." Iris said softly.

Although Iris was a [Soul in the Painting], her innate talent gave her many possibilities. In addition to being able to inhabit her own portrait, she could also possess the [Iris] scimitar.

After all, she couldn't always possess a portrait that was inconvenient to carry around. Furthermore, the painting she possessed couldn't be placed in Lann's [Inventory].

So when Lann had saved the queen with a display of his power, Iris had witnessed it all from the scimitar and had now captured that scene in painting, adding her own emotions to the picture.

By the way, if Lann was going to use the scimitar to fight, he had to warn Iris beforehand so that she would get out of the scimitar, since she still couldn't stand being so close to violence.

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