Chapter 263: Being hated by Yennefer?
Warm spring sun.

Green grass and colorful flowers can be seen everywhere in the temple...

The tall and sturdy trees cast shadows, and the cascading waterfalls bring refreshing mist.

The temples are ancient and solemn, but they are decorated with vines with lavender flowers and are full of vitality...

As the god of harvest, the mother of all things.

The scenery inside the Temple of Meritelli is breathtaking.

The demon hunter, carrying two swords on his back, walked on the gravel road, sniffing the faint fragrance of flowers, but he didn't pay any attention to the scenery in front of him.

He is thinking.

If something unexpected happens on May Day, what problems may arise?

"There is no doubt that the ritual is the most likely to go wrong..." the demon hunter thought.

Based on what Ianna described yesterday.

There are two rituals at work in May Day.

One is an exorcism ritual to drive away monsters and wild beasts, and the other is a ritual to appease ghosts using the power of the goddess Meriteli.

"The former had already started yesterday, and the festival day was just the end."

"so……"

"The most likely problem would be the material used in the exorcism ritual - the urine of the wyvern."

"If there is something wrong with this thing, and civilians are partying outdoors on the festival day and some monsters are attracted, it will definitely lead to disaster."

"But as long as the urine is real, the wyvern, which has no natural enemies, is indeed a very safe choice."

"but……"

"This has nothing to do with me. Ianna and the old duke will definitely bring people to recheck it in the next few days, and even arrange a few more exorcism rituals along the route of the parade."

"Even if someone deliberately disrupted the ceremony, the old duke who has been reminded will definitely increase the frequency of patrol inspections in the next few days..."

"As for the second ritual..." The demon hunter frowned and thought for a moment.

Elland's May Festival carnival is well-known throughout the northern continent, and many people come here every year.

Even Mary, Vera's little laborer, when she first came to the city, clamored to stay until after May Day.

Can be imagined.

Such ceremonies must have been held for many years.

In theory, it is very stable.

Now the old Duke will definitely send more people, so the probability of problems occurring is very low.

but……

"If something goes wrong, it must be a big problem!"

The demon hunter thought carefully:
"This ritual itself is used to save the souls of humans who died in wars and plagues, or to eliminate the monsters that were transformed out of resentment..."

"The biggest hidden danger is those restless and easily provoked demons..."

Thinking of what Ianna mentioned yesterday, the number of humans who had died near Elland in recent years.

Ailin couldn't help but shudder.

to be frank.

When he heard yesterday that there were demons everywhere in the wilds of Elland, he had envied the demons' purifying spirits.

But after a little thought, he gave up this dangerous idea.

When monsters are really weak, swarming them makes them happy.

This is true for ordinary monsters.

And the demon spirits that could teleport behind him at any time and might have the skills they had in their previous lives...

For Arryn, facing more than five at a time was much more dangerous than facing a single large griffin.

even if……

He possesses ghost oil, three swords and one demon spirit...

"no……"

The demon hunter shook his head violently, trying to banish a terrifying image from his mind.

"Don't worry about the actions of the old duke and Ianna. I must prepare more ghost oil in the next few days just in case."

He had a strong premonition.

Something was bound to go wrong with the Cinco de Mayo ceremony.

Although he didn't know...

When the nobles of the Temple of Meliteli and Ellande were alert at the same time, where did the crisis come from...

……

"Magic is chaos, art, and science."

“It’s a curse, a blessing, and progress.”

"It all depends on who uses the magic, how they use it, and for what purpose."

"And magic is everywhere, all around us, within our reach..."

As soon as they approached Vera's residence, Mary's voice came, and at the same time, the voice of the little monster sounded:
"Sister Mary, you said that magic can really make people look better. Is this true?"

"Of course it's true," Mary said, "As long as you study hard, appearance is the easiest thing to change."

"With the anti-aging potion, even eternal youth is not a difficult task for today's sorceresses..."

"Yes, I will definitely learn magic well!" The little monster's childish and hoarse voice was very firm.

“Hahaha,” Mary laughed heartily, “I believe you, you are very talented…”

"Okay, now let's continue looking at this etching and see how to extend our fingers. Pay attention to the arrows and runes explaining how to do it..."

"Vort, caelme. Ys, veloe..."

