Chapter 268 Vesemir’s Note
The library in the Temple of Meliteli was not a larger room in the castle like the one in Kaer Morhen, but a whole three-story building.

The tall gray-white granite exterior walls are solemn and majestic.

The emerald green ivy and the purple flowers blooming on it make this solemnity less cold and more down-to-earth.

And the biggest difference compared to the library in Kaer Morhen is...

There are people here.

Many, many people!
Many young girls, women and old women in gray temple skirts were walking around, silent and hurried.

Seeing the only demon hunter in the crowd carrying two swords, they just looked at him strangely, nodded in greeting at most, and did not come forward to talk to him.

Be polite and restrained.

In a trance.

The witcher seemed to be back in the library of his previous life's university, and now was the time to get up early and grab a seat for the final exam.

indeed.

This so-called "library" is only slightly smaller in scale even compared to the library in the previous life.

But the atmosphere of reverence for knowledge is perhaps even worse.

After all, the Temple of Meliteli specializes in herbs, medicine, and midwifery...

Most of the knowledge in the library carries the weight and responsibility of life and death, inheritance and sacrifice.

This kind of atmosphere even made the demon hunters involuntarily use the superb steps of the cat school.

He walked silently to the old maid who was in charge of registration at the door of the library and asked in a low voice:
"Hello, have you seen Master Vesemir... a demon hunter who also carries two swords?"

The old lady raised her eyebrows and glanced at him like the old dean in her previous life.

Then he pointed his right index finger to the sky and stretched out three fingers.

The demon hunter nodded, muttered a word of thanks, and walked towards the wooden stairs of the library.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

The higher you go, the fewer people there are in the library.

When we reached the third floor, there was even another old lady dozing off at the narrow doorway, apparently trying to stop anyone from entering.

If you want to go in, you must ask her to move aside.

of course.

With Ailin's skills, whether doing a front flip or a back flip, he could sneak in silently.

There are even magic items that can turn you invisible, such as "Night Color", small fog beads, and the fog-transforming hand bones of the little fog monster given by the elf princess...

In a flash of thought.

The demon hunter thought of no less than ten ways to sneak in quietly.

He then looked up into the inner room, and after finding no trace of the witcher master, he chose the most plain and simple one.

"Squeak~"

The boards groaned underfoot.

The old lady squeezed the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, but did not wake up.

"Cough cough~"

After coughing twice, the wrinkles on the old lady's face finally relaxed, but she still did not open her eyes:

"Herb identification and common potion formulas are on the first floor..."

"Medical books, classic cases, and diagnostic evidence are on the second floor. The classification of problems encountered during childbirth is also on the second floor..."

"The third floor is not accessible to children like you. While you are still young, you should learn a few more skills to make a living, so that you will not starve to death after leaving the temple in the future..."

The old lady talked on and on to herself, leaving the witcher stunned, and he didn't open his eyes the whole time.

A familiar road.

Out of politeness, the witcher wanted to wait for her to finish.

Unexpectedly, the old lady's voice gradually became softer as she spoke, and her head gradually tilted to the side, and she was about to fall asleep again.

In desperation, the demon hunter could only interrupt and say:
"Hello, I'm here to see Master Vesemir. Is he here now?"

The old lady then half-opened one eye, and moved her gaze from the witcher's eyes to the two swords on his back. Then she moved her chair to the side and said:
"Go straight along this road, and you will find all the old files near the big windowsill..."

"Thank you." The witcher nodded slightly in thanks and then walked past her.

but……

I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

When the witcher passed by the old woman, he seemed to hear her sigh softly.

But when Ailin turned his head at the sound, he saw that the old woman had closed her eyes and fell asleep again.

It was as if the sigh was just his illusion.

"Is it because your sleep was disturbed?" The witcher's intuition suggested that it was not that simple.

But the old woman was already in a deep sleep.

The witcher stood there silently for a few seconds, then turned around with her back hunched and slightly tilted, and began to look for Vesemir's trace.

"Da da da~"

Footsteps shuttled through the empty room.

A slightly muffled echo shook up the misty dust from the old bookshelf.

The light is a little dim.

The air was filled with a faint smell of rotten wood.

It fits the feeling of an old library.

