Chapter 272 The Dying Man
How could it not hurt?
Such a loud crash would cause phantom pain to anyone who heard it...

The demon hunter thought.

However, he did not expose the little monster. Instead, he sighed softly, stretched out his right hand and rubbed the little monster's head, saying:
"Okay, okay, it doesn't hurt..."

With Mary's help, it took a while to calm the little monster down.

The demon hunter looked at the black cloth that was still twitching, thought for a moment, stood up and asked Vera for help:
"Lady Vera, could you please send Yennefer back to Kaer Morhen? This place is too..."

"I...I don't want to leave..." the little monster interrupted in a low voice.

Not wanting to leave doesn't mean not leaving...

The little monster still has his limits.

But before the witcher could start to persuade her, Vera suddenly spoke:
"If you don't want to leave, then you don't have to."

Ok?
Ailin and Mary looked at Vera with a raised mouth almost at the same time and were stunned.

"Ms. Vera..." the two said in unison.

"Don't worry, I will keep her with me tonight and send her back to Kaer Morhen if there is any danger..." the sorceress said softly.

This seemed to be the first time Vera refused Aelin's request.

But after all, it was the sorceress who cast the portal spell, and the witcher had no way to force her.

What's more, with the bloody red fox protecting him, the little monster might be the safest person in the whole of Elland during tonight's May Day carnival...

So Ailin listened to the little monster's somewhat nervous and rapid breathing, hesitated for a few seconds, and then nodded in agreement.

Seeing that everyone had made up their minds, Mary turned her head and looked out the window.

The setting sun.

The lush grass and trees outside the window were covered with a layer of gold.

"Then..." Mary turned around, her big eyes rolling around, and after gently placing the little monster on the ground, she urged with excitement and anticipation in her eyes, "It's getting late, shall we set off now?"

"Although the May Day parade is after dark, it is said that there will be stalls selling all kinds of small items in the city in the afternoon..."

"There are also many bards and magicians who take this opportunity to perform on the streets..."

The demon hunter shook his head helplessly: "Mary, we are not..."

"I know... I know..." Mary walked over quickly, took his arm, and said in a serious tone, "We accepted the revelation from the goddess and participated in the May Festival carnival in order to protect the people of Elland who are in danger..."

Do you really know?

The witcher looked down at Mary, who looked serious on the surface, but whose excited little hand, eager to pull his arm, expressed another emotion, and he couldn't help but sigh.

Mary stuck out her tongue after sensing Ailin's complicated gaze.
"Goddess Meliteli didn't say that we can't enjoy ourselves before saving Elland, right?"

"We have done everything we can. We just need to take everything we need to take at night..."

Upon hearing this, the demon hunter looked into Mary's watery eyes, and thought of how she had been working tirelessly to refine the ghost oil in recent days, and his heart softened.

Mary never cared about money, and she followed Vera, a wealthy woman. Even if her family was poor, she would definitely not be short of money.

And when he asked Mary to refine the ghost oil, the old duke hadn't even made an offer yet...

So the demon hunter naturally knew who all these days of boring refining were for.

"go Go……"

Vera spoke up, too, and said:

“It’s still unknown whether there will be any surprises on May Day.”

"Besides, Mason and Ianna are already fully prepared."

"Is it possible that such a huge country like Elland, with so many knights and priests, still lacks a fourteen-year-old demon hunter like you?"

"and……"

The sorceress paused, lowered her eyebrows, and pursed her thin lips:
"And I haven't seen you having fun and relaxing for such a long time..."

"This doesn't look like a fourteen-year-old kid!"

The demon hunter heard this and couldn't refute it.

Yes.

There are so many people in Elland, and there are extraordinary people like Vera and Ianna here.

He is being a bit nosy.

"I see." The demon hunter nodded and looked at Mary, "Then let's go now!"

"Wow~"

When Mary heard this, she almost jumped for joy.

"I want to go too..." the little monster said weakly.

"No, you don't want to..." Before Arlin and Mary could say anything, Vera glanced at them coldly and interrupted, "You come with me..."

The little monster was frightened and shrank back, clutching the black cloth tightly with his little hands, not daring to make a sound.

Ailin glanced at Vera and subconsciously turned his head, meeting Mary's gaze.

next second.

The two of them turned their eyes away tacitly.

Mary lowered her head unconsciously, her cheeks slightly flushed.

Vera, watching this scene, raised her lips slightly and said softly:
"There's nothing to prepare, so let's go now."

