Chapter 4: If He Won't Leave Voluntarily, Assist Him in Leaving Voluntarily
"Cat of Iello, what are you doing in Kaer Morhen? I don't recall inviting you."
The Wolf School Witchers stood as one.
Vesemir growled at the man who emerged from the shadows.
Geralt's hand closed around the silver candlestick on the table.
Eskel and Lambert positioned themselves between Lynn and the oncoming men.
"Since the Wolf's close relatives are to be expected, your hearing is fine," the man produced a scornful smile, "Braehan, Cat School Witcher, greets you."
Vesemir replied in his icy tone, "Tuck away your hypocritical greetings. Kaer Morhen does not welcome Cat School Witchers."
"Watch your tone, old bean. I will give you a second opportunity to recast your words. Remember, I am holding a sword, and you are not."
Braehan tasted the glistening sword he carried.
However, Vesemir was not impressed with his bluster.
"I know that the Cat School Witchers are swift, but let us not forget, Cat of Iello, Wolf School Witchers not only master swordsmanship, but also the Sign powers the Cat School Witchers do not possess."
"However fast you are, you must run ahead of us, and that is enough time for us to cast Signs."
"Can you be sure your leather armor will be able to take four Igni Signs?"
The mutations of Witchers from all schools differ.
The Wolf School mutations are balanced.
The Griffin School mutations enhance Sign skills.
The Cat School.
Since their founder was most likely an Aen Seidhe (also commonly called elves by humans), their fighting style is also inherited from the elves.
Cat School Witchers typically have phenomenal speed.
For example, an ordinary soldier might only be able to attack once a round.
But a Cat School Witcher can make two, or even three, attacks.
Such phenomenal speed obviously helps them during fights against humans.
But there are two sides to every thing.
While Cat School Witchers acquire supernatural speed, the gods close a window to them as well.
And "this window" is that Cat School Witchers have the worst Sign ability use among all the Witcher schools.
Many Cat School Witchers simply lack the capability of casting Signs outright.
The threat from Vesemir took hold.
Braehan's face grew grim.
"Damn hypocrites, you can sit next to the same table as the Butcher of Blavanik, why in the world not be more accepting and embrace an executioner?"
Vesemir presented an eviction letter: "Because we are a different type of people than yourselves. Get out quickly, Iello Cat. If you want to get out forcibly, we will assist in getting you out forcibly."
Braehan threw up his eyes and objected: "Witchers don't fight Witchers. That's the code of the Witchers, old man. Do you wish to break the code?"
But Vesemir was not to be dissuaded.
"If anybody's breaking the code, it's your Cat School. And I don't mind making a special exception for you. If you insist on spitting, I recommend you swallow, or I'll use your face to clean my floor."
His own saliva was pushed back into his throat by the saliva in Braehan's mouth.
As he went through a period of confrontation, he finally seemed to have given in and started backing away slowly into the shadows.
The scene fell silent once again after awhile.
Only the sound of the fire crackling could be heard.
"He's gone," Vesemir eased back with a sigh of relief, "Geralt, Eskel, Lambert, get Lynn to bed. It's late."
Geralt did not move: "I'll stay with you here, Vesemir. Don't be in such a rush to fight with me. You're getting old and need someone to watch your back."
Vesemir thought for a moment and did not refuse.
"That's fine by me. Eskel, Lambert, you two get a good night's rest tonight. Tomorrow you two take care of making sure our 'guest' leaves the Blue Mountains."
"Lynn, my child, don't let tonight get to you. Forget about it."
Vesemir spoke the first half to Eskel and Lambert.
The second half was spoken to Lynn.
Lynn nodded.
He was very sensible and didn't say or ask anything.
He left the hall with Eskel and Lambert.
.
With Eskel and Lambert, Lynn returned to his room upstairs.
"We'll sleep next door to you. If you're afraid or can't sleep, you can come find us." Eskel said graciously.
"Thank you, Eskel, and Lambert."
Seeing Lynn come towards his room, Lambert couldn't help but talk.
"Kid, you don't have anything to ask?"
"No need, good night."
Kaer Morhen's quarters weren't particularly good at keeping the sounds out.
Even when the doors were closed, you could still hear sounds from outside seeping through the cracks and the thin planks.
"What a nuisance kid."
"You must be talking about yourself, Lambert."
Lynn stripped off his clothes and lay on the bed.
Gazing up at the ceiling.
It wasn't that he was deliberately acting mature; he genuinely didn't have anything to ask.
Because he understood a great deal more than Eskel and Lambert.
There was a good reason that Vesemir did not greet, or rather, hated the Cat School.
A very long time ago, when Geralt was an apprentice, the Cat School had betrayed the Wolf School.
The then King of Kaedwen was deceived by sorcerers, who had led him to believe that Witchers would overthrow him.
Therefore, under the guise of hosting a Witcher tournament, he misled the Wolf School and bribed the Cat School to attack them.
In that infamous massacre, only Geralt and Vesemir of the Wolf School survived.
Especially Geralt, who was saved because of the clemency of a druid.
Since then, Vesemir fell into deep dislike and distrust of the Cat School.
All the schools of Witchers split off from the Witcher Order, but every school inherited differently, thus dissimilar recipes to the Trial of the Grasses.
The Trial of the Grasses at the Cat School was even more unique in that their founders had tried to pilfer the recipe when they defected from the Order, but it was later recovered by the Order Witchers who pursued them.
They had to find new mutation techniques, and they did, but the new recipe for the Trial of the Grasses also had gigantic side effects.
The Cat School's Trial of the Grasses did not repress the Witchers' emotions; rather, it intensified them, in an extreme, obsessive, and unhinged manner.
That is why the majority of Cat School Witchers were madmen, psychopaths, and sadists.
They frequently accepted commissions for hired assassinations and possessed an excessively elastic moral bottom line.
And as for Braehan, he was scum of the scum.
Geralt's nicknames "Butcher of Blaviken" was an attribute from ignorant people he saved, that did no better.
But Braehan's "Cat of Iello" and the Iello Massacre he caused were well-deserved.
.
Under Geralt's and Vesemir's watch, Lynn slept peacefully that night.
He got up early the following morning.
Since he landed on this earth, he had abandoned his earlier habit of sleeping in, and he would wake up as soon as he got up from sleeping.
He walked down to the hall and discovered Geralt and Vesemir sitting on the floor in meditation.
In dangerous and complex environments, Witchers could utilize meditation instead of sleep.
Witcher meditation also had the function of recharging energy and eliminating fatigue.
And while they meditated, they were always aware of what was going on around them, so in the event that there was any movement, they could immediately snap out of the meditative state.
Therefore, upon hearing the footsteps of Lynn, both Geralt and Vesemir opened their eyes.
Lynn greeted them with good mornings and then proceeded to prepare breakfast.
Scarcely a while had elapsed.
Eskel and Lambert also went downstairs.
After they had finished the breakfast Lynn had prepared, Eskel picked up his sword and shouted for Lambert.
"Come on, Lambert, we'll send our Cat School 'friend' away. We don't want him to lose himself in the Blue Mountains, seeing as they are snow-covered."
This time, Lambert was uncharacteristically quiet.
As soon as they left, the three of them, Lynn, Geralt, and Vesemir, sat down at the long table in the hall and ate breakfast.
"Vesemir, what is Lynn to learn today?" Geralt demanded curtly, piercing a chunk of meat on his plate with his fork.
Vesemir was a little parched and swallowed a mouthful of beer.
"His lessons in sword fighting are progressing extremely well, so I plan to start teaching him Signs from today. Signs are, after all, part of a Witcher."
Geralt proposed, "Then after breakfast, you have to rest, and I'll teach him."
Vesemir was perplexed.
"Come on, I'm not quite that old yet, but your suggestion is a good one. Alright, leave it to you."