As the witcher walked, he looked at the dusty books on the shelves on both sides.

After walking past a few bookshelves, he understood why the temple's apprentice priests, pharmacists, and doctors were not allowed to come to the third floor.

"A list of the number of deaths in the Amawit Rebellion", "Common causes of death in the Black Death", "An investigation into the root causes of the peasant uprising caused by the Farga Rebellion"...

Amavet is the son of the current King of Temeria. He is the protagonist of the murder of the Count's wife, which triggered a riot among the nobles of the kingdom.

The Black Death may seem like just a disease, but even the witchers have heard about the atrocities committed by the nobles against the common people out of panic during the Black Death...

Burning people alive and burying them is just the mildest part of it.

As for the last one...

You don't need to read the content, just the name tells you what kind of book this is...

no doubt.

Most of the books stored on the third floor are banned books, the kind that would punish the person for beheading or hanging if they were discovered by nobles.

of course.

As time goes by, there are fewer and fewer banned books like this.

Not because the content is any less taboo.

The main reason is that it happened relatively early in history, and many of the relevant parties like Amawit, their relatives within several generations have died.

for example.

On the next few bookshelves, there are many realistic records of humans' betrayal, massacre, conspiracy and atrocities against elves.

This might have caused a stir at the time, but now...

just now.

It is a long, long time since the glorious days of Ain Sheedy and his ilk...

……

The third floor of the library is not small but not too big either.

Even as the witcher was browsing the volumes on the bookshelf, he soon heard the rustling of leaves in the wind, and looked up to see the sunlight outside the window shining into the dim library.

And a demon hunter with a long shadow cast by the skylight.

"It's Vesemir..."

The witcher master was surrounded by a pile of books, and there was a hill of extinguished candles not far away.

I think these days, he has been searching for traces of the Wild Hunt on sheepskin and paper with the help of these candles.

"Da da da~"

With the sound of faint footsteps, the figure was getting closer and closer.

Then suddenly, Ailin realized a problem.

Even though he was so close, he didn't even hear the "swish" sound of turning pages, so...

In just two or three steps, he used the two-handed sword skills of the Cat School to approach silently but quickly.

Then, he carefully walked around the scattered piles of books.

really.

The Demon Hunter Master was currently leaning against the back of a wooden chair with his head tilted.

A thick leather book that looked heavy was spread out on his knees.

to be frank.

This is a difficult sleeping position to maintain.

It is impossible to do this without the physical fitness of a master demon hunter and a certain level of meditation.

"What about the saying that mature demon hunters use meditation instead of sleep?"

Ailin glanced at Vesemir's face, which was hidden by his wide-brimmed black hat, and shook his head helplessly.

Then he tilted his head.

Opposite the witcher master was a wide-open floor-to-ceiling balcony, through which the bright spring sunshine and gentle breeze quietly slipped in from outside.

This is indeed a good place to catch spring sleepiness.

The sun is shining, the spring breeze is warm, it is quiet and undisturbed...

Even Ailin was infected and yawned, wanting to have a good sleep.

Take a deep breath, drive away the sleepiness, and cheer up.

The witcher did not rush to wake up Vesemir, but lowered his head to look at the piles of books in front of the witcher master.

Uh ~
The witcher groaned in his heart, bent down, and picked up a piece of paper from the ground where the candlestick was pressing down.

There were a bunch of bibliographies and page numbers written on it, such as...

The White Ships: A Message of Friendship or a Spread of War? p. 121

"The Sin Behind the Pure Appearance of Ian Sheedy" pp. 31, 93

Celestial Harmony and Spirals, p. 167

The Wild Hunt Researcher's Notebook

Ghost Knight's Tales

……

In total, I wrote down the names and page numbers of more than thirty books.

The demon hunter took a quick look and saw three piles of thick books that were obviously more orderly than the other small piles of books. Adding the time it took to sort these books out of the huge collection room, Ailin did a quick mental calculation and knew...

Even with the help of Nenneke and Lysa, Vesemir must have been looking through and sorting through the files day and night in the past few days to select these thirty or so books from so many and mark the page numbers.

If so.

Vesemir is definitely not being lazy...