"Wait," Ailin suddenly remembered something, "I have an appointment with Master Vesemir..."

"I'll let him know," Vera interrupted. "Anything else?"

"No more..." Ailin shook his head helplessly.

Then they looked at Mary and walked out the door one after another.

"Crack~"

A snap of fingers.

As Ailin walked out of the alchemy room, he heard something hitting him from behind.

He quickly turned around and grabbed it.

"Ding Ding~"

The demon hunter looked over at the sound of metal knocking.

It is a purse with a gold-lined border.

"There's some change in it, so you don't have to exchange it." Vera said with a smile.

Is the preparation so complete... Ailin was stunned for a few seconds.

Was this prepared long ago?

But he doesn't have much small change here.

After separating from Zeus, Bonte and Frey and Mary joining the team, Vesemir has been responsible for the daily expenses of the three.

So the witcher didn't refuse. After saying thank you, he put it in his arms.

then.

The two left the alchemy room with Vera's blessing of "have fun" and the little monster's somewhat "sad" look.

……

the other side.

When Captain Arthur of the Royal Guard drove his cloaked wagon back to the military camp in the castle, hundreds of soldiers in black iron armor had already lined up in the empty training ground.

"Wheels and wheels~"

Before the truck stopped, three soldiers who looked like officers and wore black iron helmets with red long feathers came trotting over.

As we got closer, the truck stopped.

The man standing in the middle of the three took off his helmet, revealing a rough face with a beard.

He looked at Arthur who got off the truck and asked:
"Is it the sword oil that Master Mason mentioned that has arrived?"

Arthur nodded.

Then, without saying much, he directed his men to carry down a large box that was half a person's height and open it.

The neatly arranged glass bottles sparkle in the sun.

"Crack~"

Arthur waved his hand and slapped away the bearded officer's hand that was reaching for the box.

"Sir Sarah, five hundred soldiers of the Demon Hunting Army, here are five hundred bottles of ghost oil, please inspect them."

"Master Mason specially asked you to train the skills of applying oil a few days ago, so I won't say much about the method of use." Bearded officer Sarah rubbed his hands and complained:

"We are old friends and comrades, can't you be a little more gentle?"

Seeing that Arthur didn't say a word, he didn't care.

The Demon Hunting Corps itself was derived from Duke Mason's Royal Guards, and was established not long ago, only five years ago.

That is, it was established after the last rebel force of the Falgar Rebellion was wiped out, and Elland suffered heavy casualties from war and plague, leading to demons running rampant.

It’s not that the old Duke didn’t entrust professional demon hunters to deal with these monsters.

But Elland itself is far away from Kaer Morhen of the Wolf School, Kaer Sirens of the Griffin School, and Hainkaveh of the Bear School, and witchers basically have the habit of returning to the school to spend the harsh winter.

Therefore, after the demon hunters leave, there will always be small groups of monsters harassing and attacking the villages around Elland.

It just so happened that the war had temporarily subsided.

Therefore, Duke Mason selected a group of soldiers with the most combat experience from those who followed him and formed a special army specifically targeting scattered and weak monsters - the Demon Hunting Army.

Therefore.

These officers and even most of the soldiers in the Demon Hunting Army actually came from the Guards.

He and Arthur had a life-and-death friendship on the battlefield. Although they had not met often in recent years due to their respective military duties, they must have been much more casual in their daily interactions.

Bearded officer Sarah looked at his old comrade who had no expression on his face and remained silent, and added another sentence in his heart.

At least that's what he thought in his mind.

After a few seconds, Arthur stared at him without saying a word.

"Okay, okay," Sarah scratched her head helplessly, not really counting the bottles, "Sir Arthur, our Demon Hunters have received these ghost oils."

"Can I touch it now?"

Arthur held out his right hand as a sign of courtesy.

"Ding Ding~"

Sarah took out a bottle of ghost oil from the box and waved it in front of her eyes:

"Is this ghost oil really as powerful as Master Mason said a few days ago?"

"What do you mean by three swords to kill a ghost? Is that all you need?"

Sarah opened the bottle with a suspicious tone and sniffed it, which frightened a young knight brought by Arthur and quickly stopped him:
"Sir Sarah, this is for rubbing on swords, not for drinking!"

"I know!" Sarah waved her hand, put the cork back in the bottle, and continued:
"Although I don't know much, I know that potions are not the specialty of demon hunters, right?"

