The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

Vlodimir looked at his own transparent body, immune to physical attacks, and reflected. “The celebration you mentioned, what exactly is it?”

Kiyan lowered his voice and answered: "Eternal Fire, remember?"

"I'm dead, not stupid." Vlodimir said dissatisfiedly. "A bunch of weird guys, they almost fought with us several times."

"Since you know it, it's easy to explain I received news that the Eternal Fire had an internal conflict, believers killed believers, knights killed knights, and flames fought against flames." Kiyan's voice was low, so It whispered like a demon: "Get into the team of the Temple Knights, find a poor guy to possess, kill his former companions openly, then leave, find the next poor guy, and repeat. Doesn't it sound interesting? If you want, you can even possess their leader to command your former enemy to fight. This level of infighting is rare, and you won't have such an opportunity again in the future..."

Vlodimir's spectral eyes glowed brightly. For him, Kiyan's proposal is indeed very attractive. "You are a genius, red-eyed guy, you are a person who enjoys life!" Vlodimir rubbed his hands. "Let's set off quickly!"

...

One day later, Temple Island, Eternal Fire Headquarters.

At that time, believers gathered in the hall for morning prayer.

Mixtures of fish oil, beeswax, rose essence and carmine burned in the braziers, producing red flames and a heady fragrance.

Caleb Menge is outside the auditorium, watching this scene intoxicatedly, as if everyone is worshiping him.

“Where’s Chappelle?”

Hearing the question, a temple guard stepped forward. "He is..."

Before the guard could continue, Caleb Menge interrupted him with a rebuke: “Lower your voice. Can’t you see they are praying?”

In fact, no believers noticed the situation here, but the temple guard immediately lowered his voice and whispered: “He is mobilizing the guards for patrol. There have been many conflicts with gangs these days. He is preparing people to quell the riots.”

Caleb Menge smiled with satisfaction. "It seems that everyone is very impatient."

"But we can't just let Chappelle go. If we want the Eternal Fire to have only one voice in the future, I have to overthrow him in public..."

Caleb Menge muttered to himself: "Evil pagans, dangerous spellcasters, dirty inhuman races, after today, all these filth will disappear in Novigrad."

"Gather our men and target Chappelle."

“And turn on our signal, let Olgierd and the sorcerer enter the city. Let’s begin the operation!”

The temple guards shouted in unison: “Yes!”

This time Caleb Menge did not reprimand them for raising their voices.

One voice in particular sounded extremely excited, almost unnaturally so. However, Caleb Menge paid it no attention. Soldiers filled with enthusiasm were a good sign for him.

...

Outside Novigrad, in the mansion closest to the city, was the camp of the Redanian Free Company.

Rience had suggested taking a closer village, but Olgierd refused. His reason: he did not want to disturb the villagers' lives and the mansion was more dignified.

Rience was furious. Looking at Olgierd who was carefully holding his scimitar and preparing for battle, he said loudly: “Is this what you call an honorable warrior? I heard you used to be nomadic bandits, but now you act like a palace noble! What if we don’t arrive in time when Caleb Menge sends us the signal?”

Contrary to the sorcerer's impatience, Olgierd remained calm. "Don't worry, we won't miss Lannister, just like Lannister won't miss us."

This sentence made Rience stunned, and he seemed to not fully understand: "What do you mean?"

Olgierd let out a light laugh. Unlike the student expelled from the magic academy and the head of the temple guards, Olgierd had received an excellent education since childhood, and although his family had fallen into disgrace, he never stopped learning. Because of that, he had a keen intuition.

Olgierd thought that the confrontation with Lann would be the greatest entertainment these days, but he did not expect that before the battle, he had already seen several interesting scenes.

"What was your original plan?"

Rience said dissatisfiedly: “You still don’t remember? Start riots with the gangs to destabilize the city, force the Lannister knights to fight in the streets. Then Caleb Menge would take control of the Eternal Fire while Chappelle sent his people. Finally, we would reunite and finish off the Lannister. Any problems?”

Olgierd sneered. "There's not just one problem, there's a big problem. First of all: where are the four witchers you brought?"

Rience frowned. “You know that their job is to keep an eye on Lannister and meet us in the city. They were sent by His Majesty the Emperor, they are not under my command, so they have no obligation to report to me.”