Listening to Mary's teaching, the witcher stopped after turning a corner.

not far away.

The door of Vera's residence.

Mary was wearing a gray priest's dress and was sitting on a chair, holding a little ball covered with black cloth. She was pointing at a book and teaching word by word.

The ridges and valleys of the black cloth, along with the awkward pronunciation, echoed Mary's voice.

I can tell.

The little monster gets along well with Mary.

Moreover, the little monster, who was originally illiterate, learned very quickly and had already started learning ancient languages ​​in just a short while.

"Except when she taught me alchemy in Kaer Morhen, Mary seemed to be able to teach everyone very quickly..."

"It only took the Demon Hunters of the Demon Hunting Corps a month or two to learn several potion recipes and ice spear techniques..."

Ailin didn't rush over to disturb them.

Mary waited for more than ten minutes, letting the little monster practice the spell-casting gestures by himself, before she stepped forward.

"Da da da~"

The deliberately revealed footsteps made the two of them look outside the courtyard at the same time.

The little monster was covered in black cloth and his expression could not be seen. He just tightened the cloth around his face.

When Mary recognized the identity of the person, she didn't know what she was thinking about, and her face suddenly flushed.

"Erin, why are you here? Are you here to see Ms. Vera?" Mary carried the little monster back to the ground and came over. "She left in the morning to deal with the production of corpse-eating bio-oil and arrange for people to negotiate the price of the potion with Duke Mason. She won't be back until at least tomorrow..."

Vera is not here...

The demon hunter paused.

But it doesn’t matter, the basic materials for the potion blizzard are all in the icon room.

"I came to see you." Ailin shook his head.

Mary was stunned for a moment. Before she could say anything, she heard the witcher continue:
"Do you have the portable crucible and other alchemical equipment?"

"I'd like to borrow it..."

Before the demon hunter finished speaking, a faint sense of inexplicable disappointment gently tickled her heart.

But soon, she suppressed this vague emotion in her heart, smiled, and said:

"Wait a moment, I'll go get it from the inner room..."

Then he hurried into the house.

But when she reached the door, she suddenly remembered something.

Hasn't Ailin been learning rituals from the high priest of the temple?

Learning the ritual doesn't seem to require potions, unless...

Suddenly.

Mary felt her throat go dry.

She turned around stiffly like a rusty bolt and asked:

"Have you come up with a new recipe?"

really.

The demon hunter blinked his beautiful cat eyes and nodded lightly:

"I went out and killed a giant ghoul yesterday. I got some insights and came up with a few recipes..."

Some insights... a few recipes...

Mary: "?"

Her already big eyes suddenly widened three times wider and she looked at the witcher in disbelief.

Is this human language? Is there any connection between killing giant ghouls and the potion recipe?

I've never heard of how alchemists created alchemical formulas in this way.

But think about it.

The last time Ailin created an alchemical formula, he was riding a horse and the idea came to him.

It seems to be reasonable?

defeat.

A strong sense of frustration replaced the inexplicable emotion just now and occupied Mary's entire mind.

She hadn't even completely learned the formula that Ailin had taught her last time, but he had actually created a new formula...

How can this make sense?
Although this is also because in the past few days I have been learning fire magic with Vera while teaching Yennefer the basics of magic.

But is she... really a genius?
Is she really talented in alchemy?
She seemed to never catch up with Ailin, no matter what aspect...

correct!

Mary had a flash of inspiration.

The last time Ailin came up with the formula was after killing a monster...

Is it possible...

"Could it be that the methods taught by the instructor and the books are all wrong?"

"Is hunting monsters the correct way to create alchemical formulas?"

"The most powerful alchemist must be the most powerful monster hunter!"

The more Mary thought about it, the more she felt that this must be the real answer.

After all, even Vera had killed countless monsters before.

"Mary? Are you okay?"

Watching the girl sometimes lamenting, sometimes lonely, sometimes excited...her expression changes quickly.

The demon hunter felt inexplicably frightened.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'll get you the crucible..."

When Mary came back to her senses, she felt Alin's gaze and her cheeks suddenly blushed. She trotted into the house.

"Da da da~"

The sound of footsteps faded away.

At this time.

Suddenly, only Aelin and Yennefer were left in the courtyard.

to be frank.