Having wrongly blamed the witcher master, Ailin sighed softly and glanced at the black wide-brimmed hat with some guilt.

How exhausted do you have to be for meditation to have no effect on your energy recovery?
I thought about it.

The effectiveness of the new potion does not have to be tested today.

then.

The witcher didn't intend to disturb Vesemir anymore, so he stood up and went back to the sanctuary to continue refining the moon dust and ghost oil.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

The black wide-brimmed hat fluttered down with a vibration and was gently caught by a hand covered with calluses and scars.

Without the sunshade provided by his hat, the witcher master raised his other hand to block it.

The bloodshot amber cat pupils expanded and contracted twice before it vaguely saw the young demon hunter standing in front of it.

“…Uh…Ail…Lin…” Vesemir rubbed his eyes. “Ailin!”

There was a "click" sound.

Vesemir immediately stood up with his wide-brimmed black hat in hand.

The chair he was sitting on was lifted up by inertia, and its two legs hit the ground with a loud noise.

"I am... am I asleep?"

Vesemir looked around in confusion.

Seeing that the Demon Hunter Master was still a little sleepy, Ailin said softly:

"Take a break, Master Vesemir. The Wild Hunt dossier is not that urgent..."

Vesemir wiped his face, sobered up, raised his hand and interrupted:

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"I didn't sleep for seven days and seven nights in order to hunt a griffin before, and now it's only been a few days. I was just careless for a moment."

"If we work harder, we can finish it before May Day and it won't affect our planned schedule."

"By the way," he looked up at the young witcher, "Why are you here? Don't you need to learn the ritual from Ianna?"

Ailin sighed inwardly when he heard this.

The dark circles under your eyes are not as hard as your mouth, Master Vesemir...

However, when he saw the expression on Vesemir's face, he knew that he could not convince this stubborn old man, so he told him the truth about the possible accidents that might happen on May Day.

Then, while the Demon Hunter Master was thinking, Ailin thought of the purpose of coming here today, tilted his head to look at the bright sunshine outside the window, and invited:

"Master Vesemir, it seems we haven't had a swordfight since we left Kaer Morhen..."

The words have not yet fallen.

Vesemir raised his eyebrows as if he had grasped the key words, and looked up at the young witcher:
"You haven't been so keen on sword fighting before. What's wrong with you today?"

Ailin smiled, patted the reagent bag on his waist, and said:

"I have made two new potions..."

New potion? ! !

Before he could finish his words, the excited Vesemir grabbed his wrist and walked towards the stairs.

"go!"

"I know a secluded spot in the temple that's perfect for a sword fight."

Ailin, who was being led by the excited witcher master, had no choice but to follow him outside.

fortunately.

When he was about to reach the stairs, Vesemir slowed down, let go of Arryn's wrist, and quietly walked out through the gap next to the sleeping old lady.

He also raised his index finger to his lips, signaling Ailin not to speak and to walk more lightly.

follow closely.

It was not until I left the library that I finally relaxed as if I had escaped from a monster.

"Master Vesemir, who was that old lady just now?" Ailin looked back at the third floor of the library shrouded in shadows and vines, and asked curiously.

Vesemir paused for a moment, and said:
"That was the former high priest of the Temple of Meliteli."

The high priest before Ianna?
The demon hunter was stunned.

Isn't the high priest of the Temple of Meliteli a lifelong position?
and also……

Why did the previous high priest of the temple sigh at him?
Is it intentional or unintentional?
Just as Arlin was wondering if there was any deeper meaning in the old woman's sigh, Vesemir, who was walking in front of him, suddenly stopped.

"Here we are!" he said.

So close?
The young demon hunter looked up and found that they were currently in an open space behind the library hidden by trees.

Looking up, you can see the balcony on the third floor with the door wide open.

"Qiang!"

"Click~"

"Click~"

Ailin followed the voice and went over.

Vesemir picked up two straight branches about one and a half meters long from the ground.

He quickly drew his sword and cut off the broken branches and vines, then threw one to Ailin.

"Come on, Master Ailin."

"Let me see how much you have improved in the past six months..."

The young demon hunter took the stick subconsciously and was stunned.

Instead of a real sword, use a wooden stick?

What kind of gameplay is this?
(End of this chapter)