Olgierd shook his head. “Going to war without gathering your forces, without knowing how many swords you have and where they are pointing… From the beginning, I didn’t trust that your plan would work.”

It was a blatant mockery, and the information implicit in Olgierd's words made Rience feel that something was wrong. He was about to respond when Olgierd continued: "You and I are Lannister targets, and I think you're pretty high on their kill list. I don't know how gangs do things, and I don't know how Caleb Menge does things. Whether they succeed or not has nothing to do with me. I just want to have a good fight with Lannister."

Olgierd finally finished oiling his scimitar, caressing it like a lover while wiping away the excess oil with a silk. He continued: "Aren't you always curious about why I act with you? This is the reason: I know that where you are, Lannister will definitely come."

Seeing the shocked expression on Rience's face, Olgierd laughed. “What did you think that it was out of respect for a sorcerer? Come on, don’t be naive!”

Rience no longer cared about the faint sarcasm in Olgierd's words this time. He said anxiously: “You mean Caleb Menge and the gangs leaders will face trouble? And that Lannister will come for us? Why would they fail, and how would Lannister find us?”

The sorcerer spoke quickly, his tone filled with panic, unable to understand where his carefully laid plan could go wrong.

"I guessed." Olgierd replied indifferently, as he began to drink.

Rience breathed a sigh of relief. "That means you haven't received any real bad news, right? The errors you just mentioned are just your speculations, right?"

"This is your second problem, sorcerer." Olgierd shook his head. "Putting the success of the plan entirely on luck and prayer, instead of doing something substantial to make up for the loopholes. I really can't think of why the Emperor of Nilfgaard would send you here to preside over such a big thing."

Rience wanted to say something else, but a hurried sound of footsteps was heard in the hallway. A Wild One soldier burst into the room, and said urgently: “Boss, there is fire in the direction of Novigrad! The signal has arrived!”

Outside the mansion, all members of the Wild Ones were fully armed and prepared. They looked towards the city, waiting for the appearance of their leader.

A smile of victory appeared on the sorcerer’s face. “It seems that the plan is going well.”

However, Olgierd closed his eyes, crouched down and gently touched the ground. The earth trembled slightly, and a dull thud of horses' hooves could be heard from the depths.

“Your witchers have arrived.” Olgierd smiled, his gaze no longer on the fire burning towards the city, but on the end of the road leading to the mansion.

There, a team of well-trained cavalry was rumbling in, led by a blond knight, wearing silver-gray armor and a griffin cloak, with a sharp aura.

Beside him was a sturdy bald man.

“Lannister? He really came himself? And why is Letho with them?!”

The sorcerer's voice was almost a scream. Given the number of times his throat had been injured, making such a high-pitched sound was not easy.

Olgierd started laughing out loud. “I guessed it! Wild Ones, attack!”

...

For the past few days, Lann has been using Triss's raven magic and the Eternal Fire's location to monitor the enemy and track their position. His main target is Rience.

That sorcerer, who already escaped from his hands once, will not have another chance this time.

Although his personal skills and qualities are not great, he has the support of Vilgefortz and the Emperor of Nilfgaard. This time it was thanks to Kolgrim that he learned of his plans, but Lann may not be so lucky next time.

Therefore, Rience must die this time.

As for Olgierd, Lann is in no such hurry. But since they are together, it is better to finish them both off at once. After all, they are already here.

"I'll deal with the sorcerer first. It's too dangerous to let a spellcaster concentrate on chanting spells in the rear on the battlefield."

On the way, Lann began to assign their respective tasks.

"House, you will lead the cavalry charge. Levin, you will be his second in command. Milva, provide cover."

The three attendants nodded.

Lann finally turned to Letho. "Letho, you will take care of Olgierd. He has made a pact with a demon through a ritual and has obtained immortality. He is very difficult to handle. You just need to keep him busy, after I finish off the sorcerer, I will come to help you."

"I've seen immortals before, but I don't know how far their 'immortality' goes." Letho replied without showing emotion, hesitating whether to draw his steel or silver sword. "I'll test him, maybe you won't even need to intervene."

Lann grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

At the same time the enemies were already visible. Evidently, they were also prepared.

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