Although logically speaking, Ailin was the one who adopted the little monster.

But in fact.

Because of talent and gender.

Mary was the closest to her, and Ailin had very little contact with her.

after all.

Although Yennefer was very famous in her previous life, he also liked this role very much.

But after the novelty of running into "celebrities" and collecting "SSRs" wears off at first.

To Arlin, Yennefer is more of a poor person who is abandoned and abused by her father.

Just a quiet but sensible child who makes people feel sorry for him.

So when there were only two of them left, Ailin didn't know what to say.

There was silence for a few seconds.

The demon hunter looked at the little monster that was tightly covering its body with a black cloth and was motionless like a black statue, and asked as softly as possible:
"What's life like in the temple?"

"fine……"

"Is magic difficult to learn?"

"good……"

"Don't be afraid if you encounter any problems. Just ask Ms. Vera. Although she looks cold, she is still a very nice person..."

"it is good……"

Okay, end of topic.

The witcher scratched his head in slight embarrassment.

It seemed that the little monster, completely covered by the black cloth, didn't want to talk to him.

He coughed twice, looked towards Vera's residence tactfully, and stopped talking.

fortunately.

At this time Mary also came out of the house with a big bag and rescued him.

"Ai... Ailin," Mary took two breaths and said, "I put the crucible, alchemy pen, and other things you might need in my bag."

"Thank you, Mary." The witcher thanked her softly and took the large leather bag.

"Actually, you can also make medicine here," Mary smiled after hearing Aelin's thanks, "The instructor also set up an alchemy room here, exactly the same as the one in Kaer Morhen."

"But the magic materials in stock are not very diverse..."

"What are they?" Ailin asked curiously.

If all the materials were available, there was really no need for him to go back and get them, since it was the goddess' sanctuary after all.

"The sword oil, magic potion, and the alchemical bomb called North Wind that you have refined..." Mary scratched her fingers, "The materials required for these recipes are all here, but these are the only materials..."

The overlap is not high, so we still have to go back and refine it... Ailin shook his head.

and many more……

"Have you got any bear fat and flea grease?" he asked.

"There are quite a few," Mary thought for a moment and asked curiously, "Do you want to refine ghost oil?"

Do not……

You want to refine ghost oil...

Ailin thought.

Ghost Oil is simple.

He had already taught Mary on the way here.

As for Aylin.

Moon Dust is also a powerful weapon against evil spirits.

After refining the blizzard, he planned to concentrate on refining a few more Moon Dusts, just in case.

After tidying up his words, the witcher told Mary about his "dream" last night, the high priest's reaction this morning, and his own guesses.

"Is there no way to remove that evil god's curse?"

Mary asked worriedly after listening to Aelin's statement.

"It's not clear yet," Ailin said with a gentle smile, "but it should be settled by May Day..."

"Ah~" Mary sighed softly, feeling a little disappointed. "I didn't expect that there would be an accident during the May Festival in Ireland..."

"but……"

Mary looked into Ailin's eyes seriously and said:

"I can't help you with anything else, but I will definitely do my best to refine the ghost oil in the next few days..."

"When my teacher comes back, I will tell her about this. Maybe she will have other ideas..."

Ailin nodded and was about to leave when he saw the little monster.

He thought for a while and said:

"By the way, can you please ask Ms. Vera if she can send Yennefer and Royce back to Kaer Morhen..."

"Although this is the temple of the goddess, but..."

The demon hunter paused:

"Kaer Morhen is still safer now."

"You'd better..."

"I want to stay here," Mary interrupted, "I can protect myself, and you still need someone to make ghost oil, don't you?"

"But..." She glanced at the little monster, "I will tell my instructor about this."

Ailin could only nod upon hearing this.

He looked at the little monster again, then left with his big bag.

Wait until the demon hunter's back disappears from sight.

Mary looked down at Yennefer and asked:

"Are you afraid of Aelin?"

The black cloth ball moved.

Mary knew she was shaking her head, so she asked curiously:
"Then why don't you say goodbye to him?"

"I saw that you didn't say much to him when he was here..."

The black cloth ball shrank its body and remained silent for a few seconds before saying:
"I'm not afraid of him..."

"I just... I just don't want to talk to him like this anymore..."

(End of this chapter)