"First of all, it's not a ghost," Arthur said expressionlessly, "The monsters that ghost oil targets are all ghost creatures, such as demon spirits, banshees, plague witches..."

"In addition, killing a demon with three swords is based on Master Ailin's strength..."

"It's hard to find a lone demon spirit, so we didn't try."

"So you have to at least double that number."

Haven't tried...

Sarah paused for a moment and stopped shaking the vial.

After two seconds, he looked at Arthur seriously:

"Do you dare to take something you haven't tried into the Demon Hunting Army?"

"Brothers, you all risked your lives to kill those monsters. Do you know how many reinforcements we have gained in the past six months?"

Sarah's tone became increasingly severe, and her eyes widened.

However, before Arthur could speak.

The young knight beside him quickly added:
"Sir Sarah, although we haven't tried the ghost oil, we have tried Master Ailin's other ghoul oil, and the effect is very good!"

The other middle-aged knight who was carrying the boxes with the young knight also nodded and raised a finger to the bearded knight calmly:
"One sword!"

"What sword?" Sarah was stunned.

"Bang~"

The middle-aged knight slapped the scabbard of the long sword at his waist.

"The steel sword cut off the ghoul's head with one strike," he paused, then raised his head proudly, "I cut it off!"

"Huh?" Sarah opened her mouth wide and looked at the middle-aged knight in shock, then at the long sword at his waist.

Ghouls are the most common monsters that their demon hunting army has ever dealt with.

Those dogs who like to travel in groups would show up in groups every now and then at the battlefield site.

They are fast, numerous, and cunning, making them very difficult to deal with.

Their demon hunting army used silver weapons forged by the Mahakam dwarves, but they often suffered heavy casualties.

The guards couldn't even break their skin with their steel swords...

and many more……

Have the Guards suffered any casualties recently?
"Dead." Arthur ignored the middle-aged knight's resentful look and interrupted Sarah's thoughts expressionlessly.

"Captain..." the middle-aged knight complained.

"You will mislead them if you say that," Arthur shook his head and continued, "It was what happened on the day when the high priest of the goddess Meliteli was invited to go out of the city to arrange the exorcism ceremony."

On the day of the exorcism ceremony... Sarah frowned when he heard this and glanced at the Demon Hunting Officer who suddenly lowered his head and avoided his sight.

"Those ghouls were killed by Master Ailin..."

After a pause, Arthur added:
"Thirty-three ghouls, and a large monster, the Giant Ghoul. Master Ailin himself is not injured at all."

"But the ghoul bio-oil does enhance the power of the weapon. Even if it's a living ghoul, a steel sword only needs one strike if it can hit it."

"hiss--"

The three Demon Hunting Corps officers, including Sarah, gasped at the same time.

Looking at each other.

At this time.

Even Sarah, who had been angrily questioning just now, had nothing to say at this moment.

It's impossible for a master demon hunter who can kill so many monsters alone without any injuries to cheat them just to sell a few hundred bottles of fake medicine.

What's more, there is already a sample of the corpse-eating bio-oil.

This one sounds like a potion from the same series.

Right.

How could a great man like Duke Mason be deceived...

"Also..." Arthur said, "Originally, we were given the ghost oil just in case."

"We are here to patrol and protect the people who are parading and reveling, not to hunt demons."

"That's right..." Sarah scratched her head embarrassedly.

Moreover, they were already equipped with silver blade weapons, which provided them with an extra layer of insurance compared to their brothers in the Guards.

"There's really no need to worry," the middle-aged knight of the Royal Guards laughed and said, "Do you know who Master Ailin's alchemy instructor is?"

"who is it?"

"Bloody red fox—Vera!"

When the three Demon Hunting Army officers heard this, they were stunned for a moment, and then thought carefully for a long time.

Immediately afterwards, their eyes widened at the same time, and they no longer had any doubts about the effectiveness of the ghost oil.

It's getting dark.

It's almost time for the Demon Hunters to go on patrol.

So the few of them didn't talk any more.

The Guards were already on patrol, and Arthur and the other two said goodbye, left the potion and the truck, and went out.

Sarah began to arrange for the soldiers to receive the potions.

From beginning to end, neither the officers of the Demon Hunting Army nor the officers of the Guards mentioned it...

This was an unexpected event that was worth the huge expense that Duke Mason and High Priest Ianna had to deal with...

Can ordinary people like them really cope with it with just a bottle of sword oil?

The soldiers under their command, including themselves...

After tonight, how many will survive?

(End of this chapter)