Chapter 22: Because It Doesn't Cost Anything Anyway, Believe a Little Bit
"Recently, a farmer in our town left the pub, but could not find his way home and so slept on the street."
Lynn slapped his hand across his forehead and asked, "Was that farmer drunk and inebriated?"
The mayor wrinkled his brow: "That's so, but is there any need for a connection between the two?"
Lynn sighed and asked, "Anything else?"
"Yes, there is a strange fish in the river not far from the town. It resides in the river and periodically suddenly shoots out to drag away washerwomen."
Lynn stiffened when he heard this.
"How many victims so far?"
The mayor was surprised for a moment, and slowly replied,
"None for the moment."
"So how do you know that there is an unusual fish in the river?"
"Because that's what the washerwomen said."
"So you just told me that an unusual fish dragged away the washerwomen, who said so?"
"Luther said so. He promised me that he saw it with his own eyes."
Then the mayor spoke about a lot of unusual things that happened in the town.
But each of them was a joke created by rural rubes to pass the time.
But Lynn wasn't impatient, but endured all of them patiently.
Finally, he stood up.
"I see, mayor. It seems that the situation in the town really is quite critical."
"But first, before I attend to the affairs of your town, I have some other business to take care of. I will be back, and then I will look and see if there is something I can help with."
....
Lynn opened the tavern door, stepped out, and left the raucous and noisy atmosphere behind.
He walked straight out of town, and Geralt was expecting him with Roach at the notice board under the town gate.
"You're back, what's the commission?"
Lynn flung out his hands and explained in a hopeless manner.
"The mayor did tell me a lot, but I get the suspicion that those so-called monsters are all products of the imagination of this town's population."
"The tipsy farmer couldn't get home. It wasn't a lost creature that killed it, it was simply because he was tipsy."
"The washerwomen said there was a strange fish in the river, but until now there isn't even one victim, and all the evidence are only their biased words."
"More to the point, if there actually were bloodthirsty monsters in an area, the people there should all be scowling."
"But as I can tell, everyone here is smiling and singing and dancing, like they are indulging in these rumors as tittle-tattle."
Geralt agreed.
"Yes, at times, the information given by individuals is false. I once had a case where the person in question alleged that he was being attacked by an evil spirit, but upon investigation, it was found that."
"Actually, the said evil spirit was fabricated by the husband of the person involved. The reason why he intentionally imitated the state of being possessed by an evil spirit was to intentionally lead the person involved and the neighbors into believing this manner so that he could kill the person involved later and falsely attribute the death of the person involved to the evil spirit."
"But since you don't think there are any monsters here, should we leave this town and find work elsewhere?"
Lynn hesitated for an instant, but shook his head.
"No, just in case, we'd better stay and trust our own eyes to check again."
Geralt concurred.
....
And so they stayed in this town.
Lynn knelt beside the river, while Geralt set out to find the tipsy farmer and others that the mayor had mentioned.
In the course of the following days, they gained nothing.
Lynn, on duty at the river, didn't spot any strange fish. To the contrary, he had washerwomen in a good frenzy surrounding him because he was too pretty.
The same with Geralt.
He adhered to the "victim's" testimony and came to the scene of the accident to observe what was what, but didn't find any trace of anything other than the "victim's" own trail.
Finally, after spending a few days in the town, nothing materialized.
This was sufficient to prove that there were actually no monsters in the town.
However, neither of them was disappointed either.
Instead, if monsters only existed in the villagers' word of mouth and not otherwise, it would actually be preferable.
But shortly after the two left the town, a barefoot farmer running in the mud barefoot passed them by.
He gasped and said, "Praise the gods, noble sirs."
Geralt pulled in Roach and nodded to the farmer: "We offer the same praise."
The farmer bent down, supporting his knees, and gasped.
"I have seen you helping the mayor in the town, and I have also heard that you are Witchers. In fact, our village is attacked by monsters and requires the service of Witchers."
"Want work, gentlemen? Follow me."
Lynn and Geralt looked at each other.
"What monster?"
The farmer rubbed his hands nervously: "I... I'm not eloquent, I'm not capable of speaking. Quickly, please come with me. Our families have gathered money, and we will surely not give you less money."
Geralt did not agree immediately: "Lynn, what do you think?"
He wanted Lynn to decide for himself as much as possible.
Whether the result was good or bad in the end.
That way Lynn would grow up as fast as possible.
Lynn agreed at once.
"Because it doesn't cost anything anyway, have a little faith."
"Thank you for your kindness, boy sir. So let's get a move on. If we get a move on, we can make it before nightfall."
...
When Lynn and Geralt arrived at last in the village the farmer had indicated, it was dark already.
But outside the village gate, a large number of people emerged.
"It's the Witcher!"
"The Witcher has arrived!"
"That's the Witcher? He looks no different from ordinary mercenaries. Can he even kill monsters? Don't let us help in lifting corpses afterwards."
"What's wrong with you? Witchers are master monster-killers."
The top farmer waved the two Witchers with gesturing arms, as if shooing a crowd.
"Disperse, disperse! There is nothing to look at! Don't clog up the road!"
Behind this farmer, Lynn and Geralt drew near the village elder.
"Elder, I brought you the Witcher masters."
This village elder was a bald, fourty-year-old man with a sorrowful face.
After seeing Lynn and Geralt, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and made an inviting gesture: "That's good, that's good. Please come in, two Witcher masters, let's talk in the